Confrontation in Nazareth (14)

 

“Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, Your Law is within my heart. I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not retrain my lips, O LORD, You know’” (Psalm 40:6 – 9; see also Hebrews 10:5 – 10).

 

When Jesus says in Nazareth, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21), He is also fulfilling Psalm 40:6 – 9. We may hear five voices in Psalm 40: the voice of David, the Voice of Jesus Christ, the voice of the man or woman in Jesus Christ, the Voice of the Body of Christ, and the Voice of the whole Christ. In Christ, these voices are One, they are the Voice of many waters.

 

In Hebrews 10, Psalm 40 is quoted from the LXX, and here we have the notable, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for me.” As with the “voice” of Psalm 40, so with the “body” of Psalm 40. We see the body of King Daivd, the body of Jesus Christ in the Incarnation, the body of the individual man or woman in Christ, the corporate Body which the Father prepared for the Son – that is the Body of Christ, and we may also see the Body of the whole Christ – Head and Body.

 

I expect it may take us time to meditate on these things and to begin to “see” them in Christ, but that is as it should be, they cannot be understood or “seen” in the natural (1 Corinthians Chapter 2).

 

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

We all have a purpose and destiny in this life, and it has many dimensions and unfolds in many ways...none of which we can fully understand, such is the mystery of it all in Christ. We all are called to say, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).

 

We are called to say this as individuals, as marriages and families, as local congregations, as the Body of Christ. As an individual I am called to not only say this for myself, but if I am married I have a calling within my marriage, if I have a family I have a calling as a member of my family, and I have a calling as a member of Christ’s Body, both locally and transcendently. I must not think solely in terms of myself, my calling and purpose and destiny is so much more than “Jesus and me,” it is about others, both those who know Jesus and those who have yet to meet Jesus.

 

Are we encouraging one another to discover and fulfill our callings in Christ Jesus?

 

Are we as husbands and wives seeking to discover and fulfill what has been written the book for us to fulfill?

 

Are our congregations viewing themselves as a people with a calling and destiny for their particular time and place that manifests itself in worship, the building up of the Body of Christ, and sacrificial mission to the world?

 

When our brothers and sisters venture out to discover their calling, do we, as the people of Nazareth say, “Who does she think she is?”

 

When someone in our midst speaks of the widow of Sidon or of Namaan the Syrian, do we respond with anger or with thanksgiving and compassion?

 

Should someone bring into our presence a Sidonian or Syrian will we embrace them, love them, care for them, and protect them?

 

Dear friends, in one sense until the Book becomes our book it is just a book. When Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth He makes Isaiah His book. Yes, yes, for sure it has always been His Book, but in an incarnational sense He is consummating (or beginning the consummation) it when He reads it and then says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

Now we know and believe that the words of the Bible are the words of God, the Word of God. We also acknowledge that this Word was delivered through human beings, and as such carries the flavor of the person just as wine carries the flavor of the cask in which it was aged. With this in mind, until the Word of God becomes your Word in Christ, until it ages within your heart and soul and mind and spirit, until it resides within you…you cannot call it yours, you can only call it something “out there.”

 

O dear, dear friends! The New Covenant is not “out there”! It is “in here.” “I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them” (Hebrews 10:16). Do we see that the Old Covenant is external, while the New Covenant is internal? Can we see that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come to live within us in the New Covenant?

 

We are called to say, “This Word is mine in Christ. I will read this Word and live in this Word among my brothers and sisters. Together we will read this Word and live in this Word and manifest this Word to one another and to the world.”

 

I recall one morning in a small group about eight years ago. We were in John Chapter 14, the first few verses, about the Father’s House. There was much talk, much speculation, and the guys tended to talk over each other at times. As I listened I heard one of the men quietly say, “If it isn’t happening within you, if it isn’t real inside of you, then it doesn’t matter.”

 

I think I may have been the only one who heard what this brother said, and I have often wondered if I should have called a “timeout” and asked him to repeat himself. I wish I had done so.

 

Jesus invites us to know Him in the koinonia of His Word, to share His Life in His Word, to read Isaiah aloud, to read Psalms aloud, and to confess, “This day this Scripture is being fulfilled in my life, in our lives, in the Body of Christ; this day we are becoming one with the Word and the Word is becoming one with us.”

 

In the scroll of the book it is written of Christ Jesus, of you in Christ, of me in Christ, of us in Christ.

 

 

 

 

Cruciform Lives

 

Good morning friends,

Below is a note I wrote to a friend after a recent conversation. 

Are we living cruciform lives?

Much love!

Bob

Dear friend…some follow up thoughts…

 

I was thinking about one of the blessings of old age can be the Cross, it can be coming to the end of our strength, if we not yet done so, and having our hip knocked out of joint as Jacob with the Lord – it is good to walk with a limp.

 

“What happened? Why are you now walking with a limp? Did you have an accident?”

 

“O no, no accident, Jesus Christ brought me to the end of my own strength. Would you like to join our fellowship?”

 

Jesus says to Peter, “When you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go” (Jn. 21:18). John tells us that Jesus was signifying by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.

 

Then Jesus says, “Follow Me!”

 

Peter later writes, I am presently “knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:14).

 

Dear brother Paul writes, “But my it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

 

Peter writes of the way of the Cross, the cruciform life; Paul writes of the way of the Cross, and John writes of the way of the Cross. In Revelation it is those who do not love their lives even unto death who conqueror, those who follow the slain and risen Lamb, those who have the testimony of Jesus.

 

Lately I’ve been thinking that Romans 1:1 – 8:35 is all to prepare us to be the sacrificial lambs of our Good Shepherd of Romans 8:36. Lambs who have supreme confidence that they are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. If we fall short of Romans 8:36 we have fallen short of our calling and glory; indeed, perhaps Romans 8:36 is the redemptive answer to Romans 3:23, perhaps it demonstrates the recovery of the glory that we lost.

 

In any event, when we are old we can learn…more than ever…to allow ourselves to be carried to the Cross, by the Cross, on the Cross, through the Cross…with outstretched hands as we participate in the sufferings of Christ (Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Peter 4:13; Galatians 2:20).

 

Dead men need not respond to the world, for all that is in the world…is not of the Father (1 John 2:15 – 16). Was John wrong when he wrote, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19)?

 

Are there exceptions?

 

Of all people, the elders of the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16), the Church, ought to display “the wisdom from above” which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits…” sowing what we say and do in peace (James 3:13 – 18).

 

How often the Holy Spirit has convicted me of being an ass! How often He has convicted me of not displaying 2 Timothy 2:24 – 25! “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition…” Ha…what a fool I have often been!!!

 

Much love,

Bob

Confrontation in Nazareth (13)

 

 

 

As I continue to ask myself why Jesus begins His ministry in His hometown of Nazareth with confrontation, I am drawn to John 2:13 – 25 and the beginning of His ministry in Jerusalem. Consider that in this passage He introduces Himself to Jerusalem by making a whip of cords and driving out those who are making merchandise of worship. “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

 

Then He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  These are words that will be used against Jesus in His “trial” before Caiaphas, the priests, and the Council (Mt. 26:61).

 

In spite of Jesus’ words and actions in John 2, in the next chapter a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Once again, Jesus begins with a challenge, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Why begin with a challenge, why not ease Nicodemus into things, into a relationship with Himself?

 

Unlike the crowds, unlike the group of religious leaders of which Nicodemus is a member, Nicodemus listens to Jesus, asks questions, and believes (John 7:50 – 52;19:39)

 

What else do we see in John’s Gospel? Consider this pattern:

 

In Chapter 4 Jesus challenges His disciples’ ingrained notions about people outside their racial, national, and religious identity, for He leads them to Sychar, a village in Samaria, and begins His ministry in Samaria with a woman and her village, remaining with them two days. It is unlikely that any of Jesus’ disciples ever contemplated having social or religious communication with Samaritans, they were unclean, they were despised, they were to be avoided.

 

Do you think that the disciples were going to write home and tell the folks of their own home synagogues of what they had done with Jesus? Do you think the first words out of their mouths on their return to Galilee was about the wonderful experience they had in Samaria?

 

Consider, when Jesus says that the “fields are ripe unto harvest” (Jn; 4:35) He is saying it while they are in Samaria!

 

Was this a great experience for the disciples, or did they reluctantly live with it since they wanted to be with Jesus? After all, you can hardly jettison a way of thinking and living that you’ve grown up with, that you’ve been religiously taught, in the course of one or two days. Ponder what Peter went through in Acts Chapter 10, in the council in Jerusalem of Acts 11, of the turmoil that he bought into in Galatians 2.

 

When Peter and John returned to Samaria in Acts Chapter 8, were their hearts and minds transported back to the events of John Chapter 4?

 

In John Chapter 5 Jesus heals in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, stirring up more opposition.

 

In John Chapter 6 He calls Himself the Bread of Life, teaching that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus is the true Manna from heaven, giving food that is superior to what Moses gave. Not only does this teaching alienate the crowds, but many of His “disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:59 – 71).

 

John Chapter 7 shows us some in the crowd were accusing Jesus of having a demon, and the religious leaders sending officers to arrest Jesus.

 

In John Chapter 8 the religious leaders attempt to stone Jesus to death (we’ve explored this in a previous reflection).

 

John Chapter 9 shows Jesus healing on the Sabbath yet again and the religious leaders once again attacking Jesus.

 

In Chapter 10 the religious leaders accuse Jesus of having a demon and being insane, and they once again attempt to arrest Him.

 

We see a continuing conspiracy to murder Jesus in John 11:53.

 

Chapter 12 brings us to Holy Week, a week of escalating tensions leading to crucifixion.

 

I have preached through the Gospel of John in one morning with a focus on Jesus and His signs, with His revealing Himself to be the I AM; the Bread, the Light, the Life, the Resurrection. I could also preach through John with a focus on conflict, for from beginning to end there is conflict, indeed, we see the introduction to conflict in John 1:5, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

 

For decades I have viewed the unrelenting conflict in John in the framework of Sonship; the issue is whether Jesus will confess His Father or cave into pressure and persecution and deny Him. This is our challenge as well, will we confess our Father, our Elder Brother, and the sonship we have in them? Will we maintain, by God’s grace, our testimony that our Father is bringing us to glory in Jesus Christ? (Hebrews 2:10 – 13; Rom. 8:29 – 30; and of course the Upper Room).

 

Simply put, will we confess that we are saints and no longer sinners? What will be our core identity in Jesus Christ? (Christians are termed “saints” in the Bible far far more often than any other term). Why do we insist on denying this glory of the Gospel?

 

Also, in the framework of John’s Gospel, this attack on Jesus Christ’s identity relentlessly comes from the religious leadership, just as it does in our own day. The Romans are not the enemy of Jesus in the Gospel, the world at large is not the enemy, it is the people who ought to know better that are the enemy to the confession of the Son and the Father. Of course the resistance and outright persecution will come from the greater world and from the Roman Empire as the Gospel spreads, but it begins in the realm of people who should know better – and once they begin their attack they will continue it, from Jesus to the Apostles, to Stephen, to Paul, and beyond. Furthermore, the attack will come from without and within the professing church – then as now.

 

But what I want to say is that I’ve never realized how Jesus could have avoided much of this opposition, whether in Jerusalem in John, or in His hometown of Nazareth (and elsewhere in Galilee), by not directly challenging and confronting religious culture, and racial and national identities. Jesus did not have a gradual approach to His revelation of grace and truth.

 

Jesus could have healed on days other than the Sabbath, and of course He did. Why heal in synagogues on the Sabbath? Jesus could have accepted the following of those who were believing in Him (in some measure) in John Chapter 8, rather than confronting them with not being free and then telling them that the devil was their father…not a method likely to retain followers.

 

In Luke Chapter 4, Jesus need not have introduced the widow of Sidon or Namaan the Syrian into His message, He knew it would not be well received!

 

I’m not really sure what this all means. It is challenging to me and I don’t fully understand it. It does make me wonder how many times I’ve taken the easy way out in teaching and preaching, and in interacting with other pastors, in parachurch small groups, and so forth. I wonder how many times my own witness to others has been watered down.

 

I am surprised to be going down this road in my exploration of the Confrontation in Nazareth, Luke 4:14 -30. I had no idea I’d be here. I began this with simply a sense that I wanted to explore this passage, and now here I am…with questions…plenty of questions.

 

Joseph - Reflections (8)

 

“And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bead. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself [his soul] was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him” (Psalm 105:16 – 19).

 

There is a sense in which we can speak of three Josephs when we read Genesis and Psalm 105. This may seem strange to us, it may even seem outrageous to some, but it is the truth. It would not have always been viewed strangely, certainly not, I think, in the early days of the Church, the Church which was seeing Christ throughout all Scripture, and in seeing Christ was seeing His Body, and in seeing His Body was seeing themselves.

 

In Joseph we see Jesus Christ. We see Jesus rejected by His brothers, sold into death, released from prison, exalted to the right hand of God. In Jospeh we see Jesus in that what men meant for evil, God meant for good. In Joseph we see Jesus in forgiveness. In Joseph we see the salvation of many through suffering, and thus we see Jesus. Joseph becomes a source of salvation, a refuge for many, a picture of Jesus the Christ. Just as Joseph’s brothers rejected the message of Joseph’s dreams, so Jesus’ brothers, Israel, along with mankind rejected the Word of Jesus. Just as the Word of the LORD was tried in Joseph, so the Word was tried within Jesus Christ. “Though He were a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 – 9).

 

There are, of course, contrasts in the story of Joseph and Jesus. Jacob did not knowingly send Joseph down into Egypt; the Father knowingly, willingly, and lovingly gave His Only Begotten Son. Joseph did not understand that betrayal, slavery, and prison lay between his dreams and their fulfillment, Jesus knew that the Cross beckoned Him.

 

If then we see Jesus Christ in and through Joseph, we also see the Body of Christ in and through Joseph, for as Augustine says, “As with the Head, so with the Body.” That is, if we are the Body of Christ, then we participate with Christ in His story, in His calling, in His mission. This is a theme of the Bible and an explicit teaching of the New Testament. We love as He loves, we are in the Trinity in Him, we are sent as the Father sent Him, we are to live in the koinonia of His sufferings, we are even to “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24, whatever that may mean). We are, let us recall, to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).

 

This means that we suffer on behalf of others, that what others mean for evil, our God means for good. It means that we, as His Body, are tried in the fires of testing and obedience and persecution just as Joseph and Jesus were tried. It means that God’s Word is tested within us, as His Word was tested in Joseph and Jesus (1 Peter 1:3 – 9). It means that the calling of God the Father is within us, just as it is in Jesus Christ. It means that the Incarnation continues within us because Christ lives within us His Body.

 

This further means that when we read “they afflicted his feet with fetters” that we can read, “They afflicted His feet with fetters.” The feet of the Body of Christ were afflicted with fetters, they are being afflicted with fetters, they are bound, their movement is restricted, they are in prison.

 

Can we see “they afflicted His feet with fetters” in Romans 8:18 – 25? Can we see that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18)? Just as the sufferings of Joseph were not worthy to be compared with his exaltation to Pharoah’s right hand and his feeding of the people and his family, just as the sufferings Jesus were not to be compared with the “joy set before Him” (Heb. 12:2), so our present sufferings pale in comparison to the coming glory of Christ in us and us in Christ. Indeed, Christ in us fully and completely is our “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27; see also 2 Thess. 1:10 – 12).

 

The culmination of the suffering of the saints in Revelation is the glory of God in His People and His People in God (Revelation chapters 21 – 22).

 

O dear friends, our hope is in Jesus and His Word, our hope is in the promises of our Father, through which we partake of His Nature (2 Peter 1:4). The temptation while we are in prison is to scheme our own way out rather than wait for God. We have pressure to build the House of God when only God can build His House (Psalm 127:1 – 2). Our Christianity is driven by a “make it happen” mentality which abandons abiding in the Vine (John 15:1ff).

 

We have left our first love, and we pride ourselves on our sparkling and entertaining and man-centered Christianity – we have no grain with which to feed the people, there is a famine for the Word of God (Amos 8:11 – 12). Let there be no mistake, we can know the Bible in the sense of knowing its informational content and not know the Word of God. The Word of God transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Word of God results in radical obedience to Jesus. The Word of God emanates from the Cross of Christ. The Word of God bears the fruit of Matthew 25:34 – 40, a fruit which transcends political, economic, social, national, and cultural considerations – in fact, it puts the earthly to death.

 

I take great hope in Psalm105:16 – 22 and the story of Joseph. I believe that while our feet may be in fetters, that while the Word of God tries us, that Romans 8:18 – 25 awaits us. I believe that the manifestation of the sons of God not only awaits us, but that blessing awaits the peoples of the earth, for whatever we are experiencing is for the glory of God and the blessing of others.

 

Just as Joseph was able to say, just as Jesus has told us again and again, we also can say both now and in the consummation of the ages, “What you meant for evil. God meant for good.”

 

As the Father sent Joseph, as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

 

 

 

The Four chaplains

Robert L. Withers

February 7, 2026

 

“I’ve got a conference call this afternoon at 2:00, it’s concerning a memorial foundation I’m associated with back in Philly. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of it; it’s called The Four Chaplains.”

 

“Of course I know about the Four Chaplains, I was raised knowing about them,” I replied to my client Frank, who had lived in Philly before retiring to Richmond, VA.

 

When I was growing up in the D.C. area in the 50s and 60s, Washington City had a wax museum and among the exhibits were The Four Chaplains. I can still see the wax figures of Rev. George L. Fox (Methodist), Reform Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Father John P. Washington (Roman Catholic), and Rev. Clark V. Poling (Reformed Church in America) standing together by the rail on the troop ship Dorchester, the water of the dark display lapping against the hull of the ship.

 

My mother made sure I knew the story, she made sure that I was not looking at entertainment but at sacrifice, at the way we were to live our lives. As I write this, I realize that all the trips we took to museums were about learning and exploring and understanding, understanding where we had come from and where we ought to be going. Understanding who we ought to be. To me, libraries and museums were sacred spaces, easily on par with the sanctuary of our Presbyterian church. The image of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, which I stood before in awe, was the image of God I had while being with Mom in church. I suppose Lincoln was an ikon to some degree.

 

The troopship was torpedoed on February 3, 1943, at 12:55 AM off Newfoundland. There were not enough life jackets for everyone, so these four young chaplains, from different backgrounds and traditions, gave their life vests to others. In the midst of confusion, chaos, and terror, these four men guided others to lifeboats, encouraging and comforting the frightened men around them…and then, having done all they could, linked arms together, stood together, prayed together and sang hymns…and died together.

 

Grady Clark, a survivor, wrote the following:

 

As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.

 

William Bednar, a survivor said, "I could hear men crying, pleading, praying and swearing. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage to the men. Their voices were probably the only things that kept me sane."

 

Having heard this story as a young boy, having seen it depicted in the wax museum as a lad, having a mother who emphasized the sacrificial nature of the story, and the fact that these men represented different traditions, it would be impossible to forget Fox, Goode, Washington, and Poling. It would be impossible to forget what unity in sacrifice can look like.

 

This past Tuesday I was thinking about the conversation with my former client, which took place about ten years ago. As I continued to think about the Four Chaplains on Wednesday, I decided to look up the foundation and refresh my memory. Then I saw that Tuesday, the day before when I had started thinking about them, February 3, was Four Chaplains Remembrance Day. I had no idea, no idea at all.

 

Dear friends, all around us is confusion and cursing and darkness, the question is not whether we have extra life vests to give to others, the question is whether we will give our own life jackets away.

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son…” (John 3:16).

 

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

Unfinished Thoughts On The Soul (3)

 

Return to Your Rest

 

Where do our souls live?

 

Where are we headed today?

 

As our souls return to our Father through the Lamb, we learn to live in that City whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:8 – 16). This means that the One and only Light of the soul is our Father and the Lamb (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). We do not wait for a future day for this to be so, we learn to live by the Light of God and the Lamb Today. It is today that we are not to harden our hearts and souls, it is today that we are to hear His Voice and obey, and it is today that we enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:1 – 9).

 

Entering into His rest means that we cease from our own works, even as God did from His on that first Sabbath; indeed, now we come to know and see that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath and that we abide in Him (Heb. 4:10; John 15:1ff). We can do nothing in and of ourselves, only as His Life flows in us and through us can we live and bear fruit (see also Galatians 2:20).

 

Our souls come to know our Father and the Lamb as our Temple (Rev. 21:22). All the images of Tabernacles and Temples in Scripture are lifted upward and subsumed in the Godhead, we enter into Him and He enters into us. The Incarnation is consummated in the Marriage of the Lamb, for the Marriage Supper is more than a shared meal, the Marriage Supper is the prelude to a consummation, the Nature of which is beyond us, it is beyond us because it is hidden in Christ – there is a reason marriage bedrooms have doors that are shut.

 

When the soul comes home to the Father and Lamb it does so with these words ringing without and within:

 

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Rev. 21:3).

 

Now friends, as we live in that City we must surely know that we must live in the Light of the Lamb and the Father, and we must surely know that nothing can be hidden, nothing should be hidden; that there should be no subterfuge, no shades of meaning, no “spin,” no guile. We must surely know that the wrath of man has no place in this City, that the violence of man will not be admitted to this City, that the greed and selfishness and pride of man will not enter the City or the Temple – for God is All in all.

 

To enter into this City is to dwell on the Holy Mountain in which “they shall neither hurt nor destroy.”

 

The souls of those purchased by the Lamb belong to this City, we are citizens of this City. This City is not only our future destiny, we are to breathe the air of this City today, to walk the streets of this City today, to fellowship with the inhabitants of this City today, to live in the Temple of this City today, to follow the Lamb of this City today.

 

If the Lamb (and the Father) is the Light of this City, then all of life is to be lived in the Light of the Lamb – all of life today. The Lamb shines His Light in our hearts, minds, and souls. He shines His light on all around us. We do not “see” as others see (2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7; Heb. 11:1), we do not judge as others judge, we do not discern and evaluate as others evaluate – our eyes are fixed on the Lamb, the Sun of Righteousness…and there is no righteousness apart from Him…all pretense to righteousness is as filthy rags…it is disgusting. This is true whether it is personal, institutional (religious or other), national, ethnic, economic, or philosophical. O how foolish we are to look anywhere other than Jesus Christ for identity, for righteousness, for fulfillment, for a place for our souls to live and abide.

 

As we live in this City, the Name of our God is on our foreheads, the Name of the Father and the Lamb (Rev. 22:4; 14:1; 3:12), indeed, even the Name of the glorious City is written upon us. This City comes down upon us out of heaven, we enter the City and the City enters into us.

 

Shall we not cry with the psalmist, “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you”? (Psalm 116:7).

 

Are not our deaths precious to our God because through them we come home to Him and our City? (Psalm 116:15).

 

Do we not anticipate rejoicing in the presence of the saints? (Psalm 116:14, 18, 19).

 

Is not the House of God and Jerusalem (Psalm 116:19) that City we see in Revelation chapters 21 – 22?

 

Yes, the LORD has indeed rescued our souls from death and our eyes from tears (Psalm 116:8; Rev. 21:4).

 

Let us say today, and tomorrow…to ourselves and to one another, “Return to your rest, O my soul! Return to the City of God!”

 

My Early Story (36)

 The Charismatic Movement (3)

There are two other things I’d like to share.

 

Sharing Christ and His Word with one another and praying for one another ought to be as natural as breathing. When folks get together for a cookout, for dinner at someone’s home, or for a holiday get together, they don’t have agendas, they don’t have printed guides telling them how to interact, printed topics of conversations, and how many minutes to talk about various subjects.

 

People typically get together because they want to be with each other, they want to enjoy time together. People are generally open and attentive to others, to how the afternoon or evening is going, to possibilities of interaction, to listening to others as well as talking to others, to helping others. When folks gather, they usually want to “catch up” with each other, or if meeting a new person they want to learn about that person and perhaps share a bit about themselves with the person. People look for common ground, and they also look for diversity – it is nice to meet people who have different experiences.

 

The above is how most of us naturally spend time with people in a group.

 

A few years ago Vickie and I visited a home group that was part of a church we were attending. As the people arrived at the home there was the natural banter and conversation you’d expect in social settings. Then the time came, the bell rang (so to speak), and demeanors changed – it was time to get religious.

 

The study guides were produced, the pages were opened, and the script was followed by a facilitator who wanted to make certain that whatever was said was in line with the study guide. No longer did these men and women have anything to share or contribute out of their life in Christ, all attention was on the study guide. Once we had worked through the lesson for that evening it was time to leave.

 

This was nuts, especially considering that these folks had been meeting for a few years, that they knew each other, and that I think they really cared for one another. What causes adults to switch gears and act like children? Not just children, but docile children? This is hardly the picture of the functioning Body of Christ that we see in the Bible.

 

When I visit churches as a guest speaker, it is my practice to attend Sunday school before the morning service in order to get a sense of the congregation. Time after time I see the same thing, normally reasonable adults go into a mode in which they have nothing to share with others out of their life in Christ. They may talk about sports beforehand, they may talk about family, they may talk about sister so-and-so who is in the hospital, but they won’t talk about Jesus. They will follow the lesson material, but they will not share out of the fruit of their own life in Christ, out of their own experience with the Bible.

 

Nor will people in small groups or Sunday school classes generally pray for one another, or if they do pray for each other they generally will not touch one another while doing so – they won’t lay hands on one another. (Touch is important in this life, Jesus touched people.)

 

On the other hand, during the Charismatic Movement it was naturally expected that our gatherings would include sharing what we’d been seeing in the Word, sharing how Jesus and the Holy Spirit were leading us and teaching us, and that we’d naturally pray for one another during our time together.

 

I should be quick to say that many of us without a background in the Charismatic Movement also find it natural to share Jesus and pray for one another – so please don’t misunderstand me. However, the people I know who are naturally comfortable sharing Jesus with other believers, and who are comfortable praying for others out loud and being prayed for by others – generally have not learned that way of life within traditional settings because it is generally not encouraged. Again, there are exceptions.

 

Not long ago I was part of a team leading a retreat for a congregation. During the afternoon one of the associate pastors dropped in to spend some time with us. This dear man is about my age, meaning that he has a good deal of life experience. I think he is a wonderful pastor, a faithful brother. Since an element of the retreat was learning to pray for one another, when he mentioned that he’d have to be leaving soon I asked him if we could gather around him and pray for him, and of course he assented. There were about 25 of us.

 

After we laid hands on him and spent some time in prayer, many verbalizing in turn, he said, “I haven’t experienced anything like this since I was a young man and had an occasion in which people also prayed for me. I feel so refreshed and encouraged. Thank you so much.” His face was glowing.

 

Now I ask you, dear reader, this question: Why did this dear man go 40 years between being prayed for? Why did not this dear pastor introduce others to the joy of praying for others and of being prayed for by others? To the joy of touching others and being touched by others?

 

Something is amiss but we dare not admit it.

 

A friend of mine recently suggested that my early exposure to the Holy Spirit in the Charismatic Movement had a foundational influence on me. As I thought about his comment, I realized that while it is certainly true, that it is especially true when coupled with the experience of sharing Christ in a community of believers, coming together in the freedom of Christ and in the expectation that everyone has something to share out of their life in Christ. This is what I saw in both the Charismatic Movement and in the Jesus People, there were no bench (pew) warmers, everyone was valued, everyone was special, everyone was encouraged to grow in Christ and contribute to the entire Body. This was as natural as breathing.

 

As it ought to be (1 Peter 4:10 – 11; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians chapters 12 – 14; Ephesians 4:1 – 16).

My Early Story (35)

The Charismatic Movement (2) 

I attended a Full Gospel Business Men’s convention in D.C. with the Methodist refugees. While the FGBM had their roots in traditional Pentecostalism (or at least this was true of the men I knew), like the AG the FGBM welcomed men and women from all backgrounds who wanted to follow Jesus. There were two things at this convention that made a lasting impression on me, one favorable and one a warning – they have both remained with me.

 

A musical group of about twenty men and women from a well-known Chrisitan university appeared on stage. They were tightly choreographed, every move on stage was finely tuned, every facial expression seemingly rehearsed, no one was out of place – not physically, not vocally, and not naturally.

 

I was shocked, it was not natural, it was not normal, it was a stage production when it should have been worship. I thought, “This is dangerous, where will this lead to?”

 

Where it has led to is to a cult of Christians “artists” and Sunday morning production companies (called churches) with seamless Sunday morning experiences and concerts. It has led to ticket sales and big business. If Billy Graham and others did not charge for the Gospel in Word, why do Chrisitan musicians and singers charge for the Gospel in music and song? How can we charge money for the Gospel…in whatever form?

 

How can we charge money for people to come and “worship”? Do we truly understand and experience worship? This makes no sense to me.

 

This is more complex than I am making it out to be, and I made some mistakes as a pastor along this very line when I should have known better. Let me just say, for now, that Sunday morning is not supposed to be a production.

 

On the evening prior to the opening of the convention, I attended a “preconvention” meeting in which the main speaker was a well – known Charismatic teacher. His text was 1 Corinthians Chapter 12. He did not speak on the “gifts of the Spirit.” He did speak on the Body of Christ.

 

He talked about what he called “EMI,” Every Member Involvement. Everyone, he taught, has something to offer the Body of Christ, everyone has a gift, a grace, the fruit of the Spirit – everyone has the life of Christ. We need everyone to contribute; we are all called to contribute.

 

He had a handout to illustrate his point. It was a large tree with many branches, and each branch had a label with the name of a gift, a grace, a fruit. The tree was the Body of Christ, the trunk was Christ Jesus, we were the branches – we all had something critical to share, in Christ, with one another.

 

The Charismatic Movement, and the Jesus People, taught me participation, they taught me that everyone has something to share, that everyone is valuable, that the Holy Spirit has indeed given us each a gift, a grace, an expression of Christ.

 

A sad irony of the Charismatic Movement is that it soon became top heavy, celebrity driven, and quite rigid in some expressions. In other words, it joined the religious club. Even the teacher who spoke that evening about EMI betrayed his own message by becoming dictatorial. When Jesus is no longer our Message and our Focus, bad things happen.

 

Yet, on a grassroots level I have continued to meet people over the years who were nurtured and set free through the Movement.  People who took the Bible and witnessing and building one another up in Christ seriously. For sure, I’ve always been puzzled by those elements of the movement that are into the sensational and into celebrities and what I call “the revelation of the month club.” These things repel me. Yet, I also see these very things in other strains of professing Christianity.

 

There is so much more I could say about the Charismatic Movement, including how faithful pastors who sought more for their people in traditional settings were treated terribly by their peers and denominations, I cannot forget the vitriol I saw from “Christian” leaders. For sure there were environments that gave people room to grow and express themselves, mutual respect within traditions and denominations could be found, but the “attack mode” that some groups propagated toward Charismatics was disgusting.

 

to be continued....

My Early Story (34)

I've been wanting to circle back on My Early Story and touch on the Charismatic Movement. A friend of mine made a comment to me a couple of weeks ago that motivated me to do it. 

The Charismatic Movement

I imagine I should say some things about the Charismatic Movement, since it also played a formative role in my early life (the 1960s and early 1970s). I realize that not everyone has good memories of the movement, and I see some crazies today who are products of it. However, I also meet folks for whom it was a formative blessing, many of them now in vocational ministry in traditional settings.

 

Frankly, when I consider the disgusting unconscionable behavior, including coverups, that have occurred in churches, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, the excesses of the Charismatic Movement pale in comparison. The problem with Pentecostals and Charismatics used to be that they didn’t know how to properly deport themselves, they weren’t “religious” enough, that was really, I think, their great sin (that and being a threat to old wineskins). Furthermore, whatever sins and stupidness were present in the Charismatic Movement generally weren’t institutional (as with traditional churches) – for it had no institutions in the beginning.

 

There isn’t anything today that I’d term a Charismatic Movement, but there is a lot of craziness going on – everywhere, in non-traditional settings and in traditional settings. I don’t know really what to think, so much poison in thinking and behavior. Well, I do know what to think, we need Jesus, O how we need Jesus.

 

While I am going to focus on the positive, I want to mention that I had a terrible time at one point when associated with the “Movement.” I can’t look back on it without shame, disgust, and sorrow. I want you to know that I write from a critical point-of-view, but that I’m also thankful for the Spirit of renewal that not only touched many during that time, but which laid the foundation for many of my future relationships.

 

When we go astray it is usually because Jesus is no longer enough, we think we need something to add to Him (2 Cor. 11:1 – 3; Mt. 17:5).

 

My initial exposure to the movement took two forms, one was through the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, the other through a local Assembly of God.

 

After my abbreviated time at Bible college, I sought fellowship in a local church back in Maryland. Considering my experience at Bible college, and considering that my two pastors who were instrumental in sending me to the school did not follow up with me after my expulsion, it was natural that I’d look elsewhere for a place to worship and meet people. Perhaps the pastors were embarrassed that someone they had endorsed was expelled, perhaps they just didn’t know how to relate to a kid who had not been raised in their tradition, perhaps it was simpler for them to leave me alone – teenagers can require investment, time, work, and patience.

 

I began attending a small Assembly of God within walking distance of where I lived. The building would probably only hold 100 – 150 people and there was no threat of overcrowding. The pastor was a retired FBI agent who exhibited a thoughtful and quiet demeanor. There was a group within the congregation that gathered on Sunday mornings, they were charismatic refugees from the Methodist Church; the refugee Methodists befriended me.  

 

The “refugees” greatly respected the pastor, and I think were bemused at his dilemma, for while he was a traditional AG pastor, they were not traditional Pentecostal parishioners. Yet, in looking back, the pastor was likely ideal for them in that he had a breath of experience outside his religious tradition, and he could give them room to grow in Christ; he was able to minister to folks outside his tradition as well as those within it – a rare combination.

 

Of the three major “white” Pentecostal denominations, I have long thought that the Assemblies of God were more open to those from other traditions…and to those from no tradition. I think this ability to welcome and assimilate, to be permeable in culture, has contributed to the growth of the AG. While I have encountered AG throwbacks that focus on externals and legalism and a message of condemnation, these have been the exception in my experience. The same is true for having an emphasis on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues, this is not “the thing” today that it once was in the AG, and I wonder why my Pentecostal brethren don’t rethink this “distinctive.”

 

Let me return to the “refugees” lest I dwell too much on Pentecostals.

 

The refugees met in homes regularly as a way of life. We’d read the Bible, pray, and listen to teaching tapes by various charismatic teachers. There were times when we’d drive to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and pray in one of the chapels – in those days at least one chapel was accessible 24 hours a day.  

 

I don’t recall an insistence that people speak in tongues, or any notion that people who moved in the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4 – 13) were better than anyone else. I don’t remember any hint of exclusiveness. I do recall that it was assumed that everyone was valuable, that everyone had something to share. I cherish my memories of the refugees being excited about Jesus, about God being alive in our lives on a daily basis.

 

Christ Church was an Assembly of God in N.W. D.C. It had a large seating capacity, and it opened its doors during certain evenings for folks across the city to come and worship in an open and “charismatic” fashion. I don’t recall whether this was weekly, but it was regularly scheduled. I think it was called “T.A.G,” which meant “take and give.” That was the spirit of the Charismatic Movement as I knew it in those days, you gathered with other disciples of Jesus to share and receive, the notion that only one person did all the talking was foreign, the notion that we were expected to do the same thing the same way week after week was alien. We were growing together, learning together, worshipping together.

To be continued...

 

As My Soul Draws Nigh

 

As My Soul Draws Nigh

RLW Feb. 3, 2026

1:00 PM

 

As my soul draws nigh

Beyond the eastern sky

I will ascend, I will ascend

To that City

 

To home I will draw

To my Father’s House

From whence I came, whence I came

In Christ Jesus my Lord

 

To Melchizedek, and Zadok,

To the saints of the ages I come.

Coming home, O coming home

To My Father, to my Home

 

O my soul, draw thou nigh

To thy home, to thy Rock, to thy Lord,

On the wings of the Spirit, on the wings of the Spirit,

I ascend, I ascend

 

And the Light of the City

Overcomes my vision, engulfs my senses

Bathes me, bathes me, in His purity

I am cleansed, I am cleansed – HALLELUJAH I AM CLEANSED!!!!!!

 

And the Water of that City

Fills my soul, fills my soul

And it pours from me, yes it pours from me,

And I swim, O how I swim, Hallelujah how I swim!

 

And my soul draws nigh to the Temple of that City

And my soul it comes home to that Temple.

To the Father and the Lamb, to the Great, Great I AM

I am HOME, I am HOME, I AM HOME!!!!

 

And my soul has entered into the Temple of that City

And I rest, how I rest in the Lamb

I lay down in green pastures, I walk beside still waters,

And my soul, O my soul, is in PEACE.

 

 

 

Confrontation in Nazareth (12)

“And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4:22).

 

Some thoughtful folks see genuine wonder and praise in Luke 4:22, other thoughtful people see “who does He think He is, we know Him and His family?”  As we saw in our previous reflection, the congregation, His hometown church, soon tried to murder Jesus.

 

In John 8:30 – 59 there is a similar pattern. We go from “many believing in Him” (Jn. 8:30) to these same people “picking up stones to throw at Him” (8:59).

 

How does Jesus respond to “many believing in Him”?

 

“If you continue in My word then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31 – 32).

 

Just as in Nazareth, Jesus could have left well enough alone. In Nazareth Jesus could have found a different passage to read in Isaiah, but He didn’t. In Nazareth He could have not introduced the stories of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, but He did. In Nazareth He could have eased into the idea that He was the Messiah, He could have given His hometown folks time to get used to the idea, time to adjust, time to consider, time to ponder, but He didn’t.

 

In John 8, in Jerusalem, He could have eased the people who were “believing in Him” into the idea that there was a freedom they were not yet experiencing.  He need not have brought up slavery to sin (Jn. 8:34 – 36). Why does He say that “You seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you”? (Jn. 8:37). After all, outwardly they were believing in Him, why not leave things alone, why penetrate their hearts? Why not give these people time?

 

Why keep insisting that they can’t hear His word (Jn. 8:43)?

 

And why, O why, tell the people, “You are of your father the devil”? (Jn. 8:44).

 

This makes no sense, doesn’t Jesus want to build a nice large church? Doesn’t He want to get His message across? Why does He alienate people?

 

The people go from believing in Him (verse 30) to accusing Him of having a demon (verse 48) to attempting to kill Him (verse 59). Things move quickly toward attempted murder in John 8 just as they do in Luke 4. Why, in both instances, does Jesus say things that will incite the people to reject Him and attempt to kill Him? Why can’t He be a seeker-sensitive Messiah? Why won’t God Incarnate cater to our needs and wants and desires and agendas? Why won’t Jesus play church?

 

“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (Jn. 9:39). The simplicity of the story of Jesus and the blind man ought to instruct us. Just as Jesus was put out of the synagogue in Luke 4, so the blind man who was healed by Jesus was cast out of the synagogue in John 9. Even the blind man’s parents disowned him “because they were afraid of the Jews [the religious leaders]” (Jn. 9:22).

 

Jesus strips away our pretentions, our religious facades, our Sunday-morning personas, and He gets to the heart of the matter – we are blind; our heritage – whether religious or national or ethnic or family – does not make us God’s chosen people – we have no possibility of righteousness outside of Jesus Christ and He will make certain that we know this. We will either know this and accept this, or we will refuse to acknowledge Him and attempt to murder Him.

 

I imagine the attempted murder of Jesus Christ occurs every Sunday morning in “Christian” gatherings across the globe. The idea that He may be working in the widows of Zarephath or in the Naamans of Syria is too much for us, the thought that Jesus may want to burst our wineskins and replace them with Himself as our Temple, and that He wants to bring those who are not like us into our lives, is too much for us. We will kill those ideas, we will bury those teachings, we will replace any pastors who dare suggest such things.

 

We must seal ourselves off from the Samaritans in our communities and nation and world. We must isolate ourselves in order to protect our way of life, our “lifestyles,” our religious self-righteousness. Just as the people of Jerusalem, we say to Jesus, “We are the children of America and have never been slaves to anyone!” Unless of course, we are African – American.

 

We say to Jesus, “We are Pentecostal, we are Reformed, we are Lutheran, we are Roman Catholic, we are Anglican, we are Arminian, we are nondenominational, we are Conservative, we are Liberal.” Well, you get the idea. Don’t mess with our security, with our identity, with our righteousness.  Do not question our way of doing church, of church growth, of the End Times; and most certainly don’t take issue with our view of what it means to be prolife (as Pope Leo has done).

 

We see much the same scenario in John 6 as we do in Luke 4 and John 8. Jesus goes from a crowd to a few.

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (Jn. 6:26).

 

“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down out of heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down out of heaven?’” (John6:41 – 42). What does this passage remind you of?

 

When Jesus says, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father,” many of His disciples leave Him “and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:65 – 66).

 

Now here is the thing dear reader, and here you can know where you really are in your relationship with Jesus Christ. It all comes down to your answer to Jesus to this question of His.

 

“So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’” (John 6:67).

 

What is my response to Jesus?

 

What is yours?