HR is no longer just about managing people—it’s about shaping the future of work. Jens Baier, BCG’s HR transformation expert, discusses how AI and shifting employee expectations are forcing companies to rethink talent strategies. From re-recruiting to upskilling employees, HR must adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. Learn More: Jens Baier: https://on.bcg.com/41ca7Gv BCG on People Strategy: https://on.bcg.com/3QtAjro Decoding Global Talent: https://on.bcg.com/4gUC4IT…
Player FM - Internet Radio Done Right
Checked 6h ago
Добавлено три года назад
Контент предоставлен Peter Hiett. Весь контент подкастов, включая эпизоды, графику и описания подкастов, загружается и предоставляется непосредственно компанией Peter Hiett или ее партнером по платформе подкастов. Если вы считаете, что кто-то использует вашу работу, защищенную авторским правом, без вашего разрешения, вы можете выполнить процедуру, описанную здесь https://ru.player.fm/legal.
Player FM - приложение для подкастов
Работайте офлайн с приложением Player FM !
Работайте офлайн с приложением Player FM !
))
The Terrifying Implication of a Universal Salvation
Manage episode 461193257 series 3027673
Контент предоставлен Peter Hiett. Весь контент подкастов, включая эпизоды, графику и описания подкастов, загружается и предоставляется непосредственно компанией Peter Hiett или ее партнером по платформе подкастов. Если вы считаете, что кто-то использует вашу работу, защищенную авторским правом, без вашего разрешения, вы можете выполнить процедуру, описанную здесь https://ru.player.fm/legal.
For the last two decades I’ve tried to preach the full Gospel: that God in Christ Jesus saves the world (the whole world) and that Scripture has said so all along. During that time, I think I’ve heard two questions more than any others: “This is so good; why doesn’t everyone believe this?” and “Why is it that when I share it, some people get so angry? How can such Good News seem like such bad news?” It reminds me of a Christmas morning 25 years ago. We asked the children what they wanted for Christmas. “Pokemon cards! The Pretty, Pretty Princess Game! Thomas the Tank Engine!” were the responses from three of the four. When I asked Elizabeth, our second child, she responded, “a punching bag.” “One of those inflatable toy punching bags?” I asked. “No, a real punching bag!” she exclaimed. Then I had a brilliant idea: “I’d also like a punching bag,” I thought. “Maybe the other kids would like one too. I’ll get a great punching bag for everyone, hang it from the I-beam in the basement, and have money left over to buy more presents for Elizabeth!” Christmas morning, I announced the Good News (the Gospel): “You all get a punching bag!” The other kids were like “OK...whatever, Dad. Thanks.” But Elizabeth began to punch me… not physically but psychologically, like only an 11-year-old daughter can. I think I understand. Sometimes, people who have rejected the full gospel start preaching the full gospel, and I get perturbed. It’s as if something in me is saying, “Hey, wait a minute; that’s my gospel, not their gospel. Do you love them more than you love me, Dad?” Have you ever shared the Good News, people received it as the worst news, and then turned you into a punching bag? If so, you’re not alone. John the Baptist “preached good news” (Luke 3:18). That’s how Luke describes his ministry. (Surprising, huh?) And he took some punches. Luke 3:3, “John went... proclaiming a baptism of repentance [metanoia: change of mind] for [eis] the forgiveness of sins.” “Eis” is normally translated as “into,” and even if it’s translated as “for,” the Greek clearly indicates that we have a change of mind, for we are actually immersed in the reality of forgiveness; our repentance doesn’t earn forgiveness. When Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them,” Luke believes that the Father answered that prayer from the foundation of the World. The Blasphemy of the Spirit, the Unforgiveable Sin, is unforgiveness; unforgiveness is unforgiveable, for all reality is actually forgiveness — What do you have that was not first given to you? So, John the Baptist preaches a baptism of repentance in the burning hot lake of the forgiveness of God. Is that Good News? Luke 3:4-6, John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:1-5 “...every valley shall be filled... every mountain made low... and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” People say, “Sure, they’ll see it... right before God casts most of them into the Lake of Fire while the chosen say, ‘I’m glad I’m me and not them... here on this mountain and not down in that valley with the last, the least, and the humbled.’” Isaiah 40 - 66 (the End) is one amazing oracle, that sounds like the Revelation, and a description of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus... because it is. In chapter 63, it even describes the Scapegoat coming in from the wilderness, trampling the winepress alone, making blood that’s wine and wine that’s blood, and saving God the Father by saving His children from their own sin in which each one is trapped and alone. The Scapegoat was Israel’s punching bag. Isaiah ends like this: “'For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh (There’s that phrase again.); and those slain will be many... ‘From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come worship before me,’ declares the Lord. ‘And they (all flesh) shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me (That’s all men and the Scapegoat, according to Isaiah). For their worm will not die and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” There’s only one way to believe all of Isaiah, and that is to believe that one day you will have new flesh that is also our Lord’s flesh, for we are actually His City, His Bride, and His Body — billions of members but all one body. And one day, we will all look down on our old individual bodies of flesh being destroyed in the valley of Gehenna and erupt in spontaneous worship, for we’ll see that God our Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord, has saved us from ourselves. Twenty-five years ago on Christmas morning, my daughter and I had rather different views of our “own flesh.” She had once been our flesh, literally Susan and Peter’s flesh. But now she was her own flesh, not her sister and brother’s flesh. And so, she wanted her own punching bag and her own identity. And 25 years ago on Christmas morning, as a young father, I was just beginning to see that my flesh was also my Bride’s flesh, and my children were bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, so what you did to them you did to me. I was no longer just “me”; I was a family. I was just like Elizabeth at age 11, but God was giving me a taste of Heaven. The job of every father is to help each child establish a unique identity, so they can one day give it away to a family. And maybe we’re all one family, God’s Family. And that’s a Body, the Body of Christ. In a body, every member is unique and essential. Every member receives all “the life” (the life is in the blood) and freely gives all the life to every other member of the body. To keep the life is to dam the life and become a vessel of wrath (a blood clot), until one bleeds the life (forgives the life) and becomes a vessel of mercy, a blood vessel — losing the life and finding it all at once. You will forgive as you’ve been forgiven, and you are trapped by the Snake until you do. John calls the crowd a “brood (offspring) of vipers (snakes),” then talks about trees and the tree in the middle of the garden, when and where we took His life (a tree of death), and He fore-gave His life (a tree of life) which transforms death into life. They say, “What shall we do?” And He tells them, “Be content, be honest, and share all your stuff.” It’s not rocket science; it’s the law. But doing it because you want to do it and so, allowing yourself to become a punching bag, that’s a miracle. Love is The Miracle. “I baptize you with water,” says John. “‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So, with many other [encouragements] he preached good news to the people,” adds Luke. God is Love, and Love is Fire. The Fire is released on this world as Jesus cries “Father Forgive” and “delivers up His Spirit.” The Fire burns away the false self, even as it fills that false self with the true self, just as the glory of God fills the old stone temple and we become the body of Christ. In this way, God the Father makes us just who it is that we actually are: The Family of God. This is the terrifying implication of a Universal Salvation. #1 You’re not better than anyone else. #2 You’re not worse than anyone else. #3 You’re different than everyone else. So, #4 You will forgive everyone else. #5 You will lose your life (psyche) and find it (eternal life, the psyche of God). #6 You are, and everyone is, the Family of God. #7 If you want to be a disciple, you must pick up a cross, and let yourself become a punching bag... Years ago, the Lord instructed me to hold a friend who couldn’t weep, for she had been severely abused decades before... to hold her and let her scream and pound on my back in place of Him. She did and then fell apart, weeping in my arms (The arms of Jesus!). Could there be a greater privilege? We had a great Christmas this year. Elizabeth didn’t punch me, not even once, not even psychologically. I think she may be the kindest person that I know. You didn’t choose God. He chose you to be his family. He knows that it’s hard to learn to love. If you have to blame someone, you can blame Him — blame Him to His Face. And then, you’ll see that there is no one to blame, and you’ll fall apart in His arms weeping. All that satan intended for evil, He has always intended for good. “This is my body given to you. This is the covenant in my blood. Drink of it, all of you, and do it in re-member-ance of me.” The terrifying implication of a universal salvation is that God is absolute, furious, and relentless Love — the King of Kings and a punching bag. And you are to be His image, the image of Love. Click here for a list of questions for reflection and/or discussion related to this sermon
…
continue reading
581 эпизодов
ПоделитьсяManage episode 461193257 series 3027673
Контент предоставлен Peter Hiett. Весь контент подкастов, включая эпизоды, графику и описания подкастов, загружается и предоставляется непосредственно компанией Peter Hiett или ее партнером по платформе подкастов. Если вы считаете, что кто-то использует вашу работу, защищенную авторским правом, без вашего разрешения, вы можете выполнить процедуру, описанную здесь https://ru.player.fm/legal.
For the last two decades I’ve tried to preach the full Gospel: that God in Christ Jesus saves the world (the whole world) and that Scripture has said so all along. During that time, I think I’ve heard two questions more than any others: “This is so good; why doesn’t everyone believe this?” and “Why is it that when I share it, some people get so angry? How can such Good News seem like such bad news?” It reminds me of a Christmas morning 25 years ago. We asked the children what they wanted for Christmas. “Pokemon cards! The Pretty, Pretty Princess Game! Thomas the Tank Engine!” were the responses from three of the four. When I asked Elizabeth, our second child, she responded, “a punching bag.” “One of those inflatable toy punching bags?” I asked. “No, a real punching bag!” she exclaimed. Then I had a brilliant idea: “I’d also like a punching bag,” I thought. “Maybe the other kids would like one too. I’ll get a great punching bag for everyone, hang it from the I-beam in the basement, and have money left over to buy more presents for Elizabeth!” Christmas morning, I announced the Good News (the Gospel): “You all get a punching bag!” The other kids were like “OK...whatever, Dad. Thanks.” But Elizabeth began to punch me… not physically but psychologically, like only an 11-year-old daughter can. I think I understand. Sometimes, people who have rejected the full gospel start preaching the full gospel, and I get perturbed. It’s as if something in me is saying, “Hey, wait a minute; that’s my gospel, not their gospel. Do you love them more than you love me, Dad?” Have you ever shared the Good News, people received it as the worst news, and then turned you into a punching bag? If so, you’re not alone. John the Baptist “preached good news” (Luke 3:18). That’s how Luke describes his ministry. (Surprising, huh?) And he took some punches. Luke 3:3, “John went... proclaiming a baptism of repentance [metanoia: change of mind] for [eis] the forgiveness of sins.” “Eis” is normally translated as “into,” and even if it’s translated as “for,” the Greek clearly indicates that we have a change of mind, for we are actually immersed in the reality of forgiveness; our repentance doesn’t earn forgiveness. When Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them,” Luke believes that the Father answered that prayer from the foundation of the World. The Blasphemy of the Spirit, the Unforgiveable Sin, is unforgiveness; unforgiveness is unforgiveable, for all reality is actually forgiveness — What do you have that was not first given to you? So, John the Baptist preaches a baptism of repentance in the burning hot lake of the forgiveness of God. Is that Good News? Luke 3:4-6, John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:1-5 “...every valley shall be filled... every mountain made low... and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” People say, “Sure, they’ll see it... right before God casts most of them into the Lake of Fire while the chosen say, ‘I’m glad I’m me and not them... here on this mountain and not down in that valley with the last, the least, and the humbled.’” Isaiah 40 - 66 (the End) is one amazing oracle, that sounds like the Revelation, and a description of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus... because it is. In chapter 63, it even describes the Scapegoat coming in from the wilderness, trampling the winepress alone, making blood that’s wine and wine that’s blood, and saving God the Father by saving His children from their own sin in which each one is trapped and alone. The Scapegoat was Israel’s punching bag. Isaiah ends like this: “'For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh (There’s that phrase again.); and those slain will be many... ‘From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come worship before me,’ declares the Lord. ‘And they (all flesh) shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me (That’s all men and the Scapegoat, according to Isaiah). For their worm will not die and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” There’s only one way to believe all of Isaiah, and that is to believe that one day you will have new flesh that is also our Lord’s flesh, for we are actually His City, His Bride, and His Body — billions of members but all one body. And one day, we will all look down on our old individual bodies of flesh being destroyed in the valley of Gehenna and erupt in spontaneous worship, for we’ll see that God our Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord, has saved us from ourselves. Twenty-five years ago on Christmas morning, my daughter and I had rather different views of our “own flesh.” She had once been our flesh, literally Susan and Peter’s flesh. But now she was her own flesh, not her sister and brother’s flesh. And so, she wanted her own punching bag and her own identity. And 25 years ago on Christmas morning, as a young father, I was just beginning to see that my flesh was also my Bride’s flesh, and my children were bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, so what you did to them you did to me. I was no longer just “me”; I was a family. I was just like Elizabeth at age 11, but God was giving me a taste of Heaven. The job of every father is to help each child establish a unique identity, so they can one day give it away to a family. And maybe we’re all one family, God’s Family. And that’s a Body, the Body of Christ. In a body, every member is unique and essential. Every member receives all “the life” (the life is in the blood) and freely gives all the life to every other member of the body. To keep the life is to dam the life and become a vessel of wrath (a blood clot), until one bleeds the life (forgives the life) and becomes a vessel of mercy, a blood vessel — losing the life and finding it all at once. You will forgive as you’ve been forgiven, and you are trapped by the Snake until you do. John calls the crowd a “brood (offspring) of vipers (snakes),” then talks about trees and the tree in the middle of the garden, when and where we took His life (a tree of death), and He fore-gave His life (a tree of life) which transforms death into life. They say, “What shall we do?” And He tells them, “Be content, be honest, and share all your stuff.” It’s not rocket science; it’s the law. But doing it because you want to do it and so, allowing yourself to become a punching bag, that’s a miracle. Love is The Miracle. “I baptize you with water,” says John. “‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So, with many other [encouragements] he preached good news to the people,” adds Luke. God is Love, and Love is Fire. The Fire is released on this world as Jesus cries “Father Forgive” and “delivers up His Spirit.” The Fire burns away the false self, even as it fills that false self with the true self, just as the glory of God fills the old stone temple and we become the body of Christ. In this way, God the Father makes us just who it is that we actually are: The Family of God. This is the terrifying implication of a Universal Salvation. #1 You’re not better than anyone else. #2 You’re not worse than anyone else. #3 You’re different than everyone else. So, #4 You will forgive everyone else. #5 You will lose your life (psyche) and find it (eternal life, the psyche of God). #6 You are, and everyone is, the Family of God. #7 If you want to be a disciple, you must pick up a cross, and let yourself become a punching bag... Years ago, the Lord instructed me to hold a friend who couldn’t weep, for she had been severely abused decades before... to hold her and let her scream and pound on my back in place of Him. She did and then fell apart, weeping in my arms (The arms of Jesus!). Could there be a greater privilege? We had a great Christmas this year. Elizabeth didn’t punch me, not even once, not even psychologically. I think she may be the kindest person that I know. You didn’t choose God. He chose you to be his family. He knows that it’s hard to learn to love. If you have to blame someone, you can blame Him — blame Him to His Face. And then, you’ll see that there is no one to blame, and you’ll fall apart in His arms weeping. All that satan intended for evil, He has always intended for good. “This is my body given to you. This is the covenant in my blood. Drink of it, all of you, and do it in re-member-ance of me.” The terrifying implication of a universal salvation is that God is absolute, furious, and relentless Love — the King of Kings and a punching bag. And you are to be His image, the image of Love. Click here for a list of questions for reflection and/or discussion related to this sermon
…
continue reading
581 эпизодов
Все серии
×
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
Last week as I was preparing our message on the “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” I flipped on the morning news and saw 10 elderly Palestinian men kneeling in a prison cell, all wearing the same shirt. On the back was a Star of David and these words in Arabic: “We will not forget or forgive.” These men were being forced to wear the shirts. I thought, “Don’t they realize that this means that they (whoever made those men wear those shirts) refuse to live in a world where the Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world?” By “we,” I think they meant “Israel,” and that’s rather troubling, for I know the origin of that name. It’s the name that was given to a man named Jacob 3,800 years ago after a night of getting the hell beat out of him by a mysterious God/man at the edge of the Promised Land. “Jacob” means “heel-grabber,” for Jacob was a twin born grabbing the heel of his firstborn brother, Esau. Later, the name “Jacob” was confirmed when he took his brother’s birthright through extortion and his brother’s blessing through deceit — the deception of his father Isaac. At a certain point, fleeing Canaan and his brother’s anger, Jacob lay down with his head on a stone and had a dream. He saw a ladder upon the “erets” (land or earth) reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending upon this ladder. God promises to give the “erets” on which Jacob sleeps to him and his Seed (It’s the birthright.) “And,” says God, “in you and your Seed shall all the families of the earth (adamah) be blessed.” I doubt that Jacob thought this through at the time, but that would include Esau and his family (Edom), Ishmael and his family (the Arabs), Palestinians, and you. Many years later, Jacob returns. This is when he wrestles the God/man who gives him his new name: Israel (“wrestles with God”). And then he meets Esau and says, “I have seen your face which is like seeing the face of God” (Gen. 33:10). And then God sends him back to Bethel (“house of God”) where he had the dream all those years before. There, God says, “Be fruitful and multiply.” It’s just what He said to Adam, which sounds almost exactly like Edom (Red, Ruddy), which is the name of the firstborn from whom he took the birthright and blessing. Didn’t we all steal the birthright and blessing of the firstborn, only begotten son of God? And didn’t God give us the birthright and blessing of the firstborn, only begotten son of God? And didn’t it seem as if Jesus (the firstborn), He hated, and Jacob (us heel-grabbers), He loved? And yet, God was in Christ Jesus, drawing us to Himself that we might die with Him and rise with Him and “inherit” all things. It happens on a tree in a garden when and where He cries, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Who would have the audacity to say, “We will not forgive”? I did a search and found a video of our former leader saying, “We will not forgive. We will hunt you down.” I found another video of our current leader saying that we will “own Gaza,” then threatening Palestinians with “hell to pay,” and another defining hell as burning in flames forever and ever (and I think he meant without end). “The measure you give is the measure you get,” and “unless you forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you your trespasses,” said Jesus, firstborn of all creation and King of the Jews (the people of the tribe of Judah). They crucified Him. That doesn’t mean that they won’t get the birthright and blessing. “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” It means that when they do, they will not have fulfilled the dream, and no foreign nation will have fulfilled the dream for them, but God will have fulfilled the dream, and they will be blessed to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, including Gaza. If you’re a Christian, you are a Jew, for you’re married to the King of the Jews and His blood runs in your veins. You are “they”; you took His life, and He gave His life that you would inherit His birthright and blessing. John had a vision of a New Jerusalem coming down. Its gates are always open by day, and in the city, it is never night. It fulfills Old Testament prophecy. “The Sojourner (the immigrant) will be to you as native-born children” (Ez. 47:23). The Stone that the builders rejected is its cornerstone. The 12 apostles are the 12 foundation stones. The names of the 12 tribes are above the doors. It doesn’t replace “Israel”; it is the Israel that God has created, filling the Israel that we heel-grabbers think we have created. It’s the building not made with human hands. In the city, there is a throne, and on the throne, a lamb as if newly slain, and the Word of God says, “Behold, I make all things new.” In John 1, John the Baptist warns the Pharisees that one is coming, “the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John 1:34, He is “the Son of God,” the anointed, the King. We would expect Him to conquer the way the Kings of this world conquer…. John 1:35-51: We meet the King and watch Him conquer. “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking (what do you want)?” They said, “um... where are you staying.” He said, “Come and see.” I am telling you: Do NOT follow the Beast from the Land or the Beast from the Sea who rides the Great Harlot; follow the Lamb. The kings of this world may conquer real estate, but they are unable to conquer one heart. To conquer a heart, something infinitely more powerful is required. “No one has ever seen God. The only begotten God, from the bosom [kolpos] of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). From the perspective of the earth and this age, He looks as if He’s just walking around bleeding; but from the perspective of heaven, seals are being opened, trumpets are sounding, thunders are crashing, and bowls of blood that are also wine are being poured over the surface of the “erets,” the land, the earth. “This is the victory that conquers the world,” writes John, “our faith.” Faith in you is the Life of Christ in you, flowing from the beating heart of our Father in Heaven. Jesus says to His followers, “As the Father sent me, so send I you.” And so, how did He conquer? Read John 1:35-51. 1)He went for a walk; maybe you could go for a walk in your neighbor’s world. 2) He asked questions; maybe you could ask your neighbor, “What is it that you want?” 3) He invited folks to “come and see.” 4) He valued incompetence. 5) He made people competent. 6) He wasn’t easily offended. 7) He celebrated honesty. 8) He recognized the Kingdom at hand: God’s dream planted in His neighbor’s heart. 9) He is the Kingdom at hand: God’s dream planted in the heart of Adam. He said to Nathaniel, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending (NOT on a piece of real estate) on the Son of Man.” I think He’s saying, “I am Israel, and I am the firstborn from whom you stole the birthright. I am the presence of the Father from whom you stole the blessing. I am your birthright and blessing. I am the edge of the Promised Land: Eden. I am taking you home to the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden. I am the Son of God, and the Son of Man. God is my Father. Man is my mother. You, Adam, will give birth to me and all things with me. I am the decision to humble oneself and join the dance.” There is a Jacob who exalts himself with extortion and deceit by seizing the birthright and blessings in such a way that everything dies. And there is an Israel that inherits the birthright and blessing in such a way that everything lives. There is an old Jerusalem built with stones, and it’s been condemned. And there is a New Jerusalem descending from God even now. It is your birthright, and it’s filled with the blessing which includes every Jew and every Arab; it includes Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel. “For whatever you do to the least of these my brothers,” says the firstborn, “you do to me.” #10) He invited folks to come and see His heart. And sometimes a body has to be broken for a heart to be revealed. There is only one other place in the Gospel of John where the word “kolpos” (bosom) appears: John 13:23. “The disciple whom Jesus loved (This is how John describes himself; it’s not arrogance but humility) was reclining at table in Jesus’ bosom.” His head was on Jesus’ chest as Jesus said, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel when I have dipped (“bapto,” as in baptism) it.” He gave it to Judas (of Judah, Jew); they were all Jews, all his followers are Jews, and He is the King of the Jews. How His heart must’ve broken. And John felt it. Well... that’s how the King of the Jews conquers and becomes the King of all Creation. Many years ago, I was publicly tried and defrocked for preaching that “the Lamb of God... takes away the sin of the world,” and so we can hope that no one is endlessly tortured for committing “the sin of the world.” At my trial, as they posted the vote and announced the verdict, my friend and brother, Andrew, just grabbed my head and held it tightly to his “kolpos,” just above his heart in front of all of my accusers. It felt like a sanctuary, the very presence of another world and the age to come. Funny side note: In 24 years, not even once (I’m pretty sure)... not even once, have Andrew and I voted for the same candidate, but I’m convinced we follow the same lamb. Vote for whomever you think would be our best employee, but always follow the Lamb.…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
During the offertory this past weekend, we offered our sins. To facilitate that, I asked each worshipper to fill out a “My Life Scorecard.” In the left-hand column, we listed our goals. In the middle column, we judged ourselves and gave ourselves a grade. In the right-hand column, we plotted our success on a target that was printed on each card, revealing the size of our sin. “Sin” in the New Testament is usually the Greek word “hamartia,” which is normally defined as “missing the mark,” as in “not hitting the bull’s-eye” in a target. As we filled out the scorecard, the worship team played that old song “The Lord of the Dance.” We realized that it’s hard to dance while filling out the “My Life Scorecard,” and of course it’s hard to fill out the card while dancing. With our goals, we become a “law unto ourselves.” The Law is like dance steps, and as long as you’re practicing dance steps, you’re not dancing. At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses reiterates the Law and says, “Choose Life.” God then informs Moses that Israel will choose death, for their hearts are not yet circumcised that they might hear the music. And then God teaches Moses a song (Deut. 32) that Israel is to sing in the day that they realize that they have failed. It’s how the dry bones (circumcised of flesh) rise from the ground and dance into the Promised Land clothed in new flesh (Ez. 37). The last line of the song goes like this: “The Lord atones for his people and his land.” As we’ve learned in John chapter one, all creation is like a dance — the manifestation of the Logos of God. In John 1:14, we learned that the Logos became flesh and tabernacled among us and in us. Jesus lived his life like a dance — the Lord of the Dance. John 1:29, “The next day, [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’” If that’s true, it would be the best possible news, and the story of how it happens would be impossible to tell without dancing. And yet, when we tell it in church, it reminds me of medication commercials — you know the kind, where they dance around singing, and under the music a lawyer starts talking: “…Low blood sugar, and a life-threatening bacterial infection between and around the anus and genitals can occur... etc. etc.” So, we dance and sing, “The Word of God is really swell, the little lamb with a big story to tell,” and the priests and pastors start explaining, “By ‘take away the sin of the world,’ only ‘some of the sin of some of the world’ is indicated. Serious side effects include: most of humanity suffering endless torment, a heart hardened to the sufferings of your neighbor, and crippling anxiety, for one must save himself from God, our Savior, etc. etc.” And yet it’s quite clear: “The Lamb of God... takes away the sin of the world.” He didn’t say “sins,” but “the sin.” It sounds like all sin is really one sin, and the entire world committed this sin, which clearly implies that you committed this sin, and this sin was not committed directly against you. “Against you and you only, oh God, have I sinned” (Psalm 51). David talks as if it was God’s Life in Uriah that he took and God’s Goodness in Bathsheba that he raped. To sin (hamartia) is “to miss the mark,” which also implies that something is missing in the marksman. Sin is a description of who “I am not”: a great marksman. Adam lacked faith in the Word of Love (“Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”) and so took the Life of the Word of Love on the tree in the garden and crucified the Good. “God alone is good,” said God in the flesh, that is Jesus. The earth shook, the sun went black, and the moon turned to blood. Every sin is that sin. And how did Satan tempt “The Adam” (humanity), and how did Satan tempt you in the beginning and every day since? He whispered something like this, “Take knowledge of the Good to make yourself like God. And dying you won’t die. God lied. Save yourself. Create yourself. Exalt yourself.” And isn’t that what we do every time we try to justify ourselves with obedience to laws in the power of our own flesh -- every time we fill out a “My Life Scorecard”? YIKES! Did I make people commit original sin at the offertory? No; I just helped people confess that we commit it all the time. We didn’t just miss the mark; we crucified Him. Just by thinking “my life,” as in not “our life,” we implicate ourselves as having taken “The Life” on the tree. We literally think our sin — exalting ourselves — is “my life,” when, in fact, it’s my/our coffin. So, if the Lamb takes away the “My Life Scorecard” (my arrogant ego), we think He’s taking our life, when in fact, we’re already dead, and He’s setting us free. In Revelation 6, at the opening of the sixth seal, Sixth Day of Creation, sixth hour of the day, the earth shakes, the sun goes black, the moon turns to blood, and “The great ones... and everyone” hide in the earth (Hades), “calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and (or ‘that is’) the wrath of the Lamb.’” They’re not hiding from the Lion but the slaughtered Lamb. Just His presence obliterates their “My Life Scorecards.” And what is “The wrath of the Lamb”? It’s blood that’s wine and wine that’s blood, poured from bowls at the edge of the Heavenly Sanctuary upon the face of the earth. It’s what we drink; it’s Grace. We like the idea that He takes away what we imagine to be the punishment for sin, but not “the sin”; we’re addicted to the sin. We think it’s “life;” I think it’s “my life.” “He fixes everything.” Sounds great until I realize that I fix nothing. “He forgives everything.” Sounds great until I realize that everything is forgiven, and so I must forgive or be trapped in outer darkness. “I don’t owe God anything.” Sounds great until I realize, no one owes me anything, and everything is Grace. “Everything is Grace.” Sounds great unless I think I have exalted myself. “The Word of God is really swell, the little Lamb with the big story to tell.” Maybe the lawyer who speaks under the music is me because I’ve listened to a lie in the garden of my own soul? It’s not that Grace doesn’t work all that well, but that it works entirely well. It takes away the sin of the world, and I think I am the sin of the world. But that is who I am not. I am not a self-made man. I am infinitely better. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.” “Behold!” It’s the first thing that we’re commanded to do in the Gospel of John. And apart from Him, we can do nothing. He is the Passover Lamb (“To be taken from the sheep or the goats”). He is the Life in every sacrifice. He is the Scapegoat in the wilderness, for He is Faith in us who brings us home and causes us to choose the Good in Freedom which is Love. He is Love in human flesh from the bosom of the Father, the heart of God. The Sacrificial system was all about blood flow, and the throne of God in the Sanctuary of the Temple of God was like the beating heart of God. We take His Life on the tree, and He delivers up His Spirit on the tree. And that Spirit descends into us in the wilderness and draws us back to the tree, where He tramples the grapes of wrath and turns us all into vessels of Mercy, circulating His own Life in the Dance of Love, which is his very own body and the New Creation. The sin of Adam is the revelation of who I am not; it’s the scorecard. The Righteousness of Christ is who it is that I, actually, am: the Second Adam. You might protest: “But it’s my desires, hopes, and dreams that are listed on the scorecard.” That’s correct. And I bet that God gave you those desires, hopes, and dreams. He is the one that planted the tree in the garden and predestined you to be filled with the Good and the Life. Remember Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, John, Paul, Peter, and basically every character in the Bible? God literally gives them the dream of “their life” (their particular life: “Father of nations, Blessed to be a blessing, They will all bow down to you Joseph, The Rock”). They all sin by trying to create their own life, fail at creating their own life, and then God makes their life, and it’s better than anything they could have imagined because now they’re dancing — they’re Grace-full. At Communion, we smeared wine on our scorecards, the wrath of the lamb from a bowl at the front of the church. So that the next time we would try to Judge ourselves, save ourselves, redeem ourselves, and justify ourselves, we would see that we’ve already been judged, saved, redeemed, and justified . . . and start dancing. One day, God in Christ Jesus will fulfill all your dreams. Revelation 21:5, The Lamb of God on the Throne of God who is the Word of God, says, “Behold I make all things New.” That includes you and your dreams. He is all your dreams. Apart from Him you can do nothing, but with Him, you will do all things, and you will be dancing. By faith — by abiding with Him in the sanctuary of your own soul — it begins here, and it’s always now. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” in you: Christ in you. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.” Just look at Him . . . on the throne of God: Body Broken and Blood Shed. Is this not the most obvious lesson? He’s not exalting Himself; He’s constantly humbling Himself. It’s the only way to join a dance; it’s the first step and only step; it’s losing your life and finding it, all in one moment. It’s Life, eternal . . . your life, without sin.…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
In this week’s sermon, we picked up where we left off the week before. And at the Benediction last week, I said, “Invariably, I’m asked this question (which I also seem to be constantly asking), ‘So, what am I to do?’” I then said, “Hey, look -- There’s a list nailed to the tree,” (as I pointed to the list that was still hanging on the cross behind the communion table). “And isn’t that what we want: Knowledge of good and evil that we can apply to our lives?” Last week, we made posters of “Unreasonable” reasons -- that is, everyday miracles – and we hung them around the room and then read John 1:1-14, ending with “And the Word (the Logos) became flesh.” And we nailed all our posters to the tree. God is so confusing, but we “nailed it down.” “The law came in to increase the trespass,” writes Paul. And it works, doesn’t it? Adam sinned, for Adam lacked faith in the Word of God and so took knowledge of the Good on the tree, and God gave knowledge of the Good to Moses, written in stone, and had him place it in a coffin (also called an “ark”). And now we’re addicted to laws: “Pastor, stop talking about the story of Love and just tell me what I have to do!” I’m with you. If we don’t want the Ten Commandments, religious laws, or civil laws, we most definitely want personal laws — directions, instructions; we want “steps.” “What do you want me to preach?” I ask God. “Do you want us to sell the building? Jesus, we’re at a crossroads; right or left, yes or no? We need wisdom.” That was my prayer this past summer. My wife would pray with me and say, “I see Jesus. And He just keeps looking at you.” It seems that there are some questions that He just doesn’t want to answer. We read John 1:1-3 once again and noticed that it sounds just like Proverbs 3, 8, and 9. “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,” writes Solomon. “Then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing (dancing, frolicking) before him always,” says Wisdom. “Wisdom has built her house,” writes Solomon. “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live,” cries Wisdom. Wisdom sounds just like “The Word” (the Logos, the Reason), that is Jesus. And Wisdom is a Lady. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God is always a feminine noun. Proverbs 3:18, “She (Wisdom) is a tree of Life.” Solomon asked for Wisdom and knowledge of Good and evil, and he got both. Adam took Knowledge of Good and evil, and everything died. “God made [Jesus] our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). We took His life on the tree, and He gives His life on the tree, crying, “Father, forgive,” and delivering up His Spirit. John 1:14, “And the Logos became flesh and tabernacled among (literally, “in”) us. On the wilderness journey, God tabernacled among the Israelites. “Mercy triumphs over (dances on top of) Judgment,” writes James (2:13). It appears that the presence of God would dance on top of his own coffin in the inner tabernacle of the temple, which is the presence of the age to come, which is always “now.” We are that temple. John 1:17-18, “Out of his fullness, we have all (not some) received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” #1 Notice that all creation is a manifestation of the Logos. #2 Notice that the Logos became flesh. #3 Notice that the Logos tabernacles in us. THEN ask the question once again: “What am I to do?” #1 All creation is the manifestation of a Love (God) Song, the Logos (logic) of God. Music is not illogical but more “logic” than we can comprehend. And so, to appreciate Music, the Music, the Logos, must comprehend us. Physicists argue that all elementary particles are different ‘notes’ on a fundamental string, such that “The universe... is akin to a cosmic symphony,” (Brian Green). Aslan sings Narnia into existence. In Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, God through angels sings creation into existence, and when a fallen angel sings discordant notes, God Himself sings those discordant notes into a deeper harmony. The dissonance creates a longing for consonance and ecstatic delight in a deeper resonance. In the Revelation, a slaughtered lamb stands on the throne (the top of the ark) and sings meaning into the Seven Sealed Scroll as all creation worships. Reality is a dance, and if you’re not dancing to the Logos of Love, perhaps you don’t actually exist. When you nail the Logos to a tree, what do you get? Sheet music, dance steps, science, and technology — it has its place, but it’s not the same as feeling happy or dancing in the moonlight. #2 “The Logos became flesh... and we have seen his glory... grace.” Jesus lived gracefully; He lived His life like a dance. The dance fulfilled the law, although it was not at all what we expected. We had the sheet music; we had the knowledge of good and evil; we had the law in a coffin in a stone temple. We had the dance steps, but we were all surprised by the Dancer and His Dance. When we expected Him to save us from our enemies, He let us crucify Him and He saves us from ourselves. We nailed Him down, for although nothing is as lovely as Grace, nothing is as offensive as Grace; He revealed that none of us were dancing. We were just practicing dance steps. His dance wasn’t bondage but freedom; it wasn’t work but play. He wasn’t trying to dance; He was dancing. He is the manifestation of the Logos. He wasn’t trying to justify Himself; He is just Just, and Right, and Happy. He was the constant delight of His Father. Which sounds just like Wisdom (“I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always.”) My favorite dance is the “Daddy’s Home Dance.” Thirty years ago, it happened every day around 6 p.m. One of my four children would hear the key in the lock and yell, “Daddy’s home!” Then, all four would come running and break into this uninhibited dance. They weren’t trying to please me; they were simply rejoicing in my pleasure over them. They sang songs for me, pretended to cook for me, even wrote sermons for me, and never stopped to ask, “Are you pleased?” Each one now has a master’s degree or Ph.D. I’m happy for them, but I love them no more or no less; they have always been worth everything that I am. But there came a day when each one of them stopped dancing. It was the day that they learned to judge the dance and started practicing dance steps. It was the day they began to ask, “Is my dance any good? Does Daddy love my dance more or less than yesterday, more or less than my brother’s or sister’s?” And once they ask this question, it’s almost impossible to get them to stop; they’ve already bitten “the apple.” My wife walked into my office two weeks ago and said, “I just heard Jesus say, ‘Tell Peter, I let Lookout happen’ (The dissolution of our former church; perhaps the most painful event of my life) ‘so that you would be free. …So, are you free? Or are you still trying to please me... and others?’” I thought, “Holy crap! Jesus is displeased with me because I don’t believe he’s pleased with me! What do I do?” Then I remembered “The Daddy’s Home Dance.” Only in Jesus can I please Him by NOT trying to please Him because I’m convinced that I already do. John 15, “Abide in me... Abide in my love.” The only way you can please God is to get into Jesus, which is actually where you already are, and listen to the voice of the Father as He says, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” When you hear that, you will Dance. “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). To abide with Jesus is to tabernacle with Him in the depths of your own heart, where it is always “now.” You cannot dance if you’re ashamed of the past or worried about the future. You cannot dance by trying but only by listening to the music all around you and dancing with Jesus right now. In Luke 7, Jesus says, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance... Yet Wisdom is justified by all of her children.” You are the children of Wisdom, and she’s teaching you to dance. Jesus cried, “Father, forgive them,” and delivered up His Spirit. I think her name is Wisdom. This past summer, I was begging Jesus for Wisdom, and He refused to give me any dance steps. After a prayer meeting, around midnight and fast asleep, Susan grabbed me, saying, “Something’s here!” I rebuked it. She said, “It’s gone.” About two hours later, it happened again. This time, she said, “It wasn’t a demon... it was a woman.” Then she fell asleep. In the morning, she explained, “She was beautiful. I sensed that she had ‘crossed time.’ She stared at me, and I stared at her, eye to eye, face to face, for about a minute before I woke you. …I’ve seen angels. This was no angel.” I said, “You need to read Proverbs; I think that was Wisdom.” Just then on our “Alexa,” Bob Dylan began singing “Shelter from the Storm”; I think the whole song is about the tent of Lady Wisdom. I didn’t know then which step to take... still don’t. And I don’t think it matters, for as long as we’re dancing, it will be Wisdom, and the Logos will be in “carnos”; She will become flesh in us. #1 The Music is all around you. #2 The Music became flesh in Jesus. #3 The Music is becoming flesh in you. “What are we to do?” Start Dancing.…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
“Grow up or die.” That’s how Bill Maher ends his documentary titled “Religulous.” He seems to equate faith with religion and then attempts to make the point that faith is unreasonable. Ancient Greek philosophers taught that reason is the fabric of the universe and that there is a “logos spermatikos,” a seed of reason, in every human being which connects them to reality and the people around them. Words are vibrations in the atmosphere coded with reason which connect us in such a way that we no longer remain alone. “It’s not good that the adam should be alone,” said God. “Reason is the Way, the Truth, and the Life... the Light that enlightens all men (adam).” That statement may bother you, for people like Bill Maher, high school teachers, and perhaps even your pastor have told you that faith is unreasonable, and so reason is the enemy of faith. One night in high school, I locked myself in the bathroom and dropped to my knees, by the side of the tub, shaking. I was plagued by the idea that I could no longer believe in God. I felt chaos and the void. Then, without thinking, I prayed, “Jesus, I don’t think I can believe in you anymore.” Years later, I realized that I was speaking to the One that I said that I didn’t believe in, and ironically, I now consider that night to be the night of my conversion — the night that I truly began to seek because I earnestly wanted to find. Perhaps Bill Maher is confusing that which is reasonable with that which can be verified by the scientific method. Science is the study of what usually happens in a temporal string of cause and effect (It’s extremely useful; it’s how we nail things down.) But if you only believe what can be proved by the scientific method, you must necessarily NOT believe the scientific method, for the scientific method cannot be proved by the scientific method. People argue that there is no reason for faith, and thus it is unreasonable. And yet there are all sorts of things for which we can find no reason, especially not with the scientific method. They’re all around us. Here are a few: 1. Love... At least not real love or the logic of love: self-sacrifice.2. Beauty, what the Bible calls “the Good” or the “Glorious.” You can’t reason your way to Beauty.3. Light. For light, there can be no temporal reason, but perhaps it is the reason for temporality.4. Life. Darwin did not explain life, but death. Life is a communion of self-sacrifice.5. Persons, Consciousness, Spirit. Even physicists will tell you that matter doesn’t matter, but you, the observer, do. That’s the “I” that observes “me.”6. Existence. Not things in existence, but existence. Philosophers refer to God as the Uncaused Cause or Necessary Beingness (“ousias” in Greek). Yahweh’s name is “I Am that I Am.”7. Reason. There is no reason for Reason. How could there be? You can’t reason your way to reason; you can only arrive by faith — Faith in reason. People like Bill Maher have to have faith in reason just to argue that faith is unreasonable. I think the problem is not that they don’t have any faith but that it appears to be dead and only the size of a seed — something that would fit in their own head. I think Bill Maher has faith in his own ability to reason. In 1793, the French worshipped “reason”; and we now refer to that period as the “reign of terror.” But Bill Maher is right: It’s not just the religion of atheism in places like the Soviet Union that can be blamed for all the bloodshed in this world; it’s also the so-called “Christian” religion.” Maybe religion isn’t actually faith but a lack of faith or a small dead faith — faith in our own ability to reason our own way to The Reason. The Gospel of John wasn’t written in English but Greek, and the Greek word used by Greek philosophers to describe the concept of “reason” was “logos.” John 1:1, 8, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos: Reason] and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God... He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” “If you want to know what water is, don’t ask a fish . . .” unless that fish was caught by a fisherman and then thrown back into the sea. For then that fish would not only know about water, that fish would be madly in love with water. It would preach, “Everything is water! I love water!” Maybe we actually do swim in God, but in this world, we’re allowed to experience “not God.” Not love is alone. Not good is evil. Not light is dark. Not life is death. Not consciousness is unconsciousness. Not existence is the void. Not reason is chaos and insanity. Maybe Bill Maher isn’t an atheist (He’s not insane.) He believes in God, but he’s angry at God, for he feels forsaken by God: Love, Goodness, Light, Life, Spirit, I Am, and the Logos. I get that (“My God, my God, why . . . “), and so does God. What would keep us from experiencing God? Perhaps it’s the utterly irrational belief that each of us is our own creator. Jesus saves me from my sin, and my sin is thinking that I can take fruit from the tree and make myself “me.” It’s the religion of “me”…which can metastasize into the religion of “we.”Bill Maher isn’t the only one who worships his own reason. And it wasn’t “atheists” that crucified Jesus — it was the politicians and pastors. We can’t reason our way to Reason. But maybe Reason can plant Himself in each one of us and reason us all the way home. John 1:12, “But to all who took him (like fruit on a tree), he gave exousia (ek, “out of” and ousia “being,” a portion of being) to become children of God, those believing in his name (“God is Salvation”) who were born not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of the will of God.” “The will of God” must be the Logos of Love, The Unreasonable Reason, somehow implanted in us like a seed (logos spermatikos). In the beginning, we each took fruit from the tree, and everything died. But there was Seed in that fruit, and the Seed does not stay dead. When we come back to the tree, we see that what we have taken has always been given; it’s the Logic of Love; it’s Grace. And so, we preach, “Everything is Grace; I love Grace, Relentless-Love, my Father.” Perhaps your Father doesn’t want to be known as the answer to your math problems. Perhaps He wants to be known as the deepest desire of your heart and, then, an ocean of Love. I read about an orphan boy who lived with his grandmother. One night the house caught fire. She died, but he lived, for an unknown man heard his cries from the second-floor window, climbed an iron drainpipe, put the little boy on his shoulders, and climbed back down that burning hot pipe. Weeks later, a public hearing was held to decide custody for the boy. A teacher stood up and said, “I’d like to adopt him; I can give him knowledge, friends, and adventures.” A banker also stood up. He said, “I’ve always wanted a son and don’t have one. I could give him more money than anyone in this town.” In the back of the room, without saying a word, a man stood up, walked to the front, slowly pulled his hands from his pockets, and showed them to the boy. People gasped when they saw the wounds, but the boy leapt into the man’s arms. He was home. When Jesus rose from the dead, He showed them His hands, and they believed (John 20:28). That’s not unreasonable; that’s faith — the “unreasonable reason” planted in each one of us and calling us home To sum up, to nail it down, I gathered posters of the seven unreasonable things as we reread our text (we had posted them all around the room). “In the beginning was the Word (#7) and the Word was with God (#6), and the Word was God. He (#5) was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life (#4), and the life was the light (#3) of men. The light shines (#2) in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... But to all who took, He gave exousia to become children of God, those believing in His name, born not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but the will of God (#1: the Logic of Love) ...and the Word became flesh...” And we nailed Him to a tree. But before we took His life on the tree at the end of that day, He gave His life at supper, the beginning of that day — the day that we are made in the image of God. The life is in the blood, and we ingest the bread like a seed. It’s how each one of us grows up. God is all around you, but right now He’s showing you His hands.…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
For the last two decades I’ve tried to preach the full Gospel: that God in Christ Jesus saves the world (the whole world) and that Scripture has said so all along. During that time, I think I’ve heard two questions more than any others: “This is so good; why doesn’t everyone believe this?” and “Why is it that when I share it, some people get so angry? How can such Good News seem like such bad news?” It reminds me of a Christmas morning 25 years ago. We asked the children what they wanted for Christmas. “Pokemon cards! The Pretty, Pretty Princess Game! Thomas the Tank Engine!” were the responses from three of the four. When I asked Elizabeth, our second child, she responded, “a punching bag.” “One of those inflatable toy punching bags?” I asked. “No, a real punching bag!” she exclaimed. Then I had a brilliant idea: “I’d also like a punching bag,” I thought. “Maybe the other kids would like one too. I’ll get a great punching bag for everyone, hang it from the I-beam in the basement, and have money left over to buy more presents for Elizabeth!” Christmas morning, I announced the Good News (the Gospel): “You all get a punching bag!” The other kids were like “OK...whatever, Dad. Thanks.” But Elizabeth began to punch me… not physically but psychologically, like only an 11-year-old daughter can. I think I understand. Sometimes, people who have rejected the full gospel start preaching the full gospel, and I get perturbed. It’s as if something in me is saying, “Hey, wait a minute; that’s my gospel, not their gospel. Do you love them more than you love me, Dad?” Have you ever shared the Good News, people received it as the worst news, and then turned you into a punching bag? If so, you’re not alone. John the Baptist “preached good news” (Luke 3:18). That’s how Luke describes his ministry. (Surprising, huh?) And he took some punches. Luke 3:3, “John went... proclaiming a baptism of repentance [metanoia: change of mind] for [eis] the forgiveness of sins.” “Eis” is normally translated as “into,” and even if it’s translated as “for,” the Greek clearly indicates that we have a change of mind, for we are actually immersed in the reality of forgiveness; our repentance doesn’t earn forgiveness. When Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them,” Luke believes that the Father answered that prayer from the foundation of the World. The Blasphemy of the Spirit, the Unforgiveable Sin, is unforgiveness; unforgiveness is unforgiveable, for all reality is actually forgiveness — What do you have that was not first given to you? So, John the Baptist preaches a baptism of repentance in the burning hot lake of the forgiveness of God. Is that Good News? Luke 3:4-6, John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:1-5 “...every valley shall be filled... every mountain made low... and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” People say, “Sure, they’ll see it... right before God casts most of them into the Lake of Fire while the chosen say, ‘I’m glad I’m me and not them... here on this mountain and not down in that valley with the last, the least, and the humbled.’” Isaiah 40 - 66 (the End) is one amazing oracle, that sounds like the Revelation, and a description of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus... because it is. In chapter 63, it even describes the Scapegoat coming in from the wilderness, trampling the winepress alone, making blood that’s wine and wine that’s blood, and saving God the Father by saving His children from their own sin in which each one is trapped and alone. The Scapegoat was Israel’s punching bag. Isaiah ends like this: “'For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh (There’s that phrase again.); and those slain will be many... ‘From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come worship before me,’ declares the Lord. ‘And they (all flesh) shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me (That’s all men and the Scapegoat, according to Isaiah). For their worm will not die and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” There’s only one way to believe all of Isaiah, and that is to believe that one day you will have new flesh that is also our Lord’s flesh, for we are actually His City, His Bride, and His Body — billions of members but all one body. And one day, we will all look down on our old individual bodies of flesh being destroyed in the valley of Gehenna and erupt in spontaneous worship, for we’ll see that God our Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord, has saved us from ourselves. Twenty-five years ago on Christmas morning, my daughter and I had rather different views of our “own flesh.” She had once been our flesh, literally Susan and Peter’s flesh. But now she was her own flesh, not her sister and brother’s flesh. And so, she wanted her own punching bag and her own identity. And 25 years ago on Christmas morning, as a young father, I was just beginning to see that my flesh was also my Bride’s flesh, and my children were bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, so what you did to them you did to me. I was no longer just “me”; I was a family. I was just like Elizabeth at age 11, but God was giving me a taste of Heaven. The job of every father is to help each child establish a unique identity, so they can one day give it away to a family. And maybe we’re all one family, God’s Family. And that’s a Body, the Body of Christ. In a body, every member is unique and essential. Every member receives all “the life” (the life is in the blood) and freely gives all the life to every other member of the body. To keep the life is to dam the life and become a vessel of wrath (a blood clot), until one bleeds the life (forgives the life) and becomes a vessel of mercy, a blood vessel — losing the life and finding it all at once. You will forgive as you’ve been forgiven, and you are trapped by the Snake until you do. John calls the crowd a “brood (offspring) of vipers (snakes),” then talks about trees and the tree in the middle of the garden, when and where we took His life (a tree of death), and He fore-gave His life (a tree of life) which transforms death into life. They say, “What shall we do?” And He tells them, “Be content, be honest, and share all your stuff.” It’s not rocket science; it’s the law. But doing it because you want to do it and so, allowing yourself to become a punching bag, that’s a miracle. Love is The Miracle. “I baptize you with water,” says John. “‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So, with many other [encouragements] he preached good news to the people,” adds Luke. God is Love, and Love is Fire. The Fire is released on this world as Jesus cries “Father Forgive” and “delivers up His Spirit.” The Fire burns away the false self, even as it fills that false self with the true self, just as the glory of God fills the old stone temple and we become the body of Christ. In this way, God the Father makes us just who it is that we actually are: The Family of God. This is the terrifying implication of a Universal Salvation. #1 You’re not better than anyone else. #2 You’re not worse than anyone else. #3 You’re different than everyone else. So, #4 You will forgive everyone else. #5 You will lose your life (psyche) and find it (eternal life, the psyche of God). #6 You are, and everyone is, the Family of God. #7 If you want to be a disciple, you must pick up a cross, and let yourself become a punching bag... Years ago, the Lord instructed me to hold a friend who couldn’t weep, for she had been severely abused decades before... to hold her and let her scream and pound on my back in place of Him. She did and then fell apart, weeping in my arms (The arms of Jesus!). Could there be a greater privilege? We had a great Christmas this year. Elizabeth didn’t punch me, not even once, not even psychologically. I think she may be the kindest person that I know. You didn’t choose God. He chose you to be his family. He knows that it’s hard to learn to love. If you have to blame someone, you can blame Him — blame Him to His Face. And then, you’ll see that there is no one to blame, and you’ll fall apart in His arms weeping. All that satan intended for evil, He has always intended for good. “This is my body given to you. This is the covenant in my blood. Drink of it, all of you, and do it in re-member-ance of me.” The terrifying implication of a universal salvation is that God is absolute, furious, and relentless Love — the King of Kings and a punching bag. And you are to be His image, the image of Love. Click here for a list of questions for reflection and/or discussion related to this sermon…
On New Years Day, I drove my daughter to Denver International Airport to catch her flight back to Washington D.C., where she works. Five miles from the airport, we passed an old red barn. My other daughter who was with us and works for the airlines said, “That’s where the Illuminati go to enter a tunnel that takes them to the basement of the terminal (the headquarters of the lizard men), or at least that’s what some people say.” I thought, “Wow. There sure do seem to be a lot of conspiracy theories. And we sure do seem to be awfully troubled by all these conspiracy theories... almost as if it’s all a conspiracy.” If someone were to convince everyone that everything is an evil conspiracy, then that someone would trap everyone alone in hell, for hell is trusting no one at all; it’s being utterly alone. “Jesus entrusted himself to no man (neither Trump nor Biden), for he knew what was in man.” So, Jesus, who are we to trust if we don’t want to get stuck in hell? It’s hard to believe all of these conspiracy theories. And yet, it’s also hard to believe that there is not some enormous conspiracy of evil. And yet, even if we suspect that there is, we don’t seem to know what it is or what exactly to do about it. In Matthew 13, Jesus leaves a crowded house where His mother and brothers had come to get Him — even His brothers didn’t believe. I wonder if He felt like there was a conspiracy against Him. Perhaps you feel like there is a conspiracy against you? Remember Joseph? His brothers were jealous of him, conspired against him, threw him into a pit, and sold him into slavery. Jesus sits by the sea, crowds come to Him, and He tells parables. He quotes Isaiah 6 to explain why He does this. Isaiah was to preach Israel down to a stump that is a root that we now know is Jesus — He is the One to trust. He tells the parable of the Sower and the four types of ground (adamah in Hebrew). Then He tells them The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds — “Tares” to be specific. Tares look like wheat, but they are an entirely different species. Matthew 13:24, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed (sperma) in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds (tares).” Later, the servants ask the Master about the weeds. He informs them of the conspiracy. They ask if they should pull them up, but he says, “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” He then tells them about a mustard seed that turns into a tremendous tree and leaven, hidden like seed in dough until “it was all leavened.” Back in the house, He explains “the secrets of the kingdom” to His disciples. The Sower is the Son of Man. “The Good Seed is the sons of the Kingdom.” In the last parable, the seed appears to be a Word, and, of course, Jesus is the imperishable Seed and the Word. . . almost as if He’s sowing Himself. His field (the adamah) is the world. The Enemy is “the evil one.” The tares are the “sons of the evil one.” The harvest is “the close (syntelia) of the age.” Matthew 13:41, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all [‘doers of lawlessness’] and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Aren’t you glad that you are one of “the sons of the Kingdom”? But here’s something a little weird and rather troubling: In Matthew 8, it’s “the sons (not some sons) of the Kingdom” that are thrown into “outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” In Matthew 7, it’s to those who say, “Did we not do many great works in your name, Lord?” to whom the Lord says, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” What does “THE TRUTH” not know? Perhaps, a lie? Well, the conspiracy of evil is to sow tares in a world that’s already been sown with “the sons of the Kingdom.” Tares don’t convert to wheat. They’re not wheat but false wheat. You can’t distinguish them from wheat. And if you uproot them, you uproot yourself, for under the surface, your roots are inextricably wound together with theirs. The tares are the sons of the evil one. So yes, there is an enormous conspiracy of evil, and in this world, we are surrounded by lizard men, sons of the snake, sons of the evil one. And what can you do about it? You can: Let it be. And don’t judge them. It’s the command of the Master: “Let [aphiemi: let, suffer, forgive] both grow together until the end [syntelia] of the age.” Someone said, “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” The Master says, “All it takes for evil to prevail is for men to do something.” Maybe there are no good men. The Master did say, “God alone is good.” So perhaps the conspiracy of evil is to make you anxious about conspiracies until you do something. The Lord once told me, in the most dramatic way, “With fear, you put flesh on the evil one.” In John 8:31, to “the Jews who had believed in him,” Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin... you seek to kill me... you are doing the works your father did (that’s at least Adam) ...you are of your father the devil... he is the father of lies.” Not people; lies. Jesus talks as if just sinning is taking His life and doing what Adam did and becoming a son of the snake, who is not the father of people but the father of lies — false people. Each of us is something God has made by breathing His breath and His word into His field, His Adamah. And each one of us is imprisoned in something that we think we have made, a self-made man, a self-righteous man, a false man, for we have believed a lie whispered in a garden by a snake. It’s one hell of an evil conspiracy. Each of us is a field of wheat and tares. Satan will get us to obsess over the tares in our neighbor’s field and the tares in our own, that we would uproot everyone around us and then uproot ourselves. And what can we do about it? We can, “Let it be, forgive it, suffer it,” until the “syntelia of the age.” Peter was wheat and Peter was tares (“Get behind me,” said Jesus when Peter tried to save Him from the conspiracy of evil.) On the night that Jesus was betrayed and immediately after informing Peter that he would in fact deny him three times, Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” That’s what they were to do about it. But in the morning, later that same day, the sixth day, they would witness the “syntelia of the age.” Hebrews 9:26, “As it is, He has appeared once for all at the end [syntelia] of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” In Adam, at a tree in a garden, a lie tore all of us apart. In Christ, on a tree in a garden, Truth in Love brings all of us together. “Syntelia” is “syn” (with) plus “teleo” (to end, to complete, to perfect). It is the revelation of Love. God is Love. Jesus is the Word of Love. And we are His body. You can’t judge your enemies, but when you love your enemies, Love judges your enemies, even if (especially if) that enemy is yourself. Love separates the weeds from wheat. He burns the weeds and purifies the wheat until “the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of God their Father.” Our righteousness is Christ. And the syntelia of the ages is an inner sanctuary in the temple of your soul. There is a massive conspiracy of evil, and you need to know about it. But you, yourself, can do nothing about it; however, God is doing something in you. It’s called “faith.” Faith is the conspiracy of the Good; it’s growing in you even now. It’s Faith in Love — Love, who bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and does not end, for He is the End. Of course, Satan intends all things for evil. But God intends all things for Good, and what God intends is called reality. We all conspired against Him, but all according to plan -- HIS plan. There’s nothing intended for evil that He hasn’t already intended for Good. This is the Divine Conspiracy. I have a New Year’s resolution (or it has me): Less weeding and more worship. Less asking “What’s wrong with me?” and more adoring what’s right with God, the righteousness of God revealed in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Less “making” resolutions and more resting in the syntelia of the age, the revelation of the Divine Conspiracy — Jesus: the glorious conspiracy of God. Rest in Him, and Love will do all things in and through you. Click here for a list of questions for reflection and/or discussion related to this sermon…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
This is the Christmas testimony of Balthasar Oswaldo Jones, “Ozzie” the Wizard, the third Wiseman. He impressed us with his magic (as he did last time), fixed our unfixable elevator with special wizard powers, and then shared his testimony. Ozzie “The Great and Powerful” explained that he wanted people to like him, but the “him” that he wanted people to like was a lie. He would say, “Pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain.” But he was the little man behind the curtain — weak, scared, rather angry, and very, very lonely. He went to Jerusalem to “do a deal” — to schmooze the Great Silent One, who lived behind a curtain in an immense stone temple in the land of Judah. The stars had revealed that the King of Judah had just been born. “But how do you ‘do a deal’ with someone that great?” asked Ozzie. “If He has everything, and you give Him anything, it is His own stolen something that you have given Him. That is bad schmoozing.” In Jerusalem, a star directed Ozzie to Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, and not to a palace but to a shack and in the shack behind a curtain, a baby boy. In his sight, the demons fled like darkness before the dawn. “All my terror turned into Holy Terror,” said Ozzie. “I knew that he came from over the rainbow. He is the Great One wrapped in a curtain of flesh . . . baby flesh. And that is when I saw the great Truth, which exposes the ancient lie, which keeps us all in bondage: We think that God is just the most powerful wizard; we think that He is great because He can just blow every other god to smithereens. But our God is not just the most powerful wizard; He is the Anti-Wizard. I was a frightened little man behind a big curtain of lies. He is All-Powerful Deity wrapped in a little curtain of baby flesh. I was proud; He is humble.” The Baby was not impressed with the Great and Powerful Oz. The Great and Powerful Oz was a lie — a lie which kept Him from the little man behind the curtain. And so that night, Ozzie gave the Great and Powerful Oz to Jesus — The Great and Very Humble God. And then, Oswaldo gave the one thing that Jesus desired most: the little man behind the curtain. “The thing I feared most was the one thing I most desperately desired,” said Ozzie. “God is Love; but make no mistake, Love is Fire; Love destroys every curtain. The Great Silent One destroyed the ‘me’ that I had created and liberated who it is that I truly am . . . He saved me from myself.” That night, the Great and Powerful Oz died, and Oswaldo was set free. He went home (to Orient “R”) a different way — no longer schmoozing kings but holding babies and little men and women hiding behind curtains. Thirty years later, the sky grew black, the earth shook, and the moon rose blood red in full eclipse. “Then I knew,” said Ozzie, “He was destroying every curtain; He was breaking down every dividing wall of hostility. He drank my sin and poured Himself into me, no longer a vessel of wrath but a vessel of mercy. That day, the Great One was doing a deal that has always been done, for it is reality on the other side of the rainbow where it is always now, and everything is filled with Love. God is an eternal covenant of grace; that’s the Deal.” You are a temple, and inside of you is a curtain. It separates Truth from lies, Eternity from time, Reality from illusion, and you from home. Even as we tore His flesh, He tore that curtain, such that even as we took His Life, He gave His Life, and from the inside out He flooded all things with Mercy. Give Him the little man behind the curtain, and you will wake up on the other side of the rainbow. For the other side of the rainbow will fill every shadow in the old stone temple that you once thought was yourself and your entire world. “Now, I click my heels together,” said Ozzie, “and I say, ‘There’s no place like Him; no place like home, no place like home.’ And the Great One says to me, ‘Merry Christmas Balthasar Oswaldo Jones. You have always been my home. Welcome home. For now, you and I agree: There’s no place like home. No place like home. No place like Our home.’” You are His home. You are the land that He has always dreamed of, and all of His dreams come true. And so will you; you will come true, for even now the truth comes to you. Merry Christmas.…
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
T
The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
One morning on her way to work, my wife came across a horrible accident. A man’s body was lying in the street. He was obviously dead. People were late for work. Cars were honking. Some were yelling, “Let me through!” And all at once, a woman jumped out of her car, ran to the body, turned around, and began screaming at all those commuters: “He was somebody’s baby! He was somebody’s baby...” Surprisingly, that changes things, doesn’t it? And surprisingly, everybody is somebody’s baby -- a good for nothing baby. Babies really are good for nothing; they’re just good. And Jesus is God’s baby. . . We would’ve missed Him; Mary did not. John 1:1-18: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made [ginomai] through him, and without him was not any thing made. That which has been made was life in him... He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who took him, he gave “exousia” [ek: out of + ousias: being, “a piece of beingness” ] to become [ginomai] children of God, those believing in his name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among [in] us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only [monogenes (mono+ginomai): only begotten] Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... No one has ever seen God; the only [monogenes: only begotten] God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known [exegeomai: to exegete]." So, a teenage peasant girl named Mary knew God better than anyone had known Him ever before, and better than any theologian has known Him since. Jesus is God’s baby, who is God; good for nothing, just Good. Why would God become a baby? About 30 years ago, I bent down to give my four-year-old daughter a good night kiss. I was utterly stressed — expectations, responsibilities, loneliness -- particularly at Christmas, everyone wants something from the pastor. Becky didn’t know and didn’t care how the sermon had gone. She just grabbed my head, pulled it down, held it to her chest and said, “I’ll be the big mommy and you be the little baby.” For a few moments I was. My blood pressure dropped. My pulse moderated. And she patted my head saying, “I love you, little baby.” Best Christmas present ever! Mary must’ve said something like that to the Uncreated Creator. Perhaps God became a baby so that you would love Him when He’s good for nothing, just Good. And that’s Life. During the message, I shared a picture of two infants in one incubator. They were twins, and one was not expected to live until a nurse broke protocol and put both babies in one incubator. One sister put her arm over the back of the other sister, the dying sister…and her pulse stabilized, her temperature went up, and the two went on to become healthy young adults. In 1996, the picture appeared in an article titled “The Rescuing Hug.” It changed the way doctors cared for babies in the United States of America. Christmas means that God became a baby, because He always is . . . a baby — hypostatic union, “the same yesterday today and forever,” fully God and fully baby. Maybe we could also become babies, for in reality, we already are. Everybody is somebody’s baby; good for nothing, just Good. I am this thing I didn’t create (a baby), covered in this thing that I think I did create (a “grown-up” man). Jesus didn’t tell His followers to become like children because they were actually “grown up,” but because they thought they were grown, were trying to be grown up, and that imaginary “grown up” kept each of them from connecting with one another and with God; it kept them from Life. Life is the rescuing hug. Life is the self that you did not create, communing with another self that did not create itself. Life is a Divine Communion: at least two persons and one “ousias,” one substance called Love. Life is knowing God (John 17:3). It’s “being with” Jesus (Mark 3:14), fully God and fully baby; good for nothing, just Good. A group of refugees were fleeing the Nazis over the Pyrenees Mountains in World War II. With them was a Jewish baby. An exhausted old man gave up and told the rest to go on without him. The guide said to him, “You’re not dead yet. With your last bit of strength, you must carry the baby until you die.” Three times with three old men, it happened that night. And in the morning, they all arrived in Spain, every one of them, alive. Perhaps everything is good because of, and for, the baby. “All things were created through Him and for Him,” writes Paul. Everybody is God’s baby — Adam is begotten with a breath, a spirit, from God. And Adam held his breath. The last Adam surrendered His breath on the tree, and now His Spirit teaches us to breathe God in the Kingdom of God... begotten of God. Everybody is God’s “begotten” baby (John 1:3,12), and Jesus is God’s “only begotten” (John 1:14,18). He must be born in us or us in Him, as if we actually are His body. And so, of course, “In Him was made Life.” I have a friend who went to prison and spent a long time in solitary confinement. He said it was hell. He realized what we must all realize: There is no prison worse than the prison of one’s own self-righteous, insecure, lonely ego. The grown-up man, the successful self, that he thought he had created was destroyed. “One day it popped; it died,” he said. “I walked around the prison yard in perfect peace for two hours.” Someone cursed him, and he blessed them simply because he wanted to. He went back to his cell, curled up in his bunk (fetal position), and wept. And then, Jesus showed up. He placed his hand on my friend’s back — in my mind’s eye, I picture two infants and the rescuing hug. He stroked my friend’s back and said, “Stop trying. I’m doing this.” He must’ve been saying to my friend what He says and will say to each of us: “Stop trying to save yourself, create yourself, and justify yourself. That’s what I’m doing and have done, for I know who you are. I love you as I love myself, for you are myself, my bride, my body, my temple, my home. I am enough. I am your life. I am doing it . . . all around you; I am stripping you of your illusions. And I am doing it within you, even as you. Someone just cursed us, and we blessed them. We were good for nothing, just Good.” “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” says Jesus. Life is not a program that you can do. Life is a person with whom you must constantly commune. “Abide in me” says Jesus. And where is He? John 1:18: He is on the lap and in the bosom of the Father, held tightly to His chest, like Mary held Him tightly to hers. With the faith that you’ve got, which is the “exousia” that you’ve been given, picture yourself in Him and on the Father’s lap. To imagine what is true is called “faith.” Don’t promise anything, vow anything, or intend anything; just be something. Be the beloved: good for nothing, just good. Then pick Him up and adore Him. You can’t earn Him or deserve Him. He’s good for nothing, just good — actually, the Good that everything is for. Worship Him. Let Him hold you. You hold Him. And then, hold someone else; let the one that God has made in you, touch the one that God has made in another. Give someone a rescuing hug. Everybody is somebody’s baby. Everybody is God’s baby. Jesus is God’s baby. You are God’s baby. He wants to be your baby, even as you have always been His. He calls Himself “the Son of Man.” Love is God returning to God through us. Truth is God returning to God through our relationships. Beauty is God returning to God through all created things, as if the Cosmos is God’s baby. The entire creation will wake up and worship the Lord (Revelation 5:13), for it will all be filled with the Only Begotten, who is the Life. And it’s all good for nothing. You can’t pay for it, and you can’t pay for anything with it. It’s all good for nothing, just Good. Merry Christmas. And if you’re tempted to think that your particular life is inconsequential, you need to know: It all happens by means of the “rescuing hug.”…
What is the will of God for me? I ask that question all the time. In the Old Testament, the will of God is very practical, applicable, and comprehensible. It’s often called “The Law.” In the New Testament, not so much: Love, pick up a cross, eat my body, and drink my blood. Recently, praying for some very specific guidance, my wife said, “I just heard the Lord say, ‘Read 1 Thessalonians 5.’” It was some confusing stuff about the end of the world, sin, and faith. But then, verse 18 caught my attention: “This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” What is? Verse 15, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. [Does God do this?] Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances [literally “in everything”], for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I doubt that I’ll reform the criminal justice system; pretending to be happy makes me sad; praying constantly seems impractical; and yet, I can make myself say “Thank you” with perhaps a mustard seed of faith. “Thank you,” for what? Ephesians 5:20, “always and for everything.” 1 Timothy 4:4, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified [made holy, the seventh day is holy] with the Word of God and prayer.” “Give thanks always and for everything in everything, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Try it. Close your eyes, and for half a minute just thank God for everything that pops into your head. If you really thanked God always and for everything in everything, wouldn’t you come to believe that nothing happened to you by chance and everything was a gift, for God was telling a story -- a good story, the Gospel according to you... which would be your life? But who actually does that? You tried for half a minute, correct? How did it go? 1. Did you thank God for good things? If so, did you earn any of those good things? If you earned those things, did you earn yourself who earned those good things? How can you thank God for your dinner if you believe that you earned that dinner? If you think you own things because you earned those things, you don’t own them; they own you. But when you thank God for a thing, it transforms that thing from an idol into a temple — a way to worship God who freely gives all things to you. “All things are yours,” wrote Paul. 2. Did you thank God for “bad” things? How about sex, drugs, and alcohol? Jesus said, “As often as you drink of this cup, do it in remembrance of me.” And He gave thanks. Maybe He meant every cup of alcohol: “Do this with me, so it won’t be an idol, so it won’t have you, but you’ll have it together with me — communion.” Maybe people, cars, houses, food, and wine become holy with just a word that rides out on your tongue: “eucharisteo,” thank you. “Everything... is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, when received with thanksgiving,” wrote Paul. It must be the Good Decision: Thanksgiving. 3. Did you thank God for your good decisions? If you don’t thank God for Good Decisions, you must think that you made those Good Decisions — like Faith, Hope, and Love. God is Love. Did you make God? Maybe you don’t make Good Decisions, but with Good Decisions, God in Christ Jesus is making you. Did you thank God for your Righteousness? If not, you must be self-righteous. Jesus is our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). 4. Did you thank God for your bad decisions? If “God created everything” (Eph. 3:9), and “everything created by God is good” (Eph. 4:4), I don’t know that we can actually thank God for bad “things” or bad “decisions,” for they must be no “things” and no “decisions.” Every lie is an absence of Truth. Every disobedience is an absence of Love. Every sin is an absence of Faith in Love, that is Righteousness. If you actually thank God for a nothing, it becomes a something — like Hope. And once we actually see a “bad decision,” we hope that it becomes a “good decision” — that’s repentance. Recently, I was feeling very sad that I was so sad and did not “rejoice always” until an idea popped into my head. I prayed, “Thank you that I’m poor in spirt.” And suddenly, I felt rather blessed. I prayed, “Thank you that I’m sad; I’m mourning.” And I felt comforted by one who knows all about sad and glad; I was glad to be sad. I prayed, “Thank you that I’m meek.” I felt like a lamb . . . and then, a lion. I prayed, “Thank you that I (the unrighteous) am hungry and thirsty for righteousness,” and I was satisfied... But often I’m confused. 5. Did you thank God for the confusion? I often feel like a field of wheat and weeds (tares), Good Decisions and bad decisions, and I can’t sort them out. That’s how I felt when my wife said, “Read 1 Thessalonians 5.” So, what’s the will of God in Christ Jesus for you? It must be that you would say, “Thank you” and keep walking. Which direction? I’m not sure it matters if you say, “Thank you,” and actually mean it, for that is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Say, “Thank you,” and He can straighten the path under your feet. Say, “Thank you,” and turn the page. Paul seemed to actually believe that you are a story being told, and when “it is finished,” you will turn around and see that “everything is good,” including every page of your story: Good and couldn’t be better. We all hope this and even teach this to our children. We read fairy tales to them. They all end with this idea: “…And they all lived happily ever after.” And yet, each fairy tale contains at least one very confusing and terrifying page like: “They were too late. Snow White had already taken a bite of the apple and was lying lifeless on the floor.” Why would I read that to my daughter? Well, one day she might bite the apple. And now she really needs to know that she’s not the author of the story; the Father of our Prince IS. She learns that by turning the page. If we think we’re the author of our own story, we’ll seize control of the plot, stop reading, and be stuck on one page in space and time. The devil keeps us in lifelong bondage through “the fear of death,” not death. The fear of death keeps us from turning the page. If you weren’t always trying to save your life, perhaps you could live your life? If I wasn’t always worried about myself, perhaps I could be myself? 6. How about the tree in the middle of the Garden? Did you thank God for that tree, the cross? That’s the Plot hanging on that tree. And this is a rather confusing page of our story. Just look. This is the worst thing that we have ever done. And this is the best thing that has ever been done. Maybe this is the only thing that has ever been done? This is the Word of God in and by whom all things are created and sustained. In this is Love, and Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is the Plot to every story and your story. Once you trust the Plot, you can enjoy every moment in every story. Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King: They were each terrifying the first time through, and then the kids started saying, “Read it again. Read it again!” Heaven is all creation constantly thanking God and enjoying every moment. 7. Did you thank God for the tree and your old “me”? I don’t think you can thank God for sin because sin is refusing to thank God. But you can thank God that you have sinned, for that is how He reveals His glory and gives it to you, making you just who it is that you actually are. 8. Did you thank God for your false self, so you can thank Him for your true self? The Cross destroys the illusion that I can create me, save me, and justify me (the weeds). And it reveals the truth that I am created, saved, and justified in Him (the wheat, the fruit). If you feel responsible for yourself, you’ll never be able to bear the weight of your own glory — Jesus gives His glory to you (Rev. 21:9-11). Your glory is Jesus. You cannot bear the burden of Love, for you are the burden that Love bears. God is love, and you are the creation of Love filled with Love, the Uncreated Creator. The only appropriate response is “Thank you . . . Thank you for the thank you. Thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, etc., etc., etc.” That got deep! But my point is simple: Say, “Thank you.” But who actually thanks God “always and for everything in everything”? On the night that the Plot was betrayed by all of us, He took bread, and when He had given thanks [eucharisto], He broke it and said, “This is my body, given to you.” And having given thanks [eucahristo], He took the cup, saying, “This is the covenant in my blood. Drink of it all of you.” That is “giving thanks always and for everything in everything,” including you. Who does that? The Will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Say, “Thank you.” And never stop. . . Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.…
Добро пожаловать в Player FM!
Player FM сканирует Интернет в поисках высококачественных подкастов, чтобы вы могли наслаждаться ими прямо сейчас. Это лучшее приложение для подкастов, которое работает на Android, iPhone и веб-странице. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы синхронизировать подписки на разных устройствах.
Daily Deals
Daily Deals
Player FM - приложение для подкастов
Работайте офлайн с приложением Player FM !
Работайте офлайн с приложением Player FM !
