[Luke 10:40-42 NASB95] 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up [to Him] and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but [only] one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Jesus’ response to Martha thinking that she is doing all the serving alone, is kind and yet a rebuke and correction pointing out that Mary’s  focus on hearing Him, choosing the good part, is the choice for service that will result in eternal impact. 

Jesus in His own service to us and the Father said:

[John 5:19 NASB95] 19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless [it is] something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

These scriptures indicate to us the importance of serving by the power and energy of the Spirit that indwells us rather than leaning on our own understanding, and natural abilities/talents/bent. 

Keep in mind that Jesus, as fully God, could have done anything at any time. But as fully man He was dependent upon His Father by the Spirit for wisdom, strength, enabling and more.  We as members of His body are to be just as dependent on Him as He was the Father. 

Romans 7 speaks of our new life in Christ giving us a unique ability to serve in the newness of the Spirit. 

[Romans 7:4-6 NASB95] 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were [aroused] by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

This picture of dying to the law and being made alive in Christ so we can SERVE IN THE NEWNESS OF THE SPIRIT is powerful.  It is the difference between living feeding from the tree of life (which is Jesus), or living feeding from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (our own understanding and strength) alone, which is death.

As Romans 7 above indicates; the law, rote religion powered by what Paul called will worship (in Colossians 2:23 ), results in the members of our body bearing fruit for death. But raised from the dead to be bound to, and in, Jesus, serving in the newness of the Spirit , we bear fruit for God. 

Unless we are listening to, feeding on, and living in and from Him, and the Spirit in dwelling us,  we cannot carry life. Jesus had much to say regarding feeding on Him as the bread of life in John 6 as well. If we want to serve/minister life we can only do so in Him, as He did in the Father.  Ministering or serving in the flesh, our own strength and ability, will not minister life. 

Let us give ear to Him and look for what He is doing in the moment.  And consider if He desires for us to co-labor with Him in what He is doing.  The question is not  “WWJD- What Would Jesus Do?”. The question is WIJDRN- What Is Jesus Doing Right Now?”  and does He want me serving with Him in it at this moment. 

The grace of God in Christ Jesus is manifold, multifaceted! Just like a diamond each facet shows His glory by refracting His light. It has no fire of its own.  Jesus is at work all the time doing great works through His risen body.  And, as His body, the work He is doing is made practically manifest in and through you and me.  So, let us not strike out on our own through our own understanding or ability,  but through the “strength which God supplies” in Him. Not serving need(s), but serving Him. In fact co-laboring with and in Him. 

[1Peter 4:10-11 NASB95] 10 As each one has received a [special] gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, [is to do so] as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves [is to do so] as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

[Galatians 4:1-7 NASB95] 1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

As the father of three, all adults now, I can tell you there is no greater joy. Ups and downs, laughter and pain, it all melds into a lifelong bond of love that is not broken. It’s been said the goal of parenting is independence. But the release of kids growing up is difficult because the love of an involved father never stops. It never stops caring, or rejoicing in triumphs, or crying inside when skinned knees turn to life’s times of breaking us/them.

At 72, with adult kids, I can tell you the release does make things different. But the fires ignited at their coming into being are still glowing fervent in father’s heart. They always will be.

Mostly what changes you are now longer driving them to education/schooling and growing, or overseeing it all.  You make the transition riding in the back seat. Now observing on the road to their schooling/education, and growing. Nearby to give advice, counsel, comfort, and love in the good and difficult times…. if asked.  Enjoying the journey,  sometimes laughing and sometimes crying with them. 

 
But love is no longer in a place of commanding obedience, and you often must refrain from the “I told you so…  all your life” you think they may deserve.

I am grateful for the example of a Heavenly Father that is faithful. He cannot be unfaithful. He is faithful when I have proven myself faithless and fallen.  His love endures, His mercies new every morning. 

When we begin the parenting journey. We are correcting in love, sometimes under the threat of the rod, because we are in training and protecting mode.  But our reason for requesting obedience is never simply “Because I said so!”. It is based on a deep seated love and concern for the son’s/daughter’s/child’s highest good, growth and development.   Our joy is an obedience based in the understanding of that/our love. What we want to see/have is an obedience that is based on an understanding of our love. Not the threat of the rod, or forced cowerded submission to “”Because I said so!”  That is for babies without understanding at first, but not children who come to understand our love.

Even so, the God of the universe has made it His design to love us into submission. Not to force us. Once we truly comprehend the depth and fullness of His love manifested in Jesus we cannot help but bow the knee to His loving Lordship.

Nothing would be easier for an Omnipotent Omniscient God than scaring us into obedient submission by fear.  For example, I have shared many times, He could simply send forth an occasional solar flare that wipes about 1/3 of us out at a time and then shout from the heavens…. “Think that is something? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”  That would get our attention and scare us straight.

  
But no, He has manifested the fullness of His love instead, by sending His Son in the form of one like us,  and having Him take on our penalty and death, and making resurrection life available to us in Him.

  
[Philippians 2:5-11 NASB95] 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Father loves us into obedience and bowing the knee and confessing Jesus is Lord.  The Glory of the Father and the fullness of His love is revealed in the Son’s humble act of obedience out of love of the Father… and us. The  joy set before Jesus to endure the cross was the desire to bring the Father many sons just like Him according to the Father’s plan and will.  (Ephesians 1:18-20, Hebrews 2:9-10; 12:2) 

Even so, may our joy be to abide in and manifest the love of the Father in Christ by our obedience to His word and what He asks and sets before us to do.

[John 15:10 NASB95] 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
[John 14:21-24 NASB95]

21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

Romans 10 8-18 reveals the nature of hearing the word and voice of the Lord.  And Romans 10:17 is the only scripture telling us exactly how faith is initiated and comes.  

[Romans 10:17 NASB95] 17 So faith [comes] from hearing, and hearing by the word of  (or concerning) Christ. 

The Greek for “word” here is rema (or rhema) which, although I am not a Greek scholar, I understand to be literally: that which is uttered by the living voice, spoken word.  As such, it is a now and present spoken revelation of God.  

Yes, it often comes through a preacher as the context suggest in places, but it can come in other ways as well as the reference to Psalm 19:4 and the revelation of creation there  he touches upon in  Romans 10:18 “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT TO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR VOICE TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD” 

I have also shared many times these Kingdom principles found from Genesis to revelation regarding walking by faith:

The outworking of hearing is faith. The outworking of faith is obedience (to what He has spoken). The outworking of obedience is seeing the fulfillment of His purpose in all that He has revealed and spoken. 

This brings me to the real point of my writing today. And that point is from Hebrews 10:36  “you have need of endurance”.

Walking by faith does not mean immediate sunshine and roses, complete perfection in change, and generally no immediate fulfillment and completion of promise.    

It took Abraham 25 years to receive the seed of promise in Issac. He had to be beyond His own ability to make anything happen.  And even then, 12 – 18 years later, he was tested on His immediate obedience to God’s voice and revelation,  and seeing God’s provision (and foreshadowing of Jesus), when God spoke to him to sacrifice Issac that seed of promise. 

So, the companion and side effect of faith is our need for endurance. Endurance in the face of challenges, temptation to sin and unbelief, and even seeming failure (…the Ishmael’s created and Peter’s denials of our experience of walking with Him) in learning to hear His voice clearly, trust it, and not lean to our own understanding. 

[Hebrews 10:35-39 NASB95] 35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. 38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Last week in this space I wrote of finding peace in the midst of life challenging us hard.  I shared a bit of a recipe for finding peace that Paul gave to a Philippian church under persecution in Philippians 4:4-7.

A large part of that came from his encouragement in verse 5 & 6  that “the Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing….

I wrote:  The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing.I have combined two phrases because one is dependent upon the other. Remember God, the LORD, is not far away. He is in the midst of this with you. He never leaves nor forsakes you. He is an ever present help in times of trouble. If we can, keep that one thing in mind. Anxiety is removed. Fear and Anxiety are not to have a great place in the life of a believer. We always have a hope (even beyond death and the grave) and our help is near, even present. Consider the psalmist’s plea in all of Psalm 42 when it seemed God was faraway, (here is  a taste of it…[Psalm 42:5 NASB95] 5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And [why] have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him [For] the help of His presence.)

But, inherent even in this is the understanding that, in the midst of challenges, endurance will be required as you Hope in God and what He has revealed and spoken to you of His love and purpose. 

The writer of Hebrews admonishes  “do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward”  and then reminds us that endurance pays off in that reward; you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

So, let us hold our faith in endurance to see the fulfillment of all that He has spoken and revealed to us. 

The writer of Hebrews after outlining in Hebrews 11 those of great faith, in what is sometimes referred to as the Hall of Faith, follows up with this recorded in Hebrews 12.

[Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB95] 1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What a strong encouragement to endure the challenges of life and sin. But even more to endure even pain and suffering in Him to overcome. And, strong encouragement to see Jesus as our inspiration to do so.

If you haven’t, you must meditate on this phrase:  “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,”

For the JOY set before Him, He  endured the cross!  What was this joy? I think it was obedience to the will of the Father in order to see the purpose of the Father accomplished and fulfilled in it.  Yes, the reward was to again sit down at the right hand of the throne of God. But, His true Joy was in the purpose of the Father revealed to Him. And, in doing the will of the Father in order to deliver to the Father His inheritance in the saints, and that we might all be sat down there with or in Him (Ephesians 1: 18, 20 and 2:6) .

So, looking to Him the author and perfecter of faith, fixed upon Him, let us not lose faith, confidence, in His purpose in us and with us.  Let us encourage one another in the challenges that come… and in the victories that come  as well

[Hebrews 10:23-25 NASB95] 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging [one another;] and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Never give up on Him. 

Never give up on yourself for and in His purpose. 

Never give up on others for and in His purpose.  

We have a hope in Him, and His love, and His revealed purpose and promise in Christ.

This week in counseling someone who felt the sting of failure once again I shared:

Failure is not what you’ve done. It’s only accomplished by not trying again from  another direction or in another way. The Great Sam I Am  (from Dr. Suess) finally sold even green eggs and ham not by overcoming objections/obstacles head on over and over, but by coming at them another way.

Some say you can’t fail if you don’t try. Not true! The truth is failure is only complete if you don’t try,  or stop trying. It is defined only by giving up on yourself… and particularly by giving up on trying to find help in, by, and through those you love and that love you. Life is about relationships and not meant to be faced alone.

We are born into families for a reason… we seek friends and community for a reason. We are made that way… with a hole that can only be filled in a relationship with He that made us, and others we are (He places us) in relationship with. It’s why love never fails.

When I first became a believer in my senior year in high school at the beginning of the Jesus Movement, everyone said “it is a fad and he will get over it”.  I never did get over it. I also heard often that Christianity was “just a crutch”. As though it was for the weak or the somehow handicapped. 

My answer to that is I just don’t care! If it is, then I am happy to be weak and handicapped, because when I am weak he is strong. In fact. His strength/power is perfected when I am at my weakest, and, in fact, like a dead man, unable to respond to anything in my own strength.

[2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NASB95] 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

That power of Christ is resurrection power, the power that overcame death and brought life, and not just life, but eternal life.    So, when life just keep bringing challenges, stress, and trauma, we have a hope and can indeed press on in him

[Philippians  3:10-12 NASB95] 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained [it] or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Having been a believer walking through challenges, stress, trauma… life…. with this “crutch” of faith and knowing Him and trying to follow after Him, I frankly don’t know how anyone faces a day without it/Him. 

I find myself blessed even in the midst of life coming at me hard.  No, I don’t always have all the answers.  But, I am rarely afraid, and I always have a hope. 

Paul instructed and encouraged the Philippians who were under persecution with this:

[Philippians 4:4-7 NASB95] 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle [spirit] be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Consider what I underlined here. In this is the recipe for finding peace beyond all comprehension in the midst of all life comes at you with. (When I say recipe, please don’t misunderstand.  We don’t work God by recipe. What I mean, is that there is a way in Him to find hope and peace… Paul knew it in all he suffered,  and he knew that Jesus knew it in all He suffered, and the apostle instructed the church at Philippi, and us, with these steps from the his suffering and the example of Christ Jesus and others)

Rejoice in the Lord always. No matter what the situation or circumstance you can find joy in the depth of His love and purpose.

Let your gentle [spirit] be known.  Do not let anger or emotion run away with you. A gentle, humble, meek spirit and a soft answer goes a long way in turning away the wrath of evil men and  advocating for you and Him before them.

The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing.  I have combined two phrases because one is dependent upon the other. Remember God, the LORD, is not far away. He is in the midst of this with you. He never leaves nor forsakes you. He is an ever present help in time of trouble. If we can, keep that one thing in mind. Anxiety is removed. Fear and Anxiety are not to have a great place in the life of a believer. We always have a hope (even beyond death and the grave) and our help is near, even present. Consider the psalmist plea in all of Psalm 42 when it seemed God was faraway, (here is  a taste of it…[Psalm 42:5 NASB95] 5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And [why] have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him [For] the help of His presence.)

in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Pray, make supplication to Him and let your need be known to Him.  He already knows it, but cry out to Him anyway! And… don’t forget the added instruction here, to mix in THANKSGIVING with your supplication. Remember you enter into His gates with thanksgiving (Psalm 100) and  into His courts with praise. If you want to draw nearer/closer to  Him who is always near you… thanksgiving is key. He hears, and He will save and deliver.  He will bring peace in the storm

The result outlined here is peace. But do consider it is not just any peace; it is the peace of God,… a peace that is supernatural beyond our understanding, a peace  which surpasses all comprehension.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So, whatever life brings, embrace it in Him and find rest and peace being yoked to Him and His purpose.

[Matthew 11:28-30 NASB95] 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

We all, I think,  have areas where we seem to personally struggle to be conformed to Christ, to find victory over the flesh and totally soul-ish responses, instead of finding and manifesting the Spirit of Life in Christ (read the end of Romans 7 and then consider Romans 8:2).

[Romans 8:2 NASB95] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

I say to my shame,  that my Achilles heel, or undying flesh area  -if you will- resides in my temperament and sometimes angry reactions.  It is rarely visible to anyone publicly, but too often seen by those I love most. Those in my family, unfortunately, who know me best, love me despite myself, and forgive quickly. Thank God for them and His/their grace. Again, I am not proud of this, and I have often spoken of it publicly in gatherings, in hopes that your prayer for my deliverance will be more effective than mine have been because James exhorts us:

[James 5:16 NASB95] 16 Therefore, confess your sins  (KJV: faults )to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

This week, after an incident with my wife, the Lord brought to mind a brother telling me you have to decide “I don’t have to act/behave this way”, and a C.S Lewis statement: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending”  Both are sage advice and direction when dealing with an area that needs change.    And, the older I get, the more I find I truly need the grace offered in the Lewis statement to commit to changing behaviors and outcomes.  If for no other reason that I am now, nearing my expiration date,  very aware that time is short, and shorter all the time, to make those changes before physically passing. Not to be too morbid but that brings to mind death.

One important thought I believe the Spirit has brought to mind lately in regard to making such change, and being conformed to Christ is that I, like most of us, want the Spirit of life in Christ to change me. You know, somehow miraculously make me perfected in Him.  But, alas, the prerequisite for resurrection life is death.  And not just any death, but the death of the cross and crucified flesh. Without that resurrection life is not needed, nor can it work its miracle of life out of death.

In Galatians 6 Paul is writing to the church in the area that has been attacked by Judaizers wanting them to keep the Judaic law in their flesh in addition to coming to salvation by grace through faith.  They are trying to make these Gentile believers undergo circumcision. Paul writes:

[Galatians 6:12-15 NASB95] 12 Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Let me leave the subject of circumcision here, for it truly is not the point. Let us focus on verse 14 where Paul says may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Note that the apostle is not interested in boasting in anything of the flesh circumcised or uncircumcised! His boast is to be centered on the CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.  Why?!!!  Because through the cross the world has been crucified and is dead to him, and he has been crucified and is dead to the world. He has found life! The Spirit of LIfe in Christ Jesus.

How can you tell the difference between dead and rote religion and the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Religion and rote practice leads to boasting in something you can do, have done, or that is of yourself.  And trying to do it over and over again. (and generally frustration and failure, never measuring up)  The Spirit of Life in Christ leads you to boast in the cross, and the death it has worked for you in Him,  so that resurrection life in Him is manifested.

Being His disciple is costly.  He outlines it well in Luke 14. It will cost you your life, lying it down to find life in full in Him. Without the cross working that in us you cannot be His disciple.  Giving up all that you have and all that you are results in becoming all that He is.

[Luke 14:26-27, 33 NASB95] 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 

27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … 

33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

When I find myself in angry reactions and outburst of temperament, it breaks down (perhaps most simply) to I want to be lord and have my way.  That desire cannot be found in a man on a cross! And, the fruit of that desire does not generate peace in me, the situation, or others.

If we have come into the Kingdom. The place where Jesus, the Prince of Peace is now recognized as Jesus  the Lord of all and King, we have died – been crucified to the world and it has died and been crucified to us.  We have no place in the world, but in Him, the world has no place in us.  The gospel of the Kingdom is that we have been delivered from the world and its systems by He that has overcome it and brought us peace. Namely Jesus!

[John 16:33 NASB95] 33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

[Colossians1:13-14 NASB95] 13 For He (God) rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Jesus), 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

While we rejoice in His victory over death and the world, and glory in resurrection life and  the Spirit of Life in Christ, let us not forget the reality of the crucifixion as the prerequisite for resurrection power and life.  God is not trying to simply make us better, or better people, He is trying to kill/crucify our flesh to make us like Jesus. Most dramatic change is, and will be, initiated in the death of the cross and completed in the Spirit of Life in Christ. Jesus has delivered us from the bondage of sin and released us to the freedom of life in Him. It is ours to apply ,or appropriate, the cross to our flesh by/through the Spirit and find overcoming life in Him.

[Romans 8:29 NASB95] 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to become] conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

[Romans 6:6 NASB95] 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with [Him,] in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

[1Corinthians 2:2 NASB95] 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

[Galatians 2:20 NASB95] 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

[Galatians 5:24 NASB95] 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

American Idol’s Sunday Evening’s “Songs of Faith” was not a Gospel rich, God honoring, Spirit empowered, Christ exalting event. In a word… idolatry. Were there great performances? Yes! Canaan, Carrie, Thunderstorm, CeCe Winans, etc. Amazing talent this year. No question. But was it worthy of celebrating the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to redeem a people for His own possession? Was it worthy of honoring His glorious bodily resurrection from the dead for our justification? Not at all.We’ve reached a new plateau in the Christian faith: worship is now entertainment, the Gospel is a man-centered self empowering therapeutic emotional aura fluff, having church is having the best sounding background singers / choir to sing behind the artists, and now its marketable by big business where secular TV can profit handsomely in generating millions in revenue and viewership all because a few Christian artists lend their names to the evening legitimizing its production.“Deny yourself; take up your cross, and follow Me” (Mt 16:24) are jettisoned for a plastic Jesus of their own invention. So ask yourself: Was the real Gospel presented? No. Was genuine worship offered? No. Was the Lord glorified? No. Was He approached as holy? No. Was any Scripture presented? No. Was repentance mentioned? No. Was sin at all mentioned or explained as one of the reasons for the necessity of the cross for our salvation? No.This is serious beloved. Listen, using Jesus, His cross and resurrection as a widget to sell is not a game. Consider the sobering words of the Apostle Paul:“For we do not market the word of God as cheap retail merchandise, huckstering its truths for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.” -2 Corinthians‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ We need reformation and revival once again!

I love Steve and his artistry and passion for the Lord. I follow him regularly but  must admit in recent years I disagree with him often because he has become rather often so harsh in judgements based in his strict reading and understanding of the evangelical Sola Scriptura that often leads to trying to take the speck out of someone’s eye while not dealing with the log in your own. It ends up in my opinion being very close to what we saw as Pharisaic in the times and judgement of Jesus.
I responded to Steve’s post  with the following and had a great deal of feedback agreeing with me. So I offer it here for your consideration.

While your point of the show not being a “God honoring, Spirit empowered, Christ exalting “ event is well taken. You must remember that was not the design or point of the show, nor its producers. It was promoted as “Songs of Faith”, hence we had everything from You Are So Beautiful (dedicated to mom) and humanist based Bridge Over Troubled Water, to How Great Thou Art (with the most clear stanza dealing with sin and Jesus’ sacrifice left out) and a couple of decent CCM and Black Gospel performances. However, there is a place to leave your pharisaic stone throwing and rejoice that the art in its lyrics and music, and diversity of delivery, can move people to consider the hope there is in its communication beyond the razzle dazzle.

Most of your indictments of this show here are played out at dozens of “Christian” concerts and, even more unfortunately, in hundreds and hundreds of platform to spectator gatherings called “church” every week. You won’t find this platform to spectator form of gathering anywhere in the New Testament. Or its trappings featuring purely the transfer or information through teaching and “worship” led through bands of performers. So, in that sense, the church has conditioned the culture to look for and accept what you call the therapeutic venture as authentic. (Too much to detail here)

Having said all that.. I will say, as one that pioneered CCM music in radio broadcasting beginning in 1975 (including your earliest efforts), that the art is powerful and you and others often have said in lyric and music in 3 minutes what it would take teachers (like me) an hour to exposit. The art is powerful and God has often used crooked sticks to draw straight lines leading to Him. (I can remember the liberal Tony Campolo once shocking a CCM radio seminar group of broadcasters and recording artists with some shocking language, and then turning and challenging you, Steve Camp, to “do something” about secular artist putting the church and Christian artist to shame in loving the unlovely. And, you did!)

So, although Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 2:17, he also from prison wrote to the Philippians in chapter 1:15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.So, let us rejoice, whenever the art is given an opportunity to proclaim Him to millions, even if the motive ain’t all we would like it to be. Some may just have ears to hear the voice of God and His message, beyond the vessel delivering it.

Another gentleman responded to my post that he too sees the same things Steve indicted the show over week after week in “church” . I responded to him with the following,  again for your consideration.

That was my mostly my point. We, “the church” have endorsed and given example to a platform to spectator form or gathering focusing on personality, performance – essentially by hierarchy, entertainment, and only the transfer of intellectual information by teaching. (I haven’t visited, but I’m sure Steve’s Cross Church functions primarily in this form, as most do.) A form that is void of the function of a/the body outlined in the New Testament, where everything is open and everyone participates, see 1 Corinthians 14:26. In doing so we have made the “therapeutic’ venture Steve speaks of, including raising money or profiting by it, the norm in the culture… and unfortunately in the church as well.

Platform to spectator was never intended to be our experience with only the transfer of knowledge. We are to be in serving relationships and growing by relationship with Him and each other. We are intended to be the Body of Christ the fullness of Him that fills all in all (Ephesians 12-23) in which the each member joined to the Head (Jesus) is fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:16).

Platform to spectator can do little else than entertain and transfer information. It will nearly always morph into performance, and accolades and profit for performers and hierarchy based in performance. Not that that can have no place or impact, but little compared to divine design.

While I do not consider myself the last word on these issues or truth, I do think we have to be much like Paul writing in that Philippian jail, rejoicing that God can use many things and many forms to reveal Himself and draw men to Jesus. That doesn’t mean we have to embrace or endorse everything and anything, but it does mean we must exercise our judgment carefully and be wise in how we share the good news as well under his direction.   I marvel at how many times people focus on our need to  “come out from among them and be separate” to the end of totally avoiding people where they are and how they are. 

I understand a call to Godly living, behavior, and holiness. But, Jesus left the effluence of glory as fully God to take on the form of becoming fully man and reveal the fullness of the Fathers love. And, then at the end, He specifically prayed that we NOT be taken out of the world. He prayed that we would be kept from the evil one and that we would be sanctified (set apart) not from people, but in or to the truth, even as He was.  Meditate on what that means. Set a part in or to truth in a world of lies and that embraces lies. Timely for our culture for sure.

Then we have the example of Paul in Athens in Acts 17 where he not only did not separate, he went out of the way to be in the midst of their places of idols. He was then given the opportunity to speak at Mars Hill and the Areopagus … the tv debate forum of the Athenians, if you will, at the time. Adapting his message to relate to them…He then spoke of their “unknown god” idol, quoted their poets, used no scripture, but shared God’s plan of redemption made possible by the resurrection of one Man, and didn’t name Him, at least not in the text there. The result in Acts 17:34—- some men believed and joined him…

In fact it might be said of Paul’s ministry and message to the Gentiles that it was to come out from among the religious pagans, and the religious Jews, and then Judaizers.  He called  the unholy and unclean not to leave the appearance of unrighteousness, but called them all to the righteousness that is in Christ. Then he confronts both religious types, Jews and Gentiles, to lie down the enmity between them to be made into one new man in the Body of Christ. Can we do less?

[Philippians 3:8-11 NASB95] 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

In this part of his letter to the church under persecution at Philippi the apostle, after painting a picture of Jesus as the God of glory who humbled Himself, laying that glory down, to become a suffering servant, in the form of a man, to the point of death on a cross, and Who was then exalted above all, speaks of suffering and the loss of any glory he (Paul) may have had (revealed in Philippians 3: 4-6 – calling himself blameless as to the Law) in order to know Him/Jesus.  

Do note verse 10:  that knowing Jesus includes knowing the power of His resurrection AND the fellowship of His sufferings.  You must be conformed to His death, to know or attain resurrection from the dead.  The prerequisite of resurrection is death.  The love and grace of God is free and available to all, but it is not without cost to Him. And, to come into knowing the power of His resurrection will require communion/fellowship of His sufferings and conforming to laying ourselves down, just as He did, to find eternal life in and through Him.  Seeing the fullness of the Fathers love and grace to us in Christ leads to faith/conversion because of our certain understanding of His good will toward us and resurrection/life.  Paul was willing to lose all he had, had accomplished, and was before to know Christ, be found in Him, and attain resurrection from the dead in Him/Jesus.

I have many times written and shared the idea that Christianity is resurrection centered. A year ago in March I wrote:

Another date on the calendar marking the reality of the historicity of Jesus.  Most calendars, however, mark it as Easter Sunday, reflecting on its pagan roots in the goddess of fertility Ashtar   But, for us that know Him/Jesus we are reminded of Him who is, and was, our passover Lamb who was slain and whose blood has delivered us from sin. But, as much, or more, we are reminded and celebrate resurrection, that Jesus is now risen again from the dead.  He IS Risen! Risen Indeed!

In the Great Exchange “God made Him (Jesus) Who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”  (2nd Corinthians 5:21)

But, as Paul made quite clear in his first letter to Corinth, that “exchange” would, and could, not have been complete outside of the resurrection.  [1Corinthians 15:13-14, 16-17 NASB95] “13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. … 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

Make no mistake, the resurrection of Jesus is central to our  faith, for His victory over sin was to complete His victory over the final adversary, death. The two are inextricably linked. Sin had to be paid for, and rendered powerless, so victory could be established over death rendering it powerless as well.

[1Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB95] 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Romans 5:12 NASB95] 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–

[Romans 6:6-10 NASB95] 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with [Him,] in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

The cross not linked to resurrection would have been a tragedy.  Resurrection is where the tragedy was turned to triumph!

Giving mental assent to the historicity of Jesus as a great teacher, or that He lived and even was crucified, or was even possibly the Jewish messiah, is not faith.  His resurrection makes Him Lord, King, Conqueror like none other. Suffering lamb slain in humility, is now Risen and Enthroned King with glory and dominion forever.

Philippians 2:8-11 NASB95] 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[Colossians 2:9-15 NASB95] 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

God disarmed powers and principalities through Jesus tasting death,…and He triumphed over them through the public display of Jesus’ resurrection conquering sin and death.  We were gloriously “raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him (Jesus) from the dead.”  We now manifest His glory and His victory to principalities and powers/rulers and authorities as His body, the church, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.

The centrality of the cross AND the resurrection established, let us remember Him and be focused on Him as often as we come together.  

[1Corinthians11:26 NASB95] 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

Let us gather remembering His death, but not forgetting “until He comes”, for it is in the hope of His coming we find life in His resurrection and remember that He conquered death. Yes, remember His death and all He brought to us by and through it.  But let us remember Him resurrected as well, as often as we come together. That, I think, is the meaning of “This do in remembrance of Me.”

Yes! Let us celebrate Him today/Sunday/Easter/Resurrection Sunday. But let us celebrate Him every time we gather.

In the Luke description of the Last Supper, the Last Passover, he records Jesus’ earnest desire to share the Passover in that hour, but even more so in the Kingdom He was establishing, and, I think, that Kingdom in which we have been transferred and now live.

[Luke 22:14-20 NASB95] 14 When the hour had come, He reclined [at the table,] and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup [and] given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken [some] bread [and] given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way [He took] the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

[Colossians 1:13 NASB95] 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (highly recommend considering  Paul’s exhortation here Colossians 1:13-23)

Those who know me well know that I see our weekly gatherings as Passover celebrated every week!  It is the reason we start with sharing a meal.  And, then look to hear from Him,  and fellowship with Him, in our midst and central among us.

May I encourage you to read Matthew 26:17-56, Luke 22:7-46, where the events of the Passover “Last Supper” are treated in brief, and then look at the events of that night in much greater depth in John 13:1 – 18:2. (John often includes what the others left out in his gospel. Here it seems they left out much, that he decided, under inspiration, to include for our edification.)

In these scriptures you will find all the rich types and foreshadows the Jewish Passover held for Jews, the disciples, and for us. But you will also see Jesus institute new elements and a New Covenant with those that would follow Him.

You will also see Jesus wash feet, deal with those of His followers in deep sin, deal with those that were struggling with betrayal – strong in their word of commitment, but weak of heart to stand for Him -, speak of Himself and His provision, speak of His followers future and His purpose and plans in them, point them to the Holy Spirit as comforter and their source of power, and take those He loved into an intimate Garden of suffering to pray and stand with Him.

He did all this on that Last Passover night and He is still doing it.  For that Passover to happen there had to be preparations made, and those that came had certain expectations of some rituals and practices that would take place. But they came primarily with intent to fellowship with Him, to hear Him, and do what He was doing.

Again I see our weekly gatherings as Passover celebrated every week!  It is the reason we start with sharing a meal, our approach to the Lord’s Supper, although recently we observe a more traditional communion at least once a month as well.

Although we enjoy “reclining at table” and may come with some expectations, our intent is to  remember Him  and His death and provision to us. But it is also to meet with Him, resurrected, live ,and well in and with us!  I have often said, we don’t want to leave a gathering together talking about having met with each other.  Not that that is bad. But, we want to leave having seen, heard, had fellowship with Him, as we are His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. We want to see Him manifest and present in us.

People often ask me why I am committed to meeting with saints regularly. It is not because I am under any compulsion or rote rule of religion.  I am committed to it because Jesus said according to 1^st Corinthians 11 and the gospels “do this in remembrance of Me”  (I won’t go into detail here), and for me it is Passover every week.  You see, every time we gather I want to remember, celebrate, and fellowship Him.  Just as that first Passover (Last Supper) required some preparations, so do our gatherings. And, just as those who came then, came with some expectations of fellowship, fun, food, …..and some religious stuff, so do many of us come with the same.  And, again, although we enjoy the meal and fellowship, and even some ritual, our intent must be to meet with and hear Him. 

I love meeting with you. I do.

But the only opportunity I have to see Him…

Wash Feet

Deal With Sin

Strengthen Those Who May Be Struggling With Doubt or Denial

Hear Him Speak of His Provision, Salvation, Deliverance and more

Hear Him Speak of His Purpose For The Future In Us His Disciples

Hear Him Encourage Us Regarding The Work Of The Holy Spirit In Us

Have Him Invite Me To Join Him in The Place of Intimate Suffering and Prayer

And, witness His Fullness Manifested

Is in gathering with you.

It is Passover every week!  He is still doing what He did that Passover in and through His body, the church, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

So, as I have said for years now… “pray now about how the Holy Spirit may use us, and your participation as a functioning member of the Body of Christ, to minister to the Lord and to others.”

I have had the joy of being on the cutting edge of several “movements” in the Spirit and His purpose since that Jesus Movement time. I have seen several Iterations, if you will, of the church. From hippies and young people in informal gatherings, to very traditional platform to spectator structures, to organic/home church forms.  But, I have found Jesus central in most all these structures ,ways of gathering, someplace.   I have also found, unfortunately, division in most at some point, and generally over some non essential.

I do not plan to wax eloquent here today on focusing on what divides.  However, I do think it needful to comprehend that our adversary to the faith is, I think, often less concerned about keeping the truly lost in darkness, than he is keeping believers confused and divided.  I read a quotation recently, and I am sorry I can’t remember who from, that said something along the lines of; The devil doesn’t fight religion, but instead focuses on producing a counterfeit Christianity. One that is so close to the real thing that Christians won’t speak out against it for fear.  (Again, sorry I can’t give attribution and quote it directly; I must take better note of what I read online when scrolling away).

It is a powerful ploy. Because in doing so the adversary does not have to refute the facts/truth directly; he must just counterfeit them well enough to pass for the real thing  in order to keep those that are in darkness there, and those of us who have been drawn to the light arguing and dividing from one another in the shadow.

I read stuff all the time from my more “liberal” and my “theatre” friends that are indictments (generally from those professing to be believers) that indict the church over not being loving or inclusive enough. These indictments are, again generally, made regarding some scripture or quote of Jesus that is ripped out of context, and leaning heavily on the understanding of man’s concept of “fairness” or “right” or the ever present being “judgmental”  I will not go into specific examples, because if you are reading this I am sure you understand what I am talking about.

With that background, I do want to simply make the point that it is possible for the true gospel to be bent into what Paul called a “different” or “another” gospel, which is not actually another, but simply a perversion of the true one. Obviously this kind of perversion is as old as the true Gospel itself

[Galatians 1:6-10 NASB95] 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is [really] not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

The apostle makes it clear there can be a distortion or perversion of that which is the truth or the true gospel.  And, his judgement of those that push it upon believers that have heard the truth is quite harsh: “he is to be accursed!”  So strong is his thought and assessment of this that he says it twice in close succession.

Right after this in the letter to the believers in the area known as Galatia Paul defends the gospel of his preaching:  [Galatians 1:11-12 NASB95] 11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but [I received it] through a revelation of Jesus Christ.   This revelation of Jesus is important to comprehend for we do have the promise of such revelation regarding truth

He goes on reciting his experience as a defender of Judaism to the point of persecuting the church, and then turning to preach the very gospel he once persecuted. It is most probable he did this because the perversion/distortion he was dealing with was from Judaizers trying to put Gentile believers back under the law. 

I can’t say here that the specific perversion matters not, but I can say the specific perversion is not my point here.  The point is that such perversion/distortion existed, and  there are still such purveyors of distortion now. So, we must be on guard in the Spirit to comprehend the truth.  We have a promise that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth.

[John 16:12-15 NASB95] 12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear [them] now. 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you. 15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.

In his letter to the church at Corinth the apostle again speaks of his fear of believers being deceived by preaching of “another Jesus”,  promoting reception of “a different spirit”, or accepting “a different gospel”.  

[2 Corinthians 11:2-4 NASB95] 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you [as] a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity [of devotion] to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear [this] beautifully.

He speaks later of the purveyors of such as false apostles wearing disguises:

[2Co 11:13-15 NASB95] 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

Again, I do not share this here to instill fear, but to encourage you to be aware that distortion and perversion exist. (I had two purveyors of such on my doorstep this morning, inviting me to a Resurrection season service at a local JW meeting hall). And, even outside of obvious so-called “Christian” cults, the counterfeits abound in our post Christian culture. Counterfeits that embrace easy believism without a call to discipleship and living under Lordship, a socially acceptable gospel outside of the cross,  and others pressing legalism and works outside of grace by faith.  

Let us note from 2 Corinthians 11 above that the counterfeit is designed to  3 …. as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity [of devotion] to Christ.  Literally here the words “of devotion to” are added for understanding.  The KJV renders it from the simplicity {that is in} Christ.  Simply put the true gospel is Jesus centric.

It is focused on Who He is and What He has done. Do not be duped by another.   And do not be ashamed of the truth of the true gospel focused on Him crucified and risen again. It is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe. Receive no counterfeits.:

[Romans 1:16-17 NASB95] 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it [the] righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [man] SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Perhaps chief among the many of those has been the idea of positional power or authority.  I can highly recommend the book The Servant Community: Experiencing The Promise of Ekklesia, by our brother Art Mealer, if you are looking to understand the term “positional power/authority” and how it is not the template Jesus was looking to establish in His Body.

I came to the understanding, even while in traditional churches, that there was one Head of the church, and that wasn’t the “pastor” (but Jesus). I long ago embraced plural, or actually a collegiality, of leadership.  But even in that, I found myself in generally Top-Down structures that I had an uneasy feeling about in the Spirit. 

Over the years I have found most spiritual men unfortunately desire the pedestal and the platform (and many without accountability), and most people desire to be led by men (Saul – see 1 Samuel 8 & 9) they have put on pedestals and platforms rather than God. Even though Jesus has made it clear it is not to be that way among His disciples.

We are indeed intended to be a community of servants. Serving Him, serving one another, serving the world around us in love. No one is to have position or power greater than another.

Romans 12 has much to say regarding our functioning as “members” of the one body.  Not all having the same function (place/gifts), but each having a place as members of one another

[Romans 12:3-13 NASB95] 3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, [each of us is to exercise them accordingly:] if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 [Let] love [be] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 [Be] devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

The apostle opens this discourse on being members of one another and serving Lord with:

[Romans 12:1 NASB95] 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.

We all know this verse well and talk of it often. But, have you ever really considered the picture used here of presenting yourself a living and holy sacrifice  and that which is  acceptable (well-pleasing) to God.    And, that being called  your spiritual service, or literally your REASONABLE/RATIONAL service, of worship.

The picture here harkens back to temple worship where a bull or a lamb was sacrificed on an altar and was burned as an acceptable (rational/reasonable) sacrifice.

The bull or the lamb was born and raised, but truly had no future of its own planning. Its future was bound to dying as a sacrifice. They were consecrated and set apart (sanctified) for the purpose of serving and being well pleasing in that service to God.

If we apply this in a literal sense to what Paul is “urging” us unto in Romans 12:1, it means we aren’t here for our own purposes, dreams, achievements and designs.  But for His purpose and design.

This is a lesson I/we have difficulty comprehending. I believe much of our Christian experience is truly focused under His Hands and Lordship, and the work of the Spirit, to bring us to dying to self, and living unto Him. A living sacrifice.

Even after becoming believers, and loving the Lord, and desiring to be devoted to Him, we are often driven by our desire to “be something” in the Body, or “do something for God”. This may seem like so-called godly ambition. But underlying that is generally self needing to be crucified.  We seek position, the pleasure of being known/recognized/valuable; by and to others, and to God, doing something great for Him. 

But the urging of Romans 12:1 is for us to consider being turned into what the bull or lamb were. A pile of ash in a reasonable service of worship.

I understand I am painting a harsh picture here.

But my point is that  we are called to have a willingness to lose our identity, that Jesus may be seen and identified in our service to Him and others. And, that others may be built up and served in Him through our service as a reasonable sacrifice..  We are called to lay down our reputation and recognition that He may be recognized as the Son of God and Lord of Lords, whom we serve. And, that all glory that may go with our sacrifice and devotion may be revealed as His glory. 

[Philippians 2:3-11 NASB95] 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not [merely] look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus set the example for us in calling to sacrifice and serving, even as the One who had all glory from eternity past.  Suffering and glory go hand in hand. Humility and exaltation go hand in hand. Obedience and seeing the outworking of His purpose in what He has spoken or called us to us go hand in hand. It was so for Jesus. It is for us.

If we are willing to lay “self” down, He will lift us up in Jesus. We will flow in the Spirit in the river of life into waters to the ankles, the knees, the loins, and then over our heads as they come out from the throne and altar of His Lordship in the temple. And, those waters will bring life through us wherever they flow.  (See Ezekiel 47 regarding this imagery)

I will remind you that you can’t crucify yourself.  You can pick up your cross and carry it. But, the crucifixion of that last hand, and your will, must and will come by the hands of, and circumstances created by, others at His design. Although you can’t do it to yourself, you will find by His grace you can choose to go to the cross, and you can yield to His purposes in the service of Him and others. And, do it time after time, and over and over in Him.

Your own ambition and desire to achieve and do (for yourself, or recognition, position, glory, reputation) may/will be gone. But as you walk with and beside Him, co laboring with Him for His glory, and in His service, and in loving and serving others in His purpose; You will find yourself in Him and being His.  And that is life in the Kingdom as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.

Enjoy your place in the community of servants.

It seems fitting here in short to remind us that our hope in the resurrection.  Christianity is a resurrection centered faith. Yes we need a bleeding and dying savior in Jesus. But, the cross without the resurrection is a tragedy. The resurrection turns tragedy to triumph.  Eternal Life is not in the dying and dead Jesus, but Him resurrected. 

Paul put this truth this way:

[1Corinthians 15:12-19 NASB95] 12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found [to be] false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

It is striking to consider isn’t it. “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” Our salvation, our eternal life is in the resurrected Jesus.  We have a hope that is sure because He is alive.   Paul opened this passage on resurrection saying of eye witness accounts:

[1Corinthians 15:3-8 NASB95] 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

The apostle had more to say to those that would argue against resurrection of the dead at Corinth.  But without exposition from me here just consider some of the rest of his writing here.

[1Corinthians 15:20-22, 42-46, 48-50, 53, 55-57 NASB95] 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. …

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable [body,] it is raised an imperishable [body;] 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual [body.] 45 So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 

… 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. … 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. … 

55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank God we serve a risen Jesus who has conquered death and the grave and brought us into an Eternal Kingdom or Eternal Life in Him.

Just consider our victory in the living Christ from  Paul’s letter to the Romans: (we too often get context separated by chapter divisions… forgetting these letters were written in complete thoughts, without such divisions)

[Romans 7:24-25 NASB95] 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.[Romans 8:10-14 NASB95] 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.    [Romans 8:33-39 NASB95] 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Here is another example of chapter division messing with the complete context of our life in Him, even at the right hand of the Father. Consider it and it may just  shift you paradigm in an life altering understanding of the resurrection life we have in Him, by the Father’s love.)

[Ephesians 1:18-23 NASB95] 18 [I pray that] the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. [These are] in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places,] 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. [Ephesians 2:1-7 NASB95] 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Such is our hope! Such is our faith at His word!