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Here, by way of reminder, is just a taste of how "with you" the Lord will be this whole week:
Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you... (Gen. 26:24) Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go... (Gen. 28:15) Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. (Deut. 31:6) Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9) Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Is. 41:10) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you... (Is. 43:2) Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord. (Jer. 1:8) They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you. (Jer. 1:19) Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” (Hagg. 1:13) And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Mt. 28:20) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever... (Jn. 14:16) Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you... (Acts 18:9)
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As shared before, here are a few more of my Pointillisms -- these ones could be a mighty declaration over the week you're living (maybe even read them, over your week, aloud!)...
45.49 In Jesus, I shall never be condemned. 45.50 In Jesus, the Holy Spirit looses my life from death and the Fall. 45.51 In Jesus, the divide is bridged. 45.52 In Jesus, the former Law is already fulfilled within me. 45.53 In Jesus,—by His Spirit—I have His outlook ever available. 45.54 In Jesus, I presently have peace. 45.55 In Jesus,—by His righteousness—I am utterly, ultimately, alive. 45.56 In Jesus, my current life is contemporaneous with eternity. 45.57 In Jesus, I too am a son of God. 45.58 In Jesus, I too am an inheritor of the wealths of the Kingdom. 45.59 In Jesus, I am on display as one of His glories. 45.60 In Jesus, I am gloriously free—in order to free. 45.61 In Jesus, I know where this is headed. 45.62 In Jesus, the Holy Spirit is replacing my age-old spirit. 45.63 In Jesus, that Spirit translates my life, my thoughts, my prayers. 45.64 In Jesus, I have nothing at all to fear. 45.65 In Jesus, I have everything to hope for. 45.66 In Jesus, I am being made like Jesus. 45.67 In Jesus, I shall be sustained just as certainly as I was known; created; saved; called unto. 45.68 In Jesus, nothing separates this life from His life. Jesus came: to reveal the heart of God; to establish the Kingdom of Heaven; to show us the Way; to give us His Word; to die to set us free from sin; to conquer death; to ascend to intercede on our behalf; to send His Holy Spirit; to allow us untrammeled access to the Throne; to send us out to make all this known to everyone; to be with us in perfect power; to be with us in His own brand of fearlessness; to ask for more of everything He offers; to receive everything He offers; to be with Him—as He is with us—every minute of our lives.
How are we doing, in daily pragmatic experience, with receiving all of the above? At this week's Anchor, we considered a series of statements from the Feast of Tabernacles' message of Jesus, from John 7, and I want to share with you a few of my favorite takeaways:
Towards the end, Jesus says to the crowds, “I shall be with you only a little while longer and then I am going to him who sent me. You will look for me then but you will never find me. You cannot come where I shall be.” In this and the final statement to follow, Jesus not only points ahead at what is to come, but He also demarcates the differences between the “ways of the world and the flesh” and the glories of the “Way of the Kingdom and the Spirit.” Consider what He’s saying here of the world and the flesh: It is constrained by the construct of Time--“only a little while longer”—and of the distance between God and men--“I am going… but you will never find me.” Also, the world and the flesh, unchanged, unredeemed, cannot do anything to change the equation: “You cannot come where I shall be.” But what of the “Way of the Kingdom and the Spirit”? It is UN-bounded by time—eternal, everlasting, unchanging—and, thanks to the coming Ascension of Jesus, completely connected between God and man, Heaven and earth. And though, yes, we “cannot come where [He] shall be,” as we are, He is in the business of utterly remaking us so that it’s possible. How? Read His final statement, as John writes it: “If any man is thirsty, he can come to me and drink! The man who believes in me, as the scripture says, will have rivers of living water flowing from his inmost heart.” In other words, the world and the flesh are thirsty, uncertain where to go with their thirst, and desperate at the level of the heart for life, and for true living. But, in the Kingdom of Heaven, and by the Holy Spirit Jesus will offer to “any man” (note that “any”), we may drink to our fill, believing in Him--NOT in thirsty old religion—and, ourselves, become a river of living water for the world to come and drink from. Do you understand? By the Spirit He will pour out upon His friends and followers, we, His friends and followers, are meant to become the fountain of JOY, and of JESUS, for this world. Yes, all may come to you and I… in order to drink OF HIM! What an awesome, and humbling, honor! In honor of Pentecost Sunday at Anchor today, we used the combination of Matthew 15 and Mark 7's version of the same narrative to paint a picture of how "the spirit of religion" so often tends away from the heart of Jesus. In essence, we were asking: If religion looked like the scribes and Pharisees wrangling with Jesus over the ritualistic act of handwashing, what are the spirits of those infused by the Holy Spirit meant to look like? More simply, what would be the exact opposite of Matthew 15 and Mark 7, in the economy of Pentecost?
Consider the words and logic of those combined passages, but in their exact inversion: And Jesus was approached by followers and disciples intent upon His Way. They had noticed how He Himself walked in freedom before God and man. Jesus would eat, He would go to market, He only considered important the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. So His followers and disciples put this question to Jesus, “How should we remain free with your freedom?” Jesus replied, “My friends, I myself described you perfectly when I once stated, ‘If you are faithful to what I have said, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free!’ If you listen to the voice of my Spirit—who will ever live within you—you will be faithful to what I said… which is freedom!” Then He went on, “It is wonderful to watch you following the Way of the Spirit: this is my own life extended through yours! For I said to you, ‘Follow Me’—and this is how you do it! What an extraordinary display of my everlasting life—through yours!” Then He turned toward the crowds—those not yet knowing of His Way—and said to them, “Watch these, my friends, living out my Way. For I have chosen to place my Spirit right there within them—right inside the inner lives of these followers—and it is this Spirit which makes them clean. They are free now… and you may be free too.” Later, we His disciples approached again and asked, “Do you really mean that we are to walk in the freedom of following only your Spirit?” Jesus replied, “Every branch which abides in me, the vine, shall be nourished; shall be strengthened; shall produce my exact fruit. You will never-ever be alone. And, you are meant now—everyday—to be a guide to your fellowman: show them the Way home.” We asked Him to explain Himself further. “Oh!” He laughed, “you are so dear to me! Can’t you see that your greatest inheritance is receiving of my Spirit; that never again will you be anything less than heavenly to me? For my very Spirit will go into your heart and make you ever more like me; you will be made pure; you will learn to bear my fruit in your everyday life. What will flow forth from you will be extraordinary, uncommon—just like Me—and the world will get to meet me by getting to meet you. From my Spirit within will flow love, generosity, life-giving, purity, kindness, goodness, truth-telling, brotherliness, open-handedness, encouragement, humility, and wisdom! All this goodness will flow from me, through my Spirit, unto you—you will follow my Way and show the world what I am capable of!” Your sense of walking through life alone is your wrongest sense. Jesus hems you in, both behind and before.
Remember: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Is. 41:10) For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38,39) The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zeph. 3:17) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (Jn. 14:16,17) It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deut. 31:8) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Jn. 14:27) The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1) My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:26) (And I could keep going and going!) We are not important enough for what has already been done for us. Thus “Faith” is the heart’s command to the intellect to cease its self-important strivings—to, at once, surrender. It is telling all circumstance I will heed you not; it is commanding emotion Stand at heel; it is reminding one’s will You are in subjection to the One who has already bought you.
Jesus responds to such Belief: “I assure you, I delight in this posture! Those who entrust themselves to me will be gathered from every generation, from all corners of the earth, to sit at the Banqueting Table with me, my Father, and our Spirit. The Kingdom belongs to those who will believe in me; I am the great Within to those who are without. “Come and live! Your belief is your ‘Yes!’ to all I have already done for you.” In other words: Our Faith is our experience of His healing. (from Mt. 8:5-13) The daily word of Jesus to our restless, anxious, reckless, feckless, prone-to-wander hearts, spirits, minds: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!”
When the world, or life, or circumstance, or our deceitful human heart proclaims hope dead: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When the troubles of others seem to eclipse our own; when we feel ourselves insignificant in the economy of God: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When we feel as though the enormities and exigencies of human existence swallow up the meaningfulness of our lives: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When the annoyances and busynesses and frictions of our day-by-days annoy, overwhelm, rub our belief the wrong way: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When the reality of our freedom becomes a long-lost memory—or a victim of our now-rigid orthodoxies: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When our past will not allow us proper experience of His present presence: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When personal tragedy strikes: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” When mundane normalcy numbs: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!” Lord Jesus, would you whisper again to my restlessness, my anxiety, my foolishness, my waywardness with your wonderful words of old: “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing”? Today, I am listening. (from Mk. 5:21-36) The citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven possess its wonders in the inward depths of their own humility. They accept the heavenly comfort offered them as they mourn for the kingdoms of the earth. They aim not at claiming anything here for themselves; yet, possessing nothing, they attain to everything worth having. They delight in feasting daily on the goodnesses of the Kingdom of Heaven: their satisfaction knows no end.
The citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are merciful with the mercy they’ve received; they, in turn, receive additional mercies. They are of the truest-hearted natures, and, by those, they experience daily glimpses of the face of God. They are passionate after peace and bring its bounties where’er they go: they are sons of God, like Jesus, in this. They are fearless in their sufferings and carry their courage, intact, within them: they are, too, like Jesus, in this. The citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are joyful—yes, effervescently joyful—for their lives are already “hid with Christ” in Heaven. They are following in His Way alongside Him, surrounded by the glory-cloud of witnesses from all the ages. Thus the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are countenanced. The citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are truly blessed. (paraphrased from Mt. 5:1-12) Despite the fact that they are One, perfectly mutual in their self-understandings, perfectly aware of the mind of the Other, perfectly in-sync in every conceivable way, I want us to imagine a conversation between the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit prior to the mass indwelling you and I know as the first Pentecost. This would be some time in the ten days between the Ascension and that morning...
“Spirit,” Jesus says, “unless they are born of water and of You, they cannot enter into our Kingdom. You must cause them to be born all over again.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “for the thirsty have come to You and, believing in You, they have drunk. Now I will go to them and be the flowing rivers of living water that will flow out from their hearts.” “Will you be their constant help?” Jesus asks. “I will,” returns the Spirit. “I will be with them forever. I will abide with them--within them—they will never not be with You; I will carry Your very Spirit into their spirits.” “Will you teach them?” asks Jesus. “I will,” responds the Spirit. “I will teach them anything they wish to know. I will bring to their remembrance everything You’ve ever said to them. And I will be their living peace.” “And what of the ones who do not know me?” Jesus asks. “To them I will bear witness,” the Spirit says. “How will You do that?” asks Jesus. “By bearing witness from within those ones who are Ours,” the Spirit replies. “Their lives, filled with Me, filled with You, will convict the world of its sin, show Your righteousness, and point away from judgment. The lives of Your friends will be just as Your life.” Jesus is quiet a moment. “My friends…” He says, softly. “I miss them already.” “Oh, but you need not!” the Spirit laughs. “For I will be with them, guiding them always unto You—unto the Truth—and I will whisper to them everything You want them to know. Whatever I hear You saying, I will say to them. I will glorify You by taking what You are, who You are, and pouring it into the inner lives of those friends of Yours. Nothing that is Yours will not be theirs.” Jesus smiles. “Well, in that case, shall we begin?” “The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs,’ all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented—as an author invents characters in a novel—all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. “It is no good trying to ‘be myself’ without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call ‘Myself’ becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call ‘My wishes’ become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men’s thoughts or even suggested to me by devils... “Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.” C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, sends this letter to those who have been given a faith as valuable as yours in the righteousness of our God, and Saviour Jesus Christ. May you know more and more of grace and peace as your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord grows deeper…
…you must do your utmost from your side, and see that your faith carries with it real goodness of life. Your goodness must be accompanied by knowledge, your knowledge by self-control, your self-control by the ability to endure. Your endurance too must always be accompanied by devotion to God; that in turn must have in it the quality of brotherliness, and your brotherliness must lead on to Christian love. If you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means that knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive. The man whose life fails to exhibit these qualities is short-sighted—he can no longer see the reason why he was cleansed from his former sins. Set your minds, then, on endorsing by your conduct the fact that God has called and chosen you. If you go along the lines I have indicated above, there is no reason why you should stumble, and if you have lived the sort of life I have recommended God will open wide to you the gates of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1,2, 5-11) For me, this past week, what has felt important about this text—at the beginning of verse 1 and the end of verse 11—is its point of departure and point of arrival: “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ” and “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Identity and citizenship. How Peter interpreted his existence, and the destination of his everyday actions. And, to that point, I want to “pull the thread through” on the meaningfulness, for all of us, of intimacy-with-Jesus being our everything. As Peter is spurring on his first-century brothers and sisters unto Jesus, what is he also saying to us?
IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE two minutes before the arrival of the Holy Ghost. Inside, the friends of Jesus were huddled within the upper room. Outside, the Pentecost crowds were going about their morning’s busyness.
These two groups of people weren’t yet aware of each other. At each corner of the room, rudimentary sconces held flickering oil lanterns: the dancing yellow light illumined the faces and bowed heads of the circle. The smell of the room was thick with unwashed clothing and stagnant breath. This was where they’d been, and all they’d been doing, for the last ten days since he went. One of the women was praying aloud: “…and did you not tell us the story of the judge and the widow, Lord? Well, here I am, a widow like she, and I beseech you. I beseech you, Lord, that, being as we are so small, so insignificant, so terribly outnumbered by the powers and people who would stand against us, Lord, that you yourself would stand within our midst—O, be our strength! be our might!—so that we might hold our heads high…in you. You have given us an impossibly difficult task to do, Lord. You have left the whole world in the keeping of only us… “And I recall you asking, when you stood before the crowd that day, if you, on your returning, would be able to find faithful ones who had maintained their faith…” She lifted her head and the lantern-light caught the edges of her features. “Well, Lord, we believe—and we are ready to receive…” A wind starts to blow within the room… The New Covenant is entirely built upon the person, personality, and finished work of Jesus of Nazareth—that’s first.
Its ministry is His ministry—which is HIGHER—all of it mediated personally by Him—who is ABOVE--and is directly guaranteed by His personal promises—which are UTTERLY UNBREAKABLE. The New Covenant satisfies the every desire of the Father. The New Covenant came when Jesus came—the two are inseparable. The New Covenant dispenses with the Old. And, friends, it is IMPERATIVE that you internalize what I'm about to write: The New Covenant depends not on us. The New Covenant is the Way and Word of JESUS, WRITTEN on our hearts by His Spirit, and it MAKES us sons and daughters of God—ALREADY. The New Covenant is NOT instituted by our carefully being instructed in it, and internalizing its laws: it is built upon our Abiding in its basis… Jesus Himself. The New Covenant does not require hierarchies, accreditations, professional practitioners like the Old did. It requires our personally accepting the mercy He offers and the complete forgiveness of God—directly. The New Covenant asks of us our forgetfulness of who we used to be, our receiving of who He’s making us, and the joyous walking with Him as He does all the work of His Kingdom-heart. Friends, that’s the New. That’s the description of the lifestyle we’re meant to be living, daily. Anything less is, simply, not it. (And is in danger of trying, quite foolishly, to retreat to the Old.) “If any of you has a friend, and goes to him in the middle of the night and says, ‘Lend me three loaves, my dear fellow, for a friend of mine has just arrived after a journey and I have no food to put in front of him’; and then he answers from inside the house, ‘Don’t bother me with your troubles. The front door is locked and my children and I have gone to bed. I simply cannot get up now and give you anything!’ Yet, I tell you, that even if he won’t get up and give him what he wants simply because he is his friend, yet if he persists, he will rouse himself and give him everything he needs.”
"And so I tell you, ask and it will be given you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks.” “Some of you are fathers, and if your son asks you for some fish, would you give him a snake instead, or if he asks you for an egg, would you make him a present of a scorpion? So, if you, for all your evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more likely is it that your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:5-13, Phillips) What's interesting about this passage is that, front to back, it only makes sense when read according to the logic of its back-to-front. Without the excited promise of the Father's delight in offering His Holy Spirit, the first part makes Him sound like a grudging neighbor you'd have to bother in order to move. But no! Consider--considering the ending--what His invitation is: "And so I tell you, ask and the Holy Spirit will be given you, search and you will find the Holy Spirit, knock and the Holy Spirit's door will be opened to you. The one who asks will always receive the Holy Spirit; the one who is searching will always find the Holy Spirit, and the door of the Holy Spirit is opened to the man who knocks. "...your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Friends, at the start of a work-week, and already knowing what we know of the joy of experiencing the Spirit, let's ask for more of Him! The Early Church enjoyed fresh refillings throughout the actions of the Book of Acts; let's be about more of the same! When I was a child, God loved me.
When He called me His child, He loved me. When I wandered, He loved me. In all my mistakes, He loved me. In all His forgivenesses, He loved me. In binding me to Him, He loved me. By showing me His face, He loved me. By extending infinite compassion, He loved me. By withholding what was due me, He loved me. God loves me. “Dialogue is a token of genuine Christian love, because it indicates our steadfast resolve to rid our minds of the prejudices and caricatures that we may entertain about other people, to struggle to listen through their ears and look through their eyes so as to grasp what prevents them from hearing the gospel and seeing Christ, to sympathize with them in all their doubts, fears and 'hang-ups.' For such sympathy will involve listening, and listening means dialogue. It is once more the challenge of the incarnation, to renounce evangelism by inflexible slogans, and instead to involve ourselves sensitively in the real dilemmas that people face.” John R.W. Stott
Christian Mission in the Modern World “Jesus has come to take up his abode in my heart. It is not so much a habitation, an association, as a sort of fusion. Oh, new and blessed life! life which becomes each day more luminous.... The wall before me, dark a few moments since, is splendid at this hour because the sun shines on it. Wherever its rays fall they light up a conflagration of glory; the smallest speck of glass sparkles, each grain of sand emits fire; even so there is a royal song of triumph in my heart because the Lord is there. My days succeed each other; yesterday a blue sky; to-day a clouded sun; a night filled with strange dreams; but as soon as the eyes open, and I regain consciousness and seem to begin life again, it is always the same figure before me, always the same presence filling my heart.... Formerly the day was dulled by the absence of the Lord. I used to wake invaded by all sorts of sad impressions, and I did not find him on my path. To-day he is with me; and the light cloudiness which covers things is not an obstacle to my communion with him. I feel the pressure of his hand, I feel something else which fills me with a serene joy; shall I dare to speak it out? Yes, for it is the true expression of what I experience. The Holy Spirit is not merely making me a visit; it is no mere dazzling apparition which may from one moment to another spread its wings and leave me in my night, it is a permanent habitation. He can depart only if he takes me with him... It is not a juxtaposition, it is a penetration, a profound modification of my nature, a new manner of my being.” "An Old Man"
from Wilfred Monod's He Lives: Six Meditations on the Christian Mystery Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women. (Ephesians 6:14-18)
Let me make this stupidly simple for our hearts today. The “truth” is Jesus; Jesus has already made us “righteous”; the “Gospel” is the Good News of Heaven about Jesus; our “salvation” is the free gift of Jesus; the “Word” is Jesus Himself; our “faith” is belief and trust in Jesus; we talk to the Father through the Way that Jesus made. Paul, in his letter to the Roman believers, actually said this famous section better, more succinctly, when he simply wrote: “Put on THE LORD JESUS…” (Rom. 13:14) So, our everyday work is what? Abiding in Jesus. Because, abiding is what? Going inside; living; “putting on.” “...the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God's love precisely because of his shortcomings, can begin to be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his own illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God.” Thomas Merton No Man Is An Island * * * * If we refuse to admit that we are sinners, then we live in a world of illusion and truth becomes a stranger to us. But if we freely admit that we have sinned, we find God utterly reliable and straightforward—he forgives our sins and makes us thoroughly clean from all that is evil. (1 John 1:8,9)
"...since our nature has God as its requisite author, it is certain that we must have Him for our teacher that we may be wise; Him, too, to dispense to us spiritual sweetness that we may be blessed." Augustine of Hippo The City of God * * * * "Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." (Zephaniah 3:16b,17, ESV)
Today’s openness to the speaking Voice of Jesus (His Holy Spirit) is the guarantee of tomorrow’s leading; too, its potentiality: its adventure.
We will be going then as far as we are willing to listen now. You have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with a full heart, “Father, my Father”. The Spirit himself endorses our inward conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.
In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. The world of creation cannot as yet see reality, not because it chooses to be blind, but because in God’s purpose it has been so limited—yet it has been given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of God! (Romans 8:15b-21, Phillips) “It is absolutely necessary for us to recapture the sense that this limited human life is surrounded and interpenetrated by a timeless spiritual dimension. Christ spoke unequivocally about ‘coming from’ the Father, and ‘going to’ the Father. It was said of him that ‘he went about doing good and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people.’ He claimed that the work which he did, whether it was the healing of body, mind or soul was the work of God himself. Yet at the same time he stated quite definitely that his ‘Kingdom is not of this world.’ In other words, while he operated within the time-and-space situation, and neither despised nor detached himself from actual human living, he lived in continual awareness of what, for want of a better word, we call ‘eternity.’… “It is those who know God to be eternal who most satisfactorily prove that God is their contemporary.” J.B. Phillips
God Our Contemporary Then Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and, according to his custom, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read the scriptures and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book and found the place where these words are written—‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord’. Then he shut the book, handed it back to the attendant and resumed his seat. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed upon him and he began to tell them, “This very day this scripture has been fulfilled, while you were listening to it!” (Luke 4:16-21, Phillips) * * * A couple months ago, it struck me that this may be one of the most instructive moments we ever witness in the life of Jesus. At the very beginning of what we would call His “ministry years,” He is essentially saying He’s already finished: His personal presence is the eternal answer to our hearts’ every question. Yes, we still require to know Him better, to hear His teaching, to watch the miracles in all they reveal to us of the heart of God. Yes, the Cross will represent the required atonement for our sin; the Resurrection the needful freeing we require from death.
But… here with Jesus, here at the beginning of His ministry, here with some of His first hearers hearing His teachings, He is telling them and us--what? That He Himself is the place of the Spirit’s presence; that He Himself is the Good News of the Kingdom; that He Himself is the place of perpetual, once-for-all-time freedom; that He Himself is the experience of finally receiving sight; that He Himself is deliverance—both for each of us and for others; that He Himself is the Jubilee, the final freeing, the heart’s release; that He Himself is the beginning, means and end of everything intended for humankind since the moment of our Creation. Is that how you understand the totality of the Person of Jesus? Is He Himself--for you—everything that He truly is? |
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Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A.
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