"I have been crucified with Christ. It is No Longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
I realize I’m probably a day late and a dollar short because most of you have probably seen this video; however, I wanted to pass it along in case some of you have missed it.
Jonathan Cahn delivers what I truly believe is a “word from the Lord” at the 2013 Inaugural Prayer Breakfast. There is no political bias represented in this video; both the left and the right will probably be equally offended. I pray you will watch and listen with all spiritual discernment.
Have you ever been rejected? Chances are, if you’ve lived long enough to enter grade school; you’ve felt the hurt of rejection in one form or another. We are promised love from so may who come into our lives, promises of unfailing love with the, “I’ll never leave you or hurt you.” thrown in. You know by now that so often this doesn’t work out, and for one reason or another we reject or are rejected. The irony of it all is that each of us continues to search for that forever. I’ve got great news.
There is One who promises that he will never reject you. Check this out: “…those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.”(John 6:37) I really like it when Jesus talks like that! I have to be honest, there have been times in my life when I was not that loveable and can honestly understand why some of the rejection occurred. I mean really, some folks didn’t reject and leave me; they simply escaped! (I would’ve left me too, but I kept showing up everywhere I went!) The love of man is finite, and even with the best of intentions can sometimes reach a limit. What’s so cool is that when Jesus says he won’t reject us, we’re not only dealing with the Son of Man; we’re talking about the Son of God. And his love is eternal.
One more thing, our security in Christ is not based so much on us as it is his own faithfulness. “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:38-40) Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that we can sin with impunity. The scriptures plainly teach that those who truly believe most definitely do not habitually practice sin as a lifestyle. What I am saying is that despite our propensity to wander and screw up, as we are enabled by God to continually turn from sin and towards God; Jesus is faithful to maintain a firm grip on us because he his doing what the Father wants him to do- save us! It is God who is at work in you and Jesus promised, “If you come to me; I won’t lose you.”
In this world, the love of many waxes cold and rejection is common place. We can be so cruel. We love as long as the objects of our love are making us feel good about ourselves and doing what we want them to do. Then, when they let us down or step out of line; we throw them away and get a new one. Jesus isn’t like that. I don’t care what you’ve done or how many times you’ve stumbled; come to him and he will not disappoint you. He is in it with you for the long haul. He promised he would never reject you; so tell me, how can you reject a love like that?
I don’t know about you but sometimes I struggle. Yeah, I sincerely love Jesus and have given myself to him, trusting him, seeking him, consistent in fellowship, service, prayer and bible study; but, I still have areas in my life in which I struggle. If you’re like me; it starts with a thought. The “splinter” enters the mind, and there are times when I let it fester to the point that it brings about the disgusting pus of sin. BUT all praise be to God, as I walk with him, I am experiencing the truth that Jesus not only forgives sin, but is perfectly willing to share with us his victory over sin!
The reality is that as believers in Christ, God has declared us justified. Positionally so to speak, we are in Jesus, holy and blameless. Experientially, we are being conformed to the image of the Son as the Holy Spirit works within us on a daily basis. We exist in the tension between what God has done for us in Christ, what he is doing in us as we grow in him, and what he is going to do on the day salvation is fully realized. As we grow in grace, we find that we no longer live a lifestyle of habitually practicing sin; but, we are still very much capable of sinning. Because we have been born again by God’s Spirit and given a new nature, we are grieved by our sin as we sincerely long to be perfect, complete, and mature as he has called us to be. I haven’t got there yet, but I’ve learned a few things and I’d like to share one of them with you now.
Regarding that “splinter in the mind,” the Bible tells us, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 
1:14, 15 ESV) You can see the progression: temptation, sin, and ultimately death. I believe it’s usually at the point of that first thought (temptation) that the battle’s won or lost. The verses on our victory over sin are too numerous to cite here (google ‘em), but it is evident within scripture that, because of Jesus, we are/can be victorious. The thing is, when that first temptation comes we have all kind of twisted, pseudo-religious ways by which we respond. When tempted, have you ever offered up some kind of half-hearted token prayer like, “Lord please help me.” when you know you plan on giving in? Have you ever purposely hardened your heart to the voice of the Spirit, knowing you could escape temptation, but turned a deaf ear to the call to prayer because really you wanted to give in and didn’t want him to stop you? Sadly, I have to answer yes to both of those questions. “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
When temptation comes, you must understand that you have been given victory in Christ. At the first thought, as soon as you feel that “splinter” enter your mind; call upon the Lord in sincere prayer. Take to him the temptation that has beset you! By the grace that he has given so freely to you, BE WILLING to let him give you victory. Our problem is that sometimes we simply aren’t willing for him to do it. Cry out to him understanding that “God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.” The only prayer you may be able to muster is, “Lord, I’m willing to be made willing.” but willing he will make you! As you come to him in the hour of temptation, he will fill you freshly with his Spirit through whom “you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature.” My friend, we are victorious in Christ!
I remember being a kid and getting splinters from time to time. I knew Mom could get them out. She would heat the needle until it glowed and then carefully, lovingly extract the thing that was causing me so much pain. You know, I remember there were times I wouldn’t go to her, even though I knew she could help, because I was afraid. Looking back now, that seems really foolish, but don’t we do the same thing regarding the splinters of temptation that are in us. We know Jesus is more than able to help, but for whatever reason; we don’t allow him to. Foolish, huh? I’ll leave you with this:
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Have you ever heard of the term epistemology? Well, in case you haven’t; epistemology is the means by which we come to know truth. In our postmodern society or post post modern society if you will, the “new” thing is to question our epistemology. How do you know the truth? Can you know the truth? Are you sure you know the truth? There are no absolute truths. Actually, this is nothing new. It’s been going on since the beginning.
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, He instructed man as to how he was to understand the world in which he found himself. The Creator was clear (“crystal”) as he provided man with the truth as to his position in creation. It wasn’t long though before man was questioned about his epistemology. Remember? ““Did God say? Did God really say? You surely will not die!” (Genesis 3:3, 4) Man began to wonder if God was being straight with him. “Perhaps God is holding out on us because He doesn’t want us to be like Him. Do I really need God to provide me with my world view? I don’t need you God; I can be you!” Then it happened, the first “cut & paste” in history. The serpent provided man with a world view we aspired to; so voila, cut & paste and we called it our own.
Our new cut & pa
ste reality insisted that the eating of the fruit would result in enlightenment. We began to think that maybe God didn’t provide us with all we need to function at our optimum level. Our new world view ensured us the means by which we could see and know more. Today, we still opt for “the apple”: religion, spirituality philosophy, drugs, and the list goes on. The world view we have adopted plays upon man’s innate longing to know the spiritual. Man was created to glorify God and enjoy the presence of his creator; but, our adopted world view perverted the way we seek to comprehend spiritual matters. Our “truth” places man in the position of God, with his eyes opened and knowing good from evil where there is no supernatural answer to be sought. Man is the solution; therefore, there is no reason to covet relationship with God.
Here’s the skinny: If you want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; come to Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” Eternal life, enlightenment, optimum functionality, and a proper world view are to be found in Jesus. There’s no need to “cut & paste” because in Christ, you can actually “interface” with God as His Spirit takes residence within you. Jesus is the Original “thought.” He is the eternal Word (Logos) of God. You were created to know God, to glorify him, and thoroughly enjoy His presence forever. Don’t settle for a cut & paste world view. Come to Jesus and know reality.
Back in ancient Palestine, gathering around the well had been a place where it was not unusual for a future wife to be found. It was not lost upon the Jew of the day that it was at a well where Isaac’s wife –to-be (Rebekah) had been approached. So, while any self-respecting Jew of Jesus’ day normally wouldn’t publicly fraternize with a member of the opposite sex, he would have definitely avoided the “water-hole scene,” and he absolutely would not have been caught with a Samaritan woman at the popular “pick up spot.” So, it is not beyond the realm of speculation to imagine that the Samaritan woman who met a frazzled, worn out Jewish man on a hot afternoon beside Jacob’s Well may have been thinking, “Don’t hand me no lines, and keep your hands to yourself.”
The day Jesus met the Samaritan woman, he was risking a lot. He risked being seen as unclean, flirtatious, unorthodox, and frankly, as a low life. But to our Lord, how he was perceived was not the concern. He was about the Father’s business, and doing God’s will sometimes puts you at odds with the status quo. In the Samaritan woman, Jesus met someone who believed in the scriptures (at least the first five books of the OT), expected Messiah, and had at least some knowledge of worship, yet was broken and misled. She had been drinking from a well which could never quench her thirst and needed the living water that only he could provide. And for her to get it, he had to put himself out there. She didn’t know what she thought she knew, and the only way for her to be made whole was to meet the Lord. Sound familiar?
All around us are people who need to meet Jesus, and that will only happen if we take Him to them. Too often, we are afraid of “getting dirty,” being misunderstood or loosing or reputation in the church if we are seen out amongst the “riff raff” of the world. We go to church and go through the motions all the while remaining motionless. The Bible says that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Well (no pun intended), he could have taken a much longer alternative route that would have steered him clear of those dirty Samaritans, but he had to go because that was why he had come. He came to reveal God to the world and reconcile fallen man with the Father. And Paul tells us that we have been given this same ministry of reconciliation.
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So 
we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”(II Corinthians 5:18-20)
Okay, now for a big DUH question. How can we reconcile people we won’t go to? Listen, if we are not moved to reach out to the world with the gospel, all of our religious experiences must be called into question. Jesus said that we would receive power TO BE HIS WITNESSES when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives, and sometimes; being a witness leads you to people and places you would not normally frequent. A true witness has to tell the truth about what he has seen no matter the cost.
You don’t have to hand people a bunch of lines, you’re not selling them a used car. You don’t have to be manipulative; just tell them what you have seen and heard regarding Jesus. And for goodness sake, don’t keep your hands to yourself. We are His hands and feet. Go, be intentional, reach out and touch those around you with the love of God.
“But as for me, how good it is to be near God!” (Ps. 73:28)
It is so easy to get caught up in the pursuits of everyday life and begin to believe that life would be so much better if I only had this job or this home or this car or this relationship. We even sometimes think that if I could only be involved in this ministry or that church our lives would be fulfilled and all would be well. Strange, if you are fortunate enough to obtain your pursuits, you find that in the end; you still somehow think you need more. It seems indigenous to human nature that we are never satisfied and always have to have newer, bigger, and better stuff. While our stuff may not be evil in and of itself, the danger lies in the value we ascribe to it. Our stuff, more often than not, becomes an idol by which we define ourselves: More stuff and life is good. Less stuff and life is not so good.
For the Christian, life is not measured by the amount of things we acquire, but rather by the intimacy we enjoy with God. To those who are in Jesus, who daily drink of his Spirit; stuff takes a back seat and cannot begin to compare with the surpassing pleasure of his company. As we learn more of him, we begin to find that he is all we truly need, and that stuff or the lack thereof is not as important as we may have thought. Stuff can’t save you. It can’t heal or deliver you. A life based on stuff has to have more stuff to be a good life. But the reality is th
at it is God’s presence in your life that can truly make your life good.
I think of the Apostle Paul, and the fact that when he wrote the words, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” he was sitting in prison with NO STUFF! Now, I bet you Paul would rather have not been in prison, but when you read the book of Philippians; you find that the quality of his life was not defined by anything other than his relationship with Jesus. In fact, he said, “I’ve given up all my stuff that I may know Christ.” (Phil. 3:8 My Translation) The nearness of God was Paul’s good, and it remained so in spite of the context in which he found himself.
Here in America we are constantly being told that we must have more stuff if we are to “live the good life.” Not true! If you want to live the good life, if you want the good stuff; come, make Jesus your everything and he will be the good in your life.
For those of you who have pursued in depth Bible study, the term exegesis is one that you are familiar with. When applied to interpreting biblical text, exegesis is the means by which we “draw out of the text” what is contained within it, or, the way we are led through a text into an accurate understanding of its meaning. Exegetical interpretation involves seeking to understand the original intentions of the author and the meaning he attached to those things he has written. In short, exegesis is intended to get us to the truth. Okay, now before I lose you and you “click” out of here; let me tell you something cool about this exegesis thing: Jesus is the only one who can give us an accurate exegesis of God. John tells us, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18) Interestingly enough, the “has made him known” part is the Greek word ἐξηγήσατο or exēgēsato Do you see it?
In a culture that is all inclusive and proclaims that all religions are the same, leading to the same God, and so forth; John’s assertion that Jesus is the only means by which we can gain the correct “interpretation” of who God is stands in complete contrast. Now we may not agree with what John states in the prologue of his gospel, but there is no doubt as to his meaning: Jesus alone reveals who God is. Like a Bible student “exegeting” a biblical text, Jesus is the one who explains God and leads us to the proper understanding of who God is.
The common euphemisms of, “Well, if that’s the way you see it, it’s true for you.” and “There are all kinds of truth, great that you have found yours.” are the battle cries of both subjectivism and contemporary existentialism. According to these mindsets, one does not have to remain fixed upon any reality or even his own personal reality. “One must be willing to declare himself against his previous opinions”, as Nietzsche has stated. Or, as Kierkegaard said, “Th
e thing is to understand myself… to find a truth that works for me… the highest truth attainable for an Existing individual [is simply] an objective uncertainty held fast in the most passionate personal experience.” Well, this may sound attractive and truly liberating, but how do these mindsets stand up against John’s claim that only Jesus reveals God?
It is also popular today, in our postmodern society, to claim that we do not even have the capacity to comprehend truth, reality or much less God himself. Before a person can be made to accept John’s claim that Jesus is the only one who reveals God, he must first be convinced that the truth about God and reality (including morality and religion) can be known and that reality itself is not subject to one’s own personal perception. C.S. Lewis said, “The consequences of subjectivism and relativism of truth are destructive… to intellectual honesty and to life. For if truth is objective, if we live in a world we did not create and cannot change by merely thinking, if the world is not really a dream of our own, then the most destructive belief we could possibly believe would be the denial of this primary fact.”
Beginning in grade school, facts and figures are communicated through teachers that are, for the most part, accepted without question as truth. In their book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be An Atheist, Norm Geisler and Fran Turek insist, “We also expect to be told the truth when we pick up a reference book, read an article, or watch a news story; we want the truth from advertisers and politicians; we assume road signs, medicine bottles, and food labels reveal the truth.” It seems that in every area of life, truth and reality are looked for and expected. We accept as truth that one plus one equals two, Columbus discovered America, and so on; however, when it comes to God, truth is defined as relative or even unknowable. Why this contradiction? If a consistent paradigm is to be maintained one would have to acknowledge that just as the reality of mathematical equations and historical facts are knowable, the broader scope of reality, religion, morals, and even God can also be truly comprehended. Perhaps Augustine was right when he said that we love the truth when it enlightens us, but we hate it when it convicts us.
The gospel of John claims that Jesus is the only way to truly know who God is and come into relationship with him. As I previously said, we may not agree with John’s assertions, but it is indeed what he says. John’s statements are either true or false. There is no middle ground. So, what do we do about it? Come to Jesus, receive him, believe on his name, and you will know the truth about who God is. I like how the Apostle Paul put it, “See to it that no one takes you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells in bodily form…”
In the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus introducing an intriguing teaching on the consequences of an individual attempting to fall under the authority of two masters. The parable that is commonly known as the Parable of the Shrewd Manager finds Jesus declaring, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Luke 16:13 NIV) While the mention of the word master may elicit a variety of emotional or culturally inspired reactions, especially here in America, it is important to fight against interpretive presuppositions that each of us bring to the Biblical text and desire to understand what Christ was considering from the proper context.
But let’s back up for a moment
When we approach much of the New Testament teaching we find very often that the New Testament teacher is addressing contemporary or even historical areas of disagreement amongst the population he or she is addressing. And in the case of the issue of “Two Masters,” we can find numerous instances in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), where God’s servants are confronting Israel with the exact same issue. In 1 Kings 18:16-21 we find Elijah calling Ahab (Israel’s fallen king) and all of Israel to Mount Carmel to address this very issue. After confronting Ahab, Elijah turns his attention to the representatives of Israel and proclaims, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God follow him.” (1Kings 18:21 NIV) And when we look at the text in Hebrew word for word, we actually find Elijah asking, “When will you stop skipping on (or between) two of the dilemmas?” This is where context becomes extremely important. Where we may automatically look to assign contemporary cultural values to the words “opinions”, “masters” and what it means to “follo
w him”, there are some interesting distinctions between the contemporary Western notion and what Elijah’s audience would have understood him to be saying.
The First Break Down
What were the two dilemmas?
While this question could easily justify an additional teaching, for the purposes of the current conversation I will simply provide that the “Dilemma” was a question of allegiance. Elijah was simply asking the people of Israel, “Which master will you choose to follow”, and “How long until you decide to follow that master once and for all?” (My paraphrase) While the American reader may instantly produce a “Master” “Slave/Servant” image within an American slavery paradigm, to the Jewish man such a relationship would be completely foreign.
It is important to reveal a couple important facts about Jewish custom and culture and what it meant to be a slave/servant within 1st and 2nd Jewish temple context. Unlike the surrounding pagan cultures, Israel did not support a developed understanding of lifelong slavery. While there were types of slavery existent in 1st and 2nd Temple Israel, the “slave” was not enslaved for life, and in fact still retained areas of freedom within his experience. Furthermore under the Law of Moses, the maximum amount of time that someone could exist as a “slave”, was 7 years. After the 7th year he or she was freed. This distinction can be found in the language of Hebrew itself. Unlike its Greek counterpart, the Hebrew language only has one word to represent “Slave/Servant.” Where the Greek has 4-7 synonyms; Hebrew has only the word “eved.” When we look at the word “eved” we find an understanding of a Jewish servant who consciously chooses to align him or herself under the authority of a master. The word does not denote the notion of oppression that the Western mind may associate with the term. When we look at Christ’s proclamation in Luke then, we can begin to see that there are deeper implications behind the Lord’s Words.
Next time we will take a moment to continue looking at the biblical notion of “Two Masters” by looking at Christ’s invitation to yoke to Him and become His servant (Matthew 11:28-30), and what the implications of yoking to Christ truly are.
“So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.”
When you read the gospels, the feeling you get is that if Jesus could be said to have had a best friend it would have had to have been Lazarus. It seems that the Lord spent a considerable amount of time at the house where Lazarus lived with his sisters Mary and Martha. Another thing you might observe in Lazarus’ friendship with Jesus is that intimacy with Christ can be “dangerous.”
Think about it, Jesus purposefully allowed his friend to die so that the glory of God could be demonstrated. Remember, it was told to the Lord that Lazarus was sick, and Jesus delayed two days before leaving for Bethany, and by that time, Lazarus had been dead four days. One might be tempted to say, “Uh, thanks friend.” And again, after Lazarus had been raised from the dead, his being a “walking miracle” drew so many people to Jesus that the Lord’s enemies decided they would have to kill him as well. “Uh, thanks friend.”
Something we Western Christians don’t think too much about is that not only have we been giv
en the privilege of believing on Jesus, but also the privilege of suffering for him (Phil. 1:29). We are more than willing to sing “I am a friend of God, I am a friend of God,” but we fail to appreciate that friendship with God may mean that we endure hardship in this life so that the glory of our “Friend” can be manifested to the world around us. Paul put it this way, “[we are] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Corinthians 4:10-12) Scripture reveals that friendship with Jesus and being used by him often entails hardship, suffering, and yes, even danger.
Another thing we see in the relationship of Jesus and Lazarus is that although intimacy with Christ did indeed expose him to danger; Lazarus also enjoyed reclining at table with Jesus during dinner. (Remember, to the Jew, nothing revealed intimacy like the partaking of a meal together.) I’m sure Lazarus would have agreed with Paul’s words, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” And again, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Through Jesus’ relationship with Lazarus, the glory of God was demonstrated and many came to believe. I pray that we fall so in love with our “Friend” that we allow him to use our lives in what ever manner he chooses. May our intimacy with Him be of such magnitude that it poses a threat to the enemies of God. For even if our friendship with the Lord should result in the ultimate sacrifice, let us not forget the powerful words Jesus spoke to his dear friend Lazarus who had been in the tomb for four days: “Lazarus, come forth!”
This New Year’s weekend I had the opportunity to be with a group of men from all over the United States. (I think there were a few from other countries as well.) Anyway, they left their families and homes to come together, and bring in the New Year in fellowship, seeking the face of God. There were many ministers, diverse theological views, egos, and personalities, which were all set aside for the express purpose of crying out to God in intercession. While I was richly blessed, I was at the same time humbled as I rubbed shoulders with these men of God. As I ate with them, worshipped with them, prayed and wept with them; I was touched by their depth of passion and commitment to the Lord. I was also deeply convicted.
Today, back at home reflecting on everything; the scripture that came to my mind was, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards…” Although I am involved in ministry and various “work for the Kingdom,” I saw in these brothers an intensity and singularity of focus that has begun to wane in my own life. I began to see that I have allowed seemingly insignificant compromises, those “little foxes,” to trample the “vineyard” of my life. Strange, these little foxes didn’t look that dangerous at all. In fact, they were kind of cute. However, the reality is; it is their intention to eat up the blossoms that are in bloom and prevent the fruit from reaching maturity. Thank God for his Spirit, his grace, his mercy, and his people! “Catch for us the little foxes
!”
Brothers and sisters, we must be sober and alert, keeping watch over our hearts lest the little foxes enter in undetected and began to ruin the vineyard. So often we become complacent, at ease in Zion if you will. And, while we may keep out the roaring lion that seeks to devour us entirely; we ignore the little foxes that seek to ruin the vineyard. Jesus tells the church at Ephesus, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
Let us, at the beginning of this New Year, pray that God by his Spirit will reveal to us any little foxes running loose in our lives.
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