Three Radical Demands (2)

 

 

“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58).

 

Those in Christ are the Body of Christ; this is not a metaphor; this is a reality. In the eternal counsels of God, the Father is to have a Family, the Son a Body and a Bride, and the Spirit a Temple. As Augustine writes, “As is the Head, so is the Body.” Jesus Christ is the Vine, we are the branches – we can do nothing in and of ourselves (John 15:1 – 5).

 

Jesus testifies that His Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36); if His Kingdom is not of this world, then, since we are in Him and are of Him and are His Body, our Kingdom is not of this world. As Paul writes, we are citizens of Heaven (Phil. 3:20).

 

This has been the testimony of His Body throughout the ages, and this includes those who were promised the land of Canaan, that is, the Patriarchs understood that Canaan was a shadow and a type, and therefore their vision went far beyond dirt and sand and mountain and river – they lived as strangers and pilgrims, not as settlers – nor should we (Hebrews 11:8 – 16). The Patriarchs “desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16), they were seeking that City “which God has prepared for them” (Heb. 11:16).

 

The promise to Abraham and his seed is that we shall be “heir of the world” (Rom. 4:13; Matt. 5:5; Rev. 21:1 – 7). How tragic when we mistake the type and shadow for the reality, when we confuse the lower image for the higher substance, when we are distracted from the eternal by things which are passing away. When we propagate such thinking we can become participants and enablers of death and destruction and sorrow and pain – poisoning our own souls and the souls of others.

 

Since the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His Head, He has nowhere to lay His Body. Why, O why, do we attempt to lay the Body of Christ in holes and in nests where the Head is not to be found? Is this not grotesque? Why, O why, do we seek to separate the Head from the Body? Does this not result in death?

 

Are we not playing the part of Herod in beheading Someone greater than John the Baptist?

 

The economic systems dance for us, the political systems dance for us, the sports and entertainment systems dance for us, the worlds of education and science dance for us…and we are so engrossed in them, so impressed by them…so seduced by them…and yes…by our religions systems…that we cry, “We’ll give you whatever you want! We’ll do even better than Herod, while he would only give Herodias half of his kingdom, we’ll give you our own souls!”

 

And the guillotine drops and the Head is served from the Body…and we think nothing of it.

 

Can we see the dead bodies around us? Can we see the congregations, those local bodies, which have been severed from the Head, from Christ? This body lies in the crypt of politics and nationalism, that body in the mausoleum of economics and the pursuit of money, that body over there in religious tradition that makes the Word of God of no effect, that body yonder lies dead in the seduction of entertainment, sports, the arts.

 

Is the Head of the Body not enough for us, His Body?

 

O dear friends, Jesus plus anything is not the Gospel, it is not the Cross, it is not the narrow way and gate – any identity other than the identity of Jesus Christ and Him alone is a false identity, a seductive identity with false promises – it is the lap of Deliah in which our glory is shorn from us.

 

Jesus is clear that even as He is not of the world and its systems, so are we not of the world and its systems – for as is the Head, so is the Body (John 15:18 – 16:4; 17:13 – 19).

 

As John writes, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For ALL that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is NOT from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15 – 17).

 

“We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

 

The radical call of Jesus Christ is the call to follow the One who has nowhere to lay His Head in this world; just as there is no place for Him to rest in this world, for Him to find peace, for Him to trust – so there is no place in this world for us…our only place of rest and trust and peace is in Jesus Christ…not in a ballot box, not in a bank or investment account, not in possessions and pleasures, not in nationalism, not in military might…only in Jesus are we to live, only in Jesus are we to breathe, only in Jesus are we to hope, and only to Jesus are we to draw others.

 

Are we hearing the Father say, “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5)?

Three Radical Demands (1)

 

“As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ And He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But He said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.’

 

“Another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord, but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Luke 9:57 – 62.

 

Jesus confronts three people with three radical demands, and in doing so He confronts us; He confronts us as individuals, as husbands and wives, as families, as congregations.

 

He tells us that “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,” and in doing so He tells us that to follow Him wherever He goes means that we will have no rest in the world, no place in world to identify with, no political, economic, social, ethnic, national, or other movement in which we may rest, that we may call home – just as the Son of Man has no such place, so those who follow Him will have no such place – our identity must always and forever be in Him and only in Him.

 

In saying that the dead must bury their own dead, Jesus tells us that there are only two types of people in the world, those who have the life of God in them and those who don’t. We are to go and proclaim the Gospel so that those who are dead may live. There are those who are burying the dead, and then there are those who are proclaiming Jesus so that the dead may rise – both in this age and in the ages to come.

 

In saying that no one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God, Jesus reinforces His call to discipleship in Luke 9:23 – 26; we are to take up our cross daily, losing our lives for His sake and the Gospel, denying ourselves and proclaiming Jesus and the Gospel.

 

While these teachings of Jesus may seem radical to us, they represent normative Biblical discipleship – that is, they represent what ought to be the norm in our lives and in our churches. Are they the norm? Do we hear this call to discipleship on Sunday mornings? Over media? In daily conversation? Do our books and other writings reflect this call? Do our small groups meet within the context of this call?

 

We may have the “right” doctrine and beliefs, but if our lives are not “right” in following Jesus Christ, if they are not conforming to His call, then do we not have what James styles “faith without works, which are dead”?

 

Well, to be sure Luke 9:57 – 62 is a challenge, a sobering challenge, a reality check.

 

How does the passage challenge you? What questions do you have about it? What does it look like in your life? What does it look like in your congregation? In your friendships? In your family?

 

To be continued…

Tossed – Where Will We Land?

 

 

“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

 

The wheat and the chaff are tossed into the air together and are separated by the wind. The wind carries the chaff away while the wheat falls to the ground and is gathered into the barn. The wheat is thrown into the air just as the chaff, but then the separation – the chaff is carried away.

 

We ought not to think it strange that we share in the human experience, after all, we are human…though we are now human in Christ. The question isn’t so much about what we experience, but rather how we experience it. Do we experience tossing as chaff or as wheat? The chaff is blown away, the wheat remains.

 

God says that He will shake all things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:26 – 29). We are all tossed, we are all shaken. We cannot avoid being tossed or shaken, the question is whether we will remain – and remain we most certainly will if we are in Jesus Christ.

 

When we are tossed and shaken our Father will reveal things within us that need to be removed, and He will affirm things within us which we ought to nurture in Christ. Tossing and shaking are opportunities to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ – opportunities which we ought not to waste.

 

We cannot permanently insulate ourselves from the suffering common to humanity, sooner or later it will touch us, sooner or later we will face our frailty, sooner or later we will come to the end of ourselves – is it not better to experience this within Christ than to deceive ourselves that we are in control of life? In Christ we can know the security of His embrace, in Christ we can sense His heartbeat for us…outside of Christ we only have a freefall into the abyss.

 

John’s message is that Jesus has a winnowing fork and is throwing the wheat and the chaff into the air; when Jesus comes into our lives, into our communities, into our churches, He comes with a winnowing fork, He comes to upset us, He comes to toss us up into the air, He picks us up from our comfortable pews and tosses us up, up, up into the air…and then the wind comes…and the wind blows…and the chaff is gone…while the wheat falls back to the ground to be picked up and brought into the barn by Jesus.

 

Throughout the Gospels Jesus carries a winnowing fork; He carries it into synagogues, He carries it into the Temple in Jerusalem, He carries it by the Sea of Galilee, He carries it in the Decapolis, He carries it before Annas and Caiaphas, He carries it before Pilate and Herod, and He carries it into our lives.

 

Let us not be surprised when we are tossed into the air by the winnowing fork of Jesus; instead, let us be faithful to Him.

 

Theo of Golden - An Inconsistency and A Caution

 

Since I’ve received a fair amount of feedback on my recent reflection on Theo, it occurs to me that I ought to share a character inconsistency in the story, and a caution. These observations relate to the original edition of Theo, I have not yet read the professional edition from Simon and Schuster.

 

Considering how compassionate and sensitive Kendrick is, there is little or no sense of loss portrayed in him at the death of his wife, Lamisha’s mother. This is inconsistent with his character, the real Kendrick would mourn his wife even as he loves and cherishes Lamisha, even as he forgives the “little man” who brought such pain and loss into his family. It would have only taken a line here and a line there to have rounded out the loss and pain Kendrick was living with. Kendrick’s portrait is not complete in the story.

 

There is violence in Theo, and since Allen Levi is a good writer, the violence is vivid. The emotional violence we see in Cleave, and also in Pearce, is something many of us have experienced.  The physical violence, perhaps not, at least to the degree portrayed.

 

There are, as I recall, three scenes of physical violence; Tony in Vietnam, Ellen on her best day ever, and then at the conclusion. As I’ve mentioned, these are vivid – vivid graphically and emotionally – the characters and our sympathy for them bring the violence home to us; we are pulled into the heartbreak, pulled into the terror, pulled into the pain. Just as Allen Levi brings compassion to life, he brings violence, fear, and heartbreak to life.

 

Here is the thing…with me…the violence was a hard read. When I read Theo aloud to Vickie I skipped over much of the violence, giving her a synopsis and the end result. I did this for two reasons, the first is that she would not constitutionally tolerate the descriptive violence, the second is that since reading aloud causes me to see things in 3-D, so to speak, I couldn’t tolerate it either. When I read the book by myself, I scanned much of the violence rather than read it slowly; you might say I pressed the “fast forward” button.

 

Tony’s experience in Vietnam is exquisitely portrayed, and it ought to remind us of the hell that many of us have been through, are going through, and the hell which we inflict on others and enable others to inflict on others. Allen Levi touches on things which most of us do not have the courage to approach; if we are enamored of Theo without confronting the stories of the people behind the portraits we have missed much of the book. Theo ought to challenge our prejudices, assumptions, political views, practice of religion, social perspectives, friendships, and our families.

 

There are about 18 veteran suicides in our nation every day. This is the tip of the iceberg of suffering that war produces in those consigned to it – not to mention the noncombatants. Out of sight, out of mind…yes?

 

Then there is the best day of Ellen’s life. O my, what a day! What a day, what a day, what a day. If you have never lived close to Ellen’s world you may find it hard to relate to her best day, if your life has been protected her world may seem like a planet in deep space…to others, it may strike close to home.

 

The violence in the conclusion was disappointing to me, it was a deus ex machina that I didn’t care for – nor did I find it plausible, whereas Ellen’s best day and Tony in Vietnam were plausible. I just don’t see that level of violence happening on the Promenade in Golden, and in any event, it is an unsatisfactory resolution to me – it is really no resolution – I understand that you may not agree with me.

 

If I were reading Theo in a small group, I would not have us read the violent sections out loud, I would ask us to review those sections and then talk about them. There is enough violence around us; in the news, in movies and other media, in what now passes for sports, on our highways, we are a violent people in a violent world. There are even so-called pastors and churches who promote violence and death and aggression. At any moment I expect them to send out fundraising letters soliciting money for “Bombs for Jesus.”

 

There is a popular streaming series about Jesus, since a couple of friends recommended it I watched the first segment 2 or 3 years ago, turning it off after only a few minutes. I turned it off for two reasons, the second reason was that it was going beyond what I consider artistic liberty in its storyline – there’s already enough confusion among us about Jesus and what the Bible actually portrays, we don’t need any more.

 

The first reason was that it portrayed a man who had been stabbed in the throat (as I recall it was the throat) and blood was pouring from his wound – it was quite realistic. Well, my friends, as I have said, there is enough violence around us, we don’t need to bring any more into our churches, into our lives, into our minds and hearts, into the lives of our young people and children. This is not something Vickie and I would watch – it is not something we want in our souls.

 

Violence is not abstract to me, and it is not to some of you. I have had a gun held to my head, and a knife to my throat. A murder occurred in the exact spot where I had been five minutes previously – it was a “drug hit.” My coworkers and I once ran into a vacant apartment and got on the floor for safety while gang gunfire erupted around us. I have one friend whose Daddy was shot and killed during an armed robbery, and another friend (now in the Presence) whose daughter was stabbed to death in front of her. I do not write these things to be dramatic; I write them to tell you that I have not led a protected life. Violence is not abstract to me, there is more, but what I have written is enough.

 

Has it ever occurred to you that the Gospels are not violently graphic about the Crucifixion? What is there is there, and what is there ought to be enough. There is more there than we think, and there is less there than we can, or ought to, make a movie about. To plumb the depths (not that we can) of the Crucifixion is the journey of a lifetime and beyond – graphic violence detracts from the core of the Cross of Christ. Just because we know about something doesn’t mean that we ought to display it to others.

 

I do not think the violence in Theo is gratuitous, I do not say that Tony’s experience in Vietnam or Ellen’s best day ever ought not to be there; I only say that it should be handled carefully. When violence becomes the norm – as it is for many professing Christians – then we ought to ask what has happened to our souls, for we are called to display the peace and love of Christ to others, His love and peace are to flow from His Throne within us to the peoples of the world.

He Speaks

I have always loved willows. When I was a young child in Maryland, there was a willow in our backyard. Our first home in Virginia had a willow. Our neighbors on both sides of us now have willows, and when we leave our community there is a willow on the other side of a pond we pass. There used to be two willows across the pond, but one was bent over during a storm and the property owner, rather than attempting to save the beautiful tree...cut it down.

The other day a young lady who was bagging my groceries had a name tag which said, "Willow." She brightened up when I called her by name and told her what a beautiful name she has.

Can we hear Him this morning?  

He speaks

 

He speaks In the wind

He whispers in the willows

He warms me in the sunshine

He embraces me in the moonlight

 

He sings with the songbirds

He dances with the butterflies

He plays with the puppies

He laughs with the babies

 

He joins His tears with mine

He feels my every sorrow

He picks me up when I fall

He calls me by my name

 

His Name is Jesus

And His love is everlasting

His kindness overwhelming

And His heart beats for me…and you.

 

R. L. Withers, 2026

The Backstory of Friendship and Theo of Golden

 

 

In early 2025 I shared a few reflections on Allen Levi’s Theo of Golden, which has become an international bestseller. My friend Michael Daily recommended it to me. When I first read it (I have read it more than once) it was a self-published book that was so compelling that it easily overcame its rough editorial edges (which were not many). While I have not read the Simon and Schuster (Atria) edition, I assume the “edges” have been rounded.

 

It was a bit of a dance to write about Theo, because I didn’t want to give anything away. When people asked me then, “What is the book about?” all I could say is, “You’ll have to read it.” This is the same answer I have today, the story has so many facets that I don’t think I have any business in reducing it to a line or two, and indeed, it keeps speaking in so many ways.

 

My friend Michael recently sent me a link to a podcast about Allen Levi and Theo, I didn’t listen to the podcast but I did read the transcript, and it is beautiful. While the title is about the “real Theo,” I did not “see” that as I read the transcript, in fact, I wasn’t interested in the real story behind the real Theo – I want to continue to encounter the book as it was given life and continues to give life – I want my relationship with the story to continue to grow, not to be frozen in time or understanding.

 

What is beautiful to me in the transcript is the story of friendship, friendship that is more than friendship; relationship in which, as Paul writes, we are “members of one another.” This is embodied in the podcast transcript in the hospital scene, in which Dickey says of Ben, “He’s not a friend, he’s a part of me.”

 

Whether you have read Theo or not, this is a beautiful piece to read or listen to…it certainly portrays my ideal of our life in Christ…an experience I desire…and if you haven’t read Theo…I think it is wonderful…beautiful…challenging…maybe I’ll write a few more reflections…

Here’s the link: Allen Levi’s Golden Friends and the Real-Life Theo

 

love Bob

 

 

And He Was Such A Nice Boy - Conclusion

 

“That was it…he was gone…booked out of tow…didn’t take his tools…and I didn’t hear anything from him or about him for a couple of months…then…then…some strange reports started filtering into Nazareth…seems there was someone else now preaching and teaching besides John the Baptist…and this someone else was healing people and casting out evil spirits…someone had taken the things John the Baptist was doing to another level…I couldn’t believe it at first…it was Jesus…my friend…my coworker…why he was over in Capernaum doing these things…until…two weeks ago…he shows up back here in Nazareth…shows up to insult us…to offend us…I don’t know what go into him…

            “And to think that he was such a nice boy.

            “It was the Sabbath…two weeks ago…like I said…I’m not big on religious stuff…I go to synagogue because that’s what folks do…and I’m content with that…well Jesus, he always goes to the synagogue too…and he often reads the scrolls aloud to us and teaches a bit here and there…he has a nice way about himself…that is…until two weeks ago.

            “Things are moving along quite well during the Sabbath service, and I figure we’ll get out in time for me to have a nice long nap before dinner, when Jesus stands up to read…he’s given the scroll of Isaiah the prophet to read from…unscrolls it…and reads a section about the coming Messiah…God’s anointed…he rewinds the scroll…gives it back to the attendant…sits down…and says, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,”?

            “What is this?  What’s going on?  What’s he saying?  Isaiah is talking about the Messiah, but this is Joseph’s son?  What’s the deal?  Has he lost his mind?  This is Joseph's son.

            “Well, let’s see him prove it.  Let’s see him do in Nazareth the kind of things we’ve heard he’s been doing in Capernaum.  Let’s just see about this Jesus, this local boy gone loco.

            “But before we can challenge him he says, “No prophet is accepted in his own country.”  And then he goes too far…too too far…he crosses the line…he compares us…his own hometown…to ancient Israel in the time of Elijah and Elisha…a time when God went beyond the boundaries of our own people and provided for and healed foreigners, people who were not Israelites…the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian.  This is too much…too much…first he says he’s the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy…then he implies that God is going to go outside of the people of Israel with His blessings…too much…too much…he deserves to die…you understand don’t you?  He deserves to die!!!  And how he escaped from us…I’ll never know.”

            “And to think…he was such a nice boy.”

 

END OF NARRATIVE

 

            The Book, the paper, the ink, the cover, the binding…words spoken and written centuries…millennia ago…spoken out of eternity…through the heart and minds and spirits of men…translated into hundred of languages and dialects…carried across oceans…mountains…deserts…through rainforests…

            Jesus Christ…promised through one prophet after another…born of the virgin Mary…announced to the shepherds…adored and worshipped by the wise men…his death sought by Herod the king…his birth unrecognized by the religious leaders…and if that were it…the entire story…just the birth account…then we’d have no attempted murder in Nazareth…

            But the Word was made flesh that the Word might be fulfilled…that the Word might be translated into fulfillment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…for a book with only a preface is no book…

            And while the Scriptures may be translated into hundreds and thousands of languages and dialects…and while they may be carried across oceans, mountains, deserts and through rainforests…and while they may be read over radio and television waves…until they are translated into our lives…we have a preface but not a book.

            It has been said that the greatest distance is the 18 inches between the mind and heart…for until the Scriptures are translated from the mind and made alive in the heart…we have a preface but not a book.

            God calls us to turn the page…and the next page…and the next page…He calls us to allow His purposes to unfold in our lives…to be people of destiny…people who say, “Yes Lord, let this Scripture not only be fulfilled in our ears, but in our lives.”

            Our life in Christ ought to be the greatest adventure story we’ll ever read…the most exciting book, movie or theater…for God is the author and finisher…the scroll is here…we have only to open ourselves to it and allow the Holy Spirit to marry our hearts and minds with the Word…and we will find that the Word will be made flesh…and live among us…live within us…for His name is Immanuel, God with us, revealed in us.

            God in me, for all to see, the Son of God, from eternity.  Immanuel, Immanuel, Immanuel in you, Immanuel in me, Immanuel in us…allow Him to open His book within you, to open Himself within you…for as Paul writes to the Colossians…the goal of the Gospel is…Christ in you, the hope of glory.

And He Was Such A Nice Boy - Part 1

I really enjoyed "seeing" and sharing this message years ago, I can still "see" it. Of course we don't know if this is the actual way things happened, but I think we can be assured that Jesus' boyhood friends and neighbors were pretty surprised at Him, and we know from our passage in Luke that they didn't take kindly to the One who had been, after all, "Such a nice boy."

I hope there is something here for you.

Love Bob

And he was such a nice boy

Luke 4:14 – 30. January 2001.

Robert Withers, Becket, MA

            Our passage this morning takes place within the province of Galilee, north of Jerusalem.  This is a region known for its insurrection, its rebellious ways; a region watched closely by the Roman authorities.  It would not have been improbable that after the disturbance recorded in our passage…that an investigating committee might have arrived to look into the matter…concerned that it might represent the seeds of yet another Jewish rebellion.  With that as our background…………………….

 

 

FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE

“Oh, hi.  You finally got here from Caesarea Phillip, did you?  It took you long enough.  I didn’t realize they’d send so many…so many to investigate our little local disturbance.  After all, it’s not like we actually killed him…and since when does an attempted execution warrant such an investigation?

            “Yes, that’s right, I said execution, not attempted murder, after all, he really deserved to die…or at least let’s say he pushed the envelope.

            “And to think, he was such a good boy…I wonder whatever happened to him to cause him to act like this?

            “Do I know him?  Well, I thought I knew him pretty well.  After all, we grew up together, played together, worked together.

            “Yes, yes…there have always been rumors surrounding him…they’ve come and gone and come again.  The circumstances surrounding his birth are mentioned in hushed whispers from time to time…you know he wasn’t born here at home in Nazareth…born in his ancestral city of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem.  It was census time.  After the birth the family was back here for a few months, but not for long…now that whole episode was peculiar.

            “Of all things they left Nazareth and traveled to Egypt and lived there for a couple of years…Egypt of all places.  Why would anyone in his right mind go to Egypt?  Too many Romans there, too many Greeks…we think we’ve got it bad…why even our fellow Jews in Egypt have so gone off the deep end that they speak Greek more often than they speak Aramaic and Hebrew.  And why would they go to Egypt?  Why would Joseph leave his carpentry business?  Leave his customers?  Why would they leave their house?

            “And what did they do in Egypt?  How did they live?  Did Joseph work?  Did Mary work?  None of us have ever gotten anything out of them about that trip, try as we might.

            “And of course, there’s the whole story of those strangers arriving in Nazareth shortly after the family returned from Bethlehem…talk about bizarre…that was bizarre.  What would a group of strange looking dudes from the East want with a Jewish family here in Nazareth?  It was only days after those strange people left that Joseph, Mary and Jesus left for Egypt.  Who knows?  Maybe the strangers were going to come back and do something harmful to the family…maybe that’s why Joseph took his family to Egypt.  There again, neither Joseph nor Mary has ever opened up about those strange dudes, and if Jesus knows anything about it from his parents he ain’t talking.

            “That was about the time that the cruel king Herod went nuts and had all those baby boys killed around Bethlehem and Jerusalem.  Am I glad I was born up here north of Jerusalem in Nazareth…or I probably wouldn’t be talking with you right now!  My parents told me that king Herod had his cavalry riding around these northern towns asking questions…at least they kept their swords in their sheaths up here.

            “Yes…Jesus and I worked construction alongside our fathers.  What kind of work did he do?  You mean quality?  Oh man, that guy was never out of plumb or out of square in anything he did.  What an eye he had for precision!  I used to joke with him that he only used a plumb line and a square to make the rest of us feel good.  You see, I had this funny sense that he really didn’t need that stuff but that he could eyeball anything to perfection, can’t explain it…just had this feeling.

            “I’ve never worked with anyone so upbeat, who had so much fun and enjoyed what he was doing.  You could hear his laugh all over the job-site.  The guy enjoyed work.

“Then there was that strange day…it was about four months ago… lunchtime…and Ehud the man with the snack pack camel had pulled onto the job-site…Jesus and I purchased some fruit off Ehud…and Ehud happened to mention that he’d been over to the Jordan river a couple of days before.  There was a wild man preaching to people out there in the wilderness surrounding the Jordan…John is his name…they are calling him John the Baptist because he is calling on people to be immersed in the Jordan river as a sign of turning away from their evil ways and a sign of their commitment to God.  Ehud said that great crowds were coming to see John…that even Pharisees (those religious folk) and priests from Jerusalem were coming to hear John…and…believe it or not…some Roman soldiers had even been baptized!!!

            “I asked Ehud what John was preaching…and he replied that in addition to talking about living for God and turning from our self-centered lives…that John was preaching that someone else was on his way…that someone was coming after him…that even though this someone was coming after him that he was before him (now there’s a riddle to figure out), and that this person would also baptize…but not with water…but with the Holy Spirit and fire…and that he would judge.

            “How are the people reacting?  I asked Ehud.  He replied that it was a mind blower.  Apparently a lot of these people had thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah, the Christ, the One promised by God from the beginning to redeem Israel.  So this idea that someone greater than John is on his way knocked people flat…it caused a lot of questions.

            “I noticed, as Ehud and I were talking…that Jesus didn’t say anything…he just listened.  He listened so intently that he didn’t eat, not the lunch he’d brought from home or the fruit he’d purchased from Ehud.  Then there were his eyes, the eyes of Jesus…one minute they’d been bright and glistening with laughter as we approached Ehud and his camel…but as the conversation unfolded…it was as if I was looking into a well without a bottom when I looked into the eyes of Jesus…it was as if…well…as if I was peering into eternity.

            “We went back to work after lunch…and while Jesus did his usual excellent work…I could tell there was something different…there was laughter…but not quite the same…it was as if he was preoccupied.

            “I recall kidding him, Hey friend, what’s on your mind?  You’re not thinking about going out to the Jordan to see that crazy man are you?  I got all the religion I want right here in Nazareth, that’s what synagogues are for…what’s with these crazy people that are looking for something more?  Every year since I was a boy I’ve heard people talk about Messiah coming…that’s for people who need a crutch…people who are weak…people who are messed up.

            “But he just looked at me, smiled and said, ‘Simeon, God loves you and He has a purpose for your life.’”

            “That next week was something else, the job we were on was supposed to take another three weeks, but Jesus…who could outwork any man on the job to begin with…man…I didn’t know that even he could work like he did that week.  He got to work early, left late, and hardly ever took a break.  When I asked him what was going on he told me that he needed to finish the job because he had another one to do…and he couldn’t wait three weeks to get going on the next job.  He wouldn’t leave our job until the work was done…he never left any job undone…and so he was working extra.

            “Well, where’s the next job? I asked.  This was the first time I’d heard about a new job…and it wasn’t like him not to tell me when he found work…because we usually all worked together as a team…so I was kind of hurt that he hadn’t told me before then.

            “Jesus told me that I’d have to wait and see.  That’s all he would say about it, that I’d have to wait and see.

            “That next Monday when I stopped to pick him up so that we could head out to wherever this new job was…he wasn’t home.  Mary and Joseph were there, his brothers and sisters were there…but no Jesus.  There was a box Jesus had left for me…within it were some of his tools…his plumb line and square…and a note for me…it read, ‘Simeon, my friend, allow God’s Word to be your plumb line and square.  And remember, God loves you and has a plan for your life.  I love you, my friend.  Jesus.’

to be continued...

A Relationship And A Destiny - Conclusion

 

Our passage this morning tells us that God has brought us into not a religion but a relationship.  We are no longer debtors to the old way of life, the way of life without God in Christ…and that old way of life has only one end result…death.  Our passage tells us:

               “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship.  When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

               Now that word that’s translated “sonship” in our pew Bibles is better translated “adoption” and that term would have a particular meaning to the first century Christians reading this letter from Paul.  And the phrase “fellow heirs with Christ” would have more precisely meant “joint heirs with Christ.”

               In the ancient world, particularly in the Roman world, adoption meant much more than it does today.  Today we think of adoption as simply bringing someone into a family by making them a son or daughter.  But in the Roman world adoption was a form of what we call Estate Planning.   Adoption was the means used to ensure the perpetuation of one’s family name and it was used to ensure who would receive the primary inheritance from the family patriarch.  A father’s inheritance was not split evenly between surviving children, the bulk of the inheritance went to either the firstborn son or it went to a son who was adopted with this special purpose in mind…that purpose being the perpetuation of the family name and the reception of the inheritance.  The adopted person was called into a relationship with a destiny.

               There are many instances of fathers adopting sons in the ancient world, usually as adult males, males that they trusted, in order to pass the family name and wealth on to them.  The bulk of the estate went to the adopted son…other siblings would never share equally…they would usually receive only token amounts.

               But Paul by the Holy Spirit tells us that we are not only adopted, we have not only received the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of relationship, of Father – daughter and Father – son relationship…BUT…we are fellow heirs with Christ…or more literally…we are joint heirs with Christ.  Christ is, of course, the firstborn Son, and the first century Christian would expect Him to receive the bulk of the inheritance…BUT…God says, “I’ve made you a joint heir with my firstborn Son Jesus Christ.”  God says, “I’ve predestined you to share equally with my firstborn in all the treasures of a relationship with Me and in all the treasures of heaven.”

               Does that sound like a maintenance mentality?  Does that sound like a billionaire father who requires his children to eat out of restaurant garbage bags?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to lose the game of life?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to be afraid?  Afraid of failure?  Afraid of winning?  Afraid of growing?  Afraid of relationship with Him and with each other?

               We haven’t received the spirit of slavery, or the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but we’ve received the Spirit of relationship, the Spirit of Father – daughter relationship, the Spirit of Father – son relationship - and we cry out, Daddy! Father!

               The word “religion” has the ancient idea behind it of “binding oneself to God.”  The idea was (and is) that you get back to God and bind yourself to Him by binding yourself to rules and regulations that are supposed to make you righteous and acceptable to God.  The irony is that the reason God gave us the law of Moses in what we call the Old Testament is to prove to us that we couldn’t bind ourselves to Him by what we do or don’t do – in other words – God gave us religion to prove to us that religion doesn’t work but that relationship is what He is all about.

               Galatians 4:1 – 7, page 178 in our pew Bibles:

               “I mean the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.  So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe.  But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son than an heir.”

               Are we living like sons and daughters of the living God or like slaves living in fear?  Are we on the playing field of life just trying to “get by,” trying not to lose, trying not to win?  Jesus says to us in John 15 that the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit – are we doing our best not to bear fruit because we are afraid of something?  Afraid of the unknown?  Afraid of what people will say?  Afraid we’ll break the negative images we have of ourselves, afraid we’ll break the negative images others have of us, afraid of the unfamiliar?

               Our passage says:

               “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God…the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now…”

               God has a destiny of liberty for you to live in – for you to live in every day of your life.

               What are you afraid of this morning?  Do you have a fear of failure?  Do you have a fear of winning…of accomplishing goals in your life?   God your Father has called you to liberty, to freedom, to spread your wings and fly.  God has called you to a relationship and a destiny.

               Are you fulfilling that destiny?  Are we as a church fulfilling our collective destiny?  Are we just surviving…or are we thriving in Jesus Christ?

A Relationship And A Destiny - Part 2

 

And so…for me…my first prolonged exposure to the church was a rigid system of dos and don’ts.  The church had a culture that based acceptance and righteousness on performance, performing for God and performing for the church.  Since a young person with a beard was out of character with that particular church culture, Mattie asked me to give her a call.  What did that have to do with Jesus?  What did that have to do with a relationship and a destiny?

               I’m looking forward to reading Yancey’s book because I can truly say that I survived the church – as the word is commonly understood – and came to know Jesus. Which is why I love to say that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about a religion but a relationship.

               Now during the past 2 – 3 weeks we’ve been looking at some areas of Biblical prophecy, we’ve looked at a few patterns of history and of prophecy and we’ve spent some time in Revelation chapters 13 and 14.  All too often when Christians look at history, contemporary events, or Biblical prophecy, they look through negative lenses, defeatist lenses.  They live life with a defeatist attitude, or at best, with what I call a maintenance attitude.  In other words, they just try to keep things no worse than they already are.

               Yesterday I was watching a college football game, the University of Florida was playing Louisiana State University and the game was being played at Louisiana State.  Now I love to watch the Florida Gators because their coach, Steve Spurrier, has a wide-open offense and when he steps onto the field he is there to win.  LSU has a fine football team, but as the first half ended the score was Florida 27 – LSU 9.  The LSU coach was being interviewed at halftime and his comment was, “We’ve got to change our attitude.  We can’t win this game unless we change our attitude.”

               The LSU team was not displaying an aggressive attitude on the football field.  They were capable of better play, but better play was only going to come from better attitude.  If they thought they were going to lose then they were going to lose, the Florida Gators were going to have them for lunch.  And in fact they had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner - the final score was 44 – 15 and it would have been worse had not the starting quarterback for Florida sat out the 4^th quarter.

               God has got better things for His people than losing the game of life.  God has got better things for us as a church than a maintenance mentality.  He has better things for you than a maintenance mentality.  He has better things for you than a defeatist mentality.  A person who isn’t going forwards is going backwards, a church that isn’t going forwards is going backwards. 

God doesn’t go backwards, there is no imagery in the Bible that indicates that God goes backwards or that a relationship with Jesus Christ has a reverse gear to it.  God hasn’t called His people to live life in reverse or in neutral, but to have the gearshift engaged and the wheels going forward.  God has called us individually and collectively into a relationship and a destiny.

               God is not interested in what it takes to just “get by.”  God doesn’t just “get by.”  God doesn’t want us to just “get by.”  Do you want your children to just “get by” in school?  Do you want your adult children to just “get by” on their jobs?  What kind of parent has the attitude, “I hope my little Johnny fails at that project,” or “I hope my Susie never gets a job promotion,” or “I hope my son Ted forgets his lines in the school play”?  What kind of parent is like that?  Yet, we seem to think that God is like that…that He just wants us to “get by” in life, to just make it by the skin of our teeth.

               We think God is like a billionaire that requires his children to eat out of restaurant garbage cans in city alleys.  We think God wants us walking around life being proverbial bag men and women, scrounging for whatever we need to just “get by” on a daily basis.  We pat ourselves and each other on the back if we can make the same church budget this year as we did last year.  We pat ourselves on the back if we don’t lose anything in life, we don’t even think about winning anything.  God however…when He called us into a relationship with Jesus Christ…also called us to a destiny in that relationship.

               A football team that goes on the field with the goal not of winning, but of simply not losing, will lose just about every time…in fact…they might as well not show up…because if they have lost the game in their hearts and minds they have lost the game on the field.

               There are people who are afraid of losing…and there are people who are afraid of winning.  There are those who are afraid of success, afraid of accomplishing their goals, afraid of accomplishing God’s purpose for their lives.  And those people make sure that at some point in the football game of life that they throw an interception or fumble the ball – to ensure that they won’t win.  For every person who doesn’t do something because of the fear of failure there’s a person who doesn’t do something because of the fear of success.

to be continued...

A Relationship And A Destiny - Part 1

 

A relationship and a destiny

This was the fourth Sunday after 9/11. I didn’t want our people living in fear, or in worldly reaction to the events around us, I wanted us living as the daughters and sons of the Living God, I wanted us fulfilling our destiny in Jesus Christ.

 

October 7, 2001, A Relationship and a Destiny; Romans 8:12 – 30.

Robert Withers, Becket, MA

 

              Let me tell you about a book I haven’t read yet.  A friend recommended it last week and I’m going to purchase it this week and read it as soon as it arrives.  It’s by a fine author, Phillip Yancey. I’ve never read anything by Yancey that I didn’t like and I’m looking forward to this new release of his.  My friend, Mike Daily, a pastor in Virginia, told Vickie and me that this is an outstanding book.  Now remember, that Michael is a pastor, and this is important, because what do you think Yancey is talking about surviving?  He’s talking about surviving the church and coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The title of the book is “Soul Survivor – How My Faith Survived the Church,” that’s s-o-u-l, not s-o-l-e.

               Yancey shares his experience as a young believer in a church that said all the right things on Sunday, used the right language, sang the right songs, probably dressed a certain way, probably shook hands a certain way, but when they went out the doors of the building on Sunday their semblance of Christianity, if it can be called that, came to an end.  One of the thrusts of Yancey’s book is that in spite of the church – using the word “church” as many people commonly understand it – that in spite of the church, Phillip Yancey came to know Jesus Christ…Yancey is a soul s-o-u-l survivor.  He moved from a religion to a relationship with a destiny.

               I can relate to Yancey’s experience.  I recall as a teenager who wanted to learn about Jesus, going to meet a pastor of the denomination in which I was baptized and leaving my meeting with him thoroughly disillusioned.  He didn’t talk to me about Jesus at all.  He talked to me about the ceremonies of the church and gave me a church handbook explaining all the symbols and liturgy of the denomination…but it didn’t tell me about Jesus, it didn’t tell me about a relationship and a destiny.

I recall two and one – half years ago, visiting my Dad after a major stroke, my heart breaking for my Dad, heavy for my Dad, weighed down by concern that my Dad was going to leave this life without knowing Jesus Christ, weighed down by concern that my Dad was going into eternity without God in Christ.  I stopped at a church to find someone who would care for my Dad spiritually, and as the pastor of this church and I went into a private room…with tears running down my face…the pastor looked at me and began talking about church polity, church government, comparing his denomination’s way of governing with the congregational system.  And I thought to myself, "I can’t believe I’m hearing this.  I can’t believe he’s talking to me about church government issues with my heart breaking and with my Dad critically ill.”  What did church government have to do with Jesus?  What did it have to do with my Dad knowing Jesus?  What did it have to do with my Dad having a relationship and a destiny?

               I recall being on a youth retreat as a 16-year-old and people asking me what I thought about issues of dress and hair styles.  What did issues of dress and hairstyles have to do with Jesus?

               I remember returning to the church where I first heard a clear Gospel presentation.  I had been gone from the town for a few months and during that time I grew my first beard.  There was an older couple in that church that had been kind to me when I first began attending there, I had great affection for them, it was good to be cared for by an older couple.  As I left the church building that Sunday the woman, Mattie, asked me to call them on Monday.  I thought, “Great, maybe they want to get together.  I’d love to see them since I’ve been gone for a few months.”  When I called on Monday I heard Mattie say the words, “Robert, why don’t you shave and get rid of that beard?”  What did having a beard have to do with Jesus?  What did having a beard have to do with a relationship and a destiny?

               Much of my early life had had a fair degree of uncertainty in it, that doesn’t make me any different from many of us here this morning, many of us have known uncertainty in our lives, including our lives as children.  Some of us have moved times without number, some of us have never known whether a parent was coming home a particular night, and if so, in what condition that parent would be in when he or she arrived.  Many of us experienced peer rejection as a child, adolescent or young adult.  Many of us couldn’t seem to measure up to someone’s expectations, whether a parent’s, a peer group’s, a teacher’s, a coach’s, or even our own expectations.

               I’m no different than many of us here this morning.  In my case because I wanted to be loved and included in a family group I wanted to learn about the church and to learn what the church wanted from me.  I wanted to fit in.

to be continued...

Image Is Everything - Conclusion

 

            What does this construction look like?  Consider the following quotations:

 

“We deplore efforts to… seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.

 

“The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes. Science and economic change have disrupted the old beliefs. Religions the world over are under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by a vastly increased knowledge and experience. In every field of human activity, the vital movement is now in the direction of candid and explicit humanism.

 

“Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.

 

“It follows that there will be no uniquely religious emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the supernatural.

 

“Man will learn to face the crises of life in terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability. Reasonable and manly attitudes will be fostered by education and supported by custom. We assume that humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.”

 

The above quotations are from the Humanist Manifesto, written in the 1930’s and signed and endorsed by many religious, political, philosophical, scientific and educational leaders.  In fact, one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto was John Dewey of Columbia University, whose educational beliefs permeate our public education system and of our universities.

 

          Who is at the center of the above quotations?  Man is.  We are the center of it all.  To those who scoff at the book of Genesis, can’t you read the writing on the wall?  Don’t you see that the above quotations from the Humanist Manifesto are exactly the line of thought presented by the serpent to Eve?  The idea that there can be true self-knowledge without God is not a product of the Enlightenment, it is not a product of what we might call “modern thinking,” it is a product of the dragon.

 

          Whose image do we worship?

 

          A true Lamb and a false lamb.  An image of God and an image of man.  A Lamb to be followed and a beast to be followed.

 

          If the patterns of our minds and hearts were placed on the overhead for us to see, what image would appear?  The image of man or the image of God?  The mark of the beast or the name of the Lamb and our Father God?  The worship of Jesus Christ or the worship of ourselves?

 

          We are called not to a religion but a relationship, a relationship with Jesus Christ that results in the restoration of the image of God within us.  Paul writes:

 

>RO 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

 The word that we translate “transformed” in this verse is the word we use for what happens when a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, it is the word “metamorphous.”  When we follow the Lamb wherever He goes, when we are obedient to Jesus Christ, when we enter into a relationship with Him and live where He lives on Mt. Zion, we experience the restoration of the image of God within us and the patterns and images of this world begin to fall away in our hearts and minds and they are replaced by the image of God in Christ.

 

          As our minds are renewed we are metamorphosed, transformed, into the image of God, we are lifted out of the deep well with the slippery sides of self-absorption into a relationship where the name of the Lamb and of His Father are written on our minds.  Now in the Scriptures names speak to us of natures, and so the nature of God in Christ is restored to our hearts and minds. Paul writes to the Corinthians:

 

          2 Cor. 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 

          And he further writes to the Ephesians:

 

          EPH 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 

          What would our archeological study conclude?  That image worship and sacrifice ceased with modern man?  Or that modern man has simply internalized his image worship and his sacrifices?  That modern man still offers his fellow citizens, offers himself and offers his children on the altar of the god of self-exaltation, self-gratification, self-fulfillment and self-worship?  Would it conclude that man has taken the number 666 and written it on his mind, his heart, his religion, his education, his science, his philosophy, his economy, his government?

 

          But of course, the more important question, the most important question for us is, “Whose image do we bear?  The image of self or the image of God?” “Whose nature lives within us?  The nature of fractured and rebellious man or the nature of the Lamb?” “Who do we worship?  Do we worship self, and by extension the dragon and beast?  Or do we worship our Creator God and the Lamb who has borne our sins, given His life for us and who has conquered death?”

 

          Yes, image is everything.  Who have you given your life to?  Whose image do you bear?

 

          Whose image is transforming you this morning?