#180

The Faith Expert

Yesterday our church family sat in heat because the A/C was not working. I guess we all survived and I did work through my sermon perhaps more speedily than normal. We discovered on Monday that a series of breakers had popped off which did not allow the compressors to do their thing in the chiller (Yes, that is the system we have). As soon as the switch was thrown, compressors start compressing, chillers start chilling, pumps start pumping, valves start...uhm...valving, and we now have cool air. That simple! All we needed was an expert who knew what to do.

Of course I am trying to use this as an illustration.  I am wondering what it takes to make our spiritual system work at peak performance. I am wondering how many of us have just become content with the way things are spiritually. Have we just puttered and muttered along out there when there was so much more success available if we can just find the switch.

I know one thing that really excited Jesus, the expert on faith. He was electrified, and said so, when he observed or interacted with someone demonstrating great faith in Him and/or His Father. At some points He “marveled” at faith. At other points He compared it to the lacking faith of the Israelites.

He gets after us when our faith is replaced by senseless worry. The very ones that should have had faith, or at least a growing faith, were the ones that were chastised. At various points He asked them, “Where is Your Faith?”

Sometimes I think I am acting on faith when in reality I have made a decision based on reason or logic, or on personal preference (what I wanted in the first place) and I, not the expert, have christened it “faith.”

A troubling statement that Jesus makes to two blind men was, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” Why is it troubling? Those words were said in response to positive actions of faith on the part of those two blind men. Wonder if it still applies to those of us who at times have little or no faith, “According to your faith will it be done to you?” What are we missing when the faith breaker has been tripped “off?”

If we are going to flip the switch that springs God into action, it will be when we turn on our faith.

Hebrews 11:6

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

At least, that is what the expert says.

#179

Focus, Focus, Focus

So many times my peripheral vision gets in the way. I can’t seem to stay focused on what is in front of me because of the sideline distractions that surface virtually every day. Right now, Tuesday, I am at my desk trying to get my sermon for Sunday at least to the simmering stage so that by Saturday it will be well done. However, there are too many distractions. My son called, always a welcome distraction. Someone called about church softball league. I have a book that I am into on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and it is begging me to read the next chapter.

If anyone had to deal with distractions it was Jesus – hardheaded disciples, traitors, pharisaic religious leaders, the Romans, etc. But He remained focused.

John 4:34

          My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of Him who sent me.

Apparently this scene was a distraction for His disciples as they noticed he was talking to a woman, a Samaritan woman at that.

John 6:38

          For I have come down from heaven not to do my will,

          but the will of Him who sent me.

It seems that He might have been saddened, but not distracted, by those who could not accept His teaching (John 6:66).

Luke 9:51

          As the time approached for Him to be taken up to

          heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

You can almost see Jesus looking in the direction of Jerusalem, if not looking right at Jerusalem, and setting one foot in front of the other totally focused on the will of His Father.

Even in the garden Jesus did not lose focus on His mission. He so understood the ramifications of His mission that He asked for new orders if possible. It wasn't!

Have to wonder if we as individual Christians or as a collective body have lost our focus. Observation tells us that we have. Out there in our peripheral vision are many things that distract us; politics, materialism, self-promotion, idolizing human beings, entertainment, programs, worship styles, preaching styles, etc.

It appears that Jesus gave us our marching orders when he predicted the manner of His death.

John 12:32

         But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will

         draw all men to myself.

Focus! Focus! Focus! We've lost our focus on our mission, and seem to be focused on a host of other lesser missions which will not produce the results of drawing men to Jesus.

Focus! Focus! Focus! Let’s get it back! I can’t even begin to imagine the impact Christianity can have on the world if we stay focused.

Hebrews 12:2

          Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter

         of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the

         cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand

         of the throne of God.

#178

From God to Servant

As I’m sitting here determining how to begin our study of Philippians for class tonight, I have landed on Philippians 2:5-6.

             Who, being in very nature God, did not consider

             equality with God something to be grasped, but

             made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a

             servant, being made in human likeness.

How could He? How would He? Should He? How could he give up God, or the very nature of God, and become a servant, or take the very nature of a servant? Those two natures are about as opposite as any two natures could possibly be. I remember when my wife and I moved to New Mexico from Dallas, Texas. Our change in location resulted in culture shock.

How could Jesus take that-moving from the nature of God to the nature of man-moving from the position of master to the position of slave? I wonder if He experienced nature shock. Did he even know what that would involve? Had he experienced the nature of a servant before, or had he just witnessed it from his position with God?

2:8 tells us that this required humility. That almost sounds like an understatement. It was a level of humility that no humanity has ever developed. Sometimes we find ourselves humbled when the police officer has pulled us over for a traffic violation. We feel pretty sheepishly humble when an error on our tax return has been found not by us, but by the IRS. Jesus’ humility did not come as a result of a mistake he had made, but from a heart that was more than willing and anxious to carry out the Will of His Father.

One who was in very nature God, humbled himself, and put on the nature of a servant. No, I don’t know how he could do it. But I do know that in order for us to be saved, and have a relationship with God, he should have done it!

The result of this is,

        “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

         in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and

         every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to

         the glory of the father (2:10-11).”

Don't know how He could have, but He did. Don't know how He would do it, but He did. Don't know if He should, but He thought He should and did.

#177

Sees What You Are - Not What You Were

I am not sure of all the psychological reasons as to why we can’t let go of our own pasts with all of our failures and glitches. The writer of Hebrews says we need to put all of that stuff down so we can get focused on Jesus (Hebrews 12).

At his invitation, Jesus has dinner with a Pharisee named Simon (Luke 7). It is during that meal that a sinful woman comes in and begins to cleanse the feet of Jesus. She was a prostitute. Simon knew this about her and, as far as he was concerned, that’s what she would forever be. “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman that she is – that she is a sinner.” He saw her for what she was.

Jesus looks at her and sees a redeemed soul. “Your sins are forgiven.”   He saw her as saved. “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

We can take a great deal of solace in the fact that Jesus sees us as we are and not as we were. I can hate what I was. I can get as far away as I can from what I was. I can teach others to not be what I was, but with Jesus I am seen as I am. I don’t need to wear what I was around my neck. I can rejoice in the reality that I am no longer what I was.

If Jesus can see me for what I am, then I should too. If Jesus could look at this prostitute (formerly) and see a redeemed and saved individual, then I can too.

This comes into play in both scenarios mentioned in the previous paragraph; how we look at ourselves, and how we look at others. Sometimes in our dealings with others we only see them as they were. It seems we can’t get past their past. It’s a good thing that Jesus can.

Could it possibly be that we can’t get past their past because we can’t get past our own past? The first step is to hear Jesus say to you now regardless of what you were and did then, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”