Jonathan Evans

The gift that didn't need to be given

How much thought do you put into a gift at Christmas? Do you grab your cash and pick up the first thing you see? Do you plan ahead and look for the best deals? Are you watching and listening all year, jotting down your ideas?

It's the thought that counts they say.

So, how much thought did God put in to the sending and giving of Jesus Christ?  

Jesus was a gift that was planned from eternity.

Jesus was a gift that revealed God was indeed watching and listening.

Jesus was a gift that would cost God everything

Jesus was a gift that didn't need to be given.

God in Himself was sufficient, complete, satisfied. Happy, happy, happy was the Father and the Son and The Spirit! Being full of love and adoration for each other, there was no internal need or loneliness, no external force or obligation that would drive God to seek anything outside of Himself. 

And yet, He created. He created a world. He created man and woman. God who is love, out of the unconstrained freeness and unrestrained kindness of His heart, gave with unspeakable joy.  He shared from the abundance of His fullness with man, so that man might enjoy and rejoice and be satisfied in the life of God. 

We who live one breath at a time can know and love the One who gives us each breath.

But for all the beauty and magnificence of this world, for all its reflections and refractions of God's glory, not a single beam of light or blade of grass or drop of ocean or shade of color or note of music, can compare to the Son of God taking on flesh. In Jesus was the perfect image, radiance and fullness of God's glory. 

And He would be born. And He would grow to be a man. And He would die. 

All that was within the immeasurable power of the eternal, creator God of love to do; His infinite thoughts and feelings and desires; it all culminated, climaxed, and crescendoed in torn flesh, flowing blood, and tortured breathing. In Jesus God gave Himself, not because He needed something, but because, needing nothing, He wanted to. 

It needn't have cost God anything to save us; He is God and has everything He "needs". But it did cost Him everything to save us. It cost Him His son, Jesus. Why? Because He loved us while we were yet sinners. Jesus died for us on a cross. Why? So that we might love God even as He loves us. To accomplish our salvation, Jesus needed to die. But God didn't need to accomplish our salvation. He chose to, because being love, He loved.

The gift of Jesus is an invitation to enter into the life of God, to find a place with God that we don't deserve – a place we never would have heard of if it wasn't for God making it known first. He has revealed His love in Jesus, poured out His love through Jesus, and invites us into His love because of Jesus.

Go back to the gift of Jesus. It was free. It wasn't thoughtless, rash or cheap. It was love. Go and love and give, not because you have to, but because you want to.

The things around which your heart will grow

There are small things and seemingly harmless things that we welcome into our hearts and lives. These thoughts, affections, desires, motives or emotions appear unexpectedly, uninvited. Yet like cold strangers in the warming comfort of friends, they soon make themselves at home.

If ignored, after a while these strangers become friends; these small things become big things; these secondary things become primary things; these good things become ultimate things. What once we were suspicious of or convicted by, we now ignore or embrace. 

Be careful! 

Be careful of the things around which your heart will grow. Like tree roots around rocks, your heart will grow steadily, slowly and securely around thoughts, affections, etc., making it nearly impossible to dislodge them.

If left to itself, the heart will always turn inward; it will always seek to satisfy itself. The heart is charmingly deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9), ever expanding and reaching and grasping for what it blindly believes can satisfy its needs and desires. It is ever swallowing as much as it wants of what it wants.

What do you really want?

If uprooted like a great tree, what would be found clenched tightly in your heart? If cut open like the belly of a great fish, what would be found digesting inside your heart?  

Let us yield and give our thoughts, affections, desires, motives and emotions to God, the One who truly loves us, who fully knows us and who clearly discerns our needs and what we should really want. He has not left us to ourselves! 

Love gets angry at the right things

God is love, not anger (1 John 4:8). Still, God does get angry. But God’s love provides the stimulus, the context and the constraint for His anger.  

 

  

 

BECAUSE God loves us, He gets angry at the RIGHT things which are the WRONG things that result from sin in our hearts. Thankfully, like a father who lovingly disciplines his children, He lovingly convicts us of what is wrong. He embraces us, forgives us, teaches us and continues to conform us into His image.

 

In our relationships, our love like GOD'S LOVE should always seek what is good and best for others – to know, love, serve and reflect God. Our anger like GOD'S ANGER, should arise when what is good and best is opposed by what is not – those things which aim to distract us or keep us from knowing, loving, serving and reflecting God.

 

APART FROM LOVE, though, it is hard to be angry at the right things, with the right motives, for the right reasons. 

 

I might have personal, good, and even justified reasons for my anger, but FOR God's purposes ONLY God's love can provide the stimulus, the desire, the aim, the guidance, the safety and the constraint for my anger. Otherwise, my anger has the potential to be at best misaligned with God's love, at worst severed from it. 

 

If the foundation of my LOVE for you has collapsed, how can I BUILD you up? If my legs are crippled, how can I HOLD you up? If my arms are broken, how can I HELP you up?

 

LOVE digs around my anger down to the root of it; it searches my anger with the spotlight of humility; it shines through my anger to uncover any hidden snares; it frames the portrait of my anger and brings the right object into focus.

 

Is God’s love the stimulus, the context and the constraint for your anger? 

Don't let anger fall asleep in your heart

If you gave your emotions a super hero name, what would it be? I would give my wife the name, "Elastigirl". She has emotional elasticity – the ability to extend herself, to stretch herself and to wrap herself around people and their circumstances. I would give myself the name, "The Block". I have fixed emotional boundaries and can calmly handle anything that falls within those boundaries. But if anything falls outside those boundaries, well, I need GRACE!!!

 

We all share many emotional differences, yet we all share one similarity: ANGER. At one point or another, for many different reasons and in many different ways, we all will get angry with someone.

 

Anger is ok; it's reflective of the nature of God. In fact, Psalm 4:4 tells us to "Be angry”. It's a POSITIVE command! 

 

Jesus got angry. Once, he memorably drove people out of the temple with a whip of cords (John 2:15). But he didn't get angry because the temple music wasn’t his preference or because the paint color wasn’t his favorite. He got angry at SIN. Sin is all that is contrary or opposed to the character and will of God. Jesus had a right to be angry.

 

But let's not forget that for that same reason, Jesus came to destroy sin. He didn't come to destroy people in their sin (John 3:17), but to save them from their sin because He loved them (John 3:16). You see, for Jesus, LOVE provided the catalyst, the context and the constraint for His ANGER. Love often involves anger; anger doesn't always involve love.

 

So David says, "Be angry, and do not sin". Our anger turns sinful when it is SEVERED from God’s love and is CONTRARY to God's character and will – EASILY provoked (1 Corinthians 13:5, 7), QUICKLY roused (James 1:19-20; Exodus 34:6; Romans 9:22), expressed CARELESSLY (Matthew 12:36-37), motivated by PRIDE (Matthew 5:22), rooted in HATRED (1 John 3:15). 

 

Paul quotes Psalm 4:4 in Ephesians 2:26 and says that we should BE QUICK to deal with our anger, giving it no time to nestle up, get comfortable and fall asleep in our heart. He writes, “and do not let the sun go down on your anger”. Imagine anger (wrath or exasperation) swaddled and cradled like a baby in your arms, being roused and awakened, nursed and fed, nourished and kept warm, settled and established. 

 

Paul says, “Get rid of it, and quickly!”, because if we are SLOW to repent and deal with our sinful anger, we provide our enemy, the devil, with an OPPORTUNITY.

 

When his CHARACTER TRAITS of gossip, lying, slander, accusation, divisiveness, discord, vindictiveness and a desire for revenge begin to appear in our life, we can be sure that the devil has found a FOOTHOLD into our heart, life, marriage, family, home, relationships, etc.

 

If we find ourselves there, our hope is in the gospel: JESUS died to save those who hated God and DESERVED the just wrath of his righteous anger against sin. He took our place and ABSORBED the wrath of God, so that we might be forgiven and be able to forgive; so that the power and hold of anger over our life might be DESTROYED; so that we might be filled, compelled, transformed and mastered by the love of God, by the God of love.

One of the most dangerous things you can ask God

One of the most dangerous things you can do is to ask God to search your heart in the midst of conflict or trial or pain. It may delay the victory or the rescue or the relief you're after. 

David writes, "May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you." (Psalm 25:21) Here the Psalmist is asking God to save him from others; he's praying and waiting, looking and hoping. 

 

We've all be there, in the middle of something we've been dragged into, something we've fallen into, something we've walked into. The primary objective is to GET OUT! 

 

But for the Psalmist, being saved and/or vindicated is NOT the most important thing. Having a right heart is the most important thing. It's as if he's saying, "God even if I'm never rescued or vindicated, even if I'm never getting out of here, let my heart be upright before you, let my heart be pure."

 

Consider Psalm 7:1-2: "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver." There's no question David WANTS to be rescued! 

 

But it's not David's ultimate, deepest, desire.

"O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust." (Psalm 7:3-5)

One of the most dangerous and courageous things to do is to ask God to search your heart in the midst of conflict or trial or pain. When victory is desirable, but not ultimate in your heart, you're walking in a power and strength not your own. Whatever happens, whenever it happens, will only magnify the joy you've ALREADY found. 

Don't work hard to prove people wrong

Don't work hard to prove people wrong. 

 

Living to try and prove that people are wrong about you is just another way the heart forms and fashions an idol. You end up being enslaved to a person, to their opinion of you and to your expectations of them. And in the end, all idols fail to give us what they promised us.

 

 

WHOEVER

When trying to prove ourselves not to be the person some think or say that we are, we find it increasingly difficult to be ourselves – to laugh naturally, to have a normal conversation, to be pleasant to be around. We become consumed in our mind by whoever we believe is an object to our detriment or our benefit. 

 

We're crushed under the weight of working to earn what we believe we'll be miserable without – respect, popularity, love, acceptance, vengeance, etc. We're bent and bending to a breaking point out of fear, anger or self-love to save ourselves – to be saved.

 

But who can save themselves? And who can save us from ourselves?

 

WHENEVER

God is not as concerned as we are with people's opinions of us. He doesn't want you comparing yourself to others; He's not comparing you to them. He's not comparing them to you either. God is, however, concerned with His opinion of you, your opinion of Him and your opinion of others.

 

"Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

 

Paul's constant striving and working was not out of competition or in comparison with others. In fact, Paul would say that whenever we live and thrive off of comparing ourselves to others and commending ourselves to others, we truly don't understand the way God sees or measures things.

 

WHATEVER

Everything Paul did was born and motivated out of love for Jesus and others. He wasn't trying to earn love in anyway from anyone. Paul knew he was already loved as much as any man or woman could possibly be loved. And he was loved having done nothing to deserve it

 

How is it possible to compare or commend ourselves when we have been freely loved, forgiven and accepted by Jesus Christ? Whatever judgment we receive from man cannot possibly compare to the judgment we deserve from God. Whatever love we receive from man cannot possibly come close to the love we don't deserve from God. Because of Jesus, God's wrath has passed over us and His love has come home to us. 

Be careful, then, not to put yourself below or above where Jesus puts you. 

 

Don't work work hard to prove people wrong; don't work hard to prove you're right. Neither is the kind of effort Jesus wants to give you grace for. Rather, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

"For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." (2 Cor. 10:18)

A person who is loved

What kind of person asks for a glass of water at 1:30 in the morning? 

 

Maybe a person who lacks common sense. Maybe one too lazy to get up. Maybe one who is demanding and controlling. Maybe one too selfish to care about another's sleep. 

 

Maybe. 

 

 

But maybe also a person who is loved.

 

A  person loved is confident and comfortable in their relationship with another. A person loved doesn't fear or hesitate to ask anything, anytime, anywhere. A person loved is bold enough to inconvenience, because morning and night, day after day, they've been served and cared for freely and sacrificially. In ways big and small, open and hidden, planned and spontaneous, love has convinced them they're worth dying to self for. Love has promised them they're worth living for, and love has kept its word.

 

It's not that the person asked is incapable of saying no; they can. It's that they are willing to say yes when saying no would be easier for them.

 

Do we love like that?

Get your emotions under God's control

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." Psalm 42:5-6

 

Washing dishes, I thought, "I shouldn't be losing my patience like this. Why do I let my emotions take control of me?"

 

If a 5 year old loses control of their emotions, we would deal with it accordingly. We wouldn't tell them they're being immature and need to "grow up". But if a 15 year old or a 25 year old or a 35 year old were to lose control of their emotions and throw a fit, we would tell them they're being immature and should "grow up!". 

 

 

As a christian, I should expect spiritual growth and maturity in the area of my emotions. If I'm always losing my temper, grumbling, anxious, fearful, unhappy, being selfish, etc., I need to ask myself who's in control: me or my emotions? Truer yet, am I submitting to the indwelling Spirit of God, abiding in Him and allowing Him to shape, prune and grow me? Or am I submitting to my emotions and allowing what has happened and how I feel to drive, steer and influence me?

 

The Psalmist asks himself a question: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" His feelings are discouraging him, if not torturing and depressing him. His answer? As strange as it sounds, he begins to talk to himself! He stops listening to his feelings and begins speaking truth to his soul, truth concerning God: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."  

 

God is in the midst of and over all the circumstances that surround him. He looks to God – to His faithfulness and to His power. He remembers that his hope is in God, that his salvation is God. He reflects on this and then he reminds himself of this. He stops focusing on his feelings and begins to refocus his attention on God. 

 

Imagine you go for a walk down your favorite path and get lost in the sights, sounds and smells of your surroundings. And then suddenly a thought enters your mind, rapidly it affects your heart and you get lost wandering inside whatever your thoughts and feelings are saying to you.

 

What should you do?

 

Stop listening to yourself and begin talking to yourself!

 

This isn't positive thinking, ritual chanting or magically believing things into existence. This is taking hold of what is already true. And what is already true is God, God who is sovereignly present and sovereignly powerful; God who is dwelling within you by the power of the Holy Spirit; God who is lovingly and wisely conforming you into the image of His Son, Jesus.

 

He is your help, He is your refuge, He is your hope in the midst of emotional chaos and in the face of emotional trial. You can be still, find rest and even fall asleep there (Psalm 3:5-6).

 

Get your emotions under God's control.

Your name matters

“Your name’s in the bible and your name’s in the bible, but mine’s not in the bible.” When I heard Addy Rose say this to her brother and sister, a certain verse came to my mind. I called her in, sat her on my lap and said, “Look, here’s your name in the bible.” And I read to her, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.” (Song of Solomon 2:1, emphasis mine). Rose. She smiled.

 

Names matter. Your name matters. 

 

I was listening to the radio when they ran through a list of the top 5 boy and girl names through the first half of 2014. I wondered how a name becomes popular... Some parents pray for a name while others look to their family tree. Some choose based on a favorite sports team, favorite artist or favorite historical or fictional character. Others, I think, create their own names or go for the weirdest they can find. 

 

Still, names matter. Your name matters. But how much do you think it matters?

 

Do people like your name or do they make fun of it? Do people know your name or are you name-less and unknown? Too many of us want our names to be remembered, to be  popular, to be famous, to be praised. So we’re crushed when we hear someone use our name as the target of their criticism. Or we’re angry or depressed when we don’t receive the recognition we long for – the recognition on which we’ve come to build our life and by which we’ve come to measure our meaning and purpose in life.

 

Names matter, yet maybe in a way different than we imagine. 

 

Jesus once told his disciples that they should rejoice not because of the great works they were doing on earth, but because their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:18).  They were excited, rightly so. They were performing and witnessing many miracles! But Jesus knew that while on one day your name might be loved because of what you do, on the next day it might be hated. One day you’ll be successful by someone’s definition, the next day you’ll be a failure. One day you’ll be honored, the next you’ll be forgotten.

 

If your identity and happiness revolve around your name – what you make of yourself, what others think of you, what you do or don’t accomplish – you will spin out of control. 

 

There’s a better way. There’s a better name.

  

Jesus’ name was mocked and despised in the mouths of men; He was hated and rejected in their sight (Isaiah 53:3). From every earthly perspective, He was a complete and total failure. His name had become as ugly as His appearance was (Isaiah 53:2). He was forsaken by all, even by His heavenly Father, on the cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).  Why? So that we might no longer be forsaken in our sin, condemned justly by a holy God. Rather, because God is also a loving God, we can now find, ask and receive forgiveness in the name of Jesus who has risen from the dead and conquered sin and death. His name is majestic in all the earth (Psalm 8:1). His name is exalted above every other name (Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:9). His name is superior and far more excellent than the names of angels (Hebrews 1:4) and of men. His name alone will endure forever and be praised forever (Psalm 135:13). 

 

As a result, your name truly does matter! Your name really is known! Your name is sweet in the mouth of Your heavenly Father, who sought you, found you, and rescued you in Jesus Christ. Your name matters more in the sight of God than in the sight of any man or woman, any crowd or corporation. Your name matters more not because of what you’ve done or where it’s written on earth, but because of what Jesus has done and where He is – in heaven. 

 

Rest your name in Jesus. Let Him read to you and show you where your name is written on His brow, His side, His hands and His feet.

 

 

QUESTIONS: Have you put too much emphasis on and stock in your name? Is the foundation of your life and happiness built on your name? Does success feel like failure? Does happiness feel like misery?

Unselfed-church

What are you natural at? Is it math? Is it sports? Maybe art? Music? What about talking? All of us are good at something, that is, all of us have something that we do without effort and without hesitation.

 

Love should come natural, without effort and hesitation, to the church of Jesus Christ.

 

TESTED

Having died and risen from the dead, Jesus has richly poured out the Holy Spirit on His church (Acts 2:33; Titus 3:4-6). We read in chapter two of Acts that great power was given to the disciples, that the church grew by thousands and that the fame of the disciples spread. But the pouring out of the Holy Spirit went deeper than power, size and fame.  As Paul says, “...God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5) The Holy Spirit brought a new dimension and experience of the love of God to those who by faith believed in Jesus Christ for their salvation by grace.

 

Furthermore, the coming of Jesus Christ and subsequently the Holy Spirit inaugurated “the last days” (Hebrews 1:1-2; Acts 2:17). Though no one knows the day nor the hour (Matthew 24:36), we are living in the last days before the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is important because Paul warns us (2 Timothy 3:1-2), as Jesus did (Matthew 12:24), that in these last days the church, Jesus’ disciples, will be tested. Yet, what will be tested in particular will be our love. The battle will be between love for self and love for Jesus. Will we be lovers of ourselves and of pleasure (what pleases us) or lovers of God and of His will (what pleases God)? 

 

“...many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:10-12) When Jesus returns we won’t be commended by our power, size or fame, but by the condition of our love for Him. Neither power (miracles, signs, wonders) or size (how many attend a church, how many decisions have been made) or fame (how reputable, innovative and authentic our services and speakers are) will be the concrete evidence Jesus is looking for.  

 

INVOLVED

Jesus involved Himself in creation, in humanity and above all in our salvation at great cost to Himself out of love for us. The gospel – what Jesus has done to rescue and save sinners – is the perfect expression of love.

 

By next year, it is speculated that the average person in America will consume around 15.5 hours of media (using 30 different forms of media like satellite radio, tv, internet, etc.) Today our attention will shift about every 3 minutes. We are distracted! So, the question is, If we’re consuming and distracted during most of the day, when do we have the time to put out, to give away, to focus and to involve ourselves? As the church, this is critically important if it’s true that the main way the world will know Jesus has come and that we are His disciples is by our love (John 13:35). 

 

The gospel enlarges our hearts and involves our lives at a cost to ourselves out of love for others. But are we too busy, too distracted, too self-preoccupied? Blessed are those who have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires and have inherited NOT only the kingdom of God BUT the passions and desires of The King. We are blessed when we are oriented around and centered in Jesus Christ. 

 

“WHEN”

In a parable on the Day of Judgment, Jesus describes two kinds of people whom He will encounter (Matthew 25:31-46). The first kind are those who served The King by involving themselves in the lives of those The King calls “the least of these”. The second kind are those who did not involve themselves with “the least of these”. But, and this is central, both kinds of people were UNAWARE of what they had and hadn’t done. Their common answer begins with the key word, “When”. Both kinds of people were living what was natural to them. They both were without effort and hesitation living out of what they were on the inside. 

 

For a local church (as for any christian), “When” represents a supernatural, natural way of living. It represents the unselfed life, a way of living for Jesus and a way of loving Him that is so normal that we do so without question and without thinking; His love is so richly dwelling within us by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that we forget ourselves. 

 

A church obsessed with itself is not a church filled with the Holy Spirit. Such a church is looking inward (what do I want) and outward (what can I gain from the world). But a church filled with the Holy Spirit is a church consumed with the love and work of Jesus. It is looking outward (what do they need) and upward (adoring and pursuing Christ). 

 

The praise and love of man is tantalizing, but also anesthetizing and paralyzing. The praise and love of Jesus is holy, transforming and freeing! A church that lives for the glory of Jesus is a church that is filled with the presence and power of Jesus. And it is only His presence in the midst of His people that makes both a clear contrast between the world and a profound impact on the world. 

 

Love. Love is how we will endure to the end (Matthew 24:13). Love for Jesus and love for others. Love that is often unassuming, unannounced and unobtrusive, yet always demanding nothing, expecting nothing and giving everything.

 

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13)