Category Archives: John

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Do You Really Want to Change

Risk Bending Your Will to God’s Will

Getting Closer to Jesus: Does it seem that Jesus’ question, “Do you really want to be healed?” is a bit insensitive? After all, this man had been paralyzed—and totally dependent on others—for thirty-eight years. He had been waiting at this pool for who knows how long, in the belief that when the waters stirred, whoever got into the pool first would receive the healing they needed

Do you really want to be healed—really, Jesus? The answer to that is a resounding “No, not at all is that insensitive of Jesus!” Since Jesus’ one desire was to do the will of the Father and restore the lost sheep to the care of the Good Shepherd—and therefore, insensitivity could not be a part of his character—there must be more here than meets the eye.

One of the things we see in this story is how Jesus’ power operates. And whether it had to do with healing, as is the case here, or deliverance, or salvation, the power of God flowed through Jesus mercifully and graciously, but that Divine flow always demanded a human response to be fully activated and thoroughly experienced. That human response is what we call faith. And anytime Jesus acted in a way that we might consider harsh, it was simply the Lord doing what he discerned would be needed to move a person to respond to God in faith.

In this story, we see a pattern of this very thing. To begin with, Jesus initiated the man’s healing by asking him if he really wanted to be healed. It could have been that the lame man had grown accustomed to his condition, as strange as that may sound. But think about it: others did everything for him, and to be suddenly healed would turn that arrangement upside down. He would now have to work, take care of himself, and contribute to his family and society.

Or it could be that this man’s hope was so dead that any expression of the faith needed to respond to a work of God had died with it long ago. But this man’s response was immediate and sure. Yes, he wanted to be healed—even though that seemed impossible since he had no one to help him—so he was ready for the change, and all that change would require in his life.

Being ready for change—and willing to cooperate in it—is a critical piece to the work of God in our lives, since Divine transformation cannot take place without human cooperation. The sick, the enslaved, and the unsaved must see their need for God, must be ready to abandon their dysfunction and be willing to step out in faith for God’s work to take its full course.

Moreover, we see that in asking the lame man to “get up” Jesus was saying, “grab your will, reject your dysfunction, and exercise your faith to join in with what God desires to do in your body right now.” As William Barclay said, “The power of God never dispenses with the effort of man.” The power of God in our lives is released to have its effect when our will engages God’s. Now to be clear, our won’t create God’s power, it only opens the spigot wide for that power to flow. Said another way, our faith doesn’t earn God’s favor, but certainly, it either activates it and/or enhances its effect to a fuller degree in our lives.

“Get up”…a very bold command to you and me, perhaps even insensitive to expect such a thing of a man paralyzed for thirty-eight years, but it was what this man needed to catalyze the human faith needed to activate Divine power. And as he bent his will to accommodate the command of Jesus, power happened—and so did one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible.

This is the pattern of the release of power—God’s power to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We face so many things in our lives that hinder, harass, and hurt us. But when we offer faith-desire and are willing to risk bending our will to God’s will—even if we have lived in bondage to a condition for an insufferably long time—the opportunity is created for God’s power through Christ’s Lordship to turn our victimization into victory.

Take the Next Step : Faith is your response to what God has already willed and what he desires to do. Your faith doesn’t create his power; it only turns on the flow so that when his timing is right, Divine energy to heal, deliver, strengthen and save can wash over you in mighty waves. If that be so, then ask God to purify your faith—and be ready to offer it to your gracious God.

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To Believe Is to See

Credo Ut Intelligam

Getting Closer to Jesus: “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.

In essence, what this father in John’s story (John 4:43-54) said was, “I’ll see it when I believe it!” And that, my friend, is at the core of outstanding faith. Let me explain:

While we live in a time and in a culture where the scientific method has become man’s guiding theology, it is God who has set the rules for knowing and experiencing him. And he has declared that the avenue to knowledge and experience is by way of faith.

This is an infinitely critical point in light of the fact that modern man has elevated the empirical over revelation as the way to enlightenment. Obviously, a world that is determined to put faith only in that which can be demonstrated by data, where man’s reason is king and metaphysical faith is optional, is in direct conflict with God’s world.

But for the Christian, everything starts with God. Sensory data—what a person can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste—is not a bad thing; don’t misunderstand. In my humble opinion, scientific provability is God-given, and since God created it, we would do well to exercise it. It is not antithetical to faith—necessarily—but while physical proof can lead to knowledge or an acknowledgment of God, only revelation can lead to a knowledge of who God truly is—the God of the Scriptures who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, and who, according to his own sovereign plan, at times breaks into our lives with his power.

Revelation is based on something other, something more. Revelation is based on the truth that God took the initiative to make himself knowable, that he has revealed himself—both spiritually and physically—to us through his Word and by his Son. Now the empirical and the revealed will not contradict each other, because both are from God. But what we see and what we can prove alone will not suffice.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm argued that faith is the precondition of knowledge: “I believe in order that I may understand” (credo ut intelligam). In other words, knowledge and experience cannot lead to faith. It might get you close, but it won’t get you there. Faith is a gift from God, and when faith is experienced, true knowledge and experience flows.

What Anselm said was eloquently stated long before in the fourth century by another pillar of the Christian faith, St. Augustine. Augustine taught that, “faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” In God’s world, we are to express faith in God first; then knowledge of God and experience with God will follow.

In the story we read about in John 4, this is exactly what is going on with the government official from Capernaum. Jesus has just made the frustrating observation that people will only believe when they see his miracles and wonders (John 4:48). And even then, it is very likely that their “belief” will only be temporary; only good until the next miracle is needed. But then this father, desperate for his deathly sick son to be healed, offers a different response to Jesus: He is willing to believe in order that he might see.

So what does that have to do with what you are facing in your life today? Plenty! God is discernable and knowable through the exercise of your faith. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of that right at this moment, but let me challenge you to believe what you don’t see, exercising faith in a loving God, and the reward will be that you will see, sooner or later, what you believe.

It takes faith—but that has been proven over the millennia! Just ask the father whose son was healed in John 4.

Take the Next Step Perhaps you have been depending on your sight more than your faith these days. If so, here is a prayer you might consider offering to God: “Gracious Father, I believe. Help any unbelief I may have. I don’t see everything I’d like to see, but I believe. And while I pray that you would reveal yourself in my life today in tangible ways, I also pray that I would trust your love, your care, and your promised favor even if the tangible doesn’t appear. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the revealed Word, I pray. Amen.”

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The Best Investment You Will Ever Make

The Missions Driven Life

Getting Closer to Jesus: Now is the time! There has never been a greater opportunity for an unbelievable return on your missions investment than right now—your investment of praying for missions, giving to missions, encouraging missionaries, going on a mission, and in a way that encompasses everything about you, living a mission-driven life. And by “missions”, I mean anything that has to do with proclaiming the gospel to those who haven’t received it yet and influencing them into God’s eternal kingdom.

That’s what Jesus is prophetically saying in John 4:34-38. In verse 35, he pleads with his disciples: “Open your eyes; see the fields! Now is the time—they’re ripe for harvest.” And notice how he frames his missions appeal in terms of return on investment in verse 36: “The reaper will get rewarded now, plus bring in a harvest that’s eternal.” (J. B. Phillips)

As we sit at the end of the age, the evidence shouts that this is a “kairos” moment. “Kairos” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a God-opportunity; “chronos”, on the other hand, is the word used for actual time, that is, chronological time. This is that kairos time of which Jesus spoke where those who pray for, go on, and give to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history.

If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life for greater missional engagement. If you’ve not, get all in and make the change to go all out for missions. If you are already engaged in missions, recalibrate for more. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!

As you correctly absorb John 4, there are three unavoidable convictions you will lay claim to in relation to the huge and ripened harvest that is our present world:

First, you will become convinced that doing missions is your divine mandate. In verse 34, Jesus directly connected reaching this foreign seeker with both the will and the work of God: “What keeps me going is to do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (MSG)

I realize that what I’m talking about—dedicating your time, energy and money…or more of it—may not be too comfortable for you. Unless you are convinced of what Jesus was convinced of—that this is the will and work of God—any call to commit your resources of time and energy will seem pushy. But sincerely pray about it. Don’t do or not do it because a pastors or missionary is pressuring you. Open your heart to God, and simply ask, “God, help me to see the harvest—and what you would have me to do about it!”

Second, you will become convinced that doing missions brings the deepest satisfaction. In verse 32, Jesus said, “This is my nourishment!” It has been my experience that missional investment and involvement satisfy a core desire like no other. In an age that deeply longs for satisfaction but can never seem to really find it, I can promise you this: what deeply satisfied Jesus’ soul will be that which can only and fully satisfy your soul!

Thirdly, you will become convinced that the missional sacrifice of others demands your best sacrifice. Notice verse 38: “I’m sending you to reap what you’ve not worked for. Others have done the hard work, now you’ll reap the benefits of their labor.” The investment of those who’ve gone before us demands that we do no less.

Think of the comfort missionaries have given up over the centuries to take Jesus to unreached people. It is the story of sacrifice! They died—often literally—to our version of the good life to bring the Good News so others can live.

James Calvert, in the 1800’s, shipped off to go as a missionary to the cannibals on the Fiji Islands. As they neared the islands, the captain tried to dissuade Calvert to turn back “You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among these savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “Captain, we died before we came here.”

To Calvert—and other missionaries, I think they would all say, it was no sacrifice; it was our nourishment; it was our calling. We would do it all over again.

When you consider missionaries, starting with Jesus clear down to those serving in far away and difficult places in the world today, their sacrifice is best honored by your sacrifice! Mine, too! Missions is your calling! It’s your privilege. It will be your nourishment! And in eternity, it will prove to be the best investment you ever made.

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week is to give an offering to a missions organization. It is not the only way to be missional, but it is a good start, because as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

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God Made in Man’s Image

Let Us Always Ask, “God, What Do You Prefer?”

Getting Closer to Jesus: The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well of Sychar was subconsciously looking for a god made in her image—a god to her specifications. This was fairly common among worshipers not only in Jesus’ day but in ours as well. It occurs when we attempt to come to God on our terms rather than his; when we make worship more about us and what we like than about God and what he likes; when, in effect, we recreate God in our image rather than approaching him as beings created in his image.

That was the problem with the worship of the Samaritans. They had corrupted worship to fit their own needs to the point Jesus said, “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship.” (John 4:22, NLT) They had become Burger King worshipers. Do you remember the old Burger King advertisement? “Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us. Have it your way.”

That little jingle is fitting for what we modern day “Samaritans” are doing with our experience of worship. We love a customized church experience. We expect worship services to be tailor-made just for us. We expect the praise, programs, and preaching to satisfy our preferences. We want church designed to meet our needs, music tuned to our exact tastes, preachers crafted to our specifications, messages that mesmerize, and a made to order God—a “Burger King God” who says, “Have it your way”.

Some time ago, Los Angeles Magazine ran an article called “God For Sale”. The author said, “It is no surprise that when today’s affluent young professionals return to church they want to do it only on their own terms. But what is amazing is how far the churches are going to oblige them.” Newsweek Magazine added, “They’ve developed a pick and choose Christianity in which individuals take what they want and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals…”

Nothing can be further from the “spirit and truth” worshiper of verse 24 that Jesus said God the Father is seeking. When it comes to God, and the way you worship him, you need to start saying, “Have it your way”. Me too!

If you learn what it means to do that, you will drink water from an altogether different kind of well—and you will never thirst again!

Take the Next Step: Honestly evaluate your worship expectations. Do you approach worship by asking God how he prefers your worship? Or do you tell God, albeit in not so many words, “This is how I want it”? If it is the latter, a little repentance is in order.

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The Heart of the Matter

Who Is First in Your Life?

Getting Closer to Jesus: An entire book could be written about this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. For instance, a whole chapter could be written from this story just about the inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God. Another chapter could lay out a master blueprint for starting spiritual conversations with anyone from an authentic seeker to a theological weirdo. And of course, several chapters could present a compelling theology of worship from what Jesus says just in these few verses.

But at the end of the day, what you will find is that any encounter with Jesus doesn’t simply warm your heart to the Kingdom of God or perfect your evangelistic technique or inform your theology or just cram more spiritual information into your head, it touches the true condition of your heart. That is what happened to the woman at the well.

This sinful Samaritan sister is like a lot of people in our society today, even church-going types, who are attempting makeovers, not only of the physical kind but of the whole-life kind. Like her, so many people are profoundly unhappy, dissatisfied, empty on the inside, and are trying to make over their lives by filling that missing void. But any makeover effort that isn’t God-initiated, God-empowered, and God-focused, is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In this woman’s case, she had gone from man to man, hoping the next would be better—but each relationship left her increasingly dissatisfied, damaged and desperate. What Jesus was telling her was that she didn’t need a man to complete her. She didn’t need just a “relationship makeover”. She needed a new “water source” (John 4:13-15, NLT)—she needed a brand new life.

This woman is really a mirror of our age. We go from experience to experience, job to job, purchase to purchase, and relationship to relationship, hoping that that next great thing will be what finally brings us fulfillment. But here is the deal: If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion.

 

Remember the gushy line from the movie that all the romantics swooned over: “You complete me”? That sounds so romantic it has to be true, right? It’s not! It is one of the Enemy’s great deceptions. What Jesus was saying to this Samaritan woman—and by extension, to you and me—is that only God can complete you. When you come to God for completion, then those unrealistic expectations that you have placed on position, possessions, and people will be removed, and only then can you drink the living water and never thirst again.

The bottom line to this story—and to your life and mine—is simply this: We find real completion only in God.

Take the Next Step: Take a moment, or several if you need, and honestly evaluate whether people, position, and/or possessions have surpassed God in terms of what you depend upon to satisfy your emotional needs for security, significance, and satisfaction. If they are out of order, ask God to forgive you—and help you to reprioritize your tank-fillers—and then get ruthlessly committed to letting God be God in your life!

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The Best Mission Statement

You Exist to Make Jesus Famous

Getting Closer to Jesus: Over the last two or three decades, it has become clear, at least in the Western world, that a person cannot be successful, live a truly satisfying life, and experience significance as a human being without a well-written, eye-catching personal mission statement. Likewise, no corporation can increase its bottom line and influence its market without a corporate mission statement. Next to oxygen and nourishment, a mission statement is essential to life.

Of course, I am speaking facetiously. To be sure, strategically developing and clearly stating your personal or corporate mission is a good thing. I have one. Jesus had one: “The Son of man came to serve, not be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). The Apostle Paul had one: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24) You would do well to have one, too.

But what would happen if the qualifier to every mission statement of every Christian and every faith-based organization was the same as John the Baptist’s? Oh my! We would change the world—that’s what would happen!

John the Baptist’s mission statement can be found in John 1:7, “John came as a witness to testify concerning that light (Jesus Christ), so that through him all might believe.” Throughout his ministry, John faithfully, fearlessly, and passionately executed against that calling until he himself was executed, literally, for doing his job. (Mark 6:14-29) And while, in reality, John’s time in fulfilling his mission was brief, it was undeniably powerful.

It is very likely that John could have avoided what from a human perspective looked like the failure of his business. Most likely, he could have gone on to a lucrative career as a speaker, or the leader of a religious movement. But had he done that, from an eternal perspective, he would have failed at his mission.

No, John’s mission to testify to the Light (that is, Jesus and his messianic mission) was controlled by this caveat: no matter how famous and prosperous his clients were willing to make his ministry, John knew that he had to decrease so Jesus could increase. After all, his mission was simply to introduce and represent Jesus. Jesus was the real deal; John only knew of Jesus. It was Jesus, not John, who had the bona fides to speak of the Kingdom of Heaven since he had been there and was actually from there. And since that was the case, the more successful John did his job of introducing Jesus, the less of John people needed to see.

Now, of course, you and I are likely not called to John the Baptist’s path. He was unique in the initial public offering of Jesus. Yet in another sense, all Christians and Christian organizations are called to introduce and represent Jesus. And to successfully execute against that mission—however that mission statement might be personalized uniquely to you and me—John’s caveat must be ours as well: In all that we do, in the success that we experience, in the direction we take and in the dreams we pursue, we must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

From a human point of view, that might seem silly. But from heaven’s perspective, that is the path by which you and I can change the world—for Christ’s sake. Yes, that is the best mission statement!

Take the Next Step: If you have a personal mission statement (or a corporate one), add John’s caveat to the end of it: “Jesus must become greater; I must become less.”

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How We Kill Our Christian Witness

Trigger Warning: This May Infuriate You

Getting Closer to Jesus: Unfortunately, for too many Christians, John 3:17 gets lost in the shadows of the verse that immediately precedes it—John 3:16. Who doesn’t love that verse? It is the heart of God—his sacrificial love for a sinful world. It is the Bible summed up in one short verse. It is the simplest yet most powerful collection of words the world has ever heard. The truth that Jesus declares in John 3:16 is the only hope for the world.

But Jesus’ followers often miss what follows: he didn’t come to force his gracious offer of eternal life down the throats of those who resisted. His plan wasn’t to set up a spiritual police state to enforce adherence to his sacrificial love. He wasn’t even going to publicly condemn those who foolishly, perhaps even violently, rejected the divine plan to eternal life.

So why do so many believers have an insatiable need to condemn the unbelieving world? If condemnation were what sinners needed, Jesus would have done that. Rather, Jesus understood that their very resistance to his grace and rejection of his atonement was all the condemnation that was needed. The unbelieving world already stood condemned. Why condemn what was already condemned?

Contrary to Jesus’ approach, condemnation seems too often to be our leading evangelistic strategy. But when believers, churches, and spiritual leaders take to their social media outlets to decry the current crisis of morality in America, or lash out on the airwaves about the obvious failures of our out-of-control government, or write in their blogs about the evils of gay marriage or the horror of late-term abortion or the ills of our increasingly secular culture, we are well on our way to destroying whatever Christian witness we might have once been able to exert. Does that mean I am in favor of those things or believe that we should never speak out about sin or injustice in the world? Not at all!

It’s just sadly interesting to me that we tend to pass too quickly over the greatest truth in the Bible, John 3:16, and go right for the jugular vein in condemning what already stands condemned when Jesus himself, the one we represent, didn’t even do that. Christian pollster George Barna recently summarized some research on the church’s perception in the world by stating, “The Christian community is not known for love.” If Jesus was known for loving the world so much that he gave his life to redeem it, why should that be any less true of his followers? He concludes that this perception renders ineffective most of our evangelistic efforts. Our condemning voice overshadows our loving heart.

So, what should be our response to all these ills in the world that need to be set right? Are we to just idly stand by, do nothing, and say nothing? No—we would be derelict in our discipleship to take that approach.

We would, however, be far more effective in reaching and redeeming the world if we would do what Jesus did. The best evangelism remains that by our love—for the Lord, for each other, and for the lost—that an unbelieving world will be attracted to our Savior. Like Jesus, when we demonstrate selfless, stubborn, sacrificial love, we will have the undeniable effect that Jesus had: the world will be both repulsed yet attracted by God’s irresistible love in us.

That is the strange thing about God’s love: while every human being fundamentally craves it because of sin, many foolishly, sadly reject it. Those who do stand condemned already. Yet the fact remains, whether our witness is embraced or repulsed, we have an undeniable impact in forgoing condemnation and letting love speak for itself. The Apostle Peter said,

You’ve been chosen…to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his light …[So] live such good lives among unbelievers that even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…Always be ready [to share your faith], but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 2:9 & 12, 3:16)

I watch too many believers who are anything but that as they engage in politics, cultural issues, or theological debates. It seems that some Christians are more passionate about their point of view than pointing people to Jesus. We would win more debates, elections, and souls, too, if we’d learn to offer our opinions with more love and less condemnation.

The word “evangelism” is from a compound Greek word, “eu,” meaning “good” (euphoria) and “aggelos” meaning “messenger” (angel.) So euaggelos is simply “a good messenger.” Our task is just translating the Good News by our selfless, sacrificial lives in a way that reconnects lost people with a loving God.

Bottom line: Jesus didn’t condemn; he just fiercely, stubbornly, unconditionally loved. We should go and do likewise.

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week will be to light a candle instead of cursing darkness when you come across the temptation to condemn. And believe me, you will face such a temptation.