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Give To Get, Stoop To Rise, Die To Live

The Logic Of The Upside Down Kingdom

It’s absolutely amazing that when God became human in Christ that he wasn’t born to royalty in a palace to the celebrations of the adoring throngs. In fact, it was just the opposite: he was born in a barn to a teenage mother in an obscure village that was nothing more than a wide spot in the road to no fanfare whatsoever. Then, as you study the life of this Christ in the Gospels, and as writers of the New Testament translate his life into our Christian theology, you are driven to the conclusion that humility, servanthood and sacrifice were not just values Jesus suddenly embraced when he became man just to impress people. These were pre-eternal convictions fundamental to the essence of God’s being. As Jesus generously embodied these very things, through him you were seeing who God was – and is – in living color. And that, dear believer, is your fundamental duty: to be undeniable proof of a unpretentious Lord.

The Journey: Mark 9:35

Jesus sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Here is yet another example of the upside logic of the Kingdom of God. We get that a lot from Jesus: To live, you’ve got to die; to get, you’ve got to give; to receive honor, you must be willing to be humble; to be rich, you’ve got to give it all away; to be first, you’ve got to be okay with last place; to be great, you’ve got to be the servant of all.

Though from the world’s point of view this is totally upside down, its’ totally normal from heaven’s perspective. When you really think about these kinds of counterintuitive statements, you realize they were the values that Jesus deeply held and, in fact, were driving convictions he lived out in actions every single day.

Furthermore, as you study the life of Jesus in the Gospels as well as the theology of entire New Testament, you will come to the conclusion that these were not just values Jesus suddenly embraced when he became man just to impress people, these were pre-eternal values fundamental to the essence of God’s being. As Jesus lived out humility, generosity, servanthood, and sacrifice, you were seeing who God is in living color. Therefore, as Francis Quarles points out, “The voice of humility is God’s music, and the silence of humility is God’s rhetoric.”

When we invite Jesus to become the Savior and Lord of our lives and embrace the values of God’s Kingdom as our own, these, then, become the fundamental attributes of who we are and the defining characteristics of how we go about the business of the Kingdom. Or so it should! If we have had an authentic salvation experience, then humility will be evident to others who are watching our lives. Generosity will characterize our practices with money and possessions. We will eschew pushing and clawing our way to the top and serve our way into greatness. And in a way that authenticates the totality of our claim to Christian faith, we willingly to lay down our lives for others—not only in dying, but, in what is much more demanding sacrificial living.

That is the kind of greatness that endures—greatness in the eyes of God.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, examine my attitudes and practices in light of the eternal values of heaven. Where you find misalignment in my life—with my money and possessions, in my desire to for recognition and position, as I use power and pleasure, please make me more Christ-like.
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Everything Goes Back To Normal

Never Set Up A Tent On A Mountaintop Experience

Never fixate on a spiritual high. Resist the urge to erect a shelter on a mountaintop experience. Don’t rate your current and future Christian experience against those “glory days” of yesteryear. Simply see those experiences for what they are: Fuel for the assignment ahead. Then get back to normal. Climb down off your mountaintop experience and get back in the game. Lost people are still lost down there in the real world and the proclamation of God’s kingdom from your lips and through your life is still the only way they will be found.

The Journey: Mark 9:9

As they went back down the mountain…

In Mark 9:2-13 we come across one of the most fascinating and mysterious stories about Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus takes Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain, and there before their very eyes, for a few moments at least, his humanity morphs into the dazzling brilliance of his divine being. And if that weren’t enough to knock their sandals off, Moses and Elijah, Israel’s two great historical and theological figures, suddenly show up and begin to encourage Jesus about his upcoming death.

As you would expect of Peter, and as you can understand, the unpredictable disciple offers to set up shop for this impromptu triumvirate. At that, a cloud covers the Jesus and his heavenly guests, the Voice speaks a word of Divine authentication from the heavens, Jesus is suddenly left standing with Peter, James and John and everything goes back to normal.

“Everything goes back to normal!” That’s when Jesus leads them “back down the mountain” to the real world.

Here’s the deal: God never intends for us to fixate on “spiritual highs”; we are not to build tabernacles around them. They are simply means to an end, fuel to empower us for some spiritual assignment. Jesus didn’t have this encounter with Moses and Elijah just so he could feel special. The same account of the transfiguration in Luke 9:31 (NLT) tells us that these two Old Testament prophets came to encourage Jesus about his upcoming departure—literally, in the original text, his “exodus”. He was about to face the greatest assignment of all—the cross. This mountaintop experience was meant as fuel—encouragement, strength, a reminder of his life’s purpose—for his impending death for the sins of the world.

I am not down on “spiritual highs”. They are wonderful, and necessary. Just don’t fixate on them. Resist the urge to erect a shelter and live in their warm afterglow. Don’t rate your current and future Christian experience against them. Simply see them for what they are: Fuel for the assignment ahead.

Then get back to normal. Climb down off your mountaintop experience and get back in the game. Lost people are still lost down there in the real world and the proclamation of God’s kingdom from your lips and the demonstration of it through your life is still the only way they will be found.

As Charles Spurgeon said, “Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill them up with holy service.”

Is there a “spiritual high” from your past (an ecstatic experience, a fruitful time of ministry, a wonderful season in an amazing church family, a dramatic period of spiritual growth under a gifted spiritual leader) against which you tend to measure current experience? Stop doing that! Repent of worshiping that experience and instead ask God to show you how he intends for that “high” to fuel you for the kingdom assignment setting before you today.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, thank you for giving me amazing spiritual experiences from time to time in my journey with you, but keep me from worshiping those experiences. Like Jesus, help me to see them simply as divine fuel for the next kingdom assignment.
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A Cross-Free Way? Think Again!

Are you hoping for the quicker, easier, pain-free path to discipleship? Think again! Jesus said that true discipleship requires us to jettison our own agenda — “let him deny himself”; commit to God’s agenda — “take up his cross”; and make daily, continual obedience our highest priority — “follow me.” There is no discipleship without self-denying, cross-bearing followership!

The Journey: Mark 8:33

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

What a dramatic moment this must have been for the disciples—especially Peter. Jesus had just asked the disciples this question, “Who do people say that I am?” And Peter’s simple yet profound prophetic response was a declaration for the ages: “You are the Christ!” (Mark 8:27-30)

But when Jesus began to speak of his impending sacrificial death, Peter didn’t like it one bit, so he began to rebuke Jesus. How could one who was to be “Christ” suffer and die? This certainly wasn’t in line with God’s will, Peter thought. Peter had an entirely different definition for what it meant to be “Christ”, and a far better agenda than the one Jesus was suggesting.

That’s when Jesus turned on Peter and gave him the spiritual smack-down of all smack-downs. Anyone who reads these dramatic words — “Get away from me, Satan” — certainly must think, “Wow! Glad that wasn’t me!” It was then that Jesus went on to talk about the cost of discipleship. True discipleship requires one to jettison his own agenda — “let him deny himself”; commit to God’s agenda — “take up his cross”; and make daily, continual obedience his highest priority — “and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

As dramatic as this rebuke seems in print, however, may I suggest that perhaps it wasn’t as focused on Peter as we might think. When you look at the context, what you see is that Jesus wasn’t so much upset with Peter, the person, as with Peter’s misguided agenda. You see, Peter’s plan would have taken Jesus off the Father’s mission. It was the easier, smarter, less painful path, but as Jesus said, it was “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:33).

In a sense, we really were there when Jesus uttered that rebuke. We were not only there — we were Peter! How so? Haven’t we, too, been the tool of Satan in desiring the things of men rather than the things of God. How often have we preferred our way — the easier, cheaper, quicker, pain-free way — to discipleship rather than the way of the cross? How often has the essence of our prayers, if not our desires, been, “not your will but mine be done”?

Peter took the brunt of Christ’s rebuke that day—but he did so as the representative head of a class of spiritual dunderheads of which you and I are members. However, Peter ultimately got his spiritual act together, and so can we. What it requires, though, is that we get the things of God rather than the things of men in our view finder, and keep our sights there.

Whenever you find yourself preferring a cross-free path, think again. As William Penn so bluntly put it, “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.”

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, deliver me from the Evil One, who would lure me onto the easier, quicker, pain-free path of the things of men. May your will be done—not mine. May your kingdom come today in my life, just as it is done in heaven.
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What God Feels

Yes, God Is Emotional Over You

God feels, and if you ever doubt that, then among the loads of Biblical evidence to the affirmative you should consider, most of all, just look at Jesus. He is the visible image of the invisible God, and what we see in Jesus is a God who has a wide range of emotions. God the Son cried, was angry, expressed wild joyfulness, and felt deep compassion for the hurts and needs of people. Yes, God feels—and he feels quite deeply for you!

The Journey: Mark 8:2

I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat.

Does God have feelings? Does he feel sadness, compassion or hurt for the things that make people cry? Does he ever feel happy and laugh at the funny things people do? Does he swell with pride, brag about his kids, delight when they come for a visit? Does he feel all these emotions over me?

I am on pretty sure Scriptural grounds in answering “yes” to the above questions. Yes, God feels, and among the loads of Biblical evidence to the affirmative, all you have to do is look at Jesus, the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15, NLT), to see that God has a wide range of emotions. God the Son cried, was angry, expressed wild joyfulness, and felt deep compassion for the hurts and needs of people. Yes, God is emotional. And we humans, who were made in the image of God, had to get our emotional capacity from somewhere; we came by it supernaturally.

In the story of Jesus feeding the 4,000, this outstanding miracle arose out of the concern and compassion the Lord had on the people who had been hanging around, listening to his teaching, waiting to be touched, hoping for a miracle, for three days. They were so hungry to encounter God that they had neglected their physical appetites. And since Jesus was about to send them home, he was worried that they would become faint along the way. So he arranged for one of the greatest impromptu lunches of all time, and the crowds left happy and full.

Jesus felt for them—he feels for you, too. So does his Father. And though you might think that is pretty common knowledge, in truth, that is not how most of the rest of the world sees it. You see, for most of our history, man has viewed the universe as dangerous and the gods as hostile. The gods didn’t care about humans and they certainly gave no thought to serving them—humans existed to serve and please the gods, not vice versa.

G.E. Lessing, an 18th century scholar from Germany said if he had one question to ask the gods, it would be, “Is this a friendly universe?” You can be certain that this universe is indeed a friendly, perfectly safe place for you because of your Father’s closeness, care and competence. Jesus said so, and he showed so! Both the Father and the Son teamed up to prove it. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:32,

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

If you ever wonder if Gods feels—either for you, or for the rest of the world—just take another look at that cross where the Father sacrificed his Son. You will never again doubt how much God feels for you. As R.A. Torrey said,

We sometimes fear to bring our troubles to God, because they must seem so small to Him who sits on the circle of the earth. But if they are large enough to vex and endanger our welfare, they are large enough to touch His heart of love.

Now, doesn’t that make you feel better!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, you feel my pain, you know my disappointment, you see my distress. You also swell with joy in my victories, dance with delight over me as your child, and move all of creation to give me the delight of my heart as it is centered in you. Thank you for carrying me close to your heart.
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The Greatest Virtue

Jesus spit on his fingers, then touched the tongue of the man with a severe hearing and speech impediment—and healed him! Maybe that’s where many so-called faith healers come up with their crowd-wowing antics. But they miss a key point: Jesus first led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. Jesus never used people for show; he was more interested in their restoration as cherished children of the Heavenly Father than his own ratings as Israel’s messiah. There was no arrogance whatsoever found in Jesus, only humility, the greatest virtue. The next time you see an arrogant religious leader in action, turn off the TV or turn around and walk away. And the next time you’re tempted to think, feel, act or speak in any manner other than true humility, learn a thing or two from Jesus.

The Journey: Mark 7:33-35

Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said … “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!

It would be normal for us to focus on the unusual healing methods Jesus employed to heal this man with deaf ears and tied tongue. What a strange thing—Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears, then apparently, removed them, spit on them and then touched his tongue.

Yikes! I’m glad Jesus wasn’t setting a pattern for praying for the sick today. What Jesus did for this man—or more accurately, how Jesus prayed for this man—has nothing over some of the strange antics and overt showiness of some of today’s so-called faith healers.

But don’t miss the first thing Jesus did when this poor man’s friends brought him to Jesus for prayer: he pulled the man aside so he could minister to him in private. Obviously, Jesus didn’t want his methodology to be the thing the crowd focused on. Nor did he want to turn this man into a sideshow or use him as a trophy that could build a greater following. The Lord never used people in that way, so he simply, quietly healed the man in the most respectful way possible.

So why the weird methods? I’m not really sure, since Jesus could have simply spoken a word and the man would have been healed. But he had his reasons, and the bottom line was a man who had been victimized by this horrible physical bondage was miraculously, fully and gratefully set free.

Nor should we miss the greater message behind this event. It is a message, in fact, that runs throughout the entirety of Mark 7. What is that message? It is that God values “humility”. It is the lack of humility that frames the opening encounter between the religious elite and Jesus. When the scribes and Pharisees criticize Jesus and his disciples for not observing the man-made minutiae of the Jewish Law, Jesus rebukes them for their arrogant, manipulative and abusive misapplication of God’s true law.

On the other hand, it is the presence of humility that moves Jesus to respond to the woman who comes to the Lord to get her daughter delivered from a demon. Jesus initially puts this Syro-Phoenician lady through her paces in order to bring out her faith. But the woman, who is from a much wealthier, more prestigious culture than this simple Galilean’s, humbly makes her request of Jesus, who grants her request.

Then, as we’ve seen with the healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment, Jesus rejects any form of showiness by doing in private what God does—restoring deaf ears and dignity of the human soul.

Nothing turns God off like arrogance. And nothing turns God’s on like humility. That’s because nothing is closer to the core of God’s character than humility, which the Apostle Paul reminds us of in Philippians 2:1-11 through the example of Jesus,

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

That is why humility is arguably the greatest virtue.

The next time you see an arrogant religious leader in action, turn off the TV or turn around and walk away if you are in their presence. Next time you see a person humbly appeal for help, turn toward and humbly serve them as the Servant would. And the next time you’re tempted to think, feel, act or speak in any manner other than true humility, go back and read Mark 7. And as Paul said in Philippians 2:3-4

In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, reveal any form of pride that may reside in my life and remove it from me. I humble myself before you and ask for your help in exhibiting the attitude of humility exemplified by my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Make me like you, I pray, a servant of the gospel to all.
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Don’t Be A Religious Stinker

The Pharisees Were Not All Jews, And They Are Not All Dead

The Pharisees tended to what God said, but not what God intended. By the way, the Pharisees were not all Jews, and they are not all dead! And since God wasn’t impressed with the Pharisees and their pious religiosity, we must remain alert to our own religious rituals being devoid of the relationship he most desires with us. More than anything, God wants what we do with our hands to reflect the love that is in our heart. If that is not true for you, then back up and get your heart right!

The Journey: Mark 7:6-8

Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

What stinks? When people, especially spiritual influencers who ought to know better, exalt religious rituals over a real relationship with God, God holds his nose! When a religious activity is devoid of loving obedience, God finds it odious, obnoxious and he is repulsed by both the act and the religious spirit behind it.

That’s what Jesus was dealing with in this story. As he began to preach and minister the Kingdom of God, conflict with the Pharisees, religious leaders and other “stakeholders” in traditional Judaism increased dramatically. They didn’t like the fact that Jesus wasn’t holding to their traditions at all—and Jesus wasn’t intimidated by their pressure to conform.

In this particular conflict, they were upset that his disciples didn’t go through ritual washing before eating. This was just one of many “violations” that upset them. When they questioned Jesus about it, he let loose a holy tirade against their ridiculous traditions. In Divine “dressing down”, we see something of what is truly irksome to God: shallow, hypocritical, spiritually incongruent religiosity. Jeremy Taylor writes,

The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended…They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts.

God wasn’t impressed with the Pharisees, nor is he impressed with your rituals; he wants to be in relationship with you. Holding onto tradition for the sake of tradition is meaningless to God; he wants your acts of worship to be authentic. Lips that affirm one thing but a heart that holds to something else is completely odious to God—be very alert to that.

God desires integrity in our behavior, intimacy in our walk with him, and authenticity in our worship practices. Spirituality devoid of integrity, intimacy, and authenticity is even more repulsive to God than people who know they are sinners and don’t try to hide the fact.

Now there is an obvious application to this particular reading: God wants your heart. And he wants the heart you offer him to be pure. But let me suggest a riskier application of this text: Rather than reading them and feeling a sense of spiritual justification, why not read yourself into the story as one of the Pharisees. You see, the longer you are in the faith, the greater the likelihood that you will slip into some of the very practices God found so odious in the religious establishment of Jesus’ day.

Whatever it takes, keep your relationship with God fresh and vital!

Are the activities of your faith born out of ritualistic observance or loving obedience? Remember, God wants what you do with your hands to reflect the love that is in your heart. If that is not true for you, then back up and get your heart right!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I give you my heart. Please take it, it is all yours.
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God’s Therapy Is The Cure For What Ails You

Want To Feel Better? Just Do What Jesus Did!

No matter what heaviness you are feeling today, God’s therapy is the cure for what ails you. If you are down, then marinate in the Father’s compassionate love for you. If you are exhausted, then  honor the Creator’s rhythm of renewal and find rest. If you are suffering, then find someone worse off than you and serve them on God’s behalf. If that’s what Jesus did when he was down, tired and suffering, then you should, too. Just do it, and you will be blessed – and you’ll feel a lot better!

The Journey: Mark 6:34

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, had just been beheaded, and most likely, Jesus was grieving John’s loss when he suggested to his disciples, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31) Of course, both Jesus and his disciples were in an incredibly busy season of ministry and the needs of the crowds were emotionally draining, but add the sorrow of this personal loss to an already demanding situation and you have the perfect storm of spiritual and emotional exhaustion.

Yet when the needy crowds found Jesus in his place of retreat, he responded in a way most of us would find impossible under such an exhausted state. He has compassion on them. He saw their need. He saw their vulnerability—they were like shepherd-less sheep, unprotected, unfed, unguided. So he tapped into a source of inner reserve of grace and “began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:34, NLT) Then he performed one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible by feeding “five thousand men and their families” from five loaves of bread and two fish. (Mark 6:41-44, NLT) And, as if he needed to do anything else to prove his deity, Jesus topped it all off by walking on the water. (Mark 6:47-52, NLT)

So what are we to make of all this, other than Jesus was not only a great guy, but without a doubt, God come in the flesh? Let me offer three things for you to consider:

First, Jesus’ compassion for people reveals the heart of God for you. If Jesus could set aside his own emotional grief and physical tiredness to minister to hurting, hungry and helpless people, you can be certain that nothing will get in the way of him coming to your aid, too.

Second, Jesus’ willingness to find a place of retreat to refresh the tired spirits of both he and his disciples is a reminder that you, too, ought to honor the rhythm of renewal the Creator has hardwired into your DNA. If even the Son of God got tired, if even the Creator of the Universe rested from his work on the seventh day, perhaps you’re not so important and indispensable to interrupt your busyness to renew yourself once in a while. Rest is an act of worship that honors your Designer.

Third, Jesus’ willingness to interrupt his grief and take a time out from his time out to minister to hurting people shows that the best therapy for what ails you is to find someone worse off than you and serve them. God never calls you to deny your pain or ignore your woundedness, but at some point, serving others is God’s prescription for our own recovery.

Mark 6:34 ends by saying, “Jesus began teaching them many things.” He can teach you a few things, too!

What a person should do if he felt a “nervous breakdown” coming on? Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something for them. (Karl Menninger)

No matter what you are facing today, God’s therapy is the cure for what ails you. So which of these three things that Jesus teaches you do you most need to lean into today? Do you simply need to marinate in God’s compassionate love for you? Do you need to honor the Creator’s rhythm of renewal? Or do you need to find someone worse off than you and do something for them? Whatever God shows you to do, just do it!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, teach me to think, do and be just like Jesus. Help me to live as Jesus would if he were in my place.