The Normal Christian Life: Fasting

Calendars

About 24 years ago I lost the job I had in California.  It was a good job that paid well but I had accumulated some debt and an expensive car lease.  Some may recall that 1990-91 was a period of a recession in the economy and good paying jobs were not easy to locate.   Around that time some cousins came to visit from Massachusetts and encouraged me to move back there. Without much to tie me to Southern California I agreed.  Still finding work was very challenging and what little money I had left was dwindling fast.  The jobs I was able to find paid poorly and nowhere near what I had been used to or needed for bills.  I was getting behind on payments and trying to avoid the inevitable calls.   I began to dread the calendar.  Each day was another one when something could come due or other items would be even later.  Some days led to events where spending money was implicitly expected as in birthdays and Christmas with family and I was too embarrassed to avoid them.

It took me close to 5 years of work to stop hating the calendar and to begin feeling like the calendar was my friend. 

God created time, days, weeks, months, years, as points for renewal.  No matter how bad a day is, I can sleep on it, and discover a new energy, a new idea, a new point of view in the morning.   I can start a new habit on Monday, stumble by Wednesday and reset again the next week.    The same is true with months and years.   

How has 2014 been for you?   Has it turned out the way that you thought back in January?  

Many of us, see January 1 as a new beginning.  A chance to do things differently. How do you want 2015 to go? How will the next year be different?

·       Will there be change or will it merely be a continuation of this year?

·       Will we lose weight and get healthier? 

·       Will there be a change of job?

·       Will there be a move?

·       Will there be new friends?

·       Will there be loss?

I have an idea for a new start for each of us in the New Year.

Close to God

There are some Christians who want salvation and eternal life but hope for little more from God than that. 

And yet, God so loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for each of us.

He is seeking something more for us than just a “ticket to the game”.  He is seeking a deep and powerful relationship full of passion and dedication.

As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him?  (Psa 42:1-2)

God has plans for us

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  (Jer 29:11)

Commands

When God gave Moses the law, there were 635 principle laws not just the 10 commandments.   Jesus’ sacrifice of His life for us freed us from the requirements of the law.  He taught us that whoever believes in Him would receive eternal life.  We no longer live under a book of regulations but of relationship with the living God.  There are very few commands in the Christian life. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

However there are common practices and culture of the Christian family from the beginning.  Immediately after Peter’s first sermon the people of God responded.

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Act 2:41-42)

I call these things THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE

·       Baptizing

·       Gathering together

·       Worshipping God

·       Praying

·       Studying God’s Word

·       Serving

·       Giving

One common practice of God’s people, including Jesus, is Fasting.

 

Fasting – Abstaining (Work, Food, etc)

There are many reasons to fast. Here are a few examples of those reasons.

Obedience – Rest – “Atonement”

"This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. "It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. (Lev 16:29-31)

Repentance

Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone. Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you." They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. (1Sa 7:3-6)

"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness And relenting of evil.  (Joe 2:12-13)

Expectancy

Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.  (Luk 2:36-38)

Preparation

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry. (Matt 4:1-2)

Guidance

Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called "the black man"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul. One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them." So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.  (Act 13:1-3)

Purity - Daniel’s Fast

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king." But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. "Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see." So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm. (Dan 1:8-20)

Warning – “Don’t show off”

"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Mat 6:16-18)

Jesus assumed that His followers would fast.

God First

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Mat 6:33)

Most of us are familiar with this verse but tend to focus on the second half more than the first.  This is a conditional verse.  We may wonder why God doesn’t provide exactly what we ask but we may not have been doing our part.  We don’t like to view God that way.  Yes our eternal life is a free gift of God so that no one can boast in their accomplishments.  However, our relationship with God from that point does have a certain conditionality.  Jesus didn’t say “just go about your business, doing whatever you want and God will just bless you in everything you do.”  He said, “Seek God first..and all of these things will be added to you.”

Fasting is like that with God.  We are not commanded to fast but in the history of God’s people they did fast when they were really serious about God, about needing Him, about repenting from Sin, about purifying themselves, about seeking guidance.    Fasting is a statement to God that we are really serious about this and we want to be serious with Him. 

Fasting, like many other activities of putting God First, comes with many benefits.  My experience with fasting lead to a clarity of mind, a purity of mind, a sensitivity to what God is doing, scripture became even more alive to me and, finally, greater discipline and control over my appetites.  I lost weight because I no longer obsessed about food.  God’s Spirit strengthened me as I honored Him. 

There were challenges and I found myself falling off from my fasting plan but this also showed me even more about God’s grace.  I got up and picked up where I left off. 

How then should we live?

Most who know me know that I have done a 40 day fast, in the model of Daniel, for the last two election cycles.  However, there are some in body of Christ who have suggested that in the theme of “God First” perhaps we should consider giving the first day or week or few weeks of each New Year to God in this way. 

Many of us, see January 1 as a new beginning.  A chance to do things differently. How do you want 2015 to go? How will the next year be different?

·       Will we put God first in our lives?

·       Will we repent of putting ourselves first as we did last year?

·       Will we seek God’s guidance and plans for us?

·       Will we desire His presence as a deer pants for water?

In my life as a Christian I have heard very few messages about fasting.  Perhaps because it can be very difficult and it is not commanded and it is generally very private.  As a theme in the Bible it does not even receive very much teaching.  Most references are brief. Nevertheless there is evidence in the Word that this was a common practice by the people of God.  IT WAS NORMAL.

 

It was part of the normal Christian life.

Would you consider starting your year with a fast? Whether it is food or work or social media or other media, would you dedicate it to a new relationship with the God who loves you and gave His Son’s life for you? 

Could you use a fresh start of the year with God, with purity, with clarity of thought and purpose, with renewed physical and spiritual health? 

The Normal Christian Life: Faith (Part II)

In John 3:16 Jesus tells us that whoever believes in Him would inherit eternal life.  We have other words from Jesus that indicate that He means something more about believing than we do.  

When reading the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), we often forget why Jesus told that story.  He was answering the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?".

Luke 10:25-29

  One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"  The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"  The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus has told us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then He proceeds to answer the question "Who is my neighbor?".

Luke 10:31-33

  "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  32  "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,

Jesus doesn't tell us the motivations of the two religious leaders who crossed the street to avoid getting involved but Jesus' story leaves us one conclusion: any motivation to cross the street and not get involved does not qualify as loving our neighbor as ourselves. 

Jesus answers the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" by reminding us that inheriting eternal life is requires us to go all in with God.  We must Love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  That is not just the "feel good" love of the heart as we find in many modern stories, the kind that often changes over time as that love is challenged by reality.  This is an all encompassing love surpassing the love for parents, husbands and wives, children, adventure, or safety.   Yes, you read that right. More than your children.  More than your spouse.  More than your Mom and Dad. More than your job.  Heart, soul, mind and strength.   

Matthew 10:37

  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Matthew 7:21

  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.

Jesus taught us that only those who do with the will of the Father will have eternal life.   Jesus has unpacked the meaning of believing for us.  Believing is not simply agreeing with a list of facts that we are sinners and He has died for us and now we have access to eternal life.  When Jesus says "whoever believes in me", He doesn't just mean agreeing with Him.  Reading all of Jesus words tells us that believing means obedience.  It means transferring our flag of loyalty to Him and His Kingdom.  It means taking Him seriously as our Lord.  The Apostle, Paul, who wrote the bulk of the letters found in the New Testament, put it this way.  

2 Corinthians 5:15   

"He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them."

 

Jesus, Himself, was not pursuing His own agenda.  His whole life was about doing what He saw His Father doing.  He modeled for us what it means to "believe".  

Faith can be the enemy of eternal life.  The kind of faith that does not get involved.  The kind of faith that loves family, friends and lifestyle more than God. The kind of faith that is nothing more than a head nod that Jesus is Lord, like we have joined His team and wear His jersey but don't show up for practice and don't take the field.  That kind of faith is the enemy of eternal life.  No one who has that kind of faith will inherit eternal life.  

In the book of James, in the Bible, the author who was the brother of Jesus and became the overseer of the church in Jerusalem, we have this description of faith. 

James 2:14-26 

"What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, "Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well"--but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds." You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works."

We are not suggesting here that anyone can do good works to earn their eternal life.  This can be confusing.  However, the truth is that simply agreeing with a set of facts about Jesus, that he died for our sins and gifted us with eternal life is not the whole story.    The complete truth is that Faith for eternal life requires action.  It requires making Jesus Lord of our lives.  That means we do what he tells us to do.  Jesus makes a point of this. 

Luke 6:46  

"So why do you keep calling Me 'Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say?”

That means that we make his plans our plans, his desires our desires, his priorities our priorities.  It means that we no longer live for ourselves but rather for Him who died and rose again on our behalf.  That is the door to eternal life.  That is what faith means.  

The Normal Christian Life: Faith

Everyone lives by faith.

How do you know that the Earth is round?  Have you ventured up to the space station and observed it first hand?  Really, how many of us can say that?  Not many of course.  We trust those who took pictures and those who claim to have done this and even measured it.  We trust our teachers. We trust the media who publish the reports of others.  Trust is the another word for faith.  Unless we have personally witnessed something we must "take someone else's word for it".   We tend to automatically put our faith in the truth-telling of our text books and certain media outlets and even the gov't.  Some people even trust what they read on the Internet.  Somehow if we hear that a scientist has researched something we tend to have faith in them.  We all live by faith everyday trusting what others have told us.  

There are some who try to discredit the faith of folks who believe in God because they see science as more believable than God.  They do not realize that they are living by faith too.  They are trusting the testimony of scientists somehow also believing that scientists are unbiased and incapable of mistakes and always report the truth.  As we grow up we find out that scientists are human with all of the same flaws as all other humans.  Scientists rely on grants from government and from business.  These grants often come with desired outcomes. That should not influence their findings but human nature being what it is, it would be hard to determine results that are in conflict with the sponsoring grant organizations.   Nevertheless, we tend to accept by faith that the findings of studies are true and accurate.    This is no more reasonable than believing the testimony of the writers of the Bible.  

The truth is that if we know something, we do not need faith. If I know something because I have first hand experience, I don't need faith.  The Bible says "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."  (Hebrews 11:1)  Faith and knowing are two different things.  There is very little we humans can know with the limitations of our brains and our senses and our instruments.  What many call "knowing" is in fact merely "believing".  In fact much human conflict arises out of very strong beliefs morphing into "knowing" as it seems to some individuals.  As I noted above, if we do not have first hand experience in witnessing an event or a condition, we will have to trust others to report what they know.  Even if that event happened yesterday, if we were not there we must trust others.  This is no different than trusting in the events of the Bible reported to us by those who have reason to report what they have witnessed.  

In one of Jesus' appearances to his disciples after His resurrection, He approached Thomas, called "doubting Thomas" because he had said  "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in His side."   Jesus said to Thomas "Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!" . "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.  Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me."    (John 20:24-29)   We are those people that Jesus spoke about who believe without seeing.  That is the definition of faith.  

Faith is the normal and natural condition for all people simply because we cannot "know" everything.   Truthfully, we actually "know" very little and we "trust" in a huge volume of sources from books, news outlets, teachers, the Internet, friends, etc.  It is normal and natural.  

But not all faith will change the destiny of your life.  If you were to believe that the earth was flat would that really change your life beyond some snickers at a party?  You might believe that humans are the reason for climate change or not and that might influence some of your life decisions.  You may believe that cats are preferable to dogs as pets and that might influence some years of your life.   You may believe that a person that you have met is the one above all others that you want to spend your life with.    Ultimately, though, not all beliefs are likely to change your life for all of eternity.      

Putting your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the one who died to pay the price for your sin changes your eternal destiny beginning now.  You have been given eternal life with God.  You are changed from the inside out.  The old has passed away and you have become a new creature.  (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Do not let anyone disparage your faith.  Remind them that they are living by faith too and not all faith really matters.    Encourage them to put their faith in the things that matter for eternity, for this life and the one to come.    Let them know that they can trust you in telling them about your life in Christ the way that you trusted others and trust in the Word of God found in the Bible.  

The World's Influence among Christians

As Christians we try to influence our society for the Kingdom of God much like yeast or leaven influences a batch of dough hopefully becoming bread. In doing so we are often in a struggle about whether we Christians are influencing society or if society is actually influencing us.

Recently I heard a Christian woman justify her affair with the phrase, "You don't know the whole story". Even more recently we have heard that a pastor of a large evangelical, charismatic church has come out to support the gay lifestyle including involving gay people at every level of his very large church. The context seems to imply that gays in his church are eligible for all levels of leadership including pastor. The pastor has a tremendous heart for people especially young people. "When a married man in a congregation has an adulterous affair with another woman—and he’s confronted about it—we don’t have suicides as a result. But, we do have teenagers committing suicides at higher rates when they are part of congregations that have these exclusionary teachings about homosexuality. Is this really the teaching of Jesus when our exclusion of people is contributing to a rise in suicide?"

The problem with this pastor's view and the view of the woman above and many others claiming to follow Jesus is that they are defining God and God's Word through their emotions and experience. Instead they should be defining their experience of life by the Word of God.

When we come to Christ we hear of His Love for us and how he gave His life for us that we may have eternal life. How do we know this? We found it in the Word of God. We trust
our eternal destiny on what we believe is actually the living and active Word and words that have come to us from the Living God.

Still though we put our faith in the Christ of the Bible as savior some people stop there and live as though the rest of the Word and words of the Living God are irrelevant because they don't line up with how they feel.

Consider what Jesus might have said to the woman who was brought to him having been caught committing adultery (John 8). Jesus asks "Where are those who condemn you?" "There is no one." she answers. "Neither do I condemn you. Go on. Continue as you were. I know that life is hard for you and that you have good reasons for why you do this." Is that what He said? Jesus, who loves all people and gave His life for everyone without bias or favor, did he say that to her? The Word of God says that Jesus told her "Go and sin no more". Jesus demonstrates that Love speaks strong words about what is right and wrong. Jesus loves completely but He also calls people to a life without sin. I believe that Jesus would be found in Gay bars and at Gay parties. He loves people. But He would not be there to affirm their sin but to call them out of it. He is the great physician. It is not the healthy that need a doctor (Matt 9:12) but those who are sick. He was accused by those who thought themselves righteous of hanging out with all sorts of sinners. I love that about Him. But while He does not condemn He still does not condone.

The problem with many in the Body of Christ who are trying to bring the Kingdom in the world is that too often they bring love without truth. They allow human experience to determine what God meant rather than applying the Word of God that they claim to believe in to life and experience. The same Word of God where we find our invitation to eternal life through Christ. It's either all the Word of God and worthy of our obedience and faith or it is nothing but literature and our eternal destiny is a sham.

Most of us are familiar with 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul writes that even though we possess all knowledge and practice all of the spiritual gifts but don't have love we are useless. And so some people may take this out of the context of the whole Word of God and say Love is all there is and that's the end of it. There is no call for righteousness. In 1 Corinthians 6, the same letter and same author, Paul writes this, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." And so we have the same author in the same letter to the same church writing about lifestyles that will not inherit the Kingdom of God as well as loving people with a passionate love as Jesus did. Some will over emphasize one or the other and some may exclude one or the other. However, if we trust that the Bible is the Word of God then we must accept that both chapters are true and both are God's Word.

The odd part to me is that somehow Christians can feel comfortable carving out homosexuality from this list in 1 Cor 6 for special treatment because of pressure from our society or maybe because they have a friend or family member living that lifestyle and leave the others as conventional lists of sins. Even though most of these other lifestyles are portrayed daily in the common entertainment media, no Christian leaders I know are coming out claiming that adultery and other immorality is acceptable as a lifestyle for church leaders. That's just crazy business.

How can someone rationally say that the Bible that tells us that Jesus died for us to give us access to eternal life by faith in Him is the true Word of God and then not accept the rest of the Bible as God's Word and apply it? This makes no sense.

We know that Jesus invites all of us to confess our sin, turn away from it and trust Him for our eternal life. No one is outside of this invitation. But we cannot deny our sin and still accept His invitation. 1 John 1:8-10 "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word
is not in us." Homosexuality is not different than other sins. All sin leads to death. Homosexuals are not different than other sinners like us. They can accept Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross and join him in eternity in the same way as all other sinners.

The Bible also tells us in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

Make sure that those leaders you are paying attention to are teaching properly from the Word of God, all of it. We must reach out to our culture with the Good News of God's love for all but we cannot exclude parts of the story that make people uncomfortable. Jesus had to die for us because we are all sinners. We must all repent and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.

The Bible in 5 Minutes

I read an article recently about the difficulty getting people to read the Bible. Some said that it was a bit intimidating since it appears longer than 'War and Peace' and it feels like you need a key to understanding how the parts fit with the whole. 

So I worked out this diagram of the whole Bible that most of us could use to share to answer the question "What is the bible about? " It would be especially cool if we all memorized this and were able to draw it out on the back of a napkin in about 5 minutes. 

Living With Hope

How are we any different than the world when it comes to death and dying?  

So many followers of Jesus still value this life over the eternal, immortal life offered by God in Christ.

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight-- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."   2 Corinthians 5:1-8

As Christians we have been given this instruction and this promise

The Bible teaches

....that this life, this body is just a tent, a temporary domicile.  No matter how many rooms or furniture or fixtures we add, our tents are designed to be torn down and replaced with the permanent.  

The Bible teaches

....that we have waiting for us a new body without defect, where we will no longer experience pain or sorrow.

The Bible teaches

....that we groan and long to be clothed with our immortal bodies

The Bible teaches

....that remaining here is separation from our Lord and that we remain here sacrificially to bear fruit from love in the lives of those who God brings to us. 

Jesus tells us that we have our priorities reversed when we value this life more than eternal life with Him

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.

Matthew 16:25

Our attitude is upside down when we fear death for ourselves and our loved ones rather than see it as graduation.  

Paul said to the church at Ephesus while he was on his way to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome where he will be executed: 

 "Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus." 

Acts 21:13

Then he writes to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, 

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing."

2 Timothy 4:6-8

  

Who can deny that this life carries with it both joy and pain?  I have known this pain personally with the deaths of my father and my brother and soon for my mother.   The pain of loss and even guilt of survivors, while profound, can distort the truth about death even for those who trust in Jesus. 

We corrupt our faith in Jesus when we value this life more than the life that is to come.  Worse, when we seek to hold on to our loved ones in this life though they may be suffering with bodies that are breaking down and barely useful to them, we are not walking by faith in the promise of the new body they will receive and the joy that they will know in the hands of our loving Father.  

We have a promise from God that we will be with Him for eternity.  He sent His Son Jesus to confirm that promise.  We have hope.  Our attitude toward death should not be the same as those in the world who have no hope.  We are graduating.  Many of our loved ones have graduated before us.  My father was the class of 1963.  My brother the class of 1993.  They are already experiencing the unspeakable joy of knowing the glory of God.  We may not know what class we will graduate with but we should celebrate those who have graduated before us who already know the love of the Father and the Lord Jesus up close and personal and look forward to joining them ourselves.  We walk by faith not by sight, not by death.  

Receiving or Reproducing?

'Imagine being in Sudan.  You walk into a Thatched hut with a small group of Sudanese church leaders, and you sit down to teach them God's Wrod. As soon as you start, you lose eye contact with all of them. No one is looking at you, and you hardly see their eyes the rest of the time.   The reason is because they're  writing down every word you say.  They come up to you afterward and say, "Teacher, we are going to take everything we have learned from God's Wrod, translate it into our languages, and teach it in our tribes." They were not listening to receive but to reproduce. '  David Platt, "Radical".

These are people, in Sudan, who take Jesus' words to "make disciples of all nations" very seriously.  As we sit and listen to teaching from the pastors of our churches today, will he or she see your eyes or will you be diligently writing down the message so that you can share it with others?  Will you be receiving the message only to forget it soon after you leave or will you be recording it to reproduce your learning in others helping them to grow in discipleship with Jesus?  

The Enemy of Eternal Life

When reading the story of the good Samaritan, we often forget why Jesus told that story.  He was answering the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?".

Luke 10:25-29  One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"  The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"  The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus has told us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then He proceeds to answer the question "Who is my neighbor?".

Luke 10:31-33  "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  32  "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,

Jesus doesn't tell us the motivations of the two religious leaders who crossed the street to avoid getting involved.  Jesus' story leaves us one conclusion: any motivation to cross the street and not get involved does not qualify as loving our neighbor as ourselves.  

Jesus answers the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" by reminding us that inheriting eternal life is requires us to go all in with God.  We must Love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  That is not just the "feel good" love of the heart as we find in many modern stories, the kind that often changes over time as that love is challenged by reality.  This is an all encompassing love surpassing the love for parents, husbands and wives, children, adventure, or safety.   Yes, you read that right. More than your children.  More than your spouse.  More than your Mom and Dad. More than your job.  Heart, soul, mind and strength.    

Matthew 10:37  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

In America and much of the modern world, we are rich. The poorest people in the US are still richer than most of the poor in the countries of the developing world.  And Jesus tells us that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" Matthew 19:24.  Why does He say this?  Is it because rich people, even the poor rich people of the modern world, accumulate possessions?  Is it because somehow rich people are mean or greedy?  Or is it because rich people, even poor rich people, fill their time with self interested pursuits so that they are not available for God?  If our schedules are full what happens when our neighbor needs us?  What happens when God calls us to serve others?  Do we have to consult our calendars?  Do we cross the street all the while focused on our smart phones? Are we talking on the phone arranging our children's next soccer practice or recital?

Matthew 7:21  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.

We have made a practice in our lives of ignoring many parts of Jesus' teaching based on the idea that we have "faith" and that "faith" saves us.  If we don't do all the rest of His teachings somehow that will be Ok because we have faith.  But have we been sold a "bill of goods" that will not hold up when we need it.  Jesus also taught us that only those who do with the will of the Father will have eternal life.   So somehow we have been walking around believing that simply agreeing with the facts that Jesus is God, that He died to pay the price for our sins is enough and now we rich people can go about our busy schedules on the other side of the street from our neighbor.  

Faith is the enemy of eternal life.  The kind of faith that does not get involved.  The kind of faith that allows loving family, friends and lifestyle more than God. The kind of faith that is nothing more than a head nod that Jesus is Lord, like we have joined His team and wear His jersey but don't show up for practice and don't take the field.  That kind of faith is the enemy of eternal life.  No one who has that kind of faith will inherit eternal life.    

"Only those who actually do the will of My father in heaven will enter".  - Jesus