September 2021 – Pressing On In His Footsteps

On Chasing the Lion

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 MSG. The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

Observation

I started a 7-day devotional available on the YouVersion app. It is titled, “Chase the Lion – If your dream doesn’t scare you, it is too small.” These are the verses for Day 2. The author proposes “…if we focus on the negative implications while ignoring the positive possibilities, it becomes a half-truth. It’s also about capturing creative thoughts and keeping them in our minds. Simply put, it’s about stewarding every idea inspired by the Holy Spirit.” He speaks about dreams which are thoughts imagined before they ever come to pass physically and says these positive, creative thoughts are brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ through “blood, sweat and tears” – in other words, by execution which requires faith, risk, sacrifice, effort, time, talent and other investment on our parts. Thinkers may inspire us, but doers make things happen.

As James 1:22-25 MSG says, “Put the word into action. If you think hearing is what matters most, you are going to find you have been deceived. If some fail to do what God requires, it’s as if they forget the word as soon as they hear it. One minute they look in the mirror, and the next they forget who they are and what they look like. However, it is possible to open your eyes and take in the beautiful, perfect truth found in God’s law of liberty and live by it. If you pursue that path and actually do what God has commanded, then you will avoid the many distractions that lead to an amnesia of all true things and you will be blessed.”

So, according to today’s verses, we are called to live in this war zone by God’s rules and using His strategies and weaponry. This includes disciplined trading to develop automatic, obedient responses to the tactics the enemy uses – “building lives of obedience into maturity”. In this sense, God is not playing fair with Satan because our enemy has no defense against our absolute obedient submission to God’s will and the weapons and strategies He has laid out for us. What defense can Satan raise against love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, joy, peace, faith, goodness, kindness, meekness and all the other virtues we have in Christ? The most he can do is deceive us into surrendering them, but, if we refuse to surrender these, he remains subject to the defeat Our Savior won over him through the sacrifice of the Cross.

Therefore, our warfare is two fold on many levels:
* both defensive (protecting against the enemy’s strategies/tactics of deception) and offensive (taking the land; pressing the battle to enforce the victory won by Christ);
      * both internal (allowing the Holy Spirit to mold, shape and change us into what God dreams for us to be) and external (choosing to live what God dreams for us to be regardless of the consequences so others will embrace salvation and enter into the dreams God has for each of them);
     * both saying “yes” to God and following through as evidenced by our visible living response to His Word;
     * both destructive (tearing down strongholds and taking captives) and creative (developing strategies, preparing through discipline and unity of purpose).

Ultimately, we become skilled warriors for God by disciplining ourselves to trust in His methods and His weapons, recognizing that we are fighting a war that is not of this world, is not conducted by the rules of this world and will not be won by the world’s weapons.

Impact on Me

I recognize that I allowed myself to limit “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” to only the negative, sinful and defeating thoughts because of the defensive aspect of the warfare association. True obedience and submission to God requires that I cannot accept the Word on a shallow face value, letting its message be frozen in my initial understanding or limited by my inexperience with God. I want to embrace the Word so that I am actively enriched, enlightened, encouraged, equipped and enabled to be one who is a skilled warrior in God’s special forces, willing to give my all in His service.

I have found that reading in other translations, as well as reading or listening to the Holy Spirit speaking through others can get me up out of my current perspective seat to walk around the familiar verses, find another aspect so the Holy Spirit can reveal more depth, more insight, into the nature, plan, tactics, and strategies of God in conducting this warfare (both within me and in the world around me). The enemy is very skilled at deception and understands how effective he can be in eroding my obedience, my submission to God. If I am not diligent in seeking and submitting to God, I can allow the enemy to deceive me inch by inch until I find myself miles away from where I need and want to be. Satan is the great marketer and manipulator and, if he can’t get me to sin by commission (doing something to displease God), he will settle for omission (doing nothing to stay in God’s presence).

So, back to the passage for today, if I neglect to embrace, pursue, invest the “blood, sweat and tears” required by God to fulfill His dreams for me, I have allowed the enemy to deceive me into accepting his defeatist propaganda, failing in my duty, and eroding my trust in my adoption in Christ’s ultimate authority and power to do what He says He will do.. Forgive me, Lord, for every inch I have ever given! .

Prayer

Father God, in the name of Jesus I come before You and pray that by Your Spirit You will make Your Word alive to me and active in me, constantly molding, shaping and making me into what You dream for me to be. I want to engage anew even the most familiar passages so I will continue to find new depths of understanding of Your nature, Your power, Your love, Your plans for me. I want to boldly “Chase the Lion” – taking captive every dream You have for me and pursuing its fulfillment with all I have in me – and war only according to Your ways and plans, using only Your weapons. Help me to stand firm and fixed in You so I will not move even one inch out of Your truth, will and purpose for me. May others come to know You because they meet You in me. Make it so.

On Keeping a Humble Heart

Luke 18:9-14 MSG He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people:

“Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

¹³“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”

¹⁴Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Observation

Pharisees demonstrated their piety by strict adherence to the Law and the oral traditions. They were educated in the Law and their commitment and dedication were commendable. Being judges of the matters of the Law was their full time job, so among the “common people” Pharisees were well respected and considered pious spiritual authorities, ones who kept themselves separate from the profane and secular. However, over the centuries in their zealous desire to define what is obedience to the Law, they developed hundreds of additional necessary actions required to comply with the Law. (I am told that there were 60 pages on how and when to wash your hands in the Mishnah, the written version of the oral laws!)

You can see that it would be a full time job to try to live up to all the requirements. It was truly impossible for those who had to work for a living, those common people. So, the Pharisees were put on a pedestal by the people. Because they allowed themselves to become prideful and take the praise for themselves, they got off track and tended to set themselves up as judges of the spiritual worth and physical compliance of everyone else. Unfortunately, no one else was good enough to please God. This was one of the issues they had with Jesus’ teaching, a teaching of redemption, mercy, grace and a Heaven open to the common people and, oh no!, even the profane and secular wicked sinner. Jesus said of them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” For more on how Jesus judged the Pharisees zeal, see Matthew 23.

These two were probably in the Temple Court, a common public place for people to come to pray. It was also customary to pray out loud, so these two very probably heard each other’s prayer. This Pharisee wanted to make sure that everyone within hearing was aware that he strictly obeyed all the rules. His prayer would have sounded right to others listening as he was a Pharisee, a step above them spiritually and in God’s sight . He was shaming the tax man and praising himself for all his godly works. Jesus expressed His opinion of this attitude of “nose in the air” in the Gospels calling these religious snobs a brood of vipers and hypocrites (see Matthew 23 above).

The tax man, on the other hand, was despised as a Roman collaborator and oppressor of the people (the profane and secular wicked sinner to be avoided). He would have been scorned by both the Pharisee and the populace who would believe he had no hope of ever making his life right with God. The tax man’s prayer would have surprised them as he recognized and confessed his sinful state and cried out for God’s mercy.

Even more astounding would be Jesus’ statement, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God.” We hear the echo of the reformed prostitute, the thief on the cross, the lepers and others who found that same hope, mercy and redemption at the hand of Jesus. If this tax man can be justified before God, then there is hope for all. This was truly good news. Jesus is teaching that the way to salvation and righteousness is not earned by good works, but rather by confession, humble repentance and embracing the free gift of salvation provided by the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus.

Impact on Me

Parables are stories that teach a lesson requiring heart searching and a response. Jesus is not teaching me here about the mechanics of prayer, but rather is giving me insight into maintaining right standing with God by contrasting the attitude of prayer between the two – the proud and pious Pharisee and the broken and humble tax man. This parable is not about what I do as I pray or the specific words I pray, but rather about the condition of my heart when I pray.

I don’t need to list all the good things I have done. God knows what I have done in His name, but, more importantly, He also knows my “why” (the motivation of my heart) in the doing. If I do good works so that others will see me as devout, spiritual and worthy of praise, I am the Pharisee above. The praise of people will be all the right standing I get for all my efforts. ⁵“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat? ⁶“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (Matthew 5:5-6 MSG)

If I approach God with a humble and contrite heart to seek what it is He asks me to do and be – seen or unseen, recognized or unrecognized, approved or disapproved by others, submitting myself to His will, plan and purpose rather than my own – I am like the repentant tax man who found right standing with God. This does not give me license to sin nor does it tell me to be lazy in my worship and ministry for God. This story challenges me to recognize that there is no one so vile, secular and wicked a sinner (including me) that cannot be redeemed.

So, in response to this parable, I ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart for the prideful places, the selfish and arrogant pieces of me, those places where I have become the Pharisee, so they can be revealed, removed and replaced with humble, selfless and Jesus-like meekness and submission to God’s plan and purpose for my life.

Prayer

Lord, You are my Creator, my Redeemer. I come to You as the tax man asking for mercy and grace to keep me in right standing with You. As David prayed, so do I. Make it so in Jesus’ name.

Psalm 139:1-3, 23-24 NIVYou have searched me, Lord, and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways…²³Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

On Being Good and Faithful

Philippians 2:12-16a (PHILLIPS) So then, my dearest friends, as you have always followed my advice—and that not only when I was present to give it—so now that I am far away be keener than ever to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. 14-16a Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God’s children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word of life.

Observation

Paul is writing this letter from prison. It is a letter filled with the joy of serving his Master. He encouraged the Philippians “to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility.” This is the work we are called to allow and encourage within us because “it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.”

Paul is telling us that we are responsible for the obedience and cultivating a life of worship, praise and prayer. God is responsible for the results – in us and through us. Working out the salvation that God has given us may (and usually does) require a sacrifice of our pride, our rights, our wills, our comfort, our reputations.

Paul had such clear perspective, kept his focus on the purposes of God while ignoring the cost to himself – the mark of a good and faithful servant.
Paul did not concern himself with what people said, did or thought about his actions; his reputation was expendable if it’s loss was necessary to obey and faithfully serve his Master.
He did not grumble or complain about his circumstances or experiences (at least not out loud), but, rather, gladly, even joyfully, endured whatever was necessary to faithfully and fully serve his Master.
Paul constantly sought God for His instruction on how to honor, glorify and fulfill His will and purposes in every situation, trusting that he was there to be used by God, content in the assurance that God was in charge of the results of Paul’s obedience.
Paul didn’t waste time or energy in prayer asking to have his situation improved, but, rather, prayed that he might be effectively used (good and faithful in service) wherever he found himself.

He allowed God to do the cost/benefit analysis, trusting in the wisdom, grace, power and plan of His Master. Jesus was the ultimate good and faithful servant – the innocent bearing the pain and shame of the Cross for the guilty (all humanity) that the plan of God would be fulfilled. Jesus is our example in setting aside rights, reputation, comfort and even life itself to have the faith to trust and serve the Father’s will and purpose, fulfilling His plan to redeem whosever will come.

Impact on Me

Oh, my! Paul tells me to imitate him only in the ways he imitates Christ. This is a tall order when I consider his life and ministry.

Learning to be content in all circumstances – whether abased or abounding – with no grumbling or complaining
Always seeking to keep my feet in the footsteps of Christ, following His example as He marks the way He would have me go whether the road appears easy or tough
Letting God judge whether the cost to me is worth the benefit to His kingdom
Gladly, even joyfully serving when faced with a painful or difficult task
Being willing to sacrifice my pride, my rights, my will/wants, my comfort, my reputation to fulfill His will and purpose

These are all characteristics of a good, obedient, loyal and faithful servant. This is what I profess I want to be. Am I willing to pay the price? Will I risk my reputation, my financial security, my rights for His cause, for the souls inhabiting the darkness of this “warped and diseased world”? How much do I really trust God? How much do I really believe that all I own is His? How much of me and mine am I willing to spend if He asks me to do so? These are questions that will determine what I truly treasure, count as precious and worth owning, and where my heart truly is.

Prayer

Lord, You are our Creator, our Redeemer, the only wise God. You made a perfect plan to redeem us before the foundation of the world. You are the only Master who can be trusted to be just and right in all You do and ask. Give me the wisdom to submit to You in all things, to seek You always for what You would have me do and be. Give me the courage to always choose obedience to You and Your will regardless of the cost to me. May I consider obedience to You the treasure worth all I am or possess. In Jesus’ name, make it so.

On Being a Humble Servant

Mark 10:43-45 ESVBut it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

John 13:1-17 PHILLIPS^1-5Before the festival of the Passover began, Jesus realised that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. He had loved those who were His own in this world and He loved them to the end. By supper-time, the devil had already put the thought of betraying Jesus in the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son. Jesus, with the full knowledge that the Father had put everything into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper-table, took off His outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round His waist. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel around His waist.

^6-9So He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” “You do not realise now what I am doing,” replied Jesus, “but later on you will understand.” Then Peter said to Him, “You must never wash my feet!” “Unless you let me wash you, Peter,” replied Jesus, “you cannot share my lot.” “Then,” returned Simon Peter, “please—not just my feet but my hands and my face as well!”

^10-11“The man who has bathed,” returned Jesus, “only needs to wash his feet to be clean all over. And you are clean—though not all of you.” (For Jesus knew His betrayer and that is why He said, “though not all of you”.)

^12-17When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His clothes, He sat down and spoke to them, “Do you realise what I have just done to you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are quite right, for I am your teacher and your Lord. But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done. Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him. Once you have realised these things, you will find your happiness in doing them.

Observation

The point of the Bible is to tell us God’s story and His plan for our redemption. All of the passages are there to reveal Who He is, what He desires of us and for us, and how He responds to our choices. Jesus the Christ, the manifestation of God in human form, called Himself “gentle (meek) and humble” (Matthew 11:28-30), defined servanthood as the path to pleasing God, and spoke of Himself as serving all of us by giving His life as a ransom for us all (God’s redemptive plan to restore the intimate relationship He desired with us and intended from the beginning). In the passages above, Jesus demonstrates for His disciples the type of servant they are to be if they want to be like Him and considered great and first in God’s Kingdom. Footwashing was an important element of hospitality for the culture of the time as feet became dirty walking on dusty roads. As important as it was, the lowest, almost always Gentile, servants were the ones to do it. When Jesus “took off his outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round his waist,” He took on the persona of a menial foreign slave.

This is why Peter protested. Disciples were supposed to serve their Master/Rabbi, not the other way around. Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of Man, God, was demonstrating the kind of humility and servanthood He required to truly be one of His disciples. “But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done.” Jesus had come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the servanthood of Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-4, Matthew 12:16-21), the bowing low of God to redeem His creation, His people, so that He might restore the intimate relationship with us disrupted in the Garden of Eden.

Did you catch that He washed ALL of the disciples’ feet – including the feet of Judas who was about to betray Him? This level of humility requires more that setting pride aside temporarily. This level of humility requires complete surrender, total submission to the will and purpose of God Who does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9). This was a powerful discipleship lesson which was apparently caught and embraced as His disciples later identified themselves as servants (or slaves) of God and committed even to die in His service – John (Rev. 1:1), Paul (1 Cor 3:5-6), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), James (James 1:1), Jude (Jude 1:1).

Impact on Me

I have participated in footwashing services and it is a very humbling experience. However, this passage is not meant to tell me how important footwashing services are, but, rather, that I need to be willing to set aside my pride and any status provided by my position to gladly and humbly serve those who have nothing to give me in return. Jesus is demonstrating to me (and us all) the kind of humility and service I am to emulate if I want to be like Him in this day and age.

Merriam Webster defines “humble” as “not proud: not thinking of yourself as better than other people.” A servant is simply one who serves others. Servant in the New Testament is often translated as slave. We don’t like that word as it has a bad taste in our historical context. The position Jesus took above was as low as He could go in His culture. What is the lowest I can go in service today – an unpaid volunteer in homeless ministry, serving orphans in a foreign land, working to change the lives of the poorest so they can have a better future? I know people who do all these and will never have any recognition on earth but much treasure in heaven.

Jesus is showing me that it’s not a sign of weakness to serve someone — it’s a sign of love, strength and humility – all treasures in His kingdom. Jesus is saying to me, “Don’t view yourself as better than other people – even your enemy – for I died for him/her, too.” This is a hard lesson to embrace and live.

Prayer

Father God, You are Love and created us in Your image. You gave Jesus to walk this earth as a human to show us how to live in and for You. I am humbled by how lowly Jesus stooped, how much He sacrificed, to restore intimacy between us. I am woefully inconsistent in my attempts to emulate Jesus’ example. However, I pray that as I find each new pocket of pride, You will, by Your Holy Spirit, help me to place that pride on Your altar to be burnt up. I truly want to be more like Jesus day by day as I journey through this life. Make it so, Lord, in Jesus’ name.