Jesus’ world

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Dana

As Jesus walked the earth, his world was all wrapped up in his Father. Jesus received pleasure and nourishment from his Father, not man. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” When we see the way Jesus served, loved, taught, warned, healed, and sacrificed we see a picture of the Heavenly Father who was (and still is) misrepresented by so many. “I can do only what I see my Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Men would argue with Jesus and try to trap him or make him look bad, but Jesus would say, “This just proves that you really don’t know my Father.”

The secret for Jesus’ constant focus was this powerful truth: “The Father is in me, and I am in the Father. It is the Father living in me who is doing his work.” Who is man compared to God? Jesus remembered men were confused and separated from God. He knew he was sent to make things right, to bring man back to God. So when people opposed him, Jesus was not deterred. When one of his best friends, out of genuine concern, tried to tell him he should not be killed, Jesus rebuked him. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Neither did flattery impact Jesus. “I do not accept praise from man.” Once people wanted to make Jesus king, but it was the wrong type of king… so Jesus simply left them.

Jesus’ world depended totally on his Father. “I cannot do anything by myself.” “I do nothing on my own.” “I do exactly what my Father says.” “My teaching is not my own, it comes from him who sent me.” Love, trust, purpose, fruit… everything was tied to the Father in Heaven.

We may say, “Well, of course, that was Jesus… He is God.” But was not Jesus human? Did he not face all the temptations we face? Did he not have the same demands on time and energy? Did he not have to empty himself before he could live the way he lived? None of us are to that place of surrender, humility, and obedience that we would claim to be walking on earth exactly as Jesus did, but we also know God desires to mold us into the image of the Son. Jesus tells us the path: “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (Jn 6:57) As Jesus’ world was all wrapped up in his Father, so our world must be all wrapped up in Jesus. This is foolishness to people who don’t know Christ, but that simply means things have not changed. Jesus was called a fool… and worse. He predicted the same criticism for his followers. But since Jesus’ satisfaction rested not in man’s opinion, he was not overcome with worry or fear or poor self-esteem.

Our secret for success should be this powerful truth from our Savior: “I am in you and you are in me.” Maybe we could remember this… one day at a time.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

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our world

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Dana

One time a teenage student, speaking for her high-tech generation, argued against using mandatory rules of logic while solving a particular type of problem. “Oh, we have progressed far beyond having to do it that way.” No matter how far the student thought she had progressed, she couldn’t get the correct answer.

Surely God looks down on ‘progressing’ mankind and sees similar foolishness. As we boast about our expanding discovery of knowledge and the incredible speeds at which we can access information… and any other progressions we seem to be making, the Creator says, “I’m not impressed.”

“This is what the Lord declares: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

So who knows the Lord? It is a simpler question, but who knows you? Is it not the one you are often with? Intimacy requires time, communication, quest for understanding, and the involvement of our emotions. As we read the writings and examine the lives of saints of other generations, I’m afraid we are tempted to think like the naive teenager: “We have progressed far beyond that.” What substitutes for time in the Word… or hours in prayer… or fasting… or simply sitting at the feet of Jesus? This is not a dry defense of the spiritual disciplines, I’m asking why so few seem to echo the heart of the apostle who walked with God, yet wrote passionately: “I want to know Christ…” (see Phil 3)

Just as it is vital that children have wise parents and teachers to lead and instruct the immature, so Jesus knew we would need the greatest Teacher to lead and instruct us. Our challenge is to realize our need… which requires humility. God wants us to know that we can do much out of our own human wisdom and effort and resource (remember the tower of Babel?), but we can’t produce eternal fruit without his Holy Spirit. Who wants to exchange the temporal for the eternal?

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (Jn 14:25-26)

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (Jn 16:13-14)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn 17:25-26)

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man

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Dana

I asked my bother, Brian, if I could forward a recent story he shared about missionary life in Zambia. Here it is:

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow missionary asked me, “So do you have a daily routine?” As I have pondered that question, yesterday seemed to stick out as a good example of my routine:

After sitting down at my desk in the morning to prepare some Bible lessons to be taught in April, my gardener burst into my office all out of breath. He said his mother was giving birth at the local clinic but had run into difficulties. Now they urgently needed transport to the hospital in Solwezi town, 60 kilometers away. I grabbed the keys to my truck and off we sped.

After loading his mother into the back of the pick-up, we departed for Solwezi at full speed. Half way to Solwezi, we ran into a torrential downpour; I slipped the Three Tenors into the CD player to steel my nerves. Upon arrival at the hospital, I backed the truck up to the front door of the main building only to find out as we opened the tailgate that the baby was tired of waiting and on its way. The doctor and nurses just jumped into the back of my truck, and moments later, a little baby was born to the moving tones of Pavarotti singing ‘Nessun Dorma.’

“…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” Genesis 3:16

Being in labor for 45 minutes at 120 kilometers per hour in the back of a Toyota 4×4 brings new meaning to this verse for me. I asked my gardener what they were going to name the child. He replied, “Toyota Rain”.

My wife, Susan, was totally unsatisfied with this story. She wrote to Africa: “What was the baby?” (That question never entered my mind…) Sondra, Brian’s wife, responded that she asked Brian the exact same question when he returned. His answer: “Oh… I don’t know.” Sondra chased down the gardener and found that the baby was a boy and would be called “Toy” for short.

So, wives and sweethearts, please be patient with us men… especially on days like Valentine’s Day. We just don’t think sometimes…

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone…’” Genesis 2:18

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ashamed

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Dana

We want the mindset that Paul demonstrated when he wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Rom 1:16-17) Paul stood boldly against the spirit of self righteousness (which still exists) that states, “I am justified by my good works.” Many hated (and still do) the Good News that states that all hope, salvation, and true life is dependent on what God accomplished through his Son, Jesus. Our part is to put full faith and trust in the One who died while we were yet sinners. Abraham was credited with righteousness… and so are those who receive the gospel. “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him (Abraham) alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead…. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand… You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (see Rom 4, 5) This preaching got Paul into a lot of trouble… but he was not ashamed of God’s message.

But there’s another angle to this word ‘ashamed’ that gives a different twist. We don’t want God to be ashamed of us! “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16)

So do I ‘admit’ (in a way that impacts my living) that this world is not my home? Do I long for another country? Am I one of those God can point toward and say, “I’m not ashamed to be his God”?

Not surprisingly, Jesus brought both these thoughts into the same teaching… which begins with an important question:

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:25-26

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stretch out

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Dana

“Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” This was part of the prayer of the early believers in Acts 4.

The day before we left Brazil, we drove for more than an hour outside Natal to a small town called Taipu. We broke into four groups and tried to cover as much territory as we could, inviting people to the gym near the center of town. I was excited because I was asked to share the gospel – “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” A little over two hundred people gathered and three or four Christians shared testimonies. One father walked forward carrying a three year old boy. He told of his two sons that were born with a terrible skin condition that caused red sores to cover their bodies. He shared how he gave his life to Jesus a little more than two weeks earlier and over the course of the next fifteen days God healed his little boys. He held up the three year old and everyone applauded. I saw a ‘before and after’ picture and was amazed. But the citizens of the town appreciated the miracle most because they knew this man and had seen his boys’ condition since they were born.

Next, a young lady named Ana Paula stood up and shared a story. Ana Paula is a sweet, humble, yet bold believer. She hung out with us almost every night we were in Brazil. In Taipu, she stood before the crowd and told of walking through another town with a pastor of a church. They came upon a family who had a little girl who had been deaf and mute since birth. Touched with emotion, Ana Paula asked the pastor if he could heal her. His reply was classic: “I can’t heal her and you can’t heal her, but Jesus can. We can pray!” So they prayed for the little girl. Ana Paula noticed the girl nodding her head as they prayed, so she asked, “Do you hear us?” The little girl nodded. “What did we say?” “Jesus,” the girl replied. How cool that her first word was Jesus!

I know the heart of God in answering prayer is far broader than any of us can understand. He cares for little boys with scabs all over their bodies and he cares for little girls who can’t hear or talk. The blessings to these families were practical and life-changing. But something else happens when God performs miracles – people wake up and pay attention. I doubt one soul snoozed around the temple gate while a beggar, lame from birth, danced for joy after being healed in Jesus’ name.

I’ll share one more story that you can witness for yourselves. “Faith Like Potatoes” is a movie about a South African farmer named Angus Buchan. We picked it up at the airport in Johannesburg a few years ago and I am sure you can find it on the internet. There is an accompanying dvd that shows this evangelist ministering in a soccer stadium in southern Africa. Angus had preached as hard as he could to the crowd of 5000, but to no avail. Around 80% of the people were Muslim and few seemed to be paying much attention. The Holy Spirit prompted, “Pray for the crippled man on the front row.” The man on crutches was helped to the stage. “Jesus is going to heal this man!” Angus declared. The crowd was instantly silent. The truth was told the visitors later, but almost everyone in the village knew the man on stage had suffered a work-related accident when a tree fell and crushed his leg. A steel rod was placed in his leg during surgery. Angus confessed that he probably wouldn’t have prayed had he know details in advance, but with the faith that pleases God, the white African prayed for the black African and God did a mighty miracle. The man discarded his crutches and the two ran in place on the stage with knees lifted high. (This is much more exciting to watch!) Angus did not need to preach another moment. He offered the Lord’s invitation and 5000 people rushed forward to give themselves to Christ.

Here’s the verse that follows the verse above:

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31

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