A Cliff and a Cross

Chapel of  the Transfiguration

In the Grand Tetons National Park there is a little church in a place called Moose. It is a log building with a mighty glass window behind the altar. If you look out the window you see, past the cross in front of it, the rugged Tetons upthrust as a jagged knife against the sky. Psalm 104 tells us how near the end of the flood the mountains rose up and the valleys sank down when it says:

He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. (Psalm 104:5–9)

As I stood at the altar and saw the cross silhouetted against the mountains I was struck by the beauty and power of it. There, in the distance, were mountains which rose up through the waters of judgment. Jagged reminders of a time when God judged the world and His wrath against sin was poured out against it and man. God's Word tells us that there is another judgment coming, and 2 Peter 3 tells us that the same ones who doubt the Flood are the ones who will doubt the coming judgment as well. 

Judgment and the Cross—as seen from the window
behind the altar.

But there, in front of those mountains, stood the cross—the work of God on my behalf that saves me from the coming judgment. It was a powerful reminder that while I was immersed in scenery that left me in awe, my awe was to be toward the one who created Creation, and who died for me. 

It was a timely reminded because I had become so excited by the stunning things we had seen that I realized I was at times more excited about them then the One who made them. The cross and the cliff—mountains of judgment in the back fronted by the cross that my Savior carried up His own hill to die, so that I would not have to . . . Thank You, Lord. May I or my generations until You return never doubt You or Your Word, and may we never be more in awe of Creation than we are of the Creator.

Turning Our Sin and Inadequacies to Praise

I have been struck recently by the wonderful opportunity we have to turn even our sin and our inadequacies into praise that glorifies the Son. Take, for instance, a sin I commit. There are two main possible responses. One focuses on my sin, my shortcoming, how bad I messed up, how lousy I am, etc. The other stands in awe that God forgave my sin, that He saw it before the earth was formed and created me anyway, that He loved me so much He would erase it with His own blood, that He has completely separated me from it, etc. One puts the eyes on me, the other the eyes on Him.

I tend to think the Biblical response is to dip quickly in and then out of the first, “Father, I’m sorry. I blew it," and then to dive and swim in the latter, “Oh, but thank You so much, Father, that you knew I’d do that before You even formed me yet you still did! I love you, Father. Thank you, precious Lord Jesus that you bore that sin on the cross for me! Thank you that I am completely forgiven of that sin and separated from it! Thank You that You will never leave or forsake me despite my mistakes! Thank you that you are so awesome and holy and wonderful that You love me with a love so vast and so deep and so wide! Thank You that sin matters to You, that you are purely good! Thank you that I matter to You, that You want me with You! Thank You! You are so wonderful and amazing! I praise You!” It strikes me that this is the pattern we see in Paul—he spent a bit of time, now and then, acknowledging his shortcomings, but the bulk of his time was spent praising God and God’s love and God’s complete sufficiency and provision and forgiveness in the face of his shortcomings.

What a difference a shift of focus can make! Our inadequacies can follow the same pattern. Either, “I am so inadequate to do this or that. I fall so short. I do so lousy at this or that,” on and on, etc., etc. Or we can say, “I praise You, Father, that though I alone am so weak at this or that, You are not, and Your grace is sufficient for me, and You are with me, and You will never leave me or forsake me, and that with You nothing is impossible, and that You are faithful to complete the good work You’ve begun in me, and that You both put Your desires in me and You work in me to bring them to pass! You are awesome and amazing and I love You and I praise You!” etc.

It’s about the eyes of our heart and mind. Are they on Him or on us? One path will take us down into the mucky pit and mud of self-focus, self-bashing, negative expectations, bitterness, depression, gloom, and darkness. The other will lift us beyond our shortcomings and into a place of praise and love and awe that stirs in us faith, positive expectancy of the future, and a longing to go on, to get closer to Him, and to glorify Him more. It has never been about us—we couldn't do anything to be born again (except faith) and we can't do anything to lose it. It is not about us, it is all about Him and what He has done. The enemy wants our eyes on us and our work (or lack of) so that we never fully understand the magnitude of the work Jesus did on the cross and our utter and complete forgiveness and acceptance before God, and the position we hold in Christ. God wants us to focus on His Son and the work His Son did, from love, on our behalf so we might walk from our position in Christ—completely forgiven, accepted, adopted, righteous, and with authority over the demonic. May we choose the latter and may all we do point to, and glorify, the Son! He alone is worthy!

Turn Around, or Go Around?

First, thanks so much to those of you who have sent, or promised, contributions to the outdoor cooking fundraising book we are doing to help our work with local youth! I really appreciate it! If you haven’t given me one, and you would still be willing, I would “treasure” your recipes, tips, tricks, marinades, secrets, for outdoor cooking (BBQ, grilling, dutch oven, smoking, etc.). It could be meats (I have very little fish recipes or tips!) or sides to go with a main course. I would really like to get a “sampling” from our own area, as well as different regions of the United States (hint, hint, my readers from out of California!), or the world. Please see my post on it by clicking here. The sooner you can let me know something is coming, the more it would help me.

Turn Around, or Go Around?
The other day I was glancing through a Christian magazine I had laying around and there was an article in it by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke (Reinhard Bonnke, The Harvest Continues, Charisma magazine, March 2010). I don’t know enough about him to comment on him, but a part of what he wrote jumped out at me. He was talking about something Jesus showed Him and then he said, “After Jesus spoke these words He planted His cross in the middle of the highway to hell, His arms open wide.” A bit later he said, “When an evangelist preaches ‘Repent!’ we are saying, in effect, ‘Turn around!’ When one sinner makes a U-turn, heaven rejoices and hell is left with nothing left to celebrate.”

This word picture of a road with everyone on it resonated with me because it seems that so often people put off the choice for God with the misperception that, one day, "down the road," they will make the choice either for OR against Him—the choice to get on one road or the other. They treat it like it is a choice they need to make between God or not (or between Heaven or not). What people miss understanding is that the only choice available is one for God—that they are already firmly in the middle of the road that is called separation from God. They must choose to choose God and the cross . . . and not making a choice is in fact already a choice—it leaves them on the road they are on, separated.

"God," or "no God," is not a fork in the road of life that we come to one day. Everyone, by sin, is from the beginning traveling in the same direction on the same road of "no God." The only choice is whether or not to change direction. So, in Bonnke’s example, we are all traveling down the road of separation from God which eternally ends in separation in Hell.

The origin of the word “repent” is not about tears at the altar (though repentance might or might not bring that), but about changing a mind or direction or way of thinking. “Repent”—change your mind, change your direction. In that context, seen in the picture of our life as a journey of separation from God, the analogy of the cross in the middle of the road as a call/sign to make a U-turn, or to turn around, is a very apt one. At least it worked for me and resonated well as it underscores that we are already ON the road of separation from God—we don’t choose that road, it is our default! The choice, the only choice, is whether to change direction. The scary part is that no choice is in fact a choice which leaves you on that awful road. Doing nothing is in fact doing something, and it is the worst thing one can "do"! So, really, it comes down to a person being on the road that is separation from God and being confronted with the cross . . . do they go around it and continue on, or turn around (repent) when it confronts them?

The Kingdom Foundation

Yesterday I finished teaching through Part 1 of my series on the Kingdom of God/Heaven. Part 1 has been focused on laying a foundation for understanding how much the Kingdom dominated Jesus' teaching and is associated with the word "gospel" in the Bible.

It is fascinating, once you put on "Kingdom glasses," how "Kingdom" words explode out of the New Testament . . . words like kingdom, king, throne, scepter, crown, rule, authority, dominion, etc. Even in letters like 1 Corinthians where Paul says, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified,"  he goes on shortly thereafter to say he will see what the arrogant ones in Corinth are made of when he shows up because the Kingdom is not in word, but in power!

The Kingdom was the thing Jesus taught on during His forty days after the resurrection and before His ascension, and it was the last thing we have recorded in Acts that Paul taught on. In the middle of Acts Paul even told the elders in Ephesus that he was innocent of their blood because he had shared with them the Kingdom, the "whole counsel of God."

If you have never undertaken a study of this, I would really encourage you to listen to at least yesterday's teaching (you can get to the church's download page by clicking here, then you can select the 1/23/11 teaching from that page). I couldn't begin, in yesterday's teaching, to review all that I covered in the first two, but if you at all doubt that the Kingdom was a dominate—maybe even the dominate—part of Jesus' and the early church's teaching, then yesterday's teaching will give you a lot of food for thought.

Next week I hope to begin to peel apart just what this Kingdom is, and what the teaching was, and how that affects us in our day to day Christian living. The Kingdom has been seen in so many different ways—and that makes some sense considering some references to it by Jesus are a "now" and "present" reference, some are "near" reference, and some are a "later" reference. Some have said, incorrectly (I believe), that the Kingdom is all about Heaven and not about here and now. Others have said, also incorrectly, that we are supposed to turn this earth into the perfect Kingdom by social justice, etc. Some would seem to demean or water down the cross as not as important because the Kingdom was the true subject . . . but I believe that the cross is the crown of the Kingdom, and that the cross is what allows us to victoriously represent the Kingdom and walk in its authority. I will go in to detail on all of this in coming weeks and teachings, but for now I wanted to invite you to share yesterday's with me. May God bless you through it as He is blessing me.

Perspective Matters: Seeing from God’s Eyes . . .

I have been struck in my study and prayer over these recent years about how important it is for us to be able to rotate around to the back side of an event in the Bible to see it from God’s eyes and not just from our own point, or frame, of reference. I believe that as we practice this in studying events in the Bible we will become better at it in events in our life as well.

I believe that we, by our nature, tend to see events through our eyes, laying over them our feelings and faith and experiences. This is natural—what we would expect—but it doesn’t always give us the full picture we need to grow. Let me list a few examples, stating how we might see them from our perspective in our initial reading of them:

1) Israel at the Jordan the first time: Ten spies have come back with stories of how formidable the enemy is. You are not soldiers, you have been slaves up until recently. It is easy to relate to their fear and doubt and decision to not invade.

2) Abraham sacrificing Isaac: Possibly the most difficult, horrible event in the Bible from a parent’s eyes. How could God ask that or even put Abraham in that position?!? We think that we could never do it, and we struggle tremendously with it.

3) The cross: From the eyes of those watching Jesus die—those who had left everything to follow this man they thought was God and who now was dead—it was possibly the darkest moment of their life.

4) Death of a Christian: We miss them. It is an end. We won’t see them again on earth. We hurt and grieve.

5) Peter on the Water: The waves are big, the wind is strong. I’d be afraid too. I’d feel fear. I’d probably sink also. I am he of little faith as well.

Now, like the earth going around to the back side of the sun, let’s rotate around these five instances and see them as God might see them—and see how seeing them that way can really increase our faith and give us a whole new perspective. Remember, seeing the full picture—the physical and spiritual side of something—is to finally see actual reality and not just our cropped version of it. Only in knowing actual reality can we truly understand and evaluate something.

1) Israel at the Jordan: We get a huge clue how God sees this when He asks Moses, in Numbers 14:11, “How long will this people despise (reject in New King James) me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” What we see, and excuse, as simple and natural fear if we look through our/their eyes is, to God, rejection of Him and unbelief because He has given them His promises to deliver the land to them and to go with them in to it. Wow! Suddenly we see this a whole different way when we realize that what we see as simply fear in face of a promise is, through His eyes, unbelief and, ultimately, a lack of trust in God which He sees as a rejection of Him.

2) Abraham sacrificing Isaac: I know how wonderful I feel when my girls express love and trust in me, so I can’t imagine the joy and pleasure God must have felt when Abraham demonstrated the love and trust and faith in God he did by being willing to immediately do this for Him. From God’s eyes what we consider one of the hardest chapters in the Bible may be one of the most beautiful!

3) The cross: The darkest moment through our eyes, were we there, was the moment God worked His greatest victory and defeated the work of darkness and brought the redemption of His precious Creation in to reality! Though we couldn’t see it, standing at the foot of the cross, it was from a spiritual framework a moment of huge victory!

4) Death of a Christian: From God’s eyes, He has brought home a precious child out of the pain and suffering of this world to His perfect world and place He has prepared for them where they can enjoy His presence without hindrance and He can fellowship with them without the obstacle of sin.

5) Peter on the Water: I wrote about this on May 28, 2009, in my post, “God Rocked My World This Morning . . .” In a nutshell, what we see, and excuse, as natural fear is actually, down deep, I believe, a reflection of what we believe about God’s character. I believe we see this event as, “Who wouldn’t be afraid? I guess I don’t have enough of this thing called faith.” I think, that to Jesus, it was a question, “Peter, who do you think I am and what do you think My character is? Do you really think that I would call you out onto the water and then turn My back and let you drown?”

So often we stop at our natural feelings, and we excuse and justify them and allow ourselves to remain in them, saying, “It’s natural.” But, from God’s eyes, I believe that He looks deeper than our feelings to the core and sees what they really reflect about what we think and believe about Him and His character and Word and trustworthiness and love. The examples I stated above are not to say that our feelings aren’t real, but to bring perspective and alternatives to them so we can begin to take them captive and see our minds transformed into the mind of Christ, that we might see and operate more in His image than in ours. As long as we remain in the place where our feelings and perspective drive us then we won’t grow or be a force for Kingdom work. But, I believe that in some way when we can begin to see, and be led by, the mind of Christ, we will start to move toward that place that Jesus was in where He did what He saw the Father do, and said what He heard the Father say.