Jonathan Evans

Revival: Praise

A spontaneous gift is sudden and unexpected to the recipient not to the giver. Revival is the sudden and unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s sudden and unexpected to the church and to the world, but not to God.

 

ATTRACTION TO JESUS

 

In the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus notices a particular group of people. The children. They are the lowly, unimportant ones of their society. But not in Jesus’ eyes. He pays attention to them, to their words, their actions, their lives. And the children are not oblivious to Jesus either. They notice and pay attention to him, too. 

 

Why should it be any different today? With much fear and pessimism we believe that our children and young people will be repelled by Jesus; that the beauty of the world is the more compelling beauty. But the beauty of Jesus is inexhaustible at every angle. And he has always loved, revealed himself to, and enraptured the young regardless of century or culture (Matthew 19:14).

 

The promise of the Holy Spirit is for all generations, including our “sons and daughters” (Acts 2:17). So we pray for a generation of young people who though they share common interests with others, they imagine (at the gut level) their lives in vastly different ways. In revival there is precisely an awakening of young people to the glory of Jesus and the joy of his kingdom. Their lives are transformed by Jesus and they joyfully surrender the “nets” of their lives to follow him (Matthew 4:19-20), and forsake all for the pearl of his kingdom (Matthew 13:45-46). 

 

 

INTUITION OF JESUS

 

“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” (Matthew 21:15-16) Surely the children do not fully understand who Jesus is or what he is doing, but Jesus still accepts their praise of him as true. 

 

The children discern, perceive, believe that Jesus is different from those who have come before him claiming to be the Messiah. His presence awakens something in them and alerts them to something in Him. Like a baby who “just knows” who her parents are, who "just knows" when she's in their presence and calls out and responds to them, the children's praise is their heart’s intuitive call and response to who Jesus truly is.

 

Their praise is informed by what they know from Scripture (by what they have been taught), but it is also inspired (breathed into) by the Holy Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that our knowledge about Jesus becomes a living knowledge of Jesus. He becomes the object and not merely the subject of our praise and worship, so that in revival there is a heavenly sense of the admiration and awe surrounding Jesus that fills and rests upon the hearts of people. 

 

SALVATION IN JESUS

 

Jesus replies to the indignant religious leaders, “have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matthew 21:26) “Out of”, not “In the”. There are no mute hearts. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34), and sings!

 

Singing is by far the most frequent activity of praise and worship commanded and attributed by God to his people. But more than what we do, it is an activity of the Holy Spirit in/out of our hearts, a sign of his fullness in/out of our lives (Ephesians 5:18-19). Where the Spirit of God is present and indwelling a heart, there will be songs being sung to Jesus.

 

What are the children singing? “Hosanna”. God saves! They are praising Jesus for “the wonderful things” that he is doing, and will do. 

 

In the history of Israel, the greatest, most memorable act of God’s power was the Exodus, in particular, the Red Sea. There was no one like Moses for “the wonderful things” (“the great deeds”) that God had sent him to do and had done through him (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). There at the edge of the sea Israel saw God defeat his enemies and deliver his people. (Exodus 14:30-31). What did Moses and Israel do in response? They sang! (Exodus 15) 

 

Jesus is a greater deliverer than Moses. But why? How? What act of deliverance can the children praise Jesus for? 

 

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” (Matthew 27:42-43) 

 

There on the cross Jesus was the helpless, the fool, the weak. But there through the weakness of the cross God both defeated his enemies (sin, death, and the devil) and delivered his people forever through the power of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:21-24). “Out of the mouths of babies”, out of the mouths of the helpless, the foolish, and the weak, we the redeemed people and children of God boast in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior (1 Cor. 1:26-31). 

 

In revival, at the edge of the cross and the empty tomb, a fresh cry of victory and new song of deliverance rises from out of the mouths of God’s people and resounds in the ears of the world: Hosanna, to the Son of God!

Revival: Power

A spontaneous gift is sudden and unexpected to the recipient not to the giver. Revival is the sudden and unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s sudden and unexpected to the church and to the world, but not to God.

 

THE HEALING

 

God still does “wonderful things” (Matthew 21:15), powerful things, today. This is my deep conviction born out of a time of deep cynicism. A time when I stumbled over an exposed “revivalist” and fell into doubt and criticism, and intellectualized and theologized away all demonstrations and manifestations of God’s power today. This despite having had such experiences as an early teen. “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) 

 

In revival, God’s ordinary work is done to an extraordinary degree. It’s an unusual season of life for the church, not the usual day to day activity in the life of the church. Jesus is always saving, but in revival he saves in an exponential way. Whereas a local church may see 6 people turn to Jesus in a year, in a season of revival they will see dozens, hundreds, even thousands. And whereas a local church may see a healing or a person powerfully encounter God in the span of a few months, in revival they see manifold demonstrations of God’s power almost daily.

 

Still, when we talk about God’s power, we must talk about more than power. We must talk about people’s lives being touched by the Living God.

 

THE HEALED

 

When Jesus goes in to the temple in Jerusalem, word gets out. Somehow, a blind and a lame man find their way in. The blind and the lame, though, are a people group  excluded from ever entering the temple. They come anyway, and Jesus not only welcomes them, he heals them in the very place they are not supposed to be (Matthew 21:14-15).

 

After Jesus’ resurrection, his two disciples, Peter and John, are going up to the temple where, at the gate, they find a lame man asking for alms. Peter looks at him and says, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” (Acts 3:1-7) 

 

Jesus heals inside and outside the temple. God’s power resides in and flows from the true temple and meeting-point with God, Jesus Christ. Any person in any place at any time can be made well and whole (whether or not they will be).

 

Yet, we must follow the gift back to the Giver (Luke 17:18), because we can easily get caught up in power as the ultimate end. But God demonstrates his power in order to confirm his message of the gospel (Mark 16:20) and point to the forgiveness and salvation found nowhere else but in Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:5-6). The greatest miracle is the love of God in the heart of man. The highest joy is knowing God, not working miracles (Matthew 7:22; Luke 10:20). The world might use its power to control what we love. But Jesus always uses his power to show us his love for us.  

 

THE HEALER

 

How did Jesus heal and do mighty works? By the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. (Luke 3:22; 4:1, 14). So, how would his disciples heal and do mighty works? By the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5) 

 

In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples and the church, as he did upon Jesus at the beginning, and Peter explains what is happening: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he (Jesus!) has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” (Acts 2:33) 

 

This pouring out is a “power” to be “witnesses” (Acts 1:8). But our “witness” is not passive observance from the outside; it’s active participation on the inside. The Holy Spirit is the key witness to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus (Acts 5:32). His coming-as-pouring is a testifying to Jesus living and reigning today; an empowering of the church for the advancing and completing of Jesus’ mission today; a participating in the renewing and transforming life of Jesus today. 

 

In all our efforts we are "blind and lame" without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But with Him all the possibilities, promises, and blessings of life found in Jesus are made a reality.

 

SPRING FLOWERS

 

When Jesus came to earth, the kingdom of God was “at hand”. It was spatially found in the physical body of Jesus. But now that he has ascended, the kingdom of God is at hand in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot picture Jesus as being far off somewhere in heaven, but rather as being near to us in the person of the Holy Spirit, dwelling with and within us. 

 

Revival comes to dry, barren ground with rains of refreshing and streams of healing. It brings the Spring flowers, radiant and beautiful (signs and wonders, manifestations and demonstrations of God’s power), but its aim is the mature fruit (the transformation of lives) of the Summer and Fall.

Revival: Prayer

 A spontaneous gift is sudden and unexpected to the recipient not to the giver. Revival is the sudden and unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s sudden and unexpected to the church and to the world, but not to God.

 

MY HOUSE

 

The 19th century in America was an age of progress, innovation, great human energy, and the birth of “the American spirit” and the self-made man. It was also the century when the understanding and definition of revival changed.

 

Revival changed from what is sovereign, what only God can do, to “a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means” (Charles Finney), what man can do; from what we prepare for by seeking God to what we organize, plan, and even schedule on the calendar; from what begins in a community of people to what begins in a crowd (the more people the greater the chance of securing, producing a revival).

 

In the “old” understanding of things, Jesus ascended and is the source of all, continuing his work on earth through the Holy Spirit. But in the “newer” understanding of things, Jesus ascended and now the church is the source of all and continues the work. 

 

But Jesus enters the temple of God and says, “It is written, ‘My house…’ .” My house. 

 

“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) The church is not built on or around a man, but on Jesus himself, “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mat. 16:16-17) Jesus has promised that he will build his church. The implication, then, is that he also has promised not to build our church. Revival reestablishes the ownership and purpose of the church. 

 

HOUSE OF PRAYER

 

What marks the house that belongs to Jesus? Prayer. “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” (Matthew 21:13) We might have hoped for a different word to describe the church, but in it Jesus sums up his understanding and definition of the church. 

 

Yet Jesus is speaking of something beyond the activity of praying; he’s speaking of the character of prayer. Under pressure I might perform honestly, but this doesn’t mean I am honest. An honest character performs honestly both while under pressure and while not under any pressure. The house marked by prayer is a people whose face and heart is always turned towards God (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

 

But we are not only turned towards God for ourselves. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7, “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.” God is promising that one day he will bring “these”, the Gentiles (the lost, foreigner, outcast, separated), into his house. A house of prayer is both a place where the lost will come and find God and a people who will pray for God to seek and save the lost.

 

In revival the care, concern, and compassion in the church for the world is intensified to a great degree. The birthing of revival produces the travail of prayer for the lost (the travail can’t produce the birth), and leads to the joy of salvation, the new birth of many souls (John 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:3).

 

DEN OF ROBBERS

 

We, the people of God, tend to wander, to grow cold, to forget. Jesus looks under the activity in the temple and sees its character. “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” (Jeremiah 7:9-11) The house is marked by a lack of care, concern, and compassion for the lost. The people are committing crimes against the very ones they are called to pray for; they have become a curse rather than a blessing. 

 

The enemy of the church is not the culture. The enemy is the Devil. When the Devil comes to tempt the church, he tempts us to sin and do evil, but he also tempts us not to do good. The evil becomes attractive, the good unattractive. The first good things to usually go in the life of the church and of the Christian are our devotion to God’s Word and to prayer. But they are both essential and irreplaceable in all centuries, under all circumstances, and before all activities (Acts 6:4).

 

In the end the temple was destroyed, but not God’s purposes for his people. “It is written”, says Jesus –  established, determined, defined, understood – “my house will be a house of prayer for all peoples”. There is neither a time nor a place where this promise will fail. But now God’s purpose in blessing all peoples rests ultimately not on our prayers, but on Jesus’ intercession. “(He) is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25; see Romans 8:34). When revival arrives, it will find us in prayer and intercession.   

Revival: Purity

A spontaneous gift is sudden and unexpected to the recipient not to the giver. Revival is the sudden and unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s sudden and unexpected to the church and to the world, but not to God. 

 

INTO THE TEMPLE

 

Jesus enters Jerusalem and proceeds to enter the temple (Matthew 21:12-16). The temple was the heart of the city, the center of its life. For Israel the temple was the meeting-point with God. It symbolized God’s presence, his dwelling with them. God never intended to come and go. From the beginning in the garden of Eden to the end in the new heaven and new earth, the picture and the truth is that God desires, intends, and plans to dwell with man completely and permanently. To be in unbroken relationship.

 

Yet, every relationship we are in inevitably suffers decay over time and must be restored. 

 

When Jesus enters the temple he is by his actions declaring that the heart is sick, the center is twisted. It is because of this that he comes to heal, to purify, to restore. Revival is relational restoration to the church (relational reconciliation to the world). By its very name, Revival implies that something needs reviving; and reviving implies that something is dying. If the church of Jesus Christ is always consistently and fully devoted, obedient, and faithful in her relationship to Jesus Christ, there is no need ever of revival; but the Bible and history have shown that the church is not. God has repeatedly sent revival to his people.

 

OUT OF THE TEMPLE

 

By virtue of Jesus entering the temple, something must come out of the temple. He drives out “all who sold and bought”, perpetrator and victim alike. Jesus is going beyond corrupt practices. Where (the temple), not what (the trading), is at the root of what Jesus wants to get at. As Christians we often feel that our problem is our isolated acts of disobedience, but our problem is the deep aversion in our heart to God. We have an allergic reaction to God's sovereignty over our lives. It’s our attitude beneath our actions. We not only push against God, we push away from him.

 

A parent who lovingly disciplines their child quickly comes to learn that sometimes you discipline the act and sometimes you discipline the attitude. In fact, a parent will completely miss the heart of the discipline process if he thinks that it is only actions that need addressing.

 

In revival God intends to lovingly go after the attitudes beneath our actions; our moods and the way we are attuned to him and to the world, our way of being-in-Christ and being-in-the-world. Because before revival can come to the world, renewal must first come to the heart of the church. It is in this season that once again God restores to us a grand vision of himself, not of ourselves. We, the church, are obsessed with our own image. We’re not obsessed with the image of Jesus Christ, unless it reflects favorably upon us. God must come to demolish the idol of our image. It must become as dust before his glory.

 

A NEW TEMPLE

 

What Jesus has done in the temple, though, is not the extent or the fullness of what he wants to accomplish. What he is saying by what he is doing is that a new age is coming in him. Jesus hasn’t come to fix a system or to beautify a building. Jesus has come to replace the temple as the meeting-point with God: So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22)

 

Jesus has come to purify, to beautify, a people to meet and to dwell with God: What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18)

 

Revival comes to restore the splendor of God’s holiness in his people, to return us to an original or earlier condition. The holiness of Jesus doesn’t fade, but it does fade in us. So the Holy Spirit comes and “touches up” what needs to be.

 

Revival comes to radiate the light of God’s glory from us to the world, to go out in a direct line from a central point. We are not that central point. Our lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23)

 

A PURE AND SPOTLESS BRIDE

 

We can’t cause revival, but we can (re)turn to the God who does, and in so doing turn from the things that infect, decay, clog, or obstruct. Jesus’ great joy is not to present to himself a sleek, slender, brilliant, charismatic, and famous bride. His great joy is to present to himself a pure and spotless bride (Ephesians 5:27), and in so doing to present himself to the world.    

Beyond words, but not apart from words

 

Dear Christian,

 

We read the Bible to remember that God With Us (Matthew 1:23) has acted in history, in time, and what he has done in Jesus. We see that we're a part of a story that is timeless, that doesn't end in time, on earth, but is written from eternity to eternity. It's a story bigger than any one of us that yet includes each one of us.

 

We read the Bible to realize that God's activity is not something centered around my individual life but someone focused exclusively on Jesus Christ: God Himself is set on exalting Jesus on earth from beginning to end – past, present, future.

 

We read the Bible to recognize that my life and yours are created, formed, and made to be a reflection of the greatness, majesty, and glory of God. Our life saved from sin is being recreated, reformed, remade into the perfect image of God, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3), and is called into and empowered for full participation in his kingdom. We not only read this in the word of God but we live this through The Word of God, Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:13; John 1:1, 14), to whom the whole Bible is pointing and in whom the whole Bible is fulfilled.

 

We read the Bible to respond to a God who speaks. Exceeding, and more exhilarating than, a perfect day is hearing one word from God. Anyone in a significant relationship knows that conversation is better than a thousand gifts and that a thousand gifts without a meaningful conversation are meaningless. To listen to the voice of the one you love, of the one who loves you, is fulfilling beyond words, but not apart from words.

 

Listen closely, read slowly.

Prayer is never optional

 

"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." (Revelation 3:2) 

 

These are Jesus' words to the church at Sardis, calling them out of spiritual death (yes, it can happen) into new spiritual life (yes, it can happen). Not that many years had passed between the church in Acts 2 and Pentecost, and the church in Revelation 3 and Patmos (the place John is writing from), yet Jesus still must warn them to "Wake up".

 

And he (Jesus) came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:37-38) 

 

The disciples of Jesus had long been with him, and seen and heard all that he did, yet Jesus still needs to stir them up to "Watch and pray”. 

 

It doesn't take long for neither Christians of any spiritual maturity nor for the church of Jesus Christ in any century, to slip into sleepiness or lukewarmness. 

 

Prayer is, therefore, that which must be consistently engaged in at all costs, in all times. 

 

Prayer is not simply the guiding principle of our lives – when we need an answer or are in trouble – but prayer is the operational principle of our lives. It keeps us alert and aware; makes us present and sensitive to God, to His will, and to His kingdom.

 

Prayer is never optional for the people of God. Praying is not simply a question of "staying alive", but of being alive. The life of Jesus and of the Spirit both "pushes" (urges) us towards prayer and "pulls" (attracts) us into prayer.

 

It is a good day to pray!

The lived-in and lived-out reality of love

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)

 

Heard with our ears. Seen with our eyes. Touched with our hands. Words that describe a sensory experience. This experience wasn’t a "what" as much as it was a "who". Jesus is Who the disciples experienced – listened to, looked upon, touched. He was the “word of life”, “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest". “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory” (John 1:14). 

 

The glory of God in Jesus Christ was what, who, the disciples proclaimed, spoke of, conversed about. Yet, not just who they’d heard with mortal ears, or seen with mortal eyes, or touched with mortal hands, but who with their entire beings they’d come to know and to understand, to receive and to believe, to follow and to obey. Like a friend who is able to describe a loved one articulately, intimately, and stunningly, in a way a stranger never could or even imagine, is the disciple who knows Jesus able to describe him to others.

 

It is one thing to know about a country from reading about it – information as facts, pictures, maps. This is the student. It is quite another thing to know about a country from having visited it – the experiences of people and conversation, food and places of significance. This is the tourist. But it is still a different thing altogether to know a country from living there – life and daily routines, roads and secret places, stories and names, struggles and victories, etc. This is the citizen.

 

As Christians, we are saved and “born again”, born from above (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:3, 23), to live in, through, with, and for Jesus, not to read about him or visit him occasionally. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) We are now to live here, there, wherever we are “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20); to build a home, pray, work, rest, play, dig in, root ourselves, make friends, and serve and seek the prosperity of our cities (Jeremiah 29:4-7). We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom (Philippians 3:20) that takes the necessary and daily routines, roads and secret places, stories and names, struggles and victories of our lives and communities and gives them their higher and deeper meaning and purpose in Jesus. 

 

We are citizens of this kingdom by grace, not by our works nor for our works but by the King’s work and for his works. We hear and see and embrace him by grace; he hears and sees and embraces us in mercy. And far from being a postcard or a t-shirt or a visit from there (a distant land), our lives are the lived-in/lived-out reality of him (who has come near), his love articulated and manifested in and through us.

Idolatry and adultery

 

When Jesus says, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28), he is not saying that any man who notices or recognizes the beauty of another woman has committed adultery. He is saying that any man who looks on a woman in order to desire her sexually, in order to have sex with her in his imagination, has committed adultery. 

 

The Bible often equates idolatry with adultery. God, who has redeemed for himself a people for his own possession through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has done so with the anticipation and expectation that his people will worship and love him exclusively, completely, and permanently. "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called." (Isaiah 54:5)

 

However, Biblical narrative and the history of the church and the experience of any Christian’s heart show that the people of God often turn away to worship and serve other gods. We idolize; we commit idolatry, spiritual adultery.

 

This first happened following God’s miraculous salvation of Israel from slavery to Egypt. “Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him  (Moses) aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.” (Acts 7:39-41). 

 

This happened again when God through Joshua brought Israel into the promised land. He commanded them to break down the altars representative of worship to other gods. “Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?” (Judges 2:1-2). Don’t miss this dear Christian. Before Israel joined and bowed in worshipping other gods, they failed to obey and break down their altars. There was a breakdown in their heart towards God before there was a breaking away in their actions against God.

 

Idolatry does not begin the moment we bow to another god, anymore than adultery, as Jesus has pointed out, begins the moment you have sex. Idolatry begins the moment we determine in our hearts that God is not all-sufficient for our life. We find something in addition to or apart from God to be as or more worthy of our trust and obedience, our love and our worship, and we pursue it. 

 

God is all-sufficient for your needs, your wants, your hopes, and your dreams. He belongs to you. But that’s not all he’s “good for”. He is all-sufficient for your obedience, your purity, your holiness, and your calling. You belong to him. He did not begrudgingly redeem and free you from slavery to your sin. He freely gave himself for you; he wholeheartedly took your place; he loved you. "you were ransomed...not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). We are “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28).

 

There is no grudge or mistrust or fear in the heart of the slave who has been freed by grace. There is only joy and thanksgiving and the desire to willingly follow their new Master all the days of their new life.

My superiority = Your inferiority

 

"God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector", prayed the religiously devout Pharisee, one admired by many (Luke 18:11).

 

We often parent our children with this attitude. We teach them by our words and actions to live, think, feel, believe, pray, and treat others as, "God, thank you I'm not like ________.”

 

We should show our children how proud we are of them. But we often do this by comparing them (at least in our minds) to others who are by our estimation or standards less beautiful, talented, smart, moral, etc.. In other words, "I'm proud of you, I take joy and delight in you, because you're not like them." Well then. We're not rightly or really proud of them; we're just boasting they're not like someone else. We’re instilling, cultivating, and nurturing in them a sense of superiority over others, the inferiority of others.

 

But superiority or pride is an awful way to relate to people, to measure them up against ourselves. There's a harshness, not a gentleness in our approach. When my son was five years old he broke his leg, and the doctor came in, put his hands on his leg, and forcefully bent. There are gentle ways to deal with painful realities.

 

"God, have mercy on me a sinner.", prayed the tax collector, one despised by many (Luke 18:13), but awakened to, convicted by, repentant of his true condition before God.

 

The Pharisee sees no internal need; he sees himself as being deserving; he is better than others. The sinner sees his internal need; he sees himself as being undeserving; he is no better than others.

 

As Christians, the image of God, not belief in God, is fundamental to having and giving respect to everyone. Whether or not someone ever believes in Jesus doesn’t absolve me of Jesus’ command to love them as myself. Yet, this is difficult to do if I feel (believe) myself to be better than others, and if feeling and being better than others is the goal, to what extent will I go to continue to feel this way? Sooner or later I feel I am the best only when I believe others are the worst.

 

But also and even more radical to the Christian’s power and desire to love is the grace of God. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:10) Only to the extent that we've received and experienced the undeserving love, grace and mercy of God will we be able to love, give grace, and show mercy to others without feeling superior or more righteous than them. 

 

There is no one more tolerant of sinful humanity than God, and there is no one more intolerant of sinful humanity than God. In Jesus He was both tolerant of us and intolerant of us. How? God shows His tolerance of us by not condemning us for our sins though we justly deserve it. But He has not overlooked us or condoned our sin. Rather, He demonstrated His intolerance of sin by condemning Jesus in our place and pouring out His wrath on Him in punishment for our sin. 

 

To live with those who love you is easy, but to die for those who hate you is unimaginable – except in the mind and heart of God.

 

So there is a better, higher, deeper, more humble, more satisfying, more joyful, and more powerful way to live. It's not by being spineless in conviction, political in integrity, self-righteous in zeal or nominal in faith; it's by losing my life (and my sense of superiority) and by laying down my life (and my sense of your inferiority) in order to find and to live my life "by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Maybe it doesn’t take as long to come back to life as it does to die.

It's probably just me, but I find it difficult to remember to water the plants in my office. There’s only three and I see them everyday! Yet I’ve easily (or conveniently) ignored them everyday. Until recently.

 

I’m not sure a dying plant speaks very well of my ability to care.

 

Everyday that I walk or drive the streets of my city, I usually take the same route. This means that I’m looking at the same things every day. It also means that I’m probably not seeing what or who is actually there. 

 

My eyes are open, but not really.

 

I need my eyes to open. I want to see what I’ve never noticed; I want to notice what I’ve always seen. 

 

I’m not sure a hurting neighborhood or city speaks very well of my ability or willingness to care. 

 

But if the love and grace of God have their way, I’ll start somewhere. I’ll notice and pay attention. I’ll stop and listen. I’ll sacrifice and give. I’ll come to realize that the city’s not only here for me, but that I’m also here for it, and maybe even more so in God’s eyes.

 

It appears it doesn’t take as much time for something to come back to life as it does for it to die. My plants are green again and growing. Time and water, daily attention and care. That’s what I can do. But what I can’t produce or command or control is life itself.

 

God gives life and God gives growth when and where we plant and water (1 Corinthians 3:6). 

 

One of my plants is drinking water like my son does after running hard. I can hear it, and it sounds desperate. All around me people are weary and working hard; many are hurting and giving up. Kindness to most is welcome. It is intriguing, surprising, refreshing. Kindness is also powerful. It is shocking, a “force quit”, a restart. 

 

It was, after all, God’s undeserved kindness towards me that led me to Him (Romans 2:4).