Simplifying The Complicated, part six - Love Each Other In This Same Manner

This is the last blog on my short series on uncomplicating the things of our Father. He has made it simple and we have complicated it by adding our ideas and traditions. So far we have considered the simplicity of loving Yahweh, of loving ourselves, of loving others and of valuing everyone. These are straightforward commands that are only empowered by love. The last thing I want to consider is Jesus' final command that we, in the Body of Christ, must love each other as the Lord has loved us.

Jesus loved us in simplicity and largeness. Maybe the theology behind it can be complicated by the tremendous depth of it when we examine it from beginning to end, but the application is simple. Jesus loved the Father to the point of laying down his life in obedience. This huge act of love also carried the message that Dad loves us so much he was willing to sacrifice everything. It is simple, straightforward and uncomplicated. While we were still enemies of God Jesus sacrificially paid the only price demanded so that we could be redeemed from our rebellion into life with Father. Nothing is asked of us except to believe.

This is how love is defined. This is the measuring rod. Simple.

Now Jesus turns around and says even before he gave us the measuring rod, love each other in the same manner I have loved you. No lesser definition of love will do other than the sacrificial love that is willing to go the distance:

"For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends." John 15:13 TPT

So I ask the question, how do we define love, because in our current season we are not going the distance. The division in the Body is growing among believers over the silliest things. "Should we wear a mask or not?" "Should we trust our government?" "What is the origin of COVID-19?" I kid you not, this type of thing has Christians at each other's throats. It is like we do not even consider the prayer of our King that we would be united, at one with each other as he is with the Father.

In Kingdom reality, it doesn't matter how wrong we think a brother of sister's opinion is, it does not give us the right to change the standard of measurement of love that has been given to us by our King. We can be wrong and we can do wrong but don't try to cover it by changing the measurement and coming up with excuses. We are to confess when we get it wrong, change our thinking according to the conviction of the Spirit, seek forgiveness and keep moving forward.

I get it wrong all the time. I have had to apologize more often than I can remember. I sometimes work myself up in defending an opinion so much that I forget there is a real person on the other end of that opinion who I am under obligation to love to the point of laying down my life. Here I am fighting over opinion (some would consider them facts) and failing to walk in obedience to my King. Praise him though that he said love would empower me to obey his commandments. This is dear to my heart so when the Spirit speaks I am quick to listen and to act.

If a brother tells you that Jesus was not raised from the dead you may defend the faith in love. But if a brother argues that COVID is a conspiracy for a one world government, you do not have the right to destroy your relationship with them over an opinion. If you think they are lacking discernment and are falling for a lie, your responsibility is to tolerate them, pray and trust that they Spirit will teach them, if they need to be corrected. Love does not mean we act the part of the Spirit, it means we sacrifice our right to prove ourselves right. Paul told us to do our best to be friends with everyone.

Love is and always has been the key. Not just any love but Jesus' perfect love that empowers us to obey. It's simple. There are no gray areas. Love God. Love your enemy. Love your neighbour. Love your fellow believers. Love is sacrificial. Love requires us to put other people first. It requires us to consider their needs along with our own. It requires us to lay down our life. There is no lesser standard.

I am going to end this thought with a passage from Romans 12. This is not some ideal. This is what a transformed heart looks like. This is what the Spirit is growing us into. This leaves us with no excuses and with a wonderful measuring rod for measuring our attitude and actions. Consider the simplicity of the Lord's ways and thus the simplicity of the Lord himself. This is what our life has been designed to look like.

"Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous.
Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honor of one another.
Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let him fill you with excitement as you serve him.
Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.
Take a constant interest in the needs of God’s beloved people and respond by helping them. And eagerly welcome people as guests into your home.
Speak blessing, not cursing, over those who reject and persecute you.
Celebrate with those who celebrate, and weep with those who grieve.
Live happily together in a spirit of harmony, and be as mindful of another’s worth as you are your own. Don’t live with a lofty mind-set, thinking you are too important to serve others, but be willing to do menial tasks and identify with those who are humble minded. Don’t be smug or even think for a moment that you know it all.
Never hold a grudge or try to get even, but plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend.
Beloved, don’t be obsessed with taking revenge, but leave that to God’s righteous justice. For the Scriptures say:
“If you don’t take justice in your own hands,
I will release justice for you,” says the Lord.
And:
If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch!
Win him over with kindness.
For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience,
and God will reward you with favor.
Never let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good."

Simplifying The Complicated, part five - Honour Everyone

Keep it simple. That is the overwhelming thing I hear the Spirit speaking in this age of confusion and complication. This is my fifth blog entry on this subject. We have considered the simplicity of loving God, loving ourselves and loving our neighbour. These are the three biggies and are covered in what Jesus called the greatest of the commandments. Today I want us to consider the instruction to honour everyone. Let's start with 1 Peter 2:17 :

"Honour everyone. Love the family of believers. Have respectful fear of God. Honour the emperor." CEB

Let's focus on the "honour everyone" using the TPT translation but let's start with the lead up:

"As God's loving servants, you should live in complete freedom, but never use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Recognize the value of every person."

Some Christians struggle with the idea of honouring people not deserving honour so the TPT translation may help some people uncomplicate the issue : treat every person as valuable to Father. 

We have been called to a place that is above differences, above grievances, above insult or injury. What do you think Jesus was talking about when he said to love your enemy? He has called us up to a place where we have been given the capacity to love with the same love that we have been loved with and he has called this an obligation. His love has indebted us to love other people in the same manner he loved us. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that uncomplicated?

When we honour someone we are saying that we recognize they have value. No one said that you have to agree with that value because the value is not assigned by you. You are simply told to recognize the value Father has placed on that person. What you recognize as valuable you will treat well, or you should. That's the whole point. We complicate it when we think we can show value without treating people well.

I show value by giving people my time, by choosing words that do not insult but instead lift up. I show value by taking actions of love and kindness which have nothing to do with what the person deserves because I received Father's best when I did not deserve it. I demonstrate value with my words, tone, actions, attitude and investment.

I complicate this matter of honour when I try to base that honour on my own ideas and ideals. Honour is based on my Father's will and I act on it "as God's loving servant". I keep it simple when I keep everything based on my relationship with Father and not according to my ideas and values. He is my source. My desire is to live a life rooted and growing in Kingdom values.

Now imagine how this would change our approach. Instead of approaching people in an adversarial manner we would see the value of us being in their lives, perhaps even as their friends. Instead of seeing people as projects we would simply want to position ourselves so that Father could pour out his love and grace into their lives through our friendship with them. We could discuss the methodology of such a relationship but the challenge is to see that you are their for their benefit and not your own.

We complicate it when we keep thinking we are the most valuable person in the room. This causes us to be offended when people do something against us. Scripture tells us to act as if everyone else is more important than ourselves, not because we have no value, but because we should already understand our value to Father. There should be no insecurity. Where there is insecurity you will find people lifting themselves up above everyone else. Complicated. We are in that person's life, be them friend or be them foe, to demonstrate that they have value with Father.

The conclusion of the matter is that Father has not made this complicated. When we live according to his values, according to what he says is important, according to who he says to love, being taught and led by Spirit, it's simple. When we decide to be our own teacher and to live according to what we think are the values of Father, promoting ourselves above everyone else, taking offense, defending ourselves, pushing our agenda, honouring those we think deserve it, we very much complicate what Father designed to be simple.

 

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.

Simplifying The Complicated, part one - The Context

The world is a pretty messed up place right now with growing divisions and hatred. Unfortunately it has been my experience that what is happening in society will soon be reflected in the Church. It is suppose to be the opposite with the Church influencing society but in my twenty-eight years in ministry as a pastor I have watched the Church change to reflect our society. So sure enough, we are seeing growing division and even hatred increasing in the Body.

We are complicating what our Father designed to be simple. Sure, we can allow the deep study of theology turn a simple thing into layers of complication but when we get down to what is really important we discover how simple it is. I don't usually find a lot of helpful things in Solomon's Ecclesiastes but there is one phrase he wrote that I try to keep close to me:

God made human beings straightforward, but they search for many complications. (7:29)

Yes sir, I find that sums us up quite well. So I want to uncomplicate things by taking a few days to consider what is simple and important according to Fathers design. We are going to look at : 1. loving God, 2. loving and valuing ourselves, 3. loving and valuing our neighbour, 3. honouring everyone, 4. loving each other in the same manner Jesus loved his disciples. Along the way we will also touch on considering others more important than ourselves, considering the interests of others along with our own, and loving our enemies.

Before we get into these sub topics we need to consider the context which is really the main topic. We have been called into the ministry of Jesus Christ, our King. His ministry is not one of judgement and condemnation but of reconciliation. Ours is a ministry of reconciliation as Father invites all of humanity (ALL), to leave the path of rebellion and return to a full and healthy relationship with him.

This is where we tend to take something that is so simple and complicate it with a terrible perspective and wrong theology. Our Father has no desire to destroy anyone but we do get to chose our own path. He has paid the price to cover our rebellion, making it possible for us to return to him. The cross should be all the evidence we need that Dad is for us not against us. And the fact is, if he is for us who could be against us because there is no one like him.

We need to examine all of our thinking and attitude in this ministry because we need to assume that we are complicating it. We need to measure the motivation of our words and actions against the fact that while we were the enemy of God Jesus died for us. He did not require us to change before we came to him. If we could have changed we would not have needed him. But we were desperate for him because we could not help ourselves.

Yet too often we require people to clean up their act before we will hang out with them. We require them to change before we will call them friend. We want them to conform to us before they are transformed by the Spirit and this is terrible and dangerous. Too many of us think our job is done when people conform to the church we belong to and so they miss out on the One who transforms. Because they are satisfied with "fitting in" they think they have found Jesus and so stop looking. We have complicated Father's simple design.

Our responsibility is simple, to be witnesses of Jesus. We are to teach everything that Jesus taught but this is done with actions and attitudes that match Jesus' words. It is with power. It is flavoured with hope. It reeks of peace. It overflows with joy. It looks past situations, conditions and circumstances and focuses on people. It recognizes that each person, regardless of status, position or rebellion, is the object of Father's love. He is chasing after them and he has placed us in their lives so that he can. All that matters to him and to us are people.

So over the next few blogs I want to unpack the simplicity of our life in Christ and in this world. I want us to recognize :

"Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness." (2 Peter 1:3)  

You've got it. Everything you need for simple living has already been deposited in you. We let go of systems, methods, false expectations, arm length evangelism and we go after those Father loves by entering their lives as friends, in purity of relationship and desire. Let's do this!

Simple But Not Easy

There is an underlying desire in most of us to have a simplified life. It is a desire that most of us complicate with our daily living and the messed up application of priorities. Those who know me have often heard me state that simple is not easy. I have taken that from many areas of scripture but none is as clear as Solomon's writings recorded in Ecclesiastes. Solomon wrote that Yahweh has made matters simple but we have looked for ways to complicate them.

Ecclesiastes is the writings of a king who had it all and then lost it. Proverbs is the sayings of a young king whose relationship with Yahweh was growing in obedience. Proverbs is filled with great wisdom of the Kingdom of God. Ecclesiastes is filled with confused observations of a heart that had wondered from Yahweh and the struggles of trying to make sense of things without the context of Creator. Yet, in this dark place we find little nuggets of insight, such as Yahweh has designed things to be simple.

The Kingdom of God is founded on the attributes of our King and include the foundational materials of love, respect and honour. We can even see this in the Law of the old covenant. If you examine the purpose of this Law you soon discover that it created a culture of honour, based on love and respect. This was all designed to create an atmosphere of prosperity. The rich would look after the poor so everyone would have plenty. Even the immigrants, the widows and the orphans would finf a culture that honoured them.

It works in simplicity. If I am occupied with you instead of myself, and you are occupied with me instead of yourself, then we move forward together. We move forward because we aren't tripping over the rotten stuff that comes with self-centeredness such as jealousy , envy, pride. We find this same Kingdom culture in the new covenant with greater clarity.

Under the new covenant we are told to honour everyone. We are told that the Kingdom is about considering other people more important than ourselves and, when we consider our own needs to also consider the needs of others. We are told that we celebrate the successes and triumphs of other people because in such an atmosphere it means everyone will also celebrate ours. The seeds of envy, jealousy and pride are never given the opportunity to take root.

Such an atmosphere allows for the attitude of success and prosperity. Instead of running after my self-interest I am occupied with yours. I will do everything I can to make sure you succeed. I can do this safely because I belong to a Kingdom where people are occupied with my success too. I don't have to watch my back while I work for your success because other Kingdom citizens are occupied with watching my back.

This is a simple system of love, respect and honour. But the reason simple is not easy for us is because we find it hard to say no to ourselves. Jesus said to walk in his Kingdom the first step is to say no to ourselves. It is not about trusting other people as much as it is about trusting our King and Father's design. So it is simple and easy for me to honour you because you honour me. Jesus said that this was a given and would not cause treasure to be laid up in heaven because our reward for that is here and now; the treasure of loving relationships. 

The complication comes when I honour you but you don't honour me. Now I am forced to watch my own back which puts us on the defensive and does not allow us to progress forward together. But this does not let me off the hook; I still have to honour you. Jesus says this is when treasure is being laid up in heaven, when we love those who don't love us back. In the well working Kingdom system we get to enjoy reward here but in a broken relationship there is reward but it is a delayed reward. Considering the condition of the world and the Church, many of us should be laying up a great deal of delayed reward.

Father has designed things well and simple. It is for us to discover this simplicity and value it enough to choose it for ourselves. It is the Kingdom system, the Kingdom currency and what allows us to move from a poverty mindset to one of prosperity. But we cannot fully operate in it until we learn to start saying no to ourselves because honour cannot happen until we can put the needs of others ahead of our own.

Don't Pretend To Care If You Don't

There is a lot of emphasis on our personal place in the Kingdom. It's a lot of "me" stuff. The Church markets itself as a great place to be with all the various services that we offer. In many ways church is big business and so it is marketed as big business. The seats have to be just right, the music too. Success depends on how many parking spots we have and whether our building has just the right number of seats/people ratio to promote growth. It's all about formulas and systems and no one sees anything wrong with it.

I didn't realize we were responsible for church growth. I mistakenly thought it was the responsibility of the Holy Spirit.

I really thought that we were just responsible for spreading the gospel, telling people about Jesus and helping them grow in the Lord. I thought salvation and all the other stuff belonged to the Lord. Well, of course it does and it is the reason we have cheapened the Church and faith with all this marketing stuff. How do we handle what Jesus taught:

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)  

Does this not clearly tell us who is in the driver's seat? We scatter the seed. We go out and tell as many people as we can about Jesus. Anyone who will actually give us a few minutes we tell them about the greatest news ever. Our testimony is a seed. The Spirit is going to do something with that seed. He is going to grow it until the heart is ready. Then another worker will come in and that person will enter into the Kingdom.

Now you can complicated it if you want but I don't see why you would try to improve on what Yahweh is doing. You can attend as many evangelism classes as you want. You can learn as many techniques as you want. You can take as many psychology courses as you want. You can write as many books as you want. It still comes down to us going out and talking to people about Jesus. But we don't.

We are quickly losing our love for telling others about Jesus. It is more the attitude of "live and let live" or perhaps it is more accurate to say "live and let die". We have lost the sense of urgency that so many generations before us had. I think it's because we either don't believe it any more or we just don't care what happens to anyone else. We don't care that people are going to hell and we have the answer. We don't care enough to put ourselves out, to take a risk, to show love and compassion by scattering seed; telling others about Jesus.

I think we should at least be honest with ourselves. We go to seminars and take training to deflect the attention from the fact that we aren't doing it. We appear to be doing it by going to training but we show our lack of compassion by not doing anything with the knowledge we have gained; knowledge that complicates that simple task of talking to people. Jesus said the mark of genuine relationship is to "hear" and then "do it". There is no getting around Jesus. Either we obey or we don't. We either scatter the seed or we don't. We either believe he will do something with our testimony or we don't.

So either go back to what you were doing (I am sorry for disturbing you) or start flapping your gums about Jesus. We talk about what we are excited about. I hope you are more excited about Jesus than anything else, so you talk about him more than anything else. Just don't pretend that you care if you don't.

Do I Need A 'Hook' To Get Noticed?

I get the feeling that sometimes we feel we have to reinvent the wheel; that what has been established isn't good enough and we need something new. I don't think people look around and say "What new way can I serve Jesus" but it comes off that way. Many leaders seem to look for that "hook" that will make them stand out in the crowd; that says "hey look at me, I'm different". But maybe different in the Body of Christ isn't a good thing.

In Apostle Paul's description of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) there are no stars. In fact, Paul said that Yahweh had arranged it so everyone, regardless of gifting and responsibility, were on equal footing:

But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:24-26)

What leadership has been put into place has been warned not to laud it over anyone but they are to have servant attitudes (hearts). Jesus taught that leaders in the Kingdom are servants, putting their own needs last, behind those who they are responsible for, just like Jesus. Don't be mistaken, there are leaders in the Body, but only one Head, and they are considered trainers. Ephesians 4 speaks of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers that Jesus has appointed as trainers, preparing the Body for good works.

All this to say that leaders do not have to find hooks to stand out because they don't need to stand out. We don't need to find a new way to serve because it has already been given to us. We do not need to make "pleasing Yahweh" a complicated thing. This is what he told Israel:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

Jesus summed it up in one short sentence for us:

If you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15)

We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We don't have to make it some great mystery. It is not something out of our grasp. We don't need leaders putting their own twist on it. Love Yahweh with your entire being, with all your passion, intellect, time, possessions and love everyone as you want to be loved. Do what Jesus taught. Not complicated. The only thing you need to do is deny yourself (set aside your opinions, emotions, desires), take up your cross (walk in your gifting, calling and the mission given to us), and follow Jesus (do what he did through the Holy Spirit who has been given to you).