Follow Me

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.  Luke 9:51

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Luke 9:57

What does it mean to follow Jesus? For many, this is a question that seems rudimentary. Ask yourself that question. What does it really mean to follow Jesus? Does it mean growing in your walk with him? Does it mean a pursuit of spirituality? Going to church? Or, on the other hand, does it mean getting active in the quest for justice and mercy within the confines of our respective communities where we live, work, and play, just like Jesus did? What does it look like to follow Jesus at church, at work, in your relationships, at your kid’s basketball game, at the grocery store, when encountering a seemingly random individual at the coffee shop?

The key in understanding what Jesus meant when he said, “Follow me,” in Luke 9:59 is to understand the context of Luke 9:51. Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem. It will be a time of terrible atrocity as God’s only begotten Son will be rejected, arrested, brutalized, and finally murdered by the hands of sinners he came to save. In other words, Jesus is saying two things at once when he says, “Follow me,” and he is still saying the same thing to us today. What are those two things?

Jesus is saying. “Follow ME,” and he is saying, “FOLLOW me.” In other words, there is Me, and there is my Mission. There is a Person, and there is a Path. There is Sweetness, and there is a Suffering. There is Jesus, and then there is Jerusalem. 

Here is the honest truth: Many Christians today love to follow Jesus in the scripture. But went it comes to following the path to Jerusalem it’s a whole different story. What do I mean? We delight to fill churches, to seek the scripture, and to grow in knowledge. We delight in learning about Jesus, and growing in wisdom. But what is it that God delights in? Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight.” Jeremiah 9:23,24

How do we follow Jesus? We follow Him by growing in our understanding of who he is (the Lord), and where He is going (to Jerusalem i.e. crucification), to practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness IN the earth. Follow Me means there is the path, and then there is the Person; there is suffering, and there is sweetness; there is Jerusalem, and there is Jesus.

Let us be those who truly grow in our understanding of what Jesus truly means when he whispers the words that carry with them the weight of eternity. Let us be those who not only follow Jesus in the scripture, but also follow him in how we live, love, play, work, and die! All for the glory of God who is worthy!

Have a blessed day in the Lord Jesus Christ! 

Self-determination

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”    Jesus

The words of the Lord Jesus Christ above are well known, quoted often, but rarely thought deeply about. The question is simple enough: What does it mean to “deny” oneself for the sake of Christ? When we hear that we are to deny ourselves, we often think of the flesh. The problem is, that often when we say flesh, we are thinking in terms of sins of commission. That is to say, we think to deny ourselves is simply to not lust, or to not covet, or to not do something we know is sinful. By not doing those things we think erroneously we are denying ourselves. But what Jesus is saying goes far deeper into the wickedness of our hearts. What Jesus is actually talking about is not simply the denial of our fleshly appetites, but is really talking about the denial of our self-determination, and self-will. In other words, you and I have a terrible problem within our hearts and it starts with the plague of the possessive personal pronoun. What do I mean? How does this work out in everyday normal life? You see it in culture when people arrogantly declare, “This is MY body and I can do with it how I please!” It is manifested in the subtle thinking in the heart that we are the owners of our lives. It’s MY life, MY house, MY money, MY career, MY plan, MY wife, MY kids, MY church…and the list could go on and on. My dear friends, our hearts tend to default into a mode in which the wickedness of sin begins to whisper the eternal, damnable lie that we are the possessors and owners of our lives and everything in them. The result is living for the praise of men, for the building of our own kingdom, and we can do it all in the midst of tacking Jesus onto the facade of our lives and even feeling good about it! To follow Jesus is to realize the depth of our wickedness that seeks to say “Mine” of everything we get out hands on, and to turn and repent. To deny yourself is to lay down your self-determinate will, and submit to God’s determinate and perfect authority and will for your life. The end result is glory for God and not you. It results in a life that is submitted to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, and not the furtherance of your kingdom. But you cannot have both.

C.S. Lewis puts it this way in The Screwtape Letters in which a higher demon is having a conversation with a demon in training about how to deceive people. The demon says this; “We have taught men to say ‘My God’ in a sense not really different from ‘My boots,’ meaning, ‘the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit – the God I have done a corner in.’ And all the time the joke is that the word ‘Mine’ in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either our Father, or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and especially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong – certainly not to them.”

Dear friend, let us take heed in how we hear the eternal words of God! Let us be those who lay down our self-determinate will, and gladly take up our cross daily! Let us be those who truly live for the glory and praise of the Father as we seek to be  more and more like Jesus who laid aside His heavenly glory, and submitted to the will of the Father for the establishment of His kingdom! Jesus help us be Yours, and yours alone!

Glory Be!

The God of Great Things

“The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’” 

Why did Jesus come to this earth? God coming into the world was the most important event since creation. Because of this, the Bible speaks with unmistakable clarity about why Christ came to the earth: “The son of man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “This saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the gentiles might glorify him for his mercy” (Rom 15:8-9).

Then to show us that this has been God’s purpose from the beginning, Paul quotes from 2^nd Samuel, Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and Isaiah, all to remind us what Christ Jesus came for. Why is this so important? It may even seem elementary to you. It’s important to know and constantly be reminded of because, although the word of the cross is finished, the mission is not. 

Do you want to know what your purpose is? your mission? Jesus declared in Matthew 28, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus also would pray for us in this way, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one…As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them” (John 17:15,18). 

Here is the point. The man above was delivered and saved from his sin. The first thing he wants to do is be comfortable. Think about it. He once was a terrible man, who used to hang out with some pretty terrible people. He had a different life now. One that was sane, and filled with peace. This man wanted to continue to be comfortable in a “holy huddle.” But Jesus responds, “No, go tell your friends and family of the great things God has done for you.” In other words, your purpose is to reach out to the lost. 

Our mission is the same as Jesus’ mission. We are to declare the great things God has done for us to a lost world full of sinners. That simply does not happen by inviting people to church. We are to go. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what he commanded us to do. 

What are the great things God has done for us? The eternal triune God chose to ultimately reveal himself to his creation through the person and work of Jesus Christ. He, being perfect and without sin, willingly exchanged places with imperfect sinful people. He fulfilled the wrath of God, and reconciles to the Father sinners who call on his name in faith for the forgiveness of sins. He then fills and empowers his people with the Holy Spirit to be engaged to fulfill the great commission. All to make known the riches of His mercy to the lost, for the glory of the Father! 

So give thanks for the great things God has done for you. But above all, don’t keep it to yourself. And don’t just talk about it to Christian people! It’s not for them, but for the lost! If you know Jesus, continually remember why he came. It will clarify why you are here! Glory be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He has done great things!

Take Heed How You Hear

“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.”  -Jesus

There has been a great perversion within the confines of Christendom. It was birthed from the rise of western individualism – to be completely independent and self-reliant. The great problem is, that this attitude has worked itself into our views of scripture, the church, and evangelism. In other words, often times people view their walk with Jesus Christ as a personal walk in the sense that it is for them, and that we need not feel compelled to share that “personal” faith with anyone else. Jesus in speaking above lays waste to that self-centered, hellish idea. In the context of taking heed how you hear, Jesus explicitly says that those who really hear the Gospel, who are confronted by their sinfulness, and turn to Jesus Christ in faith, are those who become lights to those around them. To put it another way, “By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 

1 John 2:5b-6

The fact is, everywhere Jesus walked he revealed the character, nature, and intentions of the Father. By doing so, those around him were bathed in light that revealed the true nature of our condition; utter depravity, sinful rebellion, and a desperate need to be redeemed from the terrible marring that came from sin. Our faith is not just personal. It is meant to be shouted from rooftops, to be shared with our friends, family, and neighbors across the street! “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12  

Someone rightly said, “The highest form of selfishness is to be content to go to heaven alone.” 

Lord help us have ears to hear the wondrous nature of Gospel of Jesus Christ, and help us walk in the same way you walked, to be a light in the darkness, for the glory and praise of the Father amen! 

Faith that Pleases God

“For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things he marveled at him….  Luke 7:8-9a

What kind of faith pleases God? I look at the above verse, and can’t but help be filled with hope and joy, and a sense of incredible awe at the wondrous nature of Jesus Christ. Why do I feel that way? First, the centurion’s faith is terribly imperfect. The centurion is one who, because of his relationship to the emperor, was one who in and of himself had no authority. He only had authority because of his standing with the emperor. What this centurion is saying is, “Jesus, your like me. You don’t have any authority in and of yourself. But I perceive that you have a great relationship with someone of higher authority. So say the word.” The point is; this man’s faith does not rise to Nicene Creed level faith and understanding on exactly who Jesus is. His faith is imperfect. His faith as rather weak as it were. Why should this bring a sense of hope, joy, and wonder to our hearts? Consider this: Is it the strength of this man’s faith that saves him and his servant? No. Was the reason Jesus commends his faith because of his perfect understanding? No.

It was not the strength of his faith, or the perfect nature of his faith that got Jesus’ attention - it was the OBJECT of his faith. In other words, he simply had enough faith to come to Jesus in the first place. 

What kind of faith pleases God? The faith that pleases God is a faith that is placed solely and totally on Jesus. This should bring radical joy to your heart! To realize that our standing with God is not based upon a perfect faith, or a strong faith, but rather the object that our faith is in - Jesus, should cause us to praise! That in the face of my often imperfect faith, my weak faith at times, I know that Jesus still moves on the behalf of those who have enough faith to simply come to Him!

The Great Reversal

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.”    - Jesus

Whether you realize it or not, you are a citizen of one of two kingdoms. Each kingdom, has a set of values, power, and products. Paul would say in Colossians 1:13 that, “He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  

You see, the kingdom of darkness has a set of values that it holds in high esteem. It holds power, comfort, success, and acclaim as values to esteem and treasure (Luke 6:24-26). The power that drives these sets of values is the self will of fallen humanity that seeks to be the center of attention. Over and above is Jesus’ kingdom (Luke 6:20-23). As Jesus comes on the scene, He ushers in what many have called, “The Great Reversal.” He proclaims what his kingdom holds in high esteem: Weakness, sacrifice, grief, and exclusion. As Jesus comes off the mountain healing, and teaching, and performing miracles; it is the writing on the wall that declares an end to the self-centered life that the old kingdom exalts, and instead ushers in new way of living in humility by the power of God that produces not an eternally destroyed life, but a eternally joyful existence in communion with God. Someone said it this way, “In the life of God’s people, it will be seen first of all a remarkable reversal of values. The people of God will prize what the world calls pitiable, and suspect what the world thinks desirable.”

So often we find ourselves living for the values of the old kingdom. So what are we to do? We humbly repent, and rely upon the One who the greatest reversal fell upon. Jesus. He reversed his glory, and became our shame. He reversed His life, and received our death. He gave us his righteousness, and took upon Himself our reproach. See Jesus. See how he IS the great reversal for you. If we do that, it will be by His power that we begin to hold in high esteem the values of the kingdom we belong to by His grace. 

Real Relationship. Real Discipleship.

Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”   Luke 5:4b-5

What does it mean to be in real relationship with a living, and personal God? What does it mean to be a real disciple of Jesus? We catch a glimpse of this reality in the short passage above. First, what does it mean to be in relationship with a real, and living God who desires personal relationship with you and I? Consider this: If I were to never allow my wonderful wife to contradict me, would we have a real loving relationship? Of course not; she would simply have to comply with all my ideas, and always say yes to my demands and views, and in that would experience hell on earth. To have a real relationship is to allow the living God to contradict your ideas, life experience, and understanding. Peter was faced with this above. Peter no doubt grew up fishing, and was a commercial fisherman. He knew when, where, and how to fish. He had experience. And the first thing that Jesus does, is contradict him, and his experience. So the first step in growing in real relationship with Jesus is to allow him to contradict your ideas about what it means to live, to love, and to thrive. Do you readily accept some parts of God’s Word (the Bible), and reject others? Do you catch yourself saying something like, “Oh, I know this isn’t right, but God understands.” What you have simply done is created your own God, and not allowed the true and living God to contradict you. We all do this in different areas of our lives don’t we? And this is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: When Jesus comes into your life, like Peter above, He always will contradict you in some fashion, and like Peter, cause you to choose; Jesus, or your own experience? What areas in your life do you not allow God to contradict you? Do you recognize that by doing so, you are simply creating your own God that is submissive to your ideas and personal experience? Do you want to grow more as a disciple of Jesus? What do we do then? We, even in the face of doubt like Peter above, submit to His word, and repent of our idolatry, and allow God to be God. You’ll find that as Jesus takes the helm of your life once again, that you’ll experience freedom and a closeness that your heart yearns for!

Here’s to allowing the living and eternal God to contradict us, and make us more and more like His Son Jesus Christ as we repent, and submit to Him!

Prepare The Way

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight...’”   Luke 3:3,4a

If you and I could be transported back to the time in which John begins his prophetic preaching of repentance and judgment, what kinds of things would we see God’s people doing, and involved with? You would see a nation lacking repentance, a corrupted priesthood, a lack of sound doctrine, routine useless worship, divorce was widespread; social justice was being totally ignored, and God’s people generally could care less about one another, let alone the world around them. Sound familiar? How did this happen? 

You see, the Jews John was exhorting to repent had, as Paul would put it, “The appearance of godliness, but denied its power.”  (2Tim 3:5) You see, these are a people who have been exposed to God, His Word, and have built for themselves forms of godliness that contain no power. The reality is, that exposure to God’s Word does not mean experience of God’s power in your life practically. You can go to church as the Jews above were doing. You can worship. You can listen to teaching after teaching, exposing yourself to God’s Word. But exposure doesn’t equal experience. So how do we gain, and experience the reality of what God’s Word says? It’s the same thing that John says, and Jesus will say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 

The only way to really experience God’s power in your life, is to live a life of repentance of sin, turning away from the sin, and allowing the wondrous grace and mercy of Jesus Christ to overwhelm the heart and constrain the actions. 

So the question for you is this: “What forms of godliness in your life is Jesus pointing out that need to be repented of?”  Paul would go on to say about the people in the last days that they are, “Always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of truth.” Have you spent an inordinate amount of your life simply being exposed to God’s Word, and have thought in error that it equates to experience? The word to us is repent. Seek Jesus today. Seek to experience the reality of what His Word declares!

Prepare the way if the Lord!

To What Do You Cling?

…he took him up in his arms and blessed God…. Luke 2:28a

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel…”. Luke 2:34a

At times I have to remind myself, as one who has grown up with the amazing truths of Jesus, that these are real people, who at the time, did not have the gospels to read. I think at times we think that a guy like Simeon, picks up baby Jesus, and looks and sees (like the movies), a tattoo on Jesus’ arm that says he’s the Son of God. For example, you see it all the time in entertainment; a young character is chosen for some monumental task that is to alter the world, and the only way others can identify this special young character is by some identifying mark, or some other outlandish identifier they were born with. Not so with Jesus. As Simeon looks at Jesus, there is nothing to distinguish him from all the other babies that he has seen dedicated in the temple over the years. How did, or what drove him to respond the way he did? Here’s the truth: Martin Luther put it this way, “Often times, we must disregard our senses when contemplating the works of God, and instead cling only to His everlasting Word.” For Simeon, all his senses would tell him that the little baby he held in his arms was just that, and only that. But it wasn’t his senses he clung to. It was God’s word that was given to him that he “would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” In other words, it was God’s Word that by faith became his sight. 

What is that word God has spoken to you personally, that perhaps you have given up on because all your senses tell you it’s not possible? Dear friends, no matter what your senses say, there are times when you must simply hold onto God’s perfect and true Word, and cry out to Jesus to help your unbelief. 

Hold onto His Word today and live in the fullness of His purposes for you!

Out of Love for God

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah....And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.  -- Luke 1:5-7

Have you ever been let down? Have you ever found yourself longing for something that is dear to your heart? For Zachariah and Elizabeth, the gift of children was the pinnacle of blessing. On that culture, the inability to bear children, and to not have a male child was tantamount to disgrace. In other words, for this couple, life hasn’t worked out for them the way they have wanted. But what is so astounding is what we find them doing in spite of it all – Praising God! We find that they still have hearts to serve the Lord. Not because God had given them everything they wanted physically, no, they served out of love for God. Why? They key is in verse six. The scripture declares, “…They were both righteous before God….”  How could they still be moved to serve God in the midst of disappointment in their lives personally? Grace. The grace of God. Were they truly righteous before God on their own? No. They were a couple who experienced the wonder of God’s grace. 

Have you experienced the wonder of God’s grace? Are you serving God right now in order to leverage Him by being good in order to get what you desire? Or, like these two, are you serving God simply out of love for Him, and out of a grateful heart in light of His glorious grace and intentions for you?  You see, it is when we simply seek first the Kingdom of God that everything else gets added. Seek Jesus today. Love Him for who He is, and the grace He has given through the finished work of the cross!

Lived the Life we should have lived. Died the death we should have died.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” -- Mark 15:34

Contained in the verse above is the most astounding truth. You see, in one moment, in one statement, Jesus Christ displays what He came to do and accomplish. On the one hand, Jesus, as he is hanging on the cross, experiences the supernatural darkness of God’s just wrath for the sins of the world. It was in that moment that Jesus was being utterly forsaken by the Father as He became your sin, and my sin, and bore the wrath of God in himself. But it’s not just enough for Jesus to bear our sin and wrath. He had to live a life of perfect, loving obedience to God the Father. And as Jesus, in the midst of hell, as his soul and body are being unraveled, cries, “My God, My God.” It’s the language of intimacy. Jesus, in the midst of hell, still says to the Father, “I love you, I trust you, and obey you.” You see, no one has ever suffered like Jesus. No one has ever been obedient like Jesus. In that one moment, in that one phrase, Jesus is living the life of loving obedience that we should have lived, and because we didn’t, Jesus dies the death that was ours to bear. Why? Why would God come down and do all of that? For you, and for me!

Rejoice today! God loves you so much. No matter what you have gone through, are going through, or will go through, Jesus Christ can intimately identify with you, and cares for you, and wants to be in relationship with you eternally. He proved it on the cross.

So rejoice in your great God and Savior Jesus Christ today!

The Great Exchange

And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Mark 15:12-15

How do you know you can trust Jesus Christ? How do you know, in times of difficulty, times of trouble, in times of uncertainty; how do you know you can trust him? How can you know that you can trust him with your life, and the lives of your family and friends? How do you know?

In the above passage, there are two people on display. Jesus – who is totally innocent and blameless, not only before God, but even before the Roman authority. Jesus – standing there as one who has done countless miracles for the very people condemning him to death. Jesus – the one who has given life to those who would trust him is standing there on display. Also on display, is Barabbas. In contrast to Jesus, Barabbas is one who has not given and restored life, but taken life as a murderer. Instead of love, he brings hate to his enemies. Instead of providing for those he leads, he steals from them. In other words, you have a picture of the absolute innocence of Christ, standing next to the absolute depravity of mankind. And the most profound thing that ever took place, was that the pure, blameless, and wonderful Christ willingly changed places with him. With you. With me.

Martin Luther rightly describes it as, “The Great Exchange.” Why can you trust him? Because he loved you so very much that, as he stood there in his perfection, he chose to exchange places with you. He chose to become sin for you and for me, and in return he gave to you and me his righteousness!

Dear friend, you can trust Jesus. He has already proved without a shadow of a doubt that he loves for, cares deeply, and yearns to be in relationship with you. Rejoice in and trust the Risen Lord, our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ!

Rejoice in Trouble

“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Mark 14:26

At first glance, the above verse seems innocuous enough. Until you consider the context. Jesus Christ, knowing the cup of God’s wrath he was about to drink, responded to his Father in a remarkable way. With praise. How do you respond to difficulty? What is expressed from your life when faced with a cup that you would rather not drink from? At this point, many people would say, “In times of trouble you need to praise.” I know on our own, we can’t do that. We won’t do it. So how does this response come about? The only way for you and me to respond in a Christ like way to hardship and trouble, is not to try hard to praise, but is to first look to the One who did it for you. You see, it’s only when you see, that in that very moment, Jesus began to praise in your place. When you see that Jesus Christ lived the life you should have lived, and then took the death you deserved, can you be moved out of joy to worship even in difficulty. If you are one who is facing a cup that you would rather turn from, look to Jesus. He took a cup that was far worse. He took the cup of God’s wrath. He praised his Father in the face of it, all for you. If that doesn’t bring a smile to your face, and strength to your steps, and a song of thanksgiving to your heart, then pause and remember the depths He went for you. I pray that we are impressed with our Savior so much, that in the face of anything, we can respond to what He did with a song in our hearts, and strength in our steps!