All His Story

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Pete

I guess I could start my yearly reading plan in December rather than January. That is if I wanted to be reading the story of Jesus birth in the month when we focus on celebrating His birth.

But this morning, though I am reading in the Minor Prophets, the end of John’s gospel, and the end of all things, Revelation, I’m picking up a lot of why Jesus came down.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me One who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

(Micah 5:2 ESV)

Bethlehem, more than just a quaint place with zero occupancy and a cozy manger ready for an idyllic nativity. Instead, a key piece to the prophetic puzzle foretelling the coming of One who is to be Ruler. And, while He will come forth in time and space to rule a people, His coming has been determined from of old and is ultimately for God — that the Creator might be known and the creation be reconciled to Him for His glory. O come let us adore Him!

And the One who comes to rule will also make Himself known as a Shepherd.

And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they shall dwell secure, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth. And He shall be their peace.

(Micah 5:4-5 ESV)

We get so distracted by the shepherds in the field at this time of year that we often forget to behold the Shepherd lying in the manger. One who would gather a flock, would die for His flock, and would forever protect His flock, thus securing for His flock eternal peace. In a coming day to stand before them, as even then He shepherds them, in all His eternal might and majesty. O come let us adore Him!

But this is only good news if it’s true.

Then Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world —  to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

(John 18:37 ESV)

Even as I read of Jesus’ final hours this morning, I’m reminded of His birth. The King of a kingdom not of this world (Jn. 18:36a), coming into this world to bear witness to reality. In the manger not only a Shepherd, but the Truth. The Word of God from before the beginning who, in the beginning, has always been with God, and has always been God. The One who made all things, made Himself in the likeness of His creation. The embodiment of life and light, come to bring life and light to those who would hear and receive Him (Jn 1:1-5). Come to bear witness to the truth. Thus, those who truly celebrate His coming bearing witness as well that they are of the truth. And that, only by God’s redeeming grace. O come let us adore Him!

Even as I read in the last pages of my bible, and the apocalyptic descriptions of the end of time before the onset of eternity, the Child is clearly seen — His coming, His ascension, and His coming again.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her Child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male Child, One who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her Child was caught up to God and to His throne . . .

(Revelation 12:4b-5 SV)

Oh, to be cautious of gazing upon the babe in the manger too intently for, just as is true of the cross, just as is true of the tomb, the manger is empty. This One born to rule all nations is no longer the beautiful Child of Bethlehem. He is the risen, ascended King in waiting. Reigning even now in heaven. Preparing even now a place for us that we might be where He is. Waiting even now as every last sheep to be given Him is brought into His fold. Anticipating even now that time of His return and His glorious appearing.

And we wait too. O come let us adore Him!

Hmmm . . . sure, starting my reading plan in December would align pretty well with the His birth story, but finishing my reading plan in December provides the blessed reminder that it’s all so much more than just a birth story. It is all His story.

And we enter in only because of God’s grace. And so we worship, always for God’s glory.

O come let us adore Him!

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Authority and Peace

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Pete

Authority. That’s the word that caught my attention this morning — I’m guessing, prompted by the Spirit who is the One who illuminates God’s word. And, in kind of a circuitous route, found that authority and peace can be closely related.

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

(Revelation 11:1-3 ESV)

I will grant authority.

Though the two witnesses are the main focus of the passage, for some reason I will grant authority caught my eye and captured my attention. And I ask myself, “Self, who’s speaking here? Who’s granting these two witnesses their authority?” — because it’s not always clear, in this wild ride of a vision John is having, who John is listening to or who he hears speaking. But then, another Scripture speaking of authority comes to mind:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

(Matthew 28:18 ESV)

And I’m thinking, is this Jesus talking to John? Would make sense that the One who has been given “all authority in heaven and earth” should give power from heaven to these two witnesses to do wonders on earth. They would have “the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall.” The power “over the waters to turn them into blood.” And even the power to “strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire” (Rev. 11:6). Yup, I’m thinking this is Jesus, the One who has all authority giving authority to His two witnesses.

But then I think, when did He come on this scene? And so I trace back and I think it’s at the beginning of Revelation 10:

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.

(Revelation 10:1 ESV)

Pretty sure this is one talking to John in Revelation 11. Buy I missed the Lamb being at the head of this parade because He was referred to as a “another mighty angel.” Could the Creator of mighty angels be seen here as “another in kind” of these awesome beings? So, I consider the credentials of this mighty angel of a different kind:

  • coming down from heaven — Jesus had already set the precedent that in order to fulfill His work He would “come down from heaven” to do the will of the Father who had sent Him (Jn. 6:38).
  • surrounded by a cloud — Clouds and Jesus kind of go hand in hand. On the Mount of Transfiguration clouds overshadowed those who looked upon the Christ revealed in His majesty, as a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5). When Jesus ascended, He ascended into clouds (Acts 1:9). And Jesus Himself said that in that day when men shall behold the Son of Man coming with power and and glory, it will be “in a cloud” (Lk. 21:27).
  • a rainbow over his head — A rainbow, the symbol of peace given after the flood, appropriate for the One who would be the Prince of Peace. A bow pointed toward heaven indicating to Noah, and those with ears to hear, that the arrows of a future judgment for the sins of the earth would be directed toward heaven. Suitable for the One who will forever be known as the Lamb of God.
  • face shining like the sun and his feet on fire — just how John describes the One who walks “in the midst of the lampstands” (Rev. 1:15a, 16b).
  • and, the one who has all authority and thus can give authority (Matt. 28:18).

Thinking it’s Jesus. Maybe not, couldn’t be too dogmatic, but thinking so.

And if so, then He is the one who has “His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the land” (Rev. 10:2). The One who has been given all authority is present. Nothing happening on this earth — past, present, or future — where this Mighty Messenger of God, God Himself, is not calling the shots.

Thus, it is well . . . . it is well, with my soul.

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:20b ESV)

Because He has all authority, I can have a peace that passes understanding.

By His grace. For His glory.

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That I May Be

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Pete

Jesus prayed for me.

I’m chewing on the last seven verses of John 17. And there Jesus prayed for me, as well as for all who would believe in Him through the word of the gospel. The word first proclaimed by those who were with Him that night in the upper room before He was betrayed.

Not gonna lie, like being prayed for. I NEED to be prayed for.

But so often I want prayer in order to help me do what I gotta do or, to help me endure what I gotta endure or, to walk in the manner I know I should walk. Rarely do I seek prayer to help me just be who Jesus wants me to be. But that’s what Jesus prays here, that I may be.

First, Jesus prayed that I may be one. One with others.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You . . .

(John 17:20-21a ESV)

This season has been a lonely season in many ways. Not seeing those you want to see, not hanging with those you want to hang with. Yet, there is the communion of the saints that really knows nothing of being locked down. There is a bond with all believers which transcends the things of earth. I am not an individual trying to make it on my own, I’m part of a body where each does its part (1Cor. 12:18-20). I’m part of a family (Eph. 2:19) with other blood-bought brothers and sisters. I’m a living stone, placed alongside other living stones, to be built into a spiritual house (1Pet. 2:5), a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22).

And that’s the second thing Jesus prays for. He prays that I may be in. In union with the Triune God.

“. . . that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.

(John 17:21b-23 ESV)

My unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ comes not because I agree with them on all things, but because, just as they are, I am in the Father by the Son through the Spirit. To abide in God the Son is to abide with the God the Father. For God the Son to be in us is for God the Father to be in us through the Son. And this divine, supernatural dynamic all possible through the indwelling of God the Spirit. Jesus prayed that I may be in Them. Unreal!

And finally, the Savior prays that I may be with. With Him where He is.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

(John 17:24 ESV)

How often have we felt as Paul felt, that we’d “rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8 KJV)? Well, it’s not only our desire, it’s Jesus’ desire to. I don’t often think of the omni-everything God, who holds all things together, having any desires Himself. Not in need of anything to bring Him pleasure. But while He does not need me to be with Him, He wants me to be with Him. He desires to be face-to-face as much as I do. Not that He might look upon me, but that I might know the fullness of the blessing of beholding Him and His glory.

Just prayed that I may be. Me too.

Oh, that I may be one . . . one with all who have been made one in Christ.

That I may be in . . . in the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

That I may be with . . . with the One who died for me, who is now preparing a place for me, and who desires Me to be where He is.

Like I said, I like being prayed for.

More of God’s grace. All for God’s glory.

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The How of Suffering

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Pete

Not to oversimplify, and not to be overly influenced by the ways of our current culture, but it seems to me that Job and his friends had become quite polarized in there back and forth, round-and-round-we-go debate. Though they at least agreed on a certain core set of facts — Job had taken it in the teeth, no one disputed that he was suffering — where they landed on opposite ends of a continuum came from trying to deal with the why of Job’s suffering.

I’m righteous, says Job, therefore my suffering indicates there’s a problem with God’s justice, I want to talk to Him . . . now! No, say his friends (miserable friends), God is just, therefore your suffering must be because you are evil . . . and though by all appearances you come across as one who is blameless, upright, fears God, and shuns evil (Job 1:1), we know you can’t be and therefore will speculate on the sins of your secret life.

Opposite ends of the continuum. I am justified, cries Job. You are being judged, comes the rebuke from his friends. Polarized. At a theological impasse. Talking’s done.

Enter Elihu. The kid in the crowd. Up until chapter 32, an eavesdropping bystander. Respectful on the outside, but raging on the inside (that he “burned with anger” is mentioned three times in his introduction). Choked because Job “justified himself rather than God.” Done because Job’s three friends “found no answer” to Job’s complaint though “they had declared Job to be in the wrong” (Job 32:1-5).

And I’m thinking that Elihu may just have something to say worth listening to. Thinking this because I know that when God steps in, He will call Job on the carpet for His arrogance (Job 38:1-3), and He will rebuke Job’s friends for their ignorance (Job 42:7), but the LORD says nothing to Elihu. Thinking that’s significant. While Elihu may not speak perfect wisdom, it seems he’s a credible “opening act” before God comes on the stage.

So, as I hover over Job 33, and take note of the redemption language used by Elihu, it seems that Elihu diffuses the polarization of trying to answer why God has allowed (or, as the friends would suggest, “inflicted”) such suffering, by focusing more on the wisdom of how God might use such suffering.

Elihu talks of a man “rebuked with pain.” Emaciated to the point where “his flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.” So crushed by his condition that “his soul draws near the pit.” Elihu describes Job.

But it’s in that condition, skin and bone and on the precipice of death — when a man or woman is at the end of their own physical resources — that Elihu says they are ready for a word from God, are wanting of some mediation with God, are knowing that they need a ransom before God. And then, says Elihu,

” . . . man prays to God, and He accepts him; He sees his face with a shout of joy, and He restores to man his [or His] righteousness. He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’ Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.”

(Job 32:26-30 ESV)

The question for Elihu isn’t why Job was suffering. It was how could God use such suffering.

Using suffering so that the sufferer might turn to God and pray. So God could look upon the face of a contrite woman, a humbled man, and restore to them righteousness (and I’m thinking crediting to their account His own righteousness). So that God could show mercy and grace, not repaying the sinner for his sin, but instead redeeming the sinner’s soul for His glory. Letting him or her look into the darkness of the pit so that they might be renewed with the Light of life.

Behold, God does all these things!

Reminding this guy in the chair this morning that all hardship can be profitable if it results in turning to God. May never know the answers to the why of suffering, but can always engage in the redemptive, divine dynamic of the how of suffering.

And this too, by God’s grace. And this too, always for God’s glory.

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A Shelter and A Shepherd

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Pete

John saw a great multitude, more than could be numbered. They were from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. While I’m sure that what they beheld must have taken their breath away, they could not be restrained from crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They were those who had come out of “the great tribulation.” Those who, during earth’s darkest time, had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-14).

I connect. Not because I think this season is the great tribulation, but because it has been a great tribulation. Not that all have had to endure hardship to the same extent, or have suffered equally, but regardless of how things started in 2020 and how they’ve played out, for all it has been a great tribulation. And, I also connect because they are those who are clothed in white, waving palm branches of victory, and that because of the finished work of the cross of Christ and the forever cleansing of the blood of the Lamb.

And, having connected, I pause and chew on what it will be like to be with that great multitude before the throne and before the Lamb. I can only imagine (thank you, MercyMe).

But I read on and realize that it won’t just be a “spectators sport.” That the throne and the Lamb will be so much more than something we behold from afar.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

(Revelation 7:15-17 ESV)

God who sits on the throne will shelter them. The Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. Hmmm . . .

If I’m picking up what’s being laid down, heaven won’t be like some grand, outdoor concert venue where the people out there will gaze at the glory of the One seated on the stage. The spatial thing is somehow erased as the One on the throne shelters them. Literally, spreads His tent over them. Takes up residence over them. Before the throne yet enveloped by the One who sits on the throne. I can only imagine.

What’s more, the Lamb, while transfixing our gaze and evoking our worship, doesn’t set Himself apart on some pedestal for eternal adoration (though He is worthy of such). Instead, He shepherds us. Guiding us to whatever heavenly, eternal springs of living water look like, feel like, and taste like. The Lamb is in the midst of the throne of God, and yet continues to be the Shepherd in the midst of those He has bought with His blood. What will that even be like? I can only imagine!

A Shelter and a Shepherd. It’s what awaits those who come out of tribulation, regardless of how great (or not so great) that tribulation might be. It is our firm hope. It is our sure future.

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

(Revelation 7:12 ESV)

By His grace. For His glory.

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Return to Me

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Pete

What if we have more control over this pandemic season than we think? Not just by keeping our distance, covering our faces, and washing our hands (though I think we should). Not necessarily by sheltering in place and shutting down businesses (though perhaps, in some form of moderation, it could flatten the curve without crushing the economy). Not necessarily by being the first in line for the vaccine (or hoping enough go before you and create sufficient herd immunity that you really don’t have to). What if the control we have, the influence we hold, when it comes to how long this season will last isn’t found in controversial remedies but in a contrite return.

Reading in Amos this morning. And it’s a rhetorical question, asked by the LORD through the prophet, that causes me to pause and whisper in response, “Nope!”

Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

(Amos 3:6b ESV)

And I think to myself, Does a pandemic come to a planet, unless the LORD has done it? Again, Nope!

Our God is Sovereign. It’s one of the truths we cling to in order to find comfort and endurance during what continues to be an uncomfortable and wearying time. Whether the pandemic has infected us personally or not, we’ve all been impacted by it to some degree. Whether the media you follow is preoccupied with warning of rising daily body counts or with lamenting increasing daily bankruptcies (or both), knowing that a good God has permitted it all for His purposes helps in dealing with it all.

But if only we knew the purposes. If only we knew what God wanted to accomplish. Then maybe we could get ‘er done and move on with life.

In Amos’s day the people had the prophets to connect the dots between “natural disasters” and supernatural purposes (Amos 3:7). A voice of one, crying in the wilderness as it were, calling God’s people to repent and return to the Lord for what was happening in the land. But while we don’t have a prophet among us who “thus says the LORD”, we do have the Spirit within us “who is from God, that we might understand . . . for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1Cor. 2:12, 10).

Not saying that I have any special revelation from God through the Spirit, but if God in us has reminded us that God above us is in perfect control of all things, then might He not also show us how we are to respond? And the sooner we respond might it not also speed the season along? And what if that response is found in the echoing repetition of Amos 4?

“. . . yet you did not return to Me.”

I took away your food, says the LORD, yet you didn’t return to Me (4:6). I withheld the rain, you were so thirsty you had wander to another city to find water, yet you wouldn’t turn back (4:7-8). I took out your crops with disease and damaging insects, still you ignored Me (4:9). When you saw a rerun of the Egyptian plagues in your land, you still took no notice of Me, it was as if I didn’t exist (4:10). Even when I permitted earthquake and fire, you never looked My way, you still did not return to Me (4:11). (Thanx to Peterson’s The Message for some of the word pictures).

Five times the charge echoes before God’s people, “Yet you did not return to Me.”

I wonder if at least part of what God wants to accomplish in permitting this difficult time is for His people to return to Him. Not that mass repentance and revival in the church necessarily ends the pandemic, but if calling me back to Himself might possibly be one of things God wants to accomplish through this dry, difficult season, perhaps returning to Him helps move this thing along in running its course.

Don’t really know. Just thinking. And returning.

Because of His grace. Only for His glory.

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A Common Denominator

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Pete

The impact of the contrast never fades. The wonder at reading the two put side by side and beheld in but one Person is jaw-dropping, again. No wonder everything in heaven goes facedown as they behold the Lion and the Lamb.

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, . . .

(Revelation 5:5-6a ESV)

Look at the Lion, they said. I saw a Lamb.

Look, they said, at the Root of David. Not just the One who is heir to the promised throne, but the One who existed before the throne and is Himself the throne’s origin. And I beheld a Lamb as though it had been slain.

Pause. Be still. Chew on that. Jaw-dropping.

Oh, how easy it is for us to “tame” Jesus. To put Him in a predictable box of own dimensions. But what is it that He is both the Lion and the Lamb? The Ruler and the Ransomer.

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation . . . ”

(Revelation 5:9 ESV)

The Ruler over all the earth worthy to take the scroll that will serve to judge the earth. But also He who was slain, His blood the ransom for all people so that no one should come under condemnation.

The Lion and the Lamb. How do you reconcile two portrayals of the same Person which seem so mutually exclusive? How do you bring the two of them together?

Okay, I’m probably stepping off an interpretive cliff here, but as I chew on these things a verse comes to mind that also speaks of a lion and a lamb. So I go there, perhaps for a clue. And in it I find a common denominator.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together and a little child shall lead them.

(Isaiah 11:6 ESV)

Here is another picture of the coexistence between a lion and a lamb. An edenic reality of predator and prey together. A peace-laden picture of might and meekness in complete harmony and alignment. And at the center of it all? A little child.

A child. That’s what brings the lion and the lamb together.

Let the advent countdown begin in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of a Child. The Ruler of all heaven and earth, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Php. 2:6). And found in the likeness of men, was revealed by the Spirit to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).

Behold the Lion. Behold the Lamb. Behold a Child, the common denominator.

O come let us adore Him!

By His grace. For His glory.

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He Will Restore

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Pete

The thing about a global pandemic is that everyone in some way has been impacted. Everyone, to greater or lesser extents, has suffered some level of loss. Maybe that’s why this promise so easily transcends the context of Joel’s specific prophecy and seems to be a promise to claim today.

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten . . .

(Joel 2:25a ESV)

Some have been devastated by 2020. Not totally unlike the unprecedented devastation of Joel’s day that had been experienced in Judah under the mighty hand of God’s judgment.

What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.

(Joel 1:4 ESV)

I’m no bug expert. Couldn’t pick out one locust from another in a line up. But I am getting the imagery here — Judah got hammered with wave after wave of compounding disaster. Playing the image out, you can almost hear them looking out over their ravaged land and asking, “What more could go wrong?” And then, bam! Another visitation of lunching locusts.

Hasn’t 2020 felt that way at times? Though not everyone has been ravaged — to be sure, the “loss” I’ve suffered is so minor compared to others — everyone has suffered some loss and experienced some sense of things just piling on. Everyone has been visited by at least some wave of locusts taking away what once was taken for granted. At the very least, who even knew that “shelter in place” was a thing a year ago? For many, personal isolation has been compounded by celebrations that didn’t get celebrated, deaths that didn’t get memorialized, and family gatherings where no one gathered. For others still, the next wave of locusts has been experienced through jobs lost, saving accounts drained, and businesses bankrupted. And for those who have known the worst of the waves, as if everything else weren’t enough, they’ve had to deal with the loss of life within their closest circles.

For some the locusts have eaten a lot in 2020. For others of us, if we’re real about it, they’ve just nibbled at the edges. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve all suffered hardship and loss in some manner. And so, I’m thinking, we need the promise.

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.

Not gonna lie, I kind of cringe as I read of “years” of swarming locusts. I’m done after nine months of being nibbled on. But as a believer I’m comforted and encouraged because I know that my God is in the restoration business. And while I’d like some of that business here and now, I am guaranteed it, in all its unimaginable fullness, there and then. And the promise of restoration goes a long way towards enduring whatever our degree of desolation.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

(Joel 2:26 ESV)

Press on weary saint. Whether your loss is little or much, your God is great, and your hope is sure.

He will restore what the locust have eaten.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Simple. Not Easy.

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Pete

At first I think it’s a gimme. A tap in. An easy shot. A no-brainer. But as I chew on it, while I may think it’s simple, if I’m honest with myself I know that far too often it isn’t easy.

Reading in John 15. The importance of abiding in Christ. Apart from Him I can do nothing. In Him I can bear much fruit. But the key is to be abiding.

So, how do you abide? For sure it has to do with being in His word and His word in you. Equally for sure it’s hard to imagine abiding with anyone without at some point talking to them, and them to you. So, prayer’s gotta be a part of it too.

But as I read further in John 15 this morning Jesus makes pretty clear another dynamic of abiding. He does so through the use of transitive truth, where if A=B, and B=C, then A=C. Here’s what I read, you do “the math.”

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love . . . This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

(John 15:10, 12 ESV)

See the math? Keeping His commandments is abiding (add obedience to reading my bible and prayer). And His commandment is to love others as He has loved me. Thus, abiding in Jesus happens as I love others as He has loved me. If I want to experience abiding in Jesus’ love then all I need to do is love others like Jesus loved me. Simple, right? Yeah, I think so. But a gimme? Easy? Hmmm, not so fast.

What about the brother who’s kind of bothersome? Or, the sister who can be kind of sinister at times? What about the saint with whom you don’t quite sync? And don’t even talk to me about the family member who’s constantly frustrating? Not so easy to love sometimes.

But isn’t that why purposing to love others is so helpful in abiding in Christ? Just as reading reveals Christ through His word, and praying engages the presence of Christ through conversation, so loving others, especially those we have a hard time liking, drives us to Christ for divine power — the power to love others as He loved us.

And how exactly did He love us?

God showed His love for us when, while we were still weak, and while we were still sinners, and while we were still determined enemies, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). That’s how Jesus loved us. That’s how we should love others.

But God is love, and Jesus is the Son of God, the fullness of God dwelling perfectly in and through Him. And me? Well, not so much. So, if I’m gonna love those who are hard to love as Jesus loved me, I’m gonna need Jesus living through me, and that’s gonna happen as I abide in Him.

If I am willing to obey Jesus and love others, then it will drive me to abide in Jesus in order to have the capacity and resources to love as He loved.

Really easy to love the lovable and to like the likeable and to get along with those who are on my same wavelength. But I don’t think that’s who Jesus has in mind here. He loved His own when they were yet sinners, and even loved them afterward as sinners saved by grace but not yet perfected through sanctification. Loving Peter, even as He denied Him, even when he stood up to Him and said, “Not so, Lord.” Loving Thomas when He doubted. Loving John and James as they jockeyed for top spot in the kingdom. He loved them with the steadfast love of the Father, and He loved them to the end.

How am I going to do that with the Peters and Thomas’s and Johns and James’s in my life? By leaning into the source of love. By confessing, repenting, and asking Him to love in and through me. By abiding in Him, and He in me.

Simple. Not easy. But doable.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Don’t Let It Go

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Pete

Hovering over the last church in Revelation 2, Thyatira. What a complex church.

On the one hand, within their gathering there’s all the stuff that you’d want to see in a church, all the stuff that the Lord who is in the midst of the church wants to see. Works characterized by “love and faith and service and patient endurance.” What’s more, far from being static or being satisfied with a certain status quo of righteous, kingdom pursuit, their “latter works exceed the first” (2:19). Yeah! That’s what you want to see. Three cheers for the church at Thyatira!

But then this from “the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire” (2:18b):

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

(Revelation 2:20 ESV)

Think about it . . . under the same roof — love, faith, service, and patient endurance along with false, seductive teaching, sexual immorality, and idol worship. Like I said, what a complex church. How does that happen?

When people came to church in Thyatira on Sunday morning did the ushers seat Jesus people on the left and Jezebel people on the right? The faithful at the front and fornicators at the back? Those who were planning on partaking of the Lord’s table here and those who were going to dine with demons there? Probably not. For what was so clearly identified by the One “who searches mind and heart” (2:23) had become indistinguishable among the congregation. And that because they had come to “tolerate the woman Jezebel.”

Thinking it’s the word tolerate which put this on my radar. I’ve been thinking a lot lately that as a culture we need to recapture the practice of true tolerance. Not the popular view that tolerance is agreement, acceptance, and therefore advancement of a concept or practice. But the idea that tolerance is actually respectful, civil, “hear me out even as I listen to you” disagreement. We need more true tolerance in our culture, I think.

But, as I’m reminded this morning, that shouldn’t necessarily be the case for some things within the church. Particularly when it’s allowing the coexistence of teaching aimed at leading people into sin and away from faithfulness to the Lord. In that case, you can’t just let it go.

That’s literally what the word tolerance means, to let it go. To leave alone. To not address. To not discuss. Thus to permit, allow, and not hinder. And that’s what the Lord of the church had against the church at Thyatira, they tolerated that woman Jezebel and her wayward-leading teaching which seduced others into grave sins of the flesh and sacrifices to idols. And this, amidst those who at the same time were increasing in love, faith, service, and patient endurance.

So, what am I picking up from what I think the Spirit’s laying down this morning? Don’t let it go. Don’t leave seductive, false teaching alone. It needs to be addressed.

Not talking about everyone becoming heresy hunters ready to split hairs with those who don’t dot their interpretive i’s, or cross their theological t’s in the same manner. Not talking about majoring on minors. Rather, it’s being willing to speak up when worldly wisdom, “the deep things of Satan” (2:24b), is being sold as new and improved freedom for the church. Seductive, insidious teaching which leads others into personal impurity and toward divine infidelity.

Can’t just let it go. We can’t tolerate such teaching in our churches.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ~ Jesus

(Revelation 2:29 ESV)

Don’t let it go.

By His grace. For His glory.

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