#171

One Who Starts Where You Are

When I first started playing football, quite a while ago, the coach did not expect me to be an automatic superstar – which I never was. He did determine what I already knew and began to build on that. In other words he took me from where I was. This process is pretty common in every area of life. When it comes to a new job there is a learning curve. Brand new parents do not reach parenting expertise overnight. In each case one is taken from where they are and developed into what they need to be.

We need to remember this process in our attempts to bring our friends and neighbors into a relationship with God through Jesus. Of course Jesus is our prime example of using this process in dealing with people. “Come down out of that tree,” Zacchaeus, “I’m going home with you.” Jesus took him from where he was – a thief – to a recipient of salvation.

The woman caught in adultery was exactly that – an adulteress. “Go and sin no more.” She received mercy and it was exactly what she needed where she was.

How many of his disciples were hard working fishermen who became fishers of men? They couldn’t start out being fishers of men. They needed to grow.

If we are not careful we want to baptize super Christians without allowing time for growth and development. We think that they must be straightened out on everything, not limited to but including; eschatology, propitiation, however many acts of worship there are, what women can and cannot do, marriage-divorce-remarriage, communion at the beginning or end, etc.

I just remember the bottom line for the man born blind and healed by Jesus in John 9. “I was blind but now I see, (vs. 25).”  Isn’t that the bottom line for all of us? At one point we were totally blind, and now Jesus has made us see. Now that we can see, we can begin the process that Paul describes in Galatians 4:19.

               My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of
               childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

Spiritual formation is a process – a lifelong process. We have yet to become what we will be.

If you’ll understand who I am and where I am and help me see Jesus, I will become what I am supposed to be. If you make me begin by trying to be what I am supposed to eventually become, I will fall all over myself.

Start with people where they are.

#170

In his 2010 book, “Jesus, Unleashed,” Joel Killon quotes from social science professor and catholic priest, Andrew Greeley.

    “Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to
     domesticating Jesus, to reducing that elusive, enigmatic,
     paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend,
     understand and convert to our own purposes.”

To put it other words, and in the form of a question, “Have we tended to dumb down Jesus?” We all believe and try to show the relevance of Jesus and His teachings to today’s world. In so doing, have we gone too far? Have we made Him so much “one of us” that we have lost the significance of who He truly is?

The Jews of His day were looking for someone totally different to what they were experiencing. Jesus came into this world as a radical – a spiritual radical. That would make Him hard to explain in human terms. Words would fail us.

Jesus comes into this world, healing, facing down the religious leaders, touching the wounded and afflicted, accepting the outcasts, giving His life, leaving the tomb, sitting at God’s right hand, and somehow we think we can explain all of that inhuman activity in human terms.

There is something more than special about being supernatural - Certain aspects of Jesus remaining an enigma make Him just that much more out of this world. We have tended to say that Jesus was all human and all God. That’s hard, if not impossible, to explain, and that is the way it should be.

I have reached the conclusion that I don’t need to try to explain everything about Jesus. I can’t do it. I want to believe it, enjoy it, bask in it, and tell it to others.

Do we really want a “domesticated Jesus,’ or do we want a glorious supernatural mysterious Savior?

Who is Jesus? #169

Someone Who Has Faith in Me

We can’t escape the teaching from Scripture that indicates how important our faith in God and Jesus is. “Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). So, let’s grow our faith.

But it appears to me that something else we have going for us is Jesus’ faith in us. He left the establishment and teaching of the early church in the hands of his apostles who had bungled things a time or two while following Jesus in His ministry (that gives me some hope as a fellow bungler).

Jesus tells Peter to feed the sheep (John 21). He has confidence that Peter will do just that – and he does.

Jesus has faith that He will have future believers who did not have personal contact with Him during His ministry, but believe anyway (John 20:29). I’m one of those, and you are too if you have accepted Him.

Jesus has faith in me that I will obey Him more and more each day out of love rather than duty.

Jesus has faith in me that I will share His Gospel story with others.

Jesus has faith in me that I will consider everyone better than myself.

Jesus has faith in me that I will, as a preacher, be faithful to the Word of God no matter what.

Jesus has faith in me that I will encourage the one-anotherness (made up that word) of  His Kingdom.

Jesus has faith in me that I will be guided by the Spirit that has been given to me.

Jesus has faith in me that I will let His light shine.

Jesus has faith in me that I will be the husband/father/grand father that He has made me to be.

Yes, as a follower of Jesus, I have faith in Him, and He has faith in me. He hasn't disappointed me, and I hope I haven't given Him too much opportunity to question His faith in me. I know there have been those times.

Who is Jesus? #168

One Who Counted No One Out

It appears to me that all too often we judge whether someone is or is not receptive to the Gospel before we decide to share it with them. Perhaps we think it will be a waste of time to share because they are not “ready.”  However, maybe this is an area where we really need to remember what Jesus said, “Thou shalt not judge.” Maybe, just maybe, this is the most dangerous judgment we can make. Have we somehow decided that we are the authority as to who can or cannot receive the saving message of Jesus Christ?

Can we not all recall the non-Jewish people that Jesus interacted with? It seems that only his Jewish associates had a problem with this. There was that Greek woman (Mark 7) who wanted Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. The interaction between her and Jesus seems at first to be rather hurtful, but Jesus had this discourse with her to teach His disciples that salvation is available to everyone.

Jesus apparently spent quite some time talking to a sinful Samaritan woman (John 4) about living water and her life with her significant other/s and, once again, His disciples take exception to Him even giving her the time or day. If He had responded to her like they wanted, not only would she not have had the good news, but neither would those other Samaritans who came to believe.

Jesus had time for children. It appears that His disciples felt Jesus would be too busy or too important to interact with kids. Jesus would deal with royalty as well as the poorest of the poor. He invited Himself to the home of a tax collector.

As far as I can tell no one was “off the map” as far as Jesus was concerned for receiving Him. Even those religious leaders of His day would have found salvation if they had been willing to do but one thing - repent.

I wonder who we have written off. Oh, they are too busy, too ignorant, too educated, too poor, too rich, too close, too distant, too skeptical, too high maintenance, etc.

Jesus, rather than counting Saul out, confronted him face to face with who He was. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (Acts 9:5).”   I wonder if introducing people to Christ rather than church doctrine or dogma would prove that more people are “ready” than we think they are.

We tend to count out, entertainment celebrities, politicians, prostitutes, etc. Would Jesus? Don’t they deserve a chance to hear? We know that is what they need.

I am glad someone counted me “ready” to hear the story of Jesus.

Who is Jesus? # 167

One Solitary Life

Adapted from a Sermon by James Francis

(This has been around a while, but it is worth sharing once again.)

He was born in an obscure village the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village

where He worked in a carpenter shop

until He was thirty, and then for three years

He was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office.

He never had a family.

He never owned a house.

He never went to college.

He never visited a big city.

He never traveled

two hundred miles

from the place

where He was born.

He did none of the things

one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but Himself.

He was only thirty-three when

the tide of public opinion turned against Him.

His friends ran away.

He was turned over to His enemies

and went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

While He was dying

His executioners gambled for His clothing,

the only property He had on earth.

When He was dead

He was laid in a borrowed grave

through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone,

and today Jesus is the central figure

of the human race,

the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that have ever reigned

put together

Have not affected the life

of mankind on this earth

as much as that

one solitary life.

Who is Jesus? #166

The Foundation Doesn't Move

(More Thoughts from I Corinthians 3:11)

There is a lot of home building going on in our community. It is not unusual to see homes in several different stages of completion; from the preparation of the ground to the final coat of paint.

Once the foundation is completed it then is time to raise the walls and begin to build the roof. As the walls are completed and raised, they are attached with strong anchors or bolts to the foundation. This step secures the house to the foundation and pretty much insures, except maybe in extreme cases, that the house will not leave its foundation.

It’s one thing to establish the foundation. It is another thing to merely set the walls and structure on the foundation. It is still quite another thing to secure the structure to the foundation.

There’s got to be a lesson here. It is one thing to read about Jesus. It is another thing to acknowledge Jesus as the greatest of teachers. It is still quite another thing to anchor one’s life on what He said and to let Him be the example and guide for our lives.

Colossians 1:22-23

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you   holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

The strong winds of hurricanes and tornadoes have torn houses off of their foundations even if anchored.

However the storms of life do not have to tear us from our foundation, Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have we lost our anchor? I know the foundation didn’t move. Wonder if we have?

Who is Jesus? # 165

The Only Foundation

I Corinthians 3:11

What does a foundation do? Is it merely a solid surface on top of which you build a structure, perhaps a house? Jesus uses this metaphor concerning those who hear and obey his teachings (like building a house on a solid foundation) and those who hear and do not obey (like building a house without a foundation).

In Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians it is Jesus who is the foundation. Paul goes on to make a strong statement. This is the only foundation and another one cannot be laid in its place.

Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t try from time to time to build our lives on some other foundation; money, pride, family, etc. Even Christians have to grapple with this idea of building another foundation that tries to push Jesus out of the way. Satan is at work there.

But we can always come back to the original. We can get refocused. In our part of the country we have to tend to the foundation of our homes or it may develop some serious problems. Mostly that involves moistening the ground around it and keeping an eye on it.

I think those two strategies work in a spiritual sense, too. Keeping your eyes on Jesus helps us to stay on that foundation and continue to build our lives. We stay focused on Him not because we are looking for cracks in Him, but to keep the cracks in our lives at a minimum and once discovered, fix them. Staying focused on Jesus keeps us from being distracted by anyone or anything that might try to be the replacement foundation.

As we water around our foundation to allow the foundation to settle and not crack, we need to keep massaging our relationship with Jesus to get the most out of we can. Our foundation always has more to give.

           “The eye has not seen and the ear has not heard

            And the heart of man has not received

            All that God has prepared for those who love him.
           (I Cor. 2:9, NIV)”

In reality, we are not maintaining our foundation, but maintaining and growing our relationship to the foundation. We discover that more and more we depend on the foundation and we learn that it has been there all along. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ, (NIV).” 

Who is Jesus? #164

Starting at Jesus

Can two people start out at different locations and arrive at the same spot? The other day, after keeping our grandchildren for a week or so, my wife and I agreed to meet our daughter at the Schlotzsky’s in Sweetwater, TX to hand over the children. The only issue was that she was in Temple, TX and we were in Clovis, NM. As it turned out not only did we meet at the right place, but we met virtually simultaneously. So, it is possible for two people to leave differing locations and arrive at the same destination.

Now, of course, I have to wonder about this from a spiritual perspective. Can two people possibly reach the same conclusion if they are not at the same starting position? This is an interesting, and perhaps urgent, question.

I am thinking from my study in I Corinthians 1:10. Paul encourages the Corinthian brothers and sisters to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.(NIV)” Apparently the early Christians in Corinth hadn’t accomplished this, and I wonder if we have today.

Much could be, and perhaps, should be said about this text, but I am intrigued by the being “perfectly united in mind.” This is an interesting word. Though “thought” has to do with one’s opinions, thoughts or judgments; “mind”, in this case, has to do with the faculties present to form such opinions, thoughts, or judgments.

It is the basic starting place from which our thoughts arise. Unity there is sometimes sidestepped, I think, in order to get to unity of opinion. Without unity of mind unity of judgment and thought will not happen.

In this case we all have to start at the same place, Jesus! We allow Him to formulate our judgments and opinions. He is the primary starting place.

Do you want to tackle unity? Start with Jesus. Do you want to think about salvation? Start with Jesus? Do you want to consider faithfulness and commitment? Start with Jesus.

Do you want to discover Christian service? Start with Jesus.

He is not only a good starting place; He is the only starting place. Maybe we end up in different locales because we have not started at the same place.

Let’s start at Jesus and see where we go from there. It should take us to the same place.

Who Is Jesus ? #163

One Full of Grace and Truth

John 1:14

14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory,   the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I am sitting here pondering this verse this morning because it was highlighted in a graduate class I am taking. It has nothing to do with any sermon on my preaching schedule or class that I am teaching. Maybe it should be in every sermon I preach or lesson I teach.

“Full of grace and truth.” This verse is stocked with some really good stuff, but the grace and truth thing is what is giving me pause for meditation today. How can it be? Sometimes, isn’t grace somewhat absent from truth? Parents correct their children and say if you do that again, you will be grounded for a month. That is truth. Sure enough, those kids do whatever it was they were not supposed to do and truth/punishment is carried out and there appears to be no grace.

How can Jesus be full of both? Initially grace has been extended because truth is present. By the grace of God we have been given truth and we do not have to guess at what God wants. The deliverance of truth in and of itself is an act of grace. Suppose with every step we take we had to wonder if we were walking within the truth of God. We would certainly not feel secure in our journey and just might forsake the journey altogether.

So when God delivered Jesus to the world, He was delivering truth. Three verses later in this same chapter we are told that, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Also by the grace of God we know the source of truth. It is Jesus! Of course He, later in His ministry, would declare, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

So, in reality, without grace truth could not have been delivered. Without grace truth is incomplete. Without grace truth is an ambiguous concept that you can’t get your hands around. Without grace the source of truth becomes blurred.

Praise God! Grace AND truth came through Jesus Christ.

(Thoughts about grace later)

Who is Jesus? #162

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

(Last One)

Are You Listening?

I wonder if there is anything more comforting than the fact that Jesus knows those who are His. I guess it is not very comforting for those who are not His. He knows if I am really His or not. Just as a shepherd knows all of his sheep, Jesus, as the Great Shepherd, knows His sheep. He knows if we are following Him or not.  He knows if we are listening or not. He knows if we respond when He calls our name.

It is my understanding that ancient shepherds actually knew each one of their sheep by name and could call them and they would come to him. There he would show them affection and tend to any injuries they might have sustained.

John 10:27

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Jesus has much to say to His sheep. However, there is so much noise out there one has to wonder if we are even able to hear him. Somehow we need to adjust the decibels of the world so we can actually tune in to Jesus. It's really not a matter of hearing what He is saying as it is hearing Him call our name. We need to hear Him call and then listen to His instructions.

We also have developed a “Pick-and-Choose” mindset. We can choose what we watch on television and ignore the things we really don’t like. We put the smorgasbord of life out there in front of us and pick the stuff that makes us happy for the moment and everything else is left behind.

This has impacted our “listening” to Jesus. We accept the things we really like to hear and fit what we are doing, and leave on the table what we perceive as less palatable and stretches our comfort zone.

“Love one another.” We like that one – especially when we are the recipients of that love.

“Come follow me.” That is another matter. Just where are you taking me, Jesus? You know, I’ve already got my life planned out and I am not sure that where you are wanting to lead me is on my road map.

“Go,” “Give,” “Sacrifice,” “Love Your Enemy,” “Believe,” and other instructions comes from the lips of the Shepherd but do not garner much attention.

How about when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Pretty narrow minded there Jesus. He doesn't ask for our commentary on what He said, He just asks us to listen.

That’s how He knows we are His, if we “listen” to His voice.

Are you listening?

Who is Jesus? #161

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Potential

I know that in my life, and probably in the most lives, if someone believes I can do it, if they believe in me, I am either going to do it or give it my all trying to do it.

Many coaches try to encourage their teams by helping them to reach their potential. Unfortunately that potential may not be of the caliber to be a true champion because the team members may not have the talent or abilities though they may be playing up to their potential. 

Jesus took a few fisherman, a tax collector, a skin-flint, two sons of thunder, a doubter, and others and saw in them the potential for the beginning of His church community. What did He see in them that most of us would not have seen? What does He see in you and me?

I believe He sees in us....

     ...the potential for the advancement of the Kingdom.

     ...the potential for living life to the full.

     ...the potential for helping all the down and out people

         in the world.

     ...the potential for great spirituality.

     ...the potential for becoming more and more Christ-like.

The reason He knows that about us is because He has given us everything we need to reach that potential. Peter writes (II Peter. 1:3) that we have been given “everything we need for life and godliness.” Jesus came that we might have “life to the full.”  He has promised us everything that we might need (not want) in this life. We have assurance of eternity with Him. He has put a little of Himself in us (Genesis 1).  He has put His Spirit in us to prompt, lead, encourage, and correct us. He has given us all talents and abilities that we can use for His cause. It seems that everything is in place.

Are we reaching the potential that Jesus sees in us? I know how I feel if my children do not live up to their potential. I wonder how our Father feels when we do not live up to ours.

I can hear Him now shouting at the top of His lungs, “I believe in you, I believe in you!” He knows our potential. I wonder if we do.

Who is Jesus? #160

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Reputation

Jesus says to the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1), “I know you deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

I wonder what kind of reputation I have with Jesus. I might be able to fake it in front of human beings – for a while – but I can’t put it past Jesus. Sometimes we hear it said, "His/Her reputation precedes Him/Her." That's not the way it is with Jesus. Our reputation is us - immediate, now, reality!! The same thing is true of our churches. We might have a reputation in our community that says we are a community-involved church. Maybe there is something going on at our church buildings every day and night of the week. Something that makes people take notice of us because of all of our activity. Again, I wonder if that is the kind of reputation Jesus wants of His body. Does He wants us to just look busy? Is that the reputation we have?

Satan came to God one day and, according to the book of Job, God asked Satan to take notice of Job and said (Job 1:8), “Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” I might assume that Job was a generous man and maybe helped the poor and others in need. Maybe he prayed five times a day. But the reputation that God saw was a blameless man who feared His God.

How about Barnabas? His name was changed from Joseph to Barnabas because he was such an encouragement. As the book of Acts unfolds we find Barnabas heavily involved in ministry. I wonder if that would have happened if he had not had a reputation of encouragement.

As I preacher I wonder if Jesus sees me as a people-pleaser rather than a God-pleaser. Maybe I am more concerned about what people think of me as a preacher than I am what God thinks. I wonder if He sees me as an ear-tickling preacher rather than one who stands boldly for and proclaims the truth no matter what.

I wonder if He sees all of us as ones who do a good job of playing church rather than having a reputation of  doing a good job of being the church. I wonder if by our reputation He sees us as generous or materialistic, committed or half-hearted, hot or cold, alive or dead.

I wonder if we get hung up on our reputation in the sight of man rather than our reputation in the sight of God. If we are a traditional/attractional church, we are in danger here. We need to be careful. If we have a good reputation before Jesus then we are probably O.K. in the eyes of man.

Either way, good or bad, He knows our/your/my reputation.

Who is Jesus? #159

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Heart

  

How do you feel about Jesus knowing your heart? Hum. I wonder if it stung the Pharisees when Jesus said (Matthew 15:8), “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” I wonder if it stung or if it went right over their heads? What do you mean “heart,” Jesus? What does that have to do with anything? We say all the things that sound right. We do all the things that look right.  We come to church three times a week. What more could you possibly want? Paul reminds us through our Ephesian brethren that singing that is not from the heart is not really singing (5:19), or that is all it is - singing - and not worship.

The fact that Jesus knows our hearts can be either quite unsettling or quite reassuring. In Matthew 9:4 Jesus asks some supposed experts in the law, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” How does that make us feel? Do you ever have those “wrong” thoughts in your heart? Surely we all do from time to time. How do you think that Jesus reacts to those?

After a discussion on money Jesus says to the Pharisees (Luke 16:15), “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” So, no matter what men may think of us on the outside, Jesus looks down deep – into our hearts. Let’s look at the words of Paul in Romans 8:26-27

        Also the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not

        know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself

        speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep

        feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is

        in people’s hearts. And He knows what is in the mind of

        the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for His people

        in the way God wants (NCV).

This verse obviously teaches that when we do not know what to say as we approach God that the Holy Spirit steps in to communicate what is in our hearts to God. But I wonder if there might be a little more here.

Just because there is a moment – a moment of weakness - in my life where maybe my heart isn’t quite right -though generally speaking it usually is - have I somehow blown it? Could that be a moment of intercession for the Spirit to remind God that we typically have our hearts in the right place and that we need to be forgiven for this momentary lapse?

Since Jesus looks at our heart it makes sense that Satan will go to work right there, and every now and then he will gain a slight and momentary victory.  The Spirit then kicks into action in our behalf before God. We, then, are encouraged to make the correction and continue our journey of spiritual transformation.

The fact that Jesus knows our hearts is really only alarming to those who want to live hypocritically - or at least it should be alarming. For those who want to live closer to Him every day, we look forward to those opportunities to experience a heart correction from Him who knows our hearts.

Who is Jesus? #158

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Perseverance

I know what it said over the door that led into the football locker room in high school. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” I am not sure how effective that was for our record as a football team. We never had a winning season. It does sound pretty good, though, doesn’t it? The tough are going to hang in there.

Jesus told the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:19) that among other things, “I know your perseverance.” He doesn’t say whether it was a high level of perseverance, which we assume from the words that follow, or a low level of perseverance. He just says He knows.

Some versions use the word patience for hypomone. Even with that translation it carries with it the idea of active patience and not passive patience. Passivity is the attitude that all this stuff is happening and I am just going to go with the flow – not really perseverance at all. Activity says I am going to do all I can to stand against whatever it is that is coming against me and if I am a follower I am going to call on all the strength I can get from every member of the Godhead to help me.

I am not sure that many of us live under the flag of perseverance. I can think of some positive examples. A woman or child perseveres under the onslaught of an abusive mate until the point that it simply cannot be tolerated any more. Maybe an employee perseveres under the tirades of an overbearing boss knowing that someday one or the other of them will not be there, or because it is a good paying job and provides for his family. I know that my wife had has to persevere being married to me. I know of a family who recently lost a daughter, wife, and mother and this family, though perhaps full of questions, has maintained their faith and integrity. 

Just how high are our perseverance levels? How tough does it have to get before we give up? I have known people who have "quit the church" over the least little things - maybe big things in their minds. 

I don't know. It seems to me that if we keep our eyes on the goal then perseverance would just follow when required - not easy, but definitely worth it. In this case the end would definitely justify the means. It seems that we are more likely to blame God for our circumstances rather than persevere through them. 

With prayers and partners, perseverance can be tamed a bit, but it is still hard. We'd rather not have to persevere. But we need to realize that when we are called into perseverance, Jesus knows it.

Peter indicates (II Peter 1:6) that perseverance is a characteristic that is to be added to our Christian character. He further indicates that it will come into play in living effective and productive lives. It is as if Peter is saying at some point you are going to have to persevere.

Paul commends the Thessalonians (1:3) for their hypomone. But he goes on to say that it is inspired by the hope they have in Jesus. Jesus not only makes it worthwhile but He also is there to help and encourage.

So, yes, things can and probably will happen in our lives that will call on our perseverance. Jesus will see that and He will be there to encourage us and guide us through those tough times that ultimately end in victory.

Who is Jesus? #157

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

What You Do

In the letter to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14), Jesus said, "I know your deeds." The New Century Version puts it this way, "I know what you do."

I don't know how I feel about that. In the case of the church at Laodicea their lukewarmness revealed what they were doing or weren't doing. It made Jesus sick to the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.

If Jesus knows what I am doing then I hope I am always doing the right thing. However, I know I'm not and He knows those slip-ups, too

Then there was the church at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7). "I know what you do," says Jesus. This church was serving and remaining faithful even though they perceived themselves as weak. They were doing well. Again, I am O.K. with Jesus knowing when I do well, but I don't always do well, and  He knows that! Someone deliver me from this dilemma.

Maybe the solution is found in the thought that whether Jesus sees our deeds good or sees our deeds bad, He still loves us. He saw Peter when he denied Jesus three times, but He still commissioned Peter to a sheep-feeding ministry.

I remember one hot Texas afternoon during high school football practice that the coach had me playing middle linebacker. The offense ran a simple look-in pass to the tight end. The end had to stretch out completely to make the catch and I had him in my sights and could have driven him into next week. Instead I sort of caught him as he came down and we both tumbled to the ground. I believe we used to call that an arm tackle. I heard the coach make a grunting noise and then he let me have it for doing what he saw me do - arm tackle (He had a way of saying "arm tackle" that made you feel pretty wimpy).

Though he knew what I had done, and I knew what I had done, I was still part of the team. That failure at that time did not disqualify me from the team.

Jesus may see our failures but He doesn't disqualify us. When He sees them He may even let out a holy grunting noise of His own because He knows we can do better, and so do we. The bottom line is He is here for us. If that were not so, He would not have gone to the cross.

Jesus witnessed several acts of faithlessness or weak faith over the course of His ministry. He pointed them out so that people would take notice that He saw it and He knew they could do better. He was encouraging them on to greater things.

He doesn't just kick us off the team when we fail. Don't forget that promise. "I will never leave you, I will never forsake you."

Who is Jesus? #156

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Love

To the church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:19) Jesus says, “I know your love.” He rebukes the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:4) because they had, “forsaken their first love.” How could they? How could we?

Jesus commands His followers to love Him. How do you do that? What if I don’t feel like it? That just might be the root of the problem. In today’s culture love is typically attached to a feeling. If I am not experiencing that feeling I must not love.

The agape of the Bible, the love that Jesus demands of us, really has nothing to do with how we feel. Agape means to want and work for the good of someone else. It looks at others and not self.

Our Lord also told us and the world that His disciples will be known by one strong and outstanding characteristic; love!

John 13:35

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Not only is our love for each other to be shown, but our love for Jesus is expressed in our actions and not just in the words “I love you” that might come flippantly or unthinkingly out of our mouths.

John 14:15

15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

I don’t know if love should come easy or not, but I do know that love is something that can be seen…observed. You might say the proof of the love pudding is in the action.

O.K., we can add come kind of love for ourselves and then we have a nice three point sermon that everyone can say AMEN to and dismiss after a chorus of "My Jesus, I Love Thee." Then again maybe there is more here.

So I guess then it is possible to look like we love each other and we love Jesus without really loving each other or loving Him. Never thought about that. Is it possible that, for some reason, I might want people to think I love Jesus so I am going to act like it? I want people to think I love them so I act like it. Would someone really do that? Would someone really go to the effort to look like they love without really loving? Talk about hypocrisy!

In today's world psychologists have discovered people who are in love with being in love. It goes back to that feeling that goes along with love. I believe there are some of us who love the idea of loving Jesus and have convinced ourselves that we, therefore, do love Him. We are in love with being in love rather than unashamedly loving Him.

Is this were good old impetuous Peter was in his journey (John 21)? "Peter, do you love me?" "Well Jesus, I like the thought of loving you." Feeding Jesus' sheep would be proof and Peter eventually accepted that ministry. He did love Jesus.

Time for a check-up on self here. Am I in love with being in love with Jesus? Do I kind of like the idea of loving Jesus? Do I love Jesus? Let's not confuse one for the other. He knows which is which.

Who is Jesus? #155

Beginning this fall my wife, Aleta, will be teaching a ladies class entitled, "Who is Jesus?" She will create a snapshot of each lesson and post them on Tittletangents as a guest blogger. She has mostly agreed  to do this. First snapshot below.

WHO IS JESUS – MESSIAH

Jesus the Messiah, who was to restore Israel or redeem her, did not come to the Earth born in a palace surrounded by luxury and greatness. We know that he did not come to restore physical Israel to their previous glory, but instead he came to restore or redeem God’s people, all of God’s people to himself. We know how royalty typically arrives! However, when God came to earth in the form of Jesus, he came to an animal shelter and was laid in a feed trough.

Do we, like the Jews, have any misconceptions about the coming of the Messiah? When we think about the birth of the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, what do we stress as the most important parts? Do we spend all our efforts arguing whether to remember this day or on all of the errors in the nativity scene? Have we become the ones who strain at gnats and swallow camels? Are we the ones who are now in danger of missing the Messiah because the world doesn’t act as we think it should?

Just what are we sure we know about the Messiah? The Old Testament gives prophecies of the Messiah, and the gospels show us the fulfillment. But what does it mean to me today?

Let’s not forget that God always seeks us out. He made the first move to reconcile us to him by sending his son into the world. Remember I John 4:19 that tells us “We love because he first loved us.” Were it not for God seeking us out and showing us what love is, we would not be able to love.

Let’s not forget that God is with us. Just as real as his presence was to Mary when she was carrying Jesus in her womb, his presence is to be real to us. When we are convinced that God is with us at all times, it will affect everything we do and every word we say. It will affect our attitude toward others and how we treat them. It will affect our tendencies to give in to depression and anxiety.

When we truly see Jesus as God’s Anointed One, we realize there is no other. There is no need for us to look for a further revelation or continue to seek a messiah. Many people have claimed to be the messiah over the years. Great excitement would rise up, the man died, and nothing happened. We have the Messiah who was so long awaited, and we need no one else.

When Jesus came to this Earth and fulfilled his Father’s will, he provided the only way for us to draw near to God. Jesus is the very center of God’s plan to restore man to himself. Many people want the blessings of God but want to ignore his Son. Jesus is God coming face to face with man, and we cannot ignore him.

When God sent the Messiah to be born of Mary, she was faced with a moment of decision, surrender or denial. There was no middle ground for Mary, and there is no middle ground for us today. If we would meet the Messiah, we must surrender our hearts to him and let him fill every part of our lives. We face the same decision to accept or deny Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed One who wants to rule over our lives. Will we be able to surrender to his will as Mary did and say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said!”

Who is Jesus? #154

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

He Knows Where You Are

In the first chapter of John’s gospel we find Jesus gathering His first followers. In verse 42 Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus. Later, verse 47, Philip brings his somewhat skeptical brother, Nathanael, to Jesus. Jesus pegs Nathanael as a truthful guy and in response to Nathanael's question Jesus says, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you, (v. 48)." This convinces Nathanael of Jesus' identity.

Jesus knowledge of where Nathanael was is pretty powerful. The thought I am pondering today is what do we do with the thought that Jesus knows where we are? Jesus knew Nathanael's physical location, and He also knows ours. But does He not also know our spiritual location? Jesus knows where we are spiritually.

He saw where Nicodemus should have been, spiritually, and delivers a rather scathing jab when He says, "You are Israel's teacher, and do you not understand these things? (John 3: 10).” But He also knew where His disciples were spiritually. "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?" This was after Philip's request to see the Father.

Isn't it true that we are all on a spiritual journey that starts us out as babies? This is a good thing. We start out as babies and begin a life of growth in Him. Jesus knows where we are. So, when I read a verse like I Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it," I take it that in saying this God takes into count just where you and I are. An infant cannot withstand what an adult should be able to endure. He knows if we are babies. He knows if we are mature adults. He knows every stage in between. He also knows if we are experiencing a spiritually weak moment. We all do from time to time. The question regards overall growth.

How does He feel when He knows we are still babies and we should be grown up? The writer of Hebrews alludes to this, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again, (5:12)."

I think there is both comfort and concern in the reality that Jesus knows where we are along our spiritual journey. Could that be why Jesus taught in parables? (Matthew 13:13), " 'This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.' " For some, their location along the spiritual road would not allow them to understand the truths that Jesus was sharing. For others, whose journey had taken them further down the road, they could absorb the point Jesus was making.

But then, is where I sit on my spiritual walk where I ought to be by now? I have been on this journey all my life. I have been a Christian for 48 years. Where would I find myself on the spiritual roadmap? Is Jesus going treat me as a baby though I should be well on the way to maturity? Or, because of my location, am I missing out on some of the joys and blessings Jesus has in store for those who have matured.

Jesus knows yours and my spiritual location. Is He happy with it? Are we?

Who is Jesus? #153

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Trials

I suppose that we all have been through struggles of some sort in our lives where we felt like not only nobody cared, but nobody knew. That's sort of the way it is in life these days. We seem to hold our struggles inside for fear, I guess, that someone will think we are less than a person because we have problems. The reality is that all of us have struggles."In this world you will have trouble, (John 16:23)." For Christians, just as real is the fact that Jesus knows our struggles.  We used to sing about it. "Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide 'till the day is done."

Have we not figured that out, yet? You've seen movies or heard news stories about people who trek out into the wild by themselves and get in some kind of predicament and there is no one to call to for help - no one knows. That's not us! It seems like what we have figured out is that we have to carry these burdens all by ourselves. How insulting to our Lord! How insulting to your church family! He is, as well as we are, here for you. Why don't we get that? The difference between us and Him is He knows anyway!!

The prophet Isaiah says this. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering, (53:3)." Of all the wonder of the Messiah that could have been prophesied, and much of it was, the prophet includes He was "familiar with suffering." "...we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are... (Hebrews 4:15)." In some way our struggles bring us into some kind of connection with Jesus. He was/is familiar with trials.

Jesus told the church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8), "I know your afflictions." He doesn't share with them or us an immediate fix. As a matter of fact He encourages them to "not be afraid" and indicates that more suffering was coming their way (2:10). He then assures them of victory.

I remember Jesus sending His disciples off on a missionary journey and telling them that they would have trials of their own; arrests, beatings, imprisonment. Perhaps we should remember that before we started our journey on this earth Jesus knew we would have struggles. Let's face it, at times life is a struggle. Remember again ."In this world you will have trouble, (John 16:23)."

What do we do? Well, let's not worry in our struggles (Philippians 4:6). Stay close to the One who has expereinced and come through His own trials. Let's lay our struggles at the feet of the one who knows about them in the first place (I Peter 5:7). Go to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16).

Abraham, Job, Joseph and others can tesitfy to victory after trials. So can we!

He knows your trials.

Who is Jesus? #152

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Faith

Among other things, Jesus says to the Church at Thyatira, "I know...your faith, (Revelation 2:19)." How could you know, Jesus - my faith, that is? There are times I am not sure myself just what kind of faith I have. I feel that there have been periods in my life where my faith has not been at its best. Even in those times when it has been at its best, I am not sure it was where it needed to be. I am not sure if it even measured up to a mustard seed, (Matthew 17:20).

It appears to me that the number one thing that seemed to displease Jesus the most was a display of faithlessness. It seems that most of this displeasure came from those who were closest to Him. "Where is your faith?" Those disciples in that boat needed to answer that question, (Matthew 8). Just exactly what was it that was drowning Peter? What it the water or his lack of faith, (Matthew 14)? Demons remained because of "little faith, (Matthew 17)." After Jesus death, the disciples had no faith in His return via resurrection, (Mark16).

On the other hand, Jesus seemed to be most pleased when strong faith was demonstrated. Bartimaeus' faith cured his blindness, (Mark 10). It appears that some displays of faith came from some surprising sources. A woman no longer bleeds because she knew all she had to do was touch Jesus, (Mark 5). The faith of four friends brings spiritual and physical healing, (Mark 2). A Canaanite woman, compared to a dog, has enough faith for herself and her demon-possessed daughter, (Matthew 15). A centurion had more faith than Jesus had seen manifested among all the Jews, (Matthew 8).

In both cases, whether it was a lack of faith or a great faith, demonstration was the key. Faith is not something you simply hold inside of you. Although it is influenced by the doctrines and principles that you believe, it is not simply a "set" of things you believe. It is not really something you hide to try to protect. Your faith is something you live out in your everyday life of service to Him. It is what makes you do what you do.

Your faith is what pleases God if it is of the stuff the goes beyond the ordinary, believing God exists, to the extraordinary, believing He rewards seekers for the their diligence, (Heb 11). It means that faith is something that comes alive in the lives of believers.

Could that be how he knows my faith? Oh yes, He can look into my heart and see that I have some level of belief. But, when I let my faith move me to action; seeking Him, serving others in His name, talking about Him to others, etc. That's how He knows. Look in the references above. A lack of faith resulted in inaction and failure. A strong faith resulted in action and success. When Jesus sees inaction, He sees little to no faith. When he observes spiritually diligent activity, He sees faith!

He knows our faith!