OVERCOME

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The life I have been blessed with has been very trying of late. I have had physical limitations that are overpowering, I have encountered my old foe depression, and I am plagued with dehabilitating fatigue that overwhelms.

 

Today though I realized something about the word overcome. It is a word in process, a word of action, a state of being. I have been so overpowered by the afflictions of my predicament that I have forgotten the nature of BEING. Although there are many conditions that create the very nature of life, I have been focused on circumstances rather than the actuality of existence.

 

I AM in a state of overcoming. No matter what the circumstances are, two and a half years ago the “status” of who I was changed from defeated, to overcoming. America is where I hail from. The strange land that has culturally taught us that the only way to live, is perfectly. But my life is a mess and I am a mess inside of it. I live in complete chaos. There is a continued spiral of decay that is alive and well in me. I think that there are many people who would look at my life in astonishment as I declare the center of my life, revolves around Christ. I hear the cries already: “But if God was real then she would be better!” or “If she was a true believer then she would get her act together!”.

 

The problem with these lines of thinking is that they are both self-centered. The first: "If God was real, then..." Well, I’m not God, but I am personally hard to understand. Who am I to question the motives and actions of the one who calls Himself “I AM” if I cannot even fathom the depths of my own soul?  In all honesty, I would rather worship a being that makes no sense at times, than one who perfectly aligns with my underwhelming mind. The other thought process involves a ridiculous notion that the common state of being for any human is perfection. If I have my facts straight, this has never been our “natural” state. We are imperfect beings.

 

In John 16 Jesus is speaking to his disciples about what is to come. He says:

 

Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

 

He speaks with authority and in a very clear way he communicates the reality of what will happen on the cross; the literal moment of overcoming. He who has overcome the pain, the trials, our sin and shame; now lives in me. I leave you with the glorious worship that is Romans 8:18-39. This is my state of permanent being. I have already overcome through the power of Christ, now I eagerly wait for redemption.

 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

           

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

           

            God’s Everlasting Love

 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

 

              "For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

                        we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

                                    

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The Lamb Led to Slaughter.

We speak a good deal about that supreme mystery of our faith, the death to self. For, as we have heard, he who would save his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for Jesus’ sake shall find it. But what does that really mean -to die to self? Does it mean, perhaps, selling my car and going on foot or by bus? It might. We can’t rule out the possibility. Does it mean, perhaps, selling my good clothes and furniture so that my wife and I should sit around in rags on orange crates? It might. Certainly we can’t dismiss that possibility either. For the problem is that words like “dying to self” are translated into some kind of action, or something that actually happens -that is, some real change -they don’t have any real meaning. So we certainly must try, eventually, to translate them into the language of action.

But before we get too hasty and impatient there are some things at which we should take a hard look. The first is that we have a rather incurable tendency always to refuse to really listen to the words of God and instead to translate them immediately into something we are going to do, indeed, can do. This is what we always do with the law. We take it and translate it into a do-it-yourself kit for salvation. It is as though we think we are going to do God a big favor by living up to what is demanded of us and even, possibly, put him out of the salvation business by accomplishing all or at least some of it ourselves-even if that turns out to be just a teeny-weeny little bit. But when we do that we really come a-cropper when we come to this word about dying to self. For what can that possibly mean in a do-it-yourself religion? Here God has set a snare for us in our easy confidence that we are big enough to handle the job. For this is a word that we find difficult to handle. We find ourselves forced either to ignore it -which we mostly do -or to try to cut it down to size so we can handle it -maybe by selling our car or our furniture or our clothes. But even then we can’t rest too easily with it, for we are never quite sure that that is enough. For however much discomfort such actions may cause us, is that really dying to self? They may be just another means of keeping myself in the business of doing God big -or little -favors, and thus of protecting myself from really hearing the words. The trouble is that the self keeps getting in the way.

But what then does it really mean? When considering this question, I was struck by some of the incidents recorded in our texts for today. For here we have the picture of Jesus on the way to his death. His disciples are with him, and are apparently figuring that they are going to have a hand in what is about to happen. They want to go along. They want to help out, to do their bit in the business of bringing in God’s kingdom, even, as Peter says in Mark’s account, if that means sacrificing their lives. But the really difficult thing for them to take, as I suspect it also is for us as “religious” people, is that in the final analysis there is absolutely and utterly nothing they can do. When Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, Peter wants to do something about it. He sets himself in the way and says, “God forbid, Lord! Don’t do it! Don’t go!” Peter wants to do God a favor -to protect and preserve the Messiah and his kingdom. But Jesus looks at him and says, “Get thee behind me Satan! For you are hindrance to me, you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mark 8:33)’ This, Jesus says, is something that must happen; it is going to happen because God wants it, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

And at the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane when the crowd comes out against Jesus with swords and clubs, they still want to do something. They still want to do their bit for God. They want to take up the sword and risk their lives, perhaps, and fight. One of them grasps a sword and cuts off the ear of one of the assailants. But Jesus will have  none of it: “Put up your sword,” he says, “for there is absolutely nothing you can do!” In Luke’s account, Jesus even stretches out his hand to undo what the disciples had tried to do -he heals the wounded man. At that point, no doubt, everything within us cries out in protest along with the disciples. Is there nothing we can do? Could we not at least perhaps stage a protest march on God’s behalf? Could we not seek, perhaps, an interview with Pilate? Could we not try to influence the “power structures”? Something -however small? But the unrelenting answer comes back, “No, there is nothing you can do, absolutely nothing. If there were something to be done, my Father would send legions of angels to fight!” But there is nothing to be done. “For how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” And when it finally came to that last and bitter moment, when these good religious men finally realized that there was nothing they could do, they forsook him and fled.

Can you see it? Can you see that hidden in these very words, these very events, is that death itself which you fear so much coming to meet you? For there is nothing that the old man -the self which must die fears so much as having everything taken out of his hands. When they finally saw there was nothing they could do they forsook him and fled before the awesome truth. You, who presume to do business with God, can you see it? Can you see that this death of self is not, in the final analysis, something you can do? For the point is that God has once and for all reserved for himself the business of your salvation. There is nothing you can do now but, as the words of the old hymn have it, “climb Calvary’s mournful mountain” and stand with your helpless arms at your side and tremble before “that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete! It is finished; hear him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die!”

Can you see it? Can you see that really the last, bitter death is there? That in that cross God has stormed the last bastion of the self, the last presumption that you really were going to do something for him? Can you see that the death of Jesus Christ is your death? He has died in your place! He has done it. He made it. He created a salvation in the midst of time and his enemies. He is God happening to you. It is all over, finished, between you and God! He died in your place that death which you must die; he has done it in such a way as to save you. He has borne the whole thing! The fact that there is nothing left for you to do is the death of self and new birth of the new creature. He died to make a new creature of you, and as he arose, to raise you up to trust God alone.

If you can see it, perhaps then you can see, or perhaps at least begin to see, what is the power of God’s grace and rejoice. For that is the other side of the coin once you have gotten out of your self-enclosed system. Then perhaps you can turn away from yourself, maybe really for the first time, and look upon your neighbors. Maybe for the first time you can begin to receive creation as a gift, a sheer gift from God’s hands. And who knows what might happen in the power of this grace? All possibilities are open. You might sell your car, or even give it away -for someone else. You might find even that you could swallow your pride and stage a protest march -for your neighbor -or begin to seek to influence the power structures! For in the power of his cross the way is open! The way is open to begin, at least, perhaps in faltering ways, in countless little ways, to realize what it means to die to self. For that, in the final analysis, is his gift to you, the free gift of the new man, the new woman, the one who can live in faith and hope, for whom all possibilities are open!

via thegospelcoalition.org

I experienced firsthand the overwhelming pain of helplessness this week. In a very literal way I stood by incapable, as the lamb was led to slaughter.

In this moment I did what I do best.

I fled.

My heart breaks to say this but it is true. I did not run to my Savior, I ran away. In true form of the example set by the disciples, when I saw there was nothing I could do I ran away.

The most amazing thing about this moment of humiliation is that God is here, even when I run. God is good, even when I run. God is true even when I run.

I am learning to trust that this horrific situation, that I can do nothing in, will be turned for God's Glory. Even though I ran, there is grace for me also, I am being turned for God's Glory.

As you read this sermon by Gerhard Forde (and I pray you do!), be reminded that it is not central to you, but most importantly hinges on Jesus.

"Jesus paid it all, all to Thee I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
Oh praise the One who Paid my debt and brought this life up from the grave!"

A Conversation on Theology

via theresurgence.com

Over the past few months I have seen a wide spray of conjecture based on current "popular" leaders opinions in the Christian world. It is very refreshing to hear a conversation with four of those such leaders who are all very different in understanding certain views.

Bloggers and fast-paced information movement has caused us to lose sight of CONVERSATION and move into complete and total thought driven SPECULATION. As I watch these four men, who are integral to the heartbeat of the Christian Movement today (this is true whether you agree with all of their doctrines or not), I see a facet that a lot of us have missed: Discussion.

As we are very vocal beings it is important to know and share what you believe and who you are. Do not miss this. Please continue to surmise and interpret, please continue to let others know what you see and how you see it, but most importantly please do not forget to take a moment to hear more than your own voice.

There is a reason that others see the world differently than you do. Instead of persecuting and even protecting these views, how about listening with fresh eyes the other side. Maybe the middle ground will be Jesus.

As you watch this video, hear the nuance of differences, but also realize that there is always a middle ground. May we learn from these gifted men the art of conversation.

A burning heart of Escapism?

Aching for yonder shores and longingly scanning the distant horizon may well be God’s call on our lives. But it also may be our impatience with the monotonous minutiae of the daily grind. Escapism is not fulfilling the great commission.  

Regardless of our location, abroad or at home, all ministry is inescapably local. Every worker in a global context must embrace the monotonous minutiae of a new daily grind after the plane lands—figuring out the postal service, dealing with the cell phone company, conjugating verbs in the slow and tedious study of the language. If we cannot be faithful to do our statistics homework or collaborate with our coworkers, then we may lack the strength of character required for dealing with the meticulous annoyances of a more radical life beyond the romanticized horizon.

via relevantmagazine.com

I love the heart test behind this article. I am ever wanting to leave the place that I am at, yet this is what I am called to: today. In church we have been cracking the surface of the book of James. The passage in chapter four hit me hard: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

I do not know what tomorrow will bring, am I wasting the glory of this moment by wishing I was elsewhere? Most definitely. I may be called to another place in my lifetime, but being unable to love this time and this moment only deters that from happening.

I am learning to rest on God. And God has brought me through today. For that I give thanks. This moment is a mist, and I pray that I make the most of it.

Reverently Enamored.

Set the faithfulness of the Lord before you under the saddest providences. 
O what quietness will this breed! I see my God will not lose my heart, if a rod can prevent it. he would rather hear me groan here than howl hereafter. His love is judicious, not fond. He consults my good rather than my ease.

-John Flavel

 

 

 

Excerpt taken from Jonathan Parnell's blog post. Read the rest here.