Tame

One of my favorite stories of all time is the "Chronicles of Narnia," by C.S. Lewis.  The adventures of various children going on magical adventures into a fantastical land full of wondrous creatures.  Especially the magnificent character of Aslan the lion.

There are many correlations between Alsan and Jesus/God.  He creates the world of Narnia.  He sacrifices himself to save one who had done wrong.  If you have not read the books go get them and read them.  You're not too old or too young to understand and enjoy them.

One idea that occurs several times in the series is that Aslan is not, "a tame lion."

I think that is probably one of the most true concepts about God in the books.  God is not tame.  He does not fit into our human religion.  He is greater than whatever box we can make for him.  Whether it is a list of rules, or a magnificent cathedral.  Or even restricting him to, "the basics of the early church."

He is so much more than that.  He is not tame.  His ways are not our ways.  Who are we to think we can fathom how God works?  I know I have been guilty of this often.  God is good.  God is love.  This doesn't change.  Even if our definitions of the words do.  We are the ones who change.

What is considered good today might not have been considered good fifty years ago.  Or even twenty.  Either way God is not restricted by our concepts of good...or anything else for that matter.  We don't see the whole picture.  God does.  God made the picture.  In every sense you can imagine...and all the ones you can't.

We can not afford to box God into our concepts.  God is not a galactic wish granter.  He isn't an old sweet grandpa sitting on the porch of heaven waiting for his kids to come home.  He is not limited to our traditions.

Look back through the stories of the Bible and see the things God asks people to do.  Some of it is down right horrible by our standards.  The Plague of the Firstborn.  The Flood.  The massacre after Moses got the ten commandments and the people were worshiping the golden calf.  Pretty much the book of Joshua.  Even his chosen people had his wrath poured out on them.  Not to mention Job.

What did Job ever do wrong?  Nothing.  He was the most righteous person on Earth.  Yet he lost everything.  Was afflicted with physical maladies and pain.  I shudder at, yet love, how God answers Job in chapter 38. (NAS)

Who is this that darkens counsel, by words without knowledge?  Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell Me, if you have understanding,

 Further on God says

Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?  Let him who accuses God answer him!

Job 40:2 (NIV)

These are really good chapters where God is laying it all out on the table.  Job responds in part with this:  (42:4-6 NAS)

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.

I love that.  "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear," in other words I know You by what I have heard about you.  Then, "but now my eye sees You...and I repent..."

He is not a tame lion.

And that is a very good thing.  Think about this:

What if God was small enough for us to understand Him?

If God operated as we did, we would be in sorry shape.  But he has offered us grace, and peace and hope in Him.  He's already finished the picture.  He knows what it looks like in the end.  It does not matter if we can't see it, or understand it.

Follow Him with out the regulations and laws.  Follow Him with your heart and soul.  With everything within you.  He gave us what we need to follow Him.  And that is what he wants from us.  To follow, believe, to baptize, teach, and make more disciples.  Go forth and multiply.

Are you willing to follow God with out religion?

After all, He is not a tame lion...


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Suit Up - Conclusion

So we've reached the conclusion.  My Avengers references are over.  As M28 is all about discipleship maybe it's time I tie all this up with a nice discipleship bow.

My first post for this blog was Discipleship 101.  A disciple is one who grasps things that are separate.  Puts them together.  Things like ideas.  We would call this a student.  You teach a student how to add, then you give them numbers to put together.  You teach a child how to build with Legos then you dump a tub of them on the floor and watch them build.

Things that are separate being brought together.

Discipleship and following Jesus is not about separating things.  It's about bringing separate things together.  It's about bringing food to someone who is hungry.  Medicine to someone who is sick.  Mourning with someone who has lost.  It's about bringing Jesus to people who don't know him.

Think about that for a moment.

You'll have to go into Enemy territory to get to those people.  Let me be very clear here...those without Jesus are not the enemy.  Remember this battle is not with flesh and blood.  Enemy territory is pretty much everywhere.  Because the Enemy is: rulers, authorities, and the powers of this dark world. (-Ephesians 6:12)

So Suit Up and join in the battle.  Enter the enemy territory.  It's at work.  It's your backyard.  It's the movie theater, the grocery store, the bank.  Discipleship will not happen if we stay at home, or with in the confines of our "HQ's" whatever they may be.

Don't get discouraged either.  Sometimes response will be immediate and miraculous.  Like an overwhelming victory.  Other times it will be like the Battle of the Somme, and require us to dig in and learn to endure.  Short victory or long siege, you need your armor and weapons. 

One last thought.  This armor doesn't have protection for your back.  There is no retreat.  Remember Jesus has already won...we just have to stand.

Be encouraged, take heart, He has overcome the world!


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse


Suit Up:
Part 1 - Belt of Truth
Part 2 - Breastplate of Righteousness & Readiness from the Gospel of Peace
Part 3 - Shield of Faith & Helmet of Salvation
Part 4 - Sword of the Spirit & Prayer  
Part 5 - The Enemy & The War

Suit Up - Part 5

In case you missed out on the first 4 parts I give you the "Easy Catch Up List"

Part 1 - Belt of Truth
Part 2 - Breastplate of Righteousness & Readiness from the Gospel of Peace
Part 3 - Shield of Faith & Helmet of Salvation
Part 4 - Sword of the Spirit & Prayer 


So what is the point of all this armor?  What is this war we are in?  Let's look back at that verse in Ephesians.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

-Ephesians 6:12

Our fight is not with other Religions.  Our fight is not with Politics.  Our fight is not with other Christians.  Our enemy is not someone we can see and set cross-hairs on.  It's not someone we can track down in a safe house.

The Enemy

Look who/what Paul points out: rulers, authorities, and the powers of this dark world.  Yet they are not flesh and blood.  Also...the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  So we have a war on two fronts.  The intangible powers of this world, and evil in the spiritual realm.

Intangible powers of this world?  Look around and you'll see them.  Things like fear, hate, oppression, selfishness, godlessness.  These things are everywhere and we have been conditioned to accept them simply as the way things are.  Where did Jesus tell us to live subject to these powers?  Exactly, nowhere.  These powers are tools of the Enemy.  Satan.  The Devil.  Lucifer.

He is the true enemy.

We cannot win this war. 

The good news is, we don't have to.


The War

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

-Ephesians 6:13  

We don't have to win because it is already won.  The story is written.  Jesus wins.  We just haven't finished living the story out.  After you have done everything, to stand.   We have to hold on.  We have to persevere.  All our armor and weapons are built on the strength of Jesus.  Truth.  Righteousness.  The Good News.  Faith.  Salvation.  Spirit.  Prayer.

Get to know Jesus.  Pray...listen to him.  Learn his voice from reading Scripture.  Build your relationship with him.  Trust him.  It's not about feelings and callings.  It's all done, we just have to make it to the end. 

We have a clear and present Enemy. We have been given our arms and are equipped. There is open lines of communication to Jesus. But we do not fight to draw blood. We do not fight to kill.

We fight on our knees in prayer.  We fight in worship with song and how we live.  We fight in actions by serving others.  We fight by laying down our lives for Jesus.


What does any of this have to discipleship?  We'll wrap that up tomorrow in the final post.  Until then,

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Suit Up - Part 4

Part 4.  We're almost there.  Today we break out the big guns if you will.  Everything to this point has been defensive and protective.  Today we look at our offensive weapons.  We have two of them.  So let's get into it!

The Sword of the Spirit
"...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Earlier I asked how do we get to know Jesus. The sword is the answer. The sword is the Word of God, Jesus is also the Word.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  'Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

John 1:1-5

The Bible from Genesis to Revelation is all about God, and His love for us, and the plan of redemption that was laid out for Jesus. The Word is full of instructions, hope, song, stories, and love. And there is only one way to know it...and that's by digging into it. Read it. Let the words of scripture fill your heart, and Righteousness will come. Saturate your mind with the words of Jesus, and Salvation will guard it. Allow your faith to rest firmly on the promises of God that come from the Bible, and he will protect you.


Prayer
"...And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests..."

Prayer. It's how we communicate with God. And communication in a battle is vital. If you can't hear what God is telling you...you can't move, you can't act, you can't fight.

Prayer doesn't have to be eloquent and lofty. It doesn't have to be full of the right words or said in just the right way. Let it come from your heart, your spirit. Jesus tells us how to pray in Matthew 6:5-14. You can also look at the other prayers Jesus makes throughout the four gospels. God knows what you need before ever you go to Him.

Prayer is something we could discuss for hundreds of blogs.  What I'm trying to communicate here is one or two aspects of prayer.  It's God's "Make A Wish" line.  In my experience, prayer from me that is either silent, or for other people tends to go farther.  God will speak to us if we listen and stop worrying about ourselves all the time.

The best way to lose a relationship is to stop communication.  Our enemy would love for that to happen.  For us to stop talking with God.  To stop listening to him.  He is our everything.  Our weapons and armor...don't work with out him.  Faith is nothing without the One the faith is in.  Salvation can't protect your mind if you don't have a savior.  Righteousness comes from God, so with out him...our vital organs are defenseless.  And you can forget about the sword of the Spirit if the Spirit isn't around.

So pray.  Do battle on your knees.  Fight for the brothers and sisters around you.  Even if you don't know them.  Pray for every part of the church around the world reaching out into the lives of others.  Then, get up and get into it yourself.

Tomorrow - The War

grace, peace + hope

-Jesse

Suit Up - Part 3

Still with me?  Fantastic.  Let's look back over the gear we've already discussed:

The Belt of Truth - the Truth of Jesus holds it all together.
Breastplate of Righteousness - living a Righteous life will protect our heart.
Readiness of the Gospel of Peace - not a physical piece of armor...but just as vital.  Know the story.


Today we will look at the Shield of Faith and the Helmet of Salvation.  In the movies Captain America has an amazing shield made of a fictitious metal called vibranium.  It's capable of repelling bullets, energy weapons, and all sorts of devastating stuff.


Our shield is so much cooler.

The Shield of Faith
"...take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

The shield. An ancient weapon known throughout most of history. Some were small, some large but all had the same purpose. To prevent weapons of the enemy from getting to you. Shields would take the brunt of the initial attacks. Be it stones, arrows, swords, or spears...the shield, if made well would deflect these things. Epesians 6 says that it will extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

How cool is that?! Not only does it stop them, it puts out the fire!

Fire consumes.

When used as a weapon fire is devastating. But when you pick up the shield of Faith, the flames are quenched. What did we already establish our faith in? Jesus. Our trust in him as our Savior, our King, our God. It is our faith in Him the creates this shield, this barrier protection. Something God has consistently told us He is.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'"

Psalm 91:1-2

Another thing about the shield, it has to go in front of you or it is useless. So, our Faith in Jesus should go before us, otherwise we are vulnerable to attack. Keep your Faith before you, keep Jesus as your goal, and He will protect you.  A shield of faith...think about it.

Now for the helmet.  It can be as practical as a motorcycle helmet or as intense as a Spartan soldier's.  Simple or elaborate.  The goal is the same.  Protect the head.  Some are iconic like Thor and Loki's.  Kids all over can spot Loki based on his golden horned helmet, or Thor with his silver wings.  Once again, our helmet, way better.

Helmet of Salvation
"...Take the helmet of salvation..."

The helmet protects our head. And what is inside out head?

Our mind.

So Salvation is what protects our mind...if we keep it on. When we think, remember what Jesus did. Hebrews 2: 3-4 says:

"...This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord(Jesus), was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will."

When our minds start to wander. When we think of the nasty response. When we think of yelling and swearing...remember Salvation. Remember Jesus. Even when he was dying on the cross for us, bearing all our sin...he forgave us. All wrongs have been righted in his death. All blood owed has been paid. All the things we feel we are justified to have...have already been given.

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation..."

Isaiah 12:2

Not only should we guard our thoughts from evil, but allow it to Trust and not Fear. God has already won. The only things we can loose (if we cling to him) are our earthly possessions, and our earthly body.  The helmet protects more than just our skull, brain and faces.  The knowledge of Salvation guards our thoughts.  Keep it on!  In this, our thoughts will be different.  People will notice this and we will be recognized as followers of Jesus.  It will be obvious.  The same way a kid can spot their favorite helmeted hero.

Tomorrow, the Weapons.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Suit Up - Part 2

Alright, so the Belt of Truth is on.  Let us continue to suit up!

The Breastplate of Righteousness

"...with the breastplate of righteousness in place,..."

The breastplate covers and protects our vital organs. Not least of which is our Heart. Paul is telling us that we cover and protect our heart with Righteousness. How do we get this Righteousness?

"...the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it."

-Romans 9:30-31

Through faith in Jesus, in what he taught, lived, died and resurrected for, we can be covered with Righteousness. It is defined as: 'acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous." How do we do that? How does that protect our heart?

We strive to live upright, morally, virtuous...we do so by living like Jesus, and having faith in Him that he is the ultimate example of righteousness. This protects us because Jesus didn't do things that would hurt his heart. He wasn't sneaking around doing things that were questionable. He didn't talk back to his parents. He spent most of his time seeking God. The rest of the time he was teaching what he knew to others, helping them, caring for the poor, healing the sick.

And isn't that exactly what he told the disciples (and us) to do? And look what word is used at the beginning of this verse:

"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’"

Matthew 25:37-40

When we seek to serve others, and not ourselves, we guard our heart by living in righteousness. Righteousness that comes from Jesus.

Readiness from the Gospel of Peace

"...and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."

Peace. The Gospel or Good News of Peace. It's the story of Jesus. What he accomplished on Earth, through the Cross and Resurrection.

Paul says in Ephesians 2:14-18

"For he himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."

So this piece of weaponry is not as "obvious." The readiness comes from the Good News, the Cause if you will. The whole story of Jesus. By knowing it we should be eager to share it, eager to move and proclaim it. We should not be content sitting still in our office chairs, pews and recliners! We should be ready to move to go when the opportunity comes to share Jesus.

We should know that story inside and out. Not just in our heads, but our hearts. To know what Jesus did for all mankind and for us individually. Know your story. Let it be ready to share with others so that they can encounter (maybe immediately, or in time) Jesus, and be restored to the Father.

Belt, Breastplate, Gospel...back for more tomorrow!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Suit Up - Part 1

This weekend "The Avengers" opened in theaters.  As a comic book and movie fan I really enjoyed this movie.  It's a hodge podge team of heroic individuals that have to come together to stop a maniacal villain from conquering the world.  Each member has different skill sets and abilities that they contribute to the whole.

One of my favorite moments (not a spoiler) is when Captain America asks a potential member of the team if he has a suit (Cap has a patriotic uniform, Iron Man is a techno-suit of armor, Thor has a mythical type of armor, and there are a few more that I'll leave out.)  War is breaking out and it's time to fight, time to get the suits and do battle.  When the character responds with a yes Cap says, "Well then, suit up."

That's the same thing I'm saying to you.  Cap said it.  Barney Stinson says it.  And a bloke named Paul said it thousands of years ago:

"Suit up."  (my paraphrase)

Did you know that as followers of Jesus we are called to war?

Well, we are.

But we are not called to fight with guns and bombs. We do not fight against other people, or religions, or nations.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

-Ephesians 6:12

But we do have an enemy. The Enemy. He's been our enemy since the beginning in Eden. He's been working against God ever since. Jesus said this in John 8:44

"...He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

There are many other places in the Word that give other descriptions of the Enemy and his character. One other I'll mention here is also from Jesus

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..."

-John 10:10

So we know we are in a battle. We know who are Enemy is. What now?

We take up arms.

Paul lines out in Ephesians 6 what these arms are. (verses 10-18)


The Belt of Truth

"...Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,..."

The belt. It holds everything together. And what does Paul call it?

Truth.

"A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like" is one of the definitions in the dictionary. But truth being verified, is not where it stops for us. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life..." So for us, Jesus is Truth. Jesus is a verified or indisputable fact. He is what holds everything together.  He holds us together.

So if we are buckled with truth, we must live in truth. Lying does not become a follower of Jesus. We must live out what we claim to be. If we are Christians, let us be Christians. And to do that we have to know who Jesus is. How?

Well that's coming up later.

Check back Monday for Part 2!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse