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Friends, I write today in humility, knowing that what I say may offend, or even anger some of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.  This is not my intent.  I love the Church and all of her various expressions of Christ in her.  If I come across as being sarcastic and/or seem to be belittling the efforts of some very sincere brothers and sisters, I apologize, and can assure you that it is not my intent.

With that being said, let’s look at some important issues…

Today just happens to be July 7, 2011.  Now, that date may not seem to be too significant to you, but it should certainly be significant to anyone who has been involved with the “prayer movement” over the last several years.  You see, four years ago today, well over 80,000 passionate worshippers and intercessors gathered together at Titan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, for theCALL Nashville.  This was to be a massive prayer and fasting gathering, aimed at turning America back to God.  Various high profile ministers and worship leaders graced the stage throughout the day, offering up songs of worship, intense prayers and proclamations that America’s time for revival had finally come.

The event was literally alive with expectancy as well known “prophets” and internationally known speakers had been heavily promoting the event for months.  Prophetic words went out stating that this event would mark the time when America’s “territorial spirit”, whom we were told was Ba’al, would be brought down.  We were also told that the corruption of American youth, which saw a dramatic spike in 1967, would be reversed as we were exiting a 40 year period of wilderness wandering in America.  In addition to all of this, many were prophesying that this gathering and the passing of this significant date, 7-7-07, would serve as the flashpoint for a worldwide increase in signs, wonders and miracles.  Also, we were told that it would mark the beginning of a dramatic shift in the music industry.  A new breed of prophets would rise up, carrying a new sound from heaven that would bring revival and demonstrations of power to the cities and nations of the earth.

To put it plainly, this date and event really seemed to be the answer to all of our problems!

I myself was in attendance at this meeting and saw some amazing things take place.  The worship was intense and sweet.  Many valid points were made, and I must say that I left the gathering feeling deeply affected.

That being said, as the weeks and months unfolded in front of us, amazingly, very few of the prophesied results came into being.  America continued to hobble along in her former state.  Ungodly laws and politicians still seemed to dominate the landscape, and for the most part, there really was no significant change in the spiritual climate of the Church.  What happened?  Did we do something wrong?  Was this yet another case of, “Prophetic words are potential, not promises!  We aren’t seeing the prophesied results because the Church is failing to do her part!”?  Or was it maybe that we only gathered 80,000 + to the stadium, and not the full 100,000?  Certainly something had to have gone wrong somewhere, right?  Because here we are, 4 years later, and the same things that we went to Nashville to see remedied are still very much in existence, and are, in some ways, more pronounced now than they were then!  Who blew it?  Who dropped the ball?

The answer to the question won’t be a shock to most of you, but still, here it is: WE DID!  You read it right folks.  There it is in all caps and bold and italicized font–WE, the Church blew it!  And no, I don’t mean that we blew it in regards to keeping up our end of the bargain and so God changed His mind about America.  What I am saying is that we blew it in believing that gathering together on a special date, in a special location was the answer to America’s problems in the first place!

Again, I’m not saying that nothing significant happened in Nashville on 7-7-07.  I’m sure lives were changed and impacted.  But as a nation, we’re no closer to the Church’s ideal of revival than we were on 7-6-07.  Why is this?  I think the answer is pretty simple:  Solemn assemblies and massive prayer gatherings are not the answer for America’s, or any other nations woes.

The modern concept of the Solemn Assembly is taken directly from Old Testament scripture, the book of Joel in particular:

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
     declare a holy fast,
     call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
     consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
     gather the children,
     those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
     and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
     weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O LORD.
     Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
     a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
     ’Where is their God?”18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. 

(JOEL 2:15-18)

The passage quoted above has become the flagship scripture for all of the major prayer, fasting and solemn assembly ministries in America.  We are told, as spoken by the prophet, that when things look bleak for a nation, there is only one remedy: gather the people together en mass to pray and fast!  After we’ve fulfilled our part of the bargain, the Lord will look upon us, and if our hearts were sincere enough, our yearnings deep enough and our fasting genuine enough, He’ll change His mind about judging us, and instead show us favor and mercy.  This all seems to fit nicely within the parameters of Joel’s prophecy, right?  Maybe not…

You see, there is one tiny problem with following Joel’s prayer and fasting prescription for nationwide revival.  The whole point of Joel 2:15-17 was to bring us to Joel 2:28-32, which reads thus:

 28 ’And afterward,
     I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
     your old men will dream dreams,
     your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
     I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
     and on the earth,
     blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
     and the moon to blood
     before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
     on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
     there will be deliverance,
     as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
     whom the LORD calls. 

 Have you noticed the problem yet?  The prayer and fasting prescription was only given to bring us to the above promised outpouring of the Spirit from Heaven!  Still haven’t seen the problem yet?  Fast forward a few centuries to the Day of Pentecost, just 50 days after the ascension of Jesus Christ.  A group of staggering, stumbling, tongue talking, mumbling believers spill out onto the streets of Jerusalem.  Onlookers point and stare, accusing the group of dipping into Grandpa’s cough medicine a wee bit too early in the morning.  Then the Apostle Peter stands up from among the group.  Just a month or so earlier he was a deserter and a coward, but now he stands bold as a lion and declares the following:

15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ”‘In the last days, God says,
     I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
     your young men will see visions,
     your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
     I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
     and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
     and signs on the earth below,
     blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
     and the moon to blood
     before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
     on the name of the Lord will be saved.

(ACTS 2:15-21)

Peter declared by the Holy Spirit, that Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit had come to pass.  Now, you must understand, Peter was not saying that they had merely witnessed something similar to Joel’s prophecy coming to pass.  He was stating that once and for all, Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon “all flesh” (simply meaning all nations, Jew and Gentile alike) had come to pass!  The Holy Spirit did not fall on Pentecost, only to evaporate back up into the Heaven’s the day after, needing to be prayed back down if the Church decided that she wanted another “outpouring”.  No, the Holy Spirit came to stay!  Never again would the Holy Spirit “fall from heaven”, or “come down” upon His people.  He had come, and He was not intent on leaving.

Jesus had this to say about the coming of the Holy Spirit:

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

(JOHN 14:16)

What does this mean?  It means that the Holy Spirit, after Pentecost, will not come and go.  He has come to abide with us forever.  Therefore, Pentecost need not ever be repeated.  He has come!  Furthermore, Peter declares that the Holy Spirit has been “…sent from Heaven…” (1 PETER 1:12)  He does not state that He is being sent, or that He will need to be sent afresh each and every time we need revival.  No, the Apostle states that the Spirit has come, and He’s come to abide forever.

Therefore, if Joel’s prophecy concerning the Spirit’s coming has already been fulfilled and doesn’t need to be repeated, Joel 2:15-17, the verses dealing with preceding solemn assembly, have become obsolete.  ”WHAT!”, some might say, “The scriptures becoming obsolete? That’s total and complete heresy!”  Well, the writer of the book of Hebrews declares that the whole of the Law of Moses has become obsolete (HEB 8:13).  We have no problem with omitting portions of Old Testament scripture that deal with dietary laws, the upkeep of facial hair or the proper way to dispose of human waste.  We do, however, tend to get nervous when we’re told that key ingredients in our Charismatic folklore are actually obsolete in Jesus Christ.  This is the case with Joel 2:15-17.  Unless we are expecting the Holy Spirit to be sent to the earth afresh, we need not recreate the Joel 2:15-17 scenario.  If we claim that we do in fact need another Pentecost, that we do not in fact have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we make both Christ and Peter out to be liars.

Friends, the idea that we are lacking in the Holy Spirit’s power and can somehow coax Him in to coming closer to us, or that we can somehow impress God with our fasting and repentance so that He will give us a double shot of the Holy Ghost, is not only foreign to the New Covenant, but is also an offense to the finished work of the Cross.  Nowhere in the epistles or in the record of the early church’s life in the book of Acts do we read of solemn assemblies being held in order to bring revival after Pentecost.  In fact, we never again see believers having to tarry, wait or pray for the Holy Spirit.  It was always given instantly at the laying on of the Apostles’s or a believer’s hands.  You and I have been given the fullness of the Spirit through Christ.  We need not starve ourselves in the baking sun in order to get Him to come to us.  He’s already with us!

Now, is there anything wrong with gathering together for mass prayer and worship?  Certainly not.  However, we must never put our faith in a gathering on a magical date or at a special location.  Our faith must be rooted firmly in the finished works of Jesus Christ.  It was His request to the Father that earned us the gift of the Holy Spirit, not our actions, fasting, prayers or travail (JOHN 14:16).  It is Christ and Christ alone.  Watchman Nee once said, “The basis upon which we receive…the Holy Spirit is not our praying and fasting and waiting, but the exaltation of Christ…”.

Friends, we need not frantically try to squeeze through small windows of time, just hoping that we pray or do enough in this magical 24 hour window so that God will be impressed.  The Holy Spirit does not need us to pray away the darkness, or plead with Him to come.  He has come (PERIOD)!  To repeat Joel’s prescribed solemn assembly is actually to take a prescription that was written for someone else!  Have you ever taken the wrong prescription?  It could actually kill you if you get the wrong stuff inside of you.  We must be very careful how we read scripture and what we apply to our lives as New Testament believers.

I’ll leave you with this exhortation: YOU ARE REVIVAL!  The fullness of the Godhead now lives and moves within you (COL 2:9-10)!   We need not scream at the sky awaiting the Holy Spirit’s arrival.  He arrived 2,000 years ago, and now simply commissions us to go forth in His power and might.  I have good news for you today, there is no climactic revival coming to America!  It’s already come!  It’s Christ in you…and therefore, it’s you.  Be encouraged, we don’t have to wait around another millenia, waiting for the day when we can line up the 7′s again.  Christ is in you, and this is the day of salvation, this is the year of His favor!  (LK 4:19, 2 COR 6:2)

Filled with the Spirit,

Jeff

Seriously though, the edibility of the communion elements aside, what was it that unnerved me so about taking communion?  Well, for me it was that lingering thought that I could possibly fall under divine judgement if I “did it wrong”.  You see, in every communion service there is the mandatory ”moment of silence”, in which we are encouraged to examine ourselves, making sure that we are “right with God” before proceeding any further.  We are told, from the scripture of course, that if we “do it wrong”, that is, if we partake of the body and blood of Jesus in an unworthy manner, we could wind up being candidates for a steaming plate of Divine wrath-which could include, but is certainly not limited to sickness, physical weakness and (gulp) death.  You can imagine all of the terrifying images dancing in the minds of church kids during that “moment of silence”.  That’s the Church for you, sucking the fun out of Welch’s since 1869.  Seriously though, from whence come the traditions of a moment of silence, the quicky self exam and the threats of pestilence and woe for “doing communion wrong”?  Well, where most heresies come from of course, the Bible!

Jesus once stated that the traditions of men concerning Biblical truths actually have the ability to render God’s word ineffective.  You heard me right.  Men’s traditional approaches to scripture and theology actually have the capability to, in effect, neuter God’s word and rob it of it’s efficacy.  How so?  Well, we come up with an idea as to what a particular text of scripture is saying, and eventually, after years of propagating said idea, it becomes law.  It becomes settled like concrete in the collective psyche of Christendom that this or that is what a certain passage is saying.  The problem is that alot of the times we are dead wrong in our interpretations.  Why?  Because we interpret scripture with an agenda.  We read into it what we want to see, and as a result, we come up with all sorts of wacky notions and bizarre doctrines.  The biggest issue though, is that we’ve rendered the word of God ineffective.  How?  You see, once we’ve settled upon what a passage means, but have actually misinterpreted the passage, we are unable to see what is actually being said because we are stuck in our traditional understanding.  Suddenly, the true message of the passage is completely lost and almost unrecognizable because of the way we have twisted and misinterpreted it.  And with that, “KAPOW”, God’s word is rendered ineffective in our lives.

Unfortunately, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, which happens to be the most used communion passage in the Bible, is no exception when it comes to our “ineffectualizing” of God’s word. (And yes, I know that’s not a real word.)  First let’s take a look at the most oft quoted portions of this verse, which, to the religiously astute, will be immediately recognizable:

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 

So far, so good.  Let’s keep on reading…

27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.  

OK, and that would be where the “unnerving” part comes into play.  It seems pretty obvious doesn’t it?  Paul appears to be stating that when we come together and partake of communion in an improper way, it is possible that death and/or sickness could result.  It seems to be saying that God disciplined the Corinthians, using sickness and death, in order to teach them that they had better get their communion-taking skills right…or else.

However, as we expand our view of the passage, looking at the sentences that sandwich in this most quoted portion, something slightly different comes into view.  Let’s take a look at how Paul opens this particular section of his letter to Corinth:

17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!  

For starters, it’s important to understand that the early churches “communion services” were vastly different from our own.  They didn’t squeeze it in at the end of a Sunday morning service,  nor did they sandwich it in between the praise & worship and the sermon.  For the early Church, the celebration of the Lord’s supper was a very big deal.  A typical meeting in the early Church consisted in what were called love feasts, or simply, the agape.  Jude mentions these celebratory gatherings in verse 12 of his one chapter[ed] epistle.  The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states: “…it is evident that that church observed the practice of meeting together for a common meal before partaking of the Lord’s Supper…”  This “common meal” is what became known as the agape, or, the Love Feast.

To put it simply, the Love Feast was a meal shared by the body of believers prior to their receiving of communion.  It was a joyous event, celebrated in the context of Christ and His work on the Cross.  Now, we can clearly see that this is the event being written about by Paul in his address to the Corinthians.  However, Paul states that he has no praises to heap upon Corinth in regards to their Love Feasts, only condemnation.  Why so harsh there, Paul?  Well, Paul tells us that when they came together for their meal, there were “divisions among them“.  Apparently, all was not well in Corinth.  There were little cliques gathered around different teachers and teachings, and evidently they became rather “clan-ish”, eating their meals with only those who were ”on their side”.  Paul rebukes them for this.

Paul goes on to address the real problem in even plainer speech.  In verses 21 & 22, he reveals what the real problem was:

  ²¹ for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. ²² Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

You see, historically we are told that believers would invite the poor and hungry to their love feasts.  Here, Paul states that the believers in Corinth were so caught up in themselves, that during the meal portion of the Love Feast, people were just rudely “filling their plates” as it were, not giving any thought to those who had not yet eaten.  As a result, Paul tells us that the poor and hungry were left hungry and were, in Paul’s words, being humiliated and despised by the glutonous Corinthians.

Are you seeing what the main problem was?  Everybody was so caught up in there own little social circles that the poor and hungry were being ignored, going away empty handed and empty stomached.  It is directly after these statements that Paul launches into his “you’re doing it wrong” tirade, in which he declares that many in Corinth have become sick, weak and even have died as a result of their behavior in the Love Feast.  So let me ask you this, who was it that was growing weak, getting sick and who were those who were dying?  And why was it happening?  Did God just fly off the handle and decide to whack Himself a few Corinthians because of their irreverence?  Let’s look again at Paul’s words:

27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.  

Now pay close attention to the underlined portions of scripture.  Paul states that anyone who eats and drinks of the cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body AND the blood of Jesus Christ.  That’s simple enough.  Paul is saying that when we behave this way, shaming the poor and neglecting the needier members of the Church, and proceed to “partake of communion”, we’re sinning against Christ’s sacrifice.  Now, look at what Paul states in verse 29, he says that anyone who eats AND drinks without properly discerning the Lord’s body, eats and drinks condemnation upon himself.  Now first Paul states that we sin against the body and the blood, but later he states that men subject themselves to judgment when they do not properly discern the Lord’s body!  Why the omission of the ‘blood’ the second time around?  Because in this instance, Paul is NOT speaking of the body of Christ represented by the communion bread.  Rather, Paul is speaking here about the ACTUAL body of Christ, which is the Church!

Just one chapter later, in 1 Corinthians 12:27, Pauls states:  ”Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”  So, when Paul talks about discerning the Lord’s body in verse 29, he isn’t merely speaking of the communion bread.  He is stating that they have taken part in a religious ritual which is meant to be a participation in the body and blood of Christ, however, the physical body of Christ, which is the Church, was being utterly neglected by these Corinthians.  The poor, hungry member who was passed over during the Love Feast is the Body of Christ which was not properly discerned, not the communion bread!  What was the result of their shenanigans?  Well, many of their members were sick, weak and some had even died!  Does this mean God was hurling lightning bolts at these dirty little gluttons?  Some commentators believe that is what is being spoken.  What seems more likely to me, however, is that the sick, weak members of the Corinthian church were those who were being passed over and not properly cared for.  It was those members of the body who were going “undiscerned”, unfed and unnoticed that were suffering for the cliquish Corinthians lack of love and reverence.

Many commentators also assert that the sickness and death mentioned could have been coming upon the unruly Corinthians simply because of their gluttonous and drunken behavior.  One way or another, it was the Corinthians actions that were brining about the judgment.  They were eating and drinking condemnation upon themselves.  How?  By neglecting and not discerning the true Body of Christ!  The Body which lies not in a wafer, but in the hungry Church member; in the single mother, the widow and the orphan!

Paul ends his address to the Corinthians on this subject with these words:

³³ So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

Now remember, where was the judgment coming from?  The Corinthians were bringing it upon themselves!  How?  By not discerning the true body of Christ, the Church.  So what were Paul’s instructions?  “Hey Corinthians, when you come together for your Love Feasts, and you know that the poor and the hungry will be amongst you, eat at home, so that when you come together, those who have nothing can eat their fill.  In so doing, you will not be bringing death, sickness and weakness upon the needier members of the Body of Christ!” 

Do you see how it works?  Do you see what was really being said?  This is not a scare tactic passage that should cause you to tremble each time that wafer hits your tongue.  Communion should not be a fearful time, but a time in which we celebrate the finished work of the Cross and recognize the person and power of Christ at work in each and every member of the body!  It’s a time to commune with Christ, not just through the elements, but in our relationships with each other.  This is true communion:  Partaking symbolically and spiritually of His death through the elements, but also participating in His life and body by being in loving relationship with the Church.

My point in writing this today was just to put one more little religious myth to bed so that we can get on enjoying the fullness of life that we have in Him.  There are far too many religious myths and old wives tales floating around out there which only serve to keep us terrified of a God who simply wants to share His life and love with us.  Our Greek inspired, Pagan view of the Father has made Him into an entity who can make even grape juice and bad crackers look like instruments of terror.  I pray that this little blog helped you to detox a bit from these poisonous views of our loving Father.

Communing with Christ’s Body,

Jeff

Now, the purpose of my writing is not to clue you in on the details of my relationship with my Grandparents.  I want to weave a short parable for you.  Both of my Grandmothers died several years ago now.  I attended both of their funerals, but there was one major difference between them: my Grandmother on my Father’s side was cremated, while my Mother’s mother had a traditional, open casket funeral.  Now, psychologically, this has a certain effect on the human mind.  As a young man, I never beheld my one Grandmothers face as she lay in a casket.  She had been cremated, and her ashes placed within an urn.  In my last memories of her, she is still very much alive and well.  My last memory of my other Grandmother, however, is of her lying lifeless in a coffin.  The reality of her passing could not be denied and is permanently etched into my mind as fact.  My other Grandmother, however, not so much.  In my imagination, I still see her as being very much alive.  Sometimes I even find myself forgetting that she died at all.  Why?  The reality of her passing never quite sank in.  At her funeral, all that I saw to prove it as being true was a jar, and only a jar.  Now, I was told that’s where her remains were placed, I believed, but it just didn’t sink in.  To this very day, I can trick myself into believing that she is still among the living, though just living five states away.  Weird, I know.

There’s something tremendously important about that final viewing.  It somehow seals the deal and makes the passing of that individual seem real.  In the same way, it is tremendously important that we grasp the reality of our own death as well.  ”Our own death?”, you might say, “What exactly are you getting at here?”  What I’m getting at is the fact that Scripture declares that you and I , as believer’s in Jesus Christ, have died.  That’s right, you read it in black and white.  You died.  Colossians 3:3 states, “…you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Romans 6:6 states similarly that, “…our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”  What does this mean exactly?  It means that the moment you believed upon Christ, you were spiritually baptized into the work and person of Jesus Christ.  Romans 6:3 asks and answers the question, “…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”  This is not speaking of water baptism, but of a spiritual immersion into the work of Jesus Christ.  Literally, when Christ died to sin upon Calvary, you died to sin as well.  That is to say that your old, sinful, Adamic nature was once-for-all dealt the death blow through the Christ’s physical death.  2 Corinthians 5:21 states that upon Calvary Christ was “made to be sin”.  Therefore, when He died, sin and the corrupt nature from which it springs, was utterly and completely annihilated, never to rise again.  The Good News?  This means that sin’s batteries have been removed.  The engine has been yanked right out from under your hood.  The plug has been removed from the socket and then severed in two, never to be reassembled again.  To make it plain, the power of sin died.  The old you, the you that enjoyed lusting, being bitter, depressed and unforgiving, that person died completely and totally with Jesus Christ.

This is no flowery metaphor, nor is it a mere “positional” reality, only to be fully realized in the afterlife.  It’s real, true and able to be apprehended right here, right now, in the present tense.  Sin is no longer our identity, and can never again be a source of legitimate enjoyment for us.   Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 6:2, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”  John the Apostle is singing in the same key when he makes the statement: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin…” (1 John 3:9)  The point?  Sin is dead.  He no longer lives inside of me.  My body was once his address, but that day is long past thanks to Christ’s death.  I’m not who I was.  I can no longer enjoy what I once enjoyed.  The struggle which was once so intense is over.  ’Taps’ has been played, the hole’s been dug, and my old self is now six feet under.

“Well, if this is true”, some may ask, “then where is the victory in my life?  I still struggle every day!  Sin seems to be very much alive in me!”  Well my friend, I’m afraid that you, like me, never really went to “Grandma’s” funeral.  We attended a ceremony, heard a religious “truth” which told us that sin was dead, but it wasn’t real to us.  It was mere theological rhetoric.  It was just fluff to fill a sermon with, but it didn’t sink in.  To you, sin is alive, because you only saw the urn, but never gazed upon it’s lifeless, ashen face as it was lowered into the ground.

Most of our battles with sin stem from this very problem.  We’ve never fully come to grips with just how dead our sin is.  We misinterpret whole chapters of the Bible, like Romans 7, because we begin with, and then interpret all that we read, in light of  the false notion that sin is still alive.  We’ve only read of sin’s demise in a very one dimensional, metaphoric sense, but have never actually beheld it’s lifeless body nailed helplessly the cross of Jesus Christ.  But if Christ died, so did sin.  Sin is as dead as Christ’s body was for three days.  When He rose, sin did not rise with Him, but stayed in it’s grave.  The “zombie theology” of western Christendom may tell you that sin periodically resurrects, seeking to eat your brains, but this is nonsense, and is only taught because of scriptural ignorance.

Friends, whether I like it or not, my Grandmother is dead.  Regardless of how alive she still seems to be in my mind, it’s not true.  I can close my eyes, use my imagination and believe as fact that which is fictional, but it has no bearing on reality.  In the same way, we can choose to believe in the folkloric, boogie-man tales of a sinful nature still lurking within, but it doesn’t make it true.  Sin is dead…and his death is permanent.  His power over you is long gone.  So why do you still live as though he lives?  It’s time to attend your own funeral.  It’s time look deeply into Christ’s face upon the Cross and see your own there as well.  It’s time to listen closely to the dramatic, final exit of carbon dioxide from the lungs of deity, and hear sin’s death rattle within.  It’s time to behold Christ’s limp, lifeless body as it is removed from the Cross and realize that if the One who “was made to be sin” died, then sin itself died in Him.  It’s time to realize that your sin is dead.  Period.  No if’s, and’s or but’s.

You see, whether I like it or not, Grandma is no longer with us.  And whether you like it or not, neither is sin.  I’ll leave you with the wise words of Watchman Nee:

“It does not depend on your feelings. If you feel that Christ has died, he has died; and if you do not feel that he has died, he has died. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have died. These are divine facts. That Christ has died is a fact, that the two thieves have died is a fact, and that you have died is a fact also. Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ. And ‘he that is dead is freed from sin. (Romans 6:7) This is the Gospel for Christians. Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only by accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross.”  

Preach it Mr. Nee, Preach it!

Dead to sin, alive to God,

Jeff

"The Intercessory Temper Tantrum"

Her parents could never forget the scene.  As hard as they tried, they could not delete the sights nor the sounds from their minds.  It ranked as one of the most disturbing moments that they had ever experienced in their lives…

For months prior to Christmas, little Dorothy’s parents had been scrimping and saving every penny in order to ensure that their only daughter’s fifth Christmas would be her most memorable.  Every week, beginning in September, a portion of the the weekly income would be placed in the “Christmas fund” by giddy, doting parents, who simply could not wait to lavish little Dorothy with a shower of beautifully wrapped presents.  Being a family with a modest income, it was indeed a sacrifice for them to store away their extra cash for Christmas gifts, but they reasoned that the joy that shone on their little girl’s face would make all of their hard work worth it.

Their excitement grew as the seasons changed and the weather became noticeably cooler.  As Christmas decorations began to appear all over town and the first flakes of snow made their way earthward, the young family could hardly contain their excitement!  They had worked hard, saved their money and could not wait to shower gifts upon their beloved daughter.

Then the big day arrived, Christmas Eve!

Mom and dad had put the finishing touches on the menagerie of gifts and lay each one carefully beneath the beautifully lit tree.  They sat there for a few proud moments, delighting in how far they’d come as a family.  They remembered their first Christmas with their little princess, when they were only able to exchange homemade gifts and cards.  Now, they had been blessed with work and income, and were able to do far more than was ever possible in previous years.  There was a sense of pride and contentment that filled their hearts as they sat there together in the light of the Christmas tree.  “Tomorrow,” they whispered to each other, “tomorrow is going to be a day that she’ll never forget!”

And with that, they made their way to bed for the night.

Early the next morning, little Dorothy was up well before the sun.  She jumped atop her parents bed, dancing and singing in her elfish little voice, “IT’S CHRISTMAS, IT’S CHRISTMAS!  FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA!”  Her parents wiped the sleep from their eyes, fumbled in the dark for their robes and slippers and then excitedly made their way to the Christmas tree.  This was the moment they had been anticipating for months!  They had dreamed of little Dorothy, eyes as big as saucers, squealing with glee as she dove into the mountain of paper, plastic and China-made goodness.  Their hearts fluttered nervously in their chest as they descended the staircase to the Christmas wonderland below.  Little Dorothy scampered down the stairs before them, her tiny feet pattering lightly against the wood.  And then suddenly, as though she had reached an invisible barrier, Dorothy stopped silently in her tracks.  She stood there, still as glass in the glow of the massive tree.  Her parents watched her from behind.  All movement had ceased.  There was no noise, no songs, so squeals - just stunned silence.  Mom and dad giggled and elbowed each other excitedly, and then dad posed the question, “So, darling, what do you think?“

A mostly awake mom fumbled with the video camera, and managed to get it on and operational just in time to hear little Dorothy’s response to her Father’s question…a response which both shocked and perplexed her parents.  A bone-chilling, goose-bump inducing scream shot from her mouth like a cold, razor sharp icicle!  Mom and dad froze as they beheld little Dorothy falling to her knees, rocking back and forth with violence.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she began pounding the floor with her tiny fists.  “PRESENTS!”, she wailed wildly, “I WANT PRESENTS MOMMY AND DADDY!”.

Her mother and father rushed to her side, assuring her that just inches in front of her lay a massive mound of presents just waiting to be unwrapped.  Little Dorothy seemed deaf to their words and completely oblivious to the presence of the presents.  Her moaning and wailing continued.  Her breathing became erratic and her parents began to fear for her safety.  Mom and Dad even resorted to personally unwrapping a few of the more eye-catching items in an attempt to calm their daughters nerves and assure her that there were indeed present laying before her.  All to no avail.  The young girl was absolutely inconsolable.

All that Dorothy’s parents could do was stand there, shocked and horrified at their daughter’s behavior.  As parents, they were hurt that their daughter seemed blind to all of the love, care and preparation they had put into this moment.  They didn’t understand why something which was meant to be so enjoyable, was having such a negative effect on their daughter.  They were disturbed, distraught and hurt.  While they never mouthed the words, I’m sure that both mom and dad were thinking the same thing: that all of the money spent on gifts might have been better spent on some counseling for little Dorothy!

Now, let me be honest with you, the above story is completely fictional.  I’ve never actually read of a young child having a complete psychotic break down when faced with dozens of shiny and expensive gifts from “Santa”.  On the contrary, most kids are anything but apprehensive, let alone heartbroken, when free toys and electronics lay just inches before them.  Certainly, if little Dorothy were real, we’d have to concur, along with her parents, that she was either in need of a little more sleep, or a little bit of good old fashioned psychiatric treatment.

Allow me to be honest once more, while the above story is fictional, and while I have never witnessed or heard of such a scene taking place, I have witnessed many a grown adult acting in a way that makes little Dorothy look like the picture perfect example of mental stability!  Where have I witnessed such behavior, you may ask?  Whilst ministering in prisons, and/or mental institutions?  No.  Perhaps while serving at a homeless shelter or when visitng the elderly in a nursing home?  Once again, no.  You may actually be quite surprised by my answer, for if you really want to witness insanity that trumps ”Dorothy’s Christmas breakdown”, you need only visit one of the millions of Spirit-Filled churches which dot the landscape of planet earth.

Now, I’m certainly not making a referrence to the exercise of Spiritual gifts or of supernatural manifestations.  Those I’m 100% good with.  What I am referring to is our continued denial of God’s Presence in our midst, our blindness to New Covenant realities and our intercessory temper tantrums that we feel will bring into being that which already is.  At millions of gatherings, worldwide, some large, some small, the already present reality of all that Christ perfect work has afforded us, is largely being ignored.  Instead, we sing choruses, begging the Holy Spirit to come near us.  We preach and pray, requesting that the Father forgive us of our sins and give us a scrap of bread from Heaven’s banquet table.  We moan, groan and travail, begging God to bring us just one centimeter closer to Himself, and we think that somehow God is pleased with all of this.  We believe that angels must stand awestruck at our devotion and fervency.  The Holy Spirit rubs His hands together in anticipation, waiting for the Father’s instructions to “fall upon us”.

Dear reader, the Father is no more pleased with such behaviour than little Dorothy’s parents were pleased with hers!  Romans 6:20 tells us very plainly, that the eternal life the Father offers us is a gift!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Take a look at one of Webster’s (*not the little guy from the old T.V. show*) definitions for the word gift: something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.

That being said, a gift is not something one can earn, buy or cry their way into receiving.  Gifts are given, and must simply be received.  Now the Bible makes us an incredible promise, that God offers us eternal life, freely, with no compensation - it’s a gift!  Now most would nod their heads up and down, signifying their agreement with that statement.  Any Biblically literate believer understands that salvation and entrance to Heaven are gifts which cannot be earned.  The problem is, that’s not all that “eternal life” entails.  Take a look at the words Jesus utters to His Father on the eve of His crucifixion:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (JOHN 17:3)

Jesus defines eternal life as not simply being a bus ticket to Heaven, but a lifestyle of being in intimate union with the Godhead.  Eternal life has nothing to do with the quantity of one’s years, but with the quality of one’s existence.  To possess eternal life means that we have entered into a lifestyle that smacks of the eternal; it smells of heaven and of the supernatural.  To possess eternal life is to possess the very life of God Himself.  It is the “abundant life” Jesus promised in John 10:10.  Simply put, eternal life is Eden.  It is men and women living in unfettered familial union with the Trinitarian family.  It is God, inviting men back into the eternal quality of life which we were all originally intended to walk in.  It is this life, and not simply an eternity in Heaven, which God offers us as a free gift.

We have very little problem with salvation being free, but we have a very hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that a life of supernatural abundance is free.  We, much like little Dorothy, have no revelation of the power of our parent’s purchases.  Jesus Christ purchased everything that God ever intended for you to walk in upon the Cross, the tree upon which He was cursed. (GAL 3:13)  The “presents” which lay beneath this “tree” are of such a high quality, that they could only be purchased with the blood of Divinity.  Everything which your soul has ever desired in God, lay available and accesible in light of Calvary’s tree.  Yet we, like little Dorothy, are mostly ignorant of their presence.  And so we hit our knees, pounding the floor, petitioning heaven, begging for things which are already ours!  Such behaviour befuddles the angels, perplexes the saints and grieves the heart of our Heavenly Father.

The writer of Hebrews was addressing a group of individuals who, in addition to believing on Christ for salvation, were also returning to the shadowy system of temple sacrifice in order to receive the forgiveness of sins.  Perhaps they thought that a little extra blood couldn’t hurt anything, right?  Yet the writer addresses their unwillingness to honor Christ’s once for all sacrifice, and refers to their extra religious efforts as being “sin”.

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left…” (HEB 10:26)

The sin being referrenced by the writer here is not adulterey, theft, drug use, or any other such thing that we would define as being “sinful”.  Rather, he is referring to their return to the Mosaic Law’s system of sacrifice for forgiveness, and, in a nutshell, unbelief.  They were no longer resting solely on the power of the Cross, but also upon their own self-efforts and works.  The Bible is clear that Law keeping is not based on faith (GAL 3:12), and that anything which is not of faith, or simple trust in Christ, is sin (ROM 14:23).  Therefore, adding the works of the Law to the simplicity of faith ceases to be faith and becomes sin.  This “sin” is a rejection of the simplicity of faith in Christ alone and a literal rejection of the New Covenant.  According to the writer, it is also most offensive to God.  Look at what the writer states such an action is, in effect, doing:

 ”Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (HEB 10:28-29)

God did not see their behaviour as “holy”, or as “going the extra mile”.  He saw it as an insult to all that He had accomplished in Christ.  Much as little Dorothy’s parent were insulted at the way their daughter had trampled on their kindness, made light of the money they had spent and insulted their generosity, so the Lord is insulted when we ignore the provisions of the New Covenant, and choose to throw “intercessory temper tantrums” instead.

Many believers all over the earth are abstaining from food, screaming at the heavens and exhausting their physical frames, all in an attempt to gain access to that which Christ’s sacrifice has made available.  They sit there, much like Dorothy, in the light of the “tree” (the Cross), and are absolutely oblivious to all of it’s provisions.  We must change our paradigm!  God is not pleased with such behaviour.  He is pleased with faith.  Simple, honest, childlike faith.  Faith that sees a present and rips into it like any other sane child would on Christmas morning!  It’s time that we honored the Cross once more!  Not by screaming and throwing temper tantrums in it’s light, but by agreeing with our Father’s voice that says, “Everything you need is under the tree!”

Friends, I encourage you today to receive the Gift of eternal life!  I’m not just speaking of salvation.  I’m speaking of the eternal, supernatural quality of life that you so desire.  The life marked by revival, signs, wonders, divine encounters–that is eternal life.  It can’t be conjured up through tantrums.  You can’t cry or wail your way into it.  You must simply realize that the answer to all of your desires lay directly in front of you.  You must simply trust in your Father’s goodness, believe upon the Finished Works of Christ, and dive in with reckless abandon.  Your “presents” are not coming, they’ve already arrived.  You’re job is to access them through the simplicity of faith.

“…Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here…” (HEB 9:11)

Dear friends, let us no longer “whine in light of the ‘tree’”, but let us instead “dine in light of the ‘tree’”.  The cross purchased it all.  Do not allow your desire, or your fervency to become an insult to Christ’s works.  Simply believe.  It really is that simple.

Unwrapping His gifts,

Jeff

"Is that You, God?"

The unfortunate reality is that many, if not most, in Christendom have adopted a view of God the Father that stands in absolute contradiction to the New Covenant nature of God.  At best, we view Him as a Father who works far from home, and comes to visit us on the weekends–typically on Sundays from about 10:30-noon.  At worst, we see Him as abusive and as one who periodically abandons us in the name of “teaching us a lesson”–or, the old religious favorite, for the purpose of “building character“.  Certainly a physical human being, who treated his children in the way that we praise God for treating us, would be well deserving of some hard and lonely jail time.

Have you read of the ingenious method of parenting developed by Dr. Gerald Derelict?  As a single father, Gerald realized that he was failing miserably, and decided that it was time to “up the ante” in regards to his parenting skills.  You see, Mr. Derelict was very concerned with ensuring that his children grew up to be healthy and productive members of society.  As a result of this desire, Gerald developed the “abandonment method”.  He had read all of the books on parenting, and had found all of the varying methods to be lacking in efficacy.  The “abandonment method” would be Gerald’s grand “opus”, his earth-shaking contribution to the world of child-rearing.

The method is actually quite simple: in the child’s most vulnerable and formative years, the parent is to abandon the child and leave them to care for themselves. Now, it would be downright cruel to leave the child feeling as though he or she were completely alone, so the parent is required to write a series of letters to leave for their child.  These are meant to serve as reminders that, although mommy and daddy may not be literally present, they are indeed present in some sort of mystical, metaphysical, metaphorical way…whatever that means.  This will prove to be a great comfort to the child while they learn to fend for themselves.  This stage of the “abandonment method” is known as the desert season.  There can be no doubt that this experience will prove to be one of the most glorious experiences in the child’s life.  They will one day sit around a cozy fire with mom and dad, reflecting one those glorious years as children when they were abandonned and left to their own devices.  Mom and dad will warmly smile at  one another, as one by one the children recount their glorious tales of adventure in the land of neglect.  It is expected that most children who are reared under the “abandonment method” will become some of the most productive members of society.  We’re talking doctors, lawyers, heads of state, ambassador’s and nobel-prize winners.  Parent-less-ness will eventually prove to be one of the greatest keys to a child’s success in life!

Now…back to reality.

I’m sure that you didn’t waste even a moment of your time believing that the, “abandonment method” was a real and viable method of parenting.  Of course, an individual who practiced such foolishness would be considered, as the good doctor’s name suggests, derelict in their duties.  If we find this type of behavior to be despicable and damaging in the natural, why on earth do we think that it would be effective in regards to our spiritual life?  The popular notion that God the Father takes us through seasons of spiritual dryness and draught, in an attempt to teach us of His love and character, is absolutely frightening and downright unscriptural.

Statistics show that children abandonned by their parents in their formative years, or in vulnerable stages in their lives, typically do not wind up becoming the envy of their peers.  Now, there are exceptions to every statistic, but on average, children from fatherless homes are more likely to spend time in prison, live in poverty and have very little sense of purpose in their lives.  How is it then, that we think that God the Father would periodically abandon us in the name of perfecting us?  If there is no true change or transformation outside of His presence, how in the world could we be changed into His likeness outside of it?  The truth is, if God truly operated that way, He would be working against the very thing He is aiming at accomplishing.

The scriptures make it clear, Jesus Christ is our propitiation (1 John 2:2).  Put in plain english, the word propitiation simply means, substitute.  This means that on the Cross, Jesus Christ experienced as His reality, everything that belonged to us–namely the pain of our self imposed alienation and separation from God.  After falling in the Garden of Eden, mankind began a centuries long migration away from the face of the Father.  Why?  The overwhelming shame and guilt he carried due to his brokenness deceived him into believing that God was no longer on his side.  In his warped mind, God had ceased to be Father and had instead become judge, jury and executioner.  Man could no longer stand in God’s presence without feeling a profound sense of shame, worthlessness and fear of reprisal.  This feeling was not coming from the outside from God, but rising up from the inside of man’s broken heart.  He now saw God as separate, distant and at odds with himself.  For example, as God the Father came to fellowship with Adam after he had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam runs and hides himself among the trees of the garden (GEN 3:9-10).  A myth emerged from Eden that day, a myth which stated that God could no longer be among men due to their fallen state.  This was a reality which existed only in man’s mind, however, as God continues to stay active and operative among men for many centuries.  It was only in man’s now hostile mind that he was alienated and separated from his Father.  (EPH 4:18, COL 1:21, ROM 8:7)

Though self imposed, this separation felt real to man.  The pain and torment that this self inflicted wound caused was overwhelming, destroying man’s emotions and causing him to run headlong into wickedness and filth.  As an imagined alien, there was no depth to which man would not sink in an effort to numb the pain of separation which he felt.  God had to intervene.  How did He choose to do so?  By becoming one with us.  You see, on the Cross Christ did not simply become a “sacrifice for sins”…he became you and I!  (ROM 6:6)  He became you and I with all of our mythology, baggage and false beliefs about who God is and how He behaves towards us.  He experienced life and relationship to His Father through the lens of our brokenness for those six agonizing hours on the Cross.  This horrifically glorious experienced met it’s climax when Christ, looking at His present sufferings through the lens of our beliefs cries out:  “My God, My God, Why have YOU forsaken Me?”

Up until this moment, when Jesus directly speaks to God, He always addresses Him as “Father”.  Yet in this moment, He simply refers to Him as my “God”.  Think of a child who’s father also happened to be the President of the United States.  Everyone else in the President’s inner circle refers to him as “Mr. President”.  His child, however, has the sole privlege of referring to him as “daddy”!  Jesus looking up at His Father and referring to Him as “My God”, would be akin to the President’s child referring to his “daddy” as “Mr. President”.  In this moment, Jesus is looking at the Father, through our eyes and experiencing our imagined severance from the Father.  Here is Jesus, spiked to a tree in His most desperate and vulnerable moment, feeling as though the Father had literally abandoned Him!  It is in this moment that Jesus hurls that blistering cry heavenward, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

Do you understand, dear reader, that in this moment, Jesus experiences the abandonment which you and I saw ourselves as being partakers of?  The heartbreaking feeling of the Father’s absence was the product of our pain and vain imaginings, and yet Christ stepped right into the midst of it and drank it down to the very last drop!  Bear in mind that when Christ asks, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”, He is quoting the prophetic words of David in Psalms 22:1.  If you read through this Psalms, it’s like having a front row seat to the crucifixion, before the practice of crucifixion even existed.  Clearly, David is prophesying about the sufferings of Christ on Calvary, which begin which Christ questioning His Father for seemingly abandoning Him.  Yet, Psalms 22 does not end nearly as dismally as it began.

For the first 21 verses, Christ is experiencing pain, life and God through our fallen eyes. However, in verses 22-24, Christ changes gears and declares the truth concerning His situation:

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained
     the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

The Scripture tells us that Christ, far from being abandoned, was heard by His Father and not hidden from His face.  In verse 22, Christ declares His passion to speak to His brothers of His Father’s true nature.  Hebrews 2:12 clearly tells us that this is a part of Christ present day ministry.  What was the image of the Father that Christ was passionate about declaring to us?  He wanted us to see the Father as the One who never abandoned or hid his face from the broken.  As a Father who never abandons His children in the midst of their sufferings and pain.  Christ’s original question concerning His abandonment was asked from our perspective.  The answer in verse 24, however, comes from His perspective.

My friends, in light of this reality, let me say that it is an audacious and downright offensive thing to claim that God abandons us to “wilderness seasons” or “deserts” in the name of perfecting us!  If Christ stepped into my reality and fully experienced the horror of my own misconceptions of His Father, what on earth am I doing still wallowing in them?  Would it not seem foolish to you and I, to continue making monthly payments on a credit card which has already been paid off?  Would that not make the pay-off seem absolutely absurd?  Would you continue on as an indentured servant if your debts were paid by someone greater?  Would it not be an offense to the one who paid off your debt for you to continue toiling and laboring?

In the same way, I’m afraid that many modern believers feel the need to toil and labor under the weight of sin’s penalties, when all of those penalties have been paid.  Jesus did not become your substitute, only to put you through the same agonizing experiences that He endured.  Would it not be calling His efforts and labors, “not good enough”?  Friend, much pop-theology of the day is based not on an understanding of Christ’s finished work, but on human experiences wrongly interpreted.  God never abandons us, or takes His presence away from us as punishment.  We have this flawed perception that God teaches us maturity by distancing Himself from us, but this is altogether wrong and is the anti-thesis of the Cross of Christ!  God does not go off on a road trip in order to prepare us for ministry!  Nor does He, when we happen to have a bad day, go and hang with those more appreciative of His goodness–while leaving us to boil in our misery.  God is as present with you on your best day as He is on your worst day.  Your confidence in who you are as a Son and who God is as your Father, is what determines your ability to discern His presence!

Some say that while God may not “abandon” us to teach us lessons, He does change the way that He manifests Himself to us, in order to teach us to discern Him in every season.  What good parent would regularly and purposely change their appearance in an attempt to get their children to know them on a deeper level?  Is confusion a good teacher?  Would it be wise for parents to sport a lumberjack-esque beard one day, and a clean shaven, silky smooth, GQ face the next?  Perhaps then they could really up the ante by dying their hair a deep purple, and then the next day shave it into a glowing yellow mow-hawk!  The next step could be for them to speak to their children only through a voice-altering device.  Then they could experiement with contact lenses–they could change their eye color every other day for the rest of their children’s lives.  Then they’ll really mix things up by having plastic surgery in order to make themselves look like Bill Cosby!  At the end of this little exercise, however, their child will become truly mature, and able to recognize their parent in any form that they may choose to manifest themselves!  Because, after all, mommy and daddy are just a little bit mentally unstable and change their personality types nearly everyday!  What a valuable learning experience this will be for the little ones!

Now that sounds absolutely ridiculous, and it should.  But we tend to view God as a Father who regularly pulls these very same stunts, all in an effort to pull us closer to Him.  No doubt, such behavior would confuse and scar a child.  They would never know who to trust, or even know who was who for that matter.  Again, why do we think that God would behave in such a way?  Why do we view a relationship with God as being some sort of morbid game in which we have to learn to see through all of His disguises?  Is God the Father really some bizarre head-case, whose eccentricities we just have to learn to live with?  Absolutely not!  Friend, under the New Covenant, because of Christ’s finished work, intimacy with the Father is not confusing.  It is not something erratic and unstable that changes daily.  It is a steady and sure path that we can walk upon with confidence!

We do not serve a deadbeat dad or an eccentric Father!  We serve a Father who is madly in love with us and Who has made every effort to ensure that we live in unbroken, non-confusing communion with Him.  We really need to come back to a place of divine simplicity in our view of God as our Father.  Jesus Christ dismantled our imagined orphan-hood on the Cross so that we would never have to experience the pain of abandonment again.  Your Father is always with you.  He’s always present.  Never more, never less.  His presence is not like the waves of the ocean that come in only to go out again.  He has come once and for all through the Person of the Holy Spirit and any teaching that describes a God who comes and goes is either false or old covenant in it’s understandings.  Your relationship with the Father is secure, and as a result, so should you be!

Consider the words of Jesus is Matthew 7:9-11:

9 ”Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

What Jesus is telling us is that if common sense would keep an earthly Father from behaving in ridiculous and abusive ways towards his children, how much better off do you think we must be having God as our Father?  If it would land an earthly dad in jail, then what makes us think a heavenly Father would behave in such a way?  Friends, your Dad is a good Dad!  There’s no abuse in His eyes.  No manipulation in His voice.  No violence or pent-up aggression in His hands.  Because of Christ, we are sons of God forever, and God is forever pleased with us in Christ!

Not Abandoned,

Jeff

. . ?

Moments ago, I walked into my office, chilled to the bone and soaked through to the skin.  You see, I had made the rather “un-wise” decision of taking a long and much needed walk out in the pouring rain.  I am now wet, cold, shivering and lusting after a heater of some kind.  I am experiencing the somewhat annoying sensation of wet denim clinging to my legs and my fingers are trembling and rigid.  Typing these few sentences has taken a little longer than usual, as my fingers feel more like little frozen sausages than warm and useful appendages.  The backspace key has come quite in handy to say the least.

So here I am, soaking wet, freezing cold, and yet, I feel absolutely buzzed with the Life of God!  I’ve never felt more hopeful concerning my future or my destiny in God, and feel more vital to the Kingdom than I have in months!  I feel more loved and pleasing to the Father than I have in recent memory!  What is the reason for this blissful, euphoric sensation that now grips my being?  Simple.  I just got done being disciplined by the Holy Spirit!  Hooray!

Now, my reason for rejoicing may seem quite strange to you.  That’s because, for the most part, we view discipline and correction as being a grand and protracted trip to that heavenly wood-shed.  We see the Lord, teeth clenched in anger, eye brows furrowed and belt in hand.  His voice is harsh, angry and anything but kind and understanding.  This, fortunately for us, is a completely false view of divine discipline and bares very little resemblance to our loving Heavenly Father.

His voice, even when it corrects and disciplines, drips with life and grace.  The words that roll off of His tongue are sweet and empowering!  He never backs His children into a corner with His bony finger, belittling them and leaving them feeling shamed and worthless!  When the Lord corrects, you will always feel more full of hope and able to accomplish history-altering supernatural works on the other side!

Any voice that comes in a rebuking or corrective manner that does not produce hope, love, faith and security is not coming from the mouth of the Lord.  In 1 Peter 5:8,  the scriptures tells us that the devil goes about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour! The implication here is that the enemy roars first and then devours second.  His “roar” speaks of his voice, and we know from Jesus’ words in John 8:44, that the only language the enemy of souls speaks is the language of lies and deception.  If his lips are moving, you can be sure that he’s lying.  Therefore, the roar of the enemy speaks of the lies of the enemy!

Peter also tells us that satan goes about “as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour…”.  To say that he goes about as something simply means that he hunts in costume, concealing his true identity and attempting to appear as something, or someone, that he is not.  We know that Jesus Christ is the prophesied* Lion of the Tribe of Judah whom the Apostle John encounters in Revelation 5:5.  Therefore, the enemy masquerading as a lion, while spewing forth lies is symbolic of satan masquerading as King Jesus whilst attempting to get us to believe that his voice is God’s voice!  It is only when we come into agreement with satan’s lies, believing them to be the Lord’s words, that he is able to devour!  He can only devour what submits to his roar!

What do these lies sound like and how can we recognize them when we encounter them?  Consider the following passage from Proverbs 20:2:

The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion; Whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own life.

In this Proverb, the anger of a King is compared to the roaring of a lion. The roar of the enemy, posing as the voice of the Lord, can oftentimes be recognized by it’s tone.  When the Lord speaks to His sons and daughters, He will always speak to them with dignity and respect.  He is not an angry, short-tempered Father!  He is infinitely patient and is skilled at speaking only those words that release life and promote improvement!  Therefore, when words come to you–whether straight from the spirit world into your mind, from behind a pulpit, or from a flashy new christian book–listen for the sound of life!  If it is filled with anger, wrath and venom, spit it out immediately!  You most likely just encountered the lying tongue of lucifer, via the hi-jacked tongue of a bitter, frustrated minister. (God bless them.)  The enemy wants us to believe God to be an angry, fuming Father with a very, very, very short fuse!  If this is how we see Him, we will avoid Him for as long as we can!

However, the Scriptures paint the voice of the Lord in an altogether different manner.  The aged Apostle John, upon hearing the voice of the resurrected and glorified Christ, stated the following concerning it’s tone:  “…His voice was like the sound of many waters.“  Certainly, this is telling us of the majestic, Niagara-like quality of God’s thunderous voice.  However, the picture of God’s voice being like the sound of many waters also tells us one important thing about the way God speaks–His speech, like water, always brings life and promotes healthy growth!

It has been raining off and on for the past week or so–and the long, jungle-like-grass in my “un-mowed” lawn testifies to the life-giving power of water.  In the same way, the lovely voice of Jesus will never come in a menacing or belittling way that causes you to shrivel up and die!  Many times, when preaching and teaching takes on a “rebuking” tone, it only kills and makes individuals want to run and hide.  They feel as if the road back home is too long and arduous, so they had might as well just run in the other direction.  They have not heard the sweet, tender, life-giving voice of the Spirit that declares good things over their life–that only wants the best for them!  They have not heard that siren-like voice that calls them back to the rock of Jesus Christ–with no strikes on their record and no penalties to pay.  The voice of Jesus will always encourage an immediate rebound and recovery!  It does not cause one to wallow in self-pity, but encourages and uplifts until we are bursting at the seems with divine joy and contentment!  Even the Lords rebukes give life!  They do not box you into your present circumstances and leave you hopeless!  Rather, His rebuke will identify your situation and then tenderly and gently lead you out of it!

So, dear reader, I tell you, if you feel you have been disciplined by the Lord but are not smiling ear to ear or buzzing with anticipation, perhaps you should reconsider the source.  If, after listening to a message, you’ve found yourself wallowing in self-pity and condemnation, maybe you need to spit out that mouth full of bones!  God is madly in love with you, and not mad at you!  So today, rejoice in the Lord’s discipline and His correction!  It has not come to polarize, but to promote you!

Soaked and Happy,

Jeff

ARE WE THERE YET?

We’ve all been on one of those long family road trips, haven’t we?  You know the kind I’m talking about, right?  Dad has on his captain’s hat, and mom, the faithful navigator, has the map spread out on her lap and the dashboard.  The car is filled to absolute capacity with luggage, pillows, blankets and “last-minute-must-haves”.  The kids are crammed into the back seat, ear buds (headphones) lodged firmly within the ear cavity and iPod’s working at full steam.  Fast food wrappers litter the landscape of the vehicles floor and the smell of sweaty bodies and old french fries fills the air.  Arguments regularly erupt between captain and navigator as to the best and fastest route to the destination, while the children’s media-induced coma seems to keep their annoyance at bay for stretches lasting several hours.

Then, it happens.  Perhaps it was when little Johnny’s Gameboy ran out of batteries, or maybe when the death of Susie’s cell-phone battery brought her 5 hour text-a-thon to a screeching halt.  However, it occurred…it most certainly did occurr.  It began with a stirring in the back seat.  A short, whiny, semi-muffled moan is emitted by one of the children.  It begins simply, “uhhhh…”.  The parents whose bickering finally gave way to a long period of much desired peace and quiet, very slowly peer over their shoulders. Their eyes quickly and cautiously scan the backseat, their heads then quickly snapping back into a forward position.  “Perhaps if we don’t make eye contact”, the parents reason, “there will be no further unrest from the ships battered crew.”  Then there comes the inevitable follow-up moan, this time from another family member.  Then, another…and another, and another…until before long, the whole back seat is absolutely abuzz with moans, groans, complaints of discomfort, pleas for bathroom stops and perhaps even the sound of hands slapping legs as the elder sister asserts her dominance as queen of the backseat.  Then, the question is posed.

“ARE WE THERE YET!!??”

Does that scenario sound familiar to any of you?  Does it bring back memories of hot, sweaty, station wagon trips to the Grand Canyon?  Or maybe it reminds you of the long and arduous mini-van trip to Disney World of ’95?  You might be surprised to hear what it reminds me of, because to me, the scenes depicted and the cries emitted sound curiously like the modern Church whilst gathered at any given service or prayer meeting.  What exactly do I mean by this?  Truth be told, we behave in a strikingly similar manner to the characters in the “family vacation” illustration.  Much of this behavior comes as a result of our belief that we are on a journey as opposed to having arrived at our destination!

When I speak of our destination I am not speaking of Heaven or even of arriving at a state of spiritual perfection.  I am, however, speaking of a place of total attainment and complete fulfillment in Christ.  For years we have been taught (albeit by very Godly and sincere individuals) that we are on our way towards some great climactic revival moment, or that we are on our way to becoming some mutant, super-church that will far surpass anything that the Church of Acts had ever dreamed of being.  Do I believe and anticipate a great end-time move of God and a victorious, last-days Church?  Absolutely!  However, I do not believe that these will come about as a result of God finally answering our moans and groans from the backseat.  Rather, I believe that  there will be an awakening amongst God’s people to the reality of what has been available to us for the past 2,000 years!

Sometimes a deep desire for something greater can blind you to the glories of the present tense.  When Jesus Christ uttered those earth shattering words, “It is Finished!”,  He wasn’t just being poetic or dramatic–He meant it!  Man’s journey towards God came to an end and a door of opportunity was opened to us that very few have ever actually taken advantage of.  Sometimes, we become so frustrated with ourselves for not perfectly manifesting the nature of Jesus that we revert to Old Covenant ways of thinking.  We see ourselves on a perpetual journey towards some ideal plain of Godliness and live frustrated existences, wondering why our fasting, prayers and acts of devotion just never seem to be enough.  We see ourselves like that great company spoken of in Hebrews 11 who were ever in pursuit of something greater and yet all died without ever apprehending the object of their pursuit.  We forget to grasp the main point of Hebrews 11, however, which is that we have attained that which the Old Testament saints died in pursuit of!

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (HEBREWS 11:39-40)

The scriptures are very clear on matters concerning our position in Jesus Christ:

- We are not dying to sin, but are dead to sin!

“…We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (ROMANS 6:2-4)

“The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (ROMANS 6:10-11)

- We are not being made alive but have been made fully alive!

“…God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…” (EPHESIANS 2:4-5)

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…” (COLOSSIANS 2:13)

- We are not ascending, we have ascended!

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (EPHESIANS 2:6)

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (COLOSSIANS 3:1-3)

Now I could go on an on, listing such verses and making such statements, my point, however, is that the New Testament writers (especially the Apostle Paul) seem to spend the bulk of their time speaking of our arrival at a destination rather than our journey towards one.  Now certainly, teachings concerning the coming resurrection and eternity abound, however, when it comes to this side of life, the NT writers seem to stress the fact that we have arrived!  We have entered into a place of fullness in Christ!  In the Charismatic, Pentecostal, Prophetic streams, however, we seem to be forever stuck in the station wagon.  We are always speaking of some grand day in the future, which will apparently come after we have fasted ourselves into near-starvation and/or tongue-talked ourselves delirious.  Finally, once the last solemn assembly has been held, the final donut has been pushed aside and the last prayer has been prayed, God will break through in blinding power and His Church will rise up victorious and full of power.  The nations of the earth will see His Glory and fall on their faces in repentance before a Holy God.  Sounds exciting!  Sounds dramatic!  Sounds intense!  But it also sounds kind of…un-biblical!

The problem I have with such a scenario is not the desired end result of massive revival and awakening.  The problem I have with the scenario is the means by which we think we can attain such a holy movement.  Much of the focus in revival-type movements is on our efforts and our works which will bring about the desired result of revival.  This type of thinking has almost mutated into the hope of some type of third covenant which will be established when revival comes.  As a result, Christ’s finished works and the power and glory of the New Covenant are absolutely diminished in our eyes.  The Old Testament saints, such as the Samaritan woman mentioned in John chapter 4, placed all of their hopes in the coming of Messiah.  Today, we seem to place all of our hopes in the coming of revival!  The OT saints had it right.  They were on a journey, awaiting the coming of Christ.  As New Covenant children of God, however, the journey is over and we have arrived at our destination in Christ!  There is no greater work, no further covenant which needs to be established!  WE ARE THERE!

Now, although we have arrived, we most certainly have not yet experienced everything that there is to experience in God just yet.  Just as arriving in the parking lot of Disney World doesn’t mean you have experienced Disney World, we have likewise arrived at Mount Zion, we have arrived in Christ, but there is still much to explore.  There is a great  difference in understanding things in this way as opposed to viewing ourselves on a journey towards a destination.  The “journey-mentality” causes frustration and spiritual depression.  It creates hopelessness and anxiety in the heart of the believer.  We become so desperate to attain “power” or “anointing” through our efforts that we wind up becoming absolutely irrelevant and burned out.  The “arrival-mentality”, however, causes the believer to enter into a state of contentment and rest in which they are free to explore and experience God without the added pressure of feeling that they need to strive or perform certain actions in order to accelerate their progress towards a destination.

The “arrival-mentality” also removes our ability to make “sanctified-excuses” for our lack of power and authority.  Once we realize that we have arrived, the responsibility is no longer on the Lord to “move”, the responsibility is on the Church to agree with Heaven and become co-laborers with Christ.  No longer can we push revival and awakening into the future!  We are forced to either draw back  or become the very revival which we have so desperately desired!  We can no longer blame a lack of Kingdom expansion on “closed heavens” or “territorial spirits” who require frequent “binding” and “casting down”.  When we come into the knowledge that we have arrived in Christ, there is absolutely no excuse for powerlessness.  We are forced to cope with scriptures such as Isaiah 60:1 which says, “Arise and shine, for your light has come.”  We are not waiting for a light to come, God is waiting for us to access and tap into that which has already come!

We need not wait for a mantle for fiery evangelism in order to evangelize!  We need not wait on an impartation for signs & wonders in order to heal the sick and work miracles!  We need no greater release of the prophetic to fall from the sky to empower us to be flaming witnesses for Christ.  We need only to allow the ever-present rivers of the Holy Spirit to pour forth from our spirit man.  (John 7:38)  The Holy Spirit was released through Christ’s finished works 2,000 years ago!  We must reject the notion that He is coming and must believe that He has come!  We must forever forsake the idea that we are ascending to a plain of power and authority and instead declare that we have ascended and are seated in Heavenly places with Christ!

So, are you sick of the station wagon?  Are you tired of the bickering amongst believers as to the best and quickest route to revival?  Have you had it yet with the disgruntled attitudes created by an “endless-journey-theology”?  Tired of the stench of sweat and man’s effort?  Well, I’ve got Good News for you, WE’RE THERE!  Open the car doors and take a deep breath of that Heavenly oxygen!  Stretch your legs and kiss the sky–WE’RE HOME!  The journey is over!  It is finished!  We have arrived!  It’s time now to unpack your suitcase and to make yourself at home in Christ!

“There”,

Pastor Jeff

HEBREWS 12:22-24 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

http://awakening.mypodcast.com/2010/03/None_Of_These_Things_Move_Me-291275.html

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God bless!

"The Man In The Mirror"

A few months ago, while having something of a “girl moment”, I found myself, with my wife at my side mind you, engrossed in the TLC show What Not To Wear.  If you’re unfamiliar with the show, the game goes something like this: You’re a frumpy dresser who doesn’t take as good of care of yourself as you should.  Your friends recommend you to this show and, VOILA, you’re given a complete makeover.  Hair.  Clothes.  Shoes.  Makeup–the whole bit.

The show was progressing along nicely, and I was genuinely enjoying the process!  Then came the point where the young woman, we’ll call her “Nancy”, was made to submit her uncared for countenance to the skilled hands of the resident makeup artist.   Before the process began, the makeup artist turned the chair around, forcing Nancy to look at her non-made-over face in the mirror.  The artist then posed the question, “What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?”  The woman answered back without hesitating, listing off all of the negative features she saw in herself, “I see red, blotchy skin.  Tired, sunken eyes.  Dry, frizzy hair, etc…” The makeup artist interrupted in a firm but gentle tone, “Wait, wait, wait! I want you to take another look in the mirror.  Only this time I don’t want you to pick out your negative features, I want you to find what IS beautiful about you!  That will make this makeover MUCH easier, and MUCH more enjoyable!”

The principle being related by the makeup artist was very simple, yet very profound.  She understood that as long as “Nancy” saw herself as barely passable as slightly prettier than a chimpanzee, this makeover would remind her only of how unattractive she really was.  This makeover would seem to Nancy as nothing more than a sad attempt to make an ugly woman slightly less ugly.  It would seem to her as a painful, and almost humiliating process.  It wouldn’t cause her to want to change her behavior or beautification regiment in the mornings.  On the contrary, it would only serve to remind her of those faults and blemishes which she was probably taunted about in junior high and high school.  This replaying of humiliation and embarrassment would only cause her to neglect herself even more, thinking, “What’s the point of even trying?”.

However, if, as the makeup artist was attempting to do, Nancy could be caused to see the latent beauty that has always been sprawled across her face; if she could be made to see that she was not slightly-less-revolting than the hind end of a baboon, but was, in fact, actually pretty beneath all of her neglect, than perhaps this makeover could be transformed into something altogether different.  Perhaps now, instead of being a torturous procedure in which she is reminded of how unattractive she is, it could actually be a journey of discovery in which she finds that beauty has been hidden within her all along like a buried treasure!  Perhaps the unveiling at the end of it all could be a joyful finding of her true self as opposed to being a hurtful, humiliating event.  Perhaps the makeover could be…fun!  Enjoyable!  Pleasant!  Easy!

Now I’m sure that you’ve already gathered that my purpose in writing today is not to give you tips on conducting successful makeovers on bitter and disgruntled clients.  Rather, I wish to unravel this parable today and help you gain a new understanding of the process of sanctification!  You see, sanctification seems to the average believer like what Nancy’s makeover seemed to her–a horribly demeaning process in which our faults and blemishes are laid bare.  This process of “becoming like Jesus” seems to us to be the most difficult thing imaginable!  I mean, after all, how could two people be so different and diametrically opposed to one another as “us” and Jesus, right?  I mean this “makeover” process is literally going to take forever!  Not only will the road be long, but it will the most boring, harsh journey we’ve ever known!  Right?  Right?  Maybe not so right!

You see, the process of “holiness” and “sanctification” seems so torturous to us because we are completely out of touch with our true identity.  Like Nancy, we see ourselves as barely passable as children of “fallen Adam”, let alone as children of the Most High God!  We are painfully conscious of all of our areas of weakness.  All of our spiritual blemishes seem to marked out in bold lettering, overlaid with a florescent yellow high-lighter.  Just sitting in the chair makes us squeamish and uneasy.  Certainly all of our ways are laid bare before the eyes of the Lord…we’re in BIG trouble, so we think!

Certainly we are all pockmarked with failures, broken promises–in a word, sin!  We are definitely not lacking in failures, faults and malfunctions.  However, if our main focus in the process of sanctification is our faults, I promise you this one thing–you will eventually give up on the process!  Instead of your behavior being modified, spiritually speaking, you’ll run right back to the dirty, faded, ripped jeans, the over-sized hoodie, and the matted, unkempt hair.  Why?  Because it seems so much easier than attempting to “become like Jesus”!  I think that King Jesus, the conductor of this makeover, would have us take a second look at the man in the mirror.

Read the following passage of scripture from James 1:21-25 with me very carefully:

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.

James gives us a prescription here for ridding ourselves of “moral filth” and “evil”.  His instructions could be easily misunderstood if we do only a surface read.  However, look closely at what James recommends, “accept the word planted in you“.  James declares to us that the word of God has been implanted within us!  He goes on to say that an individual who looks into the perfect law, or the word of God, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like.  Why is this?  Because when a believer looks into the word of God, they are NOT beholding the exact opposite of themselves, they are beholding their true selves!  Remember what James says in verse 21, “…accept the implanted word…”!  This means that the nature and essence of all that the word declares is already within you through the Holy Spirit!  In other words, when you look into the word, you are looking into the mirror!  You are seeing who you truly are!

When you read of all of the character traits Jesus desires and requires of us in the sermon on the mount, you are looking in the mirror!  When you read the Galatians 5 list of the fruits of the Spirit, you are looking in the mirror!  This is your true identity!  Everything that you need to be a man or a woman of God has already been placed within you!  You are NOT your blemishes!  You possess the very nature of God through Jesus Christ!  However, because we have been trained to major on our faults, they are all that we see!

“Wait just a minute!”, you may say, “If I possess the nature of God, if I possess the ‘implanted word’, than why would I still have these faults?”  Because, as in the case of Nancy, the beauty of Jesus Christ that you were given through salvation, is most likely buried beneath years of neglect.  You’ve been told by preachers all of your life that you are your hang up, that you’re identity is found in your dysfunction!  You’re identification with your weakness has caused you to embrace a lifestyle in which you have taken on the appearance of your old nature instead of enhancing and bringing out the nature of Jesus Christ within you.  The real truth is, however, that you are the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ!  (2 Cor 5:21)

We may still be in a process, but the process becomes much more enjoyable when you realize that you are not trying to insert beauty into  you…you’re trying to get it out of you!  You see, under the Old Covenant, God standards and laws were on the outside, trying to get in!  They were two, external stone tablets aiming all ten of their big guns at you!  Inside of you was a sinful nature in complete disagreement with those external laws…this produced the struggle Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 7.  Paul was not speaking of this struggle as something he was experiencing in the present tense, but was describing the struggle of a man attempting to keep the law without the Spirit or the new heart received through regeneration.  You see, the law, the word, is no longer an external thing–it is within you, written on your heart!

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. (JEREMIAH 31:33)

You see, the laws and standards of God are no longer external, trying to get in!  They are now internal, trying to get out!  This is why Paul instructs us to “…work out your own salvation…” (Php 2:12)  Salvation has already been worked in, now it needs to be worked out!  That beautiful nature of Jesus Christ we all long to be transformed into is, in reality, already within us as believers!  Again in 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul speaks of the process of transformation into Christ-likeness when He declares that we are “…transformed into the same image from Glory to Glory…”. Notice, firstly, that Paul states that we are always going from “Glory to Glory”!  This means that as a believer, we are never anything less than glorious!  We are always at a platform of glory!  We do not ascend from “garbage to Glory”, but from “Glory to Glory”!  This means that even in the transformation process, we are glorious!
Secondly, when Paul declares that we are being “transformed”, he uses the Greek word metamorpho.  From this word we derive the English word metamorphosis.  Now, when you think of the process of transformation known as metamorphosis, which creature (hint-it’s an insect) comes to the fore-front of your mind?  If you’re like me, you were thinking of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.  Now, how does this metamorphosis take place?  Do magical “butterfly-fairies” descend from the skies at night, wrap the ugly caterpillar in a silken cocoon, give it liposuction, remove it’s slimy suction cup legs and attach long, slender appendages?  Do they then, by use of their fairy-magic, attach beautifully colored wings, giving the once earth-bound worm the ability to fly?  Certainly not!  The metamorphosis occurs from the inside out!  There is not outside influence involved in the transformation!  Everything the caterpillar needs to be transformed already lurks within!  In the same way, Peter tells us that we already have within us, “…everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)  We, like the caterpillar, are “metamorphosized” not from the outside in, but from the inside out!  This is the “implanted word” that James spoke of at work!  As we gaze upon the face of Jesus in communion and the word, His nature within us is magnetically drawn to the surface!

Consider the words of the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 10:14

“…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

How can we be both “perfect forever” and yet “being made holy”?  You see, your spirit is already perfected and made into the beautiful image of Jesus Christ!  Yet, this image is being worked out of you in a “Glory to Glory” transformation process!

I’m telling you today friends, that if we would simply shift the way we think concerning holiness and sanctification, the process would lose it’s awful sting and actually become something enjoyable!  Think of it, holiness and enjoyment, joined together!  It almost seems to good to be true…but then, that’s the Gospel for you!  If we truly wish to honor the sacrifice of Jesus, we must honor the reality that He has transformed us into new creations!  We must honor the fact that the proverbial “man in the mirror” is not our old self who bore Adam’s broken, fallen likeness!  The Man in the mirror is Jesus Christ!  We may not see it clearly yet, but trust me, if you’re born again, He’s there!  He’s in you!  His beauty, His law, His character, His ways–all are within, not without!  Holiness and sanctification is the process by which His nature is drawn out of you, not placed into you!

Today I give you a solemn charge:  Take Another Look At The Man In The Mirror!  You might just be shocked by what you see!

2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

“But we all, with unveiled face, *** beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord***, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

"Satan Claus?"

The other day, my five year old daughter said something to me which, although theologically speaking, was right on, nonetheless made me slightly cringe and recoil inside.  While bubbling over with a healthy dose of Holiday spirit, I excitedly asked my daughter, “Honey, are you excited for Christmas and presents?!”, to which she responded quite matter-of-factly, “Daddy, Christmas is not about presents or Santa Claus!  It’s about the birth of Jesus!”  Now somebody please help me–what exactly is wrong with that statement?  Absolutely nothing!  In fact, in one sense, I was very proud to hear my daughter make such a profound declaration.  I mean, how could a father who is a devout Christian and who also happens to be a pastor, find any fault with her for that?  Nevertheless, I had a significant “check” in my spirit!

I made sure that she knew I heartily agreed with the theology and correctness of her worldview, however, I lovingly looked her in the eyes and said, “Baby, you are absolutely right when you say that Christmas is all about Jesus!  But, you see, Jesus is soooo in love with us, that He doesn’t mind, in fact He downright loves for us to get lots of presents and to enjoy ourselves!”  Now I’m sure that some of you out there in fundamentalistville are shaking your heads and thinking, “What a wasted teaching opportunity that was!”  But just hear me out before you mentally stake my heart with holly, ok?

You see, every Christmas season, the Christian world is abuzz with reports of schools prohibiting the singing of Christmas caroles, city halls ousting the Nativity scene, and department stores who say a cordial “Happy Holidays”, as opposed to the apparently blisteringly offensive, “Merry Christmas”.  We feel persecuted, threatened, and make a decided effort to continue pouring conservative, Christ-centered values into our children.  So far, so good!  However, there seems to exist something of a reactionist spirit within us that, because of the continued “de-Christianizing” of the Holiday, unconsciously pulls away from some of the more “secular” elements of Christmas.  This, I believe, is far more dangerous than a Target cashier saying, “Happy Holidays”! 

You see, it is no use keeping the name of Christ in Christmas if we do not keep the nature of Christ in Christmas.    If this be true, then it would behoove us to discover what the true nature of Jesus Christ is!  Is He a grumpy, snowman skewering sour-puss who talks “Yuletide trash” by referring to the mythical man-in-red as “Satan Claus”?  I recently read an article by a well-known Christian pastor and author who suggested that the wickedness of the “santa myth” should be immediately apparent due to the fact that a small reordering of the letters in “santa” would cause it to read, “satan”!  Hmmm…I suppose we should also stop “living” and start simply “existing” since the letters in “lived” could be easily reversed to read “devil”!   

Anyways…back to the nature of God! 

Is He a heavy handed, ascetic, joy-sucking, “party pooper” who descends from Heaven with his “de-funning” wand, to remove all of the life and happiness from this season?  Does He boycott songs concerning mutant reindeer with effulgent, crimson proboscis’s (that’s Rudolph for those not owning a thesaurus…), and instead sing only those tunes which speak of His “blessed advent”?  Would He overturn the tables of Christians who feast on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, ripping the juicy drumsticks from their piggy little snouts?  After all, aren’t there millions of starving children, who do not even have so much as a bowl of rice to fill their aching stomachs?  Would He breathe raging fire upon those holiday shoppers, spending $80.00 for 5 ounces of  fine fragrance?  After all, couldn’t that money have been used to give to the poor?  (Wait…haven’t I heard that somewhere before?)  Exaggerated it may be, but for the most part this is the way that millions of Believers see the Lord Jesus’ attitude towards 21st century Christmas celebrations!

We reason that wisdom and frugality would counsel us to go for the practical as opposed to the pleasureable!  Instead of buying toys and useless trinkets for our kids, we’ll get them underwear and socks–you know, something really practical!  And since we are just filled to the brim with Holiday spirit, we’ll throw in a bruised, softball sized orange as a stocking stuffer–just to spice things up a bit!  You know, this might be fun for the adults, frugality and all of that, but for the kids, underpants and oranges just don’t say “Merry Christmas” like they used to!  Kids are kids!  They don’t care about the practical, they want toys–they want to have…dare I say it on a Christian blog…FUN!  Now, should we spoil our kids rotten while others go on suffering in need and want?  Absolutely not!  At the same time, however, we need not feel guilty for lavishing gifts upon our children and spouses!  After all, is that not how the Father treats us in the spiritual?

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”  (1 JOHN 3:1)

“…your Father in Heaven (will) give good gifts to those who ask Him.”  (MATTHEW 7:11)

The picture we receive of God the Father in scripture is of one who lavishes love upon us!  He has no problem with pouring out upon us the most lavish and extravagant of gifts!  Why?  Because He loves us!  It’s that simple!  How then, am I showing the nature of God to my children if I make them feel guilty for receiving gifts from me?  Should we teach them the importance of giving to the poor?  Without a doubt!  But never at the expense of their own well being and happiness!  To do that would be to cause them to see God through an incorrect lens.  God is not one who takes away your joy and your ability to have fun for the sake of others!  He is a good God who allows you to live a lifestyle of holy pleasure, fully enjoying every moment!  He does this in order to make our helping of others also that much more enjoyable!  God does not desire service from bored little worker-bees!  God takes no pleasure in service which brings no pleasure to the servant! 

In Deutoronomy 28:47-48, God declares judgements upon those who do not enjoy themselves while serving Him!

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies…”

God is not opposed to fun and “merriment” in the context of a holy life!  These two are not as opposed to each other as the Church would have you to think!  Holiness and hilarity can share a room–and genuinely enjoy each others company!  Piety and pleasure can win a three-legged race together!  There is absolutely no disharmony between the two! 

The truth of the matter is that our reservations concerning “holiday fun”, have precious little to do with our theological understandings on how to properly celebrate Christmas!  Along such lines we are given absolutey no scriptural counsel.  The real issue is the Church’s tendency to feel bad about feeling good!  Being joyful seems to make us sad.  Why is this?  Is it the Holy Spirit who convicts us when we smile widely watching our kids dive into a mound of overpriced gifts on Christmas morning?  Or is it our own poor understanding of God that condemns us for taking pleasure in something that God Himself is pleased with?  Is it the Spirit of God who pricks our consciences when we eat just a little bit to much on Christmas day?  or is it our rigid, religious mindset waging war against the lavish nature of a New Covenant God?

I think we need a divine overhaul when it comes to our view of celebration and fun!  These are holy things!  The word “party” doesn’t necessarily mean “freak dancing” or “drunken orgy”–it’s a holy word, stolen from the vocabulary of the righteous!  Jesus had no problem with wild, sanctified celebration!  Consider Jesus’ parabolic use of a party which included wild “singing and dancing” in Luke 15:25.  He wasn’t using this scene to illustrate the sights and sounds of and eternal burning hell, but rather of the glories of Heaven!  Now if Jesus found these things to be inappropriate, He certainly would not have used them to illustrate something as awesome as the abode of YHWH!

In Nehemiah 8:9-12, we receive a very interesting look into what a day “sacred” or “holy unto the LORD” looks like:

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 
     10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 
     11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.” 
     12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Interestingly enough, in this context anyways, a holy day looked like eating, drinking, gift giving and the downright enjoyment of life!  It bore little resemblance to the joy-neutered, lemon-juice-baptized celebrations of the religious.  This was a party of Biblical proportions!  On the same note, we love digging for prophetic significance hidden within the feasts of Israel, but often forget that they were what their names suggest–FEASTS!  These were parties!  Some had solemn overtones and aspects, but even so, they were festivals which God commanded the people to celebrate!  Methinks that perhaps we have misunderstood and misconstrued the nature of God somewhere along the way! 

C.S. Lewis, in describing the glories of heaven, writes:

“It is only in our ‘hours-off,’ only in our moments of permitted festivity, that we find an analogy (for the joys of Heaven).  Dance and game are frivolous, unimportant down here; for ‘down here’ is not their natural place.  Here, they are a moment’s rest from the life we are placed here to live.  But in this world everything is upside down.  That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends.  Joy is the serious business of heaven.”

How beautifully put and true it is!  It is often only in our times of so-called “frivolous” or even “secular” enjoyment, that we truly find an illustration for what heaven must be like!  Rarely do we hear echoes of that heavenly country whilst plunking away at a keyboard in 5×5 cubicle, or when saying, “Welcome to McDonald’s, can I take your order?”  It is in those moments of blissful enjoyment and recreation that our imaginations make their comparisons!  Heaven’s atmosphere is  one of eternal joy and endless giving!  This, dear friends, is the nature of our God!  He is amazingly fun (pardon my French) and wildly happy!  He is offensively generous and anything but frugal!  He is savagely exhuberant about displaying His love for us and rarely counts pennies when picking out gifts!  This is His nature!  And if His name is to be honored, it is only because it is attached to this blessed nature! 

So, I give you this solemn charge: This Christmas, do not allow a prunish, religious spirit to rob you of your joy and gladness!  Refuse to feel bad for enjoying the company of friends and family over a giant feast!  Deny yourself the “right” to feel guilty over giving your children good gifts!  Don’t listen to your spouse when they say, “I don’t really need anything this year!”  Lavish your love upon your loved ones!  If you’ve no money, then find another way to pour out your love–and then pour it out in copious amounts!  Let’s really keep Christ in Christmas!  Give like you’ve never given; Laugh like you’ve never laughed; Sing like you’ve never sang before–and for goodness sakes, have a MERRY* Christmas! 

* mer·ry //  (mr) adj. mer·ri·er, mer·ri·est

1. Full of high-spirited gaiety; jolly.2. Marked by or offering fun and gaiety; festive: a merry evening.3. Archaic Delightful; entertaining.

God  bless!
Pastor Jeff

(PS–This article is anything but an excuse to be unwise with our finances, live above your means, max out credit cards and fall deeper into debt.  Such living is pure foolish at best and demonic at worst!  This is mostly my sad little attempt at shedding light on the celebratory nature of our Father!  Most Christians feel it almost sinful to have fun and enjoy themselves and their families.  This comes directly from an improper view of God.  So PLEASE, don’t go broke this Christmas and blame me! Live and spend responsibly!  We are called to steward our finances and live within our means!  Just thought I’d insert this little disclaimer here! )