Into him, Inculcating his values, Imitating him

Nothing beats being plugged in. It makes for power and forward progress.

In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.

Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.

J.B. Phillips paraphrases Ephesians l:19-20, "How tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God." When we make firm our connection with God, his life and power flow through us.

Ernest B. Beevers.

There is loose cable that is oft times neglected in our lives too - its our failure to enjoy Christ. We have so much to enjoy in our beautiful world, people, fun times, and activities; but oh to include him, to yearn after him, to treasure his worth - it's a loose cable we can daily neglect.

His is a call to himself. He was perfect - peerless in life; we - shapen in sin. Were he not to come, die, and renew our lives, we would know misery unending. This keystone passage is succinct in its recipe to help us blunt the old life with its pull and passions and find Christ's one - way charter to new, restored life and character.

Luke 14:25-33 NIV

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.  And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.     “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?  For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,  saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’     “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.  In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Knowing how carefully he was being watched by the followers of Moses, the Pharisees; Christ, on spending time with these false friends, intent on muzzling him, turned to the crowd and spoke these words. His was the ragamuffin message of a culture warrior in the minds of both Pharisee and careless listeners, alike.

His message simply was to pursue and enjoy him, to inculcate his values, to imitate him and model as others reproduce his life.

Our love for him must be an all encompassing one- a love that loves mother, father, brother, sister; but when love for mother, father, brother, or sister encroaches on our ability to make the moral decisions he desires, ours is to live to be approved by Him. His worth must be our priority and provide us the ability to aspire to the high, moral plains he desires us to call home (Colorado is on my mind). When the cross beam was lifted in ancient times, the one lifting it was on a one-way road to death. So as we commit to intimately know him, there's is a death that will take place in us-a death that will take us away from what others may venture to call life. We're to wrap ourselves into his life, to have him formed in us, to prize his devotion to his Father's will-his eyes only for our eternal welfare, his blood given to the last drop.

Enjoying him is an earmark of those committed to reflecting his unalloyed character. There is no following him apart from being dumbstruck and pulled in by his giving life. As living with him draws us in and makes us prize him above all; our love for him will lead to our loving less anything, one, or choice which pulls at our first call, which is to him. Yes, to live is Christ and to die to those passions, which subvert our enjoyment of him is gain.

"Come for everything is now ready"

I recently had an opportunity to give my son a teaching moment, when he tried to leave our dinner table before he should. Everyone is so busy devouring their meals and intent on seeing their favorite TV shows these days that the true meaning of mealtime is almost lost in our zoned in consumption of food at the expense of what dinner really means food, conversation, laughs, and relational bonding. I said to Coen as he left the table before he should, the family table is not a place for dining only, it's a place for talking, for treasured time with those we love.

We know seventy percent of Christ's NT teaching came in parable form. He taught in parables to close the eyes of those hell -bent on evil and to spark the curiosity and illumine those open to truth, which could alter their eternity.

Luke 14:16-24 NIV

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.  At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’   “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’     “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’     “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’     “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’     “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’     “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.  I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”

First some key thoughts from this marquis passage.

The invitation to dine at the banquet was first only to a select few. When the giver of the invitation found his offer rejected, he gave an open invite. All in street, alley then later road or country lane were to come and dine. The food was ready, but guests were slow to attend this banquet of such significance.

Luke 14:18-20 NIV

“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’     “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’     “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

People were uninclined to attend this dinner. Their reasons for rejecting the dinner were trite at best, considering the one, who'd invited them and his selfless preparing of this feast for these few, who meant the world to him.

John 1:11-12 NIV

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Christ came to his own, the Jews; when they rejected his invite into the kingdom of God, his invite was made open to all. 
There is present application in this parable for people, who haven't made a priority the feast Christ has extended to them. He offers a welcome to a banquet of incomparable privilege, where the attendees are granted access and life they cannot find elsewhere. Those privy to this table, as Jonathan's lame son had unlimited access to David's table, know the dearest of a King, who makes as his dwelling their hearts.  If you've never RSVPed, the time is now as his RSVP may very well end on his soon return to earth. When he comes, the door of opportunity to enter in will be latched shut.

Consider his the call "Come, for everything is now ready."

True Religion

Where once we were mere coals black, cold, and lifeless; we've been lit afire with white hot glow - illumined and set aflame. A danger of our living in our newfound privilege and power is that we live to wear our change so conspicuously that we lose our sense of conscience, that should teach us to walk with quietly held wit and worth, which has as its beginning and end, who we've been made in Christ. The truth is apart from his creative work and change in us we are really nothing but mud, dust stuck together, not life-filled souls that will never know extinction.

In this Luke 14 passage, Christ encountered Pharisees lost in their classy living: religious pundits committed to living rigorously, rule-bound and illustriously and true to their place as the town's toast. They were the standard of how to live. All aspired to live in their footsteps, but thought it near impossible to live up to their tier of purity, privilege, and advantage. Well Christ was hardly impressed and saw the holes in their religion. His concern was that their religion be one, which did more to change them inside-out and to bless less privileged others habitually. Unfortunately, their religion was not only showcased before others, it was worn overtly with the best of intentions. Christ, knowing these Pharisees were misdirected, taught against the religious norm telling them graciously yet powerful powerfully that their pontificating, grandstanding religion was embarrassing and untrue to the way of his Father whom he represented.

Luke 14:1-14 NIV

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”  But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.   Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child  or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”  And they had nothing to say.   When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.  For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”    Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,  and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Our relationship with God must be viewed through the mirror of Christ's seamless, self-deprecating life. It must be constantly reviewed to ensure it is maintained and developed. It must be a source of real change to us. The change we feel through that relationship must be much more than the praise people shower on us, which can corrupt into believing ourselves to be great people. We must live to better those, who can give us nothing in return. Giving to those who can reward us for our giving may make for personal greed and a religion that becomes shameless in its quest for recognition and gain.

James 1:27 NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Walking Under Water Comes Before Walking on Water

Matthew 14 is one of the more intriguing chapters in the Bible. Here Jesus performs miracle upon miracle; however, the context in which he performed these miracles is woefully ignored.

Yes, Jesus would feed many. Sick would touch his garments and find healing - he would later even walk on water; but before he performed these marvels, Christ would lose his dear messenger John in the most macabre way. Herod hated John the Baptist. His miracles and message made Herod seem surprising human to the Jews and took away from his powerful aura as leader. Though Herod would happily had taken John's life - he knew how popular and regarded John was among his own people and the uproar he'd create were he to take away the greatest prophet to have walked the earth.

As luck would have it though, at least in Herod's mind, this happened,

MAT 14:6-12 NIV

On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Imagine how this news altered Christ day, mood-his mental well being. John was the ultimate ambassador. He knew his place and lived only to fulfill his calling. 

John 1:7-8 NIV

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 

The news of John's death - the manner of his death specifically- made for immense discouragement, maybe even depression in the Christos. To not allow this thought, in my mind, is to deny the 100% humanity of Christ. He had lost his messenger, his predecessor- He was crestfallen, downcast, depressed at least in my mind.

What happened next proves the challenge handling John's death was for Jesus. The Savior himself needed the saving grace of alone time, where he could cry and scream angrily to rhe heavens. He needed time to ask his Father why he'd allow this saint of saints John to be beheaded and have his head handed to evil Herod on a platter. The morbid slaughter of John the Baptist made Christ livid - I imagine it weakened him to the core. I dare say this horrible incident made for Christ being at his weakest ever. Herod, by default, had touched Christ at quick.

Two times before and after Christ's turn to those, who needed help on John's beheading, Christ needed the saving of solitude. Without time to himself-to bare his soul with his Father-he would be worthless to the crowds, a bore, a hollow shell of himself before those who knew him well.

Matthew 14:13, 23 NIV

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

There is no walking on water before there is solitude. There is no triumph or helping others before there is time alone to deal with our issues - time to be threadbare and broken before God and others as well, time we can get into the fetal position and near final breath find grace to reach beyond anger and disappointment to depending on God and the lifeblood others give. 

As Christ later would break bread and feed thousands with 12 baskets left over, he thought of the broken body of his brother in arms, John. He also may have thought of his own body, which in time would be broken at the hands of those he called friends.  The world for him was a unforgiving place - a place where the good were trampled on without a thought, where good deeds brought out ill will in others rather than their regard.
If we're to walk on water, we'll need to have the courage to face ourselves. Walking on water requires we walk through some gut-wrenching waters of difficulty. At times we'll find ourselves drowning in self despair and darkness. Our time away will be much more than a day. To walk back into the lives of others too quickly may sieve away at our ability to show deep compassion, which at best is empathy the we gather in the flood waters of difficulty.

Take time to be near drowning alone today. Cry, vent, plead. Be livid, afraid, distraught, helpless. It's the cry of life that prepares us to show compassion to those in need. If we're to short circuit our time needed for healing: we short circuit our ability to help others heal as well.

Take time to walk under water so that you can walk on water.