Simplifying The Complicated, part two - Love God

In case you have happened to stumble upon this blog, this is the second part of a series concerning the simplicity of our relationship with Father and our service to the King. Father has designed it to be simple but we have complicated it, as we usually do with most things. We find the same division and hatred in the Church that we find in our society and this should not be. In this, the second part, we are considering the simple command to love God.

I believe we are all familiar with the scripture that instructs that the most important thing is to love God. We find it in the ten commandments given to Moses which we see as a law, missing the point entirely.

Yes, Scriptures refer to it as the Law but the Law was a summary of relationships based on honour. At the base of all law you will find relationships. The law forbidding jay walking is addressing the unequal relationship between pedestrian and driver. The driver can easily kill a pedestrian so a system was put in place designating places for crossing roads and the rule that drivers must stop at those places. In turn, these places are the only acceptable place to cross. This honours the pedestrian's need to cross and the drivers need to drive. It protects both.

The law given to Moses is based on relationships of honour. The first few have to do with us honouring Yahweh and the last few are concerning us honouring each other. Honour is only possible when all relationships develop from the foundation of love. So it should not have been any surprise that when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment that he answered, to love God with your entire self, and the second, to love and value your neighbour as yourself. So let's consider the simplicity of the first.

Love only happens in relationship. You can admire someone from a distance. You can be sexually attracted to them without knowing them. But love happens as you know them. Then how can Jesus command us to love our enemy and to love strangers? Because there are all kinds of levels and types of love, which takes more than a blog to explain. But this love that we find in Scripture is referring to the complete giving of self. It is a love that provokes trust, faith. It is uncomplicated. A total surrender.

Without understanding the simplicity of this relationship we will always struggle with obedience. There is a reason Jesus stated that love will empower us to do what he has commanded. We often talk about obedience, the importance, the struggle to surrender. We even develop systems for "getting there" but there is not a system that we could ever develop that will not complicate this simple relationship. Obedience is never a struggle when it is empowered by love. Love is the key and relationship is the key to love.

All that is required for salvation is belief and you can get to belief without love but once you have encountered Jesus, gratitude should provoke us to a passionate love that says "all of me Jesus". This is not the end but the beginning of a journey of discovery. Love is not complicated but the size of it takes a lifetime to grasp. We are always learning and growing. Our heart and mind are under constant transformation by the Spirit. It is not a self-improvement project but an ongoing lesson of surrender.

Salvation requires belief but love requires relationship. This is the key to the simplicity of our life in Jesus. Our focus is on Jesus and our relationship with him. Everything flows from this relationship. We spend all day with him, including him in all our thoughts, ideas and plans. We include him in our conversations. We sing to him and show gratitude to him for everything in our day. It is exciting to have conversation with him and actually hear his voice in the many forms he uses for communication. We don't restrict the relationship to some complicated system of prayer, Bible study and acts of service.

It is as we walk with him throughout our day that his voice becomes louder and his desires clearer. We begin to see the patterns of his love, who he draws us to and what he has us do. We begin to appreciate his heart for people because it reminds us how much he loves us. Our heart is filled with gratitude and our passion grows. Relationship with him, our love for him, pushes out anything that does not honour him. 

It really is simple. Loving Father causes his will, his love, his desire, his plan to be more important than anything else in our life. We gain the perspective that our lives are no longer ours because Jesus has brought us into himself and now he lives Father's will through us. We don't even really think about obedience any more as all we want is what he wants. No complicated system is going to change us like this. So nothing should be more important to us than pursuing this relationship with him so that we love him with our entire being.

You Have Only Begun To Show Me

Moses was a man who saw a lot. He had almost missed his destiny by trying to respond to his heart's desire in his own strength. Murder was not a vehicle to freedom. Even though he wanted to help his people, Yahweh had a bigger plan. Moses would become Yahweh's friend a chosen instrument to solidify the people into a nation God had chosen to reveal his glory to the world.

Moses got to speak with Yahweh. He represented him to Pharaoh. The great plagues of Yahweh were brought on Egypt through Moses. He had a front row seat for the divided sea, the manna, the quail, the water from rocks, the cloud representing Yahweh's presence, the giving of the Commandments, the meetings on the mountain, the meetings at the tent, the miraculous death of the rebellious, the budding of Aaron's staff, the correction of Miriam and all of the many things I probably left out. Yet, Moses knew there was even more:

You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. (Deuteronomy 3:24)

Moses wanted Yahweh to change his mind and allow him into the Promised Land because he knew there was a lot more yet to be manifested concerning Yahweh. He had tasted and seen that God is good, and he wanted more. After all he had experienced he wanted even more.

Today, many of God's children hardly know him. When we have experienced so little of our Lord, how can we have so little desire for more of him? Our Father wants us to know him intimately. He wants us to have the same passion for him as he has for us. So why do we limit what we are willing to have revealed to us about him.

One hour in church.

Sing a few songs.

Politely listen.

Pay our tithes.

For most that is all they experience of Father.

Moses saw the miracles, the provision, heard his voice, experienced a portion of his glory, and so much more and yet he wanted to experience even more.

There is something wrong here.

I am praying that Father will call to us. If he doesn't call we can't respond. It is the Father who calls us to the Son, and it is only by the Son that we can come to Father. I am praying that he calls us today so we have an undying hunger for more of him. I don't want to be satisfied. I don't want to sit down. I don't want to stop until there is no more of his air in my lungs. I want to live Moses' reality:

You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand.

Harder Than It Looks

We have fallen into a trap in our modern age; we actually believe that it is easy to enter into eternity with Jesus. This seems strange considering the number of warnings Jesus gave about making every effort to enter in. Me saying this might seem strange, being a guy who preaches salvation by grace not works, but it does not mean that works is not important.

Jesus stated that those who believe will be saved. That has never changed. But he also stated that we must love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength. This is what it means to believe. Father never wants to take second place in your heart but instead your heart must be consumed with him. Jesus also stated that his followers must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and live like he has lived. This is a must, not an "if you feel like it". So belief is more than a mental exercise, it is an all consuming thing.

We need to be careful to not allow the popular preaching and the easy teaching of this age to move us from the narrow way to the broad way. The easy going attitude in the Church is accommodating those who are Christian in name only, who are quite comfortable in living by the philosophies of this world. You cannot serve two masters, Jesus warned. You will love one and hate the other. For many Christians, if push came to shove, they would gladly drop Jesus and take up the world, since that is the thing with which they are most comfortable.

In the Bible we find an incident where the various leadership were trying to trap Jesus. When the Sadducees took a turn they tried to trap him concerning the Resurrection. They did not believe in the Resurrection. They had no idea they were talking to the Resurrection. In Jesus' correcting their outlook he said something most of us glaze over:

"People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to participate in that age, that is, in the age of the resurrection from the dead, won't marry nor will they be given in marriage." (Luke 20:34-35)

Did you catch it? "Those who are considered worthy to participate in that age." Considered worthy. What makes us worthy? We aren't worthy of anything from Yahweh, considering we have all fallen short of his glory. Yet, to those who believe according to Yahweh's grace, we are deemed to be worthy. But that belief is qualified by the rest of Jesus' teaching, that this belief must cost us everything that we were. Paul, the apostle, stated that he considered everything he was and achieved before he encountered Jesus to be lost, because it is only what he has done through Jesus that is of any eternal good.

Is that where we are in our belief? Has our belief in Jesus, our trust in him, replaced everything that we considered to have had any worth? Is our life, our thinking and our actions shaped by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Is our love for him far superior to our love for anyone or anything else? Are we completely sold out as a follower of Jesus, because that is what Jesus was referring to when he said "whoever believes will be saved". You may find it harder than it looks but take courage, Jesus said it would be hard.

I Came To Send Fire On The Earth

FIRE! FIRE! If you have ever stood in a building and heard that called out you know the panic it can cause. You know the fear that grips you. You know the emotions that take over and cause you to flee. You know how the brain shuts down with only one thought in process: Survive. Fire is a frightening thing but it is exactly that which Jesus speaks of in a very revealing moment, when his heart is opened and we can clearly see in.

Today it is hard for us to imagine Jesus as anything but loving and kind, and he is, but his love is more than that to which we limit it. The modern day preacher has tamed his imagine, making him cute and cuddly; a play thing for children. How sad that we have misinterpreted the Instrument of all creation in such a manner. How shocking to our conditioned ears to hear his voice speak so plainly:

I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49)

Perhaps you aren't familiar with this passage; most people aren't. We would rather picture Jesus walking around with a lamb across his shoulders and children skipping about his feet. But this is the One who commanded the storms to be silent. This is the One who commanded the demons to flee. This is the one who commanded life back into the dead. This is the one who drove out of the Temple the thieves, and he didn't use words but a whip. C.S. Lewis described him as safe but not tame.

Jesus came to start a revolution. He came to set the world on fire. He came to introduce us to the Kingdom of Heaven and that turned the world upside down. Yes love, and yes spiritual peace between his Father and us individually but far more than that, he brought fire. He brought everything of which he set the example. Everything he seeded. Everything he seeded and that the Spirit came to grow. We need to at least try to grasp what he meant by this:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (John 11:12)

If refers to the eager crowds that came flocking to John the Baptist and then to Jesus. They wanted what was being offered and acted like a people besieging a city. The "take it by force" refers to the zeal, the passion, the desire of the people to lay hold upon what Jesus offered, to make it their own. It alludes to a passionate fire, burning within the people, desiring change. This is what Jesus came to do, to set the world on fire with a desire for the holiness, righteousness of Yahweh. But there is always a price.

Setting the world on fire came at a cost and that cost is the lose of peace. The world is afraid of a passionate heart. A fire is hard to control and the world is all about control. Jesus warned he came to bring fire, not peace:

Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. (Luke 12:51)

And then he went on to describe the division the fire would cause in society and families. If that is what happens as the result of fire then so be it. It is better to have division with fire than peace without it. The Good News of Jesus Christ cannot result in yawns and mediocrity. It is meant to provoke passion for or against. You can't shrug your shoulders at the name of Jesus, not after the fires have been ignited. There is nothing worse than facing the fire and walking away lukewarm:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,[a] I will vomit you out of My mouth.  (Revelation 3:15-16)

My friends, where are the flames? Where is the passion? Where is the preaching on the streets? Where is the shouting from the rooftops? Jesus does not provoke discussion over cups of tea. He sends the demons into the pigs. His love provokes men to tear apart roofs. His presence inspires men to jump out of boats in a raging storm. We can't be around him without his presence provoking wild and passionate faith in us, provoking extravagant gestures of love.

Read our history. The Church is not for the faint of heart. Serving the King is not without risk of life and limb. To trust, holding on to faith, will not allow us to stand still as the flames come calling. Passion for the Name. Compelled by his love. Provoked by the Spirit. We cannot remain the same; our spirit yearns for the fire. He has kindled the flames. Will you be consumed?

What Evil Lurks In The Heart Of ....

The more I study Scripture and put it in the context of today, the more disturbed I become. There is just something wrong with so many people claiming Jesus with no passion to live in his righteousness. I look around and see everyone doing what they think is best and their best is sometimes evil. By evil I mean that it is contrary to the character of Yahweh, who is holy. How can we say that we love Jesus and lack great passion for his name?

I know we all go to great churches and we sing loud, with great joy, and we feel in our hearts that we love Jesus. That is really great and I am glad for that passion but what about the passion to walk right before him, all the time? What about the passion to know what pleases our LORD and to do those things, all the time? What about the passion for his holiness and to live according to it, all the time? It is far too easy to know of Jesus, think we are okay and yet not be known by Jesus because we are not united with him.

There are many who call upon Jesus' name for all kinds of things and who do great things in his name, who will be rejected by Jesus on the day we stand before him. It is too easy to look like we are walking with him and yet in our hearts live an evil life; things contrary to his character. It reminds me of Eli's sons and later Samuel's.

These boys had great father's who served the LORD holding nothing back, but this passion and dedication was not passed on to the sons. This sort of thing cannot be passed on to someone else unless it is first birthed in their heart. Yet, these sons stood in positions of spiritual responsibilities and did evil. How is this possible?

Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. (1 Samuel 2:12)

It was possible because they did not know the LORD. Their great sin was that they changed the regulations of the sacrifices to their own advantage. They took from sincere worshipers the sacrifices being made to Yahweh and used them selfishly. The end result was terrible:

Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. (v. 17)

Their actions turned people away from Yahweh; they made something of beauty and love very ugly and unattractive to the sincere worshiper. This is why it was very great before the LORD because they were interfering in the relationship. Remember Jesus' harsh words for those who would prevent the children of Yahweh from approaching him.

We don't get to do whatever we want. We have clear instructions to walk in the righteousness of our LORD. We need to be checking ourselves to see that our faith is sincere and understand that our Father does test the sincerity of that faith from time to time. It is better to be tested here then to find out as we stand before Jesus that it was not genuine.

We need to understand that any insincerity on our part can be a stumbling block to others. It is also important that we do not put anyone in authority who does not have a sincere faith. They may have all the words, know all the ceremonies, know the key Bible passages to quote but have a heart possessed by evil, selfish thinking, jealousies and pettiness; things contrary to the character of Yahweh.

The bottom line is that we should all have a constant desire and passion to increase in our maturity, to grow into the fullness of Jesus. There is never a time that we can afford to sit back and relax, to be entertained, to retire because there is no retirement for the children of Yahweh in this place. If we are not pushing forward we are losing ground. If we are not growing in our relationship then our passion is growing cold. We should have a growing desire to have more of Jesus and he should be our constant thought and motivation. Never should we see the blessings of the Lord simply for our use because they have been given to us as tools to do the work we have been given to do.

Lord Jesus, change our perspective and thinking. Change our heart that we would shake off the lullaby sung over us by this world as it tries to put us to sleep spiritually to rape us carnally. Open our eyes to you, that we would be caught up in such passion for your name that our great desire would be for your righteousness. Strengthen and encourage us to live for you and you alone, pouring all that we are and all that we have into your mission. Forgive us for our failures and help us to walk the highway of holiness where nothing can prevail against us.

Dead Yet Alive

Imagine ...

Imagine if we let God be God.

Imagine if we stopped trying to be managers of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine if we lost control.

Imagine if we voluntarily gave control to the Spirit in a great act of abdication.

Imagine ...

Should we imagine or should we just do it in the submissive desire to obey the one we claim to love:

I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. (Galatians 2:20)

I have died.

I have died.

The significance of that somehow gets lost in the translation of our desires. After all, if I have died then I have no desires because, well, I am dead. How can I have desires if I am dead?

Being dead and walking around would make us a bunch of zombies except for one great, tremendous, wonderful fact:

But Christ lives in me.

I have died but Christ now lives in me, which means that he is my desire.

What he wants, I want.

Where he goes, I go.

What he does, I do.

What he prays, I pray.

What he says, I say.

It is not me asking Jesus to join me on my journey. It is me dying, ending my chosen journey, and joining Jesus in his. I am alive but I am only alive in Jesus as he lives in me. He is my desire, my hope, my joy, my peace. I have no desire, hope, joy, peace outside of him.

So why do we try to live by the rules of this world when we belong to Jesus' Kingdom? What is it to me that I am rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, male or female, jew or greek, fat or skinny, tall or short? I will be what he wants me to be and I will do what he wants me to do, and I will have what he wants me to have. Nothing in this world can stress me because it has no root in me. I don't belong here.

I am dead.

But Jesus is alive in me.

And I am alive in Jesus.

And now I live by faith.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.

Passion!

I want more of you God.

God cannot be contained.

God cannot be controlled.

You are dead and your only act is to allow the uncontrollable God to have his way in you.

Let him set a fire down in your soul.

A fire you can't contain.

A fire you can't control.

After all, you are dead, but Jesus is alive in you.

Let our desire be to have more of him.

Let the passion burn deep.



Set A Fire - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gX-B6TtSk8

Passion For The Name

Why are we so passive in our service to Jesus? In fact, could we even say that we are serving him? We have this ongoing identity crisis in the Church. Perhaps not identity, we know who we are, we just don't know what that means. We seem to think that we are here to worship. We think as long as we are worshipping everything is going to be okay. Although worship is part of who we are and is our great desire, it is not why we were left here. If God just wanted us for worship he would have brought us home where we could do it better. No, we worship but we worship while we serve because we have been left here to serve. But we are pretty lousy servants.

Is there a fire burning in your belly? Are you willing to give everything up to complete the task that has been given to you? Does it occupy your thoughts and direct your actions? For most I would say not. Jesus is something we do on the side, an addendum to our life, more like a good luck charm or an insurance policy. We have our own agenda and purpose and just want to thank God whenever he blesses us in it. But that is not how it is suppose to be. That is a religious notion and one that offends our God who told us that he must be central to our being.

Some do not want to consider our service to be a struggle. They do not want to think it would take much effort. They do not want to think that we have to make any kind of investment in God's mission. But it is a struggle, it does cost everything, it takes a great deal of investment of time, energy and effort. Apostle Paul called it a struggle:

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. (Colossians 2:1)

No one can deny his passion in his service, or the sacrifices and cost he paid to complete his race. He faced death all day long, spent countless days in jail, was a hated and wanted man, survived several ship wrecks, sacrificed food and sleep. Paul did whatever he had to do to fulfil his service to Jesus. He was not earning anything from God because he knew it was already his, done by Jesus. But Paul served out of a great sense of debt to Jesus for the extravagant love that had been poured out on him.

I think many of us are appreciative but few of us feel any great debt to Jesus. It almost comes across like God owes us something instead of the other way around. Jesus said that a sign of our love for him is our obedience to him. We serve out of love and obedience that comes from that love. When we serve out of love and not obligation we serve with our entire being, holding nothing back. We make the most of ever opportunity.

Is there a fire in your belly for Jesus? Does he have all your passion? Do you have in mind to serve in the same attitude that Paul served, nothing held back, no matter the cost? Are you willing to become hated for doing the right thing. Are you willing to worship in the actions of your hands instead of just the words of your mouth? We know what God was willing to do to save this world, now what are we willing to do to bring that message to those who are lost in the dark?

We need to find our passion again. We need a deep renewal of our relationship with Jesus. We need a refreshing, a reminder of his great love and his call to action. We need to wake up to his call to service.

Have We Become Casual Sinners?

I think we are casual sinners and that is not good. I believe that we are in a cocoon of God's grace, which means that when we fail God gently picks us up with his grace, dusts us off with his forgiveness and encourages us to keep going with his love. Fantastic stuff and I praise him all the more for this, but I think we have grown too casual with the acceptance of our sin. I think we are too comfortable with it and forget the pain that it cause our Father. I think we forget what it is to repent, how devastating sin is to our soul and because of it we make very little effort to avoid it. If we understood how passionate God was in his hatred toward sin, we would not be so casual about it.

King David, an imperfect man with a passionate love for God, understood the sting of sin. He understood its devastating effects on his soul and in his relationship with God:

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger 
   or discipline me in your wrath. 
For your arrows have pierced me, 
   and your hand has come down upon me. 
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; 
   my bones have no soundness because of my sin. 
My guilt has overwhelmed me    like a burden too heavy to bear. (Psalm 38:1-4)

David was as passionate about expressing his sin to God, as passionate about feeling its effects as he was about his love for God. Maybe that's our problem. Maybe we don't love as we aught to love. Maybe our love is more a casual love and we have not even approached the level of passion that we need in order to have a clear understanding of the effects of sin. David is exquisite in his expression of conviction:

My wounds fester and are loathsome 
   because of my sinful folly. 
I am bowed down and brought very low; 
   all day long I go about mourning. 
My back is filled with searing pain; 
   there is no health in my body. 
I am feeble and utterly crushed;    I groan in anguish of heart. (Psalm 38:5-8)

When you have a casual relationship with someone you tend not to notice how your actions impact them. You really don't know them all that well. It's not like your best friend, your sister, or your spouse. Those people you know with greater passion and you can see immediately how your actions affect them. Until there is repentance and forgiveness for your sin against them, there is wall that forms in the relationship, a distance is created:

I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, 
   like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; 
I have become like a man who does not hear,    whose mouth can offer no reply. (Psalm 38:13-14)

This is a good thing, a proper thing because it means that we regret deeply what we have done and true repentance is produced in this place. It is not that we need to bear the guilt for our sins for long or have to sit around in sackcloth and ashes. We live in an age of God's great grace and forgiveness is an easy thing for our Father. There is a difference between David and us in that we have God living in us. We don't have to go seeking him and the conviction of our wrong doing should come quickly. Repentance should be just as quick, but it should not be a casual thing.

If we are losing the sting of sin we need to quickly examine where we are with Jesus. If we are casual about our sin I think we may find that we are also casual about our love. Our pursuit should never be a "getting by" but always a deepening of our passion for Jesus. His great love for us and ours for him should cause any sin to stand out like a mountain in our life. We should feel its effects deeply and just as passionately seek forgiveness for our failings. We don't beat ourselves up but instead we put our energy into doing what is right. Beating ourselves up will not accomplish anything but fill us with a false sense of guilt. If we feel our sin deeply then we  will want to do the only thing that will correct the situation: repent and receive the forgiveness of our Lord who loves us without fail.

You sinned? Okay, you are no different than the rest of us. Recognize the damage sin does to your relationship with our Father. Hate that thing. Hate the affect it has. Hate how it separates. Hate it so much that you refuse to entertain it any more. Turn to Jesus, confess your sin, repent of it and receive with gladness and joy the forgiveness he gives to you. Now shake off those effects, get up off your knees and move forward in your service and grow in your passion for the Lord. Let that sting of sin lend to you a new determination to hate sin and to avoid it at all cost. That is the right thing to do with sin. Don't become a casual sinner.