Monday, January 31, 2011

Freedom

John 8: 31, 32 "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Where does true freedom come from, the point of entry (salvation) or following Christ (discipleship)? I think this question is more important than it may appear.

Of course there is a freedom that enters into your life at the moment you become a child of God, by repenting and believing that Jesus is the Messiah, that He did die for you and rise again. Your past, at least the guilt and condemnation of it, is washed away. The freedom and release associated with this moment is indescribable - and very real.

However, there is still the slavery of your former mindset that holds you and keeps you from truly experiencing the full freedom that Christ promises. The freedom from chasing the things of the world, from living and reacting the way the world does, from thinking the way the world does. Free from the fight - in every way.

According to John 8:31, 32, this freedom only comes after you commit to His teachings and become His disciple. It is beyond the salvation experience. It is salvation at a much deeper level, the salvation of everything you are, the release of the grip the world has on you and the grip you have on the world.

We talk about knowing the truth and the truth setting us free, but mostly this is done in the context of the "salvation experience" - at the point of entry, so to speak. But Jesus says that this freedom comes AFTER you become His disciple, which comes AFTER you hold to His teachings, which comes AFTER you believe.

This makes perfect sense if you think about it. While the condemnation is removed at salvation, it is in following Him, truly understanding His way and living in it (the real Way, not your idea of what His way should be) - - - then and only then that the strongholds and strangleholds of the world start to fall away and true freedom is found.

There are far too many Christians who claim freedom because they "accepted Jesus as their savior" but actually don't experience any freedom because they have never subsequently followed Him as a disciple. They are caught up in the ways of vengeance, money, anger, lust, hatred, lack of forgiveness, worry, depression - all the things the world struggles with.

The progression of Jesus' teaching in this passage is fairly straightforward:

  • Believe Him
  • Hold to His teachings
  • Become His disciple
  • Know the truth
  • Be set free

There are no shortcuts.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sharing with our Oppressors

There's a great story in II Kings 6, 7 in which some lepers are outside the city during a famine and come across the spoils of the enemy army. God has just caused the army to leave their camp in fear and the food is abundant and the riches are laying all around. The lepers first thought, of course, is to hoard it and keep it to themselves. Why not?

But then they make this amazing claim: “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." (II Kings 7:9)

In other words, they will share these riches that have been poured into their laps with those who have oppressed them and kept them outside the city gates.

This thought brought me to Hebrews 13:11 - 16

"The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased"

Jesus was beaten, stripped, and dragged outside the city in total humiliation. Yet He still offered peace and forgiveness to those who did the beating, stripping and dragging. Not only that, but He offered the very riches of heaven to them. You see it's one thing to offer an oppressor forgiveness. It's quite another to turn around and offer them something from your own storehouse.

There is a suffering outside the camp that we will endure if we truly follow the words of Christ , but there is also the indescribable riches that are beyond anything the world has to offer. However, too many of us go outside the camp to be with Christ but never return to our oppressors and share with them the riches of the good news. We would rather see our enemies suffer and die than to bring them love and peace and forgiveness and a chance for a redeemed life.

We could learn a lesson from these lepers. The way of Christ is to return to those who spitefully use and abuse us and offer them the riches of God. Unconditionally.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Last Drop

I have too much, and to whom much is given much is required. But where do I start? What do I release? As I walked around my house one day, under the intense conviction of the Holy Spirit, I could hear Him saying over and over that this world was not my home and that there was too much "stuff" in my life.

I didn't know where to start. But in my scripture readings for that week I came across a great passage in Deuteronomy 24 beginning at verse 19:

"
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this."

Don't try to squeeze the last drop out of everything that you have - give the excess to the poor and the hurting. It is already assumed that the Israelites give their firstfruits, and my wife and I have covenanted to do that. But then what? God tells them not to be intent on draining the last drop out of the remainder of what they have harvested.

It's the mentality that has to change. If we tithe (as we should), then what . . . . we're okay? As I stated, it's already assumed that the Israelites are giving their firstfruits, but God also requires that they don't have mindset of grinding out every last sheaf, olive or grape.

I've been challenged in 2011 to start stripping away the excess - not just literally, but to have my mindset changed so that I don't feel the need to squeeze every last cent or every last second for my own gain. To use these "excesses" for the alien, the widow and the orphan.

So if you're challenged on what you should do with the blessings in your life, a good first step is to simply bringing the excesses into the lives of the poor. I think if you do that, you'll also begin the process of emptying the entire storehouse.