Pastor Lou & the Encouragement of the Cross

Pastor Lou Yanqui and his family host a house church in Qingshuihe, a town in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. He was arrested on 17 May 2008 on charges of “utilizing superstition to undermine the law,” and on 15 December 2008 he stood trial. The judge ruled that the evidence was insufficient and the case was not clear, and even though the prosecutor asked that the case be dismissed due to “changes in facts and evidence,” Pastor Lou’s case has been sent back to the Public Security Bureau for more investigation and he remains imprisoned. Pastor Lou’s daughter, Lou Tiantian, 18, was beaten by court police when she tried to speak with her father as he was being put into a police car after the trial. She was taken to the hospital where she received medical treatment and then released. Despite Pastor Lou’s imprisonment, his house church, his wife, Wang Wenxiu, and his children continue to meet. When told that Christians around the world were praying for their family, Wang asked friends to pass on this message to the international community: “Please thank them for us because this [imprisonment of Pastor Lou] is God’s best will. It is His promise. It is the grace of the Lord. How could we be worthy of awakening so many brothers and sisters’ prayers for us? The Cross of Jesus encourages us to move forward. I am very joyful and full of gratitude for all of the prayer support. ” It is an amazing testimony in the midst of such trial to say, “It is the grace of the Lord. . . The cross of Jesus encourages us to move forward.” Apart from Christ, often going thru trials have the opposite effect of stopping and halting, even a shrinking away in the face of obstacles. And yet the call of the Lord is to go on, finding in Christ alone the resource to go thru all things in this world. The apostle Paul knew great suffering, yet his stance in this world, was “. . . I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3) Sufferings and troubles and trials in this world press so hard against the soul and apart from Christ are meant for disabling and destroying. And yet in Christ, in union with Christ, is found the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. . . that the Lord means life even in the hardest of things. For all the conflict that this world means for the follower of Jesus, there is God’s “but not”. . . “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; stuck down, but not destroyed. . .” (2 Corinthians 4) For everything in this world that is meant for stopping and turning back and turning away, there is in Christ a way forward and a going thru. Paul’s testimony in Philippians 3 is . . . “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. . . that I might gain Christ, and be found in Him. . . that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death...” It is grace to have such a revelation of Christ within that everything that this world views as a way forward is rejected. . . that in going thru this life suffering in this world can be embraced as grace from the Lord. . . something given for our good, even necessary for our growth and a greater measure of the Lord within. To view the cross of Jesus as encouragement. . . that there’s a moving forward by way of the cross. . . is to have come into spiritual riches that this world neither sees or understands or offers. How much life is there in Christ, and a testimony of the Lord Jesus, in those who in view of all the hardness and trouble and suffering, embrace it and bear it and press on. . . not that hard things are merely endured but rather embraced. James wrote, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. . .” Paul wrote in Romans 5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings. . .” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5) May the Spirit give sight and bring revelation and knowledge of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the cross be a banner that will lead on. . . something embraced and taken up, even to the denying of self and a following of Jesus. May hunger and thirst for righteousness be satisfied on the path of faithfulness that often means hardship and trouble and suffering . . . and life in Christ. Remember Pastor Lou, his wife Wang and their family and church, pray for them. It is the testimony of such as these brothers and sisters that is so needed in the church and to the world. Pastor Lou can be remembered in a tangible way by writing to him in prison. Often prisoners do get the letters and it is an encouragement to press on, that they are not forgotten. Sometimes the outside attention brings about their release. Pastor Lou Yuanqi Huocheng County Detention Center Yili City Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China

The Utterness of Christ being All

A portion of St. Patrick’s Lorica:

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

How wonderful. . . what tremendous values to come into when Jesus Christ is such a focus, when He is all. It reminds of Colossians 3, “Christ is all, and in all,” and Ephesians 4, “. . . that He might fill all things,” and Colossians 1, “. . . that in everything He might be preeminent.”

There is an absoluteness, an utterness, about Him that calls for an abandonment of all that we are and have in ourselves in this world. How unique and apart from what we are is the Lord Jesus. . . and what promise we have in Christ that we can be like Him.

And yet, how often is there a holding back and a holding on to what we are. . . how much living in the flesh in the pursuit ofow often is there sin and a holding backing the pursuiti Christ? How easy to get comfortable and fall back into the flesh. . . to walk with the Lord, lose sight of Him and go on anyway, on our own, apart from Him. How often we miss the way when Christ is not all.

The call of God to His people in this world is to be a spiritual people, to be alive in Christ and to leave behind the things of the flesh. There is a living according to the flesh and a living according to the Spirit. How utterly apart these are and how often God’s people try to do both. There is death at the heart of things when we live according to the flesh. . . how things do fall within when living according to the flesh. How much is there a stop to growth and going on in the Lord when living in the flesh.

Romans 14 says, “. . . whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” There is possible a living in Christ in this world, a living on the resources in Christ received in faith. Sin is not just the wicked things that are done. . . it’s living from our own resources apart from Christ, looking to oneself to make it thru things, trying to get thru this world to God on our own, thinking that we are sufficient in ourselves. . . it’s the wicked thing we are in ourselves.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet will he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11) It is possible in this world to believe in Christ and not live in Him... it is possible to have received from the Lord and not live according to Him. . . to believe in Him and yet be unfaithful. What frustration, what failure, to know the Lord and to sin, to not live from faith. . . what a sense of death hangs over things. Thanks be to God for His mercy and forgiveness when we sin and for His grace that cleanses us and makes a way forward in Christ. And yet there is the promise of Jesus of living and believing in Him, of being faithful, and never knowing that sense of death that touches us when we sin and live apart from Him. Abundant life in Christ is possible in this life now.

How blind to try to follow Christ in the flesh when the call of Jesus is the utter renunciation of ourselves, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9) In following the Lord in this world, there is a way forward in the utter renunciation of what we are in ourselves apart from Christ. . . to learn the lesson that the Apostle Paul did, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” (Romans 7). There is life and growth in abandoning whatever hope or strength or resource we see in ourselves and fleeing to Christ. How much life in the Lord Jesus is found in turning from ourselves and abiding in Christ alone! How much peace and hope in Christ when we remain faithful to the Lord. May Christ be all to us and in us. . . may His Spirit lead and guide us into greater and greater measure of Christ as we follow.

The work of God is faith in Christ

Life in Christ is meant by the Lord to be not the hard thing we so often make it to be. Living in this world as Christians becomes very difficult apart from Christ. There is a block to things. . . even the simplest things become laboured and confused if we try to sustain a Christian life in this world apart from a living union with the living Christ. How much frustration there is about things when thru the resources of the soul alone one tries to follow Christ. . . how much desperation and scrambling to get on top of things, to be right about things, and often even more so even as the Spirit testifies that the way forward is not the way chosen. How rebellious is the soul apart from Christ.

The promise of Christ is that there is a way forward that is without confusion and those struggles that we find as we seek to follow Him on our own resources. The testimony of those persecuted for their faith is that in spite of opposition and hardships and troubles in this world, that there is peace and joy in the midst of things for those who remain faithful. . . that despite the hardest of circumstances there is a life in the Lord Jesus that means peace and hope and a going on with the Lord and a going thru to God. It is only found in Christ. . . He who offers, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 28) There is a peace about things as one faithfully follows Christ thru all things the Lord leads one into.

Apart from a living union in Christ, it is so easy to fall back on our own resources and strike out on our own, to follow what we think best, to do things for the Lord, all the while apart from Him. . . knowing the Lord isn’t necessarily following Him. How much of our lives here are taken up with trying to do things for God apart from Christ? And at the end of all the efforts. . . how utterly frustrating, how little fruit and of no real account with the Lord.

Missions work has become so much more than God intended or has blessed. In the hands of men, there are missions organizations, programs and colleges and degrees. . . with the intention of being a work for God. Having seen in the Bible a goal, something has been taken up for God but apart from Christ. Not that there is no spread of the gospel thru His Church. . . the testimony and faithful witness of Christ in His followers has meant new disciples and an increase of the Kingdom in this world. But Missions often becomes a thing more of man than of God. Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. . .” (2 Cor. 1). The simplest, most uneducated, follower of Jesus - although persecuted and suffering – who yet remains faithful, who can love their persecutor, who remains true in Christ and to Christ, has a testimony and impact in this world that no degree can give.

Men asked Jesus what they should do to be doing the work of God. Jesus’ answer was, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6) The work of God is that Christ would be received in His people, that in a genuine way, what is true about us, at the heart of what we are, is Him. The work of God – the work of His Spirit in manifesting Christ – is that He would have something true of Himself in this world, in a people who bear His image, who in an ever-increasing way are transformed into His likeness and come into fuller measures of Christ.

The work of God in this world has become about so much more that is other than what God intends. Receiving Christ and bearing witness to Him as we follow Him and are faithful in our lives here is the work of God. There is a triumph in Christ now as we faithfully follow the Lord thru all things.

The Lack of Prayer & the Greatness of Christ

For the past few months, our church has been meeting once a month on Sunday nites for prayer. At this past meeting, Pastor Ed asked why we fail to pray or we forget to pray so often. It’s a good question.

One answer is that we think we can make it thru things without praying. . . that we have the resource in ourselves to make it thru. It may not be consciously stated, but the fact of things in going on without prayer is that we believe we can make it thru. Often it is only when we are truly overwhelmed, when we start to sink under things, that we turn to the Lord. And this in view of the Lord’s invitation to “abide in Me and I in you,” as well as the principle of going thru things, “without Me, you can do nothing.”

Paul knew this, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” To be alive in Christ means taking the same ground that the Lord Jesus took, “I can do nothing on My own.” It is what the Spirit will manifest and guide us into as we follow Christ in this world. . . to bring the greatness of the Lord Jesus into view and to bring us to nothing in ourselves.

When Christ is all and He is the answer to every question and trouble, prayer is the most natural thing. When Christ is all, there is no failure or forgetting to pray. . . and not just to the questions and troubles.

It is a lesson I am still learning. When the time came to share requests, I was wondering if I should share a current billing dispute I have with a client. . . a large project didn’t go ahead because of current difficulties and the client doesn’t think he should pay for work done for him. Having been thru this kind of thing before, there are always more things at stake than just money. . . it’s also the response to people and situations, the frustrations, the accusations, the capacity to bear things, to bear unjust things and not get angry or hate. . . to find in Christ the capacity to love.

It was in that moment of question about sharing this that the lesson was still needed. . . I thought I could make it thru, without the prayers of others. And yet the capacity to make it thru things is only found in Christ. . . no matter the measure of the Lord we come into as we go thru things, He remains the wisdom and power of God.

The Why of Jesus

Our men’s group is reading “Is God Really in Control? Trusting God in a World of Hurt” by Jerry Bridges. It deals with our response when adversity hits, the Whys that arise when we go thru hard times. It seeks to have the reader look at God’s character.A good book overall that is worth reading.

Behind the question, “Why did this happen to me?” (or as an accusation, “Why did You allow this to happen to me?”) often lie the more basic questions that test our foundations, whether or not God is sovereign and whether or not He is loving. We usually ask the question in relation to ourselves personally, “Is God sovereign in my particular situation?” and “Does God really love Me?” If doubt is allowed in here, spiritual growth is stopped; life in Christ becomes confusion.

The Lord Jesus asked many questions of His followers and the crowds, many Why questions: Why are you anxious about clothing? Why are you so fearful? Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Why do you not understand My speech? There are many more and they are always rhetorical, Jesus already knows the answer to His question. All the Why questions are like this, except one: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27)

To be forsaken, to be apart and alone from the loved one, truly is heartbreak. For the Lord Jesus, heartbreak is magnified as shortly before His death, He testified, “He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” (John 8) And it’s true, everything Jesus ever did always answered to the pleasure of God, was according to the will of God. Even the cross, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him, putting Him to grief,” or “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him. . .” (Isaiah 53) How much sorrow is found on the cross in Jesus’ why?

The Old Testament story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 speaks so clearly of the sacrifice of Christ and the love of God; that a father would willingly sacrifice his son. But that story differs in that there is a substitute for Isaac in the end. Another difference is that on the way Isaac cries out, “My Father!” and Abraham answers, “Here am I, my son.” At the cross, there is no answer to Jesus’ why. The other side of the heartbreak of Jesus’ why, is the heartbreak of the Father in the silence.

We will never understand or ever enter into the depths of what happened between the Father and the Son at the cross. Our darkest days and deepest wounds do not compare to the mystery of what the Father and Son sacrificed at the cross.

This is truly good news for us, we need not know death in this way. . . the awful abyss and separation. Hebrews 2 says “But we see. . .Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” For us, there is the promise and invitation of abiding. . . of being alive to God in Christ, never separated. In Matthew’s account, Jesus last words to His disciples, some of whom still had questions and doubts, were, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And the testimony of Paul, as one who was tested like few others, was “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. . .” (2 Corinthians 4)

There is in the Lord Jesus a living fellowship in God that can withstand all the temptations and opposition of this world. May we find in Christ the answer to all our questions as we walk in this world. So often our questions burrow and fester and ruin our foundation. May our Whys be replaced with “Here I am, ready to do Your will, O Lord,” so that we embrace all that God leads us into with joy, rather than merely endure things until they are over. May the Spirit make these things true in us as we follow Christ.

God the Father & the Lord Jesus Christ

One of the challenges of familiarity is that assumptions are made that don’t get to the heart & truth of things. Often reading the Bible, there are passages that just don’t register... the words each make sense, that it is true is acknowledged & accepted. . . but one leaves the passage knowing there is more there, so much more. What has registered is frustration and the lack of understanding, not the life of the word. One can continue to try and press into the verse thru study aids and much thinking, without ever finding the life in the passage. Life only comes in the Spirit and life from the word only comes from spiritual understanding. The invitation of God is that in Christ we come into knowledge and understanding, and the hope of Paul in Colossians 2 is that God’s people would reach the riches of these things – the assurance, the strength, the hope that comes from knowing Christ “. . . in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” One of those passages that didn’t register to me is Ephesians 4:5,6 : “. . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Lord and God had become interchangeable titles and in praying, Lord and God meant the same thing. . . it became an assumption. But the passage presents them separately. So does 1 Corinthians 8:6: “ yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” “One God. . . and one Lord. . .” doesn’t register when they are interchangeable. It remained a jumble of things. . . the Lord God, Jesus is God, Christ is the Lord. While all true, the confusion didn’t help understanding of the passages. And even when it registered that there was more to the passages, and there was hunger for more, the best at the time was to live with the mystery. Most of Paul’s letters to the churches have a similar greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter opened his: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” At the start of his letter, James describes himself as “. . . a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. . .” And as you survey the entire New Testament, Lord is a position reserved almost exclusively for Jesus. “Lord God” is found in the New Testament. . . in quotes of Old Testament passages, and in Revelation at the summing up of all things. Yet throughout the entire testament Jesus Christ is proclaimed as Lord, and that as distinct from God the Father: “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” “God raised the Lord and will also raise us up” “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” “we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” “may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you” “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” “the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus” “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” Just a sampling, but what becomes manifest is the Lordship of Jesus Christ – Jesus Christ is Lord – as seen in relation to God the Father. Not the Lord God, but God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But what does it signify that Jesus is Lord in view of God the Father? Acts 2:36 helps bring things better into focus: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This passage is in the book of Acts - Jesus has triumphed thru the cross, been raised in resurrection, and received into heaven – there is nothing more for Him to overcome, nothing anymore that can touch or tempt Him, He is triumphant forever. Everything of God that is seen in Jesus – the testimony of God in Jesus – withstood everything of this world. . . and stands. In view of everything He was not according to this world, it is impressive that God makes “this Jesus” Christ. (It is helpful to note that God doesn’t name Him both Lord and Christ, rather He makes Him so. The word make is from the greek word poieo that signifies the bringing forth of something, the endowing or constituting of one. It’s not that Jesus is given the name of Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One... it’s what the name embodies. Jesus is the Christ, He embodies everything of God – the fullness of God – as Hebrews 1 says, Jesus Christ is the exact representation, or imprint, of God’s being and nature. As Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”) More than that, “God has made Him...Lord. . . ” What does it mean to be Lord? The closest we have today are kings and dictators, but they are but shadows to what is meant here. In Matthew, “all authority has been given to (Him).” In John, God “has given all things into His hands.” In Ephesians, God “put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things...”. In Colossians, God purposes that “in everything He might be preeminent.” In Ephesians, God wills “to unite all things in Him,” and further in, “that He might fill all things;” whereas Colossians puts the matter this way, “Christ is all, and in all.” There is an immeasurably wide horizon to be found in the Lord Jesus, an intention and greatness bound up in Him that is missed if Lord and Christ become merely titles. What does it mean that this Jesus is Lord? The law of His lordship is seen in 1 Corinthian 15, “He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” He must reign, God has made Him Lord... He must reign. And God’s seal is on Him alone, “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. . . every knee will bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Everything that God has for us is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. The follower of Jesus Christ in this world has firm ground to stand on and a sure path to follow that cannot fail. God’s way in this world. . . as seen in Jesus, as lived by Jesus, as in Jesus. . . has been tested and proven. There is much in this life that tests the lordship of Christ in us. There are enemies, the until of 1 Corinthians 15 is not yet, the kingdom of this world remains opposed to the kingdom of God in Christ. And yet, beyond all the hardships, and troubles, and tribulations, and persecutions, the way of Christ reigns now. . . for the faithful, in Christ there is victory over this world. There is coming the time of 1 Corinthians 15, “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.” In that day, the promise of Revelation 11 will be true, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” Until that time - “ yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” Until that time, may “. . . the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, give (us) a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that (we) may know what is the hope to which He has called (us), what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe. . .” Ephesians 1

Pastor Ibrahim Balami, Persecution & the display of Christ

One of the challenges of denominational church life, or at least denominational church life in America, is that in all its structures and the formality of things, Christ can be missed. Not only by those who are members, but also by the onlooking world.

However, there does exist those in the body of Christ who never fail to offer a vivid testimony of the Lord Jesus. In those brothers and sisters who are pursued and harassed and persecuted, and yet remain faithful to that which they have received, is perhaps the clearest display in this world of what being indwelt by God in Christ looks like.

In those who love their persecutors with genuineness, in those who endure the loss of all material comforts with joy, in those who speak the gospel to those who hate them with

courage, in those who are faithful to follow Jesus thru all things without turning back. . . you can see Christ.

Pastor Ibrahim Balami leads a Brethren church & school in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Since 1999 in Nigeria, over 600 churches have been destroyed & tens of thousands have been killed. In Maiduguri district alone, 56 churches have been burnt down and over 50 have been killed, including women and children, by organized mobs.

Pastor Balami’s church & school had previously been torched and then rebuilt. He received a letter warning that the school would be burnt down again if the students and staff did not leave.

When the mob came, they broke down the gates with axes, threw bags of gasoline against the buildings, and beat down the believers with heavy objects and machetes.

When Pastor Balami was asked, “When the mob was threatening you, and you were terrified, did you feel the presence of Christ?,” he testified:

“I did, because at that time my whole spirit, I was carried into another realm of spirituality, that I became so oblivious to the environment, I was not even feeling the environment, I was not even feeling the pain, I was not even feeling the noise anymore, I was just feeling a sense of glory in me and power, and I understand what Steven when he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing. Because at that point you are no longer yourself but Christ has taken over the pain, Christ has taken over all my beliefs, Christ has taken all over, I am being carried on his shoulder at that moment so I have never felt anything…”

“Christ gives the power to bear persecution, so my experience at that moment when they were throwing heavy objects, beating, cutting, I was feeling in me, a new life, a new spiritual life, because Christ has taken over and at that moment I can remember clearly, I can recall, why Steven in the Bible, in the book of Acts is saying, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they have done” even when Jesus prayed, because at the moment of persecution, when you are right there at the center, in the middle of it, God takes over, and it is no longer yourself, He gives the strength, He gives the words, He gives the wisdom, He gives everything that you need to pass thru that persecution and that is why I think I am still surviving today because my God is great.” (Quoted verbatim from video on Persecution TV.com)

Don’t let the hardness and the difficulty of their circumstances keep you from seeing possibly the clearest display of Christ in the world today. The promise of God is that regardless of our circumstances in this world, that in Christ alone we can be fully satisfied in a very real and present way. Let their lives fuel your prayers and encourage you in your walk. Embrace your brothers and sisters living in the dark and hard places in this world. And if it is in your heart to honor them, the best way is to be like them and wholly follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Christ

Sometimes reading the bible brings one up short. Like in the last post, the word brought to light a position that was held that was off the mark. It turned out to not be firm ground to stand on, and if followed, would not result in life or in an increased measure of Christ. Such correction is always grace from the Lord, meant for good, even as the former crumbles. God’s correction in the life of the believer, His judging of things, is a measuring of things according to Christ. . . that at the heart of things is Christ present? . . . is this one – this view, this situation, this believer, this body, this ministry - according to Christ? For one following Jesus, such correction is grace, not punishment.

Awhile ago, one of those corrections happened. Throughout the New Testament, the love of God in Jesus Christ is proclaimed as the very heart of God for us and the message of the gospel... and it’s true. What is surprising is that love is not mentioned in the book of Acts, or at least the word love, or agape. That brought me up short. . . love has been at the center of the gospel presentation and evangelism. John 3:16 is the touchstone that even appears on cards at football games on TV; in the recent national college football championship game, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow had it written on his face. But love is not what is presented as the Church goes out into the world. . . at least according to the book of Acts.

Reading thru Acts, looking for what the Apostles said, what their message was, what was proclaimed to the world, one finds:

And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:42)

But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 9:22)

explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:3)

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 18:5)

for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 18:28)

preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered. (Acts 28:31)

Jesus is the Christ. So often it is used as merely a title. . . Jesus Christ. And yet there is a spiritual reality to the title. God means to bring these things forward on the basis of life, and in a living way, and off the ground of formality and titles.

It is Christ we are to receive. The invitation of the Lord Jesus is to “Abide in Me, and I in you” and the prayer of Jesus to the Father in John 17 is “. . . as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us.”

There is no danger of missing the love of God if we proclaim Jesus Christ, as Romans 8 says “. . . the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The spiritual reality is that the love of God can only be found in Christ. There is a risk in proclaiming the love of God; one risk is that we can become man-centered. The greater risk is that we may miss Christ. The promise of God is that we may know Christ, and be found in Him, and gain Christ.

Everything that God has for us is found in Jesus Christ. May His Spirit lead us into more of Christ.

Taking the plunge

Blogs always seem so self-centered. . . like who am I to put things out there. But I have enjoyed reading others' thoughts and comments, and have struck up some friendships and dialogue with others that has both challenged me and made life richer. The goal of these ramblings is to seek for Christ in all things. It is so easy in the jumble of things to miss Him. . . to put so much stock into getting new insights, or finding the right path, so much strain in just doing the right thing. . . that the living Christ is missed completely. I've recently needed to learn the lesson - again. I have been focused in the past few months on Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3, specifically the call to put off the old self and to put on the new self in Christ. Also, Romans 13:14: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." There's a lot to say on these that has to be saved for later posts. I had become focused on the process. . . laying off the old and putting on the new. The knowledge of it was wonderful, and for awhile it meant life. The call of Jesus to deny yourself utterly and the lesson in Romans 7: "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh" is a hard one to learn and the knowledge comes with a cost. I thought I had learned the lesson until Romans 7:21 exposed my lack. "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." I didn't realize it, but I had (secretly) held/thought/hoped that there would come a time when I would come into a fuller measure in Christ and that I would not be troubled anymore by my old self. Wrong because 7:21 says so. But also, I had just missed the point completely. I had harboured the false hope that someday I would have in myself what I needed to get by and go thru to the Lord. I had missed Christ in this. . . that no matter how long I walk with Him, no matter how great a measure of Christ I come into, life and sufficiency are always in Christ alone and will never be in me. Bible study is not Christ, worship is not Christ, new insights are not Christ, practices are not Christ. Oh for the living union with the Living Christ! The peace I wanted is not only in Christ, Christ Himself is that peace. The wisdom to move ahead in this world is Christ; Christ Himself is the wisdom of God, He Himself is the way. The strength I need is Christ; He is the power of God. For me, it's the old and ever-new lesson that I've still to learn. It's easy to miss Christ. And yet the promise of God is that we can be fully satisfied in this world by Him in Christ. . . fully satisfied. That's the meaning of 'makarios', the name of this blog. It's a Greek word that in English is the word 'Blessed.' The goal/hope of this blog is that. . . to search out and see Christ in this life in all things, to come into a fuller measure of Him, to be fully satisfied in Christ alone.