Remonstrance

Time streams through the universe with a trail of decay and loss: the expanse of pristine creation stained by tears and loss.  Death floats along time and draws all creation to an end, never seen again, always never again, and the trace of regret only remains.  I see it with children so driven by promise and bounding with curiosity, they dance in the bright colors of creation and grasp at passing curiosities, but then time wears them down and with it death dissolves away into a bleakness and dreary gray. 

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven…A time to embrace and a time to turn away.”

This is the sadness I bear always for my son.  It crushes my soul in its depths to watch the light-hearted delight of his childhood pass with time into a fond memory that nothing can touch except time of course.

“A time to be born and a time to die.”

Who can bear the erosion of time? Evolution is an absurdity, a foolish myth: time decays everything finite and mortal.

“There is no remembrance of earlier things…”

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“What is man that you would consider him? You have made him to rule…You have made man for a little while lower than the angels…”

“Don’t you realize that we will judge the angels?”

It is perhaps not by coincidence that believers are called “Christians”.  The title means, quite literally and appropriately, “Little Kings”, or “little Christs.”

Jesus is “the Christ”, meaning “the anointed One” whom the Father calls “My Anointed.” This was the “predetermined and foreknown plan of God” for Jesus: to be crucified, buried, raised on the third day, and placed in a seat of honor “above all rule and authority.”  Jesus is the Christ and “the King of Kings and Lord of Lords” who is “worthy of honor and praise and riches and power and glory,” and who proved his worthiness to the universe.

And it is towards this same destiny that “He has predestined us to adoption as sons.” We share in His son’s grand destiny, too. It is a destiny so unmerited that it proves “the glory of His grace” towards the lowliest and most unworthy of creatures. That we might become “co-heirs and co-rulers with the Christ” is the epitome and fulfillment of our title: “Little Kings.”

Because of this destiny as “Little Kings”, He calls on us now to, “Arise! Rule! Take hold of that for which you were set apart from before the foundations of the earth!”  Even now, we should begin to step into our Eternal Thrones and wield the scepter: the cross which he calls on us to “Pick up…and follow me.”  This is where sanctification has its fulfillment as true “differentness” when we pickup the mantle of authority as Christians: “little Kings”.

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Often I just have to stop and ask it: “Why bother?” Such a simple question, and it pierces the fog of all swirling activity, like a deer caught in headlights. Most people are afraid to ask it, because they feel trapped because they are trapped.

That nagging question slammed home again today driving home from a fantasy whirlwind 21st anniversary of romance with a beautiful woman - it was the Residence Inn, downtown Cleveland, including free tickets a cop gave us to see the Indians play the most momentous cliff-hanger of the season: 13 innings…

Driving home, the day ahead loomed threatening, pressure-filled, far too busy for a Saturday. Especially a Saturday with perfect golf weather. Why strain to teach, plan the meetings, make the calls, and put up with it? The answer came quick, it set my heart on fire, and it came from a strange verse:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21 (NASB)

It’s a passage telling the long, dark history of humanity, reaching far back to the dawn of civilization 40,000 years ago, the anthropologists say. An inexplicable burst of civilization appears out of nowhere, and it baffles evolutionists. Yet always, with the earliest artifacts of civilization found anywhere, spiritual awareness is evident. Religious artifacts, burial of the dead, awareness of eternity - always present.

For 38,000 of those 40,000 years they did not know about the glorious revelation and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Here we sit, in the most priviledged era with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the most wealthy and educated nation in history, and I was born into comfortable suburbia, received the education impossible for most. Towering above all that is the wealth of spiritual training, experience and contageous instruction freely given - all this while I disdained it and desperately rebelled, yet I received it anyway, despite years of flight.

It was so easy for me to get saved - the right place, right time, right people… But then there’s this passage:

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14 (NASB)

How true, and how amazing I’m one of “the few.” I wonder, sometimes, at that 38,000 years of dark and primitive human history - surely fewer still found the small gate during that time. I wonder at this, because it means so, so many perish, and I wonder if I should ask God that question: “Why bother?” Why bother allowing 38,000 years of lost souls - and still another 2,000+ years of “few who find it” since the crucifixion - and there’s just so much terrible, terrible lostness. Why did God bother do create?

And here is an amazing answer:

I can’t fully answer “Why bother?” for God, but I do know He considers all this human lostness and tragedy worthwhile because of this: He so very much loves even me. If only 0.1% of all humans throughout time get saved, to God that 0.1% fully answers the question, “Why bother?” He knew what He was doing:

Before the very first tragedy surfaced, His eyes were on His beloved children. One of those few priviledged ones was named Keith McCallum, and God pointed His finger at that person and said, “That’s why!” There is no way to respond to this, analyze it, debate it - I know and He knows how utterly unworthy this person is, and how utterly incomprehensible His grace is.

What makes me tick: it is so impossible to sit on this vast, mountainous wealth and watch Romans 1:21 unfold all around me. Even if I spend all my years and days suffering with complete sacrificial return, I could never scratch the surface of what I owe.

And then I realize: stop complaining. And I do. Until tomorrow.

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There is a kind of tired I’m sure only Christians experience. Theologically, I say it because it is a spiritual tiredness, and foreign to the unregenerate mind:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)

The unregenerate mind is dead:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in our transgressions…
Ephesians 2:1,5 (NASB)

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive… Colossians 2:13 (NASB)

And “coming alive” spiritually is that incident when the lights go on:

For this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 (NASB)

At the heart of this change is a newness of life. The verses are endless on this point, and it’s a settled issue: before Christ, there was a spiritual life we never knew.

This newness of life also brings a different kind of tiredness unknown before. I have worked construction, landscaping, painting, bussing, waiting, and crossed a littany of fields and settings from the loading dock to the multibillion-dollar corporate boardroom. Throughout all these, including all my education experience, I have never seen this kind of tiredness.

Here’s an interesting description:

Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” Mark 5:30 (NASB)

Consider Paul’s strange tiredness:

So death works in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:12 (NASB)

…I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith…Philippians 2:17

I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls… 2 Corinthians 12:15 (NASB)

“the dying of Jesus…” It’s a combination of: victory, and sheer exhaustion, like coming off an intense roller-coaster ride with wobbly knees.

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Tags: maturity, sacrifice, sanctification

Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Ain’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of america

That was the problem with my generation: no destination to hold!

Currently Playing: Volunteers of America

Current mood: Angry

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It was a heartbeat of restless freedom pounding against prison walls. It resounded across the empire, incited a backlash of persecutions, filled the Collusium with martyrs, stirred confusion, but still walls kept crumbling. The helpless emerged from dark, social prisons erected by elite dynasties of the Kosmos, dazed but elated. Slave and master, male or female, Greek or Jew were sacred roles Paul denounced as meaningless and despised by God.

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. (Eph. 2:13-14)

Beyond Walls!

It was God’s unique purpose for the church on earth, and a source of warmth in 1st -Century Body Life. It embodied the Great Commission, and it set Christian gatherings apart from all other Kosmos societies like a light blazing on a hill. This is The Great Mystery of Christ which Paul describes in Ephesians: God’s love for man smashing social barriers to reach all peoples and all nations!

…the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Ephesians 3:4-6

This is what Martin Luther King dreamed about, but he was wrong on this point:

"I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." - Martin Luther King.

For those who know the Christ, it isn’t a dream, and it isn’t rooted in the American dream. It’s a Social Revolution, the ekklesia, firmly rooted in the Great Mystery of Christ which has been revealed.

A Social Revolution

The Great Mystery of Chrst is social defiance: we are the recipients of God’s radical blueprint for revolution. It is called the ekklesia. and it was prophesied long ago, headed by The Branch:

"And those who are far off will come and build the temple of the LORD." - Zech. 6:11

Paul echos these same words in the New Testament, talking about the ekklesia:

"But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." - Eph. 2:11

The force bringing together such far-flung, divided peoples is "the Branch" of Zechariah’s prophecy, Jesus Christ, as Paul describes Him:

AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR…So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household…" Eph.2:17-19

What a fulfillment of Zechariah’s Branch prophecy! "Those who are far off will come and build the temple of the LORD," as Paul describes in a crescendo of glory, are none other than you and I:

Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:20-22.

Owners of a Revolution

How relieved we are to live at a time when the great Mystery of Christ is revealed! Our own salvations were possible because a long chain of Christians crashed headlong through social barriers to reach our doorstep!

Along with our good fortune, we also inherited the stewardship of God’s blueprint. While older Christians may develop enough maturity to love with sacrifice, we still need to crash the geographical, racial and national dividing walls. Our progress is lethargic and incomplete.

Observe how rebellious churches grow complacent, then spiritually dense! They become at odds with the leadership of Jesus Christ, facing a crisis of Laodicean proportions. With Jesus there is no confusion: be assured He will move forward, and our agreement is passé.

For NEO Xenos this point is especially urgent to embrace, because we only need to look over our shoulders at our recent past to see a trail of Christians still trapped behind the dividing walls of personal peace and affluence. These are the extolled virtues of American myth which Jesus Christ despises, and He exposes the illusion:

"You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." Jesus Christ, in Rev. 3:17

The warmth and excitement of Body Life belongs to hearts responding to God’s prolonged and patient call to reach beyond artificial social barriers, no matter what the cost, no matter how weak or feeble. It is the church of Philadelphia:

"Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name." Rev. 3:8

In the long term, as we build a truly stable Great Commission ethos, Jesus Christ will lead us in a charge against the more distant and difficult social walls. Only then can we say with confidence that NEO Xenos is a Great Commission ekklesia.

We are able to live and taste what Martin Luther King talked about, and properly understood, from God’s Word: the prophecy given long before the coming of Christ, when God would effect a revolution:

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. - Martin Luther King

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The Mystery of Christ, prophesied long ago…

Zech. 6:11-15 "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices. Now the crown will become a reminder in the temple of the LORD…And those who are far off will come and build the temple of the LORD."

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I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

From http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html.

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The Bible is so full of negativity, you’ll hear people complain, especially with the Old Testament God. He’s full of wrath, warnings, judgements and so forth — it hardly makes for a casual evening entertainment. Why on earth would anyone want to come out on a Saturday night to a Bible teaching about the Old Testament God?

Actually, it’s not negativity at all, I would say. It’s simply The Real World. Despite our mutibillion-dollar entertainment industry, we live in a Real World where lives are shattered, the best dreams are dashed, people clash against each other, murders, rapes, wars and all the rest fill the planet everywhere. It persists, despite our great technologies. Not even the iPod can eliminate or reduce any of it!

"The Rape of the Sabines" - Luca GIORDANO. ‘O, the glory of Roman civilization!’

The Bible reduces the painful shock of life, however. It holds the promise of eliminating it altogether. This is why God wrote it, it’s why He wants so desperately for us to read it: God wants us to avoid so much carnage and suffering. Only death itself brings full release, yet even now suffering can be mitigated by the joy of new life that grows without failure which has been planted by God’s Word.

You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding Word of God. For,   

"ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,
AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.
THE GRASS WITHERS,
AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,
BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ABIDES FOREVER."

And this is the word which was preached to you.  (1Pe 1:23-25)

God, who is the Creator of the Real World, wants us to build in a Real World which cannot fade away.

Thus, Central Teachings

So we spend Saturday nights studying the Bible, unlike everyone else at that time! How do we explain that?

Hebrew 6:4-6 explains it: for those who have "been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come," it not only makes sense, but life is so drab and inconceivable without it! That’s why it’s not a waste of a good Saturday night.

Our time spent together reaches far beyond the motivational seminars held in secular space. It is not wishful thinking. It is the Real World. Christians assemble to study and share something in which "God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie."

Spending the time together in His Word is the purging of negative, the apposition - it is a life of power and unshakable confidence in the midst of the Real World:

We who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. (Heb. 6:18-19)

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Compiled from The Lonely Soldier.

The Crushing Load of the Cross

According to one missionary, "the crushing load of the cross is putting your ‘hand to the plow’ and not turning back." Jesus, of course, knew this, and that’s why he said those words. He spoke them to his disciples who would be engaged in a Great Commission lifestyle.

At the heart of this crushing load is the experience of loneliness: always saying "goodbye" to the spiritual children you’ve raised, loved, and nurtured. Now they’re standing tall on their own, and it’s inappropriate and stiltifying for you to linger.

In 2 Tim. 4, Paul has written at length about his ministry, God’s work on earth, His Eternal Plan, the future… Then, exhasuted, he writes about the crushing dissapointment accompanied by great discomfort. He is held in the infamous Mamertine prison, a hole reeking with pestilence. He knew there was no escape. It was just a matter of time before execution. Indeed, he was beheaded and stuck on a pole on the Appian way, according to Eusebius.

It was at the climax of the Neronian persecution, and all around him his dear brothers and sisters were being cruelly executed as traitors of Rome and sabateurs of the fire which almost destroyed Rome. Christianity was gaining a reputation as the most despised plauges on Roman society. Yet still, "I’ve…kept the faith," he says.

Physically, he was cold, tired and discouraged. CS Lewis made the correct observation: "Our bodies and souls live so close together, they catch each other’s diseases." His physical plight affected his spirits, undoubtedly.

Most painful surely was his separation from his friends: "All who are in Asia have deserted me… Demas, having loved this present world… Alexander the Coppersmith is on a rampage… all my friends have deserted me… only Luke is with me."

Yet, you detect a noble solemnity. So courageous, yet weak and in need of Timothy’s companionship. Strong, yet so frail.

The Dissapointment of Defection

Demas "loved the present world." This dessertion was incredibly painful. Demas is mentioned in the same context as Luke as a travelling companion for years. But now, he defected. He talks about "those who love the appearing of Christ," but this one "loved the present world." Perhaps he defected out of cowardice, considering the present persecution. But Paul counted on him, and in his moment of greatest need, Demas defected.

Defection is a rampant disease in this culture among Christians. All the time you see moral, spiritual betrayal and defection, so many "having loved this present world."

Alexander the Coppersmith v.14-15 "opposed Paul", possibly an informer? He opposed Paul in every way - a great and powerful enemy of Paul and Christ.

"You have no enemies? The boast is poor. He who’s engaged in a duty the brave endure, must have made foes. If you have none, small is the work you have done. You’ve hit no traitors…" You’ll make enemies if you stand for something.

They’ll say this shouldn’t bother you if you’re trusting the Lord. It sounds great, but when there’s problems in the church, it doesn’t feel good no matter what people say. "Out there" was an enemy working ceaselessly against Paul.

The biggest problem with someone like an Alexander: if you’re not careful, he becomes the whole church. You forget he’s just one among many. You dwell on him to the exclusion of all the other affirmative people. It’s the tool of the devil to discourage you. Consider all the names who are not Alexanders… Paul was clearly dwelling on his enemies at this point in his life.

Despair of Desertion

His "first defense" allows for someone to voluntarily stand with the accused. It was always so easy to trump up charges against Paul: atheism, cannabalism, incest were among the few.

It was a moment of crisis, unlike routine daily life. A time when we need help. These are such lonely moments. This must hav been much like Christ’s Gethsename, where they all forsook him and fled. Here’s the victorious apostle writing such lonely words.

Can you handle this? This is where the rubber meets the road…

The seeds of the answer are found in the problem… This same chapter has the solutions.

Encouragements

2 Tim 4:13 - he wants his coat. It’s cold in that Roman cell. Sometimes we need to start with the most basic needs and meet those. 1 Jn.2 "if someone is naked & cold…" One of the ways we meet our spiritual needs is by resolving the basic physical problems.

2 Tim. 4:11 - "bring Mark," who was a desserter. He wants to restore that relationship.

2 Tim. 4:9, 21 - "come and see me…i need your friendship." The same Paul who had seen even Jesus Christ still needed a friend. People say, "Jesus is all I need," but understand this: human companionship is one of God’s provisions for us. It was God who first said, "It is not good for man to be alone."

Everyone needs not just friends in general, but at least one special friend, to spill your heart to. Even the great Paul need that with Timothy.

He also wanted some encouragements from the Bible. Thus, "bring my parchments," to occupy his mind. Nothing is more encouraging than finding the right book to meet our needs. It’s so unfortunate we’re not a reading people. TV occupies a copmletely different mechanism in our mind. To tie into a book is therapeutic, mentally.

Spiritual Encouragements

4:17 The Lord "stood with me..delivered me.." There are moments when the presence of the Lord is everything. We need a coat, friends, books, etc. But when our soul is hurting, we need God.

Sometimes life takes all the human props away. This has kept Christians throughout the ages, even in the most bleak circumstances, true to their faith. We see everything in perspective, when we "love the appearing of His coming." He doesn’t remove us from the truth of that painful situation, but He does reveal the truth of how to handle it.

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Tags: discipleship, leadership, loneliness