Getting Through

I've been in Luke 16 for a while. It is typical of many of the teachings of Jesus where He struggles to get through to his hearers. In the chapter He tells a story about a steward who is accused of mismanagement, and foreseeing his firing the steward finds a way to avoid digging ditches or begging. Jesus gives some instruction on the use of money, leveraging the earthly in order to secure the heavenly, using money instead of being used by money. He was talking to folks who loved money, who esteemed what God detested. God provided  several centuries of foreshadowing and prophesies contained in written form in the Law and the Prophets to show what God was doing. This was proclaimed up until John the Baptist who then began to talk about the kingdom that was near. When folks heard this they started forcing their way into this kingdom based on their own misunderstanding of what the kingdom was designed to be. They were trying to get through the door expecting some earthly utopia on the other side. But, then Jesus tells the story of a rich man who esteemed what God detested and a poor man named Lazarus who was the beggar the steward tried to avoid becoming who both ended up on two sides of a great chasm. One was in torment and the other was in Abraham's comforting bosom. The one in torment wanted his brothers to be warned so they would not come to where he was. But, Abraham tells him that they have Moses and the Prophets, the message preached up until John's day, and that is enough. And even if one rises from the dead, which many believed John to be the resurrected Elijah, the message would not "get through."

In one form or another Jesus message is about "getting through." How does the Son of Man get through to people? How does God through centuries of preparation get through to the hearts of men who are bound up in earthly thinking, earthly comforts, and earthly ambitions? John came preaching the kingdom as did Jesus Himself. It was to be what men would seek first (Matt.6:33). It was to be what people would enter, not force their way into. It was to be what we were to "get." Worries and wealth choke out the message of the kingdom. Daily business crowds out kingdom business. Keeping our house in order spiritually and relationally so that the kingdom can advance is essential for the message of the kingdom to get through to us. Hearts are being walled up today. People are building barriers to relationships and to the Spirit of God. But it was also so in Jesus' day. Jesus, the Son of God, had a hard time getting through to people. The humility and trust it takes to allow Jesus to rule and reign is the key to getting through. He knocks and we have to open. He uses people to walk through our doors, but we have to be open to them.

God to Jesus on His return from his sojourn on earth: "Son was it hard to get through to my people?" Jesus to God: "Father, it was incredibly difficult to get through to them. They have a lot on their minds and a lot of personal business to conduct. Their attention span is not very long. They are distracted by many things. They have a hard time sitting and listening to Our Word. They aren't very smart because they do not study. And, there is little room for Our Word in their crowded hearts. Yes it was hard, and I cried a lot."

Cure for Restlessness

 I've spent a lot of time in Luke 15 lately. What more can be said about the Prodigal Son? It is an oft-told story. It is pregnant with meaning. It is the type of story that draws you in and makes you think, about yourself, your life, what is meaningful. Among other things it is a story about restlessness, about fight and flight, lost and dead, saved and found. Jesus spoke to our core issue. He nailed our common experience. Humans are restless, contentless, lacking beings. We are seldom satisfied, at peace, and whole. We fight loneliness, insignificance, meaninglessness, and never feeling like we are enough. It is hard for us to be OKAY. We seem to have this sense always that something vital, essential, and important is missing from our lives. We believe that if we could just capture it (what is "it"?) we would be complete. Our strivings would cease. Desire would be rewarded, and we would rest in peace even while we are alive.

 

We have a list of clinical diagnoses for these conditions. We probably have a pill that can simulate the real thing. Even then we think that if we threw away the crutch we could not stand. Restlessness breeds dependence on something to prop us up and make it appear that we are strong even while we carry weakness deep within. We expend huge amounts of energy to cover up the insecurities and the vulnerabilities. We invent and learn to play countless games to insure that no one will know what everyone knows because everyone has the common experience, i.e. we are not enough.

 

Both boys in the story are restless. One runs and the other fights. One seeks it outside the home and the other longs for it inside the same home. When we consider that this home is God, the Father's home, it makes the story even more interesting. It has always amazed me that the Old Testament depicts God as a divorcee and an ineffective father. Israel is His wife and child, and as each they were unfaithful and delinquent. Couldn't God keep His wife and child happy? Yet they both were restless. They ran away from Him and they fought Him. Fight and flight are powerful within the human. But, yet again it was not the Husband/Father who failed. It was the wife/son who failed to see that what they longed for they had all along.

 

Luke 15:31 is the cure. It is the key. It is the essential truth that can provide us with peace, security, and relief from the restless life syndrome. "And he (the Father) said to him (the older son), 'My child you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.'" It may be so simple we miss it. If we could just realize as Christians that we are always with the Father and that all that is His is now ours, would we seek for substitute relationships and substitute possessions? When being with God and possessing His possessions becomes enough for us we will know we are enough, we have enough, and we don't have to do enough for contentment. Both boys had what they were looking for all along. It was right in front of them. It was all around them. Believe it. Enjoy it. Celebrate it.

Worth

 From Luke 15:19. What am I worthy for? What am I suited for? What is my purpose? Why am I even here? Am I only valuable for my talents, my beliefs, or my performance? Or is there something more basic that gives me value? Is it merely the relationship itself? I know you have heard this before, but listen again, and listen carefully. You can know you are valuable because God made/created you and provided for you everything you need. You were not made valuable because of creation and because of the cross. You were valuable to God and that is why He created you and saved you. His creative energies and his salvation energy revealed His heart toward us. It shows us what He gives Himself to, what he invests in.

He could have been content to create more universes, more trees, more gardens, more seas, or more earthworms, but late on the 6th day He decided to create people, two to be exact with the capacity and natural desire to make more people. Before He created them He made plans to provide for them, body, soul and spirit. He anticipated their needs-our needs, even the need for a savior. His provision was at great personal sacrifice. It involved an elaborate plan spanning thousands of human years which was filled with great frustration. He also chose to coordinate His plan with human counterparts. Since these humans were given free will they often did not cooperate with His plan. He selected the dearest person to Him, His Son to carry out that plan by dying an excruciating death. Why? To provide for us our deepest needs.

From what I read God's focus has always been on us and how He could make fellowship with Himself possible. If the plan could have been simpler I believe God would have made it so. I have to trust that God designed everything in such a way that there would be the purest and most authentic outcome, a true love relationship. Yet we question our worthiness and value, and whether God simply wants us to be sons and daughters, and not hired hands. One of the greatest hindrances to wholeness is our disbelief that we could be THAT valuable to God.

Coming to Yourself

"When he came to his senses...." (Lk.15:17). Literally "but to himself coming." What does that mean? It is a sober place. It is a place of serious reflection It is a place of resolve and decision. Often people live for a long time in a place of self-justification or regret or denial or pain and victimization or self-doubt or fear or complacency. It is a place where people get stuck in terrible situations, cycles of abuse, cycles of addiction, cycles of cynicism, and cycles of anger. "Coming to one's self" is a place to break the cycle and to get on a new path. It is a place of repentance and redemption and transformation. It is a place of hope and new beginnings. It is the fork in the road and the first step to a new, different, and better life. It is freeing and energy-giving. It is bold and daring and risky. You have to get up and get honest. It is a place of seeing and hearing again. It the point when we realize we are trapped but the door to the cell is not locked. The jailer left the key within reach. The angel shows up and gives us strength to walk out.

Sin, poor decisions, taking the wrong turn, doing something stupid leads us into lostness and despair and folly. We wake up for 100 mornings knowing we are in the wrong place but not having the will that day to make a decision. Then when we do, we play a tape and loop it a 1000 times to drown out the choice. It is easier to stay than to go but it is harder and harder every day to stay.

Coming to ourselves means to return to our design and purpose. It means that we know we were created good and for a reason. We have to claw our way back to that reason and hold on like a newborn at her mother's breast. We have to trust that God will meet us at the point of our true self. He will be there to take our hand and to guide us out as long as it takes. In fact He is there before we decide to escape, waiting for us to arrive. So what are you waiting for? Arise and be baptized, washing away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.! (Acts 22:16)

Salt Life vs His Life

We are in Luke 14:34. Good salt is effective salt. It has properties which accomplish its intended purpose. . There is a great book called The History of Salt that traces the role salt has played in the history of the world. It is considerable and very interesting. So what would cause salt to lose its saltiness or to become tasteless? The word for tasteless in the text is moranio. Do you see "moron" in this word? It means to make insipid, to make to become a simpleton, become a fool, make foolish, and to lose savor. It is a change in quality and effectiveness.

 

Salt is a very stable compound of the elements sodium and chlorine. They share an electron, and seem to have a very happy marriage bond. Salt exists in crystal form meaning the grains stick together providing more effectiveness and saltiness. But when the salt is put into water the crystals tend to separate, and the individual crystals become diluted. So it is dilution that would cause the salt to lose its saltiness or taste.

 

In Jesus' context here salt stands for the discipleship bond. Just as sodium and chlorine bond to form salt (or individual salt grains bond to other salt grains to form a crystal), the disciple and Jesus bond to form a healthy, effective relationship which accomplishes the purposes of discipleship. The bond is very stable but when diluted by 1) stronger relationships, even family (14:26); 2) even by one's own self-preservation (14:26); by putting our cross down and failing to follow Jesus (14:27); or 4) allowing possessions to distract us, it loses its saltiness. So if we categorize these four we have dilution by 1) Earthly relationships; 2) Self-preservation; 3) Trackless living; 4) Distractions. These four cause tasteless living. People who encounter Christians diluted by these things will be impressed by the salt of Jesus. They taste Jesus through us. Maintaining taste is essential to living an effective Christian life.

Rethinking An Ilustration

This is from Luke 14:31-32. Jesus gives an illustration of a king over 10,000 men going to battle against a king with 20,000 men. What does the first king do before he sets out into the fray? 1) He sits down; 2) takes counsel; 3) then he either fights or sends a delegation asking for terms of peace. Rushing into a battle you cannot win is foolish, even suicidal. Or is it brave to believe you can overcome the odds-we do celebrate this daily.

 

So is Jesus suggesting the smaller army should go into battle bravely and fight harder than the other king and his larger army? There are many stories in the Bible where this kind of action was supported by God, e.g. David and Goliath and Gideon's army come to mind. Or is Jesus suggesting that we play it safe and ask for a peace treaty? Maybe He is not suggesting either option but merely suggesting that before you make a big decision like taking a 10,000 man army up against a 20,000 man army you should first sit down, get counsel, and decide if you can finish the fight once you start it. Maybe Jesus is suggesting that the smaller army must decide if they are prepared to die for what they are fighting for.

 

I have always thought Jesus was saying they should not fight and make a truce. But, now I am not so sure. He could be saying the opposite. Remember this section is about starting and fishing the job you begin. But, for us Christians today, don't the odds seem against us in this life-the challenges are great! And we should soberly consider the nature of the battle and how difficult it will be, but we should not shrink back in the day of battle. We are overcomers, not quitters, and greater is the one in us than in the world. We have a strength and power they do not have. In spiritual reality the 10,000 man army is greater than the 20,000 man army, If the 20,000 man army is led by Satan we must not seek terms of peace with him. We must fight even when it seems we are outnumbered. Think about it.

Bearing a Cross

 The Text is Luke 14:27. So what does bear a cross mean? Pick it up and walk. We get it from one place to another so that an execution can take place, ours. You don't carry it to show off or to parade or to impress or to demonstrate. You carry it to die. A cross had one purpose, i.e. to kill people. By following Jesus who ended up on Golgotha so we end up there. It is our destiny to die-to be consumed by death-death is swallowed up in victory. But we must walk the Via Delorosa. It starts by picking it up, touching that vile instrument of suffering and pain. Why would you? What would make anyone shoulder it? But, He had to-why would we? Do we have to? Perhaps if we do, we have to. No one would unless they had to-I must! But it is heavy and I am not sure I can carry it all the way. What if I stumble? He did. What if I need help? He did. There is no shame. There is only victory in death-death to self. But, people will stare and some might rejoice to see my death, and others might feel sorry for me. What am I to do? Trudge on. Finish. Climb. Get up. Drag it. Push it. Pull it. Do what you have to do to follow Him. Shed blood. Drop sweat. Cry. But, don't stop. There is victory in death. There is resurrection and eternal life on the other side. Rest will come, renewal of strength will be given. But for now-Bear it. This is discipleship. This is our school. This is learning. This is following Him. No turning back. I have decided.