A Baptism of Clear Seeing

We Must Learn To Balance Truth and Grace

Getting Closer to Jesus: People were making judgments about Jesus, and as we see in John 7, increasingly, those judgments were not very positive. In fact, opposition and outright hostility were coming to a boiling point, and it would soon lead to his death.

That is the way it was with Jesus—still is. In his day, people either loved him or hated him—there was no neutral ground. Being around Jesus demanded a position on one end of the spectrum or the other. But staying in the middle was not an option.

To arrive at an opinion of Jesus, a judgment had to be made. Sadly, those who rejected him formed judgments that were not based in righteousness and truth. Their judgments were based on the fact that Jesus had made them uncomfortable. He had challenged their traditions. His ministry had colored outside the lines of established theology. His way of doing things didn’t look like theirs. Why, he even had the audacity to actually heal someone in dire need on the Sabbath—and they didn’t like that one bit (even though, as Jesus pointed out, their outrage was pretty selective on this one).

Never one to shy away from controversy and confrontation, Jesus challenged their attitudes toward him as well as their approach to life in general. He called them to reject this judgment-by-appearance mindset that was keeping them from seeing God for a clearer view of life as seen through the lens of righteousness. Learning to make righteous judgments would make all the difference in their world—it would lead them to see God in the daily details of their world, and in the end, it would lead to eternal life.

Unfortunately, most of the people in Jesus’ day rejected what he had to say. But the story is not meant to end there. Jesus’ challenge to “judge with righteous judgment” (NIV) or to “look beneath the surface” (NLT) calls us to reexamine the way we arrive at the opinions we hold and honestly ask ourselves whether they are based on appearance, built on preference, colored by pre-conceptions, or rooted in righteousness.

We form judgments and opinions every day—perhaps every hour—about the people we encounter, the events we observe, and the world we live in. Every moment of our day presents an opportunity to either see the work that God is doing in the people around us and events that encounter us or to miss it entirely. Depending on how we form our judgments, we will either embrace God’s work or, like the people in Jesus’ day, reject it and miss out on the greatness of God in the daily ordinariness of life.

Open your heart—God is at work all around you. Open your eyes—you will find God’s thumbprint on everything you encounter. And if you will learn to root your opinions, conclusions and attitudes in righteousness rather than mere appearance, you will discover Jesus in the details of your day!

Take the Next Step Let me suggest that you offer this prayer: “Father, help me to practice your presence in the daily ordinariness of my life. Teach me to make righteous judgments so that I experience you in every person I meet, every event I take in, every plan I execute, and in every detail of my world.”

Calling Out Sin

Balancing Truth and Grace

Getting Closer to Jesus: One of the things an authentic, fruitful, effective Christ-follower must master in life is balance. Balance isn’t listed as a virtue in New Testament theology; it is not a mark of discipleship that Jesus articulated; it is not the tenth fruit of the Spirit. Yet balance is the byproduct of Christian virtue, it demonstrates that we have a grasp on what it means to live as a true disciple, and it is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s production of spiritual fruit in our lives.

If we are to live as Jesus lived, think as Jesus thought, and interact as Jesus interacted, then like Jesus, we must learn to balance truth with grace, tolerance of flawed humanity with fidelity to God’s standard of holiness, working out our salvation with resting in God’s effort, and on the list will go. But balance for the Christian is neither easy to achieve nor to maintain because the drift of the sinful nature still fighting for mastery of our lives is always toward an extreme.

Nowhere is this imbalance more apparent in our contemporary American experience of Christianity than in our posture toward sin. It is especially noticeable in the current cultural debate on all matters sexual—same-sex attraction, gender identity, transgenderism, gender reassignment, etc.—where many spiritual leaders are now rejecting this idea that the believer must “love the sinner but hate the sin” as un-Christlike. Yet Jesus did exactly that. So that, too, is a balance that we must learn to achieve.

Of course, some will passionately disagree with my statement. I understand that pushback. There is a legitimate discussion these days about how to approach the issue of sin in our culture. But my fear is that because the secular mindset is increasingly pressuring the church to not only condone no-holds-barred sexuality but to celebrate whatever form it takes as perfectly healthy and appropriate, and because of our growing fear that the world will hate us if we stand in their way, many Christians—leaders and lay people alike—are going to great lengths to avoid calling out sin where sin desperately needs to be called out. A too large percentage of believers now live with a consuming phobia of being labeled—labeled a homophobe, a hatemonger, intolerant and ignorant, or worse.

But let’s remember that Jesus was hated and called names precisely because he pointed out the evil and sin in the world. Sinful man didn’t reject and ultimately crucify him because he came saying, “Everything is alright; go your merry way.” Jesus was murdered because he said things like, “You are slaves of sin, every one of you.” (John 8:34) Believers by the thousands have not been martyred throughout Christian history because of their tolerance of sin; they were killed because they rubbed against the grain of evil cultures.

Now again, balance is the key. Jesus didn’t come to condemn sinners—they were already under condemnation—but by his righteous lifestyle and message of holiness, sin was condemned. Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery in John 8, but he wasn’t afraid to tell her to go and “sin” no more. The very first words out of Jesus mouth as he began to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom was “‘Repent!’ From then on, Jesus began to preach, ‘Turn from sin and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.’” (Mat 4:17)

Jesus wasn’t afraid to use the “s” word. Sin is sin, and it separates from God. As C.S. Lewis said,

Jesus Christ did not say – Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.” If we are to truly love people as Jesus did, then at some point their sin must be a topic of conversation. For people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, sin must be acknowledged, and repentance must be expressed. There is no other way. To point that out is truly the most loving thing a believer can do with an unbeliever.

Of course, it is all in the delivery. People must know that you truly love them if the call to repentance is to be received from a loving heart. But even then since the message of righteousness rubs against the grain of a fallen world, we must be prepared to be labeled. But remember, it won’t be the first time.

Take the Next Step: Evaluate your response to sinful people: Do you condemn them roundly at a distance, i.e., by your posts on social media, or do you engage them in redemptive face-to-face conversation, where you can express your deep love for them while inviting them out of their destructive behavior to a better way of living? Remember, it is always far more effective to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

The Gravitational Pull of Human Celebrity

Jesus Rejected Fame But Changed the World

Getting Closer to Jesus: “Thou shalt become famous” is not one of the Ten Commandments. “Blessed are the spiritual celebrities, for they shall draw much attention” was not one of the Beatitudes Jesus laid down in the Sermon on the Mount. “Feed my sheep…so it can grow into a nationally televised mega-ministry” was not the charge Jesus gave his disciples.

Yet the all-consuming desire for fame and the gravitational pull of celebrity is stronger today among Christian leaders than ever before. Jesus’ brothers would have made a great PR team, but they don’t hold a candle to today’s image-conscious ministries. All you need to do is tune in to Christian television, turn on Christian radio, walk into a Christian bookstore, or surf just about anything Christian and you will be immediately impressed with the swelling ranks of those who have attained Christian rock star status. In this day and age, to make it to the “bigs”, all you’ve got to do is sell a book, gain hundreds of thousands of social media followers, have your own TV show—or get on one, be the spiritual authority all the media quotes when there is breaking news, have your own blog, replete with adoring readers and do whatever you can to get your name—and your mug—out there where the folks can discover just what a gift you are to humankind.

That doesn’t sound too much like Jesus, does it? He resisted any and every attempt to become famous, catapult to power, get rich, and build a crowd of raving fans. In fact, he did just about everything you shouldn’t do to build a successful ministry. He avoided attention—if it was for wrong motives. He said very hard things to would-be followers. He insulted the religious movers and shakers. He hung out with the wrong people. He championed causes no one on their way to the top would touch with a ten-foot pole. He grew his band of followers down to eleven guys who were mostly religious rejects. And he got himself killed—crucified as a common criminal.

Oh—and he changed the world!

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a new crop of spiritual leaders who didn’t give a fig about fame and celebrity dominate the Christian scene today? Well, turn off your TV—and the radio. Forget about the cover of the latest edition of “Jesus Weekly” and quit reading all those pastor-blogs (except for one). Get in your car and take a drive out to a small town some Sunday, walk into a little country church and you are likely to find a simple shepherd who isn’t very famous—and won’t ever be—except with God. He, or she, simply loves God, and the flock—and one day, when the dust settles and we all stand before God, that faithful pastor will receive a standing ovation from the Great Cloud of Witnesses.

They never sought fame—they only wanted to make Jesus famous!

Take the Next Step : Memorize this Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Star Struck Fans or Fully Devoted Disciples

Jesus Wants Nothing Less Than Total Commitment and Full Surrender

Getting Closer to Jesus: The crowds had been pretty impressed with Jesus—and why not? He had healed their sick; he had fed their multitudes—5,000 of them were treated to a full meal when he miraculously multiplied a couple of sardines and five loaves of bread; he had even walked on their water—literally traipsing across the Sea of Galilee, and if that weren’t miraculous enough, it was in the middle of a storm

So you can see why they wanted to hang around Jesus. Who wouldn’t?

But Jesus didn’t want star-struck fans; he wanted fully devoted disciples. That is why, in essence, he said, “Whatever your reason for following me up ‘til now, let me take you to a deeper, more satisfying experience, and you can only do that by taking my life fully into your own.” Oh, he didn’t say it quite that innocuously; he got pretty graphic and told them they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood if they wanted to be his disciples. And when the adoring crowds heard Jesus lay down the demands of discipleship in that way, they were shocked—and turned off. The New English Bible translates John 6:60 this way: “This is more that we can stomach. Why listen to such words.”

Why were they so upset? Was it because they found Jesus’ word so revolting? Was it because they didn’t understand what he was saying? I don’t think so! In fact, they were upset because they knew all too well what he was asking of them. He was calling them to accept him as God’s Son, the true bread of life, the only one who could truly satisfy their spiritual hunger and quench their thirst for God, both now and for all eternity. Jesus was calling them radically to commit their lives totally to him, promising that if they did, then, and only then, would their deepest longings and innermost needs be fully met in him.

Jesus’ call to radical discipleship, using those provocative terms, would not have been unfamiliar to them. When a leader in that era called for unreserved commitment, he would demand that his followers “eat his flesh and drink his blood.” The reason the crowd was so upset and abandoned Jesus at hearing this was because they knew exactly what Jesus was asking: Nothing less than total commitment and full surrender.

Interestingly, Jesus used two different words in two different Greek tenses for “eating his flesh.” In John 6:53, the word “eat” meant to eat once and for all—a specific act at a moment in time that produced continuing effects into the future. He was speaking of the act of salvation—a specific moment in time when you give your life over Christ and are born again. Salvation occurs at a moment in time, but it produces effects that continue throughout life and clear into eternity. The second word for “eat” in John 6:54 referred to a continuous act of daily and voraciously taking life-giving, soul-satisfying nourishment into one’s life. Jesus was referring not to salvation but to the daily walk of discipleship.

In both cases, to “eat and drink of him” means to so thoroughly absorb Jesus that every fiber of who you are and every aspect of how you live is fundamentally and profoundly affected. And when he is invited in and allowed to fully and completely take over your life that way, something wonderful will happen. Jesus begins to show through.

That reminds me of the story of a little girl who turned to her mother on their way home from church and said, “Mommy, the pastor’s sermon confused me.” The mother said, “Why was that?” The girl replied, “Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?” The mother replied, “Yes, honey!” Then the little girl said, “And he also said that God lives in us. Is that true, mommy?” The mother again said, “Yes, that’s true, too.” Upon hearing that, the girl said, “Well, Mommy, if God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?”

That is what happens when you take Jesus so thoroughly and fundamentally into your life—both at salvation and in your daily walk as his disciple. He begins to show through, and that is a good thing! If he is not showing through, it is likely that you are lacking in good spiritual nutrition, and, in the words of your Lord, you need to go back and “eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.”

Take the Next Step : Offer this prayer of committed discipleship: “Jesus, I want to absorb your life so fully into mine that you show through. I offer myself to you; Lord, fully take me over.”

Miracles Are Momentary; Faith Is Forever

The Miraculous is a Pathway to Saving Belief

Getting Closer to Jesus: People are infatuated with miracles! They always have been and always will be. I get that! I would love to see more of them as well. And in fact, even though some would deny the miraculous still occurs, they are abounding around the world—especially where we find Christianity in developing nations. When I return from my church planting mission in Africa, usually with dozens of stories of the miraculous, I am always asked, “How come we don’t see the supernatural like that in America?”

I have opinions about that, which I will save for another time, but the point I want to make is that we are no different than the people in Jesus’ day. They too, wanted Jesus to show them the miraculous. Even after he performed miracles, they would turn around and ask him to do a miracle—not another one, mind you, but “do a miracle” as if he had not done one in the first place—so they could believe in him. (John 6:30)

Well, Jesus wanted them to believe in him, too. So, throughout his ministry, he performed miracles to get their attention and clear the path for them to put saving belief in him as Messiah, God’s Son sent as the only source of their eternal salvation. In this chapter, John 6, Jesus has just performed two of his many outstanding miracles: the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fish and walking on water in the midst of a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee. He points out to the people that these “works of God” were to lead them to the only work of God that the Father wanted from them: “Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

Now, while Jesus used the miraculous to draw attention to his Divine mission and to authenticate his Divine nature, he also knew that people would gravitate to his miracles as an end in themselves and not as the pathway to saving belief. That’s why he challenged their shortsighted and selfish request for more miracles:

But you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable things like food [which had just been provided in the miracle feeding]. No, spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Messiah, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for this very purpose.

What was Jesus saying? Miracles are temporary. Think about it: The five thousand people who had just received the bread and fish in the miraculous multiplication would be hungry again the next day. The disciples who were deathly afraid while in the boat that stormy night would face the temptation to fear again, even though Jesus had just demonstrated once and for all his sovereignty over the elements. The people that Jesus raised from the dead in this life would die again someday. So too would the people he miraculously healed.

Yes, miracles are temporary fixes to human frailties, and occasionally our gracious and merciful God breaks into our humanity to provide them, but the miraculous is simply a pathway to saving belief (the faith required for our eternal salvation) and trusting belief (the faith required to obediently walk in daily dependence on God). Miracles are for the moment; belief is boundless, going beyond the moment and lasting throughout eternity.

So, if a miracle is provided in the moment, and it leads to faith, which is forever, then more power to the miraculous!

Take the Next Step : Let me suggest you offer this prayer: “Father, help me to practice your presence in the daily ordinariness of my life. Teach me to make righteous judgments so that I might see you in every person I meet, every event I take in, every plan I execute, and in every detail of my world.”

Praying Before Meals

Saying Grace

Getting Closer to Jesus: These easy-to-overlook verses are sandwiched between two of Jesus’ outstanding miracles—the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two small fish, and the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. Not only that, at the end of this lengthy chapter is some of the heaviest theology that Jesus would ever lay on his would-be followers. It was so demanding and confrontational, in fact, that his followers called it a “hard saying”, and most of them quit following him from that point on.

With so much important stuff going on in this chapter, it would be easy to miss the fact that Jesus stopped to give thanks before a meal. Think about that for a moment: Why would Jesus do that? In a sense, wasn’t he really saying grace to himself? What purpose did this serve?

To begin with, I think Jesus was truly grateful to his Father for this provision of resources by which the miraculous feeding could occur. I think Jesus was authentically thankful that his Father had authorized the use of Divine power and was about to yet again authenticate the Messianic ministry and mission of the Son. I think the Second Person of the eternal Trinity was a fundamentally grateful being. It was just who Jesus was; the organic overflow of his Divine nature was love, joy, confidence and, in this case, gratitude.

“Jesus—the eternal, self-existence One—said grace before his meal. And if Jesus, who didn’t have to do it, did it, then we, who don’t have to do it, most definitely should!

Not only that, but Jesus was also modeling for us the appropriateness and the power of gratitude. He was reminding us by his actions that it doesn’t hurt to stop and express thanksgiving to God, and one of the simplest and recurring ways to enter into gratitude is to say a simple “thank you” before each meal.

We don’t know exactly what Jesus said in his prayer, but it was likely short and sweet. John simply says he “gave thanks.” He acknowledged God in that moment, drawing attention to the Heavenly Provider and reminding both himself and those who were within earshot of his dependence on and gratitude to Father God.

That is something you and I can do too, each time we sit down (or drive through) for a meal. We can give thanks. As redundant and useless and perfunctory as it may seem, there is power in this simple act. And if Jesus, who didn’t have to do it, did it, then we, who don’t have to do it, most definitely should!

Take the Next Step : Before every meal this week, say grace. Pause, think about it; then offer up to your gracious Heavenly Father the gratitude that is in your heart for all the good things he has provided.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (It’s All Small Stuff)

Nothing Is Above God’s Paygrade

Getting Closer to Jesus: I’m not sure who first said it (it’s origin has been attributed to several different authors), but I think it offer some sage advice for people who follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; rules for living, we could rightly call it. It simply goes like this:

Rule # 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Rule #2: It’s all small stuff.

That is true! You see, with God, nothing is impossible; it’s all small stuff to him. That is not just my theology, that comes from God’s own mouth. God told a perplexed Abraham and a cynical Sarah when he announced to them that they would have a son well into their 90’s (and beyond, actually, for Abraham):

Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. (Genesis 18:13-14)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even giving barren, centenarian couples their first child.

When Jeremiah the prophet was crying out to God over the devastation of Israel and the insurmountable problems the nation was facing, the Holy Spirit inspired him to prayerfully pour out this affirmation in his appeal to the Almighty for help:

O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! (Jeremiah 32:17)

Later in that same chapter, God himself sent this word to the prophet:

I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:26-27)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even taking a shattered, scattered nation and reconstituting it for his glory and purpose.

Do you get the point? Nothing is above God’s pay grade. That’s because the created order in its entirety was conceived and perfectly engineered in the mind of God before it came into being. God created everything that exists by the breath of his mouth. God hung the stars by flicking them into space with his finger. He holds everything that we see and don’t see perfectly into place by his powerful and caring hand. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—that escapes his watchful eye.

And therefore, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that is too big or too hard for him. Nothing is impossible to God, and therefore, all things are possible for his people.

That’s why Jesus, who is God the Son, the agent of creation, said to Phillip, “What shall we do with this gigantic crowd of seekers? They’re hungry, and we’ve got to feed them. Where can we get that much food?” Of course, we know how the massive crowd would get miraculously fed because John clearly states that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. His question was just to test Phillip for the purpose of stretching his faith.

And Jesus will do that with us, too. Even though he already knows what he’s going to do, he doesn’t automatically do it without first stretching, tempering, testing, and strengthening our faith, which is of greater value than any miraculous intervention we could hope for.

But don’t miss the whole point of this: Jesus already knows what he needs to do. And if that is true, then Rule #1 for you as his follower would be, “Don’t sweat the small stuff!” Why? It is a wasted use of energy, and it’s dishonoring to the One who already knows what to do. Therefore, as his follower, Rule #2 is certainly true too, “It’s all small stuff!”

Since that is true, why not relax a little bit today and let God be God? Exercise your trust and let God take care of your big stuff, since it’s all small stuff to him.

Take the Next Step : What are you sweating today? Visualize holding it in the palms of your hands. Walk outside and lift your hands heavenward and release it to the Lord with these words, “Father, this is too big for me, but not for you. Here, you take it and do with it according to your purpose.” Then thank God that he has just given you the greatest gift: He has stretched your faith!