The Danger of What is Commonplace

I have been thinking on this for awhile, but some things I have read yesterday and today in the news, led me to write this morning.  We live in such a unique time of transition in America where things that used to be in the shadows or still hidden in the dark, have come out and we are seeing them be more and more in the mainstream.  It can seem, that no one really cares anymore about this shift.  From the tolerance of denominations, from laws passed by Congress, or decisions from the Supreme Court, we live in a day where things "of the dark" are more and more becoming mainstream.

About 250 years ago, John Wesley made an observation about his generation that is absolutely true in ours.  Here is the quote:

 “What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.” 

Wesley saw that each generation rises and re-establishes the practices and function of the church in an effort to discover truth, redefine truth, make it more relevant or to actually walk in Biblical truth.  The corresponding result is that toleration only leads to further decay, not life and freedom.  That is one of the huge lies associated with our age of tolerance.  Our culture believes that tolerance brings life, liberty, and freedom.  It is actually the opposite though.    Tolerance exalts the individual and leads to more pride, not humility.  It is this exaltation of self that dominates our landscape.  Narcissism in our way and it only leads to death.  If we have so much freedom, then why are we in so much bondage?  Why are we so depressed?  Why are we so medicated? Why so much disintegration of the family?  Why so much fiscal irresponsibility?  Why so much intolerance of Christians and faith?  Why has the sexual revolution and freedom brought so much confusion and heartache?  Logic would say, we are not better off.  

What does all of this mean for us today as Christ-Followers?  What are we to do?  How should we respond?  We have to go back to Ancient Words that will help us navigate the rough and rugged waters of our day.  Here is what we need to embrace again:

[14] But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.   2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV

Here are a couple of important tools for us in our Age of Tolerance from Paul:

1.  Continue in the sacred writings, not the efforts of re-establishing truth.

2.  Wisdom in our salvation comes of the scriptures.

3.  Sacred Writings are the only training in righteousness

4.  Sacred Writings equip us for good work in every age.

The scriptures need no help, they are breathed out by God and they are our help to avoid the bondage of toleration and its destruction.

Paul also told Timothy this:

[4:1] I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3] For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  2 Timothy 4:1-4 ESV

In our day of not enduring sound teaching, the Word must be preached so we will be ready in season and out of season. 

This is the only way to avoid what has become to Commonplace in our generation.

Life in the Spirit

I am a part a group of men who meet every Thursday morning at the great hour of 5am.  Currently, we are walking verse by verse through Acts.  This morning was especially interesting as it relates to walking in the Spirit from the life of Philip from Acts 6, 8, & 21.

In Acts 6 we are introduced to Philip as one of the 7 chosen to serve widows.  He is not the same person as the Philip of the 12.  According to 6:3 we know that Philip is a man of good reputation, full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom.  Of all of the men in the Jerusalem church, he stood out as a man among the top 7 in godliness.  He was marked by Christ.

We meet him again in Acts 8:4-8.  It is here that where we see that he is the first missionary of the Jerusalem church who begins to fulfill Jesus words in Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 ESV.  He is the first to take the gospel to Samaria.  What did he do when he got there: Proclaimed Christ, did signs, unclean spirits came out, and the paralyzed and lame walked again (does that sound like anyone you might know?).  All of this is said to have brought much joy to the city.  The Spirit of God will do that when he comes upon a place.  Our cities need joy again.  Our cities need men like Philip.

We see the next unique thing with Philip in Acts 8:26-40.  Here is the synopsis:

• Angel Speaks to him and tells him to go walk on a road (8:26)
• Philip walks obediently on the road (8:27)
• Sees an Ethiopian (8:27-28)
• Spirit speaks this time to Philip (8:29)
• Philip runs in obedience (8:30)
• Philip listens first before speaking (8:30)
• Philip asks an appropriate questions (8:30)
• Philip opens his mouth and explains the scripture (8:31-35)
• Philip baptizes the Ethiopian (8:36-38)
• Philip is carried away by the Spirit (8:39-40)
• Philip goes up the coastline preaching the gospel in the towns before settling in Caesarea. (8:40)

We last meet him in Acts 21:7-9.  Philip has settled in Caesarea, we know he is married and has 4 daughters who prophesied.  He and his family show hospitality to Paul's missionary crew by letting them stay in his home.  Can you just imagine the depth of spiritual conversations in that house?  He is called Philip the evangelist.  What a great name to be called.  You don't get a name like that by remaining silent about Christ.

Then the Bible is silent on him after that.  What an example though.  It is clear that he walked with God.  He walked in the Spirit's leadership.  That is so what I need today.

Results of a High View of Christ

I had one of those transforming moments last week with the scripture, one where all of my thoughts were wrapped up in, one where the sermon I was going to write got put off for a week.  As a church, we memorized Hebrews 4:12 together and I think it was through the memorization of the verse, that made other scripture come alive for me last week.  As I thought about Christ being Great and High, I began to think about who illustrates a High View of Christ as the very essence of their life.  For me, one person stands alone at the top - Paul from Tarsus.  His Great High view of Jesus, resulted in 4 realities in Paul's life.  Here they are and the scripture as the foundation of this truth.

1.  Depth
Depth comes from knowing Christ and knowing Christ comes from the Word of God, scripture.  How much did the Holy Spirit speak to Paul?  For one, 13 Epistles were "breathed" into him, written, recorded, kept, and come to us.  I don't know of anyone in the history of the church who was "breathed" into more than Paul.  Peter confirms this in his 2nd Epistle 3:15-16 - "And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Peter says, there is such depth to Paul, that in some things in Paul's letters were deep and difficult for even Peter to understand.  Peter, 3 years of Life with Christ, leader of the early church, and writer of 2 Epistles - Peter says Paul has great depth.

2.  Width
For width means influence in our context.  He had extensive influence throughout the known world.  Paul did not come into a city and the city not know that he was around.  He proclaimed Jesus everywhere he went.  One such instance of this influence is found in Acts 16:22-33 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 
From the city streets to the inner sanctum of a prison, influencing others for Christ seemed so natural to him.

3.  Height
Paul made himself low.  He did not make a big did about who he was.  Here is a man of great depth, influence and he would refer to himself

I Corinthians 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

 I Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Being deep in Christ led him to not need to make a big deal about himself in front of man.  He just needed to bow low before Jesus.  He stood tall in the eyes of God because of humility.

4.  Length

When he decided to walk with Christ and pursue Jesus, it was not going to be for a short while, it was going to be for the whole length of his life.  From Acts 9 to 2 Timothy 4 and everything in between, everything we see in Acts and his Epistles, clearly shows that nothing would deter him from his pursuit of Christ.  Here are some of his statements and writings on his pursuit of Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14 - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Nothing from the past was going to get in the way of this pursuit, whether they are were good or bad.

Acts 20:22-24 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

The Holy Spirit spoke and said to Paul in every city that he went in that imprisonment and afflictions would be awaiting Paul.  The treasure of Christ was far greater than any of those things he would be facing.  He just wanted to finish the course no matter what.

2 Corinthians 11: 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Another example of his not letting anything get in the way to going the full length with Christ.

5.  Longing

Not only did he passionately desire to see Christ's glory, but he longed for everyone else to see it as well.  He indicates this in Ephesians 1.

^{Ephesians 1 15} For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe,according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

He wanted the Ephesian church to see the fullness of Jesus and what Jesus has done for us.

He spent his life pursuing the glory of Christ,

He spent his life proclaiming the glory of Christ.

He spent his life praying for others to see the glory of Christ.

Moving Forward

The longer I live, the more I begin to see the frailty of human heart, my heart.  Lately one of the areas where I see this more clearly is our penchant to look back.  We look back at failures, successes, situations and our old life.  We look back not necessarily to learn from them, but to still live in them.  The problem with that is that we are called to move forward, to move on in Christ.  Yes, we learn from the past, but we are not to live there.

The Wilderness Generation (WG) had so much unbelief in God's character and Word (about the promised land) that they wanted to go back to Egypt, to all that they had known before:

Numbers 14:4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Looking backward to the old way of life before Christ - is not real life, but a pretend one that is no longer real, but a mirage of somewhere we once lived.  Unbelief looks back at the Old Life with a complaining and blaming heart.  Unbelief is grounded solely in man ways. 

I am reminded of the how the life of faith should go from Paul:

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

The life of faith moves forward embracing the character and Word of God.  The life of faith moves on toward Christ because Christ has made us His own.  The life of faith moves forward with lessons learned from the past, but never wanting the old life, just more and more of Jesus.

Let's move forward.

What If the World Had Ended? What then?

Well, I woke up this morning and I guess you did as well since you are reading this.  I guess we are relieved, but should we, since this is not really our home.  It is the land of our sojourn.  So, I had some thoughts about what if the world had ended.  What would that mean for us?  Well here are some thoughts:

We Would Have Been Changed  - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52

We would have seen Him as He is and been just like Him  - Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.   1 John 3:2

We would be where He is forever  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.   John 14:3

We would have seen the Holy City  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 21:2

We would have experienced the great "No Mores"  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

I could go on and on.  Honestly, while I love my family, church, and friends.  I feel like Paul did in Philippians, "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better".  Philippians 1:23 ESV.  So, if were to all end, for we who know and love Jesus, we step into a new life beyond our imagination.

Not a bad future that awaits us.

Contented Gratefulness

Last night, scripture had a profound impact upon my life in regard to God's provision.  The wilderness travelers of Israel, for 40 years, saw the Hand of God move over and over -  where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  Hebrews 3:9.  I don't want to be like them in any way.  You know, the kind of people who want the best and can never find a place of grateful contentment.  Read below and see God's provision and then how they ultimately saw His provision among them. 

God’s Goodness and Israel’s View of It

                  God’s Care for them in Wilderness

Deuteronomy 8:3-4 - And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

                 

Nehemiah 9:21 - You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.  Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Exodus 13:20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Psalm 105: 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, 
and fire to give light by night.40 They asked, and he brought quail,
 and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
 it flowed through the desert like a river.

Deuteronomy 29:5 - I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

Deuteronomy 2:7 - For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

(Numbers 11:7-9 ESV)

Joshua 5:11-12 - And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.  And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

                  Israel’s View of God’s Goodness

      All of this happened for them and they continued to complain.

·       When the Egyptians pursued them at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11)

·       When they had no water at Marah (Exodus 15:24)

·       When they had no food in the wilderness of Sin (Exodus16:2-3)

·       When they had no water at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-3)

·       When they prepared to enter the Promised Land (Num. 14:1-4)

Numbers 11:4-6 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Exodus 16:1-3 - They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Numbers 14:26-35 - And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

Numbers 32:10-13 - And the LORD's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone

What To Do with Jesus?

          What are we to do with Jesus?  For all of us who claim to be a Christ-Follower, the answer to this question, to be honest, unfortunately varies.  Why is that?  Why is our pursuit of Him not marked by the same thing?  Why does it look so different?  We could say it is because of denominations, personalities, traditions, or current personal struggles.  For me, I have used some of those in my description of what I am doing with Jesus.  I wonder if we have really missed the true reality of what it really means to be a Christ-Follower.  What should this following mean, fundamentally?  What should this following look like?  As with all things, let's let the scripture define this for us.
          In Hebrews 3, the writer asks the reader to "Consider Jesus".  What does this mean?  In the Greek, this word means to gaze at something for the purpose of getting the real and inner meaning of something so it can be learned and known.  So...the writer says that the priority for us is to gaze at Jesus until we get the real and true meaning.  How long do you think this might take?  Obviously, a lifetime.  So, the question is, is this what the fundamental essence of following Christ is marked by?  Again, let's let the scripture define this for us more (bolder emphasis mine):

• Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.    Philippians 3:8-11 ESV
• Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel    2 Timothy 2:8 ESV
• For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.                         1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
• And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  John 17:3 ESV
• Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.  Psalm 25:4 ESV
• But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 ESV
• Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.  Luke 10:41-42 ESV

These are just several of many verses about what the foundation is concerning following Jesus.  There is nothing greater that we can do than think on, gaze on, talk about, read about, be quiet before, meditate on - the greatness of Jesus.  This is what the common thing should be.  We cannot get around this!  Someone can't say, well "I'm a missions guy" or "I'm a family ministry person", etc. etc.  All of those, must flow out of knowing Christ.  That is the foundation of this relationship with Christ.  Everything flows out of this.  A strong missional and family life is built on knowing Christ.  This must be the one common thing about us.  After all...Jesus has called this life before Him as the "good portion which will not be taken away".  Why should we not be all about the this "portion" then?  It is a must for this to be the main focus of our lives.

Is this what Christ-Following looks like in our life?  It should.   What are you and I willing to do to move our life in Christ completely in line with KNOWING CHRIST?  Whatever it is, let's get it right now!