Him who is able to destroy both soul and body (Matthew 10:28)

            For every person, in every era of human history, in every geographical location, no matter what factors are involved, everyone fears one thing above every other thing.  That highest fear is different for different people.  Some fear rejection above all else, for others it is pain or death or loneliness.  That which you fear is that which you worship.  And that may seem like an extreme statement, but it is profoundly true.  If someone fears death, then they will spend their time, money and energy to delay the process.  This may manifest in the buying of obnoxiously expensive health products, over-priced gym memberships and incredibly thorough health insurance, but in the end the fear of death dictates their life.  If someone fears rejection, then they will spend their time, money and energy on looking good, living good and appearing happy, healthy and wealthy.

            It is a wise thing to periodically, if not frequently, stop the hustle and bustle of everyday life and evaluate what you are doing and why you are doing it.  In person experience, both mine and others, I have observed that many times we will be doing something not because it is what we want to do but because it is just what we know to do.  We sometimes have no reason for giving ourselves over to what we give ourselves over to.  This includes ministry.  If I had a dollar for every time I did some form of ministry just because I had always done it, I would have a much thicker wallet for sure.  This is one of the most difficult things about being in professional ministry or voluntary ministry for extended periods of time, we know what to do but we forget why we are doing it.

            The “why” behind the “what” is the more important part many times.  Imagine the response of a father if his 7 year old daughter asks for a dollar to buy some candy, the father will likely not hesitate to bless his beloved daughter.  But imagine that she asks so that she can buy a candy bar for her friend, how much more will he be willing to do what she asks in order to encourage the character growth in his daughter.  Take it to the next level, what if the daughter asks for the dollar to buy candy for another little girl that she saw as they drove through the poor neighborhood?  Motivation is powerful.

            We are driven by realities that we believe above others.  We can evangelize because that is what good Christians do, or we can evangelize because the King is returning to the planet and will grant eternal life to those that would accept the free gift of forgiveness.  In Matthew, here, we see that Jesus is addressing motivation.  Who do fear the most?  Do you fear the ones that hate you because of Him, or do you fear Him?  What can they do to you?  They can be cruel to you, even kill you, but He is able to destroy both your body and soul.  The soul is the object of the war that wages in the earth.  He who controls his soul has self-control, inner dominion, which is a manifestation of the Spirit’s work in one’s life.  Power to destroy the soul of a man is a lofty authority. Only the Maker has the power to and ability to fully destroy a soul, and He will exercise this authority in the end and He will be fully justified and righteous in doing so.

            Perfect love casts out fear, yet we are repeatedly reminded to fear the Lord.  This is not just reverence, it is terror.  But in the end you are faced with two major fears, either you will be eaten by the bear or the lion and you will have to choose which one you trust.  The one that you trust more you will still fear because they both want to kill you, but in the end, the Lion wants to resurrect you and is the only one that actually can kill you.

*God, You alone can take our lives, we trust You and ask for fearless love in You and ask that You would grant us righteous motivation in our pursuits and strivings. Amen*

The Head of the House (Matthew 10:25)

            There is difference between being the owner of the house and the head of the house.  The owner of a house can rarely be at his house and still own the house, but a head of house must be intimately and consistently involved in the day-in and day-out details of managing the house.  If you have ever been a manager of something you know that if you leave and entrust things to people momentarily, competent as those sub-managers may be, you are still getting calls until you get back.  A head of house is not able to be disconnected to the house to which they are in leadership over.

            Paul calls the body of Christ the “Household of Faith” in his letter to the church of Galatia.  There is indeed a Head of the Household of Faith, and He is not disinterested in what happens in His house.  Though He may have ascended to the Father, He left behind His Spirit who will keep us connected to Him as we manage His house until He returns with the reconstruction plans for the earth.  He is still very intimately involved in the earth.  He has always had prophets in the earth, friends who He speaks through.  This is still true, He still has people who He speaks to and they speak His Words.  A Hebrew songwriter once wrote “The Heavens are the Heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given into the hands of the sons of men”.  He is so wise that He knew that if we were left alone we would not take care of the earth well, so He sent His Spirit to help us.

            In the context of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 10, He is talking about what it will be like to be His disciple.  He says that if the Head of the Household of Faith is called Beelzebub, then those put in leadership over the Household in the duration of His preparation of the Holy City ought not to be surprised at the slander that will come against them because of Him.  Beelzebub was the dung god.  If you have been given authority by the Head of the Household of Faith and you are bold about your faith, do not be surprised when those not of the Household of Faith say your beliefs are crap.

            Jesus continues to talk about what it is like to be a disciple.  He says not to fear those who are slandering the members of the Household of Faith.  But the reason that He gives for not fearing them is that nothing will remain a secret.  Why is that so great a comfort for those being called worshippers of the dung god?  Because if everything will be declared, then the wisdom of following our household’s Head will be known.  Wisdom is justified in the end.  It may look and feel foolish to follow Him now, but in the end we will be honored for our miniscule faith in an Invisible God by angels.

            We are wise when we declare what He has spoken to us, whether by His Word or to us in our own relationship with Him.  When Moses asked the Lord how he could know that He was telling him the truth and that what He said He would do would really come to pass, the Lord told Him that he would know He is Faithful and True when Moses had done everything that He had given him to accomplish.  This is the same thing that the Lord Jesus encouraged His disciples with in Matthew 10, “Declare what I tell you because nothing will remain secret.”  This is not scary because our sins will be exposed, it is encouraging because our small acts of faith and faithfulness will declare His glory in our lives.  He is a good leader, a phenomenal Head of the Household of Faith.  He has backed us up fully, we have nothing to fear except Him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body, and He is such a big fan of us that He has given us the earth to rule.

*Help us, O Head of the Household of Faith, to be faithful until Your Coming. Amen*

Master (Matthew 10:24)

            The apostolic writers of the New Testament had a profound understanding of their connection to Jesus.  They describe the believer’s relationship to Jesus in terms of marriage covenant, Lawyer-defendant relationship, Father-son affection and even Temple-resident connection.  But another striking pairing between us and our Savior is adopted by the apostle Paul in his introductions to his letters – He is the Master, we are the slave or bondservant.  It is an uncomfortable understanding of our connection to Him to the western mind, but that is because we view slavery in a pre-Lincoln emancipation mindset.  We view bondage as a bad thing because we only think of a bad master.  This is brought on by one of two reasons: either we have a tainted view of being a slave to someone because we have been enslaved to sin and its task master the devil and have him as our model, or we know the secret wickedness within ourselves and know that if we are a representative cross-section of mankind then being enslaved to a man is not good.

            The great news is that His ways are higher than ours, His thoughts far more loving, selfless and redemptive than ours on our best day.  He is just not like us, or rather, we are not like Him.  We know what a bad father looks like because some residue of remembrance has remained from our father Adam that recognizes from experience what it is to experience true Father-love.  He is the Touch-point for all things.  We know what love is only in relationship to Him who is Love.  It is not as though God is defined by love, but rather that love is defined by Him.  Caring people are just more like Him in their capacity to care.  Passionate people are just more like Him in their ability to be whole-hearted like He is whole-hearted.  Only in Him can we look up our own definition.

            The nature of a master is that they have paid a price for a person, just as Jesus paid the price of His own Royal Blood to purchase us.  With this purchase comes responsibility.  A master does not spend his resources to obtain a slave just so that they can use up more resources to sustain the slave’s life enough to barely live, just to find that the slave dies and all the spent resources are for naught.  On the contrary, when a slave is purchased, they are taken care of so that they will be effective and efficient for what they were bought for by their master.  He will take care of all our needs with His riches.

We were not purchased just so He could boast in the numbers of His slaves, we have a purpose – rather, many purposes.  One purpose is to enjoy Him and be enjoyed by Him.  He will sustain us and give us life abundantly unto this end.  The twist on the story of His Royal Blood as currency for our lives is that He is not buying peasants from a worthy slave-trader, He is making an exchange of His indestructible Blood for His captured princes and princesses.  This may be hard to hear, but it is true: when Jesus came to die, He effectively declared “Your lives are more precious to Me than my own.”

If you research bond-slaves in the Old Testament, you will find that if a servant loved his master, when the time came for him to be set free he would not leave his master.  The master would then take the slave to the doorpost of his house and nail an awl through his ear, piercing it and leaving the nail in place permanently as a testimony of his love and devotion toward his master.  The slave and his family would be bound to his master all the days of their lives.  Thankfully we have a Master who is worthy of such loyalty, devotion, love and radical commitment.  No wonder Paul liked being a slave.

*Master, we love to be mere doorkeepers in Your house, grant us loyal devotion.  Amen*

My Name (Matthew 10:22)

            His Name is to be remembered forever (Exodus 3:15).  His Name is resides in those with power and authority (Exodus 23:21).  His Name is not to be taken lightly (Leviticus 19:12).  His Name is Holy (Leviticus 20:3).  His Name marks His people (Numbers 6:27).  His Name is so great that it requires a house to give men access to encountering its great power (2 Samuel 7:13).  His Name calls people out and makes them like Him (2 Chronicles 7:14).  His Name is glorious and exalted over all blessings and praise, far beyond words (Nehemiah 9:5).  His Name is blessed, to be worshiped (Job 1:21).  His Name is majestic (Psalm 8:1).  His Name is trusted by those who know Him (Psalm 910).  His Name is at the end of the path of righteousness (Psalm 23:3).  His Name is the reason guilt is pardoned (Psalm 25:11).  His Name is the driving force behind His leadings (Psalm 31:3).  His Name gives us victory over our enemies (Psalm 44:5).  His Name is the target of our thanksgiving (Psalm 44:8).  His Name reaches the ends of the earth (Psalm 48:10).  His Name is good and is waited for by the godly (Psalm 52:9).  His Name brings salvation (Psalm 54:1).  His Name is praised eternally (Psalm 61:8).  His Name will endure forever (Psalm 72:17).  His Name is near (Psalm 75:1).  His Name is feared by the whole-hearted (Psalm 86:11).  His Name is eternally glorified (Psalm 86:12).  In His Name strength and anointing are exalted, lifted up and increased (Psalm 89:24).  His Name provides protection to those who know Him (Psalm 91:14).  His Name calls people to and for His Glory (Isaiah 43:7).  His Name causes Him to restrain His anger (Isaiah 48:9).  His Name is known by His people (Isaiah 52:6).  His Name is loved by the people (Isaiah 56:6).  His Name brings persecution to those who tremble at His Word (Isaiah 66:5).  His Name is great (Jeremiah 44:26).  His Name is known by the nations and He acts on behalf of His Name to show Himself still strong for His people (Ezekiel 20:9).  His Name reminds us of His goodness and mercy when He does not judge us according to what we deserve (Ezekiel 20:44).  His Name is worthy of ubiquitous, eternal incense (Malachi 1:11).  His Name is worthy of honor (Malachi 2:2).  His Name is awful (Malachi 2:5).  His Name heals those who fear Him (Malachi 4:2).  His Name brings persecution to those who follow Him (Matthew 10:22).  His Name brings His Presence among those who gather under His Name (Matthew 18:20).  His Name increases the reward and inheritance of those who live radically unto Him (Matthew 19:29).  His Name empowers mighty signs and wonders that testify of Him (Mark 9:39).  His Name drives out demons (Mark 16:17).  His Name brings His people before powerful men, kings and rulers (Luke 21:12).  His Name grants us what we ask that He may be glorified (John 14:13).  His Name is the avenue of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).  His Name gives the lame dancing shoes (Acts 3:6).  His Name alone brings salvation from Heaven to earth (Acts 4:12).  His Name brings joy to those who are dishonored because of their proclamation (Acts 5:14).  His Name is good news (Acts 8:12).  His Name is the stage on which our washing, sanctification and justification are acted out (1 Corinthians 6:11).  His Name is above all names (Ephesians 1:21 and Philippians 2:9).  His Name weakens the knees of Heaven’s residents and earth’s inhabitants (Philippians 2:10).  His Name leads us away from iniquity (2 Timothy2:19).  His Name provides endurance and long-suffering patience (Revelation 2:3). 

*Let the power of Your Name invade our lives, speak Your Name over us.  Amen*

The Lord of the Harvest (Matthew 9:38)

            If the evangelists in us are to walk in the fullest measure available to us, we must see God as the Lord of the Harvest.  He is Lord of our lives, even Lord of the whole earth, but we must realize that He is in control of the Harvest.  The Harvest is what is reaped from what men have sown, right?  No, the Harvest is the end of this age in which what God has sown and what His enemy has sown grow into full fruition.  The glorious truth is that He is Lord, Master and King of the end of the age.  It is not so much that He is in control, He has actually handed over control of the earth to men, but that the Harvest that is reaped is presented to Him.  He owns the land, but He gave charge of it to men.

            If there were a businessman that wanted to buy a plot of land and he came to the servants that were working that land, he would ask “Who is the lord of the land?”  While the Lord really does care about the land, He cares much more about people.  The Harvest is people, all men will be brought to Him and He will judge whether they are wheat or tares.  “Lord” could also be translated “Master”.  He is the Master of the Harvest, meaning that He understands what has been grown.  Masters in subjects have not just done cursory studying in their subject of study; they have forsaken many things in search of full understanding the object of their mastery.  Let’s be honest, no one has given up more than Jesus gave up in order to master His understanding of the human condition.  He didn’t just study sin, He became sin.  He didn’t just get a degree in redemption; He became the Sacrifice that accomplished the work of redemption.  It is His Harvest.

            As the Lord of the Harvest, it is His undeniable right to go about the harvesting as He pleases.  He can use whatever technique He knows to be best.  We must acknowledge this and understand that we really cannot do it better than He can – His leadership is perfect, always.  We may not like how a certain church is running, how a denomination does things or how a leader chooses to administrate their services or ministries, but we must trust that He knows what He is doing.  All leaders, secular or ecclesiastical, are put in place by the Lord.  He has a reason for each leader being in the position they are in, our job is not to blindly agree with His decision, but to support them in His purposes.

            As we try, sometimes very desperately and quite poorly, to bring people into the Kingdom, we must realize that if He is truly the Lord of the Harvest and the people we are around are the Harvest, then He is Lord over them and He understands them fully.  If that is true then He knows how to best affect their lives and draw them.  Again, we must refrain from doing evangelism as fire insurance salesmen.  We are not convincing people of theoretical philosophies of morality in hopes of keeping them from spending a long time in an uncomfortable sauna.  We are presenting to people the reality of a future overthrowing of world government and giving them the opportunity to change allegiances so as to avoid awful, but fully deserved judgment.  Without His help and His perspective, we will remain ineffective and unfruitful in advancing the Coming Kingdom.

            To keep advancing in authority in the earth, the ambassadors of Christ must major on His ability to lead and not on the enemy’s ability to deceive.  One wall that stands in the way of global victory in preparation for the coming of the Messiah is the exaltation of His absolute transcendence in all things.  The Bride of the Song of Songs is found leaning on her Beloved coming out of wilderness.  Overcoming demands dependence on Him.

*Lord of the Harvest, send out laborers that will lean upon You in faith, fearless.  Amen*

Son of David (Matthew 9:27)

            One of the advantages of knowing someone by more than one name is that each name carries with it implications of their character.  If you are familiar with a specific name, you are apparently aware of a specific aspect of their personality that pertains to that name, even if it is only in a cursory manner.  It is the same with God, if we know what He likes to be called, we pray to Him much more affectively.  In this case in Matthew’s gospel account we have two blind men wanting their sight and they were wise enough to call Jesus by this Name that touched something that brought healing.  If you search the gospels for when Jesus is called the Son of David, you will find that almost every time it is connected to restoration mercy.  Whether it is concerning healings, demonic deliverance or national salvation, people are always asking Jesus for mercy and addressing Him as the Son of David.  They knew something that we are not connected to.

            The heart of God is something that we have access to only through the Holy Spirit.  Paul tells us that the depths of God’s heart are searched out by the Spirit and the Spirit tells those mysteries to those who seek Him.  The mysteries of God are not mysteries that are hidden because they are not to be found, but are mysteries because they have been hidden like Easter eggs, with the express purpose of being found.  The Secrets of the Lord are for those who fear Him (Psalm 25:14), the evidence of the fear of the Lord is the absence of the fear of everything else as an increasing reality.  So we see that the bold blind men in the gospels cry out and get their healing because they didn’t care that everyone was looking and they didn’t care that it was awkward.  They knew a secret.

            What did these men know about the heart of God for mercy that we lack?  They knew that He had promised that son of David would always be on the throne and that there would one day be a Son of David that would make all things right and re-establish the Davidic Kingdom of Peace – the Prince of Peace was on His way and they knew it.  It would be because He was just like David, and better, that He would be a Man after God’s own heart like His father David.  He alone would have the authority to hand out mercy.  God desires mercy and compassion over judgment and punishment.  This is a foundational understanding of His heart that we must understand.  There are three things that Jesus instructed us to learn and pay attention to because they do not come naturally to our understanding by being around His Presence.  One of those three things is that He desires mercy.  His emotions, thoughts and planning are all turned toward mercy.

            Even at the end of the age, as we see that He has a day of vengeance in His heart, we know that His desire is mercy.  He wants to execute judgment on the earth not out of spite and inordinate desire for blood, but so that He can cleanse the earth of sin.  He is not coming to judge people, He is coming to judge sin.  This will result in people being judged, but His desire is mercy.  Mercy is not getting what we deserve.  He delights in mercy, He loves not giving us what we deserve because then He can give us grace.  Grace is getting what we don’t deserve – a Divine touch to the ungodly or a reward to the unfaithful.  The greatest grace that we will receive is the Father.  We will one day be given the Father as the Emperor of the Earth once the earth has been fully cleansed of sin.  This we do not deserve, we deserve to stay outside the garden, but He desires mercy and mercy leads to grace.  If we can live in His faith and reject fear we will enter in.

*Son of David, have mercy on us and give us what You alone possess, true love.  Amen*

God who has given such authority to men (Matthew 9:8)

There was scarcely enough time to collect His thoughts as He got out of the boat, they brought one of the scariest healing cases right to Him – a paralytic. As they brought this man to Him on a stretcher of some kind, it wasn’t the faith in the man that He noted but rather the faith of those bringing the man to Him. And in normal fashion, Jesus neither addresses the people with the faith or even the issue for which they brought the paralyzed man. Jesus looks at the man and encourages him and informs him that his sins are forgiven. If I were one of the friends, I would probably be thinking something like, “Thanks You, Jesus, but that is the least of his problems. This guy can not walk.”

The scribes then accuse Jesus of blasphemy and He hears their thoughts. Hanging around Jesus is dangerous unless you are on His side; anyone who can hear thoughts is not someone you want as an enemy. In response to their accusative thoughts, He does not defend Himself, He asks which is easier to say ‘you have no sin’ or ‘you have no sickness’. He then answers His own question, it is easier to heal people than forgive them of their sins, because forgiving sins requires authority. So He heals the paralyzed man to prove to them that He has authority to forgive his sins.

The Son of Man commands the paralyzed man to do the impossible. The formerly paralyzed man stands up and goes home and we hear no more of him, we also hear nothing more from the scribes and doubters. What we do see is that those around this miracle are awestruck and start worshiping God. But what God do they worship? They worship “The God who has given such authority to men.” The next logical question we must ask is what authority they had in mind. The only authority spoken of in the immediate context is the authority to forgive sins. But they were not in awe because God had given this authority to His Son, they were in awe of Him for giving this authority to men. And before you think that they were just misinformed and didn’t know who He was, realize that He had just read peoples minds and rebuked them for wrong understanding of Him. He would have addressed the issue if there were an issue.

The blessed truth is that we have all the same authority that He had and has. Jesus did not have anything special that we cannot have, or do not have. He was a Man rightly connected to the Spirit when He did His miracles. But what about when He forgave sins? He was, then, a Man in right relationship with the only One that can forgive sins and that One had approved of Him and given Him all authority in Heaven and earth. The only thing that He did that we cannot do is atone for sins, He had to be fully God and fully man and fully sinless to do that. Jesus said He gave all authority in Heaven and earth to men, and in this passage we see that He is proving that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. In John 20:23 says that if we forgive someone’s sins then they are forgiven, if we do not, they are not forgiven. This is not with regards to sin against ourselves, though Jesus does say things like that elsewhere, this is any sin – any sin, any time. Catholic confession booths are not so off-based; the only issue is doing penance.

One final thought on this Name. He does not allow men to earn this authority, He gives it to them. It is a part of the new birth into being a part of the new creation. We have such authority within us, and He will back up this authority with signs and wonders just like He did with Jesus. Part of your inheritance as a child of God is His authority.

*God, we thank You for Your authority, make us wise to use this authority. Amen*

The Son of Man (Matthew 8:20)

The hope of any man who has blown it in life is that he would raise up a child that would do better than he had done. This is why fathers sometimes try to live vicariously through their sons. Even if the son isn’t into athletic competition, the father’s desire for the son to succeed can supersede the son’s natural tendencies and the son ends up frustrated with life because he has been trying to live up to his father’s desires and expectations. The problem is that the son is not the father in an upgraded mode – son1.0 is not father2.0, they are separate people with unique callings and giftings. I know two people that inherited their fathers’ giftings, but that does not mean that they inherited their fathers’ callings. Paul told the Romans that the gifts and callings of God are given regardless of repentance. In other words, you have your calling; it is yours and no one else’s, and you can’t give it away. However, you are no one special, if you don’t do what He has for you to do, He will fill that void because there are spiritually violent men and women out there that are more than willing to start revivals that you were yours to start.

Jesus is the Son of Man. Who is “Man” if it isn’t Adam? After Man fell and were booted out of the Garden, it wasn’t long before they began to do part of their original calling – they procreated. The first born killed the second of Adam – prophetic coincidence? I think not. Then the Lord gave Adam and Eve a replacement for their second son, and they named their third son “substitution”. And Seth had a son that he named Enosh – meaning “mortal”. This isn’t just a great history and language lesson, there is more to this than face value. In there is a reason behind names in Hebrew, people were named based on what they were to their parents or what the Lord would do through them. Today we name to honor family members or because it sounds good with our last names or maybe we actually looked into a meaning and liked the feeling of the name.

King David had some of the deepest insight into who God is and thankfully we have records of his revelations in the songs he wrote. One such song is Psalm 8, which he begins and ends with a declaration of the greatness of His Name – a divine clue. Verse four is normally translated “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Looking at the original language shows some remarkable revelation that David may or may not have had, but at the very least the Holy Spirit preserved to boggle my mind. The word for “man” is not the same in the two times it is used in this verse. The first time the word “man” is “Enosh” and the second is “Adam”.

Further look at the words in this verse show that David accidentally prophesied the Incarnation. “What is Enosh that You mark him as a man and the son of Adam that You care to visit him?” Jesus, being the Son of Adam, was sent to Enosh, mortal men who are under the curse of their fathers. The first two sons of Adam were named “funeral wail” and “what’s the point?” They knew that there was no way back to the Garden and felt hopeless and named their children accordingly. Parents know that there is a certain amount of insight that they have into their children’s lives when they are born. Adam and Eve must have been hoping that their children would fix things, when they were born the first parents knew that each one of them would not be able to fix anything. Eventually a descendant of theirs would make a way back to God, or rather be the way back to God. Jesus had to be a supernatural Son of Adam in order to redeem him.

*Son of Man, Your marks redeemed our father Adam and have brought us into Your Family; thank You for doing more than You required Yourself to do. Amen*

Teacher (Matthew 8:19)

            In our society there is not a lot of respect or honor for teachers.  At a class reunion one could hold their head high for going to school for a decade to be a doctor, lawyer or scientist, but a teacher is not regarded very highly.  This is a great tragedy, for teachers are the ones who steer the world.  If you control information you control people.  Perhaps it would be better to translate this Title as “Master Instructor” to give the sense of honor that is due in being called by this Title.

            Jesus was a rabbi, a respected and valued member of society.  When a rabbi asked you to be his disciple it was like the president of Yale or Oxford asking you to come live with him for a few years while he taught you everything he knew.  Disciples would follow their rabbi everywhere he went to see how he did things, this was because they were to carry on his ways and emulate him in every way that he could and to even improve upon his methods.  But it was actually not the rabbi that normally initiated the discipleship process, the potential disciple would ask the rabbi to be discipled and the rabbi would test them to see if they were worthwhile for him to pour into.  So when Jesus asked sons of Zebedee to follow Him, they drop everything and follow – with their father’s blessing and encouragement – it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

            In this passage in Matthew we see a young man requesting to be a disciple.  He had apparently seen how easy it was to be a disciple of this new Rabbi and probably thought that He was desperate for disciples if He was asking instead of being asked.  Maybe it was religious pride, or maybe he genuinely wanted to come under the yoke of Rabbi Jesus, but in any case he was not ready for his testing.  Jesus only had to explain to him that life under his tutelage was not going to be luxurious, Jesus had no resting place.  This young man came to Jesus right after the Sermon on the Mount and thought he could jump right on board, but being under this Master Instructor comes at a costly price.

            The problem, from our stand point, with Jesus’ methods of discipleship is that He doesn’t teach theories and philosophies, He wants to kill us as we are and resurrect us in His image.  He doesn’t choose us because we have great giftedness and He wants to improve upon what we have done with our lives thus far, He wants to come into the temples of our hearts and turn over the tables.  There are so many thousands of things not right with us before He comes in that it is not just His Temple – His Body – that He will rebuild through resurrection, it is also the temples of His Body – the church – that He will tear down and rebuild.  He is the Restorer of All Things; restored antiques are more valuable than brand new furniture.  Apart from gently helping us out of who we currently are, He is disinterested in our old ways.  His ways are higher, better and easier – easier in the long-run not the front end.

            Unlike most Master Instructors, Jesus is a big fan of substitute teachers.  One in particular He highly suggests.  Jesus even said that it would be better that He Himself would go away so that the Substitute Teacher could come and teach us all things, reminding us of everything that He had taught us.  The Holy Spirit is our connection to the Lord now, and that is not a bad thing.  It was by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus lived sinlessly, walked on water, had prophetic insight, did all His miracles, had the understanding needed to reveal the Father’s Kingdom and was raised from the dead.

*Teacher, You know all things, lead us into all Truth, Your Word is Truth.  Amen*

Lord, Lord (Matthew 7:21)

            What you do has very little do with what God feels about you.  When the Breath of Life was breathed into Adam, he became a living being.  Now we call homo-sapiens “human beings”.  Did you catch that?  “Human beings”, not “human doings”.  Our primary purpose is not to do but to be.  The assessment of our lives will not be based on the amount of miracles that we have done, nor how much we did to advance the Kingdom, but we will be evaluated based on if we knew and were known by the Triune God.  It is knowing God that is eternal life – the knowledge of God.

            A poem doesn’t do anything, it just is and maker of the poem takes pride in it while the reader enjoys the maker’s work.  Paul called us God’s poem in Ephesians 2:10; “workmanship” is the Greek word “poiema” from which we get the word “poem”.  The creative overflow of God is us, but this is not talking about the original creation of man, Paul is writing to believers who are new creations.  When God created man the first time He breathed into him His breath, when He recreated man He breathed onto him His Spirit.  He layered breath upon breath, word upon word; this sounds a lot like a poem which has layers of not only words but meanings.

Adam was created by God, but we are recreated in Christ.  It is by being anointed by His Spirit that we are made into a new race of man.  When Paul says we were “created in Christ for good works” he is not implying that man’s purpose is to do good works but that after our rebirth we will do the works that He has prepared for us.  Our original and primary purpose is to enjoy God and be enjoyed by God.  God does not need workers, He has more angels than souls to save and if you read the Biblical angelic encounters that people have you will find that angels are not cute little baby-shaped beings – one angel puts a foot in the sea and one on the land, which is no dinky cherub.  He made man as an overflow of His love within Himself.  Just as the overflow of His love is us, the overflow of our love back to Him will be good works that glorify the Father.  But these works are merely symptoms of our lovesickness for which a cure must never be found.

When men stand before the Great White Bema Throne some will request entrance into the Eternal Kingdom based on what they have done, even in the Name of Jesus, but their demands will be in vain.  Satan does not cast out Satan, but as the prince of lies he will deceive men into thinking that they are powerful in the Spirit of Christ by lessening manifestations of oppression when disillusioned men use formulaic mantras based in Scriptural truths.  Apparently affective methodology does not prove personal relationship to the Giver of Authority.  Jesus said that men will say “Lord, Lord did we not…” and will present their track records, but they will have no secret history with Him because they had no true relationship with Him.  He never knew them.

            It is fascinating that the Throne Room has ever been filled with a three-fold declaration of the holiness of the Three-Person God.  “Holy, Holy, Holy” the prophets have seen and heard the angels sing, assumedly gripped with the holiness of the Father, Son and Spirit.  Fascinating in this passage in Matthew 7 is that those who are denied access to the Kingdom of the Father, though they thought they knew Jesus and were apparently anointed by the Spirit, they called God “Lord, Lord” and had obviously missed some aspect of God that was essential enough to deny them entrance.

*Lord, Lord, Lord, we live to enjoy You and be enjoyed by You, let it be so.  Amen*