Category Archives: John

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Chief Conviction Officer

Being With Jesus:
John 16:8 (NLT)

And when he comes, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

Have you figured this out yet? You do a horrible job at being the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives.

Yet how tempting it is to do his work for him. It is easy to do when you are passionate about truth. It is easy to do when you see how someone you care about is living counter-productively to a bless-able life. And frankly, it is easy to do when people aren’t fulfilling your vision for their lives. Yes, God loves them and you have a wonderful plan for their lives—and it is your job to make sure they live up to your high calling. Right?

Wrong!

Spiritual maturity demands that we take care in observing the fine line between serving as the voice of reason for people and allowing the Spirit to transform their thinking. We step into the Spirit’s territory the minute we assume the role of CCO—Chief Conviction Officer. To be effectively used by the Holy Spirit in the lives of others, we must figure out the difference between sharing the truth in love, respectful persuasion and passionate debate—all of which are good and necessary to being the influencer Jesus calls us to be—and with being argumentative, rude, nagging, arrogant and flat out irritating. We have been called to lead the horse to water, so to speak, but only the Holy Spirit can create the unquenchable thirst that makes them want to drink deeply from Truth.

It takes real discernment and sensitivity to figure out what to say, how much to say, and when to say it—and when just to shut up and let God go to work. Oswald Chambers said, “One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others.”

The truth is that God, indeed, has a wonderful plan for people’s lives, but we need to allow him to convince them of how that plan needs to play out. By all means, we ought to take the role of encourager, exhorter, and at times, admonisher, but only the Holy Spirit can bring the change of heart, the right thinking, and the right steps that will lead them to the incredible life God has envisioned.

Chances are, in this season of time you are being tempted to tell certain people what and/or how to think, how to feel and what to do about life. Perhaps it is your child, maybe it is your spouse, or it could be a friend or a co-worker—it is just part of the human equation. So let me suggest in that particular situation you simply take your foot off the gas pedal, pray a lot more, and let the Holy Spirit work. My guess is the transformation in that person’s life will happen a lot more quickly, deeply and enduringly if you take that approach.

Try to remember at all times: You are not the Holy Spirit!

“There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.” (D.L. Moody)

Getting To Know Jesus: Ask God to reveal where you have been doing the Holy Spirit’s work for him. When he shows you, first, repent, then second, ask for greater discernment and sensitivity to fulfill the role of influencer God has called you to play.

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What Does God Think About Terrorism?

Being With Jesus:
John 16:2-3 (NLT)

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Not only the threat, but the daily reality of terrorism has occupied the twenty-four hour news cycle, dominated water-cooler conversations at work and planted fear in the hearts of ordinary Americans since the turn of the millennium. And now, daily debate in our political discourse focuses on what terrorism is (I’ve heard some even dismissively say, “Hey one country’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”), what to call or not call it (so as not to inflame the terrorists), why terrorism is on the rise (are our Western values and lifestyles really to blame for the rise of terrorism around the world?), and how to combat it (do we send in the special forces to wipe them off the face of the earth or send the terrorists to the corner for a time out?).

Often, the what, why and how in our conversations about terrorism turns absurd on both ends of the discourse.

But what is not debatable or absurd is what God says about terrorism—as well as those who carry it out and those who perpetuate it through educational, philosophical, financial and spiritual support: Anyone who diminishes, hurts or kills another in the name of their god does not know the one true God or his Son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent.

“There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father.” (The Message)

Thomas Carlyle said, “Violence does even justice unjustly.” Make no mistake, violence of any kind done in the name of faith—in the home, at the church, in the community, between political belief systems and countries—is terroristic, morally bankrupt and evidence in and of itself that those who inflict it (or stand by in tacit approval of it) are as far from God as can be. And God will judge it! Jesus said, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) Death will come—spiritually, relationally, perhaps even physically—likely in this life from the irreversible law of sowing and reaping, or in the next life as people, people groups, nations and world systems stand before the Great White Throne judgment of Almighty God. (Revelation 20:11-15)

Now Jesus spoke of the threat of religious violence to gives his disciples a heads-up that it was coming. And his forewarning was to serve the purpose of settling them in their faith when that awful reality was upon them. We, too, would do well to simply acknowledge the reality that religious terrorism will increase as the finals days of Planet Earth draw to a close. Jesus still doesn’t want his followers to be unsettled in their faith—either to begin doubting God or getting carried away in unproductively debating terrorism—by the rise of evil and violence done in the name of religion. Mark it down and get prepared.

Yet I can’t help but think there is a more practical application we should latch onto from Jesus’ insights into religious violence. In a sense, is spiritual terrorism occurring in our homes when violence or the threat of violence or some other form of intimidation is used to control others—and justified by the Bible? Do we commit spiritual terrorism when we can fling incendiary, hateful and hurtful words via social media—all justified by our spiritual point of view, of course—in ways for which we are not held to account? When we speak critical and judgmental words anonymously, isn’t that akin to throwing an emotional grenade into someone’s life without having to stick around to view the damage that it does—that we have done?

I have a feeling that violence—not just physically, but more likely, through emotional attacks, financial coercion and spiritual abuse—justified Biblically, happens more often, is inflicted more subtly and is carried our more creatively than we are either conscious of or care to admit. But from here on out, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Chief Conviction Officer in our lives, let’s soberly remember that if we resort to spiritual terrorism, that in itself is evidence that we do not know Jesus like we think we do!

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” (Isaac Asimov)

Getting To Know Jesus: Ask God to reveal to you where you might be inflicting pain on another in ways that you have justified by your faith. You might want to ask those close to you as well. And where there is evidence that you are guilty, repent of it, repudiate it and change!

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Hated By The World—Loved By God

Being With Jesus:
John 15:18-19 (NLT)

If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

It is a real dilemma for Christians: God loves the world so much that he gave his Son to die for it, but the world hates God (they didn’t like his Son too much either) because it belongs to the Evil One. But wait, there is more: The story that he has commissioned his followers to bring to the world, called the Good News, is received most of the time as bad news because it first has to deal with the problem of human sin—which kind of makes sinners a bit uncomfortable.

Hold on, I’m not through yet: You and I belong to God, and since Satan, the current strong man who dominates this world and its inhabitants, hates God and every thing of God, we are included in that hatred. Jesus couldn’t have put it in any clearer terms:

“Since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.” (John 15:19, Message)

Now that is tough to swallow, especially in our culture, where Christians have been brought up for the last couple generations on a steady diet of positive mental attitude pablum, seeker sensitive evangelism, and a church growth movement that tries everything in its power to make the unbeliever want to come to church. For the last thirty-plus years, a great many churches in the western word have placed more emphasis on making sinners comfortable than making committed disciples, which requires preaching Christ and him crucified. More energy and resources have been devoted to creative messaging and capturing the “cool factor” than cross-bearing discipleship.

Don’t believe me? Just walk into any number of church lobbies, and you will feel like you are in a Starbucks rather than a sanctuary’s vestibule. When the service starts, listen to the music and you will think you are listening to America’s Top 40 in a sea of fans enjoying a rock concert rather than among engaged worshipers offering up the sacrifice of praise to please their God. Sit through a sermon and you will think you have just listened to a cross between a late night talk show host and a self-help guru, They will help you to smile your way in seven easy steps to your best life now. Check out the altar call at the end of the message, if there even is one, and you will think people have just signed up for a thirty-day free trial of Netflix rather than surrendering the rest of the lives to Jesus Christ.

What you are unlikely to find, though, is any talk of sin—it just makes people feel too uncomfortable. You may not hear words like “repentance” or “surrender” or “obedience” or “Lordship”—it may just scare the pre-Christians away. What you are going to hear, however, is what I would call a Burger King Christianity—you know, the kind that says, “special orders don’t upset us…have it your way.”

Now listen, I am not just a grouchy, out-of-touch, aging pastor—okay, I am at least one of those. I don’t think preachers ought to go out of their way to be offensive. I do believe that churches ought to think creatively about reaching the disinterested and hostile in their community. I love excellence, and think the church service out to be a first class affair—we are worshiping the King of kings after all. And by all means, believers ought to do what that can to build bridges to the lost people in their lives.

But our job is neither to impress the world by trying to be a cool version of it or to tell it that everything is mostly okay with it—except for a few minor adjustments. Our job is to talk about the Good News that Jesus died for our sin—sin that separates us and makes us hostile to a holy God. Once we deal with the sin issue through proclaiming the truth in grace and love, inviting sinners back to God through the repentance of sin and calling them into a surrendered lifestyle of committed, cross-bearing discipleship, both we and the sinners we help to rescue will realize that what we have found is something more satisfying, more valuable, more positive by far than anything this world can provide—the pearl of great price!

Quit worrying about whether the world will like you or not. It won’t—that is guaranteed. If you belong to Jesus, you will be hated, but that is okay, because you will be loved by God. And that is all that matters.

“Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’” (C.S. Lewis)

Getting To Know Jesus: How much have you bought into the mentality that your job is to get the world to like you? Ask God to help you jettison that unhealthy need from your life. And take a moment to meditate on I John 2:15 (NLT): “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

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The Secret To Uncontainable Joy

Being With Jesus:
John 15:11-14 (NLT)

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

Several times throughout this Gospel, Jesus has tied true discipleship and authentic love for him to our obedience to his commandments. That is a message our current brand of Christianity needs to hear—and frankly, it is some tough medicine. The truth is, you cannot claim love of Christ while doing whatever feels good to you. Real faith requires the surrender of your will to God’s. It is this simple: If you love Jesus you will obey his commands.

By our definition of love, that doesn’t seem too loving. Love and obedience or love and commands usually aren’t terms we link together. But what we must realize about Jesus is that his commands are not oppressive. In fact, the Apostle John reminds us in I John 5:3, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”

On the contrary, Jesus’ commands are the gateway to our joy. And not just joy, but Jesus described the gladness that would well up within us as overflowing. Jesus’ equation for authentic faith was that obedience to him would equal organic, unstoppable, spilling over joy in us.

But there was a particular kind of obedience that Jesus said would lead to this special kind of joy: Loving one another. And not just a brotherly love, but it was to be the same kind of love that Jesus demonstrated for his disciples. What kind of love was that?

It was proactive. Jesus actually searched out his disciples to be the object of his love. He didn’t wait to see if they were loveable or even if they would love him in response. His love went out of its way to find them, and then he poured out his love upon them—even on one of them he knew would end up betraying him.

It was unconditional. His disciples did nothing to deserve his love, and they certainly could do nothing to earn his love. In fact, the often did just the opposite. They fought with each other. They selfishly jockeyed for position with him. At times, they didn’t listen to him and often they didn’t understand what he taught them. They left him in his hour of trial. They even betrayed him. Yet he stubbornly loved them.

It was sacrificial. Jesus laid down his life for them. Yes, he ultimately died for their sins, but he also died to his own rights in order to serve them. He told them that even as the Lord of all creation, he didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give his life to redeem them. Nowhere do we see a more powerful and clear demonstration of sacrificial love than in Jesus giving up in order to give to his disciples.

It was inexhaustible. Nothing in their past, nothing they did when they were with him, nothing they could ever do in their future (because as the Omniscient Sovereign Lord of life, Jesus knew what was in their future) could or would diminish his love for the disciples. Since God is love, and since Jesus was God, we find in him that true love cannot be extinguished.

Jesus said that if we would decide to act toward one another with that kind of love—and make no mistake, Jesus made it clear by his life that divine love was a choice, an act of the will—it would unleash from deep within us an inextinguishable flood of uncontainable joy. While our flesh, along with the Evil One, supported by the philosophies of this world continually lie to us that joy comes from what is done for us, Jesus says it comes by what we do: proactively, unconditionally, sacrificially and inexhaustibly loving others!

Who can you love like that today—and every day from here on out? What person can you seek out to love as Jesus has loved you? What would be a way to love them unconditionally—in a way they did not deserve and could never repay? How might you offer love that is costly to you—and not necessarily in terms of the money you spend? And as you love them, can you—or will you—do it with a commitment to sustain that love indefinitely?

Fair warning: Choose to love like that and you are choosing to unleash the unstoppable joy of Jesus in you life. Good luck!

“Real love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being. And it is especially visible when it is on display in you. When you love with no thought of love in return; when you go out of your way to love; when you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; when you suffer, but patiently love; when everyone else has given up but you stubbornly love anyway…when that kind of love in action is displayed in you, there God is seen.”

Getting To Know Jesus: Not that your love should be limited to one person, but who are you being led to love as Jesus has loved you? Specifically identify that person.

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How To Get What You Need—And Want

Being With Jesus:
John 15:7-8(NLT)

But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Have you ever been around fruity Christians? Not the kind you are thinking. I’m talking about the believer who seems to enjoy more of God’s blessings than the ordinary Christian? They tend to get more prayers answered than you, live in a greater degree of Divine favor than you, appear to have more of an inside track with the Almighty than you, overflow with a lot more joy and definitely produce a ton more spiritual fruit than you.

They’re fruity—their lives produce much fruit.

In my younger days as a believer, I had a friend who was the most spiritually passionate person I had ever met. She talked about Jesus constantly, lived in complete dependence on God, and prayed about everything. And I mean everything—all her needs and even every single one of her wants. She prayed about things I wouldn’t have bothered the Almighty with. When she wanted a better car—she was even specific about the year, make, model and color of the exterior and interior—she asked God. And she got it—the year, make, model and color car she prayed for miraculously showed up one day not long after—I kid you not. When she decided a trip to the Holy Land was in order, she prayed for the funds to go. Guess what—she got it. She went on an all expense paid trip to Israel—and I stayed home. That was just her life as a believer—she was a fruity disciple.

Perhaps you wish you could live her kind of blessed life, but secretly feel a little selfish in asking God for it. Don’t feel selfish one second longer. God wants you to experience that kind of abundant life, too. In fact, Jesus said the God-blessed life is arguably the best proof that you are his disciple. Furthermore, he pointed out that your fruitfulness as his disciple is what brings much glory to his Father. The fruitier you are, the greater glory that goes to God. The more God answers your prayers, the more he receives the praise. That’s how you make God look good!

Wanting to live the God-blessed life is not selfish at all. It is no more selfish than God wanting to be glorified by giving you your blessings. It is simply the rule of God’s kingdom to ask for his favor and to live in his blessing.

That’s what God wants for you. So stop feeling weird about asking and start asking expectantly. What do you desire for your life? Ask for it. If you are connected to Jesus—and make no mistake, that is the key to receiving—the Father will allow you to bear not just a little, but a whole bunch of fruit. That what he wants for his disciples, and that includes you.

Now the proviso is, of course, use the fruit he grants you to glorify him. This isn’t about satiating your flesh. It is about reflecting the abundance of God’s grace in your daily life. Make sure that is your organic desire.

If you are not at the level of fruitiness that you would like to be, that ought to be your first prayer today.

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” (Andrew Murray)

Getting To Know Jesus: Speaking of asking the Father for anything you want, why not ask him for much fruit!

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Unconditional Love—With Conditions

Being With Jesus:
John 14:15,21,23-24(NLT)

“If you love me, obey my commandments…Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them… All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”

Three times as Jesus speaks to the disciples about his going and the Holy Spirit’s coming, he repeats this phrase: Your love for me will be indicated by your obedience to me. Obviously, it was very important to Jesus that his disciples understood this.

It still is. In an age where love has become a very squishy concept, Jesus still wants those who claim to follow him to demonstrate their love not just in language, but in action. Now the fact that love calls for proof in no way diminishes the doctrine of unconditional love—love with no strings attacked. It simply clarifies what unconditional means. To love unconditionally means the love you have and express toward another is not dependent upon their worth or the work. Rather, that love emanates from the core of your being. That love is there—it is the subject; but a noun needs a verb as well as an object to tell the full story of what love is. And what love is cannot be told without showing what love does.

The Apostle Paul taught that in I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, when he writes “love is…” But Paul defines “love is” by demonstrating what love does: It acts. It works. It affects. It produces an outcome.

Jesus says the outcome of love for him is obedience: The one who loves him will obey his commandments. If they accept his demands, they will prove it by obedience to those requirements, thus authenticating their love for him. They will do what he says. Jesus can’t be any clearer than that: love for God has conditions—it obeys.

Furthermore, the God who loves us unconditionally sets some conditions upon his love for us and our loving response to him; some “if…then’s”: I love you, and if you love me by doing what I says, then I will give you another Advocate (John 14:16); If you obey my commandments then my Father will love you and I will love you too and reveal myself to you (John 14:21); If you love me then my Father and I will come and make our home with you. (John 14:23).

Love doesn’t work to be love; it works because it is love. That is very clear when you look to the source of love, the Being who defines what love is by demonstrating what love does. God is love. His love is not the sloppy, vague, anything goes kind of love our world knows. It is not the ever-changing love that rises and falls with one’s current emotional state that far too many people today understand love to be. It is not the selfish kind of love that loves to the degree that love is requited. No—God’s love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being; it is energy of what God does. It is the outcome of where God has been and is. God is love—not just love the noun, but love the verb.

And when you have truly embraced God’s love, it then goes on display in you. It can’t help it. Like God, you love with no thought of love in return; you go out of your way to love; you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; you suffer, but patiently love; when everyone else has given up, you stubbornly love anyway. When that kind of love in action is displayed in you, it is obvious that God’s unconditional love got to you.

And when it comes to your love for God, love is…love does. It obeys. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That is the condition of true love: it loves unconditionally.

“When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.” (John Rushkin)

Getting To Know Jesus: Express your love for God by loving someone else today—surprise them with love. Do it generously and in a way they cannot repay, perhaps even doing it anonymously so ensure they can’t. And love in a way that leaves a definite imprint that God has been there.

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God’s New Temple On Planet Earth

Being With Jesus:
John 14:12-14 (NLT)

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” That is a pretty amazing promise Jesus made to his disciples—and by extension—to you and me!

Jesus was laying out his succession plans for God’s kingdom. He told his disciples that he needed to go back to the Father, and in his absence, they would carry on his works in the world, extending the kingdom wherever they went. And although he would no longer be with them physically, he would be with them—and more importantly, live in them and work through them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you” (John 14:16-18)

Literally, to his followers who would completely yield their lives in obedience to his word, commitment to his purposes, and availability to his work, Jesus promised, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) Make his home in them!

What a thought: through the initial infilling and ongoing indwelling, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Holy Trinity—would actually take up residence within Christ’s followers, making their lives, body, mind and spirit, the new temple of God on Planet Earth.

Those words are from the lips of Jesus himself, and they are meant for you! As you go about your life—wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you are with—you are God’s temple on Planet Earth, the dwelling place of God’s presence. Do you believe that? If you do, Jesus’ words will transform you to the core of your being. They will radically alter the way you perceive yourself and interact with your world. And they will lead you to have the kind of impact for Christ in this world you have always dreamed of having.

The story is told of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse. When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”

With one word the private had been promoted. When the general said it, the private believed it. He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on. He went to the officer’s quarters and selected his bunk. He went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because General Alexander had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He was simply now doing life in the authority of Alexander.

Why don’t you take the word of Someone far greater than Alexander and change your life accordingly. If you will, greater works will you do!

“We are Jesus Christ’s; we belong to him. But even more, we are increasingly him. He moves in and commandeers our hands and feet, requisitions our minds and tongues. We sense his rearranging: debris into the divine, pig’s ear into silk purse. He repurposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Little by little, a new image emerges.” (Max Lucado)

Getting To Know Jesus: Offer this prayer for radical alteration: “Lord, I believe what you said. On this day, I ask the Father, as you have commissioned me to do, to empower and embolden me to do the very kingdom works that you would do if you were in my place. And may all glory go back to you!”