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Powerful Love

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What would you do if your power was unlimited?  If you had the power to do anything, what would it be?  You could find a phone booth, grab your cape and be like Superman, flying about avenging injustice and stomping out evil.  Sound good?  It did to Jesus.  Except Jesus  didn’t use a phone booth and a cape.  No x-ray vision, no powerful explosions.  The first equipment He used included a bowl, a washcloth, and a towel.

 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. … Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  –  (John 13:1–5 excerpts (NIV84))

This was an act considered so demeaning, it could only be required of a gentile slave.  Jesus knew there was no limit to the power God had given Him, so He humbled Himself and did what seemed to be the least powerful thing.  What He did seemed weak, but in fact, that act of love still powerfully rips through the earth, destroying evil wherever it is remembered and imitated.

I suppose Jesus, with all power at His command, could have refused to go to the Cross.  But He used His power to endure the assignment given by His Father, knowing it would ultimately defeat evil forever.  At the time of His arrest, as Peter whipped out his sword to resist,

 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”  –  (John 18:11 (NIV84))

When Pilate was looking for an excuse to release Him,

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”  –  (John 18:36 (NIV84))

In this world, people try to overcome evil with increasingly powerful acts of violence.  We brag about “shock and awe.”  We post signs saying, “This property protected by Smith and Wesson.”  Of course, the bad guys are using the same tactics.  Violence proliferates.  But Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world, and He knows those ways don’t work.  Because He had unlimited power, He chose unlimited acts of humble, powerful love.

His way works.  His way wins.

 

Real Joy

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A toddler picks her first dandelion seed ball and marvels at the symmetry.  She blows on it and delights to watch each tiny parachute in flight.  Can you see her face, lit with joy?  Now, imagine the kinds of things that will occur in her life that will work to erase that look of joy, replacing it with caution, suspicion, sorrow, weariness, insecurity – the list will be long.  Who among us does not yearn for our bygone innocence and unadulterated joy?  Someone who also yearned for you and I to recapture real joy was Jesus.  Just before He went to the Cross, He said these words to His disciples:

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.  (John 15:11)

The Creator of all things (John 1:2) wanted His followers to be filled to overflowing with His joy!  It is a sad irony that so many people who believe they are following Jesus are known for being joyless.  But how can we attain this joy?  What were “these things” He spoke in order to give us His joy?  Let’s look back to see:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  (John 15:9-10)

Jesus loves you – His words, not mine.  How much does He love you?  He loves you like the Father, all-perfect, all-loving God loves His only Son.  Jesus loves you with the kind of love that prompted God to give His only Son to rescue you.  His love is unconditional, perfect, thorough, unchanging and powerful.  The kind of love that prompted Jesus to willingly lay down His life for you.  Jesus loves you, right now, in the condition you are in right now.  No matter what you have done.  He loves you.  We cannot earn that love and we cannot do anything to shut it off.  

But we may not be able to experience it.  That’s why Jesus tells His followers to “abide” – literally, to make their home in – His love.  Let His love surround you, let it be the environment within which you live.  And how does one do that?  How do we “make our home” within His love?   He tells us.  We do it by keeping, or following His commandments.  Jesus says, if we keep His commandments, we will live in His love, His joy will be in us, and our joy will be full.

Again, a sad irony.  People get the idea that to follow Jesus’ commands would rob us of joy.  We would have to dress in black, live within the confines of harsh and strict “thou shalt nots.”  We would not be able to laugh, but would have to sing mournful Gregorian chants and stare at candles.  No way!  Jesus came that we might have a more abundant kind of life, the kind of life we were designed to have, that would fill us with light and that by living according to our “Manufacturer’s” instructions, we would be filled with His kind of joy!  Following His commands would naturally lead us away from the kinds of things that change the face of a young child into the face of a wounded, disillusioned adult.  And return us to joy.
PS – Don’t misunderstand: I am aware that some have sensed a call from Jesus to dress in black and sing chants, etc.  In voluntarily obeying that call some have found exquisite joy.  I am not denying or diminishing their experience.  But those who reluctantly surrender to such a life, thinking that they are earning Jesus’ approval, have misunderstood His grace, the idea of abundant life and have missed out on His joy.

Believing is Seeing

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Online dating is risky.  We imagine the person with whom we have connected, but rarely get it right.  When we actually meet, it can be quite a shock.  Believing in God is similar.  The God of our imagination may be very different from the character and personality of the real God.  This can be disillusioning, to say the least.  I know a man who genuinely believed that God would never allow anything bad to happen to him.  When tough times clobbered him, it was a real crisis for his faith.  He told me he no longer believed in God.  I suggested he consider if perhaps the God he no longer believed in was not  the real God.  This is a common problem.  You frequently hear people say, “My God wouldn’t let that happen…”  Understandable, since no one has ever seen God.  Our relationship with Him is a bit like online dating.

Except for this:  God sent His Son.  A “son,” in first century Jewish thinking, was someone who embodied the character and personality of another person.  Jesus called a couple of his disciples “Sons of Thunder,” because their personalities resembled rolling thunder.  He spoke of how His followers might become “Sons of light,” might take on character traits of His “light.”   To say Jesus was the “Son” of God was to say He was the embodiment of God’s character and personality.

As the author of Hebrews stated it,

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…”  –  (Hebrews 1:3a)

Jesus affirmed this.  He said, 

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”    –  (John 14:10b)

Therefore, our belief in God will align with Who God really is, what He is really like, as we believe in Jesus.  To put it another way, if we say we believe in God, but do not accept Jesus, then the God of our belief does not really match the character and personality of the True God.  That is what Jesus meant by these words:

“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.”  –  (John 12:44b-45)

If you believe in the real God, not merely an imaginary god, you believe in the One Who so loved the world so deeply that He sent Jesus, His Son.  And, in your belief in Him, have attained eternal life. (Paraphrase of John 3:16)

Father Knows Best

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Does this make sense to you?

Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.   So his (Jesus’) brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”  For not even his brothers believed in him.  –  (John 7:2-5)
You might think  Jesus’ brothers encouraged Him to go to the big Feast  because they believed in Him, not because they did not.  If they didn’t believe in Him, why bother?  But what John means by “believe” – what Jesus means as well – is fully recognizing Who He really is, and then acting in ways consistent with that understanding.  The point here is that if the brothers really understood that Jesus was God Almighty, they would not have presumed to tell Him what to do.  

And yet, we make that same mistake, even as “believers,” when we presume to tell God how we think He should handle the various prayer requests we bring to Him.  To be sure, we have been encouraged to bring the requests and to honestly express our desires to God.  But there is an attitude sometimes missing that reflects humility before God’s perfect understanding and power to do the best thing possible.  His best sometimes does not conform to what we wish for. 

People who say, “If God was really good and  powerful, He would put an end to wickedness and suffering in the world,” are also on the same shaky footing.  They presume to know, better than God, how to deal with the evil in the world.   As though God should chase back and forth, stopping a beheading here, a racial insult there, and unjust hunger on the other side of the planet.  It’s hard to imagine any of these people coming up with a more elegant solution to evil than the one God ordained on the Cross, even though, in His wisdom, the full realization of His plan was “time release.”  

If you remember “The Godfather,” played by Marlon Brando, you will recall that nobody but nobody told the Godfather what to do.  They would’nt have dared because they were well aware of his position and power.  The same humility and respect is due God the Father.

Daddy (Dad, Part II)

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God is our Father. Jesus said so.  He taught us to address Him in prayer as “Our Father.”  He modeled that relationship, almost always calling God His Father.  Except once.  One time, as it is recorded in the Gospels, Jesus called God by a different Name.  He called Him “Daddy” (literally, the Aramaic, “Abba”).  The one time He switched from “Father” to “Daddy” was in His time of deepest struggle and need, in Gethsemane, on the night before His arrest and crucifixion.  

 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  –  (Mark 14:36)
There is a lesson here.  In our own times of deep distress, even in those times when you feel God would not be inclined to draw near and listen, remember Who He is.  Not only your Father but also your Daddy. Let your lowest moments of struggle become your deepest moments of childlike intimacy.  Imitate Jesus in how He honestly cried out to “Daddy,” saying, in effect, “I really don’t want to do this; isn’t there some other way?”  And also, “I know you are my Daddy and would not assign anything to me that was not the best.”

Who’s your Daddy?

Dad

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My dad’s ears were enormous – big, rubbery flaps on each side of his head, secure handholds when I rode on his shoulders.  Dad didn’t simply walk around when he gave horsey rides; he galloped and bounded.  Let me tell you: those ears were the difference between a hilarious, exhilarating ride and certain death.  That’s why they were there.  He also used them to listen to us.  His hands, likewise, were shaped exactly to fit the needs of a son who needed a bicycle seat adjusted, a scraped knee bandaged or a comforting, encouraging hand on the shoulder.  His lap was adjustable and could easily accommodate two or three kids at story time.  His deep bass voice carried the tune for many funny songs during long drives and could just as easily restore order to a couple of rowdy boys mixing up mayhem in the back seat.  My dad could wrap his arms around you from behind and show you how to use a drill or a spokeshave.  He could fix a twisted slinky.  Dad would have been 100 years old this week, had it not been for a nasty dustup with cancer.  But I can still feel his ears pressed against my own as I hugged him for the final time.

If we could choose our parents, I’d have chosen Dad.  No dads are perfect – some far from it – but my dad came pretty close.  That’s why it means so much to me that Jesus told us to think of God in Heaven as our Father.  I think He wanted us to feel as comfortable, secure and loved as I did growing up.  For example, He said,

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  –  (Matthew 6:31-32)

When asked how we should pray, how we should speak when we dare to address the Almighty, majestic, sovereign, Ruler of the universe, Jesus instructed us to start like this:  “Our Father…”  He told us to speak with God as a loving father, humbly and confidently asking for what we need – even when what we need is forgiveness!  He said for us not to try to connect with God with fancy words or repetitive phrases but to understand that God truly hears us as we come to Him with sincere hearts.

I guess God has big ears too.

Family Matters

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Professional door to door salesmen have a certain air about them when the front door opens.  Kind of a mixture of formality with friendliness, practiced patter in smooth tones, dosed with expectation and anxiety.  If they want success at this house, they need to perform.  On the other hand, the kids in that household come to the front door, yank it open and go blasting through, shoelaces untied, jacket half off, enroute to the kitchen for a snack.  Big difference.  When you are a part of the family, you don’t need to perform to be accepted or even loved.  You just belong, simply because of who you are.

This is especially true for those in God’s family.  Who are they?  Consider these verses:

12 Yet to all who received him, [Jesus] to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  –  (John 1:12–13  –  NIV84)

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  (Galatians 3:26–29  –  NIV84)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1a  –  NIV84)

By trusting Jesus, we are welcomed into God’s family, not by adoption, as nice as that would be, but through birth, the birth of God’s Spirit in our souls.  That’s better.  As His children there is no pecking order; race, former religion, social status – none of that matters.  We are treated alike, and have full rights as heirs.  God arranges for this through a generous act of lavish love.  Welcome home!

The New Way of Freedom

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I used to steer clear of Jesus because I didn’t want to be confined by all those uptight rules.  Ironic, when in truth, following Jesus allows one to cast off the rules (more fully explained in the previous post, “The New Way“).  It’s not that the rules were bad, but that you don’t need them if you are listening to the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit.  Moreover, rules don’t work because they arouse our human urge to break them. There is something about a sign that says, “Don’t Touch” that makes us want to do it. Rules try to stop us from heading in a negative direction, toward sin and death.  The Spirit leads us in a positive direction, into the joy of living gracefully.  The Spirit leads us toward rich, satisfying life.

 

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ro 8:1–4). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

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Once upon a time there was a warehouse filled with cell phones that thought they were calculators.  Their manufacturer had designed them to be phones, but their SIM cards had been damaged.  They were dead but did not realize it.  They had battery power and several working apps so they thought they were “alive.”  One day the manufacturer sent someone to bring them to life.  He came with copies of his own perfect SIM card, offering to replace their damaged cards with his own. Most of the phones thought he was crazy and rejected the offer. But those who allowed him to make the exchange were astonished to discover all the new ways they could operate once they could receive a cell signal.  It was as though they came to life for the first time.

Once upon a time there was a planet filled with dead people who thought they were alive. Because their bodies worked and they could think, they assumed they were experiencing all that life had to offer.  One day, their Creator sent Someone to fix them and bring them to full and abundant life.  Here is what they wrote about Him:

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  (John 1:4-5)

Jesus offered to connect them for the first time with the “Life” and “Light” of God’s Holy Spirit, bringing them to full and abundant life in a whole new way.  He would exchange what was damaged in them with His perfection, personally accepting the cost of their damage and allowing them to operate as their Manufacturer intended.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  (John 1:9–13)