Stepping Into 2013

The kingdom of God is an inside-out, upside-down phenomenon. It operates on totally different principles and motivations. It is virtually diametrically opposed to this world system.

The kingdom of God eschews evil, while this world system operates on it. One portrays love for others as the primary motivating factor, the other esteems love of self. The one has a hopeful worldview, looking to flow from this life into the next, God himself dwelling with us, the other sees life as a dead-end, and esteems getting as much as it can, as fast as it can. One recognizes the spiritual reality of Christians’ involvement in a cosmic battle with the authorities in the spirit world who are in opposition to God, while the other either nebulously admits to spiritual authority of any kind, or leans on a fuzzy, universal, we-are-all-one-with-the-universe type of thingy … and on and on. Opposites. At odds.

As we walk into another year on planet Earth, maybe we should be resolute and resolve some things up-front, things that reflect this inside-out, upside-down mindset.

One that strikes me right away is spoken of by Jesus. It strikes to the heart of God himself; it smells of mercy, one of the characteristics ascribed regularly to him in the First/Old Testament. Luke 14.12-14 refers.

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Wild mindset! This speaks to me. Does it speak to you?

I wonder if we really lived by something like this what it would translate into for the world as a whole… I think it would be a better world, by far.

The concept is rooted in love. It invokes a freeness of life that offers my wealth to the needy and the hurting, while disregarding the common human outlook of giving for reward, giving to get. I am free enough to disengage my relatives and friends, my clique, and to make the underprivileged a priority. This mindset sets off social alarms. It is frowned upon and misunderstood. You are regarded as a freak … or a nut.

Jesus never seemed to care much for opinions. He set his mind on the kingdom of God and went in that direction, under the direction of the Spirit, head first. Let the opinions fly … He didn’t care even for the opinions of his disciples. There is a verse that speaks to this:

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need human testimony about them, for he knew what was in them. (John 2.23-25).

A fascinating passage. These were ‘believers’. They probably thought (rightly so) him to be Messiah, and wanted to see him step out and stake his claim, is one theological view. But there must be more to it than that. The last sentence is pregnant with implications for his unique genuineness, and the lack thereof in those people, and in mankind in general. Everyone has an agenda. Jesus moved how he moved, without respect of persons.

So then, if there is any truth in that (and indeed, regardless of the truth of it), let us step outside the gate and do Jesus’ bidding. Look out for the hurting, the sick, the hungry, the clotheless, the homeless, the fatherless, the abused … there are many of them out there. 

Even though they cannot repay you, your reward will come at the resurrection, kingdom-style, Jesus-stamped for approval. What better reward is there?

Apostle Paul once said to thieves that they should give it up, and get to work so they would have enough to share with those in need – imagine the turnaround in that thought. 

My thought, then, for the year ahead is to get off my barstool and look to be a help, rather than a hindrance, an encouragement rather than a gossip and a critic, a provider rather than a user, a heart rather than a mind, a disciple rather than a church member … a lover rather than … .

In the wise words of the Word himself, ..whoever is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.

For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table?

But I am among you as the One who serves. (Luke 22.26,27).

That attitude is the crazy mindset of the servant-king, himself King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Crazy. My kinda crazy.

Yours?

Shalom.

To doubt, or not .. . are we fooling ourselves?

[This blog post has been under construction for some weeks. I was uncomfortable with it because I felt I wasn’t communicating my thinking adequately. Then I read an interview with Greg Boyd about his upcoming book, which, coincidentally (?) is on the same topic. I decided to finish this now, and pray you get the point.
Since then I have run into the issue repeatedly.

The blog i read is  http://daviddflowers.com/2012/11/10/qa-with-pastor-greg-boyd-part-i/ ]

What do we do with our doubts? Or don't you have any? I daresay that a person of faith, living in this world of massive wrong, deception, anger and hatred, greed and abuse, injustice and downright unfairness, lies and more lies, is bound to have doubts about their faith, about what this life is all about after all. Any sensitive, sensible, honest one does. How then does that correlate to our faith?

The desire for security is one of our core motivations. It is the stuff of life. We look for it everywhere - work/career; family; social groups; political affiliation; government; church/religion - anywhere we can be confirmed in who we are and what we're doing here on planet Earth in 2012. We identify so we can belong so we can feel a-part-of so we can feel as if we're ok, we're cool, we got it made and are headed in the right direction, just like everyone else of consequence. We are sure of it …

But what of that? Some time ago a man dared to challenge the status quo, the ‘ we-are-sure-of-its ‘, on several fronts. In fact, he was such a threat to the security of one or the other group that they killed him. His legacy lies in the concept of an alternate sense of belonging, a different reality that challenges the reality we live and die for - an inside-out, upside-down reality. And he changed the world as we know it, and does so to this day. His was a most insecure circumstance.

I speak to things spiritual, and so I'm going there direct. We often see our 'church' and our religion as the place where we feel safe, where we get our convictions, our indisputable truths, our sureties on which we hang our god. We even create creeds, doctrines, dogmas and dogmatic theologies, memorialized in our hymnody, to enshrine these sureties. They serve to make us feel comfortable in our belief system, make us sure. They solidify who we are.

It’s true that we find, and should find, a sense of security in our church, a sense of belonging, of sharing, of family. We need that, for we live in a world, in a system, that runs contrary to the kingdom agenda of Jesus. As we live out life in the world as contradictions, we gather stress, and it is imperative for us to find encouragement and release among friends and family. But when we allow the church/religion to be the system by which we inculcate our sureties, our absolutes, without resolving those 'absolutely-sure' things in our own hearts and minds individually, making them our very own, we run the risk of failing to grow ourselves, losing sight of our faith, undervaluing the struggle that is so much the lifeblood of that faith. 

For faith springs out of un-surety. It is the phoenix that brings life in this confusing and dying world, in which we pose, as if we're secure, safe ... sure.

Don't swallow it simply because the preacher said so. Chase it with a heart full of desire to know for yourself. And never give up on it.

The church does not supplant or satisfy the need for doubt. As a disciple you should never feel that the questions you have, the niggling doubts you feel inside, the nagging question marks in the margins of your Bible are somehow weaknesses or disabilities, faithless, or even heretical. Do not for a moment allow yourself to be cowarded, to be made to feel as if you’re not ‘in’ because you have doubts. To question, to wrestle, to argue, to doubt… these are normal things for us as redeemed humans living in occupied territory, and we need to pursue them, to struggle with them, for in so doing we grow, we strengthen and mature. 

We are not perfect. We have doubts.

It is this struggle, this grasping for truth, this exertion of our spirit to understand, to grow, to be transformed into the likeness of the Son, that the Father wants. He wants my commitment, in the midst of doubt. This desire to walk on, regardless of the doubt, is what makes for a disciple. I trust God while in the doubt-mire. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths. (Prov 3.5,6 HCSB). What need for trusting God if we are sure of everything?      What need indeed?

When we rely on a sense of security, so we can feel secure, so we can live and move and breathe with confidence, so we can divert our minds from threat, danger and possibly death, then we have created a god in whom we trust. We trust in our sureties.

See, Jesus said something strange that cuts to the quick, one of those upside-down things. He said that a person, to save their life, must lose it. We tend to interpret that to mean: a willingness to die for our beliefs; a dedication of our lives to the Christian way of life; a ministry focus/full-time work in the church. But maybe Jesus was also pointing to something more fundamental: a willingness to forego our sureties and simply trust in God. Release your refuges and allow God to take over. In this way we relinquish all of our Earth-holds - things like career and house and wealth - and we become pilgrims, journeying to a better kingdom, following the lead of our Forerunner to a fulfilling life where God is all in all.

My take on Hebrews 11.1 is that faith gives substance to hope, and provides evidence for what we, by virtue of our finity, cannot see. ( Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. (HCSB {compare NKJV} ). 

Without faith there is no true absolute. 

Faith then is active and necessary. We need our faith to fill in the gaps of what we are unsure of, and to provide hope for our future Kingdom.

So don’t stop doubting; act on it. Don’t stop putting those marks in your Bible; put them there, determined to seek to resolve them with the Spirit's guidance. Don’t stop questioning and pleading with God for the injustices that are there, staring you in the face; ask him why, and wait for the answer. If it is not forthcoming, ask again, and again.

God is not intimidated by you or by me. His love is big enough to handle our childishness.

" God is in control! " .. .  ... . sure doesn't seem that way sometimes, ya?

Now … trust, and doubt. Doubt from within the context of trust. 

Increase your faith, while asking God to increase your faith. 

Stretch yourself, for God, for your Body, for your family, friends, for your neighbor.

Doubt me? Try it. Faith it.

Shalom.