Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (6)

 

 

“I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.” (The Valley of Vision, page 315).

 

As I grow older, I sense the eternals pressing upon me and drawing me into that world above. I feel it, smell it, touch it, taste it, breathe it into my lungs. Do not all of us who are in Christ breathe the sweet Holy Spirit as our way of life?

 

We live 5 ½ miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes I can smell the ocean. Since I am an early riser, most mornings I see the sun rise and many of those sunrises are beautiful, fleeting but beautiful. While I cannot see the ocean from our home, I know the sun is rising over its horizon, I know it is shining its rays on the beach, I know the waves are usually lapping, or at other times pounding, against the shoreline. I always “see” the coastline and the ocean when I look to the sky in the morning and consider the sunrise.

 

I can be at the ocean in a few minutes, and I can plunge into it shortly after my arrival. As long as I can remember, I have associated being in the ocean with being in the depths of God’s love, being enveloped in His Holy Presence beyond measure. One day I will enter the infinite ocean of His love never to return to the shoreline; I may come to the ocean on that day, or the ocean will come to me; some things we do not know, but in all things we can trust our dear Lord Jesus and His overwhelming love (Romans 8:31 – 39).

 

As Paul writes, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; God has prepared us for this very purpose (2 Cor. 5:1 – 5), and He has indeed given us the Spirit as a pledge and guarantee, as His Promise to us (Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5).

 

I suppose I visualize Revelation chapters 21 and 22 every day, and why not? I will be there sooner rather than later, that City even now is drawing me into itself, where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the only Light. If they will be our Light then, ought they not be our Light now?

 

“They will see His Face, and His Name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4). This, my friends, is to live for…to see Him and to have His Nature within our hearts and minds as His daughters and sons.

 

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the Name of My God, and the name of the City of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My New Name” (Rev. 3:12).

 

The fleeting sunrises that I am blessed to behold are daily promises of that Great Day when the “Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2). The joy that skipping calves and lambs display is uninhibited, it is natural, it is without self-consciousness or fear – it is joy within joy and joy overflowing.

 

“Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice” (Isaiah 60:5).

 

“No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will be moon give you light; but you will have the LORD for an everlasting Light, and your God for your glory” (Isaiah 60:19; see also Rev. 21:22 – 23; 22:5).

 

One of the many hymns embedded in my soul since my teenage years was written by Carrie Ellis Breck, Face to Face. It is my hope, my vision, my reason for living, my reason for sharing Jesus with others – that they may know the depths of His love and the expectation of seeing Him face to face. Here is a selection from the hymn:

 

Face to face with Christ my savior,

Face to face what will it be

When with rapture I behold Him

Jesus Christ who died for me?

 

Refrain: Face to face I shall behold Him,

Far beyond the starry sky,

Face to face in all His glory,

I shall see Him by and by.

 

Face to face oh, blissful moment!

Face to face to see and know,

Face to face with my Redeemer,

Jesus Christ who loves me so.

 

Are we living in the light of His love today?

 

Are we sharing the warmth of His love with others?

 

Are we inviting others to skip with us?

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (5)

 

 

“I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.”

 

I love Hebrews 11:8 – 16, for it is not only the testimony of our fathers and mothers of faith, it is our testimony too – or at least it should be. Our spiritual ancestors were “looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” They confessed that they were “strangers and exiles on the earth” making it “clear that they are seeking a country of their own…a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

 

“Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

 

Our forebearers knew that the promise of a land was a shadow and type of a greater inheritance, a greater and lasting City and Land. Abraham was not focused on his descendants inheriting a strip of land in the Middle East, he was focused on what that land represented, becoming “heir of the world…through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). The world which he was called to inherit was a heavenly world, kingdom, and City which would encompass and envelop and renew all things, heaven would (and will) descend upon earth.

 

Hence Paul writes that the earthly city of Jerusalem is not our mother and should not be our identity and focus, but rather the heavenly Jerusalem – the mother of those who live in the faith of Abraham (Galatians 4:21 – 31). How foolish we are to identify with earthly things when Jesus has said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

 

Paul writes that we are to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1 – 2).

 

One of the great lies in our society is that a person can be so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good. I have never encountered such a person, I have never read of such a person. On the contrary, it is often those who are heavenly minded who lead the way in caring for others – the poor, the refugee and alien, the homeless, the prisoner, the orphan and widow, the outcast, the sick. Those who are heavenly minded are those who point us to our destiny, to God our Creator and our Father, to the Christ of the Cross. Those who are heavenly minded insist that we do not prostitute ourselves to this present evil age, to its values, to its systems, to its prison of conformity to this world.

 

Those who are heavenly minded proclaim that, in Christ, we are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). Those who are heavenly minded have the courage to live against the grain of the world, the flesh, and the devil; to witness for Jesus, to give their lives for Him and others. They also have the courage to live against the grain of a professing church that, at least in the West, has sold itself to the powers of the present age.

 

Those who are heavenly minded remind us that our souls were “never created to love the dust of the earth.”

 

Those who are heavenly minded sing Calvary’s Anthem, inviting us to sing the Great Song of the Ages.

 

Shall we join them?

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (4)

 

 

“O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mount of blood; in the midst of a world of pain it is a subject of praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end.”

 

As I read the above, I recall Paul’s words, “For one will hardly die for a righteousness man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7 – 8).

 

Christ did not die for me because I was good, nor did He love me because I was good; He died for me when I was a sinner, but I was not just a sinner, I was an enemy of God. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

 

The love of God is beyond words. I was a sinner, a transgressor, but I was not only breaking the commandments of God, I was also an enemy of God. I was not only an individual enemy of God, but I was also joined to the realm of darkness and rebellion, I was participating in the rebellion of Satan (Psalm 2; Eph. 2:1 – 3). We must not gloss over our condition before being reconciled to God through the death of His Son, we must not fool ourselves about ourselves – this is true about who we were, it is also true about who we now are in Jesus Christ.

 

I was participating in the great family betrayal; the sons and daughters of the Living God had joined the forces of darkness through their sin and were living under the domain of Satan. When God sent His Only Begotten Son to bring us back to Himself, we killed Him, nailing Him to the Cross; unknowingly we were sacrificing the Lamb who was our true Passover. Jesus came to declare the Name of the Father to us (Heb. 2:9 – 13), and in the deep mysteries of God, even in our rebellion, we have heard His Voice. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God – is this not beyond words?

 

We were in such a condition that there was nothing we could do to help ourselves, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

 

One translation has it, “when we were without strength.” I love that image, we could not lift a finger to help ourselves, we had no energy to save ourselves, we were overwhelmed by sin and evil and our wills were held captive by darkness until that Day when “He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13).

 

When we realize, in some measure for we can never (I think) see the full measure, our lost condition without Christ, when we see that we were His enemies, when we have a sense of our betrayal of God our Father, then we can begin to see the incredible love of God in Christ for us, for you and for me and for those around us. Then perhaps we can begin to sense the chasm that Christ crossed to love us, the depths of darkness into which He plunged to save us, His piercing cry on the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

O what a free forgiveness! We cannot merit it. We cannot deserve it. We cannot add to it. We cannot repay it. We can, by God’s grace, be good stewards of it; we can share it, we can live in it as God’s sons and daughters, we can sing Calvary’s Anthem, we can share this Good News with others.

 

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

the emblem of suffering and shame;

and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

for a world of lost sinners was slain.

 

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

and exchange it some day for a crown.

 

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

has a wondrous attraction for me;

for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above

to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]

 

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

a wondrous beauty I see,

for ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,

to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]

 

To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,

its shame and reproach gladly bear;

then he’ll call me some day to my home far away,

where his glory forever I’ll share. [Refrain] (George Bennard)

 

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (3)

 

 

“At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last forever; the blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fulness as thirsty ones without number drink of it.”

 

Picture, if you will please, a fine dining restaurant with luxury cars in its valet parking lot, with sophisticated patrons coming and going. Inside is a Matre’d, a sommelier, a place to check coats and hats, white tablecloths, and attentive servers. The menu has words that most of us don’t use every day, some are in French, others in Italian, and the wine list is a maze for many – some will admit this, others won’t.

 

Some of the patrons frequent this restaurant on a regular basis, others are there for a special occasion; some are about to spend more than they can afford. The elegance, the (let us hope) superior food, the service, the atmosphere, comes at a price; for some patrons the cost is inconsequential, for others it is manageable, for still others…well, perhaps they should have commemorated their special event elsewhere so that they could also enjoy financial piece of mind.  

 

Adjacent to the fine dining restaurant is a study in contrast, it is only there because it was there first and its owners will not sell their property. While there are a few luxury cars in the parking lot, most cars and pickup trucks and SUVs and motorcycles are unremarkable; the ones that are remarkable attract notice because of their age, they are old, some are rusted, some are banged up and need body work, and some have bald tires. As we ponder the parking lot, a transit bus stops and passengers get out and head to the door of the building next to the fine dining establishment.

 

This second building is also a place to eat, but all the money in the world cannot purchase a meal, for all meals are free. Why would those driving the few luxury cars in the parking lot, those who could dine anywhere they wanted to, who could dine next door with the wealthy, want to be found inside this unpretentious eatery? It is certainly not because it is free – these people can afford anything they want, well…almost anything.

 

They cannot purchase forgiveness or peace with God, nor can they do anything to earn peace with God or His forgiveness. But they can eat at the table with Jesus, they can eat with those He has redeemed, who have come to Him, and in doing so they sit at Table with rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, people of all colors and languages and cultures. The meal is simple, yet not so simple.

 

It is bread and wine, it is His Body and Blood – and it is shared among all who enter. All patrons receive it from His hands, and they share it with one another, breaking the bread, breaking it again, and breaking it again; they are One Bread in Jesus Christ, One Loaf (1 Cor. 10:16 – 17).

 

Only the “poor and meek ones” may dine with Jesus, those who have repented in sorrow and surrender and who have taken up their cross to follow Him; those who have renounced their lives to live by His life, those who no longer belong to themselves. Only these can sing Calvary’s Anthem, only these can dine at the Master’s Table.

 

There are restaurants that require a coat and tie, restaurants that have a dress code. Jesus also requires a dress code to eat at His Table, and this dress code means that we cannot tell by one’s attire whether the person is rich or poor, we cannot tell from clothing what nation or culture people are from – we cannot tell anything about others in terms of their earthly lives (2 Cor. 5:16).

 

For the dress code of Jesus is the raiment of repentance, the clothing of humility and meekness and awareness of both sin and cleansing, of filth and purity – of joy and relief and peace that comes from drinking at the river of infinite grace. This means that we all look the same, in Jesus Christ we all look the same – we are all brothers and sisters of the same heavenly Family, drinking from His River, partaking of the Bread and Wine which is Jesus Christ.

 

As I ponder this admittedly poor image and illustration, I wonder why we attempt to make the “church” look like the world? Why do we market the Gospel with the world’s ways and methods, appealing to the consumerism of the world? Do we not know that the Gospel is foolishness to the natural man, that the Cross is an offense, and that until a man or woman or young person confronts the Christ of the Cross, that our cotton-candy religion will simply lull them into a false sense of spiritual security in which they can never have peace of mind or peace with God? (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:5).

 

The world and the earthly church may not value the meek or the poor, but Christ Jesus bids them come to His Table and drink of His River, and that, my friends, is all that matters. O yes, it also matters whether you and I are among them.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:3 & 5).

 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

 

Where are we dining today?

 

Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (2)

 

“For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou hast given me a hill-side spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.”

 

When I was a lad we sang of the blood of Jesus. There is Power in the Blood; Are You Washed in the Blood?; When I See the Blood; There is a Fountain; O the Blood of Jesus. Later Andre Crouch came along with The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power.

 

How I love the vibration in my soul when I sing, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” The music of this hymn communicates reverence, holiness, and commands attention.

 

When I See the Blood takes us back to the Passover in Exodus and God’s promise that His judgment will pass over those households with the blood of a lamb on the lintels of their doors. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul reminds us that, “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed for us.” In our present age of Biblical illiteracy within the professing church, we do not readily make the connection between the first Passover in Exodus and the Perfect Passover of the Lamb on the Cross.

 

About eight years ago I was in a Sunday school class which was using curriculum from what was supposed to be an Evangelical denomination, written by a Ph.D. within the denomination. The lesson was on the Passover in Exodus and there was not one mention of Christ being our Passover Lamb. I could not believe it. I had to interrupt the teacher and make the connection between Exodus and Jesus for the class.

 

What is perhaps worse is that no one else in the class made the connection, even though most, if not all, of the people had been professing Christians for decades, many growing up in the congregation – a congregation which professed to be Bible believing. When I was a young Christian such ignorance would have been unthinkable in the congregations I knew.

 

The story of the Passover and God’s assurance of mercy remains a comfort to me in Christ, I trust the blood of the holy, pure, and spotless Lamb of God.

 

The hymn Are You Washed in the Blood? begins, “Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” This is the question that matters, is it not? Do we even ask this question anymore?

 

Do preachers and pastors ask it? Do elders and deacons ask it? Do professing Christians ask it? We can have all the group therapy sessions we want on Sunday mornings, sing songs, engage in self-improvement, have motivational messages – have our coffee bars and our doughnuts and sit in our seats eating bagels and omelets – but if we aren’t washed in the blood of the Lamb we are dirty and unclean and under the judgment of God for we have not run to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing and new life in Him.

 

Have we forgotten the deadly seriousness of sin? Have we glossed over its evil consequences? Have we downplayed the holiness of God and the utter wickedness of who we are outside of Jesus Christ, outside of the Cross, outside of being washed in the blood?

 

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?

 

How I love to sing There is Power in the Blood. “Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, pow’r in the blood, would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

The evil, of course, is not “out there,” it is within me and within you. Jesus has broken the power of the evil one “out there,” we must be washed in the blood and die with Him and be raised with Him for the evil within us to be broken, there is indeed power in the blood of the Lamb.

 

When we gloss over our sin, when we treat sin as some kind of developmental problem that can be cured with therapy and self-improvement programs and self-talk and positive reinforcement and developing a better self-image…we are fools and we are believing the lies of the devil. Only Jesus Christ and His blood and His Cross can free us from sin and from self, only the power of Jesus Christ can set us free. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash our sins away.

 

Another verse says, “Would you do service to Jesus your King? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood. Would you live daily His praises to sing? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

Do we think about doing service to Jesus today? Are we interested in singing His praises daily? I seldom hear church folks speak of wanting to serve Jesus. I hear them speak of politics, of the economy, of sports, of entertainment, of acquiring more and more things, but I seldom hear anyone speak of serving Jesus Christ, I seldom catch anyone singing about Jesus Christ.

 

Friends, we can get caught up in “Christian” music all we want, but if we ourselves are not singing to Him, if we are not singing to one another and rejoicing with one another in Him, then we are deceiving ourselves – we really don’t know what worship is, we don’t know what true “Praise and Worship music” is, because if it isn’t flowing from our own hearts and souls then we are substituting what others do for our own koinonia with Christ.

 

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

 

If we aren’t doing this as our way of life in Christ, then something is terribly wrong. If we can’t sing with our friends, if we can’t share a song with others, something is amiss. What would happen if no musicians or choirs showed up on Sunday morning? Would we sit like those who cannot speak? Would we wait for someone else to lead in song? Is this a game we’re playing, or are we living in service to Jesus our King?

 

Calvary’s Anthem could also be titled, An Anthem of the Blood of the Lamb, for indeed it is. The blood of the Lamb flows from Calvary, from the hands and feet and head and side of Jesus Christ. It flows from eternity past into time and space, down through the ages, and onward and upward into eternity future. It is a glorious and mighty river, and the Lamb beckons us all to be washed in His sacrificial blood, to confess our sins, to repent (which means to change direction and follow Him), and to live daily for Him.

 

“It reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power” (Andre Crouch).

to be continued....

Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (1)

 

 

Calvary’s Anthem is the title of a prayer in The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett and published by Banner of Truth. I have often found solace, comfort, encouragement, and inspiration in this collection of prayers and Calvary’s Anthem has spoken to me more than once. Over the past few days I have heard its Voice anew.

 

“Heavenly Father, Thou hast led me singing to the cross where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish, where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain, where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand…”

 

I love speaking the word “Father” to our Father, I love calling Him “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Jesus teaches us to call Him “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9) and if we listen to Jesus, if we watch Jesus, we come to know that He is indeed our Father and His Father, our God and His God (John 20:17; Hebrews 2:10 – 13). In one sense, the entire Gospel of John is about the Father, it is about the Son living in the Father and the Father living in the Son and you and I living in them in and through the Holy Spirit.

 

The Christian life is a life of communion with the Father, of constantly speaking His Name, of enjoying life in Him, of receiving His life and offering our lives to Him in and through Jesus Christ the Son.

 

While my Father is truly my Heavenly Father, He is very much here on earth with me. He is not far away; He lives with me and within me (John 14:23) – isn’t this a mystery? He teaches us to live in the heavens and on earth, our source of life is above, flowing from the Presence of the Trinity; we learn to express this life on earth, living in koinonia with the Trinity and with one another.

 

If we have joy in special friendships, how much more joy should we have in our friendship with our Father? How ought we to cherish every day with Him?

 

The image of singing as we approach the cross speaks of our praise to God for His love and redemption for us, inviting us to fling our burdens down and watching them vanish. We are reminded:

 

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10 – 12).

 

We are also reminded that “This is the Day which the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” is the Day of the Cross, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone, this is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” (See Psalm 118:22 – 24).

 

When we read concerning the writer’s sins, ”though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand” we may think, “Surely whoever wrote this could not have the greatest sins that exist, surely they could not really be more numerous than are the grains of sand on earth – whether by the oceans or in the deserts.”

 

If we think that whoever wrote Calvary’s Anthem could not have had the greatest sins that exist, if we think they could not have been as many as the grains of sand on earth, we may be right, but there is only one way in which we can truly be right and it is not a pleasant way.

 

We can only truly be right if we have come to look into the mirror and realize, “I have the greatest sins that have ever existed, my sins are more numerous than the grains of sand on earth.” For when we see ourselves outside of Christ, when we see ourselves outside of Him as we truly have been, our sins overwhelm us and we see no one else’s sin, for our sin alone engulfs us in sorrow and despair and repentance.

 

We go “singing to the cross” when we realize:

 

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8 – 10).

 

What song will you sing to God today?

 

To be continued….

 

Eye Contact

 

I suppose I’m old school. I do not like ordering from a kiosk, I want to speak to someone, to look them in the eye, to ask them how they’re doing.

 

I don’t want to put my money in the cloud with something that’s supposed to be a bank, I want to have a place to go if I have a problem or a question, a place I can walk into, ask for the manager, look her in the eye and say, “I need help with this please.”

 

How old school am I?

 

A new gas station has opened where we live. I stopped there to get gas, got out of the car fully expecting to have three choices, high grade, mid-grade, and poor man’s grade. But oh no, there weren’t just three choices, there was another choice, I think it’s called E85. I stared at the pump like an opossum on an eight-lane highway looking at oncoming traffic with headlights on high-beam. Realizing I was in the wrong place I got in the car and left and I haven’t been back.

 

When I was younger we used to call places where you get gas “service stations.” You could actually get service at these places. Your oil could be checked, your tire pressure checked, your windows washed! (no kidding), and your gas pumped for you. Now you get to check your own tire pressure and if you need air they charge you for it and you get to put the air in the tires yourself – imagine that, paying for air. We’ve been conned for sure.

 

Being old school, a firm handshake and eye contact are vital statistics, they are components of first impressions. They are integral to communications, they can communicate trust, doubt, or warning and suspicion. I have a friend, Jim, who is a general contractor. I knew him as a contractor before I knew him as a friend; becoming friends was a natural process based on trust. When I first met him his eye contact and handshake communicated trust and truth and dependability. In all the years we worked together Jim never let me down. If he said he was going to do something, he did it. If there was a problem with work his team did, he took ownership and solved it. If Jim was on a job and called me and told me about an issue I needed to address, I didn’t need to go see it for myself, I could trust Jim. I could do business with Jim on his word and a handshake.

 

We used to live in an agricultural region that employed folks who were not born in this country. When I walked down the streets of our little town and saw one of these folks coming my way I especially wanted to make eye contact, smile, and say, “Good afternoon.” I wanted these men and women to know that they were welcome. However, many of them passed me with heads down and eyes on the sidewalk, as if they were trying to be invisible. I was ashamed that they would feel unwelcome.

 

If I was ashamed a few years ago, you can imagine the shame I have today.

 

Prior to retirement my office was in a building that housed several firms, and since my firm was located on the first floor there was foot traffic outside our doors as folks headed to and from the elevators. I always tried to speak and make eye contract with the women and men I passed in the hallway and lobby area. Since this was not Grand Central Station, I’m not speaking of crowds of people, a crowd might be two or three in our building, normally it was just me passing one other person.

 

It bothered me that so many folks were too busy for a civil return to my, “Good morning,” or “Good afternoon.” Forget about eye contact.

 

We have a fair number of walkers in our community. This is a great place to walk because there is no through traffic. It amuses me that some walkers are like the agricultural workers I mentioned. They seem to think that if they don’t make eye contact with me that I won’t see them. This is especially amusing when I’m walking toward them on the other side of the narrow street.

 

When Vickie and I are sitting outside and walkers pass our home we make it a point to wave, say “Hi,” and jump up and down to acknowledge folks. (Well, not really jump up and down, but it may come to that.) Most folks respond, but some do it reluctantly, giving something akin to a royal wave where the hand barely moves when the king acknowledges the unwashed masses.

 

A few mornings ago I approached the deli counter at our grocery store to purchase some lunch meat, it was early and there wasn’t much going on, I was the only customer at the counter.

 

There was a woman bent over a slicing machine beyond the counter. Without looking up and without making eye contact she said, “What can I do for you?”

 

“May I please have a half pound of low sodium turkey Ma’am?”

 

“Anything else?” (Still bent over and not looking up.)

 

“And a half pound of roast beef please Ma’am.”

 

I then stepped away from the deli counter to pick up some cheese and a baguette on nearby shelves while she retrieved the meats and sliced them.

 

As the corner of my eye caught her moving to the counter to give me my order, I saw that she remained bent over in her walk, head and eyes still downward. I then realized that she had a physical condition, and I was reminded of the woman in Luke Chapter 13 who had been bent over for 18 years. As I silently prayed for her and thanked her for helping me, two things came to me.

 

The first was how thankful I was that the grocery store employed her, many businesses would have passed her by.

 

The second was that there are people who would like to make eye contact with us but can’t. Some can’t because of physical conditions, some, like the agricultural workers mentioned above, won’t because of social conditions. I could give example after example of this, but if you think about it long enough, you’ll find your own examples. A question is, of course, “Am I contributing to the problem or the solution?”

 

Are we bridging the chasms or deepening them? Are we building walls or opening doors?

 

The Word was made flesh (John 1:14) so that God could make eye contact with us. The Incarnation is God’s great “look you in the eye” offer of a firm handshake with fallen humanity; His offer to return us to relationship with Himself and with one another. (We cannot have one without the other.)

 

If we claim to know Him, then our calling is to lift others up, to look them in the eye with the reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ, to identify with them, to embrace them, to love them, and to suffer with them.

 

If the eye is the window of the soul, then what do our eyes communicate to others?

 

Violence, hate, rejection, judgment, disdain?

 

Or compassion, love, care, understanding, and an offer of relationship?

 

Let there be no mistake, we must not walk through life with our eyes diverted from those around us, as if they did not exist. To do so is not only to reject our identity in God and in Jesus Christ, it is also to ignore the fact that the Eye of God is watching us.

 

If we live in eye contact with Jesus, we will learn to live in eye contact with others.

 

 

 

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (7)

 

The second conversation that shocked me occurred less than two months ago, it is the most recent of the three. Vickie and I were sitting at our table with a dear family member. While we don’t see him often, for he lives on the other side of the country, nor talk to him with great frequency, we love him and his family deeply.

 

We were talking about reading and understanding the Bible when he said to me, “I’m not an intellectual like you, so it is hard for me to understand the Bible.”

 

My first thought was, “O my, what have I done?” I was completely taken aback.

 

I rose from the table, got a Bible from a bookshelf, placed it in front of him and sat down. Then I said, “Please open it and let’s read it. Open it anywhere.”

 

He opened the Bible at Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Now of all the passages in the Bible, Daniel Chapter 10 was not toward the top of my list to read with him because of its apocalyptic language and imagery, but as Reepicheep counsels, we must take the adventure that Aslan gives us. And so our nephew began reading aloud, and as he read a thought or two he’d stop and reflect on it with Vickie and me. It was a sweet time and before we knew it Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Neil saw the essence of the chapter. He didn’t need a commentary, he didn’t need Vickie or me to explain it, he did (I hope) benefit from our encouragement. While we made occasional comments about possibilities of meaning, it was more along the line of a hitting coach suggesting to a batter what pitches to look for with a particular pitcher. A hitting coach cannot face the pitcher, only the player at bat can do that.

 

After Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10, we turned to Matthew and looked at a few passages. Since he was reading Matthew at home this seemed like a good idea – once again, to use another baseball analogy, he was making contact and putting the ball in play.

 

I don’t know what our nephew’s concept of “intellectual” is, perhaps it is more along the line of someone who receives formal education in a particular field, I suppose I should ask him. I do hope that in our time together that he saw that the Bible, by God’s grace, is accessible to us all – that as we come to God’s Word that God’s Word comes to us.

 

When I facilitate a small group, and when I preach, I tend to ask questions rather than give answers. This was also true in my business career, since I wanted my employees to grow, I needed to ask and seldom answer. Some folks respond well to this approach, others hate it. I think that once most people get over their insecurities that they not only begin to grow, but they learn to practice it with others and thereby help them grow.

 

I have learned much from the insights of others, insights which they would not have expressed had I been doing most of the talking. Often in a small group someone will say something that I had never thought of or seen in quite the same way – those times are exciting to me. Furthermore, whether in the Kingdom or in business, I’ve learned that if you give a group of people a problem and then leave them alone, they will usually come up with some great solutions and possibilities.

 

In the first conversation with our husband-and-wife friends, I was challenged by the erroneous idea that you need to exegete the Bible in a certain methodical way in order to understand it. In the second conversation I was challenged by the idea, also false, that you have to be “intellectual” to readily understand Scripture. In the first conversation I was asking myself, “Have I given that impression in my teaching and preaching?” In the second conversation I was asking myself, “How have I given that impression?”

 

The Scriptures are clear that only the Holy Spirit can reveal God’s Word to us (John 16:12 – 15; 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16). Pastors and teachers fall short if they do not instill this in their people. All of our learning and education must go through the Cross of Christ for it to be of lasting benefit. Perhaps all seminary and Bible college students should memorize 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 before they begin their studies. Perhaps all teachers and professors should be required to take an annual refresher seminar on 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

Perhaps Jesus’ words in John and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians should be written above the entrance to every seminary and every seminary library. Perhaps every author who seeks to write a commentary ought to read these two passages every day prior to beginning his work.

 

It is the rare commentary that is unambiguous in its dependence on the Holy Spirit for conveying the Word of God. These are the commentaries that view history, archeology, textual spade work and transmission through Scripture and Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring the “natural” alive, rather than building a foundation on the “natural” and forcing the Bible into the image of natural man. Many commentaries are a mixture and can be confusing to the unaware and wearisome to others (wearisome because the reader must constantly pick bones out of the fish). Some of us have learned to eat fish with bones faster than others; all of us should be careful when we do so.

 

The Holy Spirit either breathed the Bible or not. The Holy Spirit is either the Primary Source of the Bible or not. Yes, for sure God incorporates contemporary images, using them “as-is” or transforming them upward into higher and deeper perspectives – but the Primary Mover must always be the Holy Spirit, not the human author’s contemporary surroundings, understandings, beliefs, practices, intentions, and cultural biases. We must submit all things to Christ and seek Christ in all things. The Bible, by God’s grace, transports us into the eternals in Christ Jesus. We are not to live as earth dwellers.

 

We live in a time of exceptional information, I do not say that it is a time of exceptional knowledge, for to really know something requires, I think, a marriage of the mind and heart with the object to be known – whether in the concrete or the abstract (and the abstract is no longer the abstract to those who know it). Using this measure, we can seldom know anything by using a search engine. 

Employing a search engine and thinking the results by themselves give us knowledge is like purchasing a tomato at a grocery store and thinking that we have grown the tomato. We may gain data from the internet, but we are not likely to gain knowledge or wisdom. We may come home from the grocery store with a tomato, but that is not the same as our neighbor’s tomatoes on his table, for he has nurtured the soil, planted the seeds, cared for the plants, and harvested the tomatoes. Hothouse tomatoes seldom have taste, hothouse data from the internet is the same.

 

Interpretive methodologies may have their place, they may be helpful, but they must not sit on the interpretive (hermeneutical and exegetical) throne – Jesus has reserved that for the Holy Spirit. The wise interpreter submits himself and his approach to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, knowing that “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies,” knowing that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

If we remove the Holy Spirit, if we remove the supernatural, if understanding the Bible is open to anyone who can learn hermeneutical and exegetical principles, if 100% of the process of Biblical interpretation can be taught and tested – then what the Bible says about itself is a lie, 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16 is a lie, because it teaches us that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually understood” (1 Cor. 2:14).

 

Our “faith is not to rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).

 

We, who are in Christ, have been given the Holy Spirit “who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Cor. 2:12 – 13).

 

Now, how we negotiate all this is another matter, and whether we can recover from where we are and return to where we ought to be in the Holy Spirit and the Living Word is another matter. How these things are worked out is beyond my vision – I suppose it must be local, always local – yet it may indeed have broader currents. Christ Jesus must always be our North Star; the Cross must always be our portal into the Divine and heavenly.

 

Someone has said that while over the past few decades we may have done a good job of teaching people the Bible (which I question), we have not done a good job at teaching people to know Jesus.

 

There is an irony here, when thinking about the Biblical text and interpretation. The irony is that when we remove the Holy Spirit and supplant Him with our methodologies, that our focus on the text is pretty much the same as those who teach the Bible solely as literature; neither approach requires the Living Christ, neither requires the supernatural, neither requires the Holy Spirit, both are controlled by “man.”

 

As John the Baptist said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” (John 3:27).

 

You may have discerned another possible irony, and that is that I may appear to have drifted into the “intellectual” after beginning this reflection insisting that being “intellectual” is not necessary for seeing and understanding the Bible. If thinking about things is being intellectual then I am guilty, but I don’t think so, I think I am simply seeing Scripture as it is written, that I refuse to gloss over passages such as 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

If I am using terms and concepts and sharing concerns that are unfamiliar to a reader, I am complementing the reader on his or her ability to think about these important ideas and teachings from the Bible. We do not grow by being constantly fed baby food (Hebrews 5:11 – 6:3; 1 Cor. 3:1 – 2). Much of our small group and Sunday school material might as well be published by the Gerber baby food company.

 

I refuse to treat people as if they are stupid. I refuse to water down the Gospel and the Bible. I refuse to deviate from calling us to total devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ. I refuse to treat adults as children.

 

“For I determined to know nothing about you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Only the crucified Jesus Christ opens the door to seeing and understanding Scripture.

 

Let us trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus and His Word to us (John 16:12 – 15).

Postscript: I realize that this can be challenging to those of us trained in hermeneutical and exegetical methods (methods of interpretation and communication). It is difficult for me to work through it, and I imagine I’ll die without having fully done so. Aren’t we always striving to see Jesus more clearly? To see His Word more fully? 

Some of my teachers have held “methods” loosely and graciously, giving room for their students to explore and grow as the Holy Spirit works and lives in them, others have been more rigid. All have loved Jesus; all have done their best. This is analogous to being trained to preach by a good teacher. I love Scott Gibson and Haddon Robinson – for who they are in Christ (Haddon is now in the Presence), for the content of their teaching, and for their own preaching.

 

As I have previously shared, I was trained so well by Scott and Haddon that I didn’t need the Holy Spirit. After I’d been pastoring for a few months and preaching every Sunday, I realized that I had so absorbed and bought into Haddon’s methodology, including his exegetical approach (which I incorporated with that of the broader faculty) that I could preach without reliance on the Holy Spirit and that few, if anyone, would notice. 

This frightened me and (I hope) drove me to a dependance on Christ (I hope in some measure, I’m still learning this Way) and helped me to hold all methods loosely. I may return to this subject at some point, we’ll see. When you live in a culture or system, it can be difficult to critique it – especially when it appeals to you.