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Category: Jesus (Page 23 of 60)

Flesh and Blood

March 23, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” ~John 1:14 (MSG)

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God doesn’t wave a magic wand and cast a spell on the earth to restore it to its original condition. He doesn’t judge the world as beyond salvation and destroy everything. God comes to us. That’s his answer. That’s our God’s strategy. He enters our humanity with us, he puts on our skin and bones and blood, and participates in our problems. Immanuel. God with us. Jesus joins our mess.

This is how God works in the world. He takes on our humanness. He became one of us. The Son of God not only died for our sins as a human, he lived here as a human, too! He got hungry and tired with us. He laughed and cried with us. He bled. He sweated. He experienced joy and pain with us. He got surprised and he got frustrated. He was tempted. He struggled. He was betrayed by his best friends. He had to make hard decisions. He lost loved ones. He became one of us with us. This is God’s strategy.

Entering. Sharing. Engaging. Participating. All in.

That’s very, very different from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. All the other world’s religions worship a god who stays in the heavens, who has removed himself from creation and demands that his people come to him. People are required to find secret knowledge and spiritual codes and work and strive and struggle to get to these gods. But our God comes to us. He comes here to us.

JesusHealsBlindIt’s important for us to know that Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man. I can’t explain it all, I certainly don’t understand it all. But the Scriptures declare it, the Apostles’ Creed affirms it, and Jesus’ life on earth proves it. He is both God and man. And this is critical to our Christian faith.

If Jesus wasn’t a man, then he didn’t really enter our mess. He came here, yes, but he remained above all the dirt. He didn’t really enter or share or participate in the ugliness of what is our situation. He wasn’t human, he was God! It was easy!

And if Jesus wasn’t God, then he didn’t really sacrifice anything to come to us. He didn’t risk anything. He didn’t really put anything on the line. And it didn’t really make an eternal difference. It didn’t matter in the long run. He wasn’t God, he was human! He was born here, he didn’t have a choice. And then he died. It was unfortunate, that’s all.

No.

Jesus the Messiah, the Alpha and the Omega, the Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth, equal with God the Father from before the beginning of time, left his home in glory and put on our skin and bones in order to enter our mess. He entered your mess. He did. Jesus Christ entered your situation, he shared in your experiences, he carried all your burdens, he participated in your problems. He got very intimately involved in your situation at a tremendous personal cost. That’s the Gospel! Praise God!

Christ Jesus put on our flesh and lived with us. He entered the fray. And so we disciples of Christ today enter the fray with our money and time and resources and energy and talents and houses and everything we’ve got. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians shine light into darkness, we bring life out of death. We join in the problems. We jump into the ugliness. That’s why so many hospitals are named Methodist and Presbyterian and Baptist-St. Anthony’s — because Christians have been entering the mess and sharing and carrying and engaging and participating since that very first Easter Sunday.

It’s obvious that this is the way of our Lord. God’s Church is not called to just hang on until the uncleanness is destroyed. We’re not called to just pray about the mess so God can take care of it. And we surely don’t lock ourselves up in a gated monastery and ignore the problems. We enter it. We engage it. Heaven and earth, God and humans, present together in the redemption and restoration of the world.

Peace,

Allan

The Counter Cultural Way

March 8, 2016 / / 0 Comments

JesusPraysInPainThe Word of God confronts us with two ways. The Law and the Prophets, the Psalms and Proverbs, the Gospels and Letters all present us with the choice of two ways. It’s not where you’re going to live or what career you’re going to pursue or who you’re going to marry or where you’re going to eat. The choice given us in Scripture certainly encompasses and impacts all the daily choices we make while we live in those places with the people we marry and in the work we do and while we’re eating lunch. But there’s only one choice in the Bible: the way of life of the way of death; the way of blessing or the way of curses; the way of God or the way of the devil.

Jesus says, “I am the Way.” I am the Way to God and I’m also the way God comes to you. I’m a two-way Way. And so we choose Jesus. And when we choose Jesus, what is it specifically that we’ve chosen? What are we signing up for when we say “Yes” to Jesus?

Well, the Gospels tell us plainly that Jesus’ Way is counter cultural. Popularity and power mean just about everything in our society, but popularity and power mean absolutely nothing to our Lord. In the Gospels, it looks like Herod has the power. The governing officials in the Roman Empire have all the power. So the Roman soldiers. The religious leaders have a lot of power. The chief priests and teachers of the Law and the Sanhedrin wield plenty of power. And all of these people and groups seem to have their way with Jesus. Jesus is the lowly servant who’s despised and rejected, beaten and crucified. Cursed by God and man.

But remember the centurion clearly sees the truth when he sees how Jesus dies: “Surely this man was the Son of God.”

Jesus’ way is upside down. It’s counter cultural. Our default, though, is the pursue the ways of the world. As disciples of Jesus individually and as churches of God collectively, we’re not very careful with this. Without even thinking about it, we embrace and adopt the ways of the culture. We imitate the ways used by powerful people who run large companies and corporations, high profile people who lead political parties and nations. By threat and force and power; with money and might; by out-yelling and out-insulting others; by demonizing those who disagree with us; by walling ourselves off from anyone who may do us harm. And we don’t even consider that those ways are totally at odds with the way of Jesus.

We see accomplished men who’ve achieved great success by using these worldly methods and we make them elders of the church. We make these guys preachers of the Word. Whatever the culture decides is exciting and successful and influential, whatever gets things done, whatever will gather a crowd.

We usually have to take four or five different looks at guys whose main character traits are gentleness and humility before we consider them for leadership roles — if we even look at those kinds of guys at all. Shouldn’t the man who lives only to serve others be moved to the top of the list? Shouldn’t the guys who consider the needs of others more important than their own, the guys who refuse to advance their own agenda, the guys who you’ve never heard say one bad thing about anybody else, shouldn’t they be the frontrunners for leadership positions in our congregations? Shouldn’t they be the ones to set the tone in our churches?

Peace,

Allan

The Personal Way

March 7, 2016 / / 0 Comments

JesusHealsBleedingWomanPeople matter to Jesus. Individual people — men, women, and children; young and old; rich and poor; educated and ignorant — mean a whole lot to Jesus. We find Jesus in the gospels calling crowds and feeding multitudes. But the main image is of Jesus with individuals. He heals individuals. He comforts and encourages individuals. Nothing’s abstract with our Lord. It’s not theory. It’s not impersonal. The Jesus Way is clearly a very personal way to be.

We’re carefully considering the Gospel of Mark here at Central. And I’m impressed by this picture Mark paints of a very personal Jesus.

On the opening page he presents Jesus as taking Peter’s mother-in-law by the hand and helping her up. He touches the man with leprosy. He calls Levi and then eats dinner with him at Levi’s house. The bleeding woman touches him and he calls her “daughter.” He takes the dead girl by the hand, it says, with her mom and dad there in the room with him. “Little girl,” Jesus says. On and on Jesus is touching people, hugging people, eating with people, meeting with people. Jesus’ Way is personal.

And we don’t always think about it. We write checks. We build buildings. We create programs. We serve on committees. And those are all really great things. Praise God for those wonderful things! But I feel like there are fewer and fewer visits in one another’s homes. I think there are fewer and fewer face-to-face conversations. Fewer touches and hugs. Fewer confessions. Fewer prayers lifted up together through streams of tears. Fewer and fewer deep, close, personal relationships.

JesusHealsSketchIn the gospels, Jesus doesn’t stand on the edges of the scene. He never waits for something to happen. He grabs people, he walks toward situations. He makes things happen.

The way of Jesus is in bearing the burdens of others. Carrying the pains of others. Sharing their hurts. Not avoiding it. Not shielding yourself from it.

You can never go wrong showing up at somebody’s house to pray. That is always the right thing to do. You can never go wrong showing up at a funeral to cry. That is always the right thing to do. You can never go wrong showing up at a hospital to sit with somebody. That is always the right thing to do. And you’ll take it home with you. You won’t be able to shake it. It’ll keep you up at night. It’s heavy and it’s hard. It will burden you. It’ll impact you.

But it’s so like our Lord.

It’s so like Jesus who did not one time shy away from entering your mess and carrying your burdens. He walked toward you and your mess, he never walked away from you. He came to us and waded right into the middle of the tragedy of our lives to love and heal and restore. And it cost him. It cost him his life.

Peace,

Allan

He Climbed Into the Boat

February 23, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! I Am! Don’t be afraid!’ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.” ~Mark 6:50-51

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Notice that Jesus did not rescue his disciples out of the sea. He gets into the boat with them. He tells them, “I Am God!” Look at me. See this. I am God. I am in control of all these things. Don’t be afraid. I’m right here with you. I’m in charge of everything and you belong to me. I am God. And I’m getting into the boat with you. I’m doing this with you. We’re in this together.

Jesus gives them the strength and courage to continue the journey. They press on, confident that their Lord is with them, that he has dominion over heaven and earth, and that he will carry them through.

It’s like the letters in Revelation. Jesus tells the churches, “I know what you’re going through.” He knows the work and the toil and the endurance of Ephesus. He knows the affliction and poverty of Smyrna, the faithful witness of Pergamum in the middle of Satan’s throne. He knows the patient endurance of Thyatira and the struggle of Philadelphia. He doesn’t relieve them of their struggle. But he promises to be with them. And he promises victory if they’re faithful.

We must keep rowing. The wind is against us and we sometimes get completely blown off course. But we’ve got to continue “straining at the oars.” The power to cross the sea and reach the final shore does not lie with us. That belongs to God — the One who reveals himself to his people most perfectly in his Son, the One who guarantees that victory in his Son’s life, death, and resurrection.

Peace,

Allan

He Saw the Disciples

February 18, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.” ~Mark 6:46-48

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The disciples are out in the water, right where Jesus put them. He “made” them go there, it says. They’re out on the lake and he’s on the mountain praying. He’s praying. And he’s watching them. He’s watching them as they strain at the oars because the wind is against them. If he’s watching them and he’s praying, I imagine he’s praying about them, don’t you? They’re struggling. They’re working hard. They’re fighting the wind and the waves and going nowhere. He sees them. He’s watching them. They’re stuck. They’re frustrated. Nothing’s happening! They’re actually being blown off course.

I feel like that sometimes. Do you?

In my desires to follow Jesus, in my best efforts to obey God, sometimes I feel like I’m beating my brains out against the wind. I’m rowing and rowing and rowing and not getting anywhere. I’m doing and working and striving and I’m stuck. Nothing’s happening. The wind is against me, it’s in my face. And I get frustrated. And I doubt.

You feel that, too. I know you do. There are so many things that fight against us, so many things that oppose us. Just the chaos of life in this godless culture is enough. But Jesus has put us here. He’s placed us here in the middle of crime and cancer and illness and death. We fight failure and rejection and ridicule and judgment. We’re distressed by divisions in the Church. We’re in turmoil over circumstances with our children or grandchildren. We’re struggling with our jobs. Temptation and sin and dishonesty and abuse. Vengeance and greed. Selfishness and lust. Yes, the wind is against us. And we strain at the oars.

Please take comfort in the fact that Jesus is watching you strain at the oars. He sees you. He knows. He’s aware of every struggle. He sees every battle. He knows the things that are causing you distress and heartache. He’s watching you.

And he is praying for you. He’s talking to the Father about you right now. Scripture tells us that Christ Jesus lives to intercede for us. It’s what he does. He watches the disciples and he prays. He’s watching you today and he’s praying. He’s pointing you out to the Father right now. He’s talking about you to God. And I imagine as he watches you strain at the oars, he’s very proud of you.

Peace,

Allan

Seeing God’s Plan at the Cross

February 12, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“When the Centurion who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!'” ~Mark 15:39

JesusCrossShadowsWhen we see how Jesus dies, we see very clearly the way God is going to save the world. We see how God is going to transform the world and win the victory.

Politicians are not going to save the world. Platforms and promises are not going to change your country. This country and this world are not going to be won by votes or armies or power or partisanship. Only our God in Christ can save the world — God alone!

And his way is the way of death. His way is the way of suffering and sacrifice and service. His will is to change people and save people, not by force or through threats, not out of anger or with an attitude, but with humility and love and forgiveness and grace. And peace.

This world will change, not when more Christians vote, but when more Christians serve. This country will change, not when Christians get their man or woman in the White House, but when Christian men and women get suffering and sacrifice in their hearts. This world will change, not when the Church is in power, but when the Church is persecuted for righteousness’ sake and suffers for doing good. This country will be changed, not when our enemies are shot and bombed and destroyed, but when our enemies are forgiven and prayed for and loved.

We see clearly only through the lens of the cross.

Jesus blessed those who cursed him; he taught those who ridiculed him; he did not resist those who told lies about him and beat him; he loved those who spit on him; he forgave those who killed him. That’s the “way.” That’s what’s going to save the world.

Peace,

Allan

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