Called To Serve part 4

This is the final part of this subject as far as this little exercise is concerned but I hope it is not the end of you seeking greater revelation on this subject. What we are exploring is how we can avoid in the Church a similar leadership melt down that Israel experienced. It helps us to realize that everything in the Kingdom is volunteer. I am not forced to submit myself to the Spirit, I volunteer to do so. It is for my best interest but it is still a decision I get to make. This is applied to everything : it is my choice to accept or reject Father’s free gift of salvation ; I volunteer to walk in obedience ; I volunteer to worship ; I volunteer to serve ; I volunteer to love. It’s always a choice even if I am compelled by love.

To go forward we need to understand, accept and apply that all instruction that has been written in the past is for our benefit today:

“Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures.” Romans 15:4

Trust me, the leadership we are considering comes at such a high cost that it is impossible without the hope that comes through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. This model is uniquely a kingdom model that is impossible to duplicate without Jesus because without him we can do nothing.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.” 15:5-6

Because that is the end goal, relationships that are matured into unity where we glorify our Father with one voice. This must be the foundational understanding of any form of leadership within the Body of Christ. It is from this perspective, that we renew daily, that we decide to remain focused on our King and his purpose for us:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” 15:7

Going on 40 years of following Jesus I have yet to see him reject me due to my imperfections, mistakes, blunders, sins. He keeps covering them, keeps lifting me up, keeps perfecting me in my imperfection. So how can I as a leader in the Body do anything other than serve the weak from my position of power. My life is spent for the purpose of seeing them mature in Jesus. I must be like and do like Jesus:

“I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors, and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy.” 15:8-9

The servant-leaders in the Body can only avoid the collapse of Israel’s government by refusing to focus on themselves, understand Kingdom leadership and daily renew their submission to the King and their service to the Body. No other form of leadership will benefit the individuals of the Body and no other form of leadership will be rewarded. 

Called To Serve part 3

 I hope you have taken the time to read through part one and part two in order that you may get the most out of part three. We understand that Yahweh had set up a government of checks and balances in Israel which included the High Priest, High Judge, the Prophet and the king. But these offices had failed to retain the understanding that their purpose was the people. Their purpose was to serve the people to maintain a kingdom that was focused on Yahweh and each other. Instead, they put that focus on themselves and everything Yahweh had put in place for a prosperous society could not function due to the improper focus. Now let’s turn the page to where we are today, after the cross.

Jesus came with multiple purposes including the revealing of the depth of Father’s heart. Jesus taught and demonstrated what relationship looks like in the Kingdom, including the servant-leaders, and then he left to send us the Spirit to empower us to live it. In our present age we have the Body of Christ, which we are all part of and the only head is Jesus. He has given us trainers, the five-fold (apostles, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher), to train us in the works that will unite us and grow us into the maturity of Jesus. In this structure we are all part of the royal priesthood, each of us a leader in a broken world. Our focus is on those who Father loves, the lost of this world, not to lord it over them but to serve them so they would be open to Jesus.

The structure of the Body can be scary for those who are looking for a pyramid structure with a boss dictating to everyone else. Instead it is an inverted pyramid. Paul refers to the apostles as being the ones who take the most abuse as they lay it all on the line for the purpose of serving the Body. Paul gives us a wonderful picture of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12 and too often that’s as far as we go. But Paul said that there is a way that allows all the diversity to be united together, functioning together for the same purpose. He follows this with the wonder 1 Corinthians 13. You should pause and refresh yourself on these two chapters.

What Paul is giving us is the manner in which we prevent the failure we see in the government of Israel. The whole Bible is about relationship and Father wants us to understand what right relationship looks like with him and with each other. Understanding this, let’s consider Romans 15. 

Verse one should stop us right in our tracks when we are considering the relationship between the mature and the beginners in the Body:

“We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves.”

This works for relationships in the Body but also with those who have yet to come to Jesus. We can have a terrible attitude toward those who are still controlled by their sins, new believers and pre-believers. We make a mistake when we try to control their sin instead of demonstrating Father’s love, patience and kindness. We are not responsible for conviction, that is the Spirit’s job. We have enough on our hands to stay within our anointing, demonstrating the power of Father’s love to heal and forgive.

When we see this as our primary purpose, to demonstrate Father’s love, they will soon recognize Jesus’ love demonstrated on the cross and love will compel them to forsake sin in the same way it compels us to serve as servants. There is no fast track. Everything takes time to learn and respond to. We love and we make sure we are prepared to give the reason for our hope, to new believers and pre-believers. We are all learning. There will always be those more mature and less mature than us. So we serve with humility. Consider :

“Each of us should please our neighbours for their good in order to build them up. Christ didn’t please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me.” (Romans 15:2-3)

That’s a pretty powerful picture, absorbing what is intended to destroy your neighbour. How do we do that? The enemy is out to destroy your neighbour but instead we cover those moments by grace. Sounds poetic but when you have been raised in an environment of calling out every sin, every offense, every mistake, it can be hard to shift gears into proper kingdom leadership.

I am going to give you some time to seek Father’s heart on this. If you have questions, take them to him and wait on the answers. I pray that he will show you his heart on the matter. We will come back to finish this off with part 4.

Called To Serve part 2

 I am not going to re-cap part 1. It is available to you to look over quickly. We are going to jump right into this by me asking you to put this aside until you read Jeremiah 23. Don’t pretend you read it. It’s going to take you three minutes and you will get much more out of this by laying the foundation of Scripture.

Okay, I am going to assume you have read it, and I hope you did. It’s pretty heavy in the category of correction. The government that Yahweh had set up for Israel had completely bottomed out and to understand this we need to lean heavily on the first part. Remember what Jesus said about leadership in the Kingdom: not to rule but to serve.

In this chapter, the shepherds that are being referred to are all those who have any role in the four offices of government including those who assisted these offices. These are the officials, the assistants, the clerks who are all in place to help the four offices serve the people so that the people can succeed in life. Remember, the goal is a right relationship with Yahweh and each other because this is the foundation to success in Yahweh. It is from right relationship that all the blessings of Yahweh flow. Now of these officials Yahweh states:

“You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the LORD.”

He says that he will replace them with shepherds who will fulfill their duties:

“I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the LORD.”

Look how important those leaders are to the welfare of the people : no fear, no dread, no harm, and no one missing. The LORD is placing the current poor condition of the people squarely on the shepherds.

The king has been another failure in this government. The solution is simple : replace him with a righteous king. “The LORD Is Our Righteousness” cannot describe any human representative. No human could be considered righteous outside of Yahweh making it so. It had to be Jesus. Simple enough.

It is the prophet that was the greatest disappointment because the prophet was the most intimate part of the government. The prophet had to have an intimate relationship with Yahweh in order to hear him and repeat the message. He was often in the secret place, having set aside his life to live as Yahweh’s voice to the nations. It was dangerous, difficult and required a complete surrender of will and thought.

“Because the country teems

with adulterers,

because of them,

yes, because their might is not right

and their way is evil,

the land dries up,

and the grazing areas in the wilderness wither.”

The shepherds’ neglect impacted the people but the prophet’s corruption impacted the people and the land. There was no voice of correction. No one was calling the officials to repentance. No one was delivering the truth needed. They were all about sunny days and sunny ways. They spoke from their own desires and not from the intimate position of the prophet. In this mess we hear Yahweh state something very important:

“Let the prophet who has a dream declare it, but let the one who has my word proclaim it faithfully.”

We are a prophetic people and Father communicates with us prophetically. But the measuring rod for this is the word of God. The Spirit will never speak to us outside of this foundation. He will give us revelation but that is simply a deepening of our understanding of what has already been given to us in the word. He will help us understand Kingdom systems but they are all found in the word. Every prophetic word is only viable if it is measured by the word of God. This is for our safety.

Everything Jesus taught us can be found in scriptures except that he brought us to Father’s heart with it. He took the word and he brought us to the place where it was intended to live, in great richness, power and intimacy. He showed us the true depth of relationship, “love your neighbour as you love yourself” went to the deeper place of “love your enemy”.

However, the focus here is on leadership in the Kingdom. In part 3 we are going to consider how this service to others is supposed to look on this side of the cross so that failure of shepherds can be avoided.

Called To Serve part 1

 Leadership is considered a key matter in the Church today. We have hundreds of conferences, online classes and hundreds of books published every year focusing on this subject. It is for this reason that we must insist that leadership in the Church remain biblically based. I am in no way qualified to teach on leadership but I have recently received some revelation for myself that I would like to share with you. We will start in the Hebrew texts and move into the Christian texts.

I enjoy every part of the Bible and appreciate each writer for their distinct purpose and revelation. Some of these writers I feel more partial to than others. Jeremiah is one of these writers. Born in the royal line of David, he comes across as an everyday man, called out from a regular life, into the role of prophet during a very troubling time. The Lord told him that he knew him before he was born and had set him aside at that time to be his prophet.

Let’s remind ourselves of the government that the Lord had set up in Israel. People can be mistaken in thinking that the government is the king and his officials. That is only one part of the government. No, what the Lord had set up can be compared to the government of the United States, with its three parts balancing each other and acting as accountability partners so no one person could become too powerful.

In Israel there was the High Priest who had lots of responsibilities but the big one was maintaining the law and sacrifices, everything that had been set down on paper from Yahweh through Moses. He gave oversight to the priesthood and the Levitical workers.

There was also the High Judge who normally came from the priesthood. We can see that there were periods of Israel’s history when the king would take on this office but it was supposed to be a separate person who would act as the high court, especially in doctrinal matters. He was responsible for oversight of the entire judicial system and was responsible for applying Yahweh’s justice, which was often about responsibility in relationship.

There was also the prophet or prophets. These were a unique group of people who enjoyed a relationship with Yahweh like no other. The High Priest was required to enter into the presence of Yahweh once a year but the prophet experienced him many times over. Prophets were set aside according to Yahweh’s will and came from every walk of life, regardless of position, rank or condition. But once called, everything from the past was canceled and complete obedience was required. These people, male and female, were called upon to do weird and dangerous things. Many were killed. But the prophet was Yahweh’s voice today, for this current situation, giving direction or bringing correction.

The king was the last position to be put in place. He represented Yahweh in terms of power. This power was for protection and provision. It was his responsibility to maintain an army to protect the borders. He was responsible for trade so that God’s people would be equipped to be prosperous. He had his own specific set of rules to prevent him from becoming too powerful and overpowering the other positions of government.

All of these people, including their officials and staff who assisted them were there for the purpose of the people, to build them up, to see them succeed in life. They were not there for their own agenda, to become wealthy off the people, to stack the deck in their favour. They were servants to the people, representing different aspects of Yahweh in their lives. It was a beautiful system, until it wasn’t.

David’s time was probably the best period to look at if you want to see this system at work. David protected the function of the other positions. There was justice in the land because the High Judge was permitted to carry out his role. The sacrifices were maintained and there was constant worship going up because the High Priest carried out his responsibilities. The majority of the land was experiencing peace as the king drove back their enemies and demonstrated the power of Yahweh to protect his own. And when the king thought he could do whatever he wanted, the prophet showed up to tell David that what he did was seen and to bring correction. 

In order for this system to work everything had to be focused on Yahweh. The benefit of the Law needed to be understood. The importance of each position for the prosperity and success of the nation, the people, needed to be held on to. It was not a successful nation when the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Everyone needed to function within a fear of the Lord, out of utter respect for the instruction and a desire to be faithful to the Lord and his people. But not every king was like David and the system would fail.

In part two we are going to consider Yahweh’s heart when his servant’s failed to serve his people.

The Politics Of Division Is Not Our Way

I hope you are going to celebrate all things Quebec tomorrow. We have the privilege of living in one of the most unique and incredible parts of Canada. It is unfortunate that we often allow the politics of the day to keep hidden the best part of this province, which is the people. La Fête National is not about the government of this land but about its citizens. It's not even about language, we just made language the focus.

Many years ago the French language came to represent the culture of Quebec and became a cornerstone of identity. There are a number of places in the world that are in the same position, but there are also a few unique places that find their identity in things other than language. One of these places is the Netherlands (Holland), and in a parallel fashion, the people of Flanders. I have had the privilege of knowing some great people from this area of the world.

In Holland/Flanders different languages are not seen as a threat but as a means of communicating, which is the purpose of language. They seemed to take on such a love for language that learning as many languages as possible was celebrated. My great grandmother was originally from Passchendaele in west Flanders. From all accounts she spoke six languages but did not teach them to any of her children.

I might consider this just a story passed down about a well loved lady but my own experience told me how true it was. When I moved to Belgium one of the first young people I met was a 14 year old young lady who offered to act as my interpreter. When I asked how many languages she spoke she told me five and was hoping to learn a couple more. She was Flemish.

My point is that these people did not find their identity in language. Their culture was not defined by language. These people were tied together by a shared history and wonderfully expanding traditions. It was relationships, their way of life and their shared values that defined them. They did not feel threatened by new languages but embraced them.

This is very close to the expression of the Kingdom and the Church that represents Jesus. Paul wrote:

“You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

We have made the mistake like Quebec politicians of trying to rob the Body of the diversity that makes us beautiful and strong. What we have in common is that there is only one way to the Father, who is Christ Jesus. We are united under the same Father and we are joined together by the same Spirit. We share in the gifts and fruit of the Spirit. We have the same mission which is to demonstrate the Kingdom to a lost and dying world. Our vocabulary is that of the Kingdom. Our actions are those of our King. But we are not defined by one of the many diverse languages we use to worship nor one of the many traditions of the culture we were born to. Our identity is found in Jesus.

We are wrong to allow any of these things to separate us from each other or to be a source of division. Just as there is nothing that separates us from the love of Christ there should not be anything that separates us from this same expression of his love in each other. Our goal with each other is to love each other with Father’s extravagant love. Together we stand. Je me souviens.

If Only There Were Instructions

 If we spend thousands of dollars on an appliance we would be pretty foolish not to read through the instructions on how to use it properly. We would be even more foolish if we read the instructions and then decide to use it however we felt like it. And we would probably be the first person to be calling the manufacturer when the appliance broke from our misuse.  King Solomon was like this.

Solomon had prayed for discernment and Yahweh was pleased that he had. So he gave him a discerning mind which led to wisdom, and then he gave him riches, fame and peace as well. But the covenant also required that Solomon would follow all of Yahweh’s instructions and worship him all his days.

Part of these instructions was not to take many wives and not to take foreign wives who would turn their husband’s away from Yahweh. There were also instructions not to go back to Egypt, not to become too wealthy and not to possess too many horses. Yet the first thing Solomon did was make an alliance with Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. He also entered into a horse trade which built up his personal wealth. Obviously the big problem was the many many foreign women he married who turned his heart away from Yahweh. If only someone had warned him. Oh, wait! Someone had.

That’s the problem most of us have. We have been given instruction on how to do relationship in the way that pleases Father’s heart. It is clear and it is doable. When we follow these instructions blessings flow. But we ignore the instructions and end up with broken relationships, and we act surprised, as if we had no access to the Bible and Spirit.

No one is saying that relationships are easy because they aren’t. They involve imperfect people but the instructions already take this into account, dealing with apologies and forgiveness. The Bible puts relationship in the center and everything else revolves around this; our relationship with Yahweh and our relationship with each other. There is nothing saying it doesn’t get messy, only that such value is placed on them that we have been told to do what we can to keep peace in these relationships.

When we don’t follow the instructions things get broken. Thankfully Spirit is the greatest repairman in all of eternity.

Simplifying The Complicated, part four - Loving Yourself

The premise of this series is that we have over-complicated something our Father designed to be simple. That is the only way to describe the confusion surrounding the subject of self-love. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment he referred to three objects of love : God, our neighbour and ourselves. Look at it again:

“‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’ Contained within these commandments to love you will find all the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 22:37-40 TPT

Note : love you friend in the same way you love yourself. 

I have written on this subject on many occasions and it never fails to provoke a negative reaction from some readers because they read titles and not substance. I fully agree that our society often fails because of the self-centered attitude of individuals. But Scripture makes it pretty clear that we are to take a supporting role to the leading role of others. We are to see ourselves as serving others because all our needs have already been met. But that does not negate "in the same way you love yourself".

We don't have to complicate this. Self love is a necessity. If we do not look after ourselves we will not be in any position to help others. We were created with certain needs. We need to eat well. We need proper rest. We need good hygiene. We need friends, and we need to be needed by friends. We need forgiveness. We need mercy. We need love. We need a solid relationship with Father, Son and Spirit. Not complicated but important.

Most of us are not very good at this because we take "consider others more important than yourself" to mean "neglect yourself", which it does not. This same scripture says to "consider the needs of others along with your own". We actually are doing wrong when we are not taking care of what Father has given us.

If we were given a car I am sure most of us would follow the maintenance schedule, keep the fuel tank full and wash the thing as often as we could. It is being a good steward of what has been given to us. It is not different with our life. Our heart, mind and body have needs that must be meet to maintain what has been given to us. Then there is the matter of other people.

When we take the time to understand our needs we will also begin to understand the needs of others. We will give ourselves as a friend because we understand the importance of friendship. When we see someone hungry we will want them to have the best food because we understand the need for good food. When we see someone without a home we will want to help because we know the importance of having a secure place to call home. When someone needs forgiveness we will forgive. When someone needs grace we will shower it upon them. But if we neglect these and many more things for ourselves then we will also neglect them in the lives of others.

We complicate it when we try to push this ministry onto the institutionalized Church or we try to get all religious about it. Stop complicating it. Is Father our provider? Does he provide for our spiritual, emotional and physical needs? Of course he does. So he expects us to be ministering at this level as well, understanding our needs so we can understand the needs of others.

Remember the passage concerning the sheep and goats. Jesus said "whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for me" and vice versa "whatever you have not done for the least of these you have not done for me". Simple. Not complicated. This is the reason James wrote:

"Your calling is to fulfill the royal law of love as given to us in this Scripture: “You must love and value your neighbor as you love and value yourself!” For keeping this law is the noble way to live."   James 2:8 TPT

I appreciate that, "the noble way to live". To love yourself enough to look after your needs is the noble way to live. You position yourself to love others by building it on the foundation of you first loving God, then taking care of what he has given you and by taking care of the objects of his love (people).

Can we do this? Of course we can because Jesus said that love will empower us to obey his commandments. It has nothing to do with whether a person is deserving or even what they will do with what we give them. They may throw our friendship away, spit on our gifts and despise our desire to help. They may walk away from our forgiveness and trample over our grace. Then again it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship that may help a person enter the Kingdom of God. Regardless, it will be from a place of authenticity because we love them in the same way we love ourselves. It's beautiful. It's not complicated. It's simple. We just need to do it.

Simplifying The Complicated, part three - Love Your Neighbour

We live in the age of misinformation. That has become clearer for us since the pandemic hit, as half-truths and lies have muddied the waters to the point that people are just shutting down and shutting off. This is the same tactic the enemy uses in trying to get us to shut off the voice of our Father.

It is an old tactic that we first see with Eve as the enemy tried to muddy the waters around Father's instructions. Today he does the same thing to provoke division and distrust. And he doesn't have to do much. He simply whispers an half-truth about someone (half-truths are so much more effective than full lies when people don't check it out) then walks away and watches us create an eco-system from it. One lie will perpetuate more likes until we have this wonderful system feeding on itself.

Father made it simple but we have complicated it. This is the third installment on this subject of simplicity with God and in this I want us to consider the simplicity of our purpose.

A lot of us complicate what Father made to be very simple. We take lots of classes, courses, write assignments, listen to sermons, read books but it comes down to this. I will let James explain it:

"Your calling is to fulfill the royal law of love as given to us in this Scripture: 'You must love and value your neighbour as you love and value yourself!' For keeping this law is the noble way to live." 2:8 TPT

This is exactly what Jesus said is the most important thing in life after loving God. When questioned about what he meant by 'neighbour' Jesus gave the example of the good Samaritan. He purposefully chose a Samaritan sacrificially helping a Jew because these two groups considered themselves theological enemies.

Jesus made love a simple thing in every example he gave us and we complicate it. We muddy the waters.  James said that there is no way that anyone filled with love could praise God and then curse a brother, but guess what we do all the time when we are attacking ministries we do not agree with. We do opposite to what Jesus said and then we cover this by saying we were "called" to the task of tearing down people we measure as wrong. Self-appointed hate-mongers. We love complicating things.

It is simple : We are to love. We build up. We encourage. We support. We give generously. We forgive. We live by grace. We are positive. We are hopeful. We believe God will do it where we can't. We remember our testimony and believe Dad will do the same for everyone. We allow the Spirit to do his thing. We do this by getting our minds out of the sins of others. Scripture tells us:

"So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always." Philippians 4:8 TPT

Paul wrote this in a portion where he was telling two sisters to work out their differences. Where we focus matters. If we focus on the faults and failings we will struggle to see value and be able to love. When we focus on the Kingdom then we will see everyone as the King values them and we will concentrate on the person not their actions. This is not a "nice if you can manage it" but the core of our being as the Child of God.

Part of our problem is not understanding our purpose as James has described it. We see ourselves as Old Testament prophets bent on calling out sin and pronouncing judgement. This muddies the waters, cuts off Father's voice, causes the enemy to dance in delight. Instead we are suppose to proclaim the good news, that the Kingdom of God is at hand and that there is an invitation to enter the King's rest. We are in an age where grace enables us in all things and where the Spirit of God is responsible for conviction.

Our assignment is to carry the Kingdom of God into every situation we encounter and to demonstrate the love of Father for every single person regardless of their actions. It is in relationship with people that we get to demonstrate the value Father has placed on them. It's as simple as that: to love.

Of course it goes a lot deeper than that but this is where we start. In fact, if we do not start at sacrificial love we can't go any deeper. Doors into the hearts of people will not open. We will spend all of our days trying to conform the behaviour of people without ever touching their heart. There is no exception to this purpose. There is no exception in love. We do not get to exclude any person, even our enemies. All of our days are spent learning how to love God, ourselves and others better, higher, deeper, wider. 

The enemy has been muddying the waters, getting us to do opposite to what Father has designed. Muddied waters allow us to believe that attacking differences is a holy action. Muddied waters allow us to take part in the enemies goal to steal, kill and destroy and we do it all in the name of Jesus. Muddied waters got us kicked out of the garden and it prevents us from unifying and growing up into the fullness of Christ.

Perhaps the real problem with loving people is that we have failed to understand the importance of learning to love ourselves. "Love and value your neighbour as you love and value yourself." How can we love others as we love ourselves if we do not know how to love ourselves? That will be our next entry.

Influencers

At different times of my life the Spirit has highlighted specific lessons he wants me to grasp. These lessons become foundational stones in "who I am" as the Spirit refines my image bearing responsibilities. I realized a while ago that I will never arrive at a point where I have a full revelation of any of the attributes of Yahweh because they are so much higher, wider, deeper than I can grasp while clothed in flesh. But what I can grasp I have the responsibility to act on as my "dna" is re-written.

I have always been attracted to the servant nature of Jesus and understood that he modeled the attribute in which we are to serve. He told the disciples that leadership in the kingdom looks opposite to the model of leadership in this world. James told us our purpose is to "love and value our neighbour". Paul wrote that we are to consider other people more important than ourselves and to consider their interest and not just our own. Jesus told us to love each other in the same manner he has loved us.

Jesus spoke with a megaphone when he took on the servant's role and washed his disciple's feet. It wasn't so much the washing the feet as much as this was the responsibility of a servant. This is an attribute that has escaped much of the Church for much of her history. There is a reason that we are not very attractive to the world and why so many sins have been committed in the name of Jesus.

A simple thought has been given to me in recent days that best sums up this new foundational stone that is being formed in my life. It is a thought I have chased after all my life because my heart's desire was to be a servant to the Church. In my earlier years I did not understand that this desire was due to my calling in the Body and in later years it was more a fleeting thought than a foundational stone. Yet, the thought sums up this "dna" transformation concisely:

We have greater influence when we live as supporting actors than as leading stars.

The great failing of the Church has been her desire to control society, forcing people into behaviours that can only be supported by a transformed heart. Father has no desire to force control on anyone but he gladly welcomes our surrender to his will and his ways. Jesus extended an invitation to the world and told us that his yoke is well fitting and his burden is light. This is in comparison to humanity trying to earn its way. Jesus had the authority to give the invitation because he took on the role as a servant and paid for our invitation. There is no other way.

What happens when we place ourselves in the starring role is that we place everyone else in a supporting role. We try to control them into thinking like us, acting like us, talking like us, dressing like us. I don't think it is done maliciously but neither is it done with love. We are attempting to do something that our Father has never done.

In this age of grace he has given everyone a bit of breathing space to discover him. One day is reserved for judgement and what will be judged is whether a person accepted Jesus' invitation or not. Those of us who have accepted that invitation and have become citizens of God's Kingdom have been given a ministry of reconciliation. It is not a ministry of hatred, manipulation and fear. It is a ministry of support and influence. We enter into the lives of people and become part of their life for them, not ourselves. The focus is on their success and a demonstration of the Kingdom for them so that they discover that while we were in rebellion Jesus died for us because Father is for us not against us and if he is for us who could be against us. 

The message of the cross is love and forgiveness. Too often we make it an instrument of condemnation. Too often we forget the "While we were still" part and we expect people to clean up their act before coming to Jesus. We try to control them by controlling their behaviour. Even after they bend their knee to Jesus it is wrong for us to force change. We teach but the Spirit convicts and with his conviction comes ongong transformation because it is a process. Meanwhile, the mature are encouragers, cheerleaders of the immature because we have all been there and we know what Jesus is doing.

We influence the world for Jesus not control it. We become friends with the rebellious so the influence of the Kingdom is present in their lives. We never make it about us. We never put ourselves in the center. We stand on  the ground we have been given and we fight for others from a position of peace not fear. And we remember that behaviour is only a symptom. It is the heart that matters. Always the heart. We are influencers.

Can God Use Trump?

I can tell you right now that this is going to be a blog that doesn't satisfy anyone. It is not a political post nor is it pro or con Trump. I am not anti-politics, I just reserve my political views for face-to-face discussions. No, the purpose of this post is to state how the Lord can and will use anyone to move his will forward.

There has been a lot of debate about why Christians put their trust in someone like president Trump. From all appearances he is not a standard bearer for the righteousness of Jesus, King of kings. I don't need to go into the details because I believe most of us are overly familiar with his statements and actions. But does this mean that the Lord cannot use this man?

Just to get it out of the way, let's point out the "let who who has not sinned cast the first stone" situation. My past is filled with incidents where I fell far short of my Father's standard of love. I am still learning and growing so I am certain there will be other areas in which I fail. You too. Does this mean that I am no longer of any use to my King? Or you? Hardly.

The Lord knew what he was doing when he went to the cross for me. He sits at the right hand of Father today explaining why we get it wrong sometimes. He knows me, understands me and intercedes for me because he loves me. It is the same heart of our Father who desires that everyone would be reconciled to him. As Scripture says, if he is for us who can be against us?

Does this mean that President Trump is a Christian? I don't know but I do know that Christians, especially immature ones, have a lot to learn about the righteousness of our King. We know this to be a process and one that we are walking through in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. There is only One who is perfect in love and we are growing up into that maturity.

Now let's suppose President Trump is not a Christian. Does this mean that our King cannot use him to move his will forward? Hardly. Scripture is filled with examples of how Yahweh blessed and even increased unrighteous leaders in order to move his will forward or in order to keep his promises.

Just this morning I was considering the life of king Abijah who was considered a wicked king. He only reigned a few years in Judah but long enough that he was in a battle with the rest of Israel. He was outnumbered and surrounded but even though he was wicked, Yahweh still fought that battle for him and gave him victory because of a promises he had given to David. Yet there were other wicked kings that Yahweh refused to help. 

There is another reason why many Christians support Trump. It comes down to scripture that tells us to support and pray for the leadership, understanding that it is the Lord who raises and lowers governments. There are definitely times that the Lord will raise the world to take down a leader that has gotten out of control. But when the world comes against someone the Lord has established then he will defend that leader.

At the end of the day I cannot discern the will of my King simply because of someones words or actions. I need to be in tune with Father's heart and in step with the Spirit in order to understand the mind of Christ. We cannot afford to judge by mere appearances and must discern according to the will of our Father, which is readily available for us to know.

And this may be the reason why so many Christians feel compelled to support a man that appears to be at odds with the principles of the Kingdom.

How Can I be Sure I Am Saved

I am always amazed but no longer surprised by the number of Christians who ask me "How do you know if you are saved?" There was a time I would have given the simple answer that if they had called on the name of Jesus as Lord and Saviour then they are saved. But I quickly realized that they are missing the knowledge of what salvation looks like and what it looks like to be a child of God. So I have modified my answer.

To belong to the King of kings is to be citizens of a different country, a country that is not cannot be known by the citizens of this world. This world has become a principality of a false princve, one who came to steal, kill, and destroy. The King's Kingdom is based of principles that are much higher than the principles of this world. Many terms and words are similar but what they convey is something so much more.

Accepting Jesus as King means that we are given eyes to see the unseen and a mind to understand according to Father's heart. That means our perspective of this world and life in general is different. It changes. Everything of the Kingdom is planted in us as seeds so that we grow in our revelatory knowledge and our actions follow.

Many mistake that the commands of Jesus are like the Law of Moses, an external thing that we learn to obey. Instead those commands are like the blueprint of what a Kingdom citizen looks like and the King even set the example for us. The commands are actually written into our DNA so now it is natural for us to be like Jesus and for the immature not to be like him. The immature can decide to grow up but they can also decide to live by the principles of the principality instead. It is a matter of surrendering our old habits, old perspectives, old actions and giving prominence to the new. Unfortunately the people who are suppose to teach this new reality are still focused on the new Old Testament; still teaching people to try to conform to a law that we cannot do. 

The short answer is, if you still see life the same way before you started attending church you probably have yet to surrender to the King. You may like some of the stuff you see but not enough to surrender your life. 

However, if everything has changed since you called on Jesus, you love differently, you forgive easily, your compassion moves you to action, life has become a generous sacrifice, joy sustains you, peace constantly steadies you, you feel no need to judge, you make allowances for the Lord to do stuff and you live to see others discover the Kingdom and the King, you can be certain that you have the blessing of salvation. 

It is nothing you can earn or buy but it is a relationship that never leaves us the same and changes absolutely everything.

Overcoming Prejudice - Free-Flowing Grace

In this short series on overcoming prejudice I have spent a lot of time looking at the example Jesus gave us. It should be clear, by the amount of time and effort Jesus spent bringing the unseen people of society into the sight of everyone, that prejudice is not part of the Kingdom. This means it should not be part of the Church if the Church is the representation of God's Kingdom on earth. But telling someone they should not be prejudice is the same as telling someone they have to love or they have to forgive. Laws and commands do not change hearts. 

There should be no prejudice in the Body of Christ. Everyone should love and respect their neighbour. We should honour everyone. But just because Father said it does not mean his children will do it. Perfect obedience is only born from perfect love, and we are still learning, growing and maturing. 

Then what do we do?

The beginning point is desire. I want to love. I want to obey. I want to respect. I want to honour. Even if I am falling short. Desire will give birth to honesty, where we can confess these failings. These honest confessions open us to where we are willing to hear the Spirit, accept his convictions and surrender what we are powerless to change. This is a life long process as the Spirit is changing us, conforming us, with our cooperation, to be like Jesus.

I am going to end this series with a portion of scripture my friends and I have been meditating on this week. It comes from Paul's final letter to Timothy. He writes to Timothy:

"Live your life empowered by God's free-flowing grace, which is your true strength, found in the anointing of Jesus and your union with him." 2 Timothy 2:1

Until we recognize that we can do nothing outside of Jesus we will continue to fall short of the fullness we have been called to in Jesus. It is by grace that we were rescued from our life of rebellion. It is by grace that we were adopted. It is by grace that we were invited to enter the Kingdom. It is by grace that we have been called to represent Jesus to the world. So why would we think we would have to find our own way to live it? Crazy thoughts.

Live your life empowered by God's free-flowing grace. Freely we have received so freely we give. Freely we have received grace so freely we give it out. No one has to live up to my expectations in order to be loved by me. No one has to conform to my standards to be honoured by me. No one needs to earn my respect to receive my respect.

I did not deserve Father's love. I did not merit Jesus' death on the cross. I did not earn the gift of Holy Spirit. These were all acts and gifts of mercy and grace, flowing from Father's heart of love. This is how I am empowered by God's free flowing grace to love, respect and honour every person of every gender, culture and colour. It is not about humanity. It is not about my opinion. It is not about feeling good. It is not about world peace. It is not about being well thought of. It is about my Father's heart, his will and his desire. The source of this grace is not found in me. It is God's free flowing grace.

How do I overcome? I understand Father's desire by Jesus' actions. I see how much he loves me and everyone else. I choose to accept his love. It is love that empowers me to obey him. And when I find something that is not aligned with him I surrender it to him. Spirit is then able to overwrite that thing with Father's heart and I find in this relationship that I am empowered by God's free flowing grace to live out his heart.

This is what it is suppose to look like, and if it doesn't, we have some growing up to do. 

Overcoming Prejudice - Authorities

Being a follower of Jesus has its challenges in this world but the biggest challenge is overcoming the limitations we place on ourselves by the systems of this world. We do not have strong enough teaching to help children of God to understand that we live by higher standards, more powerful principles than the pale comparisons in the world. Our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and the principles by which we live are founded there not here.

This is important to understand as I continue in my series concerning overcoming prejudice. We have been shaped by our society with ideas and attitudes that often rest below our conscience thinking but influence our actions. However when we bend our knee and recognize Jesus as our King, the Spirit births us into a new creation, and citizen of the Kingdom, governed by the rules of our King. There is a transformation that takes place and we are seeded with everything we need for godliness and living as his representatives in this world.

When this happens there is a rewiring that happens and the root of these ideas and attitudes from our society are cut off as the new seeds are planted. But we have lived with them so long that we live by habit and it is these habits that we need to surrender and have our thinking renewed. This is where we may discover the prejudices we didn't even know we were living with.

Jesus demonstrated his heart, Father's heart and the principles of the Kingdom by the way he treated people. We have account after account of how Jesus took the "unseen" people of the society of his day and brought them into the "seen". Jesus challenged what had become acceptable and taught by the rules of the day. At the same time, he continued to honour these rulers. 

Often times those who cry out against injustices and prejudices commit these same crimes against those they are protesting. The attitude of the Kingdom is clear as James wrote that we are to honour everyone. Authority may be wrong and we may have to protest to show it is wrong but we can still do it in a way that shows respect and honour.

I believe that many of us misread Jesus' encounters with the Pharisees and Sadducees. There certainly were times when Jesus called them out, giving them the label of "brood of vipers" and "white washed tombs" but Jesus did not show any prejudice with them. We see him going to their homes for supper. He met with them in secret. He have them opportunities to see the Kingdom of God demonstrated.

Jesus could have avoided them. He could have done the miracles when they weren't around so as to avoid provocation. But I don't believe Jesus was trying to provoke them. He wanted to include them, as much as they hated him. He wanted to give them opportunities to see and to understand. He didn't offer them insight and understanding because he hated them. He did it because he loved them and it broke his heart to see them missing the point.

At Simon's home Jesus took the time to help Simon understand the misalignment of his heart. In the synagogue, healing the man with the withered hand, Jesus wanted the Pharisees to understand the importance Father places on mercy over judgement and the need for compassion in relationships. Jesus took the time with Nicodemus. On many other occasions he patiently answered their many questions. He gave them miracles so they could see beyond his words. He became angry at the insincerity of their hearts.

If Jesus had been prejudice against these leaders and teachers he would have avoided them, remained silent, not visited them homes, not shared with them insights on the Kingdom. For certain the Pharisees did not belong to the "unseen" grouping of people. Their whole thing was to be seen but I point this out to you so that you can understand it is just as wrong to be prejudice against the authority as it is for them to be prejudice against one group of people. Hate does not destroy hate. We are told to overcome evil with good.

I am not saying that it is possible to bring equality to the world. That is not going to happen without Jesus. What I am advocating here is that it has to look different in the Body of Christ. The Church is the representation of the Kingdom in this world, governed by the principles of our King. We cannot be polluted by the wrong thinking and perspective of this world. We understand this as far as things like sexuality but we seem to fall short when it comes to the revelatory-knowledge of "Love and respect your neighbour as you love and respect yourself".

Jesus gave up his life to save us all. That is "all" not a chosen few. It is conditional on that whoever believes will be saved but everyone has the same opportunity to believe. Black and white, rich and poor, male and female, young and old, Jew and non-Jew. We can only function as one nation, united under our King, joined together by the Spirit, if love is our foundation. Jesus said, "Love each other in the same manner I have loved you", and then he went to the cross. He told us what love looked like and even told us that friends lay down their lives for each other. 

That is what it looks like in the Kingdom. That is what it needs to look like in the Church.  

Overcoming Prejudice - Our Enemies

Continuing in our series on prejudice in relation to the Kingdom, today I am considering prejudice against our perceived enemy. This is a really big subject. We all will admit that it is wrong to have bias against an innocent person, or group of people, who have never done anything against us. Unfortunately, many of us will excuse any similar bias against people who have harmed us, who we consider to be our enemy.

The Kingdom of God is a very odd thing compared to this world. Our King very specifically told us that love is beyond anything perceived by our flesh. We have a limited definition what we perceive to be love and then project this on our King. But the foundation of the Kingdom is something otherworldly, beyond our imagination, and sometimes beyond our acceptability. It is a love that says there is nothing special about loving someone who loves you and there is something perfect about loving those who hate you.

The apostle Paul was so convinced of this incredible thing that he said that unless it is the motivation of everything we do, the things we do have no power and are useless, having no value. The power is found in the love that provokes us into action because that love is sourced from Father himself.

Jesus was interrupted one day by a servant who said that his master needed his help. It turned out that this man's boss was a Roman centurion, the enemy that currently occupied and dominated the land of the Jews. They were cruel, hateful and often sadistic in the way they treated the enemies of Rome and there was no doubt the Jews considered themselves enemies of Rome.

Understand this : when Jesus showed preference for the Jews it was because they were the focus of his mission, not because he lacked any love for the other nations. Scripture said that salvation would come to the world through the Jews and Jesus had come to fulfill these scriptures. Paul repeated this often : first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. But Jesus made it clear that salvation would be for everyone who believes.

Now Jesus is faced with this need from an enemy of Israel, a worshiper of multiple gods. We would have considered him justified if he had ignored this need. But he didn't. He responded to the one who considered his people to be the enemy. Note that Jesus came to demonstrate what life looks like as a citizen of the Kingdom. He came to reveal the heart of Father. He came so that we could see the Kingdom in his actions. He answered the prayer of his enemy.

Consider his own prayer as these same Roman soldiers drove the nails through his body and hung him on a tree in public disgrace : Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. Love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. What's so special about loving those who can return that love. The real power is revealed in loving those who can't return that love because of the hatred or fear that blinds them.

It is easy to be prejudice against those who we perceive are hating on us, being biased against us, mistreating and denying us. It is easy to focus on our rights in this world. It is easy to decry the injustices and make demands on others. But as citizens of the Kingdom we have been called to something greater, something beyond ourselves, something rooted in our King, flowing through us by the Holy Spirit. You and I are not capable of this otherworldly love that would have us love our enemy, but we are capable because of Jesus who gives us the strength and power to live it. 

Any of us can say we believe but faith is shown in our actions. Faith is living according to every word that comes from the mouth of our King. Faith is trusting that there is purpose and truth in Jesus' instructions even if it is contrary to our own thinking. Jesus says that it is possible to obey him because love empowers us. We cannot obey him from willpower. We cannot obey him from repetition. Obedience is empowered by love. That is how things work in the Kingdom and that is how we overcome our prejudice toward our enemies.

Overcoming Prejudice - The Hated

I am continuing in my series concerning prejudice and the Kingdom of God. We are examining Father's heart in relationship to lifting up one group of people over another. I have been doing this by looking at Jesus' actions. My attitude in this is as Moses had requested of Yahweh, show me your ways that I may know you. By his actions Jesus demonstrated the Father's heart and the priorities of the Kingdom.

If you have confessed Jesus as Saviour and Lord then you have confessed him as King. You have, by invitation, become citizens of the Kingdom. This Kingdom and her people are reflections of our glorious King, although not all of us have been taught or are living by these greater standards. It is important for us to look to our King for the example he has set so we know how to live by this new nature. 

Jesus spent all his time overcoming the prejudices of his day. He demonstrated how important it is for Kingdom people to bring the "unseen" of this world into the "seen". The strong are to carry the weak. The privileged to lift up the disadvantaged. The acceptable to include the outcasts. And this not in a "looking down" attitude but a equalizing heart.

We have already looked at the touch of the leper, the choosing of Jesus' looked-down on friends and the "seeing" of women but one of the strangest encounters is that of Zacchaeus.

Jesus already demonstrated his view of the outcasts in this society when he chose Matthew, the tax collector, traitor to Israel, as his close companion and future leader. Jesus, God, has always been attracted to these unloved, rejected, hated, people of this society. This culture showed no value in these people which should warn us to be careful with the attitudes of our own culture.

We tend to place value on people similar to ourselves, who have something to offer, contributors, producers of something. We place value on a friendly and kind neighbour, on a caring and sacrificial nurse, on an understanding politician, on a powerful and rich person, on the successful people in our community. We de-value those who are different from us, who live contrary to acceptability, the welfare recipient, the single mom, the mentally ill, the complaining neighbour. As far as our society goes these are the non-contributors who are a drain on our society, so they have no value and are ill treated.

Here we have Zacchaeus, the chief of tax collectors, traitor to Israel, outcast, rejected, hated, whose heart is drawn to this man Jesus. He is curious. And short. The crowd is huge and no one is going to show kindness to the traitor. No one will make way so that he can see. So Zacchaeus climbs a tree so he can look and evaluate this man, Jesus.

I find it amazing, in that entire crowd Jesus singles out one man to honour, one man to bring into the light, one man to "see". He calls out to this man and invites himself to his house. That man had one desire, to be "seen". Jesus placed value on him and Zacchaeus' heart exploded in gratitude, generosity and repentance. What a friend we have in Jesus.

Of course the "seen" people of society did not agree. I am sure they had thoughts about this situation as Simon had about Mary : "If he knew what kind of man this is Jesus would have nothing to do with him." But Jesus did know. He knew and still he lift him up and showed him his value. The Kingdom's value system is far superior to this world's.

Prejudice exists well beyond skin colour, even though skin colour is the issue being addressed today. The real problem is with value. How do we measure a person? How do we determine value? The Kingdom values people simply because they are created by Father and are the objects of his love. Even if they reject him it does not change his love or his focus.

The Kingdom is about people, relationships, love and all its manifestations. It is about reconciliation and the relationship of creation and Creator. Those who accept the invitation of salvation are invited into the Kingdom and into the mission of our King. It is our purpose to live out the Royal Law, "Love and value your neighbourhood as you love and value yourself." Even if your neighbour is different from you, belongs to a different culture, hates you, considers you an enemy, is a non-contributer. Those things do not add or take away value. Value is determined by Father's love. There is no room for prejudice in love.

Overcoming Prejudice - Women

It is hard for many of us in the Western world to understand Kingdom mentality because we have never lived in a Kingdom. As the children of God we need to allow Spirit to create a mindset so that we move from a democratic thinking to a Kingdom thinking. This takes a lot of surrender and the acceptance that it is a steep learning curve that we will not always succeed in living. Mistakes will happen.

A Kingdom takes on the character of the king. If he is a cruel king then the kingdom will be dominated by cruelty. If he is a kind king then the kingdom will be dominated by kindness. If he is a generous king then the kingdom will be dominated by generosity. So we can understand by these then that the Kingdom of God will reflect the attributes of our King.

We should note that there has been a lack of training in this understanding and revelation. We have many good people sitting in churches and living out there lives who have no concept that they are citizens of the Kingdom and that being such affects their entire thinking and approach to life. They have been recreated but are living according to the old habits because they do not understand the new habits of God's Kingdom.

I preface this blog entry with this explanation because if I do not then we will miss the significance of Jesus' actions. One of the various reasons Jesus came was to demonstrate the Kingdom. Sometimes we reduce this demonstration to the power that enabled miracles. But Jesus also demonstrated the mentality of the Kingdom, which is revelatory-knowledge of Father's heart.

One of the extraordinary things Jesus did was "see" women. This was a time when the Jews treated women very poorly. There is a whole list of things they did to put women down and treat them worse than cattle. The Pharisees were the worse examples of this culture of prejudice. 

How significant is this in understanding the Kingdom? Well, keeping in mind the treatment of women in Jewish culture, consider how many famous stories of Jesus were centered on a woman. Consider his acknowledgement and treatment of the women in his lives. Is it not significant that the recorders of the gospels left these encounters with women in the story of Jesus?

The Samaritan woman at the well was a dramatic encounter that probably is one of the first to come to mind but the one I want to highlight for you today is the woman who broke into Simon's home to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and hair. Simon was a Pharisee. But this woman had been so touched by Jesus that she needed to worship him regardless of the risk. To consider the significance of the moment we need a little background.

Women were not allowed to eat with Jewish men, especially when guests were over. On top of this, Pharisees, real women haters, would never acknowledge a woman, not even so much as a glance. Now realize what this woman of low repute, a prostitute, did. She broke into this Pharisees' home, entered into the dining area and began to touch Jesus. But how could Simon put a stop to this without acknowledging the presence of the woman? He tried to ignore her at the same time condemning Jesus in his thoughts.

There is a lot to this incident but considering all that I have mentioned maybe you can understand the significance of what Jesus said, "Look at this woman Simon".

WE know in reading the Scriptures that Jesus used this woman to teach Simon the proper response to sacrificial love and then he pierced this Pharisees' prejudice, lack of love, that encased this his heart and demanded him to look past his prejudice and see this woman : Simon, look at this woman". Jesus spent every day "seeing" the "unseen".

If you can get past the familiarity of this incident you will be awestruck by the actions of our King. There is no room for not "seeing" in the Kingdom. It is hard to believe that to this day women still have to fight to be seen. Nowhere is this more true than in some parts of the Church which is crazy. Instead of learning from our King and living the character of the Kingdom we have copied the behaviour of the Pharisees. Shame on us.

Now using this as our diving board, we jump into our current history.

The Church should not be in the background of this growing movement of "Black Lives Matter" because we should have been fighting for them to be seen from the beginning. That is our Father's heart, to fight for the "unseen". But it is more than that. If this is the character of the Kingdom, in the body that represents the Kingdom in this world they should never have been unseen. In our King, our Lord Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. We can add, neither white nor black, settlers nor indigenous because in Jesus we are all one. 

Does this mean that some will get special attention over others? You bet. Jesus loved Simon but Simon did not need the attention this woman did. She was "unseen" and needed to be brought into the light. Simon was "seen", privileged, and needed to be humbled. It did not lessen his value in the eyes of Jesus.

Black lives matter. That is rightfully the anthem for today because black lives need the attention right now. We all have the same value to our King, he loves us all very much. But many of us are in a position of strength, privilege, in our society and we need to give over some of this strength, privilege, so a disadvantaged group can rise up to their designed place. After this anthem cry there will be another group and we will need to give our strength to that group but for today it is "black lives matter".

Just a footnote : We should all understand that the vast majority of our world lives in rebellion to God's Kingdom. The only way to truly change a heart and a broken mindset is through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. So, it is good to see these shifts in our society but the underlying problem remains as long as Jesus is rejected as King. 

 

What Does A Kingdom Of Honour Look Like?

So the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of honour. We see it in everything our Father has said and done as recorded in the Bible. We see it in the Law he gave to Israel. We see it in the interactions Jesus had with everyone. We are taught it in the Epistles of the Apostles. But what does that look like?

How do we honour those who do not love us? How do we honour those who hate us and persecute us? How do we honour those who live in rebellion against Father? First we start by understanding honour.

There is an honour that we give to people in our society when they do something incredible. Recently we have seen the frontline health care workers honoured because of their daily sacrifice and risk on behalf of the sick and suffering. Then there is the honouring we do when someone has gone through unmerited suffering or death, such as those killed recently in Nova Scotia. WE also honour leaders we consider to be great. But a society of honour goes beyond spotlight honour.

A culture based on honour gives honour to everyone who is part of that culture. It comes in the form of attitude, actions and words. We show honour to people simply because they exist, breathe, dream, work, laugh. We recognized they have worth simply because they were created by Father.

In the KIngdom we recognize that everyone is the object of our Father's love. They have the freedom to accept or reject that love but it does not affect Father's love for them. We honour them because of that love. But in what way do we honour them? Is not honouring lifting up their actions and saying their rebellion is okay?

We honour people by recognizing their value to Father. Considering this value, we honour them with the various manifestations of Father's love. We are gentle with them, showing kindness and goodness. We forgive their offenses even if no apology is offered. We are patient with them, refusing to see ourselves better by realizing what we have received from Father when we have not deserved it.

We can start with the very basics: we were all created in the same way by our Father. We all bleed when we are cut. We all have the same insides, have the same need for oxygen, food, water. We all need shelter and clothing. We all need to be loved and to love. We need a sense of belonging, of being needed, of being useful and appreciated. 

Those of us who are willing will also recognize our rebellion against Father and our need for forgiveness and restoration. We recognize that while we were still in this rebellion that Jesus paid the price so that this rebellion could be forgiven and we could be restored to Father. This is not for a select few but everyone who decided to believe and enter into the fullness of that relationship. This is the part that becomes important when it comes to honouring.

The only difference between me and my rebellious neighbour is that I decided to surrender my rebellion and align myself with Father's heart through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. I am a new creation birthed by the Spirit but none of this was because I deserved it or because I worked for it. This was a free gift offered by the grace of my Father. It is because he loves me in the same way he loves my rebellious neighbour which means that free gift is still being held out to my neighbour.

My Father created me the same way he created my neighbour. He loves me in the same way he loves my neighbour. That is not affected by race, colour or creed. When James tells us to honour everyone it was because we were created and are loved in the same way and it is not affected by race, colour or creed. It is given to me, as a citizen of God's Kingdom, a child of my Father, a bearer of his image, to honour everyone.

If this is true then how much more is it my responsibility to honour a fellow citizen? How much more is it my responsibility to stand with them, to pray for them, to celebrate them, to forgive them, to rejoice with them? They are my brothers and sisters and I must honour them at all times.

No matter how you look at it the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of honour and we are citizens of this Kingdom who honour each other and even those who are not yet citizens. We do not judge, we honour, trusting Spirit to teach, mature and guide us in these his ways.