Two Highways

Isaiah 35:8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


There are two roads available to walk down for us all. Check out a road described accurately by one of the most popular bands of the 80's.

AC/DCs Highway to Hell

Living easy, living free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme
Ain't nothing I would rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me round
Hey Satan, payed my dues
Playing in a rocking band
Hey Momma, look at me
I'm on my way to the promised land
I'm on the highway to hell
(Don't stop me)
And I'm going down, all the way down
I'm on the highway to hell

Looking at the heart of this man as expressed through the lyrics is dark. It brings conviction on me as I used to sing this song at parties back when the old man was still in charge of my life. Go back and read what the highway to hell has as its roadsigns:
1) Living easy and free - no laws rules or submission
2)Desire to be left alone, to be His own God
3) Doesn't need reason, just do what seems best
4)Going down to party with the devil in the darkness
5) notice the length of his ticket for delight - for a season

The guy that wrote this, I am afraid, got exactly what he wanted; His "promised land" of wicked delight in darkness as He died by choking on his own vomit from drinking to much alcohol. Wow - that sounds like a great party, huh?

Contrast that highway with the coming Kingdom highway described in Isaiah 35. This Highway is for the redeemed, the ones who have been cleansed by Jesus. It is a highway of royal, majestic Holiness that people are walking on as the "everlasting joy" of treasuring Christ is the driving force in their lives. Not only do the walkers on the Holy Highway submit to rules, the do it with Joy as they know the father has given them to them for their good and His Glory. There is no access on this road for anyone who is unclean, meaning submissively submerged in the Blood of Christ. This Holy Highway leads to everlasting delight and joy. This highway has stop signs, speed limits that route us to the Heart of God as we know Him and delight in Him. this Highway leads to life and never ending happiness. This highway is simply a walk with The Way, Jesus Christ (John 14:6). This Highway brings Holy Delight for eternity, not wicked delight for a season, followed by eternity in Hellish misery.

No matter your religious depth or commitment stop and ask yourself: Which highway am I walking down?

A highway in which I think I am the boss, with no submission, enjoying the party of the day, delighting in worldly pleasures?

Or a Highway of joyful submission to a loving God that applies His holiness to squelch sin and rebellion, bringing relief and praise from the redeemed which Glorify the God who made us all? Is Christ my treasure?

Luke's Attempted Monarchy

Isaiah 29:16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

Luke is two years old, and ramping up his independence. Oh what a joy! Suddenly he knows how to do everything, even though he can't do anything. What's so much fun is that in his struggle of knowing everything, yet knowing nothing, he firmly tells us that we don't know how to do anything. God supplies the miraculous event of procreation, but in a practical way Evie and I "co-made" Luke with the obvious Grace of God empowering the event. It is truly a ridiculous site to see him drowning in frustration and failure, yet forcefully rejecting the knowledge, leadership and authority of his parents that God allowed to bring him into this world.

Isaiah 29:6 above, describes our sin nature's propensity to treat God the same way. With out healing from Christ, we will think that we can tell God what is right and wrong. How ludicrous is that? About as ludicrous as the coffee cup in my hand giving me direction on how to handle it.

Yet we see this all through our society. "Churches" are even in on the action now telling God which parts of His word are right, and which are wrong. They do this by attacking the integrity of scripture by saying "that was Paul's opinion and I am entitled to mine". In effect they ignore the spirit led writing of the scriptures being breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16).

We can feel this tendency touching the core of our souls, as we are tempted to rebel against God and show Him where our knowledge and ability is above His ways. While we may never say that out loud, that is exactly what we are doing when we go through life making choices without knowing, meditating and appropriating the will of God through the Word of God. When we skip deep prayer times in which he wants to instruct us for His Glory and our Good, we in effect miss them both as we chart a blind course through troubled waters. Not caring about the Will, Word or Glory of God is not a good sign my friends. Telling God what you are going to do as you lead out in your own life is a horrible mistake. You might as well ask your coffee cup for answers, or my two year old son Luke.

Give pause to the Word and Will of God. Do not try and believe that you are the center of the universe and that your perspective carries any weight with the God of the World. When we try to rewrite or ignore scripture, blame God for the bad but credit ourselves for the good things, and live as our own law we have made ourselves our God.

I have no right to try and enforce my opinions on God. You are probably thinking that I don't have any right to enforce my opinions on you either and you would be right. That is when I would point you to the fact that this is not my opinion it is God's as stated in His words. Do you care to know it, or are you doing "just fine, thank you" with your own?

Leapfrog

Matthew 16: 15 He (Jesus) said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

(5 verses later)

22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

My least favorite thing to do as a father is crossing parking lots with my four kids, especially if i have them all by myself. Why? No matter how many times I warn, threaten, coax, yell at or restrain them, one of them at some point is going to try to run ahead of my lead and protection. It is a rather stressful event as I try and keep us all together to safely navigate the parking lot. My older two are now 9 and 8, so their bolting ahead has diminished greatly. The 4 and 2 year old however, are like jail breakers seeking every opportunity to make a dash for "freedom". The reality is that their sprint for freedom is simply a "leapfrogging" of my will and protection, and they are putting themselves in great danger of both physical harm and my discipline.

Perhaps one of the most stunning dialogues in all of the Bible to me occurs in Matthew 16. I have put some of the dialogue that occurred above, but would recommend reading the entire text (and entire Bible) as it will help you understand this further. The context is Jesus has asked the disciples who He is and Peter nails it saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus tells Peter that not only is that the right answer, but God gave it to Him, and that God will use Him as the rock upon which He will build His Church. I would have to think that this type of charge coming of the lips of Christ had to be exhilarating for Peter to hear. Now common wisdom would have us think that from that time on Peter was on point and perfect. Far from it.

It takes Him all of five verses for Him to stop following Christ, and the will of God, and to run ahead of Christ with His own plans. One minute Jesus is saying to Peter as he is following, "You are the rock of my Church", the next minute Peter leapfrogs Jesus' leadership and is ready to draft and execute His own plan. The response from Christ. " Get behind me Satan." In one sequence of events, Christ refers to Peter as the rock and Satan. When He follows Christ he is the rock. When he runs ahead of Christ , Jesus says, "Your failure to submit and follow is not heavenly, it is your will. It comes from Satan and it hinders my plan and will so get back in line and follow me". There is so much here, but the big point is this: humble heavenly submission in following Christ builds the body of Christ as He is glorified, and charting our own course tears it down as it fights against God and His plans.

I can not tell you how many thousands of times I have "leapfrogged" Jesus' leadership in my life. Just like Peter, God has started me on so many trails only to watch me run ahead of His plans with my own. I can honestly say that I think it is my biggest blind spot (that He is bringing vision to). Ultimately it is a pride thing that wants us to have a "say" in our lives and ministry. There is no place for my pride to try to lead Christ down a path. He is God. i am not. I need to follow. The Devil will not submit and follow and that is why Jesus so sternly rebukes Peter. In fact when you look at the temptation of Christ by the Devil (Matthew 4), all He is trying to do is to get Jesus to run ahead of the will of the father and chart a new course.

So, do you leapfrog Jesus' leadership in your life? Are you submitting and following? Or are you out in front trying to lead Him down your path?

Lets exalt and Follow Christ down a path to victory! Let's leave our plans behind and submit to His plans as we abide in Him!

Temple Tax Holiday

Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Certainly our government, (both republicans and democrats), has been creative in its efforts to stimulate the economy. Most of the initiatives have been reckless and risky, and we really will not know the long term effects of these short term "fixes" for a while. One of my favorite efforts has been a sales tax holiday. In these "holidays", consumers are exempt from taxes which should drive short term consumption as it is in effect a 7-10% discount depending on where you live. I love the way they call it a holiday, as the connotation leaves such a warm and fuzzy feel. Has it worked? Depends on who you ask. What are the long term downside effects? Depends on who you ask.

Was Jesus a fan of tax Holidays? Speaking specifically outside of current politics, absolutely. While I have no idea about his opinion about these current sales tax holidays, in Matthew 17 he sows some deep seeds of "tax relief" into Simon Peter. When you read through the verses above, it can seem like a simple lesson in obeying God given rules, and certainly that is part of Jesus' teaching. The two drachma temple tax was prescribed by God in Exodus 30:11-16. The tax was extracted from the Israelites and then used to upkeep the temple. Jesus always is obedient to His father, so even though He could spin the temple on His finger like a basketball, he uses this opportunity to disciple Peter into Himself. He asks Peter , " From who do the kings of the Earth take toll or tax? From their sons or others?" Peter replies"from others". Jesus says you are dead on, so that means the sons of the king are free to enter into the temple to worship.

Jesus is building a grid in Peter's soul, that will make Peter realize that He is the temple of God. He is revealing that there is indeed a new covenant being unveiled right in front of Peter, one that is "tax free", at least for the sons of the True King, Jesus. Jesus is not saying the tax is unfair, he is saying it is a just tax that should be, and will be, paid. He is simply saying, and showing that in the New Covenant HE pays the dues of His sons to bring them to the Father. Where does the money come from that satisfies the Holy commands of the temple tax? Is it luck? Some will say that Peter's expert fishing techniques allowed him to best identify which fish would most likely contain a four drachma coin, so Peter needs some credibility here. I say that is ludicrous. The coin was in the mouth of the first fish that Peter caught as that was one of millions of staged events that God laid out over thousands of years to bring Glory to His son, Jesus Christ. Jesus later reveals that He is the Temple. He has paid the due price for His sons to enter the temple, Himself, with His blood and life. It is free. Do not miss this, my "temple tax holiday", and yours, should seem as miraculous to us as the likelihood of me walking to the lake in my neighborhood and catching a brim with a $5 bill in its mouth. The wages of my sin are death and separation from God. They leave me unable to pay the temple tax and outside of communion with God. Like He miraculously whipped up Peter's tax that allowed him into the temple to access God, Jesus alone can provide the Holy blood shed on the Cross that satisfies the just wrath of the father towards our sins. Christ alone is the only provision available to any of us to commune with God.

We must struggle through the clutter of this life to see the Divine large, vast, complex and majestic Gospel of Christ. It is a divine power that is not far from any one of us. It is not man made. Can you see it in your life? Do you feel the freedom as a son or daughter to worship God, only by the blood of Christ? Do you feel the joy and delight of being included in His love?

When you boil it all down, when any person looks at Christ they either view Him one of two ways:

1) Intense Love, Joy, Delight and a passion to more fully know and submit to as he is the end game of all Holy desire - or-
2) He will be a duty and a party pooper that they will out right reject in open rebellion or begrudgingly attempt to "pay their own tax" in a miserable religious facade.

Trust me, I have tried all three. What a delightful Savior is He.

Satisfaction

Matthew 13:44 The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Consider the search for satisfaction in a song that most of you will know: "I can't get no satisfaction", by the Rolling Stones.

When I'm drivin' in my car
And a man comes on the radio
He's telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination
I can't get no, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm watchin' my TV
And a man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarrettes as me
I can't get no, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no girlie action
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm ridin' round the world
And I'm doin' this and I'm signing that
And I'm tryin' to make some girl
Who tells me baby better come back later next week
'Cause you see I'm on losing streak
I can't get no, a no no no
Hey hey hey, that's what I say

I can't get no, I can't get no
I can't get no satisfaction
No satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction

Honestly this could be theme song of our day. If you look deeply into the heart of the lyrics you will see a character that is looking to have his desires met and needs and wants satisfied. He wants to be fulfilled and pleased. His problem is that he is looking for it in all of the wrong places. He is listening for satisfaction through his radio listening to modern rhetoric of news,thoughts and politics. He is looking for satisfaction on his TV by watching cool products and advertisements that promise to make him feel better about himself. He travels the world famously, leveraging his fame for hit and run sex opportunities. In all of these things, he comes up empty. He is unsatisfied. The big question is why? Is it wrong to search for satisfaction?

In Matthew 13:44, and throughout the Bible,it is clear that we can truly be permanently satisfied by one thing. The treasure of knowing Jesus Christ. There is a hole in our souls that sin has created that longs for its maker. I believe that God designed us to search and long for joy, joy in Him. Our problem is that our sin sends us out searching for satisfaction in everything but Christ. Sin has left a gaping whole in our hearts that only He can fill. He is a treasure to be desired and enjoyed, and we are prone to bypass Him and desire other things. For most of my life, I desired everything but Christ, but knew I needed Him as a Savior. I was completely unsatisfied, dabbling in multiple sin habits until I truly saw Him as my treasure. The greatest prayer in my life is that I desire Him more, and that I will see Him alone as treasure. It is a very satisfying prayer and God that I serve. Desire in itself is a drive for joy and pleasure and that is in our created design. It is who or what we seek in our desires that is the key. If we desire Christ and treasure Him, we will be drawn to Him and live in faith. If we desire to be filled with the things of this world we will be left only wanting more as we are unsatisfied, walking in sin.

Nothing but treasuring Christ can satisfy us. Look at people who desire for money. They get it and guess what? They have to have more? The same for drugs, sex, gambling, vanity surgeries, worldly success, tobacco, abusive power and pornography. they are false treasures that deceptively look like oasis as we stand on the edge of a desert. They lure us in to the desert with the promise of satisfaction. After we drink our fill of it, we see a bigger oasis deeper in the desert with a larger promise of provocative pleasure. This occurs over and over as we are led so deep into a dry and parched land that we are lost, empty and completely shackled with the false allure of sinful desires. It starts ever so subtly, but as we all know as our false desires are met with temporary treasures it ends up sucking the life out of us and driving us away from our only hope in being satisfied, Jesus the Christ.

So let me ask you: Is Christ your treasure? Is He the satisfaction of your life?

Or are you getting your satisfaction elsewhere and then coming to Him in an empty religious routine, as if you really want Him when you really don't?

Adultery in Prayer

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do; that the father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

As low as my spiritual antenna was at the time, I knew something was cutting across the grace of Christ. We were in a Sunday School class when the prayer request came: "We would just ask y'all to pray as we found our dream house, and had to buy it quick. We still have our old house and a beach condo, so money is really tight. Please pray that God would help us sell our house". After someone prayed for this and other requests, they slapped the tag "in Jesus name" at the end. After class, I probed a little more about why the couple had rushed out and bought a house in a two day time frame. Like most of our motives in the "housing rush", it had nothing to do with the will of God, but rather the desire to live in a better, more prominent neighborhood and the market forces demanded a rash decision.

Looking back, I now can clearly see how gross that prayer must of seemed to God. In John 14 above, and throughout the Bible, Jesus is not suggesting that His name be added to the end of prayer to act as some magical "Hocus Pocus" trick so that we can get what we want. Jesus is saying that prayers which seek to advance His name, fame and glory will be answered. Whether we like it or understand it, Jesus mission was and is self Glorification first and foremost. The glory of Christ, the gospel, is our only hope. As we fall deeper in Love with Christ and see our need for Him, we can then pray into His will of advancing His kingdom, which will result in our greater good as a member of it. Our prayer and mission is to worship Christ and make much of Him, as we all need Him in a larger way than we know.

Prayers that build His kingdom, by sons and daughters that find full satisfaction in Him, are what he is referring to in these verses. When I look back at prayers like the one above, and frankly many of my own, they are the exact opposite of what He is after. They are prayers made to advance our own little kingdom and glory because we are not satisfied in Him and His Kingdom. Our discontentment drives us to search for satisfaction outside of Him and so we wrongly ask God who seeks to be the fulfiller of all we desire for something that we perceive is a little more "filling". The sin in all of this is heavy. It is as if we use God as the means to get what we want (and He is not it). As if there were anything better than Him! He is the end of all Cravings, yet we are so prone to miss that fact and find our pleasures elsewhere.

If Evie came to me and asked me for money so that she could hire a male prostitute to fulfill her sexual pleasure, I would be utterly shocked and hurt. I would wonder "am I not enough?". When we come to God and try to leverage Him so that we can get our satisfaction elsewhere, I believe that to God, it looks as evil as my wife degrading my name, by using using my provision to get her desires met from another lover. It is a wicked form of adultery that we all need to repent and run from.

Our God will not play second fiddle in anyone's life. Worship of God is simply experiencing the beautiful satisfaction of Him.

In your prayer life, whose kingdom are you asking God to build up? His or yours? Who are you asking to be elevated, Him or yourself? Is He the ONLY desire you seek, or are you asking Him to fill you temporary treasures which will in effect take His place as your soul's satisfaction?

Eggs

2 Corinthians 8:1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

A dusty Honduran hillside full of cusachas (tin and cardboard shanties) and gringos sharing the Gospel. One of my favorite settings and views in all of the World. The rules are few: Pray , follow God, share the Gospel and after that is done take food hidden in your backpacks and bless the house that received you. (It is amazing how not having a script and schedule freaks people out). On a summer trip a few years back, I had a weird thing happen. After spending the better part of four hours working our way up, and then down a sparsely populated hillside, I was met with a gift. The lady of one of the houses we met with held out a bag of eggs and said that she wanted to bless us with them. My mind immediately began to race as to why would she give away precious food when she has so little. My flesh thought " if only she could see my house or bank balance, she would see that I have no need for the eggs". Have you ever noticed how deceiving the flesh can be? After about ten minutes of politely trying to tell her that I appreciated the thought, but I desired for her to keep her eggs, her insistence to give grew stronger. Capitulating after some soul searching to understand that she wanted to bless us, I grabbed the eggs, blessed her, and headed down the hill. As I neared the bottom I met another dear lady with another bag of eggs. I had learned my lesson, accepted her grace and blessed her before we headed back to the bus. As I sat on the bus, a myriad of emotions overcame me. I wanted to cry as these impoverished people had given me a gift out of their poor wealth, yet large heart. I thought I was the one who was the fragrance of Christ doing evangelism on the hillside, yet they were teaching me about grace. The Kingdom works just like that: Grace produces even more grace.

When you look at what Paul is saying to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians above, he is urging them to look at what happened to the Churches of Macedonia when they gave exceedingly and freely out of their extreme poverty. Grace exploded. By their sacrifice God was glorified (2 Corinthians 9:13) and they experienced the favor of God more richly as they sowed richly into the field of the love of Christ. In short, they were willing to give away money and stuff to experience God more deeply. How did this happen? Verse 5 above tells us that it was not because Paul told them to. They did it because they gave themselves to God first and He led them in this unbelievable act of Grace. It was an overflow of their exaltation of Christ. Not man made guilt, but God led Grace brought glory to God, supplied needed food for the hungry and allowed those who gave Joyfully to enjoy God deeper. That is How Jesus works into and through us as faithful followers.

Verse 4 gives me pause. They begged Paul to feed fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Why? It was the right thing to do of course, but there is a stronger undercurrent at work. They realized that the body of Christ was starving, literally. We don't think this way too much do we? I mean right now there are Christians dying of starvation, dehydration and preventable diseases around the world and do we care? I am troubled about my own level of concern. I mean, if we don't care about the body of Christ, we are in bad shape spiritually.

Christ tells us, shows us, empowers us, commands us and allows us to give ourselves away for His Glory. Our flesh works at every angle to cling to what is "Ours". It is a battle that is raging in my life. I love to give. I love receiving God's grace. Christ is teaching me through eggs and His Word that His Grace is way better than "my" stuff (as if it was really mine).

Where are you in this picture? Do you give? Do you give to get back something other than God? Have you ever begged to serve the Global Body of Christ with your money? Your time?

If not, your definition of grace will be a sentence that you memorized in Sunday School when you were a child, not an abiding rich walk with Christ. Christ invites the faithful to something much lovelier than stuff, he offers a deeper dose of Himself. the big question is what do you and I want more?

Control

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

In Homer's The Odyssey, there were mythological creatures called sirens. They lived on a rocky coast line and made a living by capturing sailing vessels. They had an unconventional way of capturing well armed ships. Legend has it that the two sirens had such a lovely melody that was so enchanting to hear that when passing sailor's ears caught the tune, they were completely captivated. The call of the siren was so beautiful and overpowering the seamen lost all interest in anything else but being drawn to the origin of the majestic tune. Spellbound and defenseless the sailors would plow their boast straight into the rocky shore in front of the sirens and the boats and men were then nothing but helpless plunder.

Read through what Paul is saying about the love of Christ in the verses above. Unlike the evil plot of the sirens, the Love of Christ captivates us for our good. Though the end result is vastly different as we journey to a loving savior instead of a mythical killer, I believe that Paul is expressing His total helplessness within the Love of Christ. He has no power over it. He can not escape it. Nor does he want to. He is saying that Christ has captivated his mind, thoughts, actions, schedule, desires and soul. Just like the sailors who were on their way to a seaport before the sirens detoured them to a death, Paul says he was on a path of flesh until Christ captured him and redirected his fate. AS Paul's flesh met its fate, He found a life that is so beautiful and meaningful that his life in the flesh has no grip on him or meaning worth pursuing. He is completely captivated with the provocative love of Christ.

I love verse 15. Paul says clearly that those who have claimed Christ as a savior no longer live for themselves, but they live for Christ. In verse 17 Paul states "if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold the new has come". Paul is basically restating verse 15. If you are in Christ, you are no longer on your journey of the flesh, but have been captured by Christ and now live for His Glory.

I have a question for you: what controls you?

Whose glory do you live and strive for, Christ's or yours?

Approaching Christ

Revelation 1:17 when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 And the living one. I died and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to death and Hades."

How do we approach Christ? Is he fearful to approach?

The above passage was an John's account of his encounter with the unveiled Glory of Christ. John, who referred to himself as "The one whom Jesus loved" was exceptionally tight with Christ. He was part of the "inner circle of 3 disciples", and Christ appointed John to care for Mary His mother. They were intimate as it gets, yet when John bumps into Him what happens? His natural reflex is to drop down at His feet as though dead. I think that a healthy fear of His own flesh in stark contrast to the unbridled Glory of God is what caused John to drop and tremble at His feet.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the honored privilege to teach the men of Togoville , Africa. in this shed that was hot, God was worshipped. As I mentioned, they don't even think of doing a study without breaking a sweat in worship followed by quiet confession to meet their maker. One of the greater convictions that I have had in some time came on the last day of my teaching. After I finished, I sat down and began to pray. The men started all talking in their tribal dialect of ewe (pronounced a-way). I was deep in prayer rejoicefully thanking Him for a great week of worship when papa, one of the guys, poked me and motioned for me to stand up. I reactively did stand up and continued to pray head down with hands clasped in front. Ten seconds later papa again poked me and "suggested" with his eyes and hands that I raise my hands to a point of surrender. I did so. The words of the men echoed through the little shed as I prayed to God.

After we were finished I pieced together what had happened. The men had entered a time of confession. They had entered a time of surrender unto Christ. I later found out that in their Church when they speak of surrender they think it offends God if you don't show it in every physical and spiritually way possible. What a novel thought!

As I walked down the dirt roads later that day, I thought about the strong convictions of how those men approached God. Papa was more worried that my actions might offend God than His actions would offend me. Isn't that the essence of making disciples. Isn't that how we should act? Contrast that to our Churches in America. We have invented a way of doing Church so that no one is offended who comes. Who is being catered to in that scenario? Does anyone care that God might be offended? If not who is the center of the worship picture? We are. Many will say, "that sounds legalistic, you don't have to raise your hands to please God". I would answer that Christ doesn't receive us any other way accept fully surrendered.

It was an honor to worship with these brothers whose souls did not tread lightly on the riches of Christ. They did not haphazardly or casually approach Him, and they were bent on not allowing anyone else to either. I thank Him and them for their faithfulness and training me in righteousness. I believe that those of us on this side of teh Atlantic have MUCH to learn from our impoverished, undereducated brothers and sisters in Togoville.

How do you approach Christ? Casually and conveniently? Quite frankly, you will have a hard time finding anyone in the bible who is of faith that relates to the most high God that way. Think it through and ask God to show you Himself and your sin before Him. Praise Him for His grace.

Child Sacrifice

Leviticus 20:1 the Lord said to Moses 2 "say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death"

2 Kings 32:10 And he (Josiah) defiled Topeth, which is in the valley of the son of Himmon, that no one might burn his son or daughter as an offering to Molech.

About a month before our team arrived in Togo, the voodoo priest there had sacrificed a small child, carving out the heart before discarding the body. I honestly didn't know what to do with that piece of information. It seemed like something from a different time and place. I thought how could anyone sacrifice their child to a carved rock and then throw it away in a shallow water well like a piece of rubbish? It did produce some healthy fear of the dark evil that we were fighting against. It is indeed a war.

When I got back, I investigated what the word of God says about child sacrifice. In many spots in the Old testament, including the two above God states His hatred of Child Sacrifice to a false god named Molech. The passage from 2 Kings above is in reference to Josiah's reforms which brought child sacrifice to Molech to an end. God hates anything offered to false gods, but in particular His innocent children that He created.

As always when I observe such clear sin, I try to apply it back against my own life and the culture around me. Sure, there are no stories of people taking their kids and burning them on a fire or carving their hearts out that I am aware of, but how are other ways that kids are sacrificed in our society?

Do we sacrifice them when our time is focused on "more important" things like work, habits or fitness to build ourselves up?
Do we throw them to wolves if we do not pray fiercely and pour the Gospel into them intentionally?
Do we sacrifice their purity by not shepherding their viewing and listening habits?
Do we sacrifice their self dignity when we don't listen to them becasue we are too busy being entertained or talking on a phone?
Do we sacrifice them when we don't discipline them in a Godly way, but rather allow Oprah to guide us where "all is good" ?
Do we sacrifice them by allowing drugs to take the place of healing hugs, open ears, precious time and edifying words?
Do we sacrifice them when we are bound by lust of another, which corrupts our affections?
Do we sacrifice them as our vanity focuses our actions on us rather than serving them?


I would say that I have partially sacrificed my kids at times, falling prey to most of the above traps. I will state firmly though that as I worship the God who allowed His Son to be a Holy Sacrifice, he not only makes me aware of these things, but empowers my battle against them. He sacrificed His son in the most Holy act of sacrifice ever, and there is no sacrifice available that can improve upon it one little bit. It is only when we cease striving and know that God is God, and Christ has satisfied Him that we can give ourselves unto His lordship.

Our heart's desire should be in praise of Christ, and our first priority with Kids is to show and teach them Jesus at every turn. We only get one shot with our kids -may God give us the grace and energy to buld them up in His son Jesus.

Presumptious

Romans 2:3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

In the last two posts, I have described the dark sin of voodoo that has permeated Togoville, Togo for centuries. Let me tell you that where darkness is thick, the light of Christ burns hotter and brighter and with urgency. I learned so much from my young brothers in Christ that I can not put them all down on paper. One thing that I want to share is their approach to God. Corporate worship in Togo is provocatively addictive. It is a massive celebration of dancing and singing before the Lord that produces a sweat. Even in the mornings as I taught the men of the blossoming small Church, they wouldn't think of starting a bible study without about 20 minutes of dancing,singing and worshipping before the Lord, followed by a quiet time of confession in preparation to receive God's presence and Word. Just as we in America expect a bulletin, they expect to workup a celebratory sweat of joy and then quietly prepare their hearts for the Glory of the Lord. I would describe it as joy, reverent, passionate, respectful and honoring.

After I got done teaching each day, I had a short walk down a dirt road to meet the rest of the team. It provided me a great time of reflection and praise for what God was doing among my new brothers in Togoville. The walk home on Thursday was a little different. Yes I was praising God and in a deep communion with the Spirit, but I felt like God was also trying to shape me with something. As I walked along the dusty road, God began to show me all of the ways that I can presume upon the riches in Christ Jesus. He began to unveil to me that I live in a society that is probably the most presumptuous society ever. Entitlement and self serving motives define America 2011. Below is a non-exhaustive list of what God is showing me, as you read it ask yourself how you approach them:

Morning quiet time / bible reading (we can approach it as okay I did it now God must honor that)
Giving money (we've been sold a bill of goods that puts God in a box where He must produce and ROI -His focus is our souls)
Attending small group or corporate worship (is 100% of your purpose to worship God or to get something for you)
Mission Trips (this is for the spiritual elite right? We can think this is a trump card for our faith {in place of Christ})
Scripture memorization (remember the Devil knows some, he just uses it for self advancement)

There is simply not enough time to flush out all of my thoughts here. Verse 8 of Romans chapter two reveals the markers of presumptuous worship: self seeking and disobedient. Verse 5 reveals the cause of it: A hard and impenitent heart. The end result is a lack of submission to Christ and wrath for those outside of Christ and a shrivelling of communion for those in Christ.

So how do you approach God. Casually, on your schedule looking for a benefit? Doesn't that mean you actually go to worship yourself and not God? think it through and pray!