The Message of the Master (Part II)

Don’t you think it’s time we ‘lived out’ the teaching of Jesus instead of putting it off till another ‘Day,’ to seek a deeper and more fundamental relationship with the Holy Spirit instead of brainstorming about the ‘ministries of modern technology’ while real people in real trouble are passing us by?  You know what we’re doing in the fading light of the West?  Atheists are asking, “How could a good God allow so much suffering?”  And while the academics in their ivory towers squabble and squawk over pronouns and prepositions, whether it’s “with the Spirit” or “by the Spirit,” God is asking His children the very same question. “If you are the hands and the feet,” Abba’s saying, “the eyes and the ears and the mouth and the heart of the Body of Christ, why is there so much suffering in the world?”  Even better, “Why are there so many hurting people in your midst?  No one in the Brotherhood suffers in silence!”

The world around us couldn’t care less about our ‘raging theological debates’ {most of which are neither raging nor are they theological}; all they want to see is the Spirit in action, our reality and not our rhetoric. Maybe that’s our problem… while our rhetoric is Biblical, spiritual, theological, maybe our reality is no different than their reality.  “Is Jesus alive in you people or is He not?  Is He real… or is this just a game you play— like a civic club or a Rotary Luncheon, a social ritual accepted by the masses, an hour on Sundays before 8 hours of football?”

In the Master’s Message are two relational realities, one with Abba and one with others, which Jesus reveals as the central ethos of all divine revelation.  The essence of a real and genuine holiness, a Jesus-centred spirituality {inspired by the Spirit}, is “to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love your neighbor [those within your proximity] as yourself.”  For “on these two commandments,” Jesus said, “depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  I believe those who walk in the Light of Grace will desire holiness as a reality in their relationships.  There are two ways in which this works, two realms to play this out: Loving the Lord and loving people; loving God and loving people {cf. 1 Jn. 3:11-24}.  How we treat people {real flesh and blood people, not impersonalities, and how we treat them} is the second most important aspect, the second most critical component of our character and convictions, our holiness and humility.

To love people means to live in the Cause for which Christ came: “not to be served but to serve” and to give our lives for the ransom of many.  Remember that line from Tears of the Sun, “The lives of many rest in the courage of a few”?  This means we’re committed to investing our lives in the lives of others, in the only thing that lasts, the only thing that will carry on from here to Eternity: the hearts and souls of men and women.  We “love one another” in the Family of Faith by caring for each other— mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and relationally.  We pursue things like honesty, openness, transparency in relationships. We tear off the masks and drop the defenses— like name-dropping and sarcasm, defensiveness and judgmentalism, the need to be right {even when everyone can see that my attitude is wrong}, the arrogance of exclusivity, badgering and belittling, tyranny and untruth.  These have no place in the lives of Jesus’ Followers!  You see, that’s how we learn to love.  And to love is something we must learn, as the Father through His Holy Spirit pours out more and more of Himself within our hearts {Rom. 5:5}.  Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28 all paint a picture of the same situation. So if the entirety of divine revelation comes down to these two issues, you think maybe we ought to put some focus on this area of faith?  You think?  Just maybe loving God and loving others is the very heart of a Christ-centred spirituality.  For no one ever lived these two realities out any better than He did.

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org

The Message of the Master (Part I)

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard speaking of Scripture and we who claim to follow its Author, of the power of the Living Word to form and inform our hearts and lives, said:

"The Bible is very easy to understand.  But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers.  We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly.  Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly.  My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?  Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship.  Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be ‘good Christians’ without the Bible coming too close.  Oh priceless scholarship, where would we be without you?"  {Italics Mine}

Some may find this humorous, some may find this blasphemous, and some may find this deadly in its accuracy.  I see traces of the first with a prominent dose of the last: a sharp angle of accuracy for the doctrinal know-it-alls, whatever their denomination {or non for that matter}, and a quick jab of humor for those who take themselves just a little too seriously.  Lighten up, ladies. For those who see it as the second, your pseudo-scholarly halo may be on a little too tight.  Unloosen it a tad and your head won’t hurt so much.  You’ll feel a whole lot better.  And yes, I did say “feel.”

Regardless of how you find or don’t find Kierkegaard’s quote, in a world as deceptive as ours, flashing its images forever before our eyes, the postmodern faith of Capitalism and Consumerism dominating the Christian landscape as far as the eye can see, something needs {or many things, in all reality} to be reevaluated in the light of Jesus’ Message and Mission.  Who we are at the centre of our souls, that is, those parts of us that line up with Jesus’ Message of deep humility, profound faith, unflinching courage and uncompromising compassion, limitless love and righteous wrath, tender mercy and supernatural strength, and Mission— “to seek and to save what was lost… to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free” {Lk. 19:10 and Isa. 61:1}— need to be nourished and nurtured by the water of the Word, strengthened by the Spirit and sustained by our practice; and what we do that doesn’t, i.e., the ways we live that violate the Law of Love and the Kingdom of Grace, need to be jettisoned, tossed overboard as quickly as possible.  And in my opinion, the sooner, the better.

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org

A Kingdom Not of This World

Originally Released On 10.4.09.

Historian Will Durant, in The Story of Civilization, wrote that “There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned and oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.”

Contrast the presence of the Spirit of Jesus so prominently on display in the lives of His earliest disciples with our present day tendency to rely on effort and ingenuity, democratic will and political pressure, to ‘achieve’ our desires in the public sphere. Pretty stark indeed. Instead of concentrating on the invisible, the eternal, the spiritual, we worry about which politician can represent us best or which political party has our interests in mind. Let me clue you in on something: None of ‘em. On one occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees, “the Kingdom of God is within you” {Lk. 17:21b}; on another the apostle Paul said, “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” {Rom. 14:17}; in yet another he wrote, “the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” {1 Cor. 4:20 NAS}. Jesus paints a picture of a Kingdom far different from any man has imagined. The very essence of its rule, power, and authority is spiritual and divine. The intrigue and power-brokering of our politicians and their parties have no lasting effect on its existence. None.

 

Think about elections, at every level, in the US and consider whether Jesus wondered if Octavian or Tiberius, Claudius or Caligula, was ‘God’s man’ for the Empire. Do you think the Apostles and apprentices of the early Church worried about whether there was prayer in Roman schools? You never see them in Scripture saying, “Oh no, Nero is a murderer, an adulterer, and a homosexual, what in the world are we going to do?” They understood that the Kingdom of Christ is, in His own words, “not of this world” {Jn. 18:36a}; therefore, all the kingdoms of this world with their power, persuasion— even persecution— could not stop its advance. It will go on conquering— be it the souls of men or the evil of the enemy’s institutions— unto Eternity. Our role and responsibility is to give our lives over to it, wholeheartedly, to labor in the Cause of our King and to pray again and again and again, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” Done how? “On Earth” exactly “as it is in Heaven.” Yes, Lord, yes. Let Your Kingdom come in the hearts of men, let Your freedom reign in the lives of Your own, let Your soverign rule be seen in every word, every thought, every deed of every disciple. In Your mighty name. Amen.

 

 

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

http://www.hjcommunity.org/

Quality ...Not Quantity.

I came across this phenomenal quote several weeks ago in The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge.  He quotes from 19th century poet and pastor George MacDonald who said, “As soon as [any] service is done for the honour and not for the service-sake, the doer is that moment outside the kingdom.”  Whooaahhh!  Read that one more time just for clarity’s sake.  What he’s saying is the very moment we begin to serve or to speak or to give or to build, to encourage or— what we really like to do— correct, to offer our lofty and unlimited knowledge to the poor befuddled masses, in order to be recognized… seen as superior in knowledge, as kind or witty or wise or loving or giving, as soon as we seek to build our own personal empire of acolytes and accolades, we are outside the Kingdom of Christ.  I.e., we’re laboring under the mighty weight of human effort with, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:12, “wood, hay,” and "straw." 

Wood, hay, and straw are readily available materials, easy to get ahold of, easy to find, easy to gather, and relatively simple to use.  Very similar to what technology is to us today.  Easy to operate to your own advantage.  As soon as our service in the Cause of our King turns to what I can get out of this, or how I’ll be seen because of this, or who will notice me, my efforts, my ministry, my ingenuity, we’re outside the bounds in which the Spirit chooses to operate. We are, in effect, on our own.  And an industrious man or woman can build much to their glory on their own out of wood, hay, and straw— occasionally even a masterpiece.  The problem is it will never last.  A little Time, a strong wind, a single match, and boom …it’s all gone.

Remember this: motive, the ‘why’ behind the ‘what,’ is the deepest level of holiness in our lives.  It’s true.  The one thing that won’t be weighed at the Bema of Christ, the Tribunal of Eternal Reward, is quantity.  What will be weighed, “revealed with fire” to use the Apostle’s language, is the quality, the quality of how we labored on the foundation of Jesus Christ to build up, strengthen, and solidify the Body of the Lord.  “The fire,” Paul say’s, “will test the quality of each man’s work,” v. 13b.

Did we labor in the Spirit or in the strength of self?  Did we walk according to the Word or use clever devices and market management principles to build our micro-managed empires of tyranny and control?  Did we listen for the Shepherd’s voice, the Spirit’s counsel, the Father’s guidance, or just come up with one idea after another and shout out, “This was God’s idea, not mine!  This was the Holy Spirit’s doing” loud enough and long enough that no one questioned us?  The only thing that will matter in the end is Abba’s work done in Abba’s way.  It’s quality, my friends, not quantity, meaning how much of our hearts {and the hearts of others} was truly in this.

-- R ic Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org