God Won’t Forgive Me!

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6.14-15)

Hello everyone. This week, you’ve caught me out west, doing a nine-day series in a university town for a small church. I was recently reminded of this verse by a confused (but sincere) soul who was genuinely wrestling with his beliefs. Does God, he wondered, really relate to us in the way we see Jesus relating to those he came into contact with? I can’t tell you how many times over the last twenty years I have met dear people struggling with this week’s verse. So, what do we do? Well, here’s an eSight on it for starters.

First, let’s start off on the right footing. After three years of being mentored by Jesus, one of Jesus’ closest disciples summed up the revelation of God we get through Jesus in three words: “God is love.” (I John 4.8) John goes on to say that “We love, because He first loved us.” This is the principle that love can only be awakened by love. It cannot be coerced, manipulated, or contrived. It can only be awakened, and it can only be awakened by encountering love itself.

This is just as true of forgiveness. We forgive others because He first forgave us. But how many of you reading this week have struggled for your entire lives to believe that God truly forgives you?

Many who read our featured passage interpret it in ways that lead them into a sick, downward-spiraling cycle of thinking: “I can’t forgive. So I know God doesn’t forgive me.”

Let’s back up and make sure we correctly understand Jesus’ words here.

A text that is presented without its cultural context is a sure sign that we are being conned. What was it, exactly, that Jesus was addressing? I want to go on record as believing that Jesus was not speaking about the paradigm our own privatized, individual, and personal sins through which many of us today read this passage. When Jesus speaks of forgiveness here, He is referring to the Hebrew definition of forgiveness in His day. “The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer…” (Lamentations 4.22) When Jesus spoke of “forgiveness,” His audience was not the patrons to the philosophy of Western Individualism that many are today. They would not have heard, “God will forgive my private, individual sins.” They would have understood Jesus as saying, “If we want to our exileto be lifted, if we want the sins of Israel to be forgiven, the pathway out of this is not the road of eye-for-an-eye, militaristic, violent revolt against Rome, such as Judah Maccabee led our ancestors in against the Greeks. The pathway to the restoration of Israel is through embracing the Romans, loving the Romans, and forgiving the Romans, all on our own initiative. This nonviolent Messiah, by preaching restorative justice, is teaching that we are not going to see Israel restored by defeating these Romans, but rather by winning them over, so that they will follow this radically different Messiah too!”

Now whether Jesus’ audience would buy into this or not was yet to be seen. But this is what Jesus was saying. Jesus was offering them what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who learned of this idea from Jesus) called a “double victory”—a victory in which Israel would not only win its “freedom,” but would win Rome “with it.” (See King’s A Christmas Sermon for Peace. Sunday, December 24, 1967.)

Yet, the very real fear among those listening to Jesus’ teachings was that Rome, instead of responding to their forgiveness and their enemy-embracing love, would simply take advantage of it, using it to walk all over Israel even more frequently. Jesus’ audience was tempted to fear that Jesus was planning to turn Israel into Rome’s doormat.

As Jesus both assured and warned them, “If you forgive others their trespasses [e.g., the Romans], your heavenly Father will also forgive you [Your exile will be lifted!]; but if you do not forgive others [the Romans], neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [You will remain in your present state or possibly worse.] (Matthew 6.14-15)

We know from this side history that Jesus’ audience chose not to believe in him (c.f., John 3.16-17). They chose the path of violence, of eye-for-an-eye, retaliation, and retributive justice. They chose, instead of following Jesus, to take the broad pathway that ends in destruction. They chose not the way of enemy-forgiveness, but the way of war. From A.D. 66-69, there would be a Jewish-Roman War that would climax in the horrific nightmare of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70. (See Josephus’ War of the Jews.) Jesus’ words of Matthew 6.14-15 would come true. (See also the parable in Matthew 18.23-35, and remember that Jesus is speaking of His audience’s attitude toward the Romans.)

So if Jesus wasn’t talking about individual, privatized sin in Matthew 6, where does he teach about that?

Well, actually, he spent his whole life putting that teaching on display: from the woman caught in adultery, to whom before she repented, Jesus whispered, “I am not condemning you,” to the woman at the well, to whom he said, “I know everything about you and my offer is still on the table.” Jesus walked the Earth displaying the radical and—to some—“dangerous” favor of God. The God that Jesus reveals is not one who is against us, and who must be won through our groveling and repentance. Instead, Jesus reveals a God who is and always has been for us, on our side. This God forgives us, for we know not what we do, and seeks to win us away from our current path, which will in death, and guide us to the path, narrow as it may be, that resembles Jesus (see John 14.6) and that ends in life.

Wanna know what Jesus taught about individual, privatized sin? Go back and contemplate His words to the paralytic. Jesus offers this man no “if/then” conditions. Instead, He initiates the man’s healing by introducing him to the truth: “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5.20, c.f., 5.23; 7.48)

What Jesus is offering us in Matthew 6 is the beginning of a whole new world changed by the reign of Jesus. With our forgiving of others, God will make sure that what we have done to others will be forgiven by them. Jesus is not saying that God will harbor ill feelings toward you until you muster up enough strength to forgive others. He is saying that by our letting others off the hook, by believing the best about them, by giving them second chances, and by seeking to restore the rights of other victims rather than always defending our own, we are creating a new world. We are setting into motion a more forgiving world where through our forgiveness, the forgiveness in others is awakened. One day, this forgiveness will work its way back into the hearts of those whom we have offended. Then, God will be able to win them, too, into this new world, so that they may forgive us.

Some will say they highly doubt that they will see such a change in the world in their own lifetimes, and that may be true. But, in the words of the famous Stevie Wonder song, “Maybe not in time for you and me, but someday,” this world will be renewed. We should live our lives, putting on display what a world changed by Jesus will look like, hoping against all hope that Christ will one day reign unobstructed here again: a world where God’s Kingdom of love has come, on Earth, like it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6.10; 5.5) If we have passed on and are not alive to see that day that we have all lived and died to see come to fruition, we need not despair. We have been promised to be resurrected and to live in that Kingdom, here on Earth, forever. (Revelation 21.3)

For today, remember that faith in what we do not see is not about the existence of God or a place called Heaven. It is about believing that Christ’s Kingdom has come, that Earth has a new King, and that one day, the only world that will remain is a world where love reigns. (Matthew 28.18-19) Even when we look around and “see” very little evidence, one day it will all be so. (Acts 3.21; 1 Corinthians 15-25-28)

HeartGroup Application

1. This week, I want you prayerfully come up with five names: five people who are fulfilling the role of “the Romans” in your life today.

2. I want you to dedicate time each day, for the next seven days, to praying blessings on them. You don’t have to feel anything positive for them in your heart, yet. Just pray for them. Take notes of the fears and the “what-ifs” that surface in your heart. Write those down. Submit them to Jesus and then stop, watch, and listen to what He says about each one.

3. Share what Jesus shows you concerning the forgiveness of others with your HeartGroup in this upcoming week.

Till the only world that remains is a world where love reigns,

I love you guys.
See you next week.

Jesus’ Power Under Vs. Power Over by Clement of Rome

But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22.25-27)

This week I had the privilege of spending some time, once again, with the first-century writings of Clement of Rome. Clement represents the era of the church during the time the Apostles were beginning to die off; Peter and Paul had already been martyred, and many believed John still to have been alive. (I promise this is going to be relevant to you as a Jesus follower in the 21st century. Just stay with me!) What I find fascinating about Clement’s first letter to the church in Corinth is that we already are beginning to see it creeping in among Jesus followers, and how this relates to our featured text this week by Jesus in Luke 22. Once one sees it, one will be shocked to see communities that bear Jesus’ name today riddled with the same problem Clement addresses too. But what is this it? Well, we are not only going to look at what it is, but how Jesus can remedy it. So first, we must come to know what it really is.

In Luke 22, Jesus draws the attention of his disciples to the office that “benefactors” held in the culture of his day. The relationship between a “benefactor” and their “clients,” within Roman practice, was hierarchical, but obligations were mutual. The “benefactor” was the sponsor or “benefactor” of the “client,” in return for some form of patronage from the “client” toward the “benefactor.” Although typically the client was of inferior social class, a benefactor and client might even hold the same social rank. However, the benefactor would possess greater wealth, power, or prestige that enabled him to help or do favors for the client. Jesus is strictly forbidding this type of hierarchical relationship within the new humanity that he is creating (see Ephesians 2.15; 2 Corinthians 5.16,17, TNIV; Galatians 3.28; and Colossians 3.11). In our passage here in Luke 22, Jesus teaches us to reject “power over” others, and embrace instead the practice of the humble servant “power under” others. Let me make this a little clearer.

As followers of Jesus, we are not to try and come over the top of others and coerce change. We are called, like the Master, to approach others as their humble servant, and seek to influence them through love. The Kingdom of God is without coercion. It is through conversation, community, service, enemy-embracing, love, and (if need be) our own martyrdom that we seek to influence the world around us. We do not seek to defeat others, but to win them. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would often call this the “the double victory” of winning even our enemies to our cause (see A Christmas Sermon for Peace; Dec 24, 1967). Jesus’ instruction to lay down the sword and embrace an enemy-loving cross as the means to win our enemies gives us a radical way—both within the church as well as outside in the broader scope of society—to put on display a living demonstration of what a world changed by the reign of Christ looks like. Even within each of the three examples Jesus gives us in Matthew 5, in his instruction on nonviolent noncooperation, we find this humble servant love (despite being directed toward one’s enemies) at its core.

By each real-life example of the social inferior turning the left check when struck on the right (we have covered this elsewhere in greater detail), or offering the greedily wealthy even your last article of clothing, or (of your own volition) offering to the representative of the terrorist regime of Roman occupation to carry their burden beyond the required one mile to a doubled, voluntary distance, Jesus gives us ways to influence our world around us with the “power” of coming “under” those we seek to influence, changing the world from the inside out, rather than trying to come “over” others and exert coercive power “over” them.

It is true that we have example after example of this in the early Church where they were endeavoring to follow Jesus’ example, influencing this world through their own martyr’s death; that is, the way of the cross—Clement called it “submitting the neck.” (1 Clement 63.1) But what I want to focus on more intently this week is how this “power under” principle functioned within (inside of) the early church itself.

What we find in the New Testament is not, by definition, a hierarchical “power over” organization (Jesus strictly forbid this) filled with “benefactors” and “clients.” Rather, what we find is an organism, a body, where each member was fully and mutually submitted to each other. We do not see those in positions of authority lording “power over” the much larger mass of other Jesus followers. What we find is 1) “power over” forbidden even to the “elders” (see 1 Peter 5.1-3), and 2) a mutual submission of every member to each other, each person belonging to the other (see Romans 12.4-5). This is coming “under,” even within the body, and seeking to influence one another by the humble servant love Jesus taught. And it is the bedrock on which is founded the fifty-plus “one-anothers” of the New Testament church. Here is just a sampling, you can Google the rest:

Romans 12.10—Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Galatians 5.13—You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Ephesians 5.21—Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philippians 2.3—Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.

1 Peter 4.8—Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

What I believe we see through the first letter of Clement to Corinth, within the latter half of the first century, is the beginnings of a few who were seeking a departure away from the mutual submission of the “one-anothers” to a position of hierarchical authority over others instead. Before we can see it, though, there is a little background that we must first put on the table.

1. Terms

Jesus commissioned his Apostles. The Apostles, in their turn, made more disciples of Jesus among whom they “chose” bishops (episkopos) or elders (presbeteros), and deacons (diakonos). Easton’s Bible Dictionary states, “In apostolic times, it is quite manifest that there was no difference as to order between bishops and elders or presbyters (Acts 20:17-28; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3). The term bishop is never once used to denote a different office from that of elder or presbyter.” (emphasis added.) Bishops/Elders were established as shepherds or guardians, humble servants of whatever small house church the Apostles would establish. There were multiple bishops/elders within each group. They came under and served their fellow followers of Jesus in the role of guarding and protecting as older, more experienced followers. This was not an office where they ruled as overlords above the followers of Jesus who were under them. They did not seek to draw others after themselves (see Acts 20.30), but sought always to direct their fellow Jesus followers to collectively consult their Head, the living Christ, and to practice the mutual, open, participatory principle of the priesthood of all believers.

Peter, in quoting Jesus, gave strict counsel to bishops/elders not to succumb to the temptation of using “power over” others. This was not their purpose, nor their role. They were to be examples, using the “power” of coming “under” others as their humble servants.

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care,watching [not ruling] over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5.1-3, emphasis added)

Notice how Peter here is quoting what he had heard from Jesus:

“But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority overthem are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.’” (Luke 22.25-27, emphasis added)

2. Problem of Translation

In 1611, King James VI of Scotland commissioned the King James Version of the Bible. This was when the Church and the Empire were united. King James acted in the capacity of the head of the State Church of England. The Church, having been deeply influenced by the Empire ever since the baptism of Constantine, was therefore patterned after the very hierarchical structure of the Empire itself (which was exactly and strictly forbidden by Christ in Luke 22.25-27). History tells us that James VI ordered fifty-four scholars to issue a translation, which did not depart from empirical “terms” but (as many scholars today agree) grossly departed from the New Testament definition of the original Greek words behind those terms as well as their meanings. Bancroft and Erasmus, the architects of the King James Version translation, are today believed to be largely responsible.
The translators were obligated to match the translation with the agenda and beliefs of the Empire and show no conflict between Christ’s Kingdom and the Empire. James VI rightly perceived that if the hierarchical bishops were put out of power (i.e. power “over”), “I know what would become of my supremacy . . . No bishop, no King.” King James believed correctly (see Willson, p. 198, p. 207). King James therefore ordered a translation that would facilitate his control over the church and the masses at large. For this reason, the KJV naturally reflects the Empire’s hierarchical/institutional presuppositions. Words like episkopos (guide), diakonos(servant), praxis (service), and proistemi (guide) were not accurately translated from the Greek, but rather in a way that would be in keeping with the heirarchy of the Empire. Episkopos was translated into bishop rather than guide. Diakonos was translated as minister rather thanservant. Praxis was translated into office rather than service. Proistemi was translated into “rule” rather than “guidance.”

History also tells us that the Authorized KJV underwent four revisions up until 1769. Yet each revision left this Empire-friendly bias uncorrected. Today, modern translations are endeavoring to correct this endorsement of what Jesus called the “gentile,” hierarchical structures of Empire by translating these Greek terms to be more in keeping with their original use in their own contemporary cultural setting. Episkopos, which means “guide or protector”, is translated as “guide.” Diakonos is correctly translated as “servant.” Praxis is translated as “service” or “function” rather than “office.” Proistemi has also been translated as “guard” or “guide.”

Thanks to the KJV today, many get the false impression that the New Testament actually sanctions hierarchical authority within the body of Christ and His Kingdom. Now, if we are going to understand how this all ties back into Clement, and what we see him endeavoring to address in the church at Corinth, then we have to understand one central term used by him over and over.

3. Hegeomai

Here is a great example from the Book of Hebrews of today’s translations endeavoring to correct the sanctions of the KJV of the empirical authority structures that we have just discussed. Note carefully the differences.

Hebrews 13.7 (KJV)—Remember them which have the RULE OVER [hegeomai] you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Hebrews 13.7 (TNIV)—Remember your LEADERS, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

The word “rule” in the KJV of Hebrews 13.7 is translated from the Greek word hegeomai. In contemporary first-century use it did not, however, mean to “rule over.” For there to be Jesus followers ruling over other Jesus followers, even if they were elders, the author of Hebrews words here would indicate a clear dismissal of both Peter’s and Jesus’ teachings, as we as have already seen; that is, if the author of Hebrews were to endorse or approve. Whathegeomai meant in its day was simply to guide or to go before. This is why the TNIV translates it as “leaders.” It doesn’t connote someone over another as much as someone in relation to another being further down the path, leading the way. It indicates horizontal position not vertical. Nevertheless, in his translation of Hebrews, New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce doesn’t feel the term “leaders” entirely escapes the possible hierarchical entrapments. He translateshegeomai as “guides.” This word carries the thought of “those who guide you” rather than “those who rule over you.” Therefore, a more accurate translation would be, “Remember THOSE WHO GUIDE YOU who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13.7) They lead by example, not “power over.” I believe Bruce’s “guides” are an even better translation than the TNIV’s “leaders.” Remember, in accordance with Jesus’ teachings, “leaders” in the early church were not hierarchical overlords, but simply those who were the lowest “servants.” (See Luke 22.25-26.)

Clement’s Letter to Corinth

The word Clement uses in his letter to Corinth is this same hegeomai. Again, we will find some translations of Clement (not all) that, in keeping with the KJV, translate it as “those who rule over you.” But remember the word does not mean “rule over.” It means “guide.”

Clement tells us the situation is bleak in the church in Corinth:

“Owing, dear brethren, to the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves, we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the points respecting which you consulted us; and especially to that shameful and detestable sedition, utterly abhorrent to the chosen of God, which a few rash and self-confident persons have kindled to such a pitch of frenzy, that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be universally loved, has suffered grievous injury.” (1 Clement 1.1, emphasis added)

There were those in the church, according to Clement, who were headstrong and self-willed, and which the letter will show were seeking to draw the church away from the counsel of its “guides” and to following themselves as hierarchical (rather than servant) leaders instead. This was causing a schism among the believers in Corinth.

Clement reminisces that it was not always like this there:

“For who ever dwelt even for a short time among you, and did not find your faith to be as fruitful of virtue as it was firmly established? Who did not admire the sobriety and moderation of your godliness in Christ? Who did not proclaim the magnificence of your habitual hospitality? And who did not rejoice over your perfect and well-grounded knowledge? For you did all things without respect of persons, and walked in the commandments of God, submitting yourselves [remember the mutual submission we discussed at the beginning? See Romans 12.4-5] to your guides [hegeomai], and giving all fitting honor to the elders among you.” (1 Clement 1.2-3, emphasis added)

Clement later in his letter describes exactly this looked like.

“Let us take our body for an example. The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet are nothing without the head; yea, the very smallest members of our body are necessary and useful to the whole body. But all work harmoniously together, and unite in mutual subjectionfor the preservation of the whole body.” (1 Clement 37.5, emphasis added)

These older “elders” and guides would have been proponents of the New Testament’s “mutual submission” as well as the open, mutually participatory nature of the church. Remember this was Corinth. Years earlier, Paul wrote to this church describing no hierarchy where the many simply sat passively listening to one, or merely watching a few. Paul describes the mutually participatory nature of the Corinth church, “Each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.” (1 Corinthians 14.26) These elders would be dedicated to “guarding” this and not allowing the mutually submissive nature of the church to be compromised. In order for this church to be hijacked by those whom Clement calls “envious” or “jealous,” those who rejected the Christ’s teachings of “power under,” those who were desiring to be in a position of “power over” their fellow Jesus followers, those very ones would first need to get rid of the “elders/guides,” the protectors of the “one-another” nature of the community. And this is exactly what was being attempted, and hence the crisis that Clement was writing about.

“Moreover, you were all distinguished by humility, and were in no respect puffed up with arrogance, yielding [to one another] rather than demanding submission, and were more willing to give than to receive? Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, you were inwardly filled with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and you had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all . . . You were sincere and uncorrupted, and forgetful of injuries between one another. Every kind of faction and schism was abominable in your sight. You mourned over the transgressions of your neighbors: their deficiencies you deemed your own. You never grudged any act of kindness, being ‘ready to every good work.’ Adorned by a thoroughly virtuous and honorable life, you did all things in the fear of God. The commandments and ordinances of the Lord were written upon the tablets of your hearts.” (1 Clement 2.1-4, emphasis added)

Clement explains that the possibility of the present schism was foreseen by the apostles, and that this is why “guides” or “guardians” were chosen by the apostles for when they were no longer alive.

“Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and there would be strife on account of the name of “bishop.” For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge of this, they chose those already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep [die], other approved men should succeed them in their ministry. We are of opinion, therefore, that those chosen by them, or afterwards by other men,with the consent of the whole Church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of Christ in ahumble, peaceable, and disinterested spirit, and have for a long time possessed the good opinion of all, cannot be justly dismissed from their service. For our sin will not be small, if we throw out those who have blamelessly and holily offered as a gift of sacrifice the service of bishop. Blessed are those elders [plural] among youwho, having finished their course before now, have obtained a fruitful and perfect departure; for they have no fear lest any one deprive them of the place now chosen for them. But we see that you have thrown out some men of excellent behavior from their service [leitourgia], which they fulfilled blamelessly and with honor.” (1 Clement 44.1-5, emphasis added)

It is interesting to note that the Greek term here leitourgia possesses as one of its root words “laos,” from which we get the word “laity” which is also grossly misunderstood today as well. The New Testament does not recognized a “clergy/laity” divide among its community of Jesus followers. Leitourgia, according to Mounce (Mounce Greek Dictionary) in contemporary Roman culture referred to “public service discharged by a citizen at his own expense.” The service Clement is referring to, being fulfilled by multiple bishops/elders in each Jesus community was not originally anything like the paid offices of “bishop” we see after the unification of Christianity with the Empire.

What we find is the recounting by Clement of the Apostles choosing voluntary guides/guardians for the church after they were gone, and this was to continue over and over again in each successive generation. But these were never to be hierarchical lords, but servant guides to the church. Yet what was happening in Corinth is that a few younger ones desired to “take over,” and were convincing the believers in Corinth to forsake their elders as well as their counsel. History tells us that it didn’t take many generations before these “guides” truly were replaced by “hierarchical bishops” who abandoned their “servant” roles and the “power” of coming “under” others. They succumbed to the temptation to embrace instead an office of “power over” ultimately becoming competing overlords for the highest of hierarchical positions/offices of authority. Hierarchical authority would eventually win the day in the history of the church. Eventually, the bishop in Rome would claim authority over the entire Christian church and this would produce the great schism of 1054 A.D. producing Eastern Orthodox Christians (Greek) [who did not recognize the bishop in Rome as being over all others] and the Western Catholic Christians (Latin) under the authority of the Bishop of Rome. This was the same exact temptation the disciples were originally faced with when Jesus gave his rebuke in Luke 22.25-27.

“A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.’” (Luke 22.24-25, emphasis added)

Clement wraps up his letter to the church in Corinth by pleading:

“Who then among you is noble-minded? Who compassionate? Who full of love? Let him declare, ‘If on my account sedition and disagreement and schisms have arisen, I will depart, I will go away whithersoever you desire, and I will do whatever is ordered by the people [notice the mutual nature of “people” rather than a ruling over “bishop.”]; only let the flock of Christ live on terms of peace with its chosen elders [guides].’ He that acts thus shall procure to himself great glory in the Lord; and every place will welcome him.” (1 Clement 54.1-2, emphasis added)

How does this apply to us today?

It’s time that “power over” be laid down and rejected by the church, once again, both as its means of influencing society (seeking to control the state so as to control others through legislating outward conformity) as well as its means of governing fellow followers of Jesus. The New Testament does not offer a community, centered in Jesus, where some rule over others. God forbid! The New Testament offers a community, centered in Jesus, where each of us is practicing mutual submission to each other and to the humble, servant power of the “one-anothers.”

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12.4-5)

What is the remedy for the rampant use of “power over” we see even today among Jesus’ followers worldwide? Paul gives the remedy to us in his letter to the Philippians. Let’s take a look.

HeartGroup Application

1. This week I want you to compare two passages. One is from Paul in the New Testament about Jesus who reveals to us what God is like as well as what we are to be like in his letter to the Philippians. And the other is from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah about the King of Babylon. Let’s look at Isaiah first.

“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” (Isaiah 14.12-15)

Notice the grasping for higher positions along a hierarchical ascent? Now let’s look at Jesus via Paul:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2.6-11)

One of these is what God is like, the other is not.

2. Let’s begin small. This applies to how we relate to the greater society around us as well; but for now, what does it mean for us to begin relating just to our fellow Jesus followers after the pattern set by Jesus in Philippians 2? Notice, this is the very context of Paul’s passage in Philippians:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had:” (Philippians 2.5, emphasis added)

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2.1-4)

How do you do it? Paul says it clearly: we must spend time contemplating Jesus and His own humble servant love, which reveals to us the character of His Father while reshaping us into that same image.

This week, spend some time praying about this and ask Jesus what He’d like to revolutionize in how you are presently relating to others in your HeartGroup.

3. Share what Jesus shows you this upcoming week with your HeartGroup.

Wherever this finds you this week, keep enlarging Christ’s Kingdom. Keep living in humble, servant love, loving like Christ, till the only world that remains is a world where love reigns.

I love you guys,
I’ll see you next week.

A Goat Loving Shepherd

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (Matthew 5.44-45)

If I could attribute any of the words of Jesus’ awakening my heart twenty-two years ago to a radically different picture of God from what was being presented by my religious community at the time, it would these words right here.

It was a brisk New England morning and I was sixteen. Through a series of events, I found myself early in the morning, at a dear friend’s home, alone with God, on my knees in tears. You see, I was experiencing something very close to what Peter called an ekstasis (see Acts 10.10). Up until that moment, the God I was endeavoring to “obey” was, in my mind’s/heart’s eye, a chiefly retributive God of strict adherence to a system of reward and punishment—punitively. What I received that early morning was an encounter with a God who had never, at any stage of my life, responded to me, nor my actions, retributively, punitively, but had each step of the way been endeavoring to save me, restore me, and heal me—even before any consciousness of my own need for salvation, as well as long before any requests on my part for such a salvation. This was a God who felt deep love and endearment for me; a God moved by such love and endearment to have been convinced of saving me long before I was even interested in being saved.

But I would not be so easily convinced. I had long been entrenched in a religious experience rooted in a very retributive/punitive picture of God. My heart fought back.

“Okay, God,” I prayed, “Let’s say I just take this life you’re giving me and I use it to become your enemy; I simply use You for my own selfish aims. Or worse, let’s say I take this life and use it to curse You and persecute those who follow you. What if I take this life you’re giving me and choose to become your enemy?!” (I was deeply entrenched in the lie that only the belief in a retributive God was powerful enough to affect the choices you make with your life.)

In a voice I still remember to this day, bizarre as it may sound, God spoke these words: “If you choose to take my love and the life that am giving you vainly and choose to hate me in response, I will continue to be good to you. If you choose to spend the rest of your life cursing me, I will bless you nonetheless for it. If you should choose to simply use me and my love and this life for your own self centered agendas, I will continue to intercede for you, leaning into that intercession for you with greater intensity and greater intent. In short, Herbie, if you should choose to take this life and become my enemy, I will love you and continue to love you all the more, because I am a God who LOVES my enemies!” (See Luke 6.27-28.)

It was at that moment I experienced a life-changing, transforming breakthrough deep within my own thoughts and feelings concerning God. I fell to my knees, tears began to flow down my cheeks as I knelt there alone with this God, no longer fearing how this God would treat me if I did not “obey,” but in deep heart-overwhelming awe and wonder at how this God would treat me even if didn’t. What happened next was the defining moment of my life. If this God was going to love me, giving me life, blessing me whether I served this God or not, my heart was overcome by really only one option: What else could I do? How else could I respond to a God this in love with me, but to take this life that was being given to me, no strings attached, and to give it back to this God, offering the rest of my life to helping others see what kind of a being this God really was? I had never seen God like this before, and I had a hunch there might be others like me, who God longed would see Him similarly. It was to this aim that I would dedicate my life.

What does it mean to truly encounter the God Jesus spoke of, as well as the love of this God, as truly being as indiscriminant as the shining sun or the falling rain?

“. . . For [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5.44-45)

In Luke’s gospel, Luke goes a step further and, without the comparison, only mentions Matthew’s “unrighteous.”

“. . . [God] is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” (Luke 6.35)

A passage that is raised often to try and counter this radically beautiful picture of God is the parable Jesus told of the sheep and goats. “See, see, see,” some have said, “there will come a day when God treats two groups of people very differently!” If this is true, it will lose nothing by closer investigation. It is true that different children need relating to in different ways at times by their parents; and there are some differences in the way the sheep and goats are treated in this passage. But the question I want you to ask is whether or not there is a difference in the intended outcome within the heart God in this passage.

Let’s look at the phrase normally used:

“Then they [the goats] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous [the sheep] to eternal life.” (Matthew 25.46)

The Greek Word Matthew chose to place in the mouth of Jesus for “punishment” is kolasis. I will quote the Greek scholar Joseph Henry Thayer D.D., from his famous Thayer’s Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament. The two Greek words Matthew could have chosen for “punishment” were either timoria or kolasis. Matthew chose kolasis. Dr. Thayer states, “The noted definition of Aristotle, which distinguishes kolasis from timoria as that which (isdisciplinary and) has reference to him who suffers, while the latter (is penal and) has reference to the satisfaction of him who inflicts . . .” (emphasis added) .

There are exceptions, but in most occurrences in the ancient world, kolasis (which comes from its root word which means “to prune”) is restorative in nature while timoria is more punitive or penal. (William D. Mounce in Mounce’s Concise Greek–English Dictionary of the New Testament also agrees.)

God’s heart toward both the sheep and the goats is the same. Although the goats requirekolasis where the sheep do not, God’s goal is to restore, heal, and save. (Whether any of the goats will respond to the kolasis of God in the way God desires is not mentioned by Jesus in the parable.)

It is worth noting that the Pharisees, who were the theologically liberal (yet legalistically conservative) group of Jesus’ day, had embraced the belief in a conscious, eternal post-mortem torment. Many scholars today believe this is not found in ancient Judaism but was a belief that entered into Jewish thinking through the influence of the Hellenism of the Greeks. The words the Pharisees used to describe their belief in post mortem eternal torment wereadios timoria [adios—eternal in duration or time; timoria—punitive punishment]. Matthew subversively places two subtly different Greek words in the mouth of Jesus—aionion kolasis[aionion—eternal in quality or nature; kolasis—restorative punishment].

It is also interesting to note that within The Catacomb of Priscilla there is a very intriguing rendition of this parable. The Catacomb of Priscilla is on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, and is situated in what was a quarry in Roman times. This quarry was used for Christian burials from the late 2nd century through the 4th century. Within this catacomb we find ancient Christian wall paintings, as with most catacombs. The puzzlement is when we get to the painting called The Good Shepherd. Just as in Mathew 25, the sheep are to the shepherd’s right and the goats are to the shepherd’s left. But what has raised the most questions is that on the shoulders of the shepherd himself, we do not find him carrying his lost sheep; on the contrary, we find him carrying his lost goat. This would have been during a time when Christians needed reminding of one of the central tenants of the teachings of Christ, which was loving your enemy. Every person is sacred, even the goats.

Today there are three paradigms that presently exist within Christianity. For those who believe the fate of the goats will be torment, I’m quite sure the kolasis of God is not pleasurable. The psychological realities that those like Stalin, Hitler, and others will experience when they step into the presence of Him who is love and simultaneously encounter self-realization and the horrors of what they have done, I’m quite sure will be no pleasure cruise. For those who believe the fate of the goats will be annihilation, I’m quite sure that everything that is out of harmony with Christ’s Kingdom will be consumed. But for those who are endeavoring to reconcile the restorative justice Jesus attributed to His Father (rather than the humanly intuitive retributive justice), I’m quite sure that God’s intent in the end will be just what it always has been for both the sheep and the goats: restoration, healing, salvation. Again, the parable leaves unstated whether or not any of the goats will respond. But the difference between a sheep and a goat is not what is in God’s heart for either, but rather the difference is in what God must do to save both.

I’ll close this week with the depiction of the Great Shepherd in Revelation 19.

“Coming out of his MOUTH is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will SHEPHERD the nations with a STAFF of iron.” (Revelation 19.15, emphasis added)

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.” (Revelation 3.19)

According to Jesus, there are no more “us” and “them” in the heart of God. God loves, blesses, does good to, and intercedes for even the goats.

HeartGroup

1. How we see others directly affects how we treat them. How we perceive God thinks and feels toward others affects this even more.

Take time this week to prayerfully meditate on the picture you find at this link:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Shepherd_Catacomb_of_Priscilla.jpg

What is Jesus saying to you?

2. I have been accused at times of possessing a dysfunction inside of me, through things I have possibly experienced in my life, that give me a disposition, a need so to speak, to see a more restorative picture of God. As if this picture of God isn’t really found within the teachings of Jesus but superimposed on Jesus’ teachings by those who have some deep-seated drive for a God who looks like such. I could not disagree more. The events of my early life actually drove me toward a more retributive picture of God, and God through Jesus saved me from that. What I would like you to consider this week, instead, is what is inside of you that needs God to be a retributive God. What is it inside of you that needs someone somewhere to be punished? What is it inside of you toward those who have hurt you that you need a retributive, punitive God out there to justify the existence of what is in your heart toward them? What is it inside of you that must have God’s wrath, judgment, and punishment interpreted punitively rather than restoratively? What is this reluctance within you to forgive? What is it that you are afraid of?

Then take the time to submit each fear, one by one, to Jesus in your daily prayer time with him. Take time to sit with Jesus this week, and allow Him to guide you into a little introspection.

3. Share what you discover this upcoming week with your HeartGroup.

Wherever this finds you this week, keep living in love and loving like Christ till the only world that remains is a world where Christ’s love reigns.

I love you guys.
See you next week.

A God Who Looks Like Jesus

“If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works’” (John 14.7–10).

It has been a month since my mother’s death and I want to thank each of you for your patience with me during this time. I know I have been MIA; maybe one day I might share with you where Jesus and I have been over the last month. Maybe. Suffice it to say, Jesus has been very present both along with each of you and through each of you as well.

This week I want to pick back up one of the most challenging and yet life-transforming teachings of Jesus. The reason why it was (and remains to be) so controversial will not dawn upon us at first, but will take years for its profundity to really unfold before us. What is this teaching of Jesus that brings such hope and healing, and yet is fought against so vehemently by those with the best of motives? It is the simple truth that God actually looks like Jesus.

In our feature text this week, Jesus responds to Philip’s request with these words: “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.” This was not simply because Jesus exemplified what the Father was like. It actually goes much deeper than that. What Jesus goes on to say is that he has simply been a conduit for the Father. That what they have been witnessing is not Jesus’ activity, but the actual activity and self-revelation of the Father himself living within and through Jesus.

On another occasion, when confronted with his not observing the Sabbath the way the Pharisees felt was in keeping with that which was religiously and politically acceptable, Jesus said to these Pharisees, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes” (John 5.19–21).

Jesus here states emphatically that He could only do what He saw His Father doing (present tense). In other words, everything we see Jesus doing, Jesus was only able to do because He first envisioned the Father doing as well. Jesus claims to have been given special revelations of what the Father was actually like and what the Father was actually actively engaged in so that He might join and mimic the activity of the Father.

Jesus so fully revealed to us the Father that Jesus could also say on another occasion, “And whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (John 12.45).

Yet why was this so controversial and truly challenging for those who embraced the revelation of God in the first century? Well, because quite frankly, it did not line up perfectly with all previous, and even inspired, portrayals of what God was like. The author of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews recognized this, admitted it freely, and wrote, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and different ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son . . . He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” (Hebrews 1.1–3, emphasis added).

The words the author of Hebrews chose to use here in describing how God was revealed through the prophets of old were polymeros (different times) and polytropos (different ways). In contemporary Greek documents of the New Testament, Greek scholars agree, the meaning of polytropos is very close to what we would call today “multiple personalities.” These ways in which God was revealed through the prophets were not only different from each other in matters of time but they were also sometimes very different from each other in the type of being they portrayed God, but they even differ at times from the revelation of God we find in Jesus. But this is exactly the point of the author of Hebrews. The author is virtually saying, “I know the God revealed through the prophets looks, at times, somewhat different from this God we find revealed in Jesus, but this Jesus really is the EXACT representation of what God is truly like! He is the culmination of this story of discovery we have all been in.” The early followers of Jesus had to, in some ways, go against their most fundamental religious upbringing to follow this Jesus—in more ways than one. (Just to believe a contemporary Jewish carpenter was the embodiment of the Old Testament Yahweh Himself, alone called upon the disciples of Jesus to go against how they were raised. See Leviticus 24.16 cf. John 10.33.) The disciples of Jesus had been raised on, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8.20). And yet, God shows up and presents teachings that do not always line up perfectly with what was commanded in the law and the testimony. (See John 8.5 cf. Deuteronomy 22.22; Luke 8.46 cf. Leviticus 15.19; as well as others.)

So radical was this revelation of God within this contemporary Jewish carpenter in the first century that John, years later, could look back on it all and say that, even though he was raised with Moses and Elijah, when placed alongside the revelation of God in Jesus, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John 1.18).

The apostle Paul called Jesus “the mirror image of God” (2 Corinthians 4.4; Colossians 1.15). Paul did not believe that Jesus was simply a revelation of one aspect of God or his character, but rather that Jesus was the revelation of God’s fullness (Colossians 1.19; 2.9). The revelation of God through Jesus should be understood as culminating and superseding all previous revelations. Paul would, through being literally knocked off his high horse, come to see that all previous revelations of God should be interpreted through the revelation of God in Jesus, rather than placed alongside Jesus. Jesus’ revelation of what God is like cannot be simply blended with pre-understandings of what God is like. The revelation of God in Jesus does not reveal one aspect of God but is the definitive revelation of God’s very essence. A mistake is made when, rather than reinterpreting all biblical portraits through the lens of Jesus, other canonical portraits are placed alongside the cross and granted equal authority to reveal God (i.e., Jesus’s revelation is said to reveal God’s loving and merciful side, while other canonical portraits of God reveal God’s “wrathful” side). Jesus instead redefines everything.

Why is this challenging to so many? Because in Jesus we find the coming of a God preaching nonviolence as the way to heal this world’s wrongly constructed social structures. We find a God redefining justice, parable after parable, not as retributive or punitive, but rather as restorative. We find a God who seems to exude, even overflow, with this inclusive favor even for those the law, the teachers of the law, and the politically conservative but theologically liberal group called the Pharisees said should be stoned or, at bare minimum, marginalized. To truly meet the God found in the Jesus within the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is to truly be confronted with a sincere question: Do we really love the God we find within the Jesus of the Jesus story itself, once we see Him, or are we simply loving the deified projection of our own political and religious opinions, much like those of Jesus’ own day, yet placed before our own cultural backdrop today?
HeartGroup Application

This week I want to ask you to consider three passages given at three different times, which illustrate <I>polymeros</I> and <I>polytropos</I> and why it is vital that, although we have a high regard for scripture, we have an even higher view of Jesus.

The first is found in Deuteronomy 23.1–6:

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

“Those born of an illicit union shall not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

“No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. (Yet the LORD your God refused to heed Balaam; the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.) You shall never promote their welfare or their prosperity as long as you live.”

Without jumping to how Jesus taught us to forgive, love and bless our enemies, let’s first stop at Isaiah, which seems to be referencing Moses’ words here in Deuteronomy specifically. This is Isaiah 56.1–7 (emphasis added):

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Maintain justice, and do what is right for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.

“‘Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.’ Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’; and do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree.’

“For thus says the LORD: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

“‘And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.’”

And lastly let’s look at Acts 10.28–36 (emphasis again added), which is the story of how Peter was led into the change from Deuteronomy that Isaiah was endeavoring to bring about, but which was actually accomplished in Jesus.

“And he said to them, ‘You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

“‘So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?’ Cornelius replied, ‘Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. He said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.” Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.’

“Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all’ . . .While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

There are three things here I would like to point out for your contemplation. 1) In Isaiah, the inclusion of people who were excluded by Moses, in Deuteronomy, were now included on the basis of their keeping of the Sabbath. I don’t want to make too much of this, but what defined this new first century community was neither circumcision nor keeping the Sabbath (as the Sabbath was kept by even those who crucified Jesus), but whether or not they had embraced Jesus as the revelation of God, morality, and how this world should be structured and were endeavoring to follow the teachings of this Jesus. This was a community centered in, defined by, and invested with worth and meaning from Jesus. 2) When one places these commands of Deuteronomy alongside Isaiah and the book of Acts, it becomes very apparent that we cannot stop at Deuteronomy. In other words, it’s not enough to simply be Biblical or even followers of the Law. We must strive to be followers of Jesus, embracing the God, as well as the new world, found in Jesus. In some areas we will be in perfect harmony with previous revelations of God and how he asks us to live, but in areas where we are not, we must follow Jesus. 3) This one is the most relevant when considering what shapes and forms our understandings of God (as well as ourselves, for we ultimately become like the God we worship). All scripture is inspired, but not all scripture is to be given the same weight in shaping our understanding of who God is. Or let me say it this way: All scriptures portray the story of a people whom God had on a journey of discovering who He was, but that story culminated in the full revelation of God found in Jesus the Christ. Jesus redefines everything. Jesus is the game changer. To truly believe God looks like that itinerant Jewish teacher two thousand years ago heals everything.

One last exercise. Let’s all take a look at this article. Keep in mind that this is exactly what Moses commanded to be done as well, but ask yourself, in prayerful contemplation, this most important question, “I know what Moses commanded, but what would the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do?”

Remember, the only question I want you to be contemplating as you read this is, “What would Jesus do?” This is a real-life exercise that exposes whether we are truly in love with Jesus, or again, simply the deified projection of our own political or religious opinions. I won’t answer it for you; the exercise is for you. Prayerfully take it to the living Jesus and ask Him, “What would You do?”

“With all wisdom and insight God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1.9–10, emphasis added). Until that day, keep following Jesus, keep allowing Jesus to challenge your picture of God, reshaping not only your concept of God’s character, but re-forming each of us into that very kind (no pun intended) of being as well. Till the only world that remains, is a world where love reigns.

I love you guys; I’ll see you next week.

Saved by Grace?

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies . . .” (Matthew 5.43, 44).

This week I want to share with you what I consider to be one of the core elements of Jesus’ Kingdom teachings—enemy love. Enemy love was central to the hope that lay before Israel and the events that led up to A.D. 70, (See The Final Eight Prophecies of Jesus begging at https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/09-09-2013) and it is just as central to Jesus’ followers and the world around us today.

As we have also covered elsewhere, everything within the Jesus movement began to change when the Christian church embraced Constantine. A new theology that enabled the church to embrace the ethics of the Roman Empire (which in turn was a rejection of the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount) entered the scene through Augustine. It’s perfectly acceptable, Augustine taught, to kill your enemy, as long as you love him while you are doing it. Augustine presented the dualistic possibility of our bodily actions being radically separate from our “inward disposition” (see Augustine ch.75, The Ante-Nicene Fathers).

Enemy love, the power of enemy blessing, of enemy forgiveness, is the root out of which Jesus’ teaching on non-violence is but the natural growth. They do not end in greater violence only justified for a redemptive purpose. Nonviolence is the outward expression (bodily action) of the enemy love (the inward disposition). It’s difficult to imagine how one can have the inward disposition of love, while expressing that disposition in killing the object of such affection.

Enemy love, enemy blessing, may seem counter-intuitive to many people, but remember, we are called on to display what this world changed by the reign of Christ (earth’s new King) looks like and to invite others to embrace Christ as their new King and step into this beautiful new way of life in the here and now. Enemy love is most likely the greatest, most significantly radical, element of what it means to submit to Jesus as earth’s new King.

It means to love those threatened just as equally as those who are doing the threatening. Think of the story found in John 8. Jesus loved the Pharisees and teachers of the law just as much as the woman caught in adultery. As a matter of fact, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were committing the sin of accusation (see Revelation 12.10). Jesus loved all present equally and sought not to simply save the woman’s life, but also to save the Pharisees and teachers of the law, seeing them as victims as well, victims of a systemic evil. He did not see the woman as needing to being saved from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. He looked at the situation and saw the woman, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law—all three of them—as victims being used by, and in need of being saved from, the real enemy (see Ephesians 6.12).

Notice, Jesus did not differentiate between the woman and the men accusing her. Jesus saved the woman from them, yes, but he also saved the accusers by reminding them of their own shortcomings and moral failures. We are in this together, so to speak.

What does this mean for us today? It means that even when threatened, whether it is our loved ones or ourselves, we are to see those who threaten as victims too. They are not the enemy. They are simply victims of the real enemy. And as Jesus’ followers, we are to endeavor to save them too through the power of enemy love, enemy forgiveness, and enemy blessing, in non-violent, yet non-cooperative ways (see Matthew 5.39–42).

Today the phrase “saved by grace” is thrown around so loosely. I want to ask you what you really mean by those words. Do you mean that we are saved from some punitive retribution from God by grace on God’s part as a result of his punishing his son in our place? Or could it be that we are saved/healed through grace on our part for our own enemies, rather than demanding punitive retribution in retaliation. Let me explain.

Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not respond to an evil person in retaliation” (Matthew 5.38, 39, personal translation from the Greek). Jesus also said that he was sent by a loving God so that the world might be “healed” (see John 3.17, the word “saved” is also translated as “healed” in the New Testament). We were on the path of retributive justice. Of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Jesus clearly tells us that this is the path that ends in death (see Matthew 7.12–14). An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Retribution only escalates. Jesus came to teach us the way of grace, the way of enemy love, and the way of God. He came to turn us from retribution to grace, from punitive justice to the restorative justice of His Kingdom.

So are we saved by grace? Absolutely! But not in the sense that implies we are saved from violence on God’s part by grace on God’s part because he has got his pound of flesh somewhere else. No, no. We are saved, we are healed, from a path of violence and retaliation by embracing the new way of love, of grace, toward our enemies, of enemy forgiveness and blessing. We are saved from the intrinsic, ever escalating, and ultimately self-inflicted annihilation, the end of our violent path, through learning to practice grace on our part for our own enemies through faith in the ability of love to heal the world. Are we saved by grace? Absolutely we are. The path of grace is our only hope. As I’ve said before, the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal son was not excluded because he could not embrace the Father’s grace for himself, he was left in utter darkness that night because he could not embrace grace for someone else he believed should be excluded. We are not saved by grace from imposed penalties, we are saved by grace from the intrinsic end of the path of retaliation rather than grace. Learning to embrace and practice grace, even for those who have hurt us the most, is the way home. It’s not just a means of salvation. It could be salvation itself.
HeartGroup Application

1. This week I want you to ask yourself, who is your brother or sister? Is it only those who share beliefs, ethics, lifestyles, or behaviors with you? Or could it even include your enemies? Prayerfully contemplate the following two statements from the early church:

“We used to hate and destroy one another, and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people, and pray for our enemies” (Justin’s first apology, ch. 11).

“If we all derive our origin from one man, whom God created, we are plainly all of one family. Therefore it must be considered an abomination to hate another human, no matter how guilty he may be. For this reason God has decreed that we should hate no one, but that we should eliminate hatred. So we can comfort our enemies by reminding them of our mutual relationship. For if we have all been given life by the same God then what else are we but brothers? … Because we are all brothers God teaches us never to do evil to one another but only good—giving aid to those who are oppressed, and experiencing hardship, and giving food to the hungry”—Lactantius (Divine Institutes, book 6, ch. 10).

2. Go back and reread Matthew 5.38–48 and ask yourself, in as much honesty and humility as you can muster, what God is saying to you in these passages. Write down what Jesus is saying to you in both #1 and #2.

3. Share whatever insights Jesus gives you with your HeartGroup this upcoming week.
Do you want to learn how to love your enemies more fully, more deeply? Here is a word of wisdom that I’ve found invaluable since it was shared with me. Don’t focus on loving or forgiving your enemies this week, focus on how much God loves and has forgiven you. The more you dwell on this, the more loving and forgiving you will become, for by love is love awakened and by forgiveness is forgiveness set in motion.

Keep living in love, loving like Christ, and putting on display what the world changed by the reign of Jesus looks like. It’s radically beautiful, even if only we can see it, till the only world that remains is a world where love reigns.

I love you guys; see you next week.

A Revolution in a Manger: (The Restorative Justice of the King); Part 4 of 4

Today a Savior has been born to you . . . (Luke 2.11)This week, I want to wrap up our four-part series. In Part 1, we discovered that Jesus came to this earth as a new King. In Part 2, we saw that this King came to give us freedom from the fear of death. In Part 3, we saw that this King called us to enact and enlarge His reign as His followers through the way of peace. In the final part, I want to look at what the reign of this new King looks like.

We get the clearest picture of what the world changed by Jesus looks like in Matthew’s sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 and Luke’s sermon on the plain in Luke 6. Let’s begin with Luke.

Luke portrays Jesus as looking at his disciples one day and saying, “Blessed are you who are poor right now for this Kingdom of God that I have come to establish here on earth is slanted in your favor. Blessed are you who hunger now for in this Kingdom I have come to establish you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, whom the present structure of this world oppresses and keeps pressed down, languishing in need that are never met, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you [and they will hate you when they see how much of a threat this new Kingdom is to their current structure], when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of this new Kingdom (see Daniel 7.13,14). Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because great is your reward in this Kingdom from heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich right now for you have already received your comfort. You are going to struggle with the changes I have come to make. It won’t be impossible, but it is going to be difficult for you (see Matthew 19.23). Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep. You will view me as the enemy and see this Kingdom as a threat to your way of life, which benefits you at the expense of so many others. Woe to you when everyone who benefited from this world’s present unjust power structures speaks well of you for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets” (Loose paraphrase based on Luke 6.20-26).

As we covered last week in Acts 17.6-7, from the perspective of those who benefit by the way this present world is structured, it may seem as if Jesus is ruining your life! It may seem that these changes Jesus has come to make are a threat. Jesus is initially perceived to be the enemy. It looks from their perspective that Jesus, His Kingdom, and His followers are “turning the world upside down!” But remember, what Jesus is really doing is turning the world right side up once again. The world is already upside down. That’s the problem. Jesus has come to restore, heal, and turn the world over, placing it back on its feet once again. To those at the top of the pyramid, the proclamation of this good news doesn’t seem like good news at all. But to the masses at the bottom of the pyramid, pressed down and slaving to benefit those at the top of the pyramid, the coming of a new way of doing life on earth is gospel. It IS good news!

But again, to those who presently benefit from this world’s current unjust power structures, everything about this new King’s reign may seem backwards. His Kingdom will benefit the current poor, rather than the present structures, which benefit the rich. His reign will benefit those whom the present structure causes them to morn. He will bring them comfort by contrast to those who are presently living in comfort and ease within a system that gives them blessings at the expense of causing untold sorrow for others around the globe. Christ’s Kingdom will benefit the meek by contrast to the present structure, which benefits those who know how to play the game, who are competitive, ambitious, bold, brave, and uninhibited. It will favor those who practice mercy, by contrast to our present structure that is rooted in retribution and the an eye for an eye way of defining justice. It will favor those whose heart is pure, even if this present structure has judged them as inferior based on their inability to outwardly conform to society’s standards or whose exterior performance doesn’t measure up. This is in contrast to a world where favors come to those who know how to play the game, be it religious, political or economic, with little regard for an integrity that can be seen only when one looks below the surface. It will be a reign of peace makers rather than war mongers. And yes, it will be comprised of those who are persecuted by the present structure and those it benefits for simply believing life on this earth can be, and should be, different. To those benefited presently, it will look like the world is being turned upside down, but to those who have eyes to see, they will perceive the world as being put right side up once again.

All of the changes this Baby will bring to the world had been foretold by the seer Isaiah long before this Baby’s birth:

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear, but with justice he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips He shall topple the wicked. Justice shall be the belt around His waist, and faithfulness the belt around His loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy all on my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations shall inquire of him and his dwelling shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11.1-10, emphasis added).

There are three things I want you to notice in this passage. First, He will restore justice for the poor and the meek. Second, He will topple the present structure NOT with force of arms, but with a force that proceeds out of His mouth—truth. This is what Gandhi called “Truth” force, or what Dr. King called “Soul” force. This is what we covered in Part 2 of this series. Third, this is a reign where the relationship between predator and prey is radically revolutionized. When reading this passage, remember that Isaiah was not speaking literally, but as a poet. The great problems of this world have nothing to do with predatory animals, but predatory people (Daniel and Revelation both portray visions of Predatory animals, which symbolize the kingdoms of this world, being conquered, subdued, and changed by a little Lamb who was slain.). The reign of this Baby lying in a manger brings a world where the smallest among us, the little children, will be perfectly safe (Isaiah mentions children in this passage three times as if to say, “don’t miss this.”). The world we see around us presently is a world run by lions, tigers, and bears. OH MY! But this prophecy speaks of a “child” that will lead them to a new way of doing life? Who is this child? I submit to you the Baby lying in a manger. Because of the death and resurrection of this Baby born in Bethlehem that day, this world is now ruled by a Lamb! This causes those who follow this world’s new King to rethink everything! He is the Lamb slain, now reigning and ruling, and we are called to follow Him in executing that reign, in putting on display a world where children and elderly are safe, where the marginalized are welcomed and allowed to experience empathy rather than judgment, and where the poor are fed and kept warm. As we saw two weeks ago in Part 2, the reign of this Baby lying in a manger will be a Kingdom where He “will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2.4). What I want you to see this week is that we have been called to proclaim the reign of Christ, a reign already begun, a reign that we see around us by faith not by sight, a reign that we call this world to embrace. This is not to be confused with Christian Right or the Moral Majority of the 80’s and the 90’s, which sought to simply take over the top power positions of this present corrupt structure. We are talking about a revolution where everything is rethought and radically reimagined—a world of love, justice and peace, especially for the religiously marginalized and the politically oppressed.

Take an imaginative look at these passages:

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11.15)

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His reign has come.” (Revelation 14.6-7)

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my son. Today, I have become your father. Ask me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalms 2.7-8).

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established. It cannot be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad. Let the sea resound and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant and everything in them. Let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord for He comes. He comes to reign on the earth. He will judge [reign over] the world in justice and the people in his faithfulness (Psalms 96.10-13, emphasis added).

Coming out of his MOUTH is a sharp sword with which to topple down the nations. “He will shepherd them with an iron staff” (Revelation 19.14-15, emphasis added).

To those who are victorious and who will do my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—they ‘will shepherd them with an iron staff and will dash them to pieces like pottery’ [Hebrew idiom for toppling their governments]—just as I have received authority from my Father (Revelation 2.26-27, emphasis added).

To those who are victorious, I will give them the right to sit with me on my throne [over the nations] just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne (Revelation 3.21, emphasis added).

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5.10).

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to reign (Revelation 20.4).

The nations will walk by its [the New Jerusalem’s] light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it (Revelation 21.24).

The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22.2).

“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your just acts have been revealed” (Revelation 15.3-4).

A new world is coming. In fact, it has already begun!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King!

Our job is to 1) proclaim this good news to the world, 2) put on display what the world looked like after it was changed by this new King, and 3) call this world to receive her new King, restore justice, healing and reconciliation His reign brings. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation [new world] has come!” (2 Corinthians 5.15, TNIV)

I want this to be clear. It is the politics of Jesus as seen in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 that we are to be put on display. We are not called to force Jesus’ politics to the world. No. We are called to put on display what the joyous vision looks like and to invite those around us to “receive their King”. The church, far from being an entity that is vying in culture wars for top power positions in this presently flawed, upside down system, are to put on display the beauty of God in Jesus is as well as a radically new way of doing life here on earth that stems out of that very beauty. Again, this will not be perceived as good news to those who are in the top positions of the present power structures, who benefit greatly at the expense of those further down the pyramid. Our living demonstration will be misrepresented, attacked, and portrayed as a pernicious movement that must be crushed. It will be a threat to “our very way of life.” Lowering the standards! Unsafe! Dangerous! They will threaten with violence (John 16.1,2). They will cry out that it is “better for you that one man dies for the people than for the whole nation to perish” (John 11.50; Luke 9.23). Our call is to live in freedom and to avoid the fear of being put to death, which this little Baby from Bethlehem has given us. This Baby we follow was killed for this dream, too (Mathew 6.10), but God raised Him from the dead and has promised that to us, too! Our call is to provoke both the religious systems that marginalize as well as the political systems that oppress by putting on display how the world, which has been changed by Jesus, looks like and to voluntarily embrace the Cross, which they will put us on, for in the same enemy loving, enemy embracing, enemy forgiving our new KING so beautifully modeled for us. This is what will change the world!

It is to embrace the just and equitous, restorative reign of our new King.

It is to embrace the freedom from the fear of death, the way of peace, the way of the Cross of our new King.

It is to embrace the reality that our King is truly “making everything new” (Revelation 21.5; 2 Peter 3.13).

Our call is to believe that this world can be and will be different under the reign of this Baby born to us in that manger long, long ago. We are not just to believe it; we are to give everything in our lives to become bent, re-formed, and re-fashioned in that direction.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King!

HeartGroup Application

I have something special for the HeartGroup this week:

1)This week, with Christmas being celebrated by so many, I want you to take some time each day to meditate on what I have compiled for you here. This is a paraphrase based on the passages that I have listed at the end.

Comfort, comfort to this world, says your God. Speak tenderly to its inhabitants and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed; that her sin has been pardoned. There is a voice calling in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together”. He has come to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. He has shaken all nations, and what is desired by all nations has come, and he has filled this house with glory. But who could endure the day of His coming? Who could stand when He appears? For He was like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He sat as a refiner and purifier of silver, refining people like gold and silver. He has given us a sign: the virgin has conceived and given birth to a son and He was called Immanuel. You who bring good news, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news, lift up your voice with a shout. Lift it up. Do not be afraid. Say, “Here is your God!” Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. To those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given, and the government is on His shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Understand that there were shepherds living out in the fields near Bethlehem one night, keeping watch over their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone all around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” Rejoice and shout inhabitants of the earth! See, your King has come to you, just, fair, true and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will take away all the war chariots and all the warhorses, and the battle bows will be broken.He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. He wills the nations like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads those that have young

(based on Isaiah 40.1-5; Haggai 2.6-7; Malachi 3.2-3; Isaiah 7.14; Isaiah 40.9; Isaiah 60.1-3; Isaiah 9.2, 6; Luke 2.2-14; Zechariah 9.9-19; Isaiah 35.5-6; Isaiah 40.11).

2) Each day, as you meditate on the themes represented here, I want you to make a journal. Write down the thoughts, ideas, questions, and inspirations that Jesus, our new King, shares with you.

3) This week, I want you to share what Jesus teaches you with your HeartGroup.

For everyone else, Merry Christmas! For the final time, may the truths proclaimed by the events that this season brings to the minds of so many be ever-present in your heart.

There will be no eSight next week. I am dropping off the map for a bit to spend some much needed time with my precious family. However, we will resume the following week with a whole new series on the Kingdom for 2014.

I love you guys. I’ll see you next year!

A Revolution in a Manger: (Peace on Earth); Part 3 of 4

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2.14)A Revolution in a Manger: (Peace on Earth), Part 3 of 4

“Peace on those whom he favors.” That was the promise Rome was making to the people. (See Part 1) These were the words Luke placed in the mouth of the angelic host. Peace, not through the militaristic violence of Rome, but peace through the other-centered, enemy embracing, self-sacrificial, enemy forgiving, humble, servant love of a new kind of King—King Jesus.

The prophecy had been given by Isaiah:

“In days to come the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2.2-4)

This was why this Baby had come! This is Jesus’ dream, his pearl of great price, for which he gave up all and asks us to do the same. It is the restoration of his reign, the reign of Christ, The Kingdom, on earth, once again, as it is in heaven. (See Matthew 13.45-46, 6.10)

But what I want you to notice in particular is what the nations would actually learn from this new King. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” A few chapters later, Isaiah refers to this King again in a passage that is quoted over and over this time of year: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority [remember Luke 4.5-6 and Matthew 28.18-19] rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9.6, emphasis added.) Yet what is missed so often is the very next phrase that follows this, “His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace.” (Isaiah 9.7, emphasis added.) What Isaiah is telling us is that this little Baby lying in a Manger, in a very real sense, is not just your average baby. THIS Baby, is an incarnate Revolution of Divine origin, which would continue to grow until eternal peace would, once again, reign on earth. (Luke 2.14. Matthew 6.10)

How did this revolution begin? Not only were the angels of Luke’s story proclaiming another King other than Caesar, not only were they proclaiming peace through something other than the Pax Romana, they were pointing to a helpless Baby, wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger as the means through which all of this would be accomplished. With keen perception, Dorothee Sollee looks into the manger of Bethlehem and has this to say:

“In Jesus Christ, God disarmed himself. God surrendered himself without protection and without arms to those who keep crying for more and more protection and arms. In Jesus Christ, God renounced violence. And of course, he did this unilaterally, without waiting for us to lay down our weapons first.”

This Baby had not come to bring peace through a sword, but peace through the way of the cross, teaching us too, how to love, forgive and embrace our enemies. This is the testimony of the early church for the first three hundred years:

“We (Christians) no longer take up sword against nation, nor do we learn war any more, but we have become the children of peace.” — Origin

“And shall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs?” — Tertullian

“Anyone who has the power of the sword, or who is a civil magistrate wearing the purple, should desist, or he should be rejected.”—Hippolytus

“Rather, it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it. We would rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another.” —Arnobius

“It makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited.”—Arnobius

“When God forbids killing, he doesn’t just ban murder, which is not permitted under the law even; he is also recommending us not to do certain things which are treated as lawful among men . . . whether you kill a man with a sword or a word makes no difference, since killing itself is banned.”—Lactantius

“…no exceptions at all ought to be made to the rule that it is always wrong to kill a man, whom God has wished to be regarded as a sacrosanct creature.”—Lactantius

“In disarming Peter, [Christ] unbelted every soldier.”—Tertullian

But (someone always asks) what about Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” At face value, and taken grossly out of context, this seems to be a direct contradiction to the angelic host in Luke as well as the prophecies we have just seen from Isaiah. Just keep reading Jesus’ words in Matthew and you will see exactly what He’s saying. Here is the entire passage:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10.34-38)

What we must distinguish is peace as the means, verses peace as the end goal. I think we all can agree that Jesus came to bring peace as the ultimate end goal. We all have the hope that Christ will one day bring an end to the violence that so riddles our world. But how would the Baby lying in a manger accomplish this? This passage seems to indicate that the means whereby peace would be accomplished would not be so “peaceful.” There are two ditches that we must remain out of with this passage. The first is to say, “See, Jesus said not peace, but a sword,” and to rush into using the sword (violence) to try and establish peace. This is NOT what Jesus is saying in the least! (Verse 38 proves it.) The other ditch, which Jesus is actually addressing in this passage, is to say we are to be people of “peace” and therefore we are never to be a source of conflict in the world; we are to always simply go with the flow and not cause waves; we are to be about private piety, post mortem bliss, and personal holiness, never provoking the systemic injustice that is proliferated by the way this world is presently structured. (As a tangent, some interpret Romans 13 this way as well, but remember Paul was writing Romans 13 from a Roman jail cell.) Jesus taught neither using violence to accomplish peace nor did he teach passive nonresistance in the name of keeping the peace, which only allows evil to grow unchallenged. What Jesus taught is nonviolent noncooperation in response to evil. What Jesus is addressing in Matthew 10 could not be more clear. He is not saying that his followers should take up a sword themselves. No, NO! What Jesus is saying is in response to those who would use the label of “peace” for a veil to hide their cowardice, fear, and desire to avoid conflict. Jesus is telling us in clear tones that following Him and his revolution will produce a sword, not in the hands of his followers, but in the hands of those for whom the present structure of this world is stacked in their favor and who see Jesus and his followers as a threat.

Look at it this way. How did Rome respond to the early Jesus revolution? According to Luke in Acts 17, the disciples were accused of “turning the world upside down,” of “acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor,” and “saying that there is another king named Jesus.” (Acts 17.6-8) But what I want you to notice is that this is what was spoken from the perspective of Rome, from a Roman paradigm. It is true that the disciples were acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, and it is true that they were proclaiming a different King other than Caesar, but they were NOT turning the world upside down. The world was already upside down; the disciples were working to restore, heal, and turn the world right side up once again, enlarging the reign of Christ. Herein though, lies the rub, and that which helps us understand Jesus’ words in Matthew. The way the world was structured in the days of Rome and the way the world is structured today favors a very few at the top, at the expense of the masses at the bottom. It may help you to imagine a pyramid. What Jesus had proclaimed was this Kingdom he had come to establish would be a “blessing” to the “poor,” but it would be a “woe” to those who were “rich.” (Luke 6.20, 24) Jesus had come to turn the world right side up again, which would be a blessing to those the present structure was oppressing, but it would be seen as a threat to those whom this present structure was rewarding. How would those who were being benefited by the systemic evil of this world respond to Jesus and his followers?

“I have come to set a man [whom this present structure favors] against his father [who has decided to follow Jesus and this radical revolution], and a daughter [whom this present structure favors] against her mother [who has decided to follow Jesus and this radical revolution], and a daughter-in-law [whom this present structure favors] against her mother-in-law [who has decided to follow Jesus and this radical revolution]; and one’s foes [those whom this present structure favors who are threatened] will be members of one’s [who has decided to follow Jesus and this radical revolution] own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

What Jesus is saying is that the ultimate goal of peace is not going to be accomplished by living a life of no conflict and calling it “being peaceable.” The goal of peace will be accomplished through embracing a cross, both his and ours. Yes, Jesus’ peace, in a way, will be accomplished by a sword, but a not by a sword wielded in the hands of the peace maker. No, it will be a sword in the hands of those who are threatened by the Jesus revolution being wielded against the peace maker, while the peace maker responds in nonviolent, other-centered, enemy-embracing and forgiving love.

Remember, peace brought through nonviolent noncooperation is nonviolent, but it’s non-cooperative too. Peace is accomplished by nonviolent noncooperation in three steps, the first of which does not appear to be very “peaceful.” First, Jesus calls us to provoke that which is out of harmony with His reign on earth, which is around us today. This was demonstrated in His cleansing of the temple. Second, those who are being benefitted by that which is out harmony with the reign of Christ here on earth, lift the sword against us. The sword is lifted against us because we are interpreted as a threat to their way of life. This was demonstrated by Jesus’ arrest by the Temple police. And third, we are called to respond to those who lift the sword against us by “embracing the cross.” This was demonstrated in Jesus’ nonviolent, loving response of embracing and forgiving those who crucified him. (see Luke 23.34)

I want to wrap up this week with the words of a sermon, A Christmas Sermon, given in 1967, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which I believe is incredibly appropriate entitled Peace of Earth. Read it prayerfully.

“I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens’ councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we’ll still love you. But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.’”

By the time of Constantine, the Jesus revolution was growing so exponentially that it had become a significant threat to even Rome herself. Nero had tried to crush it and failed. (Remember, the way that nonviolent noncooperation works is that when the sword is raised against it, the sword/cross cause it to propagate rather than be extinguished. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the proclamation of Christ’s reign, the Kingdom.) Diocletian had tried to crush it and failed. Constantine had to do something. What did he do? With the skillful help of others, Constantine coopted the Jesus revolution from the inside out. If this had not happened, yes, Jesus followers would have still continued to have “the sword” lifted against them, and many would have continued to lose their lives. But eventually, the Jesus Kingdom would have been the last Kingdom standing. This is what Constantine foresaw and feared because it would mean the end of Rome. The kingdoms of this world would have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ (Revelation 11.15). History has gone a different direction now for a time. But the promise still remains:

” . . . all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2.2-4)

HeartGroup Application

1.This week, I want you ponder the last two eSights along with this one. What is God saying to you this week as you ponder Jesus’ coming being a challenge to the Kingdoms of this world? (Part 1) So far, we have looked at two ways in which Jesus’ Kingdom accomplishes this. We considered how reign of this Baby lying in a manger frees us from the fear of death (or penalty), which is the very power the kingdoms of this world use to rule over others (Part 2). And this week (Part 3), we have looked at how being freed from that fear of death enables us to follow the way of peace, or nonviolent noncooperation, like the early church, in endeavoring to enlarge Christ’s Kingdom in putting the world right side up again. (Which we will be looking at in Part 4)

2. I want you to dedicate a small portion of time each day pondering these themes. Take time to look up the passages and ponder them. During this time I want you to also write down (journal) the thoughts and insights God shares with you during this time.

3.Share what you feel comfortable sharing with your HeartGroup this upcoming week.

According to that little Baby in a manger, His way of peace implies voluntary submission to the penalty for noncooperation with evil.

The King of the Earth has come! (Luke 9.2)

Now let’s go enlarge His Kingdom, one human heart at a time!

Next week, we’ll wrap up this four-part series with a look at how this Revolution lying in a manger brings restored Justice. Nowhere do we see how threatening the Jesus Revolution is to those who are being benefited by the systemic injustice of our world more clearly than when we look the reign of Christ in relation to restorative justice. But we’ll get to that next week.

May the truths proclaimed by the events that this season brings to the minds of so many be ever-present in your heart.

I love you guys; I’ll see you next week.

A Revolution Lying in a Manger (Freedom from the Fear of Death); Part 2 of 4

“Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”—Mathew 2.2

A Revolution Lying in a Manger (Freedom from the Fear of Death)

Part 2 of 4

Before we look at this week’s subject, we must first review briefly what we covered last week. We looked at the first way in which the birth of Jesus challenged the culture of that day. We looked at how the birth of Jesus challenges every kingdom of this world (beginning with Rome) and the claims of every kingdom, nation, and superpower to be people’s lord and savior. In reality, the challenge the birth of Jesus presents to the kingdoms of this world is actually a very real challenge to the principalities and powers, which preside behind these kingdoms, and the claim of these powers over the masses. (Ephesians 6.12; Luke 4.5-6) You see, the Gospel, in its earliest form, was not an announcement of a private spiritual debt that had been paid so individuals could go to heaven when they die. The term Gospel was originally used by the Roman Empire. It was the message Rome gave to those who had been militaristically conquered to announce they had a new king (Caesar), which was their new lord and savior, bringing freedom, justice, and peace to their present hopeless state. This is why the Gospel of Jesus was seen as such a threat to the Roman Empire. It is true that during the time of Constantine, the revolutionary message of the apostles concerning King Jesus became domesticated. In order to no longer be a threat to the Empire, the Gospel then became about personal salvation, received into one’s heart and preoccupied with post-mortem bliss, rather than being about a new Kingdom on earth, a new King of this World, challenging all earthly kingdoms and the systematic injustice that the principalities and powers behind those kingdoms promote as illegitimate. The Gospel was a call to “the nations” (Matthew 28.19) to rethink their present allegiances, agendas, aims, and purposes, and to submit to the new universal reign of Christ. The Gospel in its earliest form was simply that there is a new King of the World and His Kingdom has come! (See Matthew 3.2, 4.17, 23, 6.10, 33, 9.35; Mark 1.15; Luke 4.43, 8.1, 9.2, 10.9.)

This is why Jesus was referred to as “the Christ.” As Egypt had Pharaohs, Rome had Caesars, Russia had czars, Great Britain has kings and queens, and the empire of America has a president, the Jews had been promised a Christ! He was the anointed one, the Messiah, who was to be born, from the lineage of King David, and to whom all the nations of the world would eventually bow to and worship as Lord. He would be given “authority, glory and sovereign power [a Kingdom]; and all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7.13, 14)

This is also exactly why the early Christians were martyred by the Roman Empire. Rome would not have given the Jesus movement a second thought if it only had to do with private piety focused primarily on afterlife affairs. But the message of the apostles was deeply concerned with matters of this life, this world. It was Earthly! The apostles were preaching another Gospel contrary to the gospel of Rome! They were proclaiming another king other than Caesar! They were proclaiming this Jesus as the Lord of the Earth, and the Savior of the World, who had come to give freedom, and establish justice and peace, rather than the Pax Romana. And to top it all off, they were proclaiming that this Jesus, whom Rome had executed (as Rome did with all political threats) had been raised back to life by God. They were preaching a God who had challenged and overturned Rome’s power to take other’s lives and that there was no longer any reason to fear what Rome could do to a follower of this Jesus. Jesus was offering a new world and Rome, with its threat of crucifixion, was powerless to stop it. As a matter of fact, crucifixion would only enlarge the reign of Christ faster. THIS is why Rome rightly saw the early Jesus movement as deeply subversive to its very existence. (When rightly understood, the Gospel is just as much a threat to the kingdoms of this world today.)

Herein lies this week’s point. The second way in which the birth of this little baby lying in a manger cut across the culture of its own day and continues to run crossways to the grain of our culture today is in the freedom that this baby brings.

What is this freedom? According to the author of Hebrews, this little baby, who was laid in a manger, broke “the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil [exercised through the nations]—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2.14, 15) You see, this freedom from the fear of death is not a death threatened upon us by an angry God, which Jesus has successfully appeased. NO, NO! This “power of death,” the ability to take life, is that which “the devil” wields over humanity and is exercised through the kingdoms of this world, to keep humanity subservient to their reign rather than this new Christ.

Consider Pilates words to Jesus. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” (John 19.10) Pilate’s words echo the words that every empire of this world has spoken to its citizens. It is their power to take life and our fear of having our life taken that keeps us enslaved to the kingdoms of this world, the principalities and powers to whom they belong, and the systemic injustice they together proliferate.

“Death and the fear of suffering unto death…serve as the deterrent system of every empire in history…the law of violence is that death is supreme. But if death so rules the world, what about those whose kingdom is not of this world of death? What about those who through interior struggle have been given the grace to overcome the fear of death? What about those who refuse to submit to the law of violence, who refuse to pledge allegiance to the empire of death? For those liberated from the fear of death, the law of violence is powerless…Nonviolence is the overcoming of death by a fearless love.” (James Douglass, The Nonviolent Coming of God.)

Today, everything in America is about death avoidance. When we stop to look around we see the power of the fear of death everywhere we turn. One example is the inordinate amount of money spent within American culture on modern medicine to avoid death. It is the very root and pulse of capitalism in the West. Stanley Hauerwas recently said, “The American desire to use medicine in an attempt to get out of life alive is but the domestic form of American foreign policy.” We must save an extended treatment of this specific application to another time. I only mention it here briefly to try and get you to notice again the water in which we are swimming. The fear of death actually governs our behavior in every area of our life. This is what made Constantinian Christianity so appealing to the early adherents of the American Dream. Constantinian Christianity, just like American culture, is enraptured with the goal of avoiding death. But the baby lying in a manger does not offer us a way to avoid death. On the contrary, this baby gives us a way through death. He has passed through death’s grasp and opened up a passageway on the other side. This baby has conquered death, and offers resurrection from it! Then, irony of all ironies, this baby takes death and turns it inside out as something to be embraced by His followers as the very means whereby His reign on earth is enlarged. (More on this next week.) Far from being a message about how to avoid death, the early Jesus story was a story that trained its adherents in how to die early, and how to die well. This baby conquered death and gives to the world the hope of a resurrection and a renewal where all opposition to Christ’s reign will be ultimately subverted.

I don’t want to steal too much from next week, but it’s difficult not to make certain bridges, as the freedom, peace, and justice this baby’s reign brings us are all interconnected. But in the name of practicality, it is this freedom from the fear of dying, freedom from the fear of having one’s own life taken, the willingness to have one’s own blood shed rather than to stain one’s hands with the blood of another, even in self-preservation, that keeps people from being shaped by the violence of their surrounding society and transforms them into that which shapes society instead. To say that violence must be met with violence, that violence is the lesser of two evils, only allows another person’s violence to create your environment rather than allowing that baby lying in a manger to recreate us all back into the image of the nonviolent God. It is the preservation of the fear of being killed that enables all of this. And it is freedom from this fear that makes impotent the power of death threatened by others. This is the truest meaning of being set free from the fear of death. The story of this new king lying in a manger is the story of one who came to us, giving us a better way, a way of freedom from the fear of dying, rather than being governed by it. This way is the way of a death-embracing (rather than avoiding) love coupled with the power of forgiveness for those who will take our lives. This is the story that yes, begins in a manger, and yes, includes our king’s death, but the story does not end there. The story of our new king ends in a resurrection, and not just His alone. The story of our king will climax in the resurrection of all those who follow this king, who join His revolution, His kingdom, in fearless love, and the hope of a world resurrected and transformed from the inside out by a fearless love of this nature.

HeartGroup Application

1.This week I want you to ponder these words:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2.1-13)

2.As you prayerfully meditate on Jesus’ kingship of this world and His special call to embrace His freedom from the fear of dying at the hands of the principalities and powers that now endeavor to rule this world (this really is the center piece of the Advent story), consider how the coming of these Magi was seen to be a threat by Herod. Allow these themes to permeate into your thinking today. Today we may not refer to kingdoms as such, but we do refer to nations and superpowers. What does it mean to embrace the Kingdom of Christ as the revolutionary competitor to nationalistic loyalties, loyalties to the present principalities and powers? How does the freedom from the fear of death, once embraced by the followers of Christ, liberate us to follow Him regardless of the threat of nations and superpowers today? (The fact that many here in America don’t even perceive this threat demonstrates how deeply we have been co-opted by civil religion here rather than captivated by the Jesus revolution.)

3.Share your thoughts this week with your HeartGroup.

Again, it is through the freedom from the fear of death, which enables us to lovingly embrace our enemies (with enemy-forgiving love) rather than resorting to retaliation or retreat, that the restorative justice and peace that comes through our Savior Jesus the Christ is enlarged here, once again, on Earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6.10) This was true of the early followers of Jesus for the first three hundred years, and it is to be true of us today as well. To follow that little baby lying in a manger today is to live under the reign of King Jesus in the here and now. It does not mean that we go around trying to force the world around us to change. Much more, we are called to put on display, to be an authentic revelation and demonstration of what the world changed by the reign of King Jesus looks like. To follow that little baby means to believe this unique proclamation: “Out of You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, has come a King who will shepherd the nations!” His reign has come. Our first call is to let go of our fear of death, our striving to always be preserving our lives. Embrace the resurrection and embrace the cross. The cross is not simply part of the story we are proclaiming, it is the very means whereby the mustard seed of the kingdom subverts all the other plants in the garden, and becomes the tree in which all the birds of the heavens nest. Embracing the freedom from the fear of death, from being killed, is foundational to everything else Jesus’ reign is to accomplish. Compared to the next two aspects we will be looking at, embracing this freedom is where every follower of Jesus must begin.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12.25)

Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9.23, 24)

Come join the revolution, the King Jesus Revolution! For unto you is born this day a savior, who is Christ the Lord!

Again, may the truths proclaimed by the events that this season brings to the minds of so many be ever-present in your heart.

I love you guys. We’ll see you next week.