joy

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Dana

We all need the ‘joy of the Lord’ to be our strength, but why was Jesus called ‘a man of sorrows’? The joy Jesus wants us to have has nothing to do with the things the world promotes: “Eat this; buy that; experience this; look like that…” Jesus’ joy came from his Father and He wants us to possess it fully. “As the Father loves me so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:9-11)

The world promotes the shallow, the external, the temporal… God cares about who we really are, what is truly important, and what will last forever. Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered and his life on earth was full of deep joy because He obeyed God and remained firmly in his Father’s love. And what did God know would make his Son’s joy complete? The Cross! Jesus would not tell us the road to Jerusalem was care-free. He would not sugar-coat his agony in Gethsemane. The sadistic cruelty of the Roman scourging and crucifixion can never be associated with anything pleasant, yet joy was a part of Christ’s passion. For the ‘joy set before him’ Jesus endured the Cross, scorned its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.

For a couple of hours this past Saturday, I raked and bagged leaves with seven-year-old John and his four-year-old sister Leesa. John wanted to know if they were going to get some money for their hard work in the yard. I said, “Yes, John, I’ll give you guys a little reward if we do a good job and finish.” For the rest of the time a little boy called out to his sister and co-worker, “Keep your eyes on the prize, Leesa, keep your eyes on the prize!” Raking leaves is hardly suffering, but Jesus says anyone who really wants to follow him must carry his cross. When the road is hard and the pain is overwhelming, we are not to lose hope. There is joy set before us, so “keep your eyes on the prize!”

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2-3

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Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Dana

I spent all morning at Emory today going through various tests. I’ve spent a lot of time at the cancer center over the past eleven years. It is always busy and usually I run into someone I know. Today I saw a friend with multiple myeloma who has really had a hard time lately. But she and her husband both smiled warmly and wished me a happy Thanksgiving. They are not letting the disease destroy a joyful attitude.

I believe it is true that some of the greatest thanksgiving takes place in the most difficult circumstances. When a person does not know how many days he has left on this earth, he often appreciates things a little more. Susan reminded me this week that we have so much to be thankful for and I know she is right.

There’s a place at the end of Romans 7 where Paul saw how helpless he was against the sin that works against us. God’s perfect law makes it even more apparent that we cannot be righteous by our own efforts. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v 24-25)

What can come against us that God cannot handle? We may be sick, but we are not separated from his love. We may be struggling financially, but we are not separated from the love of Christ. The devil may be attacking us from every side with every weapon, but we are not separated from God’s love.

One of Satan’s most-used strategies is to make us think we ARE separated from the love of God, but he is a liar and a thief. Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” I want to be a sheep who even faces death with a smile on his face and thanksgiving on his lips and the truth in his heart that God wins.

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long: we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

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Helper

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Dana

I was one of the ones who left his fishing nets and family to follow the Nazarene, the One whom John the Baptist called the ‘Lamb of God.’ Some thought we were crazy, but when Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God, we knew he was no ordinary teacher. And when we saw him feed the multitudes and walk on water and heal the sick and raise the dead, we knew he was no ordinary man. Jesus practiced what he taught and we believed he possessed the words of life. ‘Love’ was his greatest attribute and his greatest command. Christ said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” How could we ever love the way he loves? It is true that on more than one occasion our teacher gave us the power to cast out demons and heal the sick, but could he also give us the power to love? Jesus said something at the end of his life none of us could believe: “It is for your good that I am going away.” How could this be true? Jesus said He would send a Helper, but how could anything be better than being with Jesus himself? We had learned to depend on him totally; how could we survive without him?

Who was this Helper Jesus spoke about? “He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” We were very confused by these words. “The Helper will teach you all things and remind you of everything I said to you.” After Jesus was arrested, we needed someone to remind us. In the chaos and confusion of the Garden, we all ran away. After the crucifixion, we hid in fear, thinking we would be next. But when our Lord appeared to us on the third day, our grief turned to joy and we realized Jesus even had power over the grave. Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told us to go to Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.” On the Day of Pentecost we understood. Of course we missed him, but Jesus had come to live in our hearts. His character became our character; his life became our life; his love became our love.

So if you ever wonder how you are going to follow Jesus when you can’t see him, trust what he taught about the Helper. You need as much help during your days on earth as we did in ours. And if you ask, like I did, “How can I ever love others the way Jesus loves me?” realize his love lives in you. He has not left you to do it by yourself. Trust and obey and depend on the Helper. He will not disappoint you.

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:5

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motivation

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Dana

So what’s your motivation for following Jesus? Is it for the blessings you will receive? Jesus once said, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Lk 18:29-30)

But this was stated after the disciples left everything, not before. Why did they leave their fishing nets, jobs, and families to follow a Rabbi from Nazareth? They followed because they believed He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Son of David who has authority to command. The disadvantage of living in a democracy with a “we the people” mentality is that we’re not used to being told what to do. Yet when we pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth (and in us) as it is in Heaven” we are really asking a King to have his way.

The rich young ruler was a moral man, a law-abiding citizen who had obeyed the law of Moses since he was a boy (see Lk 18:1-25). But he could not be a disciple until he followed the instruction of the Christ. If he had sold his possessions, given the money to the poor, and followed the Master, it would have all been worth it, but he could not give up his stuff. God’s main goal is not that we be healthy, wealthy, and wise by human standards, but that we know him… which equates with eternal life. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3)

Look what the King did for us: Motivated by love, Jesus died for all the world and now He calls his followers ‘friends.’ Should He not be all the motivation we need? When the Lord says, “Follow me,” He is telling us to love others the way He loves us. May we say ‘yes.’

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other the way I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:9-15

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grace

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Dana

The power of the Sermon on the Mount is not simply a beautiful lesson… it is a message backed by a life. Jesus lived out the Sermon on the Mount and He invites us to follow in his steps with the help only the Holy Spirit can provide.

On earth, Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God was at hand and He was the entrance. “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” But what does this mean for us? Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s best known writing is “The Cost of Discipleship” in which he states that Jesus is calling us to really follow him. Without discipleship, Bonhoeffer argues that ‘costly grace’ turns into ‘cheap grace.’ Years before the beginning of World War II, this young German theologian looked at his ‘Christian nation’ and saw looming disaster. “Cheap grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our Evangelical Church. This cheap grace has been no less disastrous to our own spiritual lives. Instead of opening up the way to Christ it has closed it. Instead of calling us to follow Christ, it has hardened us in our disobedience.”

Jesus said the religious leaders of his day were hypocrites because they claimed to follow the Law of Moses while ignoring the very heart of God. “You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.” (Mt 23:23) What does Jesus say about those who claim to follow him but do not do what He says? “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Mt 7:26-27)

Bonhoeffer argued that the one who gives up self is the one who truly understands grace. “The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the one who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.”

“Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.” So what is this discipleship “which springs from grace” that Dietrich proclaimed? It is one thing: following Jesus… each day… full of his Spirit… eyes on him… listening to his Word… obeying what He says… following Jesus.

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple… In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27, 33

Quotes from “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, first published in 1937 by Chr. Kaiser Verlag, translated by R. H. Fuller. Copyright 1959 by SCM Press Ltd.

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