More than just a Laborer

Following the analogy of the hired workers in Matthew (Matt. 20:1), the Christian walk may be compared to an employment in the trades. One can either advance in their productivity as a believer through practical consistent application of the fundamental revelation they have received in Christ to become the best servant they can for the kingdom of God. Or they can sit idly by & watch as their "coworkers" do all of the "heavy lifting" (this of course profits no one, least of all one's self). Or in contrast to these, they may also in addition to their ongoing contribution to the body in practical service ("work"), profit by studying in greater detail the profound mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ("the Trade") & so be conformed to the Image of their Creator ("Employer") as they meditate on His work. 

And this will inevitably make them more than just a better tradesman (servant). It will make them a more complete reflection of their employer & their employment to the outside "unemployed" world to the benefit of everyone around them including themselves. I don't know about you but this is my desire in the new year, to be a greater more complete reflection to the outside world of the One who utterly & completely saved me from the judgment and wrath I justly deserve. I want to reflect and promote the revelation of Jesus Christ in more than just what I say and do. I want to reflect the righteous author of all reality in what I am in Christ by the Spirit according to the riches of The Father's grace. These are my remaining thoughts this last day in December & consequently the last hrs of this year. God bless every one of you ever patient pilgrims as you pursue the same goal. 

A Marital Reality

More than likely you will find a natural albeit often unrecognized individual or mutual rejection of reality at the heart of every broken marrital relationship. That is because marriage whether we like it or not is a revelation of reality. It is not a revelation of reality as we'd like it to be but as it actually is. And for the majority of us that is always more than a little jarring to deal with.

That is partly due to the fact that there is very little preparation today from the outside world for the sort of reality a marriage reveals. The society we live in today is largely comprised of self-focused relativistic human beings who naturally and instinctively prefer to flee from the pressures and discomfort of reality in general let alone the sort of reality a marriage reveals. So it is no surprise that rather than prepare us for marriage our society tends to actually deter us from it instead. And the same can be said for the entertainment music and advertising industries as well since they are also largely comprised of those who subscribe to the same mindset. 

In general it is because of the inward spiritual corruption of the human heart that human beings are so naturally instinctively and illogically repulsed by reality. It unsettles us precisely because it brings us both into conflict with our own individual need for necessary often impossible change and therefore our indisputable need for the Savior. We dislike change of any kind to begin with but especially where it most concerns our own individual need for moral and spiritual development. As such the problem with marriage is that among other things it forces us to take a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror, to see ourselves for who we really are, so we can recognize our own dire need for personal development (and thus a need for the savior) and want to repent. 

But the mirror that marriage forces us to look into is not some mirror of our own design. It is not one that we can easily manipulate or control (at least for the most part. There are always exceptions). The mirror that we are forced to look into in marriage is that of another human being, one that is as frail and selfish as we are, one that will never leave our side even if we want them too (if they have committed themselves as they promised to in their initial vows). And that is the perplexity of the marital relationship, that we must look into the living mirror of our spouse day in and day out and see ourselves for who we really are whether we like it or not.

Now from the very beginning we were created to reflect our Maker, to multiply and fill the earth with His image and likeness. And as such (whether we like it or not) we each naturally reflect the person or thing we most focus our attention upon. That is to say we ultimately resemble whatever we love, adore, fixate on or give our selves to. And in the case of marriage you have two human beings joined together each resembling the other for better and for worse as they co-habitate with each other day in and day out.  

Worse still is the fact that each does more than just resemble the other. Over time they will also reveal to each other the quality (or lack thereof) and degree of the other's character. And this is especially evident in the heat of an argument where each typically attempts to "appropriate" the other's perceived faults as a means of "winning" said argument or in an attempt to deter from or deflect the other's argument against them. Now add to this the permanence of the marital agreement and you are just beginning to get a taste of what marriage has the potential to do to a person mentally emotionally psychologically and spiritually especially if either or both parties are  not prepared for it. 

Now as I said before each spouse is meant to serve as a permanent lasting sanctifying reflection of who we really are whether we know it or not or like it or not. And this is for the express purpose of shaping us into the man or woman that we were originally created to be to begin with. Really this is the purpose of any and every extra familial relationship that we might have as far as the Creator is concerned. It is just that the life long commitment we make in marriage which ultimately cultivates actual intimacy serves to make it a far more effective means of personal purification than say a really deep friendship that we can still technically arbitrarily write off any reason we like any time we like. 

And that is why in my own personal opinion so many marriages fail today. We do not typically recognize the value or the purpose of the sort of permanence or life long commitment upon which a healthy marriage is built to be effective. In general we prefer to live without conflict. You will rarely meet a person who knowingly looks to be uncomfortable unless perhaps they are a masochist at heart. And that is exactly what conflict generally does. It breeds discomfort. And ironically enough as strange and disconcerting as it is for the majority of us to accept, that is precisely what a marriage does. It breeds continual often mutual personal discomfort.  It breeds discomfort precisely because it is in fact a conflict, an epic lifelong conflict of the will between two equal opposing forces. 

It is a life long contest between the reality we naturally reject and the ideology we naturally crave. It is a war of the will between a human being and their Maker as He naturally reveals Himself to them in the way that he has created the natural universe to function around them. But it is also a battle of the mind, one where the desire for true intimacy squares up against the fear and dread of it, where the need to be "fully known and fully loved" by others (as my friend Holly would say) takes its stand against the natural drive to escape from others into the deepest recesses of our own personal solitude. And oddly and ironically enough the only real victory that comes about in this sort of competition is our willful surrender in it not our resistance to it. 

And it is in this one crucial aspect, that marriage perfectly mirrors the relationship we have with God as believers. For just as it is not the "victor" who defeats reality but the "loser" who accepts it that is truly victorious in the marital relationship, so it is not the Christian who resists the will of God but the one who accepts it that is truly victorious in their relationship with Him. That is to say, it is not the one who holds out the longest or who is the most stubborn or resolved to be un-corrected who is actually victorious in marriage. It is the one who genuinely humbly even joyfully surrenders the most willingly to the "correction" of reality as it confronts them in their human spousal counterpart, who truly "wins"in marriage. 

And the same is true of the Christian walk. The spiritually mature believer in Christ does not flee from Spiritual reality. They embrace it wholeheartedly. They accept their natural inability to please God on their own, they recognize their inescapable need for the continual application of God's saving work in Christ on their behalf. They know where they'd be without His love and His sacrifice. They know the constant revelation of their failure is only a reflection of the reality that they will always need Christ. And they not only accept that. They are grateful for it and rejoice in it because they know they need it. 

And that is also how it is in a healthy marrital relationship. Our mutual failure to love the other as we have promised is indicative of our mutual need for not only each other's sacrificial love but also the sacrificial love of the One who made us as well. In the institution of marriage God the source of all wisdom and knowledge accommodates to us the natural finite means whereby we may now see our mutual need for Him and other people. And that is why I opened this piece by saying that a broken marrital relationship is really an indication of a natural albeit often unrecognized rejection of reality. 

For in marriage we are daily faced with an inescapable question and a choice. Are we going to look into the mirror that God has provided for us with our own choosing and accept the reflection they reveal to us? Or are we going to shut our eyes to the truth they reveal and demonize them instead? Are we going to attempt to break the human counterpart we've committed ourselves to until the reflection staring back at us is more appealing to our ego than it was? Or are we going to look with humility and adjust as we are led by the Spirit of God himself? Are we going to cover the inadequacy they expose to us with a metaphorical fig leaf we have created for ourselves? Or are we going to accept the reality they present to us in our marital relationship to them? Are we going to flee into the arms of some fleeting temporal fantasy or accept the tangible reality presented to us in our spouse? Are we going to fight the truth every step of the way to our mutual harm or lay down and surrender to it for the sake of our mutual benefit? The choice is up to us if we are married. But we should always know this, and know it well. Whatever we choose, in the end the reality will ALWAYS win.

 

In general we all need to resist the temptation to have your own way especially at the cost of reality. But husbands I am especially talking to you as one myself. As a husband we often think that our wife is called to submit to us and we are only called to lead them. But that is only half true because we are called to submit as well. We are called to submit to God in Christ as HE leads our family. And we are called to submit to the Word of God as He instructs us through it. We are called to submit to the institution of marriage itself so we can be malleable and useful to Him in it. And to that end we are also called to submit to the practical reality He reveals to us daily through our spouse so we do not get in the way of His leading in our family. Any leader who doesn't think that he has to submit to God or His word is sadly and sorely mistaken. For the true essence of being human is being in submission to and dependent on the One who made us. And it is because we fail to see that as MEN and apply it as such that MUCH of the world is the way it is today. (But I digress.)

If we would really know the God who created us in His image and redeemed us from the tyranny of ourselves and sin than we must first come to Him in brokenness and surrender to the reality He alone has created His universe to function with. And nowhere is that more naturally and practically applicable for us than in the institution of Marriage. If we would know him then, we must accept that wonderful and difficult reality that lies before us in marriage, and rely upon the mercy of God there to see us through it as He reveals Himself to us in it, as His tireless faithful Patient Pilgrims.

The True Christian Reality

For as long as I can remember the cry of the modern evangelical Christian church has been, "It's not a religion, its a relationship."  That is to say being a Christian is more about having a personal relationship with God than it is about being a part of a religious system. And while I confess that I myself have held to this belief before, I have to say now and largely without a doubt, that as well intentioned as it might be, it is still ultimately and fundamentally wrong. That's because the idea itself is an oversimplification of the very truth it professes to defend. 

The reality the Bible conveys to us cannot finally be restrained by such overtly simplistic human categories  because it's ultimately rooted in something much higher than we are. And as such it cannot be confined by the religion/relationship distinction paradigm we have created for it. In fact we would do well to stay away from any distinction which is not already explicitly taught in the scriptures themselves when defending the validity of our faith. If we absolutely must communicate in such limited terms then we should do so with great care. For the bible communicates to us something far more transcendent than anything we could ever come up with: a very distinct specific and necessary redemptive reality. 

Or to be more specific it presents to us the unified witness of a particular reality that is currently being cultivated in actual space time history in the life of every believer who puts their faith in the historical Jesus Christ and the finished work He alone has accomplished on their behalf for them. Such a work is neither purely subjective nor simply objective in the final analysis. It is not an abstract philosophical principle. And it is not an existential personal revelation. It is not even another generic religious observation. So it should not be treated as such. It is in the most realistic sense imaginable the actual restoration of the cosmos through the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

So when we say that we are Christians we are not simply saying that we now have a general relationship with "the Man Upstairs or that you should have one yourself (this is too abstract). We are not saying that we have found a truth or even "the one true truth" (because that too is also abstract). We are not even saying that we have found our true purpose in this life. So we can help you find yours (this again is only abstract). And we most certainly are not saying that we have found the ultimate temporal fulfillment on this earth (because you guessed it; that too is abstract). Though each and every one of these (with certain exceptions) are valid in their own right they do not fully and finally encapsulate what it really means to be a Christian in this world because they are all only abstract, human in their origin.

In contrast to this the truth that God conveys to us in His word, which we affirm as Christians, is not simply or finally abstract in the end because it is not human in its origin. It is rooted in something much higher than we are. It is rooted in a reality, a systematic comprehensive and personal reality. Or to be more specific (as Edmond Clowney would say), it is rooted in a person, the person of the Trinity. So when we say that we are Christians what we are really saying is that we identify with the person and work of Jesus Christ as He has been revealed to us by the Father through the Holy Spirit in the physical world historically. 

We are testifying to the reality that the God of the Bible is not only real himself but also the cornerstone of every other universal reality. We are testifying to the fact that He alone has made us, created us in His own image and delivered us in spite of ourselves from the judgment we justly deserve from Him by sending His own Son. We are acknowledging that He alone has restored us to the rightful place of original fellowship with Himself in the work of Jesus Christ. And we know this because He has literally sealed us with His very own Spirit as a down payment on this reality. The result of which is a newly restored perception of reality in general.

And this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the foundational cornerstone upon which the entire visible Christian church is originally built. But I rarely if ever hear it proclaimed as such today (as it really is conveyed in the scriptures). Instead more often than not it is presented to us as a sort of conventional superior spiritual option designed to better improve our temporal station in this world. Or it is treated as a somewhat dated but ultimately useless abstract philosophical ideal designed to enhance our understanding of the universe in general but can do nothing for the condition of our soul. It is rarely if ever treated as a universal reality. And when it is, it is not treated as a very transcendent or applicable one. 

In fact sadly many today who even profess to proclaim the gospel from a strictly orthodox biblical understanding do not always communicate it in the terms the bible relates it to us. Instead they present it as a sort of superior mandatory moral choice that you or I would be foolish to reject. Or they present it as a literal form of future fire insurance.  One might even go so far as to say that the prevailing belief of the modern day conservative evangelical church is to treat the gospel as a strictly moral imperative, an exhortation designed to facilitate and promote practical public service and worship. And while there is some truth in that sentiment I would argue that this alone (while helpful to some) may actually cultivate in us a sort of forced but faulty loyalty that is more indicative of a distant stoic or unemotional God than the one presented to us in the Bible. 

The gospel is more than just a call to active service, more than some temporal earthly comfort, more than a mandatory moral correction or even some temporal external form of repentance. And it is much more than just fire insurance. Being a Christian means more than just having a purpose, more than just knowing or "living it out". It is more than just being "missions" minded or even being "others" minded for that matter. It is more than just loving someone and it is more than just speaking the truth in love. It is not simply a right way to live. It is a restoration of our whole being that transfers into the way we think and speak and live. It is being conformed to the way we were created to live from the very beginning. And in a very real sense it is a supernatural event. 

It is the product of a Spirit directed new creation. The result of which is having a newly created natural ongoing preoccupation with Jesus Christ that is centered on Christ, rooted in Christ for the express purpose of being conformed to the image of Christ so we can truly know Christ, exude Christ and preach Christ to every unconverted unregenerate person outside of Christ to the praise and glory of you guessed it...Jesus Christ! The apostle Paul clearly understood this. That is why he wrote "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain"(Phil. 1:21). That is why the theme of it categorizes nearly every single one of his letters. He understood all too well what it really means to be a Christian. He understood that in spite of all the "superior" knowledge he had obtained as a zealous Pharisee he was still missing the one crucial thing that really mattered, the cornerstone reality upon which all other reality is hinged: Jesus Christ. And as a result he readily affirmed the stone he had previously and ignorantly rejected had become for him the chief cornerstone of his very existence (Ps. 118:22).

It is because of sin and death that we exist outside of the one who made us choosing instead to reject him and flee into the darkness. Because He is holy and because we enter this world naturally unholy broken and defiled from birth we cannot come to Him on our own apart from his intervention. That is why God has chosen in Christ to restore the breech that originally kept us from him. That finished work has now provided for us a way whereby we may enter into his permanent eternal gracious fellowship without defiling His own holy nature in the process. And this is the testament of every believer who puts their trust in Him: that God in Christ has restored to Himself they who formerly rejected Him by taking their place and fulfilling their debt so He could ultimately grant them the privilege of ruling by His side forever in paradise.

We identify with Christ as Christians and affirm with the saints of old that we are redeemed and sealed for the day of final permanent redemption to the reality God alone has affected by His Spirit in the work He accomplished in His Son on our behalf. That is what it really means to be a Christian. It means to live in and participate with the one true everlasting and final reality. It means to be a part of and proclaim the supernatural intervention and triumph of God over the cosmos. 

And more than any other time in human history I believe it is important for us as believers in Christ living in an increasingly corrupt and relativistic society to get that, believe it and proclaim it in the world around us. We need to recognize and affirm the true reality the Gospel declares, with not only our lips but also our lives, in public and in private, whether we are prepared or not. Because the last thing this society needs is another wishy-washy consumer driven message about our all important temporal personal fulfillment and happiness.

Let's walk by faith in Christ as the redeemed people we claim to be, looking to the One who made us and ultimately reconciled us to himself, to sustain us and empower us for this great work. Let's be the church we were created to be, a reflection of the true and living Christ who gave his own life for us on our behalf so we can live with Him as coheirs of the promise we now have in Him. Let's willing submit at any cost to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He directs us and conforms us to the image of the One who Redeemed us as His covenant kingdom children. 

For we were ultimately created for this purpose alone: to submit to enjoy and bear witness to the transcendent reality and victory He purchased for us in Christ as His blood washed Spirit filled Patient Pilgrim saints.

Passion and Patience

In the classic work The Pilgrims Progress Christian arrives at the home of a rather mystical pilgrim who goes by the name of Mr Interpreter. It is there in this particular section of the book that Mr Interpreter provides Christian (and the reader) a series of unearthly spiritual glimpses into the deeper realities of the Pilgrims Road. Of these visions (and they are all insightful) there is one which stands out to me above the rest. 

It is the part where Mr. Interpreter leads Christian to another smaller room. There he sees two very different children each sitting in a small wooden chair of their own. We are told by the author that the eldest child's name is Passion and his younger brother's name is Patience. We see right away that Passion is discontented where his younger brother Patience is quiet. When Christian inquires into the matter Mr. Interpreter deftly answers,"The Governer of them would have him (Passion) stay for his best things till the beginning of the next year; but he will have all now; but Patience is willing to wait."

Now what is intriguing about this particular revelation is that Passion is presented with his heart's delight. A man lays a bag of treasure at his feet and he immediately takes it up and laughs Patience to scorn before he lavishes it all away on himself and is left with nothing but rags. 

When asked to expound on the matter by the now perplexed Christian Mr. Interpreter provides the following profound explanation. These two are figures of two types of men. Passion represents the men of THIS world where Patience represents the men of the world to come. Where the men of this world have to have everything NOW in this life the men of the world to come are content to wait. Just as Passion lavished away all his riches anyways and was left with only rags so will it be in the end when they who live for this life die.

Christian promptly responds to this by  saying that Patience has the best wisdom. For he waits for what's best and has glory where the other has only rags. But to this Interpreter wisely adds, yes but more importantly what Patience gets will NEVER wear out, where the stuff of this life is "suddenly gone". "For the first must give place to last because last must have its time to come. But last gives place to nothing; for there is not another to succeed."

Christian humbly replies, "Then I see it is best not to covet things that are now but to wait for things to come" (A very wise response indeed). But to this Interpreter (of course) must add: "For the things that are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal."(2 Cor. 4:18) Amen. 

Now you might ask me why I have written all of this. Why did I take the long road to say such a simple truth? And I will tell you. First of all the long roads are always the best. Although the pilgrim's path is filled with many short cuts none of them produce the lasting valuable growth we each secretly desire to have. If you want to know the true richness of walking with the Master then you must follow him through the thickest forrests climb the highest mountains traverse the deepest valleys and walk where the road is the most unforgiving on your feet. In other words you must go where HE leads you no matter where it might be. There are no shortcuts to true spiritual maturity as believers just as there are no shortcuts to living in this life.

Now with everything that is going on in this country today there is a lot of valid human reason to complain. After all we do live in the real world. And we are all going to be practically affected by what's going on around us whether we like it or not. But just the same we are called as believers to think differently, to act differently; to be different. We are called to live as sojourners making our way in this world to that eternal destination promised to us in Christ to come not as citizens making the best of it now.

We have the divine opportunity whether we want it or not to be "patient" when others are "discontented", to trust in our God when others are afraid, to lean on and be led by the Spirit of God in this earthly valley, to walk by faith even when it hurts us financially, challenges us emotionally or tests us spiritually. 

So won't you join with me today? Let's wait with joy together for the One who made us and went before us to a prepare a better lasting place for us so we might dwell with him in the heavenlies while he puts the rest of the world of passion under his feet to the praise and glory of His name and the benefit of his people. Let's walk with Christ in the Power of His Spirit as his people, as humble grateful Patient Pilgrims. 

Meditations on Spiritual Worship

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is more than just an emotional experience. Worship is more than just a song that we sing in our closet or in public. The Gospel is more than just fire insurance or the promise of a fulfilling life experience here on earth. And Jesus Christ is more than just a super-man a healer a prophet or even a really good teacher. The Bible is more than just a collection of personalized promises to appropriate at our convenience. It is a revelation of an actual historical redemptive reality. And I needed to say that tonight if only for myself because I am surrounded by a culture that is obsessed with existential meaningless experiences that have very little or no bearing on reality. 

Instead of seeking some fleeting temporal existential or spiritual human experience we would all benefit from a continual ongoing saturation of the word of God followed by a prolonged silent meditation on not only what we have read but who it is that we have read about if only to be confronted with the startling revelation that the bible is actually about him and not so much about us. 

There is something so healing about being invaded by the reality of the bible. There is something so painfully destructive about chasing the next emotional experience. Revival has little to do with an experience and everything to do with a revelation, an external transcendent revelation. It is the revelation that Jesus Christ is all. He fills all and he satisfies all. It is a revelation that begins with an listening ear an attentive heart and a willing life. It is the revelation of the true gospel.

Too many today have forgotten the deceptive quality of their own hearts and followed them to their own vanity and fleeting emptiness. But we should not follow suit as believers. The inheritance that waits for us in Christ is too precious to be replaced by the bobbles and trinkets of their fleeting experiences. Let's not deceive ourselves into forgetting that the worship of the King is always foremost for the king, the spreading of the gospel so he can redeem the dead and reconcile the lost. We preach to bring about His judgment, to be reminded ourselves of his unsurpassed authority and worth. We are his workmanship his sheep and his children. By only chasing experiences we rob ourselves of the true joy that is to be had in this spiritual marriage we were purchased for and graciously brought into. We are like those who occupy their time in generous displays of romantic gestures but who altogether forget their spouse if all we care about are the accolades and personal experiences.

The relationship with God that we profess transcends emotionality and experience. Sure He will touch our emotions from time to time. But if we become too accustomed to those precious  moments we will be like Elijah chasing the falling fire but neglecting the value of the still small voice. 

Anyways these are my thoughts tonight. You can take them or leave them if you like. My hope is that in some small way they will stir in us an unquenchable satisfaction in the reality that God has conveyed to us in his word through his precious son the Christ. May he be the center of our thoughts and the motivations and intentions of our will whether we experience in our emotions the tangible reality of his presence or not. God bless you my fellow patient pilgrims.

Not Merely an Means to An End

Contrary to what many today believe, Jesus is not simply a means to an end. He is the end for which every one of us actually exists. Our temporal flawed and human works grow out of his flawless and eternal work on the cross. We exist because He does. Without Him we neither exist nor have life in that existence which we have been graciously given in Him. We exist for Him, to magnify His word His work and His will, to be conformed to His image. If we miss that than we miss it all. For wisely and not ill informed did the Apostle Paul write that our life is really hidden in Him because we were ultimately created to be conformed to His Image to the praise and glory of our God.