Red Letters/Black Letters: day 99: We're all the same

"Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." John 8:51

A word before we begin to clear up any questions: when Jesus says 'My word' he means his teachings, so if we keep his teachings we will never see death.

What??

If we keep his teachings we will never see death? But we all die. 

Exactly!!

Why am I so excited about that? Well, excitement may not be the best word, but I do think that it is a rather important thing to remember. Because whether people follow Jesus for a moment or a lifetime we are missing the mark somewhere because we all die. The criminal on his deathbed dies. The soldier in his foxhole dies. The senior who gave their heart to Jesus at 5 dies. The church secretary dies. The pastor dies. The pope dies. Do you begin to see a pattern?

Whenever I write a sermon I usually end it with a 'so what?' point, sometimes I verbally call it that, sometimes I do not, but whether or not I expressly mention it it's there. If everything I said beforehand is true, so what?

So what? So what if we all die? Why is that important? Why should we focus on that? Well, because as the title says, we are all the same. And, if we are all the same, there is no one who is holier, no one who is perfect, no church that gives out automatic tickets to heaven bypassing death. If we're all the same there is no reason for a forgiven person to hold there forgiven-ness over another person. If we're all the same then your life is no more important than my life, and my life is no more important than anyone else's. At the same time your life is no less important than mine and my life is no less important than anyone else's.

There is freedom in that, freedom from having to be better, freedom from having it all together, freedom from being excluded, because in Jesus life and death and life we are all included, because we are all the same.

+ Have you ever acted 'holier than thou'?

+ Have you ever been excluded from the holy club?

+ How does equality with all others make you feel?

Red Letters/Black Letters: day 100: I AM

"Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8:58

Notice how the 'I AM' is all capitalized? Go all the way back to the book of Exodus and you will notice in 3:14 'I AM who I AM'. God is known to the Hebrew people as I AM. Here in John, over and over again Jesus refers to himself as I AM. The author of John specifically wrote their gospel in order that people may believe that Jesus was in fact God. You probably already knew that, didn't you?

For a moment though, let's pretend that you didn't. Let us pretend that you are hearing Jesus say one of his I AM statements for the first time. As a Hebrew, you would want to stone Jesus. As a Hebrew there is no worse thing that a person can do or say. You shall have no other gods before me, the law starts right there. NO OTHER GODS. And here Jesus comes walking around saying that he is God.

There are, in fact, only two options when it comes to Jesus in the Gospel of John, he either is one with God or he is a madman. If I'm honest with you, this is why John is my least favorite Gospel, and why I consider to really be an extended sermon as opposed to a Gospel. A Gospel tells the good news whereas John writes in order to convince. Mark, Matthew and Luke tell you the story, John shoves it down your throat. Which goes to show you that it takes all kinds to share the Gospel, some of us tell you and let you make your own decision, some of us crash Jesus into you and hope you are left standing at the end.

I believe that Jesus was I Am, which would get me stoned back in Jesus's time or killed today in some countries, by God's grace I live somewhere where it most likely won't. Praise be to God.

+ Do you believe Jesus was God?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 98: Freedom Questions

"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36

What is freedom? Is it being able to say what you want? Do what you want? Go where you want?

Is freedom being able to worship whatever god you want?

Is it being able to own whatever gun you want?

Is freedom being able to drink? Being able to peacefully protest?

Is freedom tied to a piece of yellowing paper? Is it tied to what politicians in local,state, and federal governments decide?

Is it something that is given by the blood of soldiers?

Is that the freedom that Jesus is talking about?

Or is the freedom Jesus mentions, freedom from expectations?

Is it freedom from guilt? Freedom from lies?

Is it also freedom to things? Freedom to love, to live at peace, to give?

Is it freedom that is given?

Is it freedom to community? Freedom to belong? Freedom from loneliness?



+ What differences do you see in the freedom Jesus gives us and the freedoms we speak about in the US?

+ How has Jesus given you freedom?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 97: Seeking Truth

"If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:31-32

Sometimes the truth stares us right in the face and we look the other direction. You know what I mean? Jesus is right, the truth will set us free, but so often the truth also convicts us. The truth opens our doors, but sometimes only after we've suffered a bit for it. And that is often hard for us to deal with and so, we turn our face from the truth, living in the falseness instead.

We like our relationship just as it is thank you very much.

We like our job and its paycheck.

We like the way our church is running right now, no need to change it.

We are comfortable in our surroundings, no need to muck it all up and look with new eyes at old situations. Unfortunately that is exactly what Jesus call us to do, have eyes to see and ears to hear. I seem to be using that statement a fair amount of times over the course of these entries. I think that the reason I am is twofold, on the one hand I think it has become fairly obvious to me that I need to start having those new eyes and ears, and on the other side I think that if I have to learn it there are most likely other people who need to learn it as well.

And so...we need to open ourselves up to seeing and learning the truth, no matter what road that takes us down. It will be hard, certain things may be broken, but Jesus is able to make something beautiful from broken things.

+ What aspects of your life have you been looking away from truth in? why?

+ Are you willing to seek out the truth in your life no matter the consequences?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 96: He who sent me is with me

"And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, 

for I always do those things that please Him." John 8:29

A Note to all people who feel called by God:

Did God call you? If the answer is yes God will never leave you. That may seem like an obvious reminder, after all we speak about God never leaving anyone all the time. Yet, it is my contention, and I know this partly from personal experience, that those called by God often forget the fact that God does not leave them. I believe this is true because we often feel alone behind a pulpit. Alone in the staff meeting or board meeting. Alone in the narthex. Alone in the study. Alone in the crowd. Yet, Jesus said "he who sent me is with me" and the God who sent us is with us as well.

Believe me, I know that the presence of God is often like a whisper barely heard or a breath of wind that you only notice as it moves past you. Believe me, I know that sometimes the only thing you may be hearing from God is silence. Believe me, I know that in those times you feel alone often you just want to run away, chuck it all, and be free. But, I also know that the calling we have received is one of immense purpose and joy at times. I also know that sometimes we hear silence not because God is not talking but because we are not listening. I also know that a whisper can be extremely loud and a breath of wind can knock a person over.

Am I talking to pastors? Yes. But I am also talking to anyone in any career that believes they are there because God wants them to be, from Presidents to Garbage Collectors, and all in between. It is my belief that God's call is not limited to people standing behind the pulpit, but can include the people sitting in the pews as well.

What has God called you to? Whatever it is, remember that God does not leave and God does not forsake.

+ What has God called you to?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 95: And now for a little bit of Buddha

Today is a not a devotion. Well, at least not what you've come to understand as one from my fingers at least. You may recall that back when I started this little endeavor I mentioned that I was working through a journal titled The Sayings of Jesus that I purchased at Half Price Books, for a couple bucks. I came across a copy of this same journal at Barnes and Nobel a couple weeks ago and decided to thumb through the copy. I had a theory as to why my copy was at HPB and wanted to see if I was correct. Now, while I will never absolutely know its the reason, I am fairly certain it is because of 10 pages in my copy that did not appear in the copy found in B & N. You see, in my copy the ten pages following the one with yesterday's verse from the gospel of John contain sayings not from Jesus, but from Buddha.

Now, it is my belief, much like the Apostle Paul, that all truth that exists in this lump of rock we call home comes from God. As such I have decided that for today I will share the twenty sayings of Buddha that are found in my journal. Perhaps they will cause a stirring in you, perhaps not. If they do, let them, there is nothing wrong with that. If they do not, just chuckle at the fact that some guy [or gal] got away with a little religious humor by placing them in some copies. Here we go...

Beware of the anger of the body. Master the body. Let it serve truth. -- Buddha

The wind cannot overturn a mountain. Temptation cannot touch the man who is awake. strong, 

and humble, who masters himself and minds the law. -- Buddha

The greatest impurity is ignorance. Free yourself from it. Be Pure. -- Buddha

For a while the fool's mischief tastes sweet, sweet as honey. But in the end it turns bitter. 

And how bitterly he suffers! -- Buddha

Beware of the anger of the mouth. Master your words. Let them serve truth. -- Buddha

One is not low because of birth nor does birth make one holy. 

Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one holy. -- Buddha

Happiness or sorrow - whatever befalls you, walk on untouched, unattached. -- Buddha

A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, 

so he escapes the suffering. -- Buddha

Beware of the anger of the mind. Master your thoughts. Let them serve truth. -- Buddha

Be quick to do good. If you are slow, the mind, delighting in mischief, will catch you. -- Buddha

Does the spoon taste the soup? A fool may live all his life in the company of a master 

and still miss the way. -- Buddha

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures 

that the final victory comes. -- Buddha

Live joyfully, without desire. -- Buddha

The rain could turn to gold and still your thirst would not be slaked.

Desire is unquenchable or it ends in tears, even in heaven. -- Buddha

If the traveler cannot find a master or friend to go with him, 

let him travel alone rather than with a fool for company. -- Buddha

Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. -- Buddha

Now, I am no Buddhist, so I cannot say that I resonate with each one of them, but some of them speak into my heart and my mind. The three "beware of the anger of" statements I think are very powerful reminders of things that Jesus also taught. In addition Buddha's saying on the greatest impurity being ignorance is probably my favorite, I am a guy who believe in education in its many forms and when I think of negating ignorance I automatically think of education.

I have another book, a book about the parallel sayings of Buddha and Jesus, and if you look at a lot of the leaders of various world religions you start to see a lot of overlap. I believe this harkens back to my previous statement of belief in all truth being God's truth. God works in mysterious ways, through people as messed up as I am, and some worse. Because of that it makes complete sense in my mind that the people who most look for the truth will find the same one.

+ What saying, if any, resonated with you?

+ How does it make you feel that sayings of other religious people may line up with what Jesus said?

Now, there was a body of writing, and it was followed by a couple of questions, I guess this may well have been a devotion after all. Blessings.

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 94: How long dear Lord? How long?

"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does;

and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." John 5:20

Every good thing that Jesus was came from the fact that God showed him. God showed him so that he could show us. He showed us so that we might show others, becoming a city on a hill. My, how much we screwed that up. 

What a way to begin a devotional.

Jesus sat at the proverbial feet of God and watched attentively seeing the movements of God. Movements of action and reaction. Movements of creation and recreation. Movements of justice and love. Movements of grace and reconciliation. He learned all that he could because he had eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart that took it in to pour it all back out again.

We sat at the feet of Jesus, first literal, then proverbial. We sat there as fishermen and tax collectors, and then we sat there as disciples and followers. We sat there lost and alone and were found. We sat there in fear and the fear dissipated. We sat there in bodies that appeared alive but were dead and we became souls risen in new life, born afresh to the altogether different same world.

Later we sat all over, at Jesus's proverbial feet. First we did it in Jerusalem and then later in Rome and then only in Rome, then separately in Rome and Germany and England. We sat in Greece and Russia. We sat in the ends of the earth and we listened and we learned and we grew and we messed it up. 

Because we sat separately when Jesus and God sat together. We sat separately where Jesus and the disciples sat together. We sat separately where as the first century church sat completely in common, giving where there was need, taking where things were given. Pride wasn't there. Fear wasn't there. But it came, it came in the form of disagreements and dissolutions and theses and translations and heresies. It came in the forms of wars, of words, of ideas, of man to man combat. It came because of our need "to be like the cool kids, because all the cool kids, they seem to get in."

But it wasn't supposed to be this way. We were supposed to find the path together. We were supposed to change and adapt along with the will and work of God. We were supposed to emulate the example shown to us because he emulated the example shown to him.

+ How has denominational difference helped the church move forward? How has it hindered?

+ Do you have real friends [not Facebook, not acquaintances] that go to different churches? How can/do your differences affect your beliefs?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 93: More than Protein

""My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34

Here is another prime example of Jesus's point potentially getting lost on us first world people. After all, the vast majority of people who go without meat in our neck of the world do so by choice. Do you realize the privilege we have to choose not to eat something?

In Jesus's time meat was not easily accessible at Kroger or Wal-Mart. In most cases the meat you ate was from the animals you raised. And if you didn't raise it, eating meat was a luxury item. The thing you had once in a while, not every day, certainly not at every meal.

We read this and get the idea that Jesus was saying he gets his meat, his sustenance, from doing God's will. While that is true, Jesus is saying something more as well. Jesus's sustenance comes from doing God's will and work, but in addition, Jesus's joy comes from doing God's will and work. Jesus's reward comes from doing God's will and work.

We in the church often talk about 'being fed' when we go to church; while it may be true, how much more so do you think someone who has known true hunger would mean if they said it?  In the same way the man who doesn't get meat 3 times a day means a lot more than just protein when he mentions it.

+ What do you mean when you use the term 'being fed'? How do you interpret it when others say it?

+ How has understanding the context Jesus operated in helped you to understand his teachings? Do you think you need such an understanding?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 92: If one, then the other

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; 

for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." John 5:19

The sins of the father are the sins of the son.

If you have been abused, you are more likely to abuse. If your parents drank, you are more likely to drink. If you grew up in a house of lies, you are more likely to lie. If your parents were divorced, you are more likely to divorce.

But, if the negatives are true, shouldn't the positives be true as well?

We are a people who live by example. Jesus understood this and so when he explained how he was able to do certain things and act certain ways I think he had a second motive. If the son does what he has been shown by the father, does it not mean that what the son does the father does as well?

So, if the Son heals, what does the Father do?

If the Son gives vision, what does the Father do?

If the Son raises the dead, what does the Father do?

If the Son sets the captives free, what does the Father do?

If the Son forgives what does the Father do?

If the Son loves, what does the Father do?

+ If we take our example from Jesus, what should we do?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 91: The God of all and no gender

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24

I never understand why people get so up in arms about the gender of God. Yes, Jesus refers to God as Father and Abba, but the Bible also refers to God as being like a mother hen. The fact of the matter is that God is not flesh and blood. God is spirit and as such neither pees standing up nor sitting down.

So, why father language or mother language? I believe that it is our human need to understand both the attributes of God as well as an understanding of the relationship between God and us. We are God's children and God is the ultimate parent.

Unfortunately we encounter quite a few problems when we decide to assign gender to the Almighty. First, is the ever changing roles of fathers and mothers in our world. Attaching ourselves to father or mother limits our understanding of God. Saying God has attributes that are found in males and females is a lot different than saying God is a male or female, we need to remember which came first. Second, we have left behind and at times cast out those people who have been incapable of assigning the same gender that we have. These people have often been physically or sexually abused and carry massive pain, which we have at times added to with our immovability. Third, we also need to remember that the Bible was written and lived in a male dominated society, to this end it is really amazing that God as mother language got through at all.

By letting go of our need for gender specific language we can widen our understanding, accept people, and interact truthfully with the scriptures.

+ How have you used gender language in connection with God?

+ Is there room in your theology for people who see it differently?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 90: In Truth and In Spirit

"But the hour is coming, and now is, 

when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; 

for the Father is seeking such to worship him." John 4:23

How did people worship God prior to Jesus? In truth but not in spirit? In spirit but not in truth? In neither truth nor spirit? Those are rhetorical questions, Mainly because I don't necessarily think they have an answer. What we can talk about is what does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth, so that we can accomplish the task now.

Truth:
I believe that to worship God in truth has a lot to do with coming before God as you really are. We are not to come as we hope we were. We are not to come as what people think we are. We are not to come as anything other than what we are, warts attached. So often we attempt to come to church as someone else, and while we may in fact convince other people that it is the true us, we cannot convince God, because God knows us better than we know ourselves. We can trick a lot of people, perhaps ourselves included, but we cannot trick God, so it is better if we don't try.

Spirit:
I mentioned in another post that we have dual realities that make us us, the earthly and the heavenly, the physical and the spiritual. Coming to God only as physical beings is coming as one half of a whole person. In much the same way as truth, worshipping in spirit forces us to face reality. We must come to God as a complete person, one who walks and talks but also feels and transcends.

If we come to God in these two ways we will bring true worship to the throne. True worship is what God hopes and expects from us.

+ How do you come before God, in truth and spirit, or elsewise?

+ How have you come as someone other than yourself?

+ How have you come as only a half person?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 89: Godlight

"But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, 

that they have been done in God." John 3:21

All the verses in this blog come from the NKJV, which is usually my favorite. But I have to say that this time I am not the biggest fan of the wording, so let me also share the Message *.

"But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes Godlight 

so the work can be seen for the Godwork that it is." John 3:21

Sometimes I find Eugene Peterson's The Message very helpful. When I first read this passage on the New King James I thought of the person as a bit of a braggart, coming into the light so that everyone can see all the good work that they did. This kind of flies in the face of Jesus's teachings in the sermon on the mount about not letting your one hand know what good your other hand has done. Reading the Message, though, makes me see it in a new light [haha]. The person who does good deeds does not seek the light for the sake of recognition, but rather welcomes the light when it comes to show where the deeds originate from. 

If I'm honest, which I do attempt to be in these posts, I am not necessarily the best at doing this. My motives are usually far less pure. I often seek the light so that I can be praised for my actions. For instance there have been times when I have written things anonymously and then went on to tell people I wrote it, usually after they have already commented positively on it. Hearing that people like my words isn't enough, I have this deep desire for them to know that it was I who wrote what touched them. Perhaps instead I should wait for the light to expose me instead of seeking it out, and then when/if it does I can point out that the only reason I am able to write what I do is because of the gift of writing that I believe I have been given.

I need to do a better job of waiting for the light to show what I've done as opposed to seeking out the light for my own purposes. In addition I need to be humble whenever the light shines, and more so when it never does.

+ Are you the braggart? or the God pointer-outer?

+ Think back to the last time you were praised for what God has equipped you to do. How did you respond?

* I have many Bibles, but my favorite is a parallel Bible that contains both NKJV and The Message, the best of both worlds in my opinion.

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 88: Water

"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that 

I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become 

in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:13-14

Caution: Sarcasm Alert

If I didn't know any better I would think that the author of John is trying to get some kind of idea about everlasting life across real hard. Luckily I know better, the idea that the gospel writers wrote in a certain way to try to get certain points across is ridiculous.

End of Sarcasm

In other news I would like to talk a little about water. Quite a few days ago I wrote a devotion that ended with the information that every single person who is reading this blog is among the wealthy. Water is a prime example of why that statement is true. 780 million people, 1 in 9 people in the world, do not have access to clean water. That is a big number, but it is even bigger when we consider that in the massively developed countries of the world there are a mere 10 million of that 780 million.

We can flush the toilet multiple times a day and inevitably it will once again fill up. We have machines that fill up with water in order to wash our underwear. We have other machines that will warm up our water so we can take comfortable baths and use more clean water to wash our dirty dishes. We use water in our yards to water our grass or our flowers or our tomato plants. We use an untold amount of water to fill our pools and power our sprinklers just so our children can run through them. We can turn on the spigot at any time yet many of us buy bottled water to rid ourselves of the minor impurities that is in our water after it has been cleaned in water plants. In other words, when Jesus talks about water it kinda goes over our head.

Sure, when we drink from our bottles of water we thirst again, but we didn't have to walk miles to get that water in the first place.

I say all of that to say this next thing:

Jesus did not spend time in Rome, among the elite.

Jesus did spend time in Jerusalem and surrounding areas, among the poor and outcasts.

When Jesus talks we have to understand the context of his community.

This goes not just for the red letters but also for Paul and Peter and John.

If we are not cognizant of the context we might as well not read the Bible in the first place.

Thus Endeth the Sermon.

+ Have you ever been without water? What were the circumstances?

+ Do you understand the contexts of the Bible? If you do, how has it changed the way you read and incorporate scripture into your life? If not do you think that if you did it would help your understanding of scripture?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 87: The Forgotten Verse

"For the Son did not come into the world to condemn the world; 

but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17

As you most likely well know John 3:16 is probably the American church's favorite verse. Tim Tebow would often wear in under his eyes during games. At any major sporting event you can find it on handmade signs. If you have somehow made you way through life without seeing John 3:16 when you are out about in public I am utterly impressed. It is that popular, much less popular though is John 3:17.

As we looked at it yesterday John 3:16 speaks of God's love being so great that Jesus was sent to give us eternal life. John 3:17 (found above obviously) states that Jesus did not come to condemn but rather to save. 

I think that the reason that 3:16 is viewed as so important and 3:17 isn't is because a lot of people use 3:16 as both an evangelism tool as well as a tool to condemn those who do not 'believe in him.' It goes like this, 'God sent Jesus to die for you so that you could have eternal life. If you don't believe in Jesus you are going TO BURN in eternal torment IN HELL.'

Now, I don't really want to talk about hell, or heaven for that matter. As I said yesterday everlasting life does not begin at the time of your last breath, if it does you aren't following Jesus particularly well.

What I do want to say is that I believe that these verses are found next to them for a particular reason, to keep people from using the first verse to condemn the world. I heard a sermon this past week that said salvation isn't a matter of varying degrees of life but rather that we were dead and post salvation we can live. [Shout out to Dr. Todd Faulkner] Jesus didn't come here to condemn, he came to raise the dead. And if we hope to follow him we should be about the same, raising the dead.

Why?

The people you can't stand already know you can't stand them. The ones you don't want in your church know full well you don't want them there. Telling them that is not news. Telling them you love them would be news. Telling them they're welcome would be news. Jesus came to raise the dead, stop calling them dead and help them breath.

+ Before today did you know John 3:17?

+ Have you used John 3:16 as a tool to condemn? Other verses?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 86: A John 3:16 Breakdown

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Let's break this down piece by piece.

For God so loved the world: Whatever is about to come down the pike all stems from one simple fact. God loved. Who did God love? The world. God loved the world. You and me and chipmunks and lions and bluebirds and daffodils and mountains and streams. 

But it wasn't just that God loved the world, God SO loved the world. This was not a passing fancy. It wasn't a high school romance. This was honest to goodness love that would do anything to bring the object of that love closer. I think we often forget that. We think that God loves me. Sometimes we think God loves you. In truth we even downplay that love because we attach it to the actions of the moment. No, no, no! God so loved the world, before redemption, before absolution, when we were still covered in our own muck and mire God so loved the world.

that He gave his only begotten Son: There was this God and there was this love and it required action. Not because of some all powerful sense of judgment and justice, but because of this all powerful love. God loved the world and because of that God sent a begotten Son. 

Now, why is it important to distinguish that Jesus was a begotten Son? Many people would say that it was to explain the relationship between God and Jesus, that it was some large theological reason so that we would know that Jesus was 'very God from very God' [see The Nicene Creed]. I humbly disagree. I believe that Jesus was distinguished as being begotten because the rest of us are not. Jesus is in fact not the only son of God, he just happens to be the begotten Son of God. Each of us can also be sons and daughters of God.

that whoever believe in Him: Here is where things begin to get tricky. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it merely a head knowledge that the man, Jesus, did in fact exist. Is it believing that he physically walked the earth, or is it believing that he physically walked the water? Does it have anything to do with that at all? 

Belief in Jesus means more than head knowledge. Belief in Jesus also means more than merely having faith. If we are to truly believe in Jesus we must also believe in what Jesus did and taught and attempt to mold our lives after his. This is vastly different than saying Jesus is the Son of God. It is also vastly different than saying as simple prayer and expecting to get into heaven. Belief in Jesus is a faith followed by life change which brings us...

should not perish but have everlasting life: We've talked before about how following Jesus is not only about fire insurance. It is not just about getting a place in heaven. Neither is everlasting life. Everlasting life is not something that begins on the other side of your final breath, it is something that begins at the moment of belief in Jesus. At the moment we are given everlasting life, unfortunately many of us fail to live it.

Elsewhere Jesus promises that we can have life to the full [John 10:10], that is also everlasting life. It is a life lived, which sadly most of us do not have. It is a life filled with purpose and hope and strength and love. It is not devoid of struggle or pain, but it triumphs over the struggle and pain that does come.

+ What does John 3:16 mean to you?

+ While not dealing directly with what I've written, how does its popularization [use at sporting events for instance] make you feel? Is it the one verse that we should be consistently sharing with the world?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 85: Between Heaven and Earth

"If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, 

how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" John 3:12

Let's pretend there are two realities. The first reality is the reality of physicality. It consists of the things you touch and smell and taste and hear and see. It consists of you. Let's call this reality earthly. The second reality is the reality of the spirit. It consists of intuitions and feelings and things just out of eyesight and just out of the range of our ears. It consists of things that can't be felt with our hands or tasted with our mouths. Yet, this reality still consists of you. Let's call this reality heavenly.

Almost every single person to ever live would agree that the first reality exists. I think therefore I am. Everything else exists because I recognize that it does. A great many people also believe in this second reality, most of those people, though, would say that it is a reality that cannot be understood in the time of breathing. We can't pin down this heavenly reality as easily as we can the earthly one.

But there is a much smaller group of people who contend that both of these realities are open to our understanding in the here and now if we but open ourselves up to it. Jesus was one of these people. Jesus teaches that the earthly reality in fact points to the heavenly one, we must only have 'eyes to see, ears to hear.' Or we can be like Nicodemus, unable to understand the heavenly because we are unable to understand the earthly.

Look around.

Listen.

Reach out.

Taste.

Smell.

The other side is within your grasp if you can understand the world around you and the world within you.

+ How do you understand reality? Is what you can physically sense all that there is? Or is there more to life, more to the moment, more to reality?

+ Think on any times when you have felt something behind things. What was happening the the earthly reality that pointed to the heavenly one?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 84: Let's Get Windy

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, 

but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes; 

So is everyone who is born of Spirit." John 3:8

Christians have been called many things over the years, many good, many bad, but I'm not sure if anyone has ever called Christians windy. Some of us have flipflopped as badly as a politician, but blowing where we wish. We have spoken loudly from pulpits and street corners, but you usually now where we are when we make a sound, ok maybe you don't know where the guys with the bullhorns are coming from. But really, have you ever looked at a Christian and thought they were windy? If you consider yourself one, have you ever thought of yourself as windy?

Of course not...which begs the question, should they/we be?

According to this passage we should be, but what does that mean?

Well, let me give you my interpretation. 

Jesus says that everyone who is born of the Spirit will blow where we wish. like the wind. To me this says that Christians should have no barriers, no state lines, no borders. We should blow where the Lord takes us. Sometimes that means the rich man goes to live his life among the lepers. Sometimes it means the kid from the street becomes pastor to thousands. Sometimes it means the beauty queen lays down her life for another. Social standing shouldn't decide where we are willing to go. Nationality shouldn't decide where we are willing to go. The prevailing persuasions shouldn't decide where we go. They shouldn't because God should.

Jesus also says that everyone who is born of the Spirit should be elusive like the wind, never knowing where or when it is coming, though it is accompanied by loud noises. As soon as the wind whistles it is going to smack you in the face or caress the back of your head, the same should be said of us. Those we stand against should never see us coming until we are in their face, and those we are fighting for shouldn't see us coming until we reach out a hand to help them up.

What a couple of crazy thoughts.

+ Do you let outside forces determine what you are willing to do and where you are willing to go for God?

+ How can the work of the kingdom, both offensive and defensive, be more subtle?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 83: of Water and Spirit

"Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 

he cannot enter the kingdom of God." John 3:5

Upon first reading this verse one may come to the conclusion that only people who are baptised will go to heaven. But Jesus words are a response to someone else's words, Nicodemus. Nicodemus understands birth how you and I understand birth, a baby comes out of the womb and is born, quite literally there is a breaking of water and birth occurs. Jesus takes what Nicodemus already understands about birth and expands it. A person must be born of water (i.e. a natural physical birth) and be born of Spirit (i.e. becoming born again). In other words a person must be both physical and spiritual, only whole people get into the kingdom.

This is not to say baptism is unimportant, I would argue that it is, but it is to say that baptism is only an outward sign of an inward belief, an inward change. The water is not supernatural, being baptised by a pastor or a priest or someone of holy importance to you does not fit you with a placard by Jesus's side, choosing to walk with Jesus does.  

And so, we are all born of water at the moment we take our first breath of fresh air. Yet we still are called to a new birth, a birth that reawakens a part of us that has laid dormant inside of us since that first breath. As we looked at a while ago, Jesus mentions that the kingdom of God is within us, but we fail to notice it until we are rebirthed by the Spirit.

+ How do you view the importance of baptism?

+ Going off of the last two posts, what have you noticed about the kingdom post spiritual birth that you missed prior to it?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 82: needing a BREAKTHROUGH

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

John 3:3

First a observation: Jesus does not say a non born again person can't enter heaven. As we have covered other places the kingdom of God is not a synonym for heaven, it is both a future and current reality.

That said this makes perfect sense, doesn't it? I truly believe that it does, because we have been going around with our current set of eyes and haven't seen the kingdom. We've been going around with our current ears and haven't heard the kingdom. We've been going around with our current taste buds yet haven't tasted the kingdom. We've been going around with our current skin and haven't felt the kingdom. Worse yet may be that we have been going around with our current heart and haven't loved the kingdom.

We aren't in need of a transplant, we're in need of a near-death experience in order to jumpstart the whole package again.

We don't need to begin life again as a unskilled infant, but we do need to look with new eyes, hear with new ears, taste with a new tongue, fell with new skin, and hear a new heartbeat of love. If that happens, Jesus tells us we can see the kingdom, we can experience it in the here and now. It's within us after all, trying to break through and if it does it will tear a hole right through us, which is exactly what we need. 

Being born again really isn't about salvation for eternal life following our last breath. Being born again is about salvation for our very next breath and every one after that.

+ Have you been born again? if so how has it changed your sense of the kingdom?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 81: the Unwelcome place of welcome

And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! 

Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise!" John 2:16

The Family Christians and Lifeways of today were the dove sellers of yesterday. Wherever religions sprout up there will always be those who are trying to make a buck on the paraphernalia of belief. It's just, by and large, moved from the outer courts to down the street.

Jesus death and resurrection did away with the sacrificial system, so let us review. According to the Torah there was a corresponding sacrifice for the type of sin you committed. Some required lambs, others doves. As you might imagine most people in Ancient Israel did not keep their own animals. Hence in order to bring the sacrifice you had to purchase the needed animal, thus the men who sold doves in the outer courts.

The outer courts, the courts of the gentiles, the courts that allowed anyone who was not Jewish to enter and still bring prayers and sacrifices to God. The courts that were packed with believers looking for atonement, and the table that were set up in order to allow them to purchase the needed items. Now, we all know that the people who sell religious items nowadays wouldn't do such things, but back then perhaps they drove the price up. Perhaps the doves that were worth two coins sold for four or six or eight, and perhaps that excluded some who desperately wanted to buy doves. The courts of welcome began to exclude.

Jesus couldn't allow that.

He still doesn't. Because at times our churches, our 'sanctuaries', that are made to be places of welcome become exclusive clubs, they become holy huddles. To which Jesus enters in and tells us that his Father's house should not be a house of merchandise, or a house of exclusion, or a house of judgment, or a house of anything but what it was intended to be.

+ Is your church one of hospitality or a holy huddle?

+ What can you do to stem the flow?