Judging and the Trees of the Garden

It seems to me that the harder things get in our culture, the more prone we fallen humans are to make judgments about all kinds of things. Perhaps the corrosion and undoing of our systems, at least in the Western culture, is revealing how little control we have over our lives; and being creatures who desperately need to be in control, we are angered by the fact that we aren't in control. And our anger expresses itself in judgment of whoever and whatever we think might be getting in the way. In present days, this is manifesting itself in the political arena in a dramatic way.

There is a place for correct judging but life-giving judgment is only possible in Jesus. The Scripture says prophetically of Him: "He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth..." (Isaiah 11:3,4)

Jesus said of Himself more than once when speaking of His dependence on the Father: "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me." (John 5:30)

We can expect that those who are not in Jesus will engage in destructive judgments. My concern is for the people of God because we can be easily sucked into the spirit of the age if we are not alert and awake. We can quickly descend from our place of spiritual authority in Jesus into making judgments about political leaders merely by "what our eyes see and what our ears hear". When we do this, we lose our ability to speak prophetically into situations because we are now participating in the unfruitful ways of the world and are no longer "set apart" as those who are to manifest the values of a Kingdom that are utterly different from those of this world's kingdoms.

In order to judge and discern in a life-giving way, we must be in continual dependence on the Lord and alert to the spirit of the age. We must live out of the Tree of Life as our Source, rather than the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. At times the external fruit or action coming from these two trees can be so similar that they are easily confused, but at the heart, they are radically different.

Next week I'll share a little more on this theme. God bless you with His grace and peace in the Lord Jesus!

Grateful for a Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken - Part 4

One more thought on the topic of the unshakeable kingdom and it's about the cross as the solid foundation of this Kingdom and the ground on which we find solid footing.

As I listen to and watch followers of Jesus these days, I'm observing increased insecurity and confusion about a variety of topics related to God and final judgment and the age to come, etc. Some of this insecurity is related to the proliferation of doctrinal views and opinions that are so easily accessed now through technology. We need solid ground on which to stand, and that ground is the cross of Jesus. There we see the true nature of the Father which is the nature of this unshakeable Kingdom.

I have a wonderful children's Bible story book that starts out saying something to this effect: "Most people think the Bible is a book of rules...about what people should do or not do; and while it does show the way life works best, it's not mainly about what we do or don't do but about what GOD has done!"

The cross is the full expression of all that God is and has done, and only there can we see and understand what His kingdom is built on, and it is in looking to that great work and living by faith in it that we find alignment with His kingdom. How this looks practically in our lives is a whole other topic, but here I simply want to point us to the cross as the sure and unchanging reference point in these days when so much is swirling around us.

Thank You, Father, for giving Your Son unselfishly; thank You, Jesus, for loving and obeying to the point of death; thank You, Holy Spirit, for raising Jesus from the dead and therein making a way for many sons and daughters to be raised in Him! Thank You that You haven't left us to be tossed about by the many winds of human opinions and that the foundation of Your unshakeable Kingdom is the solid ground on which we stand by faith. We are grateful for a kingdom that cannot be shaken...all praise to You!

Grateful for a Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken - part 3

I'm increasingly convinced that the cross of Jesus is the only solid ground on which we can stand. It is that on which this unshakeable Kingdom is established. I may share more next week on the cross but this week, I'm going to pass on to you something I read recently that I believe is a great start at exploring the benefits of Jesus' death. This comes from Darrin Patrick's book, "Church Planter." This would be wonderful material to meditate on. (The remainder of this posting is quoted from Patrick's book):

"Through His cross-work, Christ has provided:

1. Reconciliation to God (2 Cor 5:19).
2. Forgiveness of sins (Col. 2:13).
3. Propitiation (Rom. 3:25).
4. Ability to live for God (2 Cor. 5:15).
5. Eternal life (John 3:16).
6. Justification (Rom 4:25).
7. Inheritance in heaven (Eph. 1:11).
8. Righteousness (Phil 3:9-10).
9. Healing (1 Peter 2:24).
10. Bodlily resurrection (1 Cor. 15:22).
11. Intercession for the weak (Heb 7:25).
12. Peace (Isa 53:5).
13. Freedom (Gal 5:1).
14. Unity among believers (Eph 2:11-22).
15. An example (1 Peter 2:21).
16. Redemption (Rom 3:24).
17. Advocacy (1 John 2:1).
18. Deliverance from fear of death (Heb 2:14-15).
19. Hope (Rom 5:1-11).
20. Wisdom (1 Cor 1:30).
21. Regeneration (1 Peter 1:3).
22. Access to God’s presence (Heb 10:19).
23. All things (Rom 8:32).

In short, Christ’s death has given us God (1 Peter 3:18)."

Grateful for a Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken - Part 2

Since writing last week's post based on Heb. 12:26-29, I keep thinking about how wonderful it is to have solid ground on which to stand and a sure path to follow in the midst of an increasingly chaotic world (even in the Church). As I've pondered this Kingdom a bit this week, the cross of Jesus has loomed large in my heart and mind - it is the foundation on which this unshakeable Kingdom is established.

Some of the sources that I can see shaking God's people are:
1. current events in the world (political, international, weather, etc.),
2. disorientation that comes from too much information coming at us too fast,
3. the instant spreading of teachings and personal opinions related to Christian doctrines,
4. questions and wonderings resulting from children wandering from truths they were raised in,
5. our helplessness to change circumstances that we desperately want to see changed,
6. disillusionment with long-standing ineffective ways of doing God's work in the world,
7. etc., etc.
I wonder if God is using all of this to shake some faulty foundations on which we have stood so that HIS foundation (the cross of Christ) will be our only stability.

Jesus is the only solid Rock on which we must stand; "all other ground is sinking sand." But Jesus is only solid ground if we see Him rightly, and I believe that this seeing comes by the ministry of His Spirit revealing Him in light of the cross. His self-giving death (the climax of a self-giving life) is the solid foundation of the Kingdom that cannot be shaken and therefore is the only solid ground that we have to stand on.

Jesus, THANK YOU for Your cross and suffering and the limitless implications of that for our stability now and for all eternity. Holy Spirit, would You make the cross of Jesus more real to us Your people so that our feet stand on solid ground in these uncertain days. Thank You!

(Next week I plan to touch a little more on the cross of Christ as the foundation of God's unshakeable Kingdom.)

Grateful for a Kingdom that Cannot Be Shaken

The big message of the book of Hebrews is the absolute superiority of Jesus over all. In light of this, it's not surprising that the writer would write words like these:

"At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of things that are shaken - that is, things that have been made - in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:26-28)

The reason I see these words as very appropriate to the big theme of Hebrews is that with the contrasting of the old systems with Jesus (Who fulfills all that the old systems were struggling to portray), we can see the need for a shaking that will undo the old in order for the unshakeable Kingdom to be established. This initial shaking happened with the birth and life and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But until He comes again to set up His literal earthly Kingdom rule, there will always be human systems that cover/hide the beauty and greatness of Jesus.

Sometimes these systems are religious practices that we have engaged in for so long that we confuse them with Jesus, and sometimes they are our own internal mindsets/strongholds that have been constructed in us and adhered to for so long that we believe they are true.

In this age we will never see Him in fullness, but I believe the Spirit of God who is fiercely jealous over Jesus being seen and known in fullness will do something in His Bride before the end of this age unlike what we have seen in the history of God's people in preparation for when we will see Him face to face. This will require a shaking of all that can be shaken; and because it will "mess" with that which we have been so sure of, there will be confusion and disorientation in the Body of Christ.

In this season of my life, I'm asking the Lord to shake all that can be shaken in my personal life and walk with Him, and I'm asking Him to do this for His Bride.

In the midst of the disorientation, "let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." True worship of the true and living God will help ground us, and when we feel the shakeable ground beneath our feet tremble and collapse, we'll find that rather than falling into a bottomless pit, we will land on His unshakeable ground of truth.

Thank You, Lord, for this kingdom that cannot be shaken. We worship You; we worship that which we know of You and that which we are yet to discover of You. Shake all that can be shaken until Your Bride is standing on the only solid ground - Jesus, the Superior One!

Millenial Lifestyle

During the time recently when I was going through the book of Hebrews a number of times, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who happened to be reading Hebrews too. He shared a thought that has stuck with me since. It was about the “Sabbath rest” in chapters 3 and 4.

He remarked that though we can taste of that rest in this age because of the work of the cross and the Spirit, the full expression of the Sabbath rest will be the millennial age that is to come after Jesus takes over leadership of the earth. But he went on to add that as he thought about Jesus’ life on earth, it struck him that Jesus lived the millennial lifestyle. In other words, He lived in perfect rest, doing only what He saw His Father do and saying what He heard His Father say. He didn’t try to make anything happen but lived in simple obedience and dependence on His Father by the Spirit. Jesus didn’t start any organized ministry nor try to capitalize on any “successes” He experienced in His life and walk with His Father.

I have come back to this thought over and over, and once again have realized how much we followers of Jesus have been influenced by the world, the flesh, and the devil in our measurement of what Kingdom fruitfulness looks like. We are prone towards building organized ministries around our spiritual successes or needs that we see.

As a result of this conversation with my friend some weeks ago, I have been asking myself the question: “What does living the millennial (Sabbath rest) lifestyle look like for me in this season of my life?” That question helps strengthen me to hold steady under the pressure to think that I have to make something happen in order to be fruitful in this age.

May the Spirit of Sabbath rest breathe on us as His people until all that we do and say is that which we see the Father do and say, and therein bear much lasting fruit. (The Song of Songs describes this lifestyle as that of "one leaning on her Beloved.") God bless you this week in Christ Jesus!

Jesus, Superior to All

This week I want to share a thought about the big message of the book of Hebrews: the superiority of Jesus to the Old Testament rituals and systems and practices, He being the fulfillment of them all.

As I went through this book several times recently, I was struck as never before with how those human systems and practices were done away with in His coming in the flesh. In fact, without the removal of the human systems, Jesus' beauty was obscured.

With this in mind, I saw the well-known chapter of Hebrews 11 on faith in fresh light; a couple of simple things stood out to me about faith:
1. With the removal of external props in worship, the true believer is forced into a life of faith at many levels.
2. Faith thrives and grows in the absence of external props because there is nothing left to lean on but the Person of Jesus.

Knowing our proneness as fallen humans, I wonder what systems and practices we modern evangelicals have that hinder a life of true faith? Holy Spirit, we need Your help to be able to see this and we pray that You will magnify Jesus and remove whatever You need to remove in order for us to see Him as He is and to grow in faith. Thank You for hearing and answering!