Sending

Romans 10: 13 – 15

For “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

Some folks rightfully ask how people in lands that have not received the Word of God will get to heaven. First, our God is a loving God and He will (and has) made provision for every person on the earth to hear the Word of God so that they may spend eternity with Him in heaven. Secondly, this passage teaches the primary way God reaches those people. Through you and me he sends preachers into all the earth to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. But where there are those who are sent, there are those who do the sending. Not all of us are called to go to far off lands to preach the gospel. Some of us live in very prosperous nations and we get to stay home and use our great wealth to send those who do have that call on their lives. Then when all the peoples HEAR about the goodness, faithfulness and love of our Father, they will have the same opportunity to call upon His name and be saved. Then they can get to know Him as Father. Before you know it, they might be sending more people to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

God of Peace

Psalm 23: 2

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.

Our God is a God of peace, not chaos. He does not lead you into places that are full of bedlam and stress. He leads you into quiet places. He causes you to lie down in green fields; fields which are well watered and with plenty of grass or sustenance. When he leads you, he leads you beside the quiet waters not the raging mayhem the world dishes out. He wants to lead you into a tranquil, quiet place so that he can refresh you and talk with you. You won’t be able to hear him in the pandemonium of the world because it is just too loud and busy. He is leading you into that still quiet spot where the two of you can be alone together. Believe me, it is easier for you to get a much needed drink of water at the quiet waters than from the raging torrent. Find your quiet peaceful place with him and let him fill you back up.

Servant Master

Mark 10: 43 – 45

But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Christianity is unlike any other religion. Really it is not a religion at all but rather a relationship with our Lord and God. While we do worship Him, Jesus came to earth not to be served but rather to serve. No other religious figures laid down their lives in order to redeem us. This is the good news of the gospel; that through the shed blood of Jesus, we have been redeemed and reconciled to the Father. Jesus is the greatest servant of all. By becoming least among men, he became the greatest. He came to serve our need. He came to save us. He gave even his life because of his love for us and for the Father. It was through his deep love that he became the servant of all. Now we serve the Father, not of requirement, but out of appreciation, gratitude and love for Him. We happily serve him as dear children though, not as slaves. We humble ourselves before others because he first loved us. The irony is, we humbly serve others not because we are servants nor have been made slaves but rather because Jesus set us free. He freely served us of his own volition. Now we have been set free from all the bondages that held us captive including those of ego and self-promotion. Because we are learning who we are in Christ we have been set free from having to prove something to ourselves or others in this realm. We have been redeemed from the curse and the only debt we own is to love one another.

Who’s Your Daddy

 John 8: 44

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

Putting aside for the moment all of Jesus’ vitriolic comments about lying, let’s look at an interesting little phrase in this passage. Jesus calls the devil a murderer and says that he has been a murderer since the beginning. Okay, so Jesus, who did the devil murder? Can you think of one instance, especially early on where the devil murdered anyone? I wish to suggest that Jesus was referring to the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 2:16 – 17 God said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Enter in the devil. I am sure he was able to hear what God said and plotted a way to get to God’s people. Fast forward to Genesis 3: 4; “And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Now, how much of what the devil said was a lie? Look back at today’s verse. What did Jesus say about Satan? He said he is a liar. We have taken some of Satan’s words to be true. Eating from the tree would not make then like God, nor would it give them the complete knowledge of good and evil. How do I know? Look around you. Do you think humanity has always known right from wrong, good from evil? The real point of the story, though, is that God said that eating from the tree would cause death. Then the devil came along and twisted it and lied. He said, “You surely won’t die.” Wait a moment! God just said they would die. The devil lied to Eve and she believed him.

Jesus, thousands of years after this event, doesn’t just call Satan a liar for what he did to Eve and Adam. He also calls him a murderer because of the deception he created. Whatsmore, he says of the Jews who were attacking him that they are just like their father, the devil, and effectively calls them liars and murderers too.

Recall that this is a passage on lying. It is intriguing that in a discussion about truth, Jesus goes all the way back to the first lie. He doesn’t stop there though. He holds the devil responsible for the murder of Adam and Eve, and in fact, of all humanity. Then he convicts the Jews that were plotting against him, pronouncing them as liars and murderers. Further, their lying ways makes them, in Jesus’ eyes, sons of Satan. That is pretty steep. Jesus had tolerance for all sorts of people but he showed none for liars.

Inspiration vs. Perspiration

John 14: 10

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

This is a great word for ministers but truly Jesus modeled life for us all. He is our example. Therefore, we can take inspiration from this message from the Lord.

One day, when I was a bit over-taxed with duties and responsibilities, it occurred to me that I could work through inspiration or perspiration. Well of course, I was working hard. I was sweating the deadlines, burdens and responsibilities. I was in my strength instead of Jesus’. You see, he has created a model by which we work, accomplish, rest, serve him and honor him all at the same time. When we yield our heavy burdens to the Lord, allowing him to carry the load, he is honored. We have also preached the word by our very actions because we have communicated a reproducible model. People can appreciate that we accomplish through Jesus’ labor and wisdom and perhaps recognize that since they have the same access to Jesus as do we, that they can do the same thing. 

Whatsmore, we are only doing what Jesus did. We model him. Jesus said he did nothing of his own initiative (John 8: 28). God was the one performing the works. He supplied Jesus with the words to speak. The Father directed Jesus steps. He navigated him to the town or village which was right for the time. Imagine how much easier our lives would be if we could learn to follow God’s voice within us the way Jesus did.

You know, there is an easy way and a hard way to do everything. When possible, let’s do things the easy way. I choose to live by inspiration rather than perspiration. How about you?

Life in the Shallows

Matthew 13: 5 – 6            NIV

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Last week I wrote to you about venturing out into the deep water. This was a metaphor I used to encourage you into a deeper life with Christ. I said that the reason why it is important to encourage believers into the deep water is because so many are suffering and failing. This passage shows this truth dynamically.

Today’s verse selection is from Jesus’ parable of the sower. Jesus said this is the foundational parable. It shows us the impact of the seed on various types of soil. The seed is the Word of God; the soil is our hearts. We have the opportunity to prepare our soil ourselves. The condition of our soil determines how successful the seed will be. If we have no value for the Word of God, we are like seed which was sown along the path. It does not take root (v. 4). If we are shallow, if we don’t launch out into the deep things with God or place a high value on the things of God, then we experience lack and loss. Today’s verse reveals that we wither and die.

I wish this was all metaphorical but I see these truths manifested in real life every day. Do you see that shallow Christians are living in more peril than those who are going deeper? In the parable above, because the soil was shallow, the plant had no root. When plants or trees have shallow roots, then they are more easily toppled in the storms. This is what Jesus was trying to teach us about life. if we live a shallow faith, we won’t have strong roots either. When the storms of life hit, we are easily felled. 

Jesus said, “Whoever has ears, let them hear” (v. 9). There is a reason why I and other ministers are beckoning believers to come in deeper. There is safety, security, success and peace in the deeper water and much more besides. Shallow Christians are in a better place than non-believers but the more immersed we are in the Word and in God, the better our lives will be. We want your life to be anointed and blessed; we want to see you protected from the storms. It is not for ourselves that we call to you. It is for your sake. 

As a final thought consider this – when a hurricane or other strong storm threatens, large ships head out to sea, out to the deep water, rather than remaining in the harbor. They are safer in deep water than they are at shore. Mmm . . . there may be something there. He who has ears, hear.

Whiteboard

Ephesians 4: 22 – 24

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Dr. Jim Richards of Impact Ministries (www.impactministries.com) has a break-through program called Heart Physics. It is a powerful tool for moving forward in life, breaking through those things which have held you down and just generally improving the quality of life. One of the strategies that Dr. Richards teaches is to put off the stuff which is binding you and to put on the freedom which Jesus purchased for you. 

As Dr. Richards leads us through the put off and put on I often imagine myself wearing a robe like would have been worn in Jesus’ time. I see myself taking off my old robe and putting on a brand new one. You can get creative with your mind picture. Perhaps you see your old robe as beige to brown; maybe you notice the signs of wear, dirt and even some stains. As you begin to don your new robe, the one Jesus went and bought for you, you might see him taking it out of a box and holding it up for review. It is pristine white and even shines. Watch as he holds it for you to slip into. Together you wrap your body in that beautiful robe which almost looks as though it is made from white, white light.

We can change our old garment for a new one. We can exchange old images and beliefs for new ones. Heart Physics is a methodology whereby we can actually write truth on our own hearts. Most of us have been fed lies at some time or have believed something untrue about ourselves. In fact, much of what we once believed about ourselves has been eradicated by Jesus’ ministry. Therefore, one of the most powerful aspects of Heart Physics is that you can go onto your own heart’s website and erase what is there and rewrite the story. Here is a visualization I use for that process. 

Tabula Rasa is a Latin term which goes back to a Roman tablet which could be used for writing, erased and written upon again. You will see that it is understandable that Tabula Rasa is rendered “blank slate” in English. It is a philosophical term which has strong implications in Western Society but we can also use it as a spiritual device. I imagine my heart as a large whiteboard; perhaps it is 4’ X 6′. This is my tabula rasa. I watch myself approach the whiteboard which is covered with writing in many different colors. Then I watch as I pick up the eraser and erase everything that is there. I am left with a completely white board, a completely clean writing surface upon which I can inscribe whatever I want.

What would you write on the tablet of your heart if you had the chance? Would you draw a picture, write your name in different colors, or even post pictures of yourself as you choose to see you? Well, it is your board, do as you wish. Here are a few thoughts though. Get into your heart zone first. If you don’t know how to do this go to Impact Ministries’ website and discover Heart Physics. When you do see yourself standing before a completely white board, write truth. Write upon that board, which is your heart, what Jesus says about you. See yourself through the Father’s eyes and post that picture. Then under that picture write: redeemed, beloved, saved, restored, glorified, justified, cleansed, healed, renewed, full of grace, and so on. Go back every day and look at the truth about you. Keep adding to your board. Put up a second board if you need more writing room. Tape up a picture of Jesus and you together. Add fabric, color, whatever you want. Maybe you can see Jesus writing on it. Make it real, make it yours. Anytime anyone’s opinion or image of you, other than Jesus’, appears on your board, erase it. Oh how fun that may be. Have fun. Be creative. You are your own tabula rasa and you own all the crayons. Write your story!