Following Jesus Son of God …

“Blessed is the heart that gets broken
but keep holding on,
holding on for another day.”

From song “Live by Faith” from album “Past the Edges”

I was thinking today about approaching different people in my life concerning their eternal destiny – family members, neighbors, the people in the neighborhood of our church.

And I thought, wow, so much tension, so much emotion.

Amiable:  Friendly and agreeable in disposition; good-natured and likable. Cordial; sociable; congenial: an amiable gathering.  (Definition from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/amiable)

We can be having a perfect, amiable conversation going on but bring up Jesus Christ and salvation and heaven, and goodness gracious “Can you feel the winter chill, Harold?”

Next thing you know we are facing the wind of hell, hard looks, stony expressions barely masking intense anger.

I can remember approaching a neighbor a couple times about a Bible study, and he seems to be a good person, but it was all he could do to maintain a courteous attitude.  He drew the line very clearly and warned me to proceed no further, all with a few words, a look and a tone.  He didn’t want to turn his anger toward me if he could avoid it.

This can be so intimidating and so sad.  And often we back down. I have.

But maybe we need to let God use this fearful barrier to give us some perspective.

It really is a big deal. It really does mean heaven or hell for someone forever.

So maybe I need to be willing to face the storm for the sake of a neighbor.

We want to be with God – or at least we say and act like we do – but it seems we often want God’s presence on our terms.

I have to wonder that sometimes even legitimate principles are compromised because we are religious rebels.

(Matthew 18:20 NKJV) “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

This statement is true. But is the intent to manipulate an audience with Jesus so we can be blessed, or have him perform for us, or give us power. . .

God does visit us. He does come to us, very obvious as he came to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, sent his one and only Son to this Earth.

So God does his part. But do we do our part?

Do we truly desire to be in the presence of God?

Think about it for a minute. What if you had a friend who said they enjoyed your company but you began to notice that the friend never took the time to come and see you, and when you visited this person they expected presents and favors. They never just wanted to share a cup of coffee and talk.

What about that? Some friend, we might say.

But isn’t that what we sometimes ask for in our relationship with Christ?

Jesus says “follow me” but we would rather have God come to us. We sit on the couch or in the pew and beckon God with words that pass so easily through our lips.

And we want to call the shots.

But Jesus calls us to his presence by summoning us to follow him through this life.

(Luke 9:23 MSG) Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat–I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.

Do you ever bump into God during your day? Does Jesus meet you in unexpected places?

Then maybe you’re not on the path, maybe you’re not following.

Maybe those words seem harsh. But maybe they are true. Maybe we need to take this following more seriously.

Or you can sit back and invite two or three people over and conjure up an audience with Jesus.

By the way, God, if you drop in, don’t forget the miracles and the blessings.

Our study of the Bible tells us where we need to go but does not get us there.

It seems that too often our Bible study is the destination.

We study to find and understand the abstract principle, our reference point. We need to know what direction to go, where we are headed.

But then we need to go.

As we live and obey the words, we fuse the abstract with the concrete and move toward God’s ideal.

Good, accurate, consistent study is crucial to our walk with God, but it is the beginning, not the end, of our journey.

I can remember asking our star pupil in our youth group one evening if she would go over and help make one of our new girls feel at home, welcome her into the group.

She answered, “I couldn’t do that. I hate her guts. If I went over there, I would claw her eyes out.”

Alrighty then as I tried to bring my jaw up from the floor.

And another “fond” memory: We were showing some slides along with our music for a service, and we were moving people to one side of the church. I asked a lady if she would mind moving over to the other side. Her response was that “No, because such and such person sat over there and she couldn’t stand to be around her.”

I remember another incident before I was a pastor. Apparently our new pastor’s wife did not handle the purchase or distribution of a ham the right way. One of our lady choir members ripped her up one side and then down the other between services, then joined the choir as we sang “Let Us Love One Another.”

We have the teachings – love God/love neighbor as self/owe nothing but love/ show we are God’s by our love for one another – but only in separated abstract categories of our minds.

The truth we have is not true in our hearts.

Say that again, Amos. Ok, if you insist. The truth a religious person has is not true in his heart.

When we qualify and reduce these truths, when we form personal, custom-fit parameters, do we realize what we are doing?

I don’t think so.

But intentional or not when we reduce these truths to fit our lives, we live in the realm of men, not God.

We don’t walk where God walks. So don’t expect to find and see God if you don’t walk where he walks.

Do you get it, dude! Simple truth lived out brings the reality of God’s universe before us.

(Ephesians 4:32 ESV) Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

How do we justify having so many unkind, hardhearted, unforgiving people in the Church?

Is anyone else tired of our version of “my bad”? “Well, no one is perfect.” Agreed. But how about we quit using it as an excuse to disobey God and his words?

We don’t need the miraculous to stand and walk in the presence of God.

We just need to follow him, go where God goes, live his words, see through his eyes. We need to live our lives following the pattern that Christ gave us while on this Earth.

And. . .we need to quit editing God’s words to fit the rebellious pattern of our lives.

God says forgive. We forgive. God says owe only love. We owe only love.

Reduce God’s truth to manageable size; don’t expect to see the glory of God filling the earth.

Listening today to some lectures concerning creation versus evolution; have been actually for several days.

Excellent lectures given by a good scientist who is a good Christian.

I would say a friend but although we have been acquainted for a number of years, I don’t know if friend would be accurate.

But my “friend” the scientist as careful as he is, sometimes does what we all do when examining the Bible, and that is to say more than the text or focus on something other than the plain meaning of Scripture.

We want to make a point and so we give Scripture just a little bit of help, nothing malicious, no harm intended.

But it is a mistake.

Just think about it. God has his prophets write down his words to get his point across but in our Christian zeal we sometimes are more concerned with getting our point across.

I’ve done it. If you speak very much, you will do it.

The discussion was concerning Adam and Eve and their discovery that they were naked after they rebelled against God and ate what God said not to eat.

(Genesis 3:7 NKJV) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

“and they knew that they were naked”

My “friend” then went on to make a comment that “we usually take this as physical nakedness and it may have that in mind but. . . (this is not verbatim but very accurately communicates his point).

He then directed the discussion to nakedness as far as their psychological openness to each other. He wanted to make the point that they went from being very transparent and open, communicating well with each other to a more closed approach in their relationship.

That probably is true. It is not really my point to agree or disagree with what he said after he took the detour.

My problem is the detour itself: That this nakedness may have been physical nakedness.

There is no room in this text for this “may have.” God made clothes for them and dressed them because they were physically naked. Their stuff was showing. Now why this mattered that much at that time, and what are all the inferences we can draw from this (probably volumes), I don’t know.

(Genesis 3:21 NCV) The LORD God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.

The plain meaning is they were naked.

Sometimes our detours are harmless but often these seemingly innocuous missteps are building a theology that falls prey to our broken hearts, not broken as in love-sick, but broken as in sinful and fatally flawed.

(1 Peter 5:8 GW) Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour.

A dangerous path to life as God has promised and provided.
Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, calls us to follow him and in doing so to lose our lives so he may give us true life. We have to follow the lion past our categories of what we believe to be life to find true life. We have to give up our ideas and believe God for his idea about life. Sounds so simple.

But our opponent the devil is looking to murder us. Is that graphic enough? Clear enough? Do I need to adjust the set?

Jesus the Lion dies for us that we might have life.

Satan prowls around like a roaring lion to frighten and destroy us.

Makes me think of Jesus’ words as recorded by John.

(John 10:10 MSG) A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

So which lion will it be?

Hmm. . . .

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

To be devoured and destroyed. . .

Or to be given a better life than I have ever dreamed of. . .

I’m choosing Jesus the Lion of the Tribe Judah.

I praise your name that is above all names, Lord Jesus. Thank you for everything.

(Revelation 5:5 MSG) One of the Elders said, “Don’t weep. Look–the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David’s Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals.”

Yes, God is dangerous but don’t worry, a good dose of religion will tame him down.

Rules for taming the Lion.

1. Don’t get too close. (You will feel drawn to him, his power and love, his sincerity and beauty, but inch too close and whoomp, his big paw comes down on you, and he has you.)
2. Don’t look him in the eye.  (Stay away from the specifics of the Bible.  Keep your theology in the abstract.  It’s okay to talk about love and faith, but make sure you keep it to interesting conversation.)
3. Become more religious.  (Religion is like your God diet, all you can “eat,” anything can safely pass through your lips as long as you keep your heart at a distance.  You can express your love for God, sing praises to him, worship him, read his Word, attend church, serve in leadership.  You can do it all as long as you keep your heart in check.)
4. Focus on blessings, your needs and miracles.  (Remember that it is God’s job to make you healthy, wealthy and wise.  I think that’s in the Bible somewhere. . .where is a reference when you need it?)
5. Don’t think about heaven.  (Keep your mind on the now.  Your happiness, your family’s happiness, job security, your pension plan and retirement savings.  Sports.  Sports can be a very good distraction.  And eating.  Yes, feed yourself with all the goodies you can find.  Fill that belly and don’t worry about a thing.)
6. Find a moral cause to support.  (Choose some good cause to stand behind, just don’t let it cut into your “me time.”)
7. Never, ever picture yourself standing before God giving an account of your life.  (This will undo all your previous efforts.  I mean just imagine if the reality of standing before the Lion’s throne hit you full force.  God would have control of your life in an instant and all your plans would have been for naught.  He probably would have a lot of uncomfortable questions also.  No, keep your eyes on the horizontal.)

Okay, friend, a little humor, but maybe not?

Why don’t you give me your thoughts on how to tame the Lion?

God is dangerous.

You don’t believe me. Then why is Jesus called the Lion of the Tribe Judah?

Remember Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia
Throughout the series, it is stated that Aslan is “not a tame lion”, since, despite his gentle and loving nature, he is powerful and can be dangerous. More interesting info on Aslan on Wikipedia

Following Jesus means to die. I’d say that’s dangerous.

(Matthew 16:24-25 NKJV) Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Lose my life.

Did you ever have one of those friends your mom warned you about? “If you run around with John, you’re going to find yourself in trouble.”

Or maybe you were that kid?

Jesus is like that friend. If you “run with him” (follow him), you will find yourself in trouble.

I heard my “friend” had suffered a stroke; 39 years old. Wow!

My first thought was that I should visit him, try to be an encouragement, show him someone cares, all those good things we think of. . .

. . .and then often dismiss with our busy schedules, our fear of our mortality, our laziness, the very uncomfortable nature of hospitals.

I mean give me a break; hospitals can be very discouraging places, filled with sick people and all.

But I planned to stop after work and visit. And I did. I decided to not be selfish.

But I had to first deal with my process of rationalization:

• Would it matter really?
• I was tired.
• I would get home late.
• Traffic would be worse.
• Parking spaces are sometimes hard to find.
• Fill in the blank __________________.

Don’t misunderstand my intent.
I have not always made the right decision in these circumstances. I have before taken the easier route and gone on home. What swayed me was the opportunity to be there for someone in the name of God. I know that sounds so cliche.

And I know that someone may read this and think my entire purpose is to demonstrate how spiritual I am.

But my true purpose is to share that feeling of being right before God, and making a decision with some eternal perspective, and being able to step outside the picture and see myself possibly more as God sees me.

I really had the sense that God sent me. God whispered in my ear a good thing to do, and I did it.

God didn’t verbalize any words to my friend earlier this evening; he didn’t touch my friend’s arm, pat him on the shoulder, audibly tell him it is okay to cry, or hold his hand and pray with him.

He sent me to do all of the above.

Thank you, Father.