Living a 220 life

Joy that transcends circumstances

As a Christian we’re called to be joyful all the time. I mean, at any given time a non-believer should recognize a joy in us that sets us apart from everyone else. This sounds good in theory but how in the world are you supposed to remain joyful when life takes the inevitable turns it always does? You know, when the bank makes an error in their favor, when the car breaks down while you’re on the way to the airport, so you miss your flight, so you miss your child’s wedding, so you get a ticket while speeding, etc., etc., and the list goes on. Honestly, sometimes life becomes really “un-joyful”. So how do we remain joyful when every circumstance in life is un-joyful?

Paul had every reason to be un-joyful in Acts 16. Let’s begin with verse 22 where we read, “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods.” Ok, so this is one of those “un-joyful” moments. The judge orders Paul and Silas beaten for their faith. I don’t know about you but I probably wouldn’t be very joyful at this point. Then in verse 23 we read, “They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison.” OK, again…un-joyful moment. But now for sure I would NOT be joyful. My circumstances would definitely overtake me and I would be un-joyful. However, in Paul’s case we find him and Silas signing and praying in verse 25. How in the world is Paul able to do this? How do these guys remain joyful in this time of beating and imprisonment?

The answer rests in Galatians 2:20 when Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” You see, Paul is stating that he no longer views the world through his own circumstances but everything is now viewed through his life in Christ. Paul recognizes that his life is no longer his own. In fact, he states in Romans 14:8 that, “If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Circumstances will change every day just as the wind blows however; Jesus remains a constant, unchanging, rock. If we are to find unending joy we must find it in Christ.

Our un-joyful attitudes come about only through the shifting of our focus from Christ to our self. When we submit our lives to something larger than ourselves, namely Jesus, we no longer view circumstances as a personal catastrophe. Paul was able to sing and pray in prison because he had already died and gone to heaven. Not literally but figuratively. Paul gave up caring about how circumstances affected him personally and cared only about living for Jesus. Paul knew the rest of his life was simply service to Jesus until he moved on to heaven.

If we find ourselves burdened and un-joyful due to our circumstances we’ll likely find a Lordship issue in our heart and an over indulgence in self concern. An example is found in the entertainment world of football. Some people will watch football for fun and enjoy the game. Other people will know every detail of every player and get intimately involved in “their” team. I’ve heard many people refer to a professional football team using inclusive terms such as “we”, “us”, and “them” while the person has never actually been a part of the team. These two types of people represent those detached from the world in Jesus and those completely attached through self concern. While the first person enjoys the game and understands what is going on, they aren’t significantly attached to a team and aren’t emotionally impacted when their favorite team loses. Certainly they aren’t happy about a loss but the game is merely an external item to their meaningful life. The person who is emotionally invested in “their” football team has brought the external item into their life and places a great deal of importance in the football game out of a selfish desire for more entertainment.

My friends, when we become overly concerned with our own well being we become slaves to the circumstances of life. When we surrender our lives to Jesus we become slaves to Him. Hard times will still come in life but we are no longer changed by them. Understand, bad things still happen, that doesn’t change; however, we are rooted in the unchanging joy of the Lord. Brothers and Sisters, we must be Christians who are in the world but not of the world. Only when we learn to truly detach ourselves from this world while still living in the world will we be able to remain joyful all the time. Friends, won’t you die to self today and realize the unchanging joy Jesus offers us in this life? AMEN!

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Balancing a surrendered life

As I dig into the teachings of Jesus the concept that continues to jump out at me is His call for an extreme change of life. Somehow, many Christians today have developed this idea that a Christian is meant to be a very mild, middle of the road, conservative who never rocks the boat in any way. We’re meant to be financially secure, completely family oriented, and perfect in every way. I’m being a bit facetious here but many people have views that aren’t too far off from this. Somehow Christianity has become synonymous with boring and conservative. My friends, as you dig into the life of Jesus you’ll find that He was anything but boring and conservative; no He was radical and very progressive. So how do we balance our stable family life with the call to follow our radical God?

In Luke 14:26-27 we find Jesus teaching, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison–your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” Ok, at first glance this is pretty extreme. I mean, this seems to have crazy cult written all over it. However, when this teaching is taken in context with everything else Jesus taught, you’ll find a deep calling to surrender your life as a servant to those around you. Rather than a call to sever all ties with friends and family, you’ll find a call to strengthen all ties with friends and family…with a twist. Let me explain.

Scripture teaches us in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” Scripture never contradicts itself and therefore this Timothy passage must be in unison with the Luke verse, though they seem at odds. Timothy makes it very clear that we are not to abandon our family in order to follow Jesus. Luke makes it very clear that we are to love Jesus above everything else in life, including our own life. Though these verses seem at odds they actually fit perfectly. You see, our human understanding is warped by sin. We think we know how to love our family best but we don’t. Let me offer an example.

Imagine you have no idea what an automobile is or what it’s capable of. You have the desire to travel a great, great distance in order to show your love for someone. However, the distance is so great that you’ll never be able to walk there in your lifetime but you don’t know this. Jesus shows up with the nicest of sports cars and tells you to stop walking; in fact, stop doing anything you could do to move toward your goal. Just hop in this nice sports car and allow the car to take you to your goal. Now, to us this seems like a no brainer because we know the capabilities of a car. However, to someone who has no idea what a car is it would be pretty crazy to stop showing your love by halting your march toward the goal. The problem is this: you’ll never actually achieve your goal unless you get in the car! The same is true with loving your family and friends. You’ll never actually love them until you surrender everything to Jesus and love Him first.

The beloved disciple John explains this concept to us best when he writes, “We love each other because He loved us first.” (1John 4:19) Do you see this? We can’t love each other without the love of Jesus in our lives! Friends, when you step into a relationship with Jesus it’s like you’re putting on a supernatural love amplifier. Without the amplifier you can attempt to love but it won’t happen; once it’s on you’ll love like you never could before. The problem is that people don’t want to completely put the amplifier on. Remember the call from Jesus in Luke; it’s not a simple acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord…no, it’s a complete surrender of your life to Him. He must be your first and primary love. Only by seeking Him above all else is He able to guide your daily actions in order to love those around you.

You see, when you’re surrendered to Jesus and your daily actions are guided by His Word it’s actually Jesus loving those around you through you. If you desire to love your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, if you desire to love anyone, the only way to do it is through complete surrender to Jesus. Sometimes He’ll call you to do something you don’t understand. It might even look like it’s unloving to a family member, but you must trust Him. I’ve made some very difficult decisions based on His Word that eventually revealed His infinite love which I couldn’t originally see. My friends, trust me, when you live day by day surrendered to Him it will ALWAYS work out. It might be tough at first but He will never let you down. AMEN!

When life becomes too much

Have you ever found yourself is a spot where you just don’t know how you’re going to make it another day? Perhaps you’ve found yourself looking at a stack of bills while your empty bank account screams failure at you. Or maybe you’ve lost your job and you’re left wondering how in the world you’ll make it through the next month. My friend, if you haven’t faced a time like this let me assure you, it will come! Our Father in heaven will most certainly take you to the edge of human certainty where trust in your own strength falters. He’ll do this not because He enjoys watching you squirm, but because He enjoys watching you grow in faith.

In Mark 6:35-44 we have an amazing example of the Lord creating a situation that would make most people squirm. In verse 35 the disciples come to Jesus late in the afternoon and tell Him they need to send the crowd away to the nearby farms and villages. The disciples are making a very prudent recommendation to Jesus. They identify the need for the crowds to eat late in the evening and they also tell us there are villages and farms nearby. Certainly no emergency of starvation exists and the disciples are merely making an administrative recommendation. However, Jesus responds with, “You feed them.”

Now my friends, the disciples seemed to have a good plan and had things under control…until God created a problem with their plans. Jesus gives them directions that were very different from what the disciples had in mind. Have you ever felt like God is doing this in your life? Yep, Me too. The disciples respond to Him with the rational question, “With what?” They continue, “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” You see, what the disciples were doing at this point is they were searching their rational, human ability, data base to figure out how they were going to take care of this problem. Friends, we do this too. This seems to be our default setting however, this is where our stress comes from. You see, we can’t fix this problem, God creates the problem so we can’t do it.

We have a human paradigm, or a box of human abilities, that we use. This box holds all the possibilities our human strength can potentially muster. When we are faced with a problem in life we can go to this box and dig through it until we find the way we’re going to fix the problem. The longer we toss the God problem around in our human box the more we begin to get panicked because we can’t find a solution. Friends, it doesn’t exist! I’m telling you now; you won’t find the solution in your box! The disciples were searching their human abilities box when they asked Jesus how they were going to feed the masses.

Jesus encouraged them to search their human abilities box in verse 38 when He said, “How much bread do you have?” Then He says, “Go and find out.” Jesus wanted them to know exactly what was in their box. He wanted them to completely know they didn’t have the means necessary on their own. The disciples come back and report they had only five loaves and two fish. You can almost hear the desperation and frustration in their voices…Jesus, we only have a little bread and two fish, now let’s send them away. Jesus then gives direction that goes completely contrary to what the disciples were telling Him, “…have the people sit down.” You have to imagine the disciples were thinking, “ok, maybe He didn’t hear us clearly…Jesus, we don’t have any food!”

Jesus takes the small amount of food they had, blesses it, distributes it, and everyone ate as much as they wanted. The disciples even picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. My friends, Jesus allowed the disciples to worry a little while they searched their human box only so He could reveal the God box. When you’re faced with troubles in life do you search your human box or do you search your God box? You know, when you’re a believer in Jesus you’re given access to the God box for your problems. How foolish we are to continue using our own box when we have access to His. Why is it you continue using your own box? Do you not know you have access? Do you not trust that He’ll allow you access? Do you think your box is better? Do you enjoy worry and stress? What is it? Why do you do it?

My friends, if you desire a life filled with the peace of God, you must begin using His box for your life. Are you facing a trial right now? Are you short on money? Have you recently lost your job? Are you facing uncertainties that worry you? Search your God box for solutions and trust Him to fix the problem. He wants you to use your God box all the time and will feed the masses in your life in order to build your trust in Him. Friends, as you face your trial listen to His direction even if it makes no sense to you. Have the masses sit down and allow Him to multiply your loaves and fishes. When you do, get ready to have your world turned upside down; you’re no longer living in your human abilities box, you’re living in your God abilites box. AMEN!

The Prodigal Son (Part 4 of 4)

My friends, the final character we’ll look at isn’t actually in the story but rather is the story teller; Jesus. In part 1 we looked at the younger son who represents lost people through open disobedience to God. In part 2 we looked at the older son who represents lost people through self absorption over being “good” or “religious”. Remember, all people are born lost. We all fall into one of two categories: We either go to the left and live a life of open sin like the younger son or we go to the right and live a life trying to “earn” God’s love like the older son. Both are sin and both are lost. In part 3 we looked at the Father who represents our loving and Graceful God. Our God who reaches out to both sons in a symbolic effort to bring all mankind back into communion with Him. In part 4 we’re looking at the story teller and what He’s trying to accomplish through this story.

The first aspect about Jesus in this story we must understand is who He’s trying to reach and why. At the beginning of Luke 15 we see the Pharisees and scribes complaining about Jesus receiving tax collectors and sinners around Him. In response to this complaint 15:3 says, “So He spoke this parable to them”. Therefore, Jesus’s primary audience for this story isn’t the younger son but rather the older son. All too often the younger son gets the attention through this story because his sin is open to see and is rather blatent. The older son looks like the good son and so fly’s under the radar. The Pharisees and scribes were the very people the older son represents…Folks, many people in our churches today are the very people the older son represents. Jesus was telling this story for them. Jesus was trying to tell them they were lost and didn’t know it; they thought they were the good son who “earned” something from the Father. My friends, I beg you to look at your life and ask the Lord to reveal if you’re living an older son life. If you are, Jesus is telling this parable for YOU! Not to condemn you but to find you.

Jesus delivered this story to the religious elite about the religious elite. Think about what He’s saying and doing here. Jesus is addressing someone like a Billy Grahm or a Dr. Dobson here and telling him that he’s lost. (I’m not saying Billy Grahm or Dr. Dobson are lost, I don’t know them that well) That is huge. Jesus is telling him that noone is without need of the Father. My friends, unfortunately we can fall into the same trap as the Pharisees. As we grow in the church we can all too easily begin thinking we’ve got it all figured out. Usually this arrogance begins to creep in when we see younger sons but it creeps in none the less. We’ve become proficient at hiding this arrogance in false humility because we’ve learned through the church that we should be humble if we’re to be good “christians”. The lesson Jesus is teaching us in the parable is this: The most important aspect of life is close fellowship with the Father simply to be in His presence, not to get His inheritence. Close fellowship with the Father results in a deep love for people. (John 13:34-35) Do you love other people? Not just your friends and family but all people. Here’s a better question, Do other people think you love them? In other words, are you viewed in your community as a loving person? I’ve met a lot of good people in the church who really don’t enjoy other people, let alone love them. Folks, if you’re living a life void of joy, if you’re living a life void of love for others, you may be a lost older son.

Here’s the beauty of Jesus the story teller. Jesus told this particular crowd two stories prior to this one. He told them about the lost sheep and then the lost coin. In both stories someone went out in search for the lost item. This concept is carried over into the story of the lost sons. Folks, the Father is coming out to find us. Both sons had the Father come out to find them. If you’re living a life without close, deep, and intimate fellowship with the Father I’m telling you that He’s searching for you right now! If you aren’t experiencing a passionate relationship with God you’re lost. It’s ok to be lost as long as you realize you’re lost. The Father welcomes you back with open arms. Friends, I beg you, please, consider your current position and run to the Father. AMEN!