In keeping with our theme of truth of the past couple days, I was shocked to see a modern-day application of who is Jesus and what is Christianity. John Stonestreet shared this on Breakpoint:

In a pair of tweets that recently made rounds on social media, a young progressive woman issued her doctrinal creed: “I am a Christian and I believe proselytizing is violence…I am a Christian and I believe LGBTQ+ ppl are divine and should lead us…I am a Christian and I don’t go to church. I am a Christian and I don’t believe the Bible is the word of God.” – Breakpoint, September 14, 2020

John correctly pointed out that a person can believe anything they want, but their beliefs don’t redefine what “Christian” really means. That’s settled, even with all its variations. It’s like my high school student’s opinions about math. He can have opinions, but don’t call it math.

Luke in writing “an orderly account” of the life of Jesus is very clear, as is Jesus in this conversation:

Are you ashamed of the revelation-truth I give to you? I, the Son of Man, will one day return in my radiant brightness, with the holy angels and in the splendor and majesty of my Father, and I will be ashamed of all who are ashamed of me. But I promise you this: there are some of you standing here right now who will not die until you have witnessed the presence and the power of God’s kingdom realm. (Luke 9.26, 27, Passion Translation)

The accounts are true. Jesus will one day “return in my radiant brightness.” The “presence and power of God’s kingdom realm” are real. One can choose to disbelieve, but John Stonestreet argues, and I agree:

We need to abandon the self-constructed, Build-A-Bear, buffet approach to religion that is so pervasive in our own hearts and our own churches.

Our task remains: know the truth, live the truth, help others to do the same.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. (Ezra 7.10, ESV)

Anyone who does not know the teaching, you teach them! (Ezra 7.25, MSG)

Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. (2 Timothy 2.22 – 26, MSG)

Yesterday I observed that people are often convinced of something that isn’t true as illustrated in all the opinions about Jesus’ identity. A few days before, I noticed that confusion is not limited to common people.

Now, Herod, the governor, was confused and perplexed when he heard the reports of all the miracles of Jesus and his apostles. Many were saying, “John the Baptizer has come back to life!” Others said, “This has to be Elijah who has reappeared or one of the prophets of old who has risen from the dead.” These were the rumors circulating throughout the land. Herod exclaimed, “Who is this Man? I keep hearing about him over and over. It can’t be the prophet John; I had him beheaded!” Herod was very eager to meet Jesus. (Luke 9.7 – 9, Passion Translation)

It’s not unusual for government leaders to be confused and perplexed about things of God. We often see politicians misquoting scripture or otherwise betraying ignorance of what seems to some of us basic knowledge. And as with many politicians, Herod perceived the world only from his narrow perspective: “He couldn’t be John; I beheaded him!” Herod never did meet Jesus until it was too late. 

When Herod saw Jesus, he was elated, for he had heard a great deal about his ministry and wanted Jesus to perform a miracle in front of him. Herod questioned him at length, but Jesus wouldn’t even answer him. (Luke 23.8, 9, Passion Translation)

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (1 Corinthians 1.26, NIV)

There is nothing new about rumors and people being convinced of things that aren’t true:

One time, when Jesus was praying in a quiet place with his disciples nearby, he came over to them and asked, “Who do people think I am?” They answered, “Some are convinced you’re the prophet John who has returned. Others say you are Elijah, or perhaps one of the Jewish prophets brought back from the dead.” (Luke 9:18-19 (Passion Translation)

These are people who had seen Jesus, experienced Jesus, maybe even been healed by Jesus. As is indicated in the next verse, he hadn’t told them his identity yet:

Jesus asked them, “But who do you believe that I am?”Peter said, “You are the Anointed One, God’s Messiah!” Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone yet, saying, “The Son of Man is destined to experience great suffering and face complete rejection by the Jewish leaders and religious hierarchy. He will be killed and raised back to life on the third day.” (Luke 9.20 – 22, Passion Translation)

He did tell a few people: the disciples, the woman at the well in John 4, the blind man in John 9. The demons in Mark 5 (Luke 8) knew. But if too many people knew, the Jewish leaders would have had a hard time crucifying him – the very reason he came.

If someone is convinced of something that is false, how do they become unconvinced of that and convinced of the truth? The high school student I’m tutoring in math did it again. He thought that 10.5 squared plus 17 squared equals 37.5 squared, which it doesn’t (take out your calculator and check!). I said, “Son, I hate it when you do that.” So we did the arithmetic and then the algebra of (a plus b)-squared equals a-squared plus b-squared plus 2ab. Will that be enough? A rebuke and two demonstrations? Or will he revert to his own ideas again?

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1.11, KJV)

Everyone has an opinion, and they think they have a right to that opinion and that it’s just as likely to be right as anyone else’s. But there is truth. Math works a certain way. Jesus really is the Anointed One, God’s Messiah. But his mission was not the one people thought it should be. There’s another mismatch. This is why there were a lot of crowds during his ministry and only 120 in the upper room.

And part of the “greater works” that I wrote about a few days ago is that thousands of people believed after Jesus ascended. Only 120 believed while he was here. The work can be done. It has been done down through history. 

And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4.33, ESV)

After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” (Acts 24.24, 25, ESV – we don’t know what happened to Felix after this and subsequent conversations)

Writing yesterday’s blog on what’s important for churches reminded me of the Time Management Matrix introduced apparently by President (General) Eisenhower and popularized more recently by Steven Covey. Here’s the short version of the matrix.

The idea is NOT to live in Quadrant I, doing only important tasks that are urgent. The idea is to maximize Quadrant II, important tasks that are not urgent so that they don’t become urgent. Here’s a simple example. You should fill your gasoline tank BEFORE it becomes urgent, especially if you’re on the open road! A better example is changing oil. Oil rarely has to be changed today. It can always be put off until tomorrow…until it can’t. If an oil change becomes urgent, you’re likely to blow an engine.

Look at the first heading in Quadrant II: Relationship building. Work on your marriage, for example, NOW. Take the weekends away, even when you have small children. Pay attention to each other.

Build your relationship with God NOW. Don’t wait for a crisis. A pastor used to say, “The waiting room of the hospital Emergency Room is not a good place to work on your theology.”

Caller ID has helped us avoid the artificial urgency of phone calls (Quadrant III). And we should all work to avoid Quadrant IV, the kind of thing Cal Newport talks about in Digital Minimalism, which I reviewed last year.

Jesus seemed to live in Quadrant II. My Navigator friend Skip Gray says that Jesus had a 3 mile per hour ministry. “He didn’t go galloping through Galilee, sprinting through Samaria, or jogging through Judea. He walked wherever he went.”

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9.9, NLT)

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5.15, 16, NKJV)

I’m on the mailing list of an association of churches who will most likely be involved in the split of a major denomination over matters involving the authority of scripture. I’ve seen the formation of new denominations up close and personal twice in my life. It always involves enormous amounts of time and energy, and the need for pastors to communicate to their congregations what’s going on. 

In that spirit, the association wrote this sentence a few days ago:

[Our association] is well aware laity and pastors are often so consumed with pressing matters close to home (e.g., raising funds for a new roof, launching a new children’s ministry program, or hiring a youth director) that it is easy to miss general church developments that directly impact them. (Emphasis mine)

I find it interesting that the examples that come to mind first of “pressing matters close to home” revolve around buildings, programs, and staff. They do not seem to include, “How can we better make disciples? How can we help our people be effective for The Kingdom in their environment?”

It’s a classic example of the urgent crowding out the important, as Steven Covey would have said. And that’s assuming that a church’s list of “important” even includes being effective at making disciples. 

To be fair, the leadership of the association, which includes a pastor friend of mine, does care about making disciples. That said, the sentence I cited accurately captures where most churches’ concerns lie; that’s why the article uses those examples. And that could be a problem.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent… (Philippians 1.9, 10, ESV, emphasis mine)

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about the disciples’ exercising Jesus’ power in teaching and healing disease. That would have been exciting, to say the least, and they would have been very happy that Jesus wanted to get some time with them alone:

The apostles returned from their ministry tour and told Jesus all the wonders and miracles they had witnessed. Jesus, wanting to be alone with the Twelve, quietly slipped away with them toward Bethsaida. (Luke 9.10, Passion Translation)

But time alone was not to be. This is the introduction to Luke’s account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. And the twelve? These heroes of teaching and healing? What was their role?

He told his disciples, “Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each.” After everyone was seated, Jesus…kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd. It was multiplying before their eyes! So everyone ate until they were filled, and afterward the disciples gathered up the leftovers—it came to exactly twelve baskets full! (Luke 9.14 – 17, Passion Translation)

We (rightly) get excited about the miracle, but we often miss the disciples who were serving:

• As ushers: “have them all sit down in groups of 50”
• As waiters: “kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd”
• As busboys: “afterword, the disciples gathered up the leftovers”

It’s like what an associate pastor at a megachurch said, “You have to be ready to preach, pray, or get out of the way at a moment’s notice.” 

As much as we’d like to be Jesus, receiving the praises of the crowds, sometimes we’re just the donkey!

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20.25 – 28, ESV)

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4.5, ESV)

Another quick observation on power from Luke’s narrative. Right after the four striking events of Luke 8, we read this:

Jesus summoned together his twelve apostles and imparted to them authority over every demon and the power to heal every disease. Then he commissioned them to preach God’s kingdom realm and to heal the sick to demonstrate that the kingdom had arrived…The apostles departed and went into the villages with the wonderful news of God’s kingdom realm, and they instantly healed diseases wherever they went. (Luke 9.1 – 6, Passion Translation)

Very matter of fact: Jesus commissioned them to preach and to heal the sick. So the apostles preached and “they instantly healed diseases wherever they went.”

Wow. Jesus’ power is transferable. That’s what Peter believed and practiced:

Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God…While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?” (Acts 3.6 – 8, 11, 12)

A friend of ours who lives in Lagos, Nigeria, sent us a video of her teaching recently. She reminded us that ours is a gospel not of word only but power. And power must be exercised in love.

I saw it in Jesus’ life in the stories recorded in Luke 8.22 – 56.

• Satan tries to kill Jesus in a storm, but Jesus rebukes the storm. Who would think that “Let’s cross over to the other side” was a declaration of war? But it was. When they get to the other side, Jesus confronts a demonized man.
• Jesus frees the demonized man, and in the process, thousands of pigs are killed.
• A woman with internal bleeding is healed.
• Jesus raises a 12-year-old from the dead.

Jesus approached the body, took the girl by her hand, and called out with a loud voice, “My sleeping child, awake! Rise up!” Instantly her spirit returned to her body and she stood up. Jesus directed her stunned parents to give her something to eat and ordered them not to tell anyone what just happened. (Luke 8.54 – 56, Passion Translation)

It’s not just the word, it’s POWER. But a quiet power. Unlike today’s “healers,” Jesus ordered the parents not to tell anyone! 

According to Ephesians 3.20, power works in me, too.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. (Ephesians 3.20, ESV)

Here’s a shocking claim by Jesus himself:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14.12 – 14, ESV)

Verse 12, “greater works” sounds unbelievable, but it is tied directly to prayer in verses 13 and 14. As a friend of mine likes to say, “What would you ask for if you knew the prayer gun was loaded?”

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15.7, ESV)

It came as scheduled. Temperatures had started to moderate in late August/early September, highs in the 70s. Then, back to the upper 80s for us here in Monument (generally cooler than Colorado Springs and Denver). Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday hot, then, amazingly predicted before the hot days even started, SNOW on Tuesday. A 60-degree drop in temperature. As I write, it’s 25 degrees, and we have about 5 inches of snow on the ground.

What are the lessons? First, let’s give thanks for the weather people. We had no way of knowing as late as Monday night that we would awaken Tuesday morning to cold and snow unless they had told us. Second, let’s use “prophecy” to prepare. I unhooked my garden hoses, made sure the snow blower was ready for action, and postponed a couple of meetings. 

The purpose of prophecy in the Bible is not to satisfy curiosity about tomorrow but to change behavior today. When Jonah told the people of Nineveh that they would be destroyed in 40 days, they didn’t get out their calendars, they repented (see Jonah 3). 

The same might be true of “news” and predictions about, say, how long COVID-19 restrictions will last. If I can use the news to prepare, great. If it’s just idle speculation and curiosity, what’s the point?

Third, let’s remember that things don’t always continue as they have been. The weather can turn on a dime. The pandemic reminds us of fact.

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. (2 Peter 3.4 – 6, ESV)

 

Our pastor shared an illustration I’d never heard before, and it’s too good not to pass on.

A little boy fell out of bed in the middle of the night. When his mother asked him why, he replied, “I think I fell asleep too close to where I got in.” Maybe too many Christians have fallen asleep too close to where they got in! – Dr. David Jordan-Irwin, September 6, 2020

A good word. Perhaps a timely warning.

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God… (Hebrews 5.11, 12, ESV)

Wake up, wake up! Pull on your boots, Zion! Dress up in your Sunday best, Jerusalem, holy city! (Isaiah 52.1, MSG)

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Ephesians 5.14, ESV)