To Have Christ

“Whoever has the Son has life.  Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)

Isn’t it true that we all want “life,” whatever that is?  We tend to think about “life” in terms of existing, which is understandable, since to live is to exist.  But “life” in the Bible means more than existing.  And it is two-fold: qualitative and quantitative.  Life, in God’s will, is qualitatively joyous and excellent; and quantitatively, it lasts forever.  It never ends.  Jesus said He came that His sheep would have life abundantly (John 10:10), and that they’d have this life eternally (Jn. 5:24).  The Psalmist describes it in terms of, “Walking before God, in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13).  This life of which we speak is more than existence – it thriving for eternity.

But how do we get it?  John tells us in the above passage that seizing this life depends on seizing Jesus Christ.  Whoever has Christ has life.  Whoever doesn’t have Him doesn’t. 

What do you think of when you think of having something?  I have a car.  I have a wife and a baby coming soon.  I have a job.  All of these represent things (or people) of which or whom I can claim a vested interested.  In other words, in a sense, I own all of these things, and they own me as well.  My wife is my wife, and I am her husband.  No one gets me without her, or vice-versa.  We come together.  The same with my car – if you and I are friends, you know you can depend on me for a ride if you need.

And here the Apostle tells us that the eternal thriving which Christ wants for us depends on if we, in a sense, own Him.  That is, does He belong to you, and you to Him?  I hesitate to refer to it as a “relationship” for two reasons: First, that word doesn’t go far enough with what it looks like to know Christ.  It is more than a relationship, and He is more than just a friend.  Second, in my opinion, this phrase is tossed around in 21^st century evangelicalism as a cover-up for people who rightly want to avoid defining Christianity in terms of dry religion, and yet wrongly don’t want to live the costly life of discipleship, so they say, “I’m in a relationship with Jesus,” which is usually entirely subjective.   What I mean is this: To know Jesus is to have life in Him.  It is wrapped up with Him, and if one knows Him for who He is, they’d gladly suffer the loss of all things if they had to choose between He and those things. 

This is why Paul, having just stated that he had suffered the loss of all things, but gladly did in order to gain Christ, defines Christianity in terms of being owned by Christ: “I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me His own” (Philippians 3:12 ESV).  This is how John speaks of Jesus’ disciples in John 13:1: He loved His own until the end.  When one lays hold of Christ, or rather, Christ lays hold of them, their life changes because it is entirely wrapped up with Him.  They are no longer alive as they were before – they’re alive in Christ now, and He is their life.  “Christ is your life” (Colossians 3:4).

So John in the above passage uses that little word to describe the goal of Christ’s coming to seek and save the lost: That you and I would have Him, as He Himself truly takes hold of us. 

This is the reality only for the repentant.  Christ must be laid hold of by faith (Romans 3:25), shown in turning to serve God through Him (1 Thessalonians 1:10, cf. 1 Peter 2:5).  But this repentance is what happens when He in fact takes hold of a person and turns them.  Thus Peter said to the Jews in Jerusalem that God began the Apostles preaching there so that God would bless them by turning them from their wickedness (Acts 3:26).

This is because to repent is to set your affections off of the things of the world and onto Christ who is the true treasure.  And this only happens as one sees Christ as the true treasure.  They consider that which competes with him for beauty in the eye of they the beholder to be far inferior.  Thus David wrote of God’s right hand, where Christ is, as a place of “pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).   And later, Asaph wrote, in words reminiscent of John’s in 1 John 5, “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25-26).  Asaph was describing the experience of everyone who sees Christ for who He is: the true Treasure to behold, who, once beholden, grips in such a way that this life that exists in Him will never end.  Indeed, it cannot, because He is risen.  He is the true God, and eternal life (1 Jn. 5:20).

The point is made very succinctly in a quote from Charles Spurgeon: “If Christ is not all to you, he is nothing to you.  He will never go into partnership as a part Savior of men.  If he be something, He must be everything, and if he be not everything, he is nothing to you.”  The tenor of this quote appears to be the tenor of the New Testament witness with regard to Christ.  And it was the tenor of the giants of the faith in the Old Testament as well (Abraham, see John 8:56, and Moses, see Hebrews 11:26-27).  They’d seen Christ, and laying hold of him, lived in him.  What about you?

Teach Them To Obey

I recently in passing saw a tweet from a seminary professor (I don’t remember who, and can’t find it), commenting that in the so-called Great Commission, Jesus not only told His disciples to go and make disciples who know His commands, but who observe His commands (cf. Matt. 28:20).  The two options are worlds apart: With the former, just awareness of Christ’s Word is required.  With the latter (Christ's command), obedience to Christ’s Word is required.  Jesus was telling His disciples both to share His Word with the nations, and to make disciples among them who walk in His Word every day until He comes again.

To Obey

The implications for Christians (and especially pastors) are manifold.  If we’d make obedient disciples, first we have to be obedient disciples.  We must not only know what Christ has said, but put it into practice daily.  “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways” (Ps. 128:1).  The fear of the Lord is here defined as walking in His ways.  And what blessing is promised as one reads the rest of the Psalm.  To make obedient disciples, we must model obedience.

But further than merely modeling obedience is cultivating obedience.  Jesus’ exact words (in our English translations) are, “…teaching them to observe all I’ve commanded you” (emphasis mine).

The import of “to observe” here is rich.  We are to teach obedience.  Similar language is found when reads of Jesus’ disciples asking him, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).  Jesus responds to them with what is today known as “the Lord’s Prayer.”  Note, they didn’t ask him to teach them how to pray, but to teach them to pray.  I’ve told my Sunday school class recently that apparently Jesus believed the very words of the Lord’s Prayer had the power to induce prayerfulness in them.  When one regularly prays according to Jesus' template, they find themselves drawn back to it.  Thus they are among those who pray “and don’t lose heart” (cf. Luke 18:1).

So in Matthew 28, Jesus doesn’t merely tell His disciples to teach other disciples how to obey His commands, but to obey.  In other words, he says his disciples must show other disciples what obedience looks like.  They must give counsel that moves disciples away from sin.  If one is, for instance, a pastor, he must remove things from congregational life that are regular challenges to his peoples’ obedience to Christ.  One can hear in Christ’s Word here, “I set before you life and death: choose life” (cf. Dt. 30:19). 

This is exactly why the apostle told the Colossian church to always let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly (Col. 3:16): Merely knowing the command isn’t enough.  It’s indwelling induces obedience (the new covenant promise of Ezek. 36:27), which is exactly why we’re called to Christ in the first place: to follow Him into all His will.  Since the heart is the wellspring of life, Christ's Word must reside there.  If it does reside there, obedience will lovingly and joyfully follow.

Love First

Upon further reflection of said Great Commission tweet, I remembered the Lord’s famous words to His disciples the night He was betrayed: “If you love me, you’ll obey my commands” (Jn. 14:15).  Here Jesus makes plain that obedience is tied to the affections, the same way that disobedience is tied to affections.  In other words, to borrow from James K.A. Smith, you are what you love.  Whatever you love will govern how you function.  If you can’t obey, it is because at the very least your love is divided, and at most, your love isn’t on Christ.  Thus Jesus says obedience depends on love for Him.  Those who obey Him are those who first loved Him (because, truly, He loved them first, 1 Jn. 4:10).

So can we conclude then that since we are called to be obedient disciples who make obedient disciples, and since the key to obedience to Christ is love for Christ, that the primary task for disciple-makers is not only sharing His Word with people, but showing those same people just how good and lovely Christ is?  If obeyers are lovers of Christ, shouldn’t we then show how lovely He is? 

Is this not what Paul meant by referring to his own preaching in terms of publically displaying Christ? (See Gal. 3:1)  It certainly seems like this is Peter’s point in telling us that we have been saved “to proclaim the excellencies of His who called you out of darkness into his marvelous life” (1 Pet. 2:9, emphasis mine).   And it is further in keeping with Paul’s assertion that he and the other apostles’ job was to “spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” wafting “the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor. 1:14-15).  Though Paul speaks here merely of the knowledge of Christ, the fact that he refers to it as an aroma carries with it the idea of more than teaching Christ’s commands: Preaching Christ is showing Him as the true pleasant scent.

The Real Treasure 

What are you doing presently to put Christ’s glory on display?  No Christian would ever deny the need for obedience to Christ’s Word.  I’m simply saying that the key to true obedience is an obedience that flows from the heart.  And obedience flows from the heart if Christ is there as the treasure.  Examine yourself: is He your treasure?  Could you live without anything else?  Or can you honestly say with Paul that you’d suffer the loss of all things if it meant you’d gain Christ and be found in Him (Phil. 3:8-9)?  Wherever you are, know that you can meet Him there.  And know that in the end, wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also.

The Dangers of a Half-Faith

Since our church computers had issues recording my sermon (again!), I’m blogging the content of my sermon so that church members and friends can access the message if they missed it.  Usually messages are on our church soundcloud page, but not if the message doesn’t record!

The Dangers of a Half-Faith (John 2:23-25) 

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Encountering Jesus' Knowledge of the Heart

1. Remember that John is the Gospel of belief.  He wrote so that people who read would come to life when they see this Jesus for who He really is.  John’s thesis in 20:31 is that these things are written that people would believe and have life in Jesus’ name.  The most important question one could ever answer is “Who is Jesus and what do I believe about Him?”

2. The “belief”, which John is writing to foster, is no less than a saving trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Matthew Henry wrote that to believe “is to commit ourselves to Christ and to His guidance.”  This point is important because the people to which this passage is referring had seen Jesus’ signs and miracles (2:23), but their faith was apparently not believable to Jesus, and thus he wasn’t buying their discipleship.  Apparently they didn’t have true faith.

3.  It appears that they had a half-faith.  They “believed in his name” (2:23), which means they recognized His authority, which is good.  But this doesn’t go far enough.  Though they are really convinced of His authority, they won't yet trust their lives to Him.

4. You can’t fool Christ a half-faith, if this is what you possess (2:24-25).  Here we see Jesus with access to the hearts of these people – he sees them and knows them inside and out.  This is a testament to His divinity.  Solomon had said that God alone sees all hearts (1 Kn. 8:39), and the Proverbs say that God tests the hearts of men (Prov. 21:2).  Thus for John to say that Jesus had this same knowledge is to say that He’s divine, with divine omniscience.  The next several encounters in with Jesus in John’s narrative – with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and the Roman official – all show that He knew their hearts.

We’ll be content to harbor a half-commitment to Christ, fooling ourselves and others about our commitment to Him.  But He sees the heart.  This is why the people who thought they were “in” because they did good works are not allowed into heaven, because Christ never knew them (Matt. 7:21-23): They thought they knew Him, but He said no.  What they knew was a half-Christ; not the living and risen real Christ.

5. The dangers of a half faith:

-No joy.  Jesus came to give His followers a joy that a the world can’t touch, because it is based on His person and work who is sitting in heaven presently, and their reward is there with Him (1 Pet. 1:8, Phil. 4:4).  But if you are only halfway committed to Him, it’s because your heart is attached to worldly things, and your joy will fluctuate depending on the stability of said things.

-No stability.  Many fall away and make shipwreck of their faith (cf. Heb. 6:4-6, 1 Tim. 1, etc.)  The reason is because they’re half-committed to Christ and haven’t yet been brought to inner transformation which the Spirit alone can do. 

-No freedom.  David Foster Wallace, the deceased (from suicide) atheistic college professor, famously said, “Everyone worships.  The only choice we have is what we worship.”  All of our lives are lived in worship of things, people, places, etc.  And it is slavery.  Christ and Christ alone is truly worthy of worship, so if we worship Him, like Thomas did (Jn. 20:28), we’ll flourish because He is worthy, and we’re created to enjoy worshiping Him.

-No heaven.  Simply put, if Christ isn’t your life now, He won’t be your eternal life then.

6. Seeing signs doesn’t necessarily lead to faith.  Many think that if they could just see a sign from God they’ll believe, or that if their atheistic loved one would see a sign, they’d believe.  But the people from John 2 didn’t.  And Nicodemus, having recognized Jesus’ authority because of His signs, as far as Jesus was concerned, still wasn’t reborn, and thus couldn’t enter Christ’s Kingdom (3:1-8).  See Jesus’ parable about Lazarus and the rich man.  Abraham tells the rich man in hell that if his non-believing brothers didn’t believe the Scriptures, even a resurrection wouldn’t convince them (Lk. 16:18-31).

Application

7.  So how do we overcome this propensity to half-faith?  Simply put, in two words: Follow Jesus.  The Gospels are written to bring us into Christian discipleship, which J.I. Packer has defined as a belief and behavior commitment to the Person and work of Jesus Christ: Belief, meaning that what His Word says about who He is and what he came to do is true; behavior, meaning that what His Word says about how we are to live in this time is where the buck stops.

His promise is that if we’ll keep His Word – following Him – He and His Father will come and make their home with us (see Jn. 14:23).  That is, if we’ll follow Him, He’ll live with us. 

-Your house may have changed around the holidays when it filled with people, from a quiet little cottage to a hustling and bustling social hub (ala, the Griswold’s house on Christmas Vacation).  So Jesus wants to change our “house” by living in it Himself.  And He will, if we’ll follow Him.

We are only truly Christians if He says we are – not if we say we are, but if He says we are.  We are Christians if He lives with us and in us.

8. A side note: Just because Jesus can see hearts doesn’t mean we can.  We need to see apples in order to tell if a tree is an apple tree.  But Jesus already sees the roots.  So don’t treat people like you see their hearts when you can only see the fruit.  Be kind, patient, loving, especially if they’re a professing believer.  And strive to get this balance right.

9. Finally, when you walk with Him, you’ll realize that all your worship and faith is imperfect.  You realize how you fail Him, how you can’t measure up to Him and how you’re unworthy of His presence.  But then it becomes good news that He came and lived on earth precisely because you and I fail God.  Christ lived because we were dead (Eph. 2:1-4).  And he rose again to then give us His obedience and righteousness through His Spirit.  When we see our failings, we then hope in Him, and a resurrection of the soul happens, where we plug into His power alone, and we truly begin to have a real and living faith.

So let’s all press in deeper with Jesus, until we truly believe.  “Let us press on to know the Lord” (Hos. 6:3).  There is no better use of our energies and time.  He’ll come and live with us.

Jesus Goes to a Wedding

Due to technical difficulties, my sermon from this past Lord’s Day, preached on John 2:1-12 (Jesus at the Wedding in Cana) didn’t record.  Because I love the passage so much, I figured I’d post the content from the sermon in blog form in lieu of the recording on our sermon page.

Jesus at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12)

Jesus and His Pals

As Jesus enters the wedding at Cana, he has a new group of guys who have begun following Him.  They came from all different “walks” of life (some seekers, one a skeptic, etc.), and yet they ended up at Jesus.  He is now identified with them, in a sense, as a unit – where he goes, they go.  Thus he is invited to a wedding, and so are they.

Mary Working

Meanwhile, Mary appears to be working at the wedding. 2:2 says that Jesus and the guys were invited, while Mary was simply there at the wedding.  Perhaps she was working alongside the mother of the bride or groom, which would also explain why she can tell the servants later to do what Jesus says, and they do.

Outta Wine

When the wine runs out – a major social oversight one which was not supposed to happen -- Mary summons Jesus.  We don’t know exactly why she does, but she does.  Perhaps she knew that he could do something about it.  Perhaps she knew that something was weighing on him so he’d be inclined to act.  In any event, when she tells him of the wine problem, Jesus’ response is poignant: “Woman, what does this have to do with me?   My time has not yet come.” 

What did Jesus mean by this?  While the roughness of his response should not be minimized – because this is a rebuke of Mary – the response shows that something is weighing on him.  What was it?

Well verse 11 makes clear that what he was to do next was a sign.  Notice John doesn’t refer to this as a miracle (though it was one), but as a sign.  This means that the action which Jesus takes will point elsewhere.

Also remember that in another famous episode where a situation weighs on Jesus to the point of emotional output was during Lazarus’ death.  There the people were in such pain at his death and Jesus had his own eyes fixed forward to His own death.  And this made Jesus weep (11:35). 

In the same way, the wedding situation, which would house a great sign from Jesus, pointed forward to His death – the true wine (His blood) which would be poured out to make glad the multitudes.  And it weighed on him here, and that’s why he responded to Mary the way he did.  He was, although fully God, fully man as well - capable of real emotions and real pain.  Here his impending death is feeling more and more real.

The Reality To Which This Miracle Points

Since it is established that this action is a sign of things to come, we can discuss exactly what things.  Through His death, he’ll accomplish three things:

          1. He’ll drive outward religion inward.  He’ll take concern with outward purity – that is, feeling clean and “saved” because you simply participate in certain religious activities such as church, communion, baptism, tithing, etc. – and drive it inward.  So when people know him, they won’t seek to be clean by doing outward things, but will strive for the inward cleansing of the Holy Spirit. 

            We know this is his point by the fact that he turns the water from the Jewish ritual jugs (which were used to clean “dirty” hands of religious people) into wine that is consumed into the body.

            This is bad news for those who just want a religious card in the back pocket without surrendering their hearts to God.  But it’s incredibly good news for those who want to go deep with God.  Jesus came to take us further.

            2. He’ll marry His bride, the church.  In the passage, when the wine is tasted by the master of the feast, he gives the bridegroom credit for a job well done in keeping the best wine until the end.  Of course, Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom who had come into the world to marry his bride (Matt. 9:15), and John the Baptist, on the opposite page from John 2 in my open Bible, said that he himself was backing out of the ministry because Jesus the Bridegroom had come (Jn. 3:28-29).

            Thus Jesus is the true bridegroom who brings the wine for his people to enjoy as He comes to the earth to take His bride – the church, those who are called by his name and are thus responsive in faith and repentance. 

            I love that the Bible puts the relationship between God and His people in terms of a wedding and marriage relationship.  God is personal.  He wants to be pursued, and enjoyed.  Truly He is the pursuer of people (Luke 19:10).  He is the apple of His peoples’ eye, and they are the apple of His.  Though they add nothing to Him, yet he delights in them so much so that He was willing to go through hell and back to bring them home to Himself.

            3. He’ll unleash pure joy on His people who know him.  Just as the best wine showed up at the end of the party, so the “best wine” has showed “in these last days” (Hebrews 1:1-2) for the nations, in Christ.  It’s scandalous that Jesus went to a party and brought the booze.  But it is even more scandalous why He did – to indicate that He came to give His people the good time of being with Him for eternity.  It is a joy to know Christ.  It is happy.  It is the very best one can get to, and the very best that can be imagined.  It is exactly what we were made for.  So the Apostle told his audience, “We write these things that your joy may be full” (1 Jn 1:4).  “You give them to drink from the river of your delights” (Ps 36:8).  “My people shall be satisfied with my goodness” (Jer. 31:14).  This is why one fruit of the Spirit is joy – where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and where there is freedom to enjoy the presence of God, there is joy.  He came for our joy (cf. Jn 16:3).

The Bible’s Wedding Language

Do you have this relationship with God through His Son?  Are you among the married to Him?  Check your heart – if you delight in Him and don’t consider Him an intruder on your time, but instead is Himself the very best use of time and very best end of your affections, you are drinking the best wine.  And the promise of this scripture, based on it's reality as it happened all those years ago in Cana, is that this wine will never run out.

A Christian, A Seeker, and a Skeptic Walk Into a Savior

I preached this past Sunday on Jesus’ interaction in John 1 with several men who were to become his disciples.  As I prepared and then delivered, I was struck by how the men each approached Jesus from different places in life, different levels of faith, different dispositions of personality, etc. and yet Jesus seemed to know how to get right to their hearts.

Three Different Men

First, one notices that when Andrew and “another disciple” approached him after hearing John the Baptist say that Jesus is the Lamb of God, Jesus asks them, “What do you want?” (1:38, paraphrase)  In other words, he was asking them why they’d volunteer for what He had coming to him.  Their question regarding his lodging (“Where are you staying?”) shows they apparently have plans in place for what they’d like to see, but Jesus’ response – “Come and you will see” (1:39) – brings them right to the heart of discipleship: Your lot, known to me, will be a mystery to you, and you must come ready for whatever I have for you.

Then Jesus finds Simon son of Jonah, and gives him the nickname of Cephas/Peter, which means “rock” (1:42).  Peter will truly only become a rock-like figure later, after Jesus rises again and gives Peter and the disciples His Spirit.  But Jesus’ calling Simon the rock this early is a guarantee and promise of what Jesus is going to do in him over the next several years.  He will change Simon so that in the end he is Peter.  This is parallel to what happens to all Christians: They receive the righteousness of Christ, adoption, and the Holy Spirit when they believe (Ephesians 1:14), all as a down payment on the real gift that will be given later: bodily resurrection, salvation from all that is painful, and no more darkness or it’s unwelcome cousins.

Finally, Jesus has an interesting encounter with Nathaneal.  Nathaneal, known elsewhere as Bartholomew, is a skeptic.  As Philip, a committed disciple and friend of Nathaneal, tells him about Jesus, Nat famously scoffs at the idea of a Messiah coming from lowly Nazareth (1:46).  He simply doesn’t have a category for the notion that the Messiah comes from Nazareth, and, perhaps arrogantly, dismisses the whole notion.  But 1:47 shows us that he came anyway. 

As Tim Keller has rightly said, Nathaneal’s skepticism was a veneer covering up his real longing for redemption and for his categories to in the end be proven untrustworthy, as they bow to something greater.  So he comes.  And when Jesus welcomes him with a statement that can be taken both as a commendation and as a sarcastic bag, Nat is curious how Jesus knows him, and Jesus simply tells him he saw him before, “under the fig tree” (1:48).  Nat is struck by this, because apparently whatever was happening under the fig tree was discreet.  But Jesus saying he knew about it elicits a profession of faith from Nat (1:49).  The skeptic has been converted!  But Jesus interestingly cuts him off, now dismissing him, for having a shallow faith: “Because I said I saw you, you believe?  You’ll see greater things than this!” (1:50) Jesus then tells Nat and the other disciples that He is the ladder to heaven from Jacob’s dream (cf. Gen. 28:12-13), and that they’ll see him as such if they follow him.

Apparently Nathaneal was building his faith on the miracle of Jesus’ perceived ESP.  This shallow faith would ultimately fall apart if the miracles ever ran out, not that they ever would.  But Jesus says a similar statement to Thomas later, when he only believes because he’s seen the risen Christ (20:28).  Jesus tells him how weak this is, making the point that he needs to believe just because of who Jesus is.  This is the point with Nathaneal – skepticism almost kept him out, a miracle drew him in, and eventually he’d lose it all unless he begins to see Jesus as the Ladder to Heaven.  So Jesus tells him to follow until he sees with the eyes of faith.

Three groups are represented by these disciples: Christians (Philip, a committed disciple), seekers (Andrew, Peter, the other disciple), and skeptics (Nathaneal).  And Jesus had an uncanny ability to not only interact meaningfully with each of them, but to do so in a way that drew each of them into life-giving faith in Him.  He knew how to get people, and He still does.

No One Too Far Gone

There isn’t anyone on earth who is too far gone for Jesus to reach.  He not only can reach the Christians, but he can reach seekers and skeptics alike.  Each person has idols of the heart, dispositions of personality and interests, premade goals in seeking Jesus, etc.  But he knows how to peel back the layers and get to the heart.

This means that wherever you are in the faith, you’re not too far for Jesus to reach you, nor will you be, as long as you have breath.  This is why Jude said that Jesus had the power to keep us until He returns (Jude 24).  This is also why Jude told Christians to have mercy on those who doubt – skeptics – (Jude 22): Because Jesus could still reach them, so Christians need to not put anything in their way.

Your loved one who is walking in rebellion from Jesus their Creator, and won’t listen, isn’t too far gone either.  You just need prayer and faithfulness, because through these, Jesus reaches people.  It remains to be seen if He will, but it doesn’t remain to be seen if He can.  Our task is to be ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20), and trust the rest to Him.

Deep Waters

Proverbs 20:5 says that the purpose in man’s heart is deep waters, but the man of understanding draws it out.  In other words, people are complicated, and Gospel presentations, whether sermons or books, are not one-size-fits-all.  But Jesus, the true Man of understanding, Wisdom Personified (cf. Prov. 8:22-35, Jn. 1:14), knows how to draw out the purpose of their heart and drive in His truth.

I suppose what I’m saying is this:  If you know Jesus, don’t worry or fret about the weakness of your faith or your loved ones’ lack thereof.  If you yourself are the doubter, just come and see.  Jesus can prove Himself. But come and see.  He can reach people and draw them to Himself (Jn. 6:44).  If He was equally accessible to Philip, Andrew, Peter, and Nathaneal alike, so that, coming from all different places, they each became disciples, don’t we think He can do the same today?  Thus, our job as Christians is to lift Him up in word and deed, and pray that He, through His Spirit, will proclaim liberty to the captives.  He’s done it before, and He’s still doing it now.

Church Full of Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins

We were watching Elf the other night, and I was especially struck by the toy-making scene where Buddy will miss his quota pathetically.  He is crushed by his obvious limits as an elf, famously calling himself "just a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins."  What struck me (for the first time) was the response of all the other elves.  While Buddy is crushed and broken, the elves rush to his comfort, several chiming in to lift up his broken spirits.  "Buddy you're not a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins."  "Buddy you have lots of gifts."  "Buddy, you're just special." Even though Buddy is not an elf in real life, and his being out of place in the toy factory is hampering their production, the elves just can't bear to see someone writhing in depression.  So they all break from meeting their individual quotas to cheer Buddy up and show him he's a part of the group and they love him.

What if church was like that?  What if church was a group of people who have committed to follow Jesus together, so that when one of them eventually shows incredible weakness in the particulars of living for Jesus, the rest of the crowd gathers around them to lift them up?  Truly if the Gospel of God's grace is being faithfully proclaimed in the church context, the reality of sin will be a part of the church's culture, so that repentance from said sin is regularly enjoined.  Thus when some believers are stuck in sin, unable to find repentance or freedom -- and make no mistake; we all do stumble in many ways (James 3:2), and there is no one who doesn't sin (1 Kings 8:46) -- they will look at everyone else and feel like a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins.

But at that point their believing family within the church will move from merely sitting around them to entirely surrounding them.  The weak brother or sister will know that even though they're weak, they have a body of weaklings surrounding them to strengthen and restore them, by the Word of Christ.  This bearing with one another's burdens in fact fulfills Christ's Law (Galatians 6:2).  I think this is what the Apostle John spoke about when he said that we are sure we're loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord only when we are ourselves walking in His commands (1 John 5:2-3).  And I know it is what the Lord Himself meant when he said that our love for one another will set us apart in the world as the people of Jesus (John 13:35).  This kind of brutal honesty toward sin that lays us in the dust when we fail, but lifts us back up as other believers purpose to strengthen and restore us until we find repentance and freedom from our High Priest-King Jesus is not only helpful, but life-changing.  It is the essence New Testament Christianity.

This in no way minimizes sin.  Instead, it deeply intensifies the reality of sin.  And in so doing, it intensifies the need for believers to gather around one another when one is stuck.  All of us feel like a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins at times, but in reality we are simply missing the mark.  But the encouragement of believing brothers and sisters who all together confess that they too miss the mark (Romans 3:23) is itself the Lord's hands and feet reminding us of His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Christian, you may be a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins.  But you're a beloved Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins, and your Lord is interested in what you do from here.  Start with thankfulness for His grace toward you, and watch how the grace changes you.  Church, let's set the tone for patience, long-suffering, and burden-bearing.  Repentance is necessary, but repentance comes from the Lord as a grace (2 Timothy 2:25).  And often the means of grace is the community of Christ's followers - us, being Him to one another.

Bye, Buddy.

Keep Christ in Christmas?

I’ve taught a lot of Bible studies over the years, and preached many sermons.  I’m young, but God has given me many opportunities in my early years to use the gifts of communication that He has given me.

One thing that has happened far too often is that I have come into a study or sermon ill prepared.  I will teach or preach obviously wanting in the areas of clarity, content, or execution.  Often want in execution flows from want of clarity or content.

There have been times when I’ve walked away from a Bible study or sermon thinking, “Man that was bad.  I really didn’t execute what I knew.”  But in fact the real issue isn’t that I didn’t execute what I knew, but that I didn’t know what I was executing well enough for it to happen naturally.  Either I didn’t know the content well enough, or I knew it, but didn’t rightly order it so as to make it most clear.  To use a football analogy, my poor execution didn’t have as much to do with a perceived inability to “stand in the pocket” as much as it did with not knowing the plays well enough. 

I should have prepared better.  Perhaps I should simply be prepared better.  “Always be ready to make a defense” (1 Pet. 3:15); “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).   The implication in these verses is that if you know the content of the Gospel, you’ll be able to execute in the pocket because it’ll come naturally to you.  In other words, if you know the Word, you’ll always be ready to communicate the Word.

December is always the month when many of my fellow Christians speak a lot of “keeping Christ in Christmas.”  While I would never argue with the need to keep Christ on the forefront of anything, I have been intrigued at the recent surge of challenges by skeptics to the Americanized version of Christian Christmas.  It seems to have started with The Great Starbucks’ Holiday Cups Debacle of 2015, and has now flowed further into many people questioning the integrity of the Christmas holiday itself.   They cite the questionable history of the December 25 dating; they cite the obvious pagan use of things such as trees and how Christians several hundreds of years ago took those pagan celebrations and Christianized them; they note connections between early Christmas celebrations and ancient pagan “holidays” and cry foul over it.  While it is a complicated history (and shouldn't be oversimplified), there is warrant for questioning the integrity of the modern version of Christmas as at least partially unbiblical.  That isn’t to say that celebrating Christ’s birth is wrong by any means – Christians are to observe all that the Bible says, including the birth narratives as the miraculous accounts that they are.

But I wonder if many of my fellow Christians are pushing too hard to “keep Christ in Christmas,” because, frankly, they aren’t keeping Christ in the rest of their year.  In other words, could it be that we want to protect Christmas so bad because it is when we (finally) feel closer to Jesus, when in reality, Jesus wants us to be closer to Him all the time?  The New Testament message is nothing short of fellowship with Christ:  “You were called by God into the fellowship of His Son” (1 Cor. 1:9); “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” (1 Jn. 1:3); Jesus said to His disciples, “Surely I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).  Christianity is nothing less than a present awareness of His presence with you.

If deep and rich communion with Christ – union nonetheless, as in marriage (Eph. 5:32) – is Biblical Christianity, then why do we have to try so hard to “keep Christ in Christmas?”  Won’t our participation in the holiday, as His disciples, mean His participation in the holiday?  The reality of Christmas is meant to flow out to the rest of life: Immanuel means “God with us”; and as the passages above make clear, the true Christian is the one who lives in that place all the time: God is with them, in Jesus.  “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 Jn. 5:11). 

Let us not be a people who uses this time to fight.  Instead, let us be a people proclaiming peace.  Secular people and nonbelievers are never won to Jesus by bickering or fighting, but are won by Jesus making Himself known to them, as He made Himself known to us.  If during the Christmas season we show the peace of God ruling in our hearts, it will mean that the peace of God really does rule in our hearts all the time, and perhaps the Lord will bless our witness.  We’ll be prepared to show Christ to people in this Christmas time because Christ is really with us all the time.  In other words, we’ll execute because we know existentially and truly the very truths which the holiday is supposed to communicate.  

If we "fight" to "keep Christ in Christmas," we’ll lose; and it won’t be because we didn’t fight well enough.  It might sadly be because we fought for something that is perhaps only true to us for a month out of the year, instead of being true to us every month.  And if it's only true for you this month, it won't be true for you this month or any other month.  But if Christ is truly with you now, He's with you all the time, and the peace of God will rule over you now and all the time.