Living in the Kingdom

John 8:29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.


31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I have been in John 7 & 8 for the last week or so. There is a whole bunch of solid stuff here.

Something really caught my attention the other day here in this particular passage. Verses 32 & 36 are great, quotable verses, aren't they? We love them! And they ARE true and wonderful. But to understand 32 & 36 more fully, or maybe even just in a different way, it is good to go back to verse 29 and read through it all.

What caught my attention and made me pause is verse 31. I'm sure I've read this whole passage many many times before and missed verse 31. Jesus - after "gaining" more disciples - turns his attention to them and the ensuing conversation turns a bunch of those disciples (maybe all of them) away from him.

The point of contention here, I think, is their IDENTITY.

This might be a timely topic considering the much-discussed health care bill that just passed. Maybe not. I'm just thinking out loud here (actually, not out loud, but whatever).

See, Jesus is talking to the people who believe in Him when He says, "If you abide in my word, you're my disciples." He's talking to his followers. And they don't like what he says because they 1. didn't pay attention to the 'abide in my word' part and 2. cared more about their identity as children of Abraham than their identity as followers of Jesus.


As I said, I've been reading / re-reading this particular portion of John since before the health care bill passed and this caught my eye. I thought to myself, "I want to abide in Jesus' word and know His truth more than anything else. My identity as ________ (ANYTHING) is nothing at all if I'm not found abiding in Jesus and His word!"

Now, today, this seems even more important. So, what I'm about to say may come across wrong, but I'm going to risk it anyhow.




I don't want my identity as an American living in a good democracy to be more important to me than abiding in Jesus.



PLEEEEAAASE don't get me wrong on these few things: 1. I am opposed to the U.S. (or any other) government running too much of my life. 2. I do NOT think that debating / speaking out for(or)against any issue is necessary wrong or un-Christian. 3. I love living in America and would reeeeeally prefer our government to remain a "good" democracy!



Having said those things though, I really want my life to reflect the beliefs I hold most important - namely that I am a child LIVING in a KINGDOM. The Kingdom of God. That's it. That's most important.

The Kingdom of God is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. There is only one King and He reigns over the ENTIRE world and all the governments in it. Right now - today - Jesus is my KING and Obama is my president. In the future, Jesus will be my King and I will have another president. In the past, Jesus has been my King and other men have been my president. Are you catching the common factor in this?

JESUS IS MY KING!!!


I want to abide in Jesus. I want to be a disciple of Jesus who abides in His word and knows the truth that sets me free from my sin. I want to care more about my identity as a child of God more than any other identities I may have.



I am probably leaving this post too early. I probably have more to say, but I think I ought to be done for now.

That is all.

I love me some me!!!

I love me some me! This is a quote from a pro-football player.

This is a also a really easy target for most of us. We think it's ridiculous when this guy says and does the things he says and does - because he is absolutely all about self-glorification.

But really, isn't he just like an "over-the-top" version of me? Isn't he just a sinner - in the spotlight, granted - being a selfish sinner? Isn't he just being honest about what we all act like at times? Well, maybe not all of us - but definitely me!

Del Tackett has a blog with a good post related to this. See below.

Truth Observed

Anyhow. ...I might be way off on this one.

That is all.

Will Ferrell Sings 'Free Bird' on Conan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/23/will-ferrell-free-bird-vi_n_433975.html

Will Ferrell, Ben Harper, Beck, ZZ Top, Conan - - makes for a fun "Free Bird."

Did you catch that?

One thing that I've come to appreciate more and more lately is a deeper understanding of the Bible as "being alive." The Living Word of God! What strikes me is the way the same passage can be read over and over and over again - and still speak new things!
Not that it's a new concept to me, just that it's been on my mind a lot lately.

(2 off-point rabbit trails here):
Eugene Peterson talks about "Turning Eyes into Ears" in Working the Angles. That's part of it too. I've really been praying lately as I read that God would SPEAK, or maybe, more accurately, that I would LISTEN. That the time I spend reading is not simply reading- but listening. For many great men and women of God, this is a well-known, well-practiced thing.

Another thing is - other "books" (because the bible is a written "book") - even really great, time-tested, world renowned books - don't have this quality (if that's the right word). Maybe you can read and re-read War & Peace, or Les Miserables and see something different in it many times. But it still pales in comparison to the Bible.

OK. No more rabbit trails. Here's what made me want to write this morning:

I am reading John (the gospel of). I've been reading it for a while now. I'll read through each chapter a couple of times as I make my way through it - even re-reading sections and portions several times before moving on to the next chapter. Then, when I get to the end of the book, I go back to the beginning and do it again.

This morning, after reading John 6 last night, I read it again. The first two sections of John 6 are the recording of two different miracles that Jesus performed. (Three different signs, actually; two well known signs, and one that is overlooked all the time.) First, Jesus takes a boy's five loaves and two fish and uses it to feed over 5,000 people. And the next section tells about the disciples being 3 or 4 miles out on the water in a storm when Jesus comes walking ON the water. (The third, less well-known miracle is that once Jesus is on the boat, it says they were immediately to the land where they were going John 6:21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.)


OK - so that's the setting, or background for what caught my attention this morning.

The next section tells of the people WHO HAD EATEN the bread and fish (keep that in mind) - crossing the sea to find Jesus. And once they do, they strike up a conversation. And what do they ask Jesus? -John 6:30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

And as if that question isn't a hard enough slap in the face, they continue... 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

These people who - - - 1 day prior !!!! - - - ate the food that Jesus fed them, have the nerve to ask him for a sign to prove himself. Not only that, but they talk about their fathers EATING a MIRACULOUS food!!!! NOT only that either!!! - - they then quote scripture to JESUS!!!



I read all of this today and thought to myself, "Wow! ...those people"

Then I thought about how, if I'm honest, I would have been one of those people. I think this because I AM one of those people.

How many times have I seen - beyond any doubt - Jesus work a miracle? How many times in my own life have I tasted the goodness of Jesus' miracles? And how many times do I still ask him for some sort of sign before I'll trust him to be who he says he is?


This got kind of long, and I didn't mean for it to. I was just convicted by something "new" that God spoke to me this morning while reading a passage that I've read many times before.

Isn't that amazing? God is good!

That is all.

Two-fisted gospel (Jared Wilson's blog)

This is just a small part of a good post on the gospel-driven church blog, by Jared Wilson. Go check the whole thing out.

Our world is at war. There is no square inch of this world which isn't claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.
The gospel is good news to those who are perishing, but it is foolishness to them too, so we must not lose heart or lose hope or lose our nerve.

Jesus is King, now and forever. The work of the kingdom will lay waste to the gates of hell, but if you are neither speaking Jesus nor being Jesus, you will be part of the detritus left behind.

Thanks Jared.

From: To:

I've been thinking lately, as I read and re-read John, about the "sin nature" with which we are born. We've been doing a basic doctrine series at church, and this is one of those basic things we believe. No Pelagianism here! - - (Sorry. I'm in a church history class and only recently learned about Augustine and the Pelagian heresy.)

This morning I read John 5, and I had to stop and meditate on verse 24:

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

All I'm saying in this post is "here it is again!"

It's the idea that Christ didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). He didn't come to do what was already done - condemnation; he came to do what we are incapable of doing - salvation.

I know people who believe in the idea that when all is said and done, God will judge them based on good works; based on whether or not they were a "good person." Some of these people even think they're Christians.

This idea is essentially saying that there is some sort of neutral state in which we exist, and our deeds are weighed out in the afterlife. Good deeds = +1, Bad deeds = -1. If your sum total is positive, then congratulations! You get heaven!!

But Jesus clearly teaches that he came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). We were already lost. There is no one who is "found" apart from Jesus. He came to transform that which was dead into life. He came to rescue and deliver us from the domain of darkness into His Kingdom! (Col. 1:13)


So - - the way to consider judgement is not whether your "good deeds" outnumber or outweigh the "bad deeds" (by the way, there are thousands of other serious theological problems with this line of thinking), but will you die a dead/lost/condemned man or woman? Will you die as one who was never delivered from death? Will you end this life having never been ransomed from the domain of darkness? That's it! There are no good and bad deeds to be placed on the scale at the entrance to heaven. It is only Jesus. And you will either know Him as Savior, or you won't.

Again - nothing ground breaking here. Just wanted to write it out.

That is all.

What church do they go to?

I'm a pastor of a small church - the Lawton Vineyard Christian Fellowship. I pray for the folks in the church a lot.

Anyhow, I've been thinking lately - imagining really - what people might say about someone who goes to my church. Or what might people say about me to the people who go to my church?

What I find myself asking myself (is that the correct way to say that?) is would the person I'm speaking to know that the person who goes to my church is a follower of Jesus?

Example imaginary conversation:

Tom goes to my church. Sally works with Tom and Sally and I know each other from our kid's soccer games. I run into Sally at the grocery store.

Sally: "Yeah, I know Tom. I work with him. Tom's a great guy - really loves Jesus."

Me: "I know Tom too. He actually goes to my church."

Sally: "Huh. ...You know what? I don't actually know where Tom goes to church. Where does he go?"


It's a silly example maybe, but that's what I keep thinking about. I really want to people who live, work, and play among the Lawton Vineyard folks to know them as people who love Jesus.

I want people who might know me, but not know that I pastor a church (I also work an 8-5 Monday thru Friday job), to consider me a good follower of Jesus. I want my life to be one of love and devotion to Jesus and love for everyone else.

I guess what I'm saying is that it wouldn't bother me at all if people don't know where I go to church as long as they know I love Jesus. And that's true of the people I pastor too.

Quite a ramble, eh?! Oh well. That is all for now.

Savior of the world

John 4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his word.

42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”



It’s good, I think, to believe in Jesus based on the testimony of other people. To hear about the ways Jesus has changed other people’s lives is good. However! - - It’s totally different from meeting Jesus for yourself. It’s totally different from hearing from Jesus for yourself.



See – when these folks heard what the woman had to say about Jesus, they were astonished and believed. “Come check it out! This guy knows everything I’ve ever done! This has got to be the long-promised deliverer. The one we’ve been waiting for! For real!!!”



Who wouldn’t be drawn to that? Who wouldn’t want to investigate?



BUT - - when they actually met Jesus, that’s when they believed for themselves! Jesus stayed with them for two days, and then they knew for themselves. When they heard his word! That’s the key!



Hearing Jesus’ word for yourself - - absolutely life changing. Then it’s not about what other people have said, it’s about what the Savior of the world has said to you personally!

God controls the traffic lights

So - - I drive an old car. This old car I drive has very spongy breaks. When I am driving 35mph and approach a traffic light, I find myself praying. Go figure! Bad breaks make me pray!

But here's a scenario I face a lot when driving this old car: I approach a green light. I am far enough away that I'm not sure if it will stay green, or turn yellow then red before I get to it. There have been a few instances of the timing being just so that the light turns yellow and I must either come quickly to a stop, or I will run a red light. I have to slam on my spongy breaks. They lock and the tires squeal and smoke a little. Maybe for a lot of people this is no problem. Maybe some people would just run the red light (I am sure that this is true of many many many people in Lawton, OK). But for me it's nerve racking.

So, I find myself praying as I approach traffic lights now. And you know what? I also find myself thanking and praising God every time the light either stays green as I drive under it, or when it turns red in time for me to slowly stop. Isn't that weird?

I know a guy who would probably read this post and take issue with me thanking God, or maybe even for thinking of Him at all, when talking about traffic lights. This guy has suffered a lot of really crappy things in his life. Serious things. BAD things. He prayed that a lot of these things would not happen, or that they would be reversed. GOD, however, allowed these things to happen anyhow. So the problem then becomes, that I am arrogant enough to think that God would give two rips about an insignificant traffic light when He obviously didn't "care" enough to listen to his prayers and cries of anguish (I can practically hear this guy saying this).

But... I still find myself thanking God when my brakes don't lock up and smoke and worry me at the traffic lights. Because you know what? - God IS in control of everything. Even the "insignificant" minutiae of daily life. And, while any answers I might give would do no good at all to the bitter friend who has - legitimately has - endured things that I can't imagine, I still praise God for being in control of traffic lights.

That is all.