Radical Jesus Followers or Behavior Change Specialists

The other day as part of a group of seminary alumni I was asked by a professor to make a few comments to his homiletics class (instruction on how to preach a sermon). The challenge posed to us was to finish the following statement: “My best advice to preachers is . . . .” O.K. So I took my first swing saying, “Lift up Jesus. The noble calling of preaching demands nothing less. The world is replete with anthropocentric preaching on tips and techniques for a better, more fulfilled life. Focus on Christ and let the Holy Spirit work. Jesus calls us to an uncompromising, self-sacrificing life of uncalculated devotion to Him because He alone is worthy. You and I are not clever enough to change a life-draw a crowd maybe-but real Kingdom work is in the full counsel of God where He is all in all. Preach it from your life so you can be bold as a lion in the pulpit.”

I thought I hit it out of the ball park. Until another man chimed in saying, “At the risk of polarizing some of the family here [me] . . . . One of our key responsibilities is to help listeners CHANGE BEHAVIOR.” He went on to say, “You must create accountability and action to change their behavior in order to do more than serve up a good message. If a good message is the end goal, we’ve fallen far short of putting into play the transformation power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

What my colleague said was not necessarily out of bounds so I let it be for a while. But it bothered me like ‘splinter in my mind.’ What he said is said by so many so called preachers in so many different ways and it is this: God is interested in our happiness. Happiness occurs when you have the right formulaic mix of right actions. When we finally do all the things we are supposed to do then we will be holy and happy.

So what’s wrong with that? This is a man-centered view. The Bible I read does not ask man to think more of himself and improve his behavior so that God will be pleased. The Koran says that. Buddha says that. A Christianity of pithy statements, tips and techniques for a better more fulfilled you is a fat lot of beaver biscuits. So what do you think I said? I said . . .

“Polarization is exactly what preachers are about as representatives of a Holy God in an unholy world. Understanding and excepting the complexities and skills associated with compelling rhetoric and with all due respect; are preachers behavior modification specialists or radical Jesus followers? Nevertheless, it is not the preacher’s job to ‘Change Behavior’ but rather to preach unsullied truth which will apply without constraint or compartment, ubiquitously to the whole of a person’s life. To be clear, without an acute awareness of personal enslavement to sin and the elegant, graceful solution offered by Jesus on the cross one cannot be born again nor have the context to live free from the constraint of sinful behavior. People don’t need behavior modification they need heart transplants and reminders thereto. Acting differently will necessarily happen when rightly related to God. What this means is that people need to ‘be’ different first which they cannot effect apart from the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. Once that happens they will then be free to act differently, more consistently with the character and nature of their Father in their daily activities as a son, father, employee, supervisor, activist, etc. Certainly the process of sanctification is iterative or cyclical for the believer where the preacher can and should have influence. But true faith is the only real behavior modifier as ‘faith without works is dead.’ Everything else is still sin and religious legalism complete with its attendant guilt when failure is finally realized. As I am sure you would agree works do not create the faith. Rather true repentant faith always desires total obedience to the will of our LORD. What the world needs is not more preachers with tips and techniques on how to live a better life. That’s irrelevant within the general context of a fallen world. What is actually more relevant are tell-it-like-it-is prophets boldly denouncing the sin of this world wherever it is and in whatever form it takes without thought of how people, communities, and governments will respond. Preachers are forth-telling prophets or they are nothing at all. Dare I say America has a damn sight fewer than she needs and we are reaping Hell’s rewards because of it (i.e. consumer debt, divorce, fatherlessness, pornography, political corruption, sexual exploitation, abortion, etc).”

No response.

Death OR Resurrection?

The cross of Jesus. Is it more death or more Resurrection? The Passion of Christ, the essence of why God took on flesh is bound up in this and it seems only right to try to understand it a little better for in the understanding is a more transformed, more holy life. And since a holy life reflects the life of Christ and what we know of His life and ministry take place on the way, more or less, to the cross it is only right for us to survey that timeless event.

Paul says in Philippians 2:8; “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The condescension of the creator to take on the trappings of His creation is an act of humility. The life of Jesus as one man in the flesh is an act of humility for a God Who is everywhere. Having no place to lay His head for a God who owns the universe is an act of humility. Stipping off his robes and becoming the basest of all servants to wash the feet of His lowly students is an act of humility. Submission of a Just God to unjust authorities is an act of humility. Death and that at the brutal hand men, the very crown of His own creation is humility. Burial in a borrowed tomb is an act of humility. It seems that the biography of Jesus Christ can be summarized in one word: Humble.

Survey the Cross

And why? For love of the unyielding, proud?’ The ‘I’ that makes no room, gives no grace for the other, for ‘you?’ It makes no sense. If God, the only One who truly is justified, who truly is righteous, who truly is glorious and worthy to be King humbled Himself how much more should we sinners sit in wonder at the foot of the cross and dare to be offended and miserable and the circumstances that surround us? We must take our daily struggles as from His hand as opportunities to walk the way of humility. Humility is God’s highway to holiness, to love and true greatness. And when that highway reaches its end we will be, as St. John of the Cross said, “judged by Love.” This is the resurrection.

Maundy Thursday?

Easter . . . we all get Friday (the day Jesus was crucified) and we all get Sunday (the day Jesus rose from the dead) but what is Thursday and that wierd word in front of it; maundy? Recently I learned that the word itself is derived from a latin root meaning ‘mandate’ or command. So what about the Thursday before Jesus crucifixion was mandated?

Look carefully for the humble little house among the ruins

To answer that question we must recall what Jesus said and did the day before. It was the last supper. And during that time Jesus washed the disciples feet and then said as that situation is recorded in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” This is the ‘maundy’ or mandate that Jesus gave us. Jesus referred to this as the sum of all the law and prophets. Paul says in Galatians 5:14, “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” He was quoting Leviticus 19:18. Yes, Leviticus. So what is new here? What is new is the fact that the disciples will now have more than an example of what living for others looks like. It is because of the cross that the “Helper” or Holy Spirit who bears witness of Who Jesus is through a person’s life will now also empower those same people to live as Christ for others.

Mandate Thursday . . . without it the gospel is just words. May a humble life for others spring up from the ruins of our proud selfishness as we surrender to Jesus at the cross and let His Holy Spirit spir us on to love and good works.

Happy Easter my friends.

Loosen Up the Schedule

I’ve been so busy lately that I have not had time to write a post. Do you ever feel like you need to free up some time? Sometimes we need to slow down in order to hear what God is saying.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Contemplate the things of the Lord together

To walk the road of faith we must in some sense walk it alone. We must all come to the cross alone. We must all confront our sin for what it is alone with Jesus. But there is a caveat; to walk the way of holiness seems like we travel the road faster if we walk with other people of faith. What I mean is, if we walk in communion with other like-minded believers we learn the lessons of faith quicker, easier. Proverbs 27: 17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” It is a verse that has been overused to the point of becoming a truism. But I think John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress helps to clarify that it does not simply mean talking with each other but encouraging each other to excel in a whole life that is consistent with the character of God. The following is an excerpt of that book where the metaphorical character “Faithful” is ending his conversation with “Talkative” after confronting and encouraging him to not just talk about truths but to live them. After “Talkative” takes offense and leaves, “Faithful” then has a piercing and profound discussion with his good friend “Christian.”

“Talkative: Since you are so ready to take up reports, and to judge so rashly as you do, I cannot but conclude you are some peevish or melancholy man, not fit to be discoursed with; and so adieu.

Then up came Christian, and said to his brother, I told you how it would happen; your words and his lusts could not agree. He had rather leave your company than reform his life. But he is gone, as I said: let him go; the loss is no man’s but his own. He has saved us the trouble of going from him; for he continuing (as I suppose he will do) as he is, would have been but a blot in our company: besides, the apostle says, “From such withdraw thyself.”

Faithful: But I am glad we had this little discourse with him; it may happen that he will think of it again: however, I have dealt plainly with him, and so am clear of his blood if he perisheth.

Christian: You did well to talk so plainly to him as you did. There is but little of this faithful dealing with men now-a-days, and that makes religion to stink so in the nostrils of many as it doth; for they are these talkative fools, whose religion is only in word, and who are debauched and vain in their conversation, that (being so much admitted into the fellowship of the godly) do puzzle the world, blemish Christianity, and grieve the sincere. I wish that all men would deal with such as you have done; then should they either be made more conformable to religion, or the company of saints would be too hot for them. Then did Faithful say,

“How Talkative at first lifts up his plumes! How bravely doth he speak! How he presumes To drive down all before him! But so soon As Faithful talks of heart-work, like the moon That’s past the full, into the wane he goes; And so will all but he that heart-work know.”

Thus they went on, talking of what they had seen by the way, and so made that way easy, which would otherwise no doubt have been tedious to them, for now they went through a wilderness.”

It seems that a healthy home church will facilitate this type of faith. It seems that brothers and sisters in the Lord will not allow each other to ‘just talk’ about living the Christian life but help each other to walk the road of faith together. Paul said in Hebrews 10:25, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” The encouragement has only to do with living faithfully, more consistently with the way of the cross and in the power of the resurrection. But there is baggage we all have relative to our negative experiences with religious Christians that like to talk rather than live. And so we are afraid to truly encourage one another or we are loath to assemble together. We should push through our discomfort and not just assemble but in all our assembling truly encourage.

And what does ‘assembling’ actually mean? It means intentionally meeting with other believers as often as is reasonably possible in groups at home, with other families, one on one, on the phone, etc, etc. Iron gets dull with use. And iron can’t sharpen itself.

Crutches and the Cross

Everything is a crutch if the cross of Christ is not the solution.

It seems that everything in life can be used for a crutch to prop up our ideas of the way we think life should be; hobbies, work, family, even our theology and understanding of the Bible. At the cross all that is gone. Jesus did not come to give us information, one more crutch. But even if He did come to give us more information it would have been a merciless act. Merciless because we could never live up to the standard he proposed in all of His teaching. If teaching and truths were His only intent then He came preaching hopelessness, schlepping frustration, pushing pain, enhancing spiritual poverty, and abject moral failure (i.e. the Sermon on the mount). No, Luke 19: 10 says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The whole world was lost as the first man Adam fell not only because Adam represented the fountain of humanity but also because it was man’s job to manage the earth. Jesus came to get it all back and that means by becoming the ‘Son of man’ or the second Adam. To be the new and sinless fountain of mankind willing and able to take on a debt we could never repay and to save us. To save us from ourselves, from our sin.

He did not come to lower the standard but to underscore it so that His real mission was clear to all. He came to show us our poverty to be sure but to show it to us so that we might look upon the solution. If we refuse to see our moral bankruptcy, to see that our spiritual, social, and intellectual currency are less than worthless to God then we will not be able to receive the true riches God has for us. God is rich in mercy, in grace. His love is undying, His forgiveness unending. When we live, we live to Him through the gate of Christ’s death on our behalf. But we accept His death by admitting to ourselves and to Him the real reason why He had to die such a grueling death . . . because I deserved it. God is nothing if not true to Himself. He is just and so requires payment for our sins. However, God is also loving, dedicated to His human creation and so determined to make a way for our sin to be absolved.

So in order to live a holy life, one that is productive for God in a corrupt world we must have courage. Courage not only to stand alone and risk ridicule by a world that does not understand difficult as that may appear. But even more difficult is the courage to stand against one’s own natural tendencies. Jesus said in John 12: 25, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” That is the essence of true courage. To know one is standing on deadly ground such that an unreasonable resolve to defy death brings you right to the brink of it. To take a passive position or even a defensive position will end in death. Many men died in their foxholes hiding from the bomb, bullet or army bent on killing them. On the other hand, to ‘take your life into your own hands’ is the only way out, the animalistic offense when cornered.

The difficulty for many though is that they think they are not cornered, that there is nothing to fight for or against, that their very soul is not really in danger. We inoculate our minds and our senses against the truth of our dire circumstances with our crutches, our trust in our intellect, our job, our social status, our family, our money, our entertainment, our religion however Christian it may look. We are inoculated with the illusion of independence, safety and security. Jesus and the cross is that antidote to the inoculation and it is harsh, like someone switching on the noon day sun in our dark little closet life. It feels harsh, offensive, painfully blinding. But if we let our eyes adjust to what the light is revealing we will see an ever-expanding landscape opening up on all sides as the wind of the Spirit of God begins the cleansing work of sanctification. All I have to do is that one thing He whispers to me (i.e. apologize to your coworker for being harsh). And then the next thing (i.e. don’t watch that T.V. show anymore, it’s not good for you), and the next (tell your wife that you love her). Holiness is freedom. Freedom is in the details and is a sense that one is beholden only to God. Holiness is now.

Faith and Valleys

The journey of faith comes alive when we walk the valleys

The journey of faith really comes alive when we walk the valleys. Faith is designed specifically for that purpose. If we hopped from mountain top to mountain top faith would be of no value. The valleys in life should not be rejected. We must resist the temptation of self-pity. The valleys are there to show us that we are sinful, weak and miserable. They are there to reveal our ongoing need for Christ. They are there to show us our selfish tendencies, our anger, our anxiety, our pride, our wilfulness, our sense of fairness, our desire for power, our hate, our lust, and every other thing that stands in the way of a life that is one with Jesus Christ. The valleys push us to excel in our holiness if we let them. The valleys force us to die to the world, to the part of ourselves that feels at home in this world. The valleys reveal Jesus in us when we surrender to His will and walk the way He wants us to.

The valleys can come in many forms. They can come in the form of depression, a bad mood, the bad mood of others, things not going right at work, a disobedient child (’tisn’t the neighbors they’re taken after), the death of a spouse, or any number of a thousand different circumstances that make us uncomfortable. When confronted with these many daily difficulties, if we will allow it, our faith in God’s sovereignty, His control over all things, will lead us to ask the question, “What part of myself is God showing me must die here that Christ may live through me.” 

Jesus died on the cross not so that we could have a nice example to follow. Jesus died on the cross in our place so that we could die to ourselves and live in the power of His resurrection. Paul says in Galatians 6:8-10: “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

Is The Cross More Than Persecution?

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Persecution essentially means hardship of various types and degrees. Jesus even taught on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:10-12: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 

Walking the highway of holiness

Noah Webster’s original Dictionary published in 1828 defines persecution as, “The infliction of pain, punishment or death upon others unjustly, particularly for adhering to a religious creed or mode of worship.” Jesus’ life was a perfect example of that persecution as it says in John 5: 16, “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.” The things He was doing on the Sabbath were things like healing people and telling those people to pick up the pallet on which they had lain for years paralyzed and walk. Why is that offensive? Because it does not line up with the way,order, power, expectations of the world. 

So was the cross of Jesus persecution? I say, no. The cross was a decision on God’s part from eternity past (See Revelation 13: 8). The cross and the blood Jesus shed there was not a religious act nor was the way he lived or the things he taught religious ideas. They were not even truths (plural). Jesus came as Life to a dead world. Death calls true life religion. Death calls true life close minded. Death calls true life unwise and reckless. So what was the cross if not a form of persecution? If it were only persecution it would make Jesus less than God and the subject of religion ideology. If the cross were only a pattern or model that we should emulate it would demote Jesus to just a good teacher setting an example. 

No, the cross is the gateway to life and the very road we walk as Christians. The blood of Jesus is God in the flesh redeeming the world, reconciling it back with Himself. The cross enables me and you to be in such communion with God as to reflect His very nature in everything we do, say and think. The blood shed on the cross speaks difficult things for us to hear but that we must hear every day. It says I am not good enough on my own to know God. It says I am a sinner. It says I’m not smart enough, strong enough, pure enough to get to God. It says that we have hurt God and done violence to Him and our relationship so significant that we cannot restore it through any work or craft that we possess. 

But if I continue to look at the cross through the water in my eyes I will see there God’s eternal love, devotion and faithfulness to me. Roy and Revel Hession wrote a book called We Would See Jesus and in it they say, “To create God had but to speak, and it was done. But to redeem, He had to bleed.” We have but to accept the redeeming reality of His death bringing us the opportunity of knowing Him again, the hope of glory, enjoying Him forever. Then we must begin to live the way of God’s kingdom on earth and we will know persecution, we will begin to identify with Jesus and the road He walked, holy and pure, as in its inevitable collisions with the wide highways of this world. John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress describes Christian’s experience with the cross this way: 

“Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with, “Peace be to thee.” So the first said to him, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment, the third also set a mark on his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate: so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing, 

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin, 

Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, 

Till I came hither. What a place is this! 

Must here be the beginning of my bliss? 

Must here the burden fall from off my back? 

Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? 

Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be 

The Man that there was put to shame for me!”

The Kingdom and the Cross

Entering the Kingdom is done at the cross of Jesus. But having come to the cross one must walk the way of the cross. This is a hard path, a straight path but a hard one nonetheless. It is a path whereby we have the privilege of proving our love to our Lord Jesus in the same way he proved it to us, through much trial and sacrifice for Him, for the Church, for the world as a holy priesthood who would reject Him in us. Isaiah 35:8 calls this kingdom road the ‘Highway of Holiness.’ I love John Bunyan’s metaphorical description of that Christian life journey into the kingdom of God in The Pilgrim’s Progress. He describes a discussion the main character, Christian, is having with a man called the Interpreter after watching a man fight his way into a heavily guarded palace.

“Then the Interpreter took him, and led him up towards the door of the palace; and behold, at the door stood a great company of men, as desirous to go in, but durst not. There also sat a man at a little distance from the door, at a table-side, with a book and his inkhorn before him, to take the names of them that should enter therein; he saw also that in the doorway stood many men in armor to keep it, being resolved to do to the men that would enter, what hurt and mischief they could. Now was Christian somewhat in amaze. At last, when every man started back for fear of the armed men, Christian saw a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying, “Set down my name, sir;” the which when he had done, he saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet on his head, and rush towards the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force; but the man, not at all discouraged, fell to cutting and hacking most fiercely. So after he had received and given many wounds to those that attempted to keep him out, he cut his way through them all, and pressed forward into the palace; at which there was a pleasant voice heard from those that were within, even of those that walked upon the top of the palace, saying, “Come in, come in, eternal glory thou shalt win.’

And like Eliot Ness said to Al Capone after Capone was indicted we must never stop fighting until the fight is done. Never Stop Fighting

For it is then that we will have won to eternal glory.

What Are We Supposed To Sacrifice?

Now that Jesus has paid the ultimate price for you and me and God no longer requires a sacrifice for our sin why does God still require a sacrifice from us?  Hebrews 13: 13-14 says, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His [Jesus'] reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come [Zion the heavenly kingdom].” 

The Cross on the Mountain by Caspar David Friedrich

Because to be citizens of heaven dual citizenship is forbidden. One cannot be committed to the this world and all its cares and wisdom while at the same time be committed to the values of heaven. We either trust in Jesus and live the work of faith or we live for ourselves in the style of this world. To be a member of the great and holy Church means we will in many respects look and act differently than this world. So much so in fact that it will feel as if we are outcasts living ‘outside the camp, bearing His reproach [the sacrifice of the cross]. We all must take up our cross and that cross is uncalculated obedience to God, sacrificing what he requires of us. But now that Jesus has sacrificed for us what is our sacrifice? 

  Hebrews 13: 15-16 says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” 

There are two types of sacrifice and both stem from the same root, thankfulness to God for what He has done for us through Jesus on the cross. The first is sacrifice of praise to God. The fruit of one’s lips, what one says comes from the heart. Praise does not simply mean singing the three songs at Church on Sunday morning. It is the sum total of what comes out of our mouths. Is it worthy of who God is? Is it praiseworthy of what He has made us? 

The second is ‘doing good and sharing.’ What we have received from God we freely give to those around us. If we give only criticism we have not received the grace of God. If we give only judgement we have not received forgiveness. If we give only the gospel message to the hungry then we have not received the riches of Jesus who sits at the right hand of power.