Adventures in the Word

This is a summary of the message spoken on March 11, 2007 at Nora Christian Fellowship.
Read Luke 12:1-21
“What we do in life, echoes in eternity”
— Maximus in the movie Gladiator

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus extends his teaching of the Pursuit of God, by warning us of the dangers of hypocrisy: “Beware of the yeast of hypocrisy.” This hypocrisy – living a double life, one in public, the other in private – will eventually catch up with us, says Jesus. In eternity, what is whispered in secret will be “shouted from the housetops.” In that day, everything will become crystal clear – we’ll have no more hiding places!

The sooner we realize this the better. Think of the difference it would make, if we actually believed and lived like God were present everywhere we go! But wait – this actually IS TRUE! – the coming of the Lord will be its unveiling. And the level of our awareness of God in private – that is, the unconscious assumption that God is with us, rather than that we are alone – determines the degree that we feel comfortable or uncomfortable with our sins. And when God is always near, we find ourselves increasingly praying and worshipping this glorious God. Before long, we start “glowing” with the life and power of God as our transparency grows.

Now, how can we actually begin to live this way?
More later.

I wrote this after my church and the Dwelling Place church had a joint Sunday Service at West Park in Indianapolis on July 1.

“I have made known to them Your name, and will make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” – Jn 17:26

We cannot love unless we first understand.
This simply makes sense.
I cannot bandage your wound until I know it exists and, further, I won’t know if it needs stitches until I see how deep it is. Doctors cannot prescribe treatment until they’ve made a positive diagnosis. So once I know that you’re hurting, then and only then can I reach out, listen, learn and appropriately love you.

In August of ’05, when Katrina hit, we all saw the images on TV, but most of us felt helpless –we needed to DO something, but felt powerless to do ANYTHING. My heart went out to the hurting, but it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to go myself that the love ‘poured out of me by the Holy Spirit.’ I saw firsthand, the massive trees felled on houses, the debris that littered everything, the hollow eyes, the long lines of people to get water, food, anything. My mind was overwhelmed with the devastation and need and I was glad to finally be able to love actively.
So the depth of understanding determines the depth of our love.

I suppose it’s possible that Jesus could have simply looked with love from heaven and accomplished the atonement of our sins. But the fact is that he came in flesh to qualify as the High Priest who is able to empathize deeply with us.

What actually caused the Lord to die? I believe he died of a ‘broken heart.’ On the cross, Jesus felt the crushing weight of our sins – not his own because he didn’t have any – but he felt the pain, the consequence, the anguish of it. He sweat ‘great’ drops of blood and then on the cross the lance that pierced his side opened a gush of both water and blood: what physicians now know to be the result of intense agony.

Jesus saw and felt and carried the weight of our sins and it literally killed him. His depth of understanding created an intense love. And it was that empathy that carried him on and can also motivate us. Jesus prayed for us to have this kind of love.

Spoken at Nora Christian Fellowship on April 22, 2007.

“Strive with earnestness (from the Greek word, related to
our word, agonize,) to enter in through the narrow door . . . “ – Luke 13:24

Jesus IS the Narrow Door.
He Himself is the opening we go through to get into the Kingdom of God. Unlike the 60-foot-wide door in Herod’s Temple, Jesus is narrow and requires us to “squeeze through.” This concept is similar to what is stated in Mt 11:12.

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it” – Today’s NIV

Although a difficult passage, many agree that the point is that God, “humbled himself” and became vulnerable, accessible – even to the point of nearly being trampled by the crowd. Now we can get in without all of the formalities. Not that Jesus has lowered the standard – He actually met all the requirements of the Law Himself so that now the “proprieties” can be waived. We, as it were, simply “crash the party” much as the sinful woman in Luke 8, or the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 9. After all, if we really see who it is that is suddenly “available,” why wouldn’t we just “barge in?”

So in effect, Jesus presents us with a choice: we can be in either one of two camps: Either we can be earnest, humble, not afraid of appearing small, not letting appearances blind us from following after the Lord with the heart.

Or we can be in the other camp: smug, passive, arms folded, skeptical, having our minds made up, not really listening – just assuming that we’re “IN” because of our “works” or family heritage.

No, Jesus Himself is the Dividing Point, the Lightening Rod of Truth, the Narrow door. How we respond to Him is what really matters in life.

Mmmm.
Still going . . .

Spoken at Nora Christian Fellowship on April 29, 2007

What is a human being worth?
Taken from Luke 14.
At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus notices a man who is grossly swollen – a man with dropsy – what we normally call edema. It’s the Sabbath and Jesus is among the religious leaders who are suspiciously watching him. Jesus asks a simple question that probes to the heart of the matter: “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath?” Or in other words, “Is there any reason that a human being should be left to suffer if we can relieve it?” No one can give him an answer. He then grabs hold of the swollen man and heals him, which means he immediately ‘deflates’ – the exaggerated swelling dramatically shrinks.

This surely would have been a sign to all the onlookers and skeptics. And in this healing Jesus gives us a sign: we too need to be stripped of the baggage that clogs our understanding of our true worth: It’s not our work, our family, our possessions that give us value. It’s simply the fact that we are human beings who are created and loved by God.

So the question that Jesus poses in this chapter is: “What is a human being worth?” He answers by giving us four stories to illustrate that, it’s not the people who “have it all together” who are blessed and privileged; rather, it’s the “low-life” of society that end up being invited in and moved ahead in line; it’s the ones who realize their bankruptcy, their “lostness.”

To sum things up, we’re told not to start building a tower before estimating what it’s going to take to finish it. Likewise we need to “count the cost” and realize that we won’t be able to finish the job of our lives; WE CAN’T DO IT! We need to go to the cross and let the “old man die.” The sooner we realize and accept this, the sooner we’ll find our new life in Jesus Himself. Luke 15 will more fully illustrate the point that the Father runs to meet his prodigal children who “come to themselves.”