Sinners Have It Easier

“Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3)

That was a low point for the new nation Israel. They had been removed from what was familiar, they had no idea where they were going, the idea of freedom was new, and they seemed to have less than what they had when they were slaves. They didn't have much before but at least they had something. In this position, following Yahweh did not seem very attractive.

Who of us haven't been there, wondering if following Jesus was worth it? It is the thought of the immature, those who have only begun to grow in their relationship with Jesus. It is a natural thought and one that is overcome by pressing in to Jesus. The problem comes when we entertain the thought, explore it, follow the progression.

The Lord was leading Israel in the manner that he was because he had purpose in it. There were things he was testing and developing in them. He knew what challenges were ahead and he needed to get them to a place of dependence and trust. It is not easy to give trust during times of transition, facing the unknown, having left the familiar behind but if they were to survive to possess the new land, the Lord had to get them ready.

There are times in these transitions with the Lord that the life of sin looks mighty attractive. There are times we look at those who are enslaved to sin and think "They don't have it so bad". We begin to long for the days when we could "sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread". But that's because we stopped looking ahead and started looking back. Those who continue to look back will find a way to get back to those cooking pots but Jesus warned us:

“No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.” (Luke 9:62)

The fact is that sin is a liar. It looks much more attractive than it is. Forgotten are the consequences of that slavery, the back breaking work for the profit of the masters and none for self; no ability to make choices; no freedom to go where and do what you want. In a moment of desire we think only of the desire and fail to see the catastrophic consequences of that desire. We also forget what we have, which is an incredible future.

No pleasure from sin could possibly compare to the sweet fellowship of love we have with Jesus. No sin can provide for us as he does. No sin can give us peace and fulfillment. And no sin can promise us an eternity like Jesus does. No, there can be no going back for us because we know who loves us, who holds us and who guides us. In him we trust. With him we will go to the end.

It's More Difficult Than What We Are Being Told

I know the stuff I am throwing out recently isn't the most popular stuff but it has to be said. In the days of Judah, when the enemy was at the gate, many of the false prophets were telling the king what he wanted to hear. It wasn't going to save him but it kept the prophets employed. Only a few prophets spoke the words of Yahweh and their reward was to be thrown in jail, but they would not relent with the truth. We cannot relent with the truth.

Many are preaching "Peace! Peace!" "Victory is yours!" People are sitting back and enjoying life. They are stuffing themselves, enjoying the riches of their labour. They are content because life is good. But the ax is at the root. Reality is not at all like they have been told by their spiritual guides. Those men and women are speaking to the desires of the sheep so they can stay employed. We need to be yelling the truth from the mountain tops, on the street corners, along the highways and byways. The truth? It's not as easy as we are led to believe:

Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24)

"Well, Jesus did it all, didn't he?" "There is nothing I can do for my justification, only Jesus was able to do that for me on the cross." One hundred percent correct! And don't let anyone tell you differently. But it also costs us everything. To accept Jesus, to follow him, he told us:

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

But many of us think we can have it all. We don't let go of the world when we take hold of the cross. We think we can follow Jesus and do what we want. We think we can enjoy all the pleasures of this world and the superior pleasure of fellowship with the Spirit. We have yet to understand that we too died and we no longer live:

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Are we living that as a foundational truth? We have a good handle on what Jesus has done for us but many of us are using grace as an excuse to sin, to hold back, to not give our all to Jesus. We keep emphasizing what Jesus has done for us, as we should, but we are leaving out our response to that incredible act of love..

Certainly we tell Jesus we love him in every worship song we sing, but what about the worship we live? There is so much selfishness in us that we don't have a chance to give our all. Every time we lay it out on the alter we are clawing it back. We are only living half the truth: Jesus' half. Jesus says "strive" to enter. "Deny" yourself. Deny! It doesn't do anything for our justification but everything for our relationship (sanctification). Again, Jesus says:

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:21)

Our obedience is not trying to earn salvation but is a love response to Jesus' sacrifice. We respond to his love by desiring to obey him for the rest of our days here and every day in eternity. We desire nothing else. We gladly deny anything our flesh desires in our overwhelming desire to serve our King.

Does that describe us? Does it really describe the Church today? The Church that would rather get together to put on a show and run all our wonderful programs instead of doing what Jesus told us to do, which is go into the world and make disciples. He didn't say bring them in; he told us to go out. Kingdom building must always take priority over church building.

It's great to acknowledge the love and sacrifice of Jesus but if it doesn't transform you, turning you away from yourself with the realization you have died and it is Jesus who lives in you, then it isn't real. Yes, that's right, it isn't real. There is a reason Jesus said it is not easy to make it on the narrow way. I beg you, check your hearts.

Keep It Simple Stupid

I'll admit it, I am a hockey fan. Because of my busy life and the low priority I give to watching television, I don't get to watch many games. However, if my favorite team makes it to the play offs I make the time to take in as many games as possible. Hockey is a game of strategy and there are several ways to approach playing it. You can concentrate on being fast and fancy or you can turn it into a physical game with a lot of hits and fights.

The last round I just watched, my favorite team decided to play fast and fancy. The other team was bigger and wanted to play a physical game. They tried to draw my team into fights but the players knew what was important and skated away. They ended up beating the physically bigger team. However, in their current round the roles have reversed. Now my team is trying to play the physical game and it cost them. They were beaten badly yesterday as the other team skated away from invitations to fight and concentrated on scoring, which they did, a lot.

This morning I was reading a portion of Scripture that reminded me that we aren't here to be drawn into fights. Yes, we are in a war but we don't fight like the enemy. We have a purpose and we contend against our enemy, Satan, for that purpose. Too many of us are getting enticed into useless arguments which distract us from our goal of making disciples.

Jesus was heading to Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him to prepare his way. As they came into a Samaritan town they were turned away, simply because they were heading to Jerusalem. The disciples were insulted and became indignant that they would be turned away. They were expecting Jesus to come into Jerusalem and be crowned king. They thought they were about to become very important people and here was this town refusing them hospitality. So they asked Jesus if he wanted them to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them. Jesus rebuked them for a clear reason:

“You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56)

Talk about missing the point. Because they felt dishonoured they wanted to abuse their authority and destroy the ones that Jesus had come to save. I am sure you are beginning to understand my point here.

There are times when we feel ill treated or even abused in situations and conversations. That does not give us the right to go all "ninja" on people. Jesus accepted this town's rejection and simply moved on to another. We are not going to win every battle. We are not going to save every person. We are not going to win every argument. But instead of unleashing a vicious attack, we need to remember that these are the ones Jesus died for because he loves them. Even if they are out to destroy him, we must respect his love for them and walk away. Yes, drop the argument, don't even do a last word thing, just walk away.

We need to be aware that sometimes the enemy is baiting us, trying to draw us into useless fights to distract us from our goal. Our goal is making disciples not winning arguments. Our goal is humble and simple, to win as many people over to the Light before the darkness is destroyed. The people we argue with aren't even aware what they are doing because the spirit behind them has blinded them. All we can do is walk away and pray. Yes, pray. It may not seem like much but Jesus told us to love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us. Against your prayers the enemy has no defense but if he distracts us so we forget to pray, he wins.

It has taken us years to get mixed up in our theology and understanding of Jesus. It has taken us years to twist the selfless gospel into a thing about "me". It has taken us years to drain the power away from the Holy Scriptures so that now it rings hollow and false. We have chosen a wrong path, one without the Spirit, without a demonstration of Yahweh's power, without power. Now we fight with nothing more than intelligence and emotions and it is getting us distracted from the simple fact that Jesus died so the lost may be rescued. Nothing else matters. We don't have to prove anything to anyone. Salvation belongs to the Lord, it comes from the the preaching of the Word, from the sharing of our testimony as witnesses, and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It has taken years to destroy but it takes one decision to be restored.

Let's stop trying to kill people with our fine sounding arguments. Let's stop making enemies. Let's start learning to walk away for the sake of Jesus' love. Let's get back to what we do best. Let us pray. Let us testify. Let us bear witness to Jesus' glory and love. Let us make disciples.

What Jesus Has To Say To Me On My Birthday

So it's my birthday. The big five zero this year. It's amazing how when I was 21 years old fifty seemed so far away. Now in a heart beat I am here understanding that age is a relative thing. My body might be 50 years old but the rest of me still feels twenty one. In fact, my body is in better shape at fifty than it was at twenty one. And oh, the lessons I have learned so far, knowing I have double that to learn before Jesus returns. Funny, the one thing that does change with age is the realization that time does not last forever. In fact, I swear that someone is stealing hours from my day because I just can't complete everything I need to do in a day any more.

When I was in my twenties, we understood that we had a lifetime to grow, mature, to build a life. We knew we would have to build it one decision at a time and many things at that age were like sowing seeds We would plant the beginning of things and expect it to grow with time. That could be a career, starting at the bottom and working up. It could be a ministry, starting with nothing and seeing the Lord grow it into something. It could be family, starting with a kiss. It could be getting into real-estate, buying a small home and eventually moving up to one the suits a growing family. Same with cars and so on. We never expected to start with an end result but always the beginning. It took patience, determination and time.

It is no different with our spiritual walk. We start off with the cross. The cross never leaves us but we need to recognize that it is the beginning point, the door made open for us. The cross is what Jesus did for us, what we could never do for ourselves. But being a beginning means that there is much more. We are like a seed that needs to grow, mature and flower so that we can bear the fruit of the Spirit. My concern is that we are trying to skip ahead in the maturing process. Too many of us want the advanced lessons before the foundation is set in place. The foundation takes time, patience and work. The foundation is the Bible, prayer, service, stewardship and such.

For three years Jesus taught his disciples. They were on a steep learning curve. Also in that time Jesus did a lot of miracles. People loved the miracles. They flocked to him because of them. People love a great show. But Jesus also spent a lot of time teaching, instructing, preparing and maturing his disciples. Can you imagine what three years, 365 days a year, would have been like with Jesus, with him using every opportunity to teach and demonstrate truths to those disciples, that seemed beyond their comprehension. There is one small scripture that caused me to reflect on this.

Jesus had just cast out a demon. Now, to you and me it might seem mundane after having read it so often, but to these people it was amazing. I am sure it would be amazing to us too to actually see it rather than just read about it. That's part of our problem, we leave everything on paper instead of living it through our flesh. We too have the power to cast out demons, not just read about it. But I digress. Read this with me:

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.

But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples,“Let these words sink down into your ears..." (Luke 9:43-44a) 

Everyone wanted the show but not the foundation. Perhaps the disciples wanted the advanced lessons on how to do miracles too but they were still struggling with the foundation. No one wants to learn the baby steps before running a marathon. No one wants to spend their time learning 1+1=2 before grasping E = mc²  . No one wants to take lessons to ride a bike, they just want to jump on and go like all the other kids. Jesus insisted that his disciples receive what he had to teach. He wanted his words to sink down into them because they would need them where they were going.

I have studied the greats, the heroes of the faith, and one thing that they all have in common is their love for Jesus. Each of them spent hours in prayer, worship and the Word of God. They tithed, were good stewards of their time, served the people. This was the foundation, the seeds planted everyday, that grew and were used mightily by the Spirit. The Spirit could use them because they made themselves ready and available to be used. If we want to do great things, be everything Jesus called us to be, to walk in the fullness of Jesus, we need to take care of the foundation.

The miracles come from somewhere. The great sermons come from somewhere. The teachings of revelation come from somewhere. The unrelenting service of love comes from somewhere. It doesn't happen with hocuspocus. You don't just wake up with it one day. It takes growth and growth happens from foundations. It comes from foundations because it is in foundations we learn to die to ourselves, to allow the Spirit to do what he wants through us, and that everything is possible with Yahweh. Without these things being the very fabric of who we are, we will never get to the advance classes. Without the foundation we will never step into our destiny with Jesus.    

What Does It Mean To You To Follow Jesus?

The mistake that preachers and teachers like me make is in assuming that everyone is where we are in our understanding of the Word of God. We spend hours in prayer and in the Word every day, looking for the Spirit's revelation of the Word for us and for our people. We often forget that not everyone is even reading the Word let alone studying it, so some of the basics are not understood. We are preaching from a certain foundation but the students do not have that foundation and often do not understand our words.

It may not seem like a big deal that I am teaching from a foundation that you may not have but it means that I see the world one way and you see it another. It means you will not understand the things I am referring to. It means you will not understand when I say it is normal to suffer for Jesus. It's the difference between a farmer and a passerby.

I used to own a small apple orchard which I looked after with much affection and hard work. If you had visited me you would have seen a lot of trees. But when I looked on my small orchard I knew each of those trees intimately. I knew which ones were strong and which ones I was nursing back to health. I knew which branches had been pruned, which had open wounds, which were fighting off pests, which I had to defend recently. You would look for fruit but I would have been watching for pests. Two different perspectives. The same happens spiritually.

Due to the fact that so many people are neglecting the Word of God we are getting major differences in the perspective of life and the world. For far too many people, Jesus is more of a hobby on the side while they put their energy into their "real" life. But here is one of the basics for you that blows that perspective out of the water:

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."  (Luke 9:23)

Jesus had just told his disciples that he was going to suffer, be rejected by the leaders of Israel, be killed and he would rise on the third day. Then he says, the same is going to happen to you. Now before you dismiss this as applying to the disciples I want you to note that it says, "The he said to them all". In other words, he turned from his disciples and addressed the multitude, which includes you and me.

If any of us want to follow Jesus we first have to recognize that it is no longer about us. It is not about the benefits of being a disciples. It's not about the great blessings because we are only stewards of those blessings which are suppose to be distributed by us. We have to disown ourselves. We have to let go of our own interests, in fact, we have to completely lose sight of ourselves. Just like Jesus, we have to set our own interests aside in order to lay down our lives for the lost, to continue on with the mission. What other words can I use to try to emphasize this point?

Does that describe us? Can we say that this is our perspective of things, that we are mere servants, not looking out for ourselves, denying ourselves so that we can serve wholeheartedly with nothing held back? If we are honest with ourselves we would have to say no. We are distracted and seduced by all the pleasures of this world. We are more interested in protecting our rights, our interests than we are in sacrificing ourselves for others. There is a whole lot of repenting that needs to go on in the Body of Christ.

What about this cross thing? Jesus was heading into a period of suffering and warned us that we would have to face the same thing. His cross was his privileged duty and there was a lot of suffering associated with it and those who follow, follow in like manner. Jesus told us not to avoid it. In fact, he said that if we try to avoid it, if we are ashamed of it, that he would be ashamed of us upon his return. He said that those who would follow him must take up their cross daily.

Again, does that describe us? Most of us avoid any form of suffering associated with the mission of Jesus. If we do happen to face it we complain and whine and go on about it. Some of us are actually surprised by it. Jesus told us to stand up in it, to love our enemies, to pray for those who do persecute us, to turn the cheek. We have to stop seeing it as people coming against our "rights" and act like the apostles who rejoiced in the privilege of suffering for the Name. With everything that is coming our way we had better ask the Spirit to change our attitude or we are not going to get very far. In fact, many of us will turn back from the flames and deny Jesus instead of denying themselves. Let's not be among them.

It isn't about following a certain pastor or teacher. It isn't about being a member of a certain church. It isn't about attending certain Bible Colleges. Then again, it isn't about your financial or career success either. It isn't about the size of your house or the car that you drive. It isn't about fame or glory. It is about Jesus. It is about following Jesus. It is about him being the reason, motivation and purpose of your life. It is about you giving up the control and allowing Jesus to lead.

Does this describe us? Does this describe you? Jesus is not a hobby, he is everything or he is nothing. No half measures. We can't be in love with worship, or our studies, or the ministry, or our church, or our pastor. Jesus must be our first and greatest love from which everything else flows. If this is the case then we will have no problem walking in his footsteps, suffering daily for the sake of the mission, in obedience to the Holy Spirit. May we all lean on the Spirit to strengthen us in faithfulness until Jesus calls us home.