The Well

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 4:13-14

 

I lower a dirty bucket

down way deep

into a hole in my heart

and I draw up dust that

clogs my throat

still thirsty… still parched

 

And I look for another

place to drink

flies buzzing in the air

but bothered and smothered

in a desert where

no water eases where I suffer

 

And then You, Jesus, met me

at my usual door to hell

and there you offered to me

eternal life from Your flowing well

I drank from there and knew eternity

 

And in me now

is eternal life knowing

so that in Christ I found

real satisfaction is growing

and heaven lives as I show

there my Savior is flowing… vibrant streams where fruit grows.

 

Technorati Tags: Christianity,Discipleship,Religion

Rewards for the cost of discipleship

And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

Luke 18:29-30

The life spent committed to following Jesus has its cost. But Jesus assures those who have given up the most that it is well worth it. We must keep this statement in context. A very wealthy young man of influence has just approached Jesus wanting to settle his eternal destiny (Luke 18:18-27). He has come to the right place with the most important question of all. And Jesus invites him to leave everything behind and join the band of disciples (Luke 18:22). But though this rich young man was interested in spirituality, he would not pull away from his interest in materialism as well. He wanted both. And you cannot hold on to two affections. Jesus demands our full attention.

Peter comments on this sad state and outcome, reminding Jesus that the have indeed abandoned everything to follow Him (Luke 18:28). Jesus recognizes their commitment and sacrifice with this statement. He also reminds them of two levels of reward found in relationship with Him.

The first reward is in rich present relationships. This is not to be understood as some sort of promise of tremendous monetary wealth. I find most of what Jesus says here to be tied to the relationships newly discovered by a disciple within the family of God. There is no guarantee that physical family will turn to God for salvation. But there is a new family in Christ. And Christians share their lives and homes together like family should.

The second reward is the eternal life that the rich young man sought. What we find in Jesus is new life that is always fresh and new and amazingly good FOREVER! That is a really, really, really long time. Life eternal is found in Him and I don’t have to wait to enjoy it. Eternal life is lived right now. It started when I came to Him for salvation. It exists for me right now as I follow Him. It lasts forever when death is not an end of anything, but a bridge to a brighter, richer, fuller life in Christ.

Technorati Tags: Luke,Jesus,Discipleship,Eternal Life,Christian Living

God and money.

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Luke 16:13

Divided loyalties will not advance the kingdom of God. Jesus makes it clear that a commitment to a life serving God cannot also be a life committed to an agenda of worldly wealth. The two are incompatible. Jesus is not saying that money is evil. If you look into the context, it is clear that He is talking about the attitude we have toward material things. We must see them as resources for a higher goal and end.

He begins with our motivations, letting us in on an important big picture truth… money is often used in this world to gain status and security. The parable of the dishonest steward (Luke 16:1-9) has a central theme: money is often used to gain intangible results. If that is the case in worldly pursuits, why not manage it toward the ultimate leverage: eternal impact and reward?

Principles of wise “eternal” investment are then explained by Jesus (Luke 16:9-13). He expects His followers to find this appealing. And He expects us to seek reward not from a dividend alone, but from the God Who gives us all we have to utilize for His glory.

The Pharisees mock Jesus for teaching these values (Luke 16:14-18). Their motive was selfish in all relationships and responsibilities. They were moved by the love of money. Jesus calls their materialistic motivation an abomination in the sight of God. He does not mince words. He cannot see materialism leading to obedience to God. Those who serve money as their life’s worship are not able to worship God as evidenced by the Pharisee’s inability to receive or believe this truth. They are in conflict with His eternal kingdom. And that cannot end in eternal life for them.

That leads to the most difficult part of the teaching in Luke 16. Jesus tells the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) to make one essential and brutally clear point: all the money in the world will not buy your soul out of hell. God will not barter with either bankers or borrowers in eternity. It is of no interest to Him what you had. It is of all the interest to Him what you did for Him with what you had. He gave it to you. In the end, it is better to be a beggar in heaven than a billionaire in hell.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Luke,Money,Stewardship,Eternity

New Heaven and Earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:1-2

Of all the grand descriptions in the book of Revelation, this vision of what will be our ultimate eternal destiny is most compelling. God is remaking the universe. He is doing something both new and the same. There is a heaven. There is an earth. And this time the physical planet will also be His physical dwelling place in a place of His design: The New Jerusalem. It is called a “holy city” that is “from God” and “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”.

We know that this will be such a remarkable place that it will be uniquely associated with God’s people. The New Jerusalem is called “the wife of the Lamb” in Revelation 21:9. Then the rest of the chapter goes into detail on its measurements and glorious construction. Somehow this beautiful final city is also the unique abode of all believers. It is where my heart will find its final home. That is why it is a holy city. It is the dwelling place of God and it is the dwelling place of His holy people. One cannot help but wonder if that was what God hoped for in the Garden of Eden all along. That at some point He would work with Adam and Eve and their descendants in the construction of just such a place.

The origin of the New Jerusalem is “from God”. It comes to the earth from heaven. Jesus Himself promised to “go and prepare a place” for us and come and bring us to Himself. That will find its complete fulfillment in the arrival of the New Jerusalem. And I think He is already preparing that place for us even now.

And the city is festive. It is prepared for a wedding of the Lamb to His Bride. It will be the place where we will share our lives forever with Jesus. And it will be a place of joy, intimacy, shared life, and joy and fulfillment that we can only now barely comprehend in our redeemed fallen natures. But when we are as a race fully holy, this experience will be more thrilling than we can ever imagine. My heart quickens just a little thinking about it now. It is what my deepest hopes want to see.

Technorati Tags: Revelation,Heaven,Eternity

The Ultimate Epic Fail

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matthew 25:46

The doctrine of hell and eternal judgment really is derived from the clear teaching of Jesus. He made it quite clear that He is the Judge of all men, and the parables and teaching in Matthew 25 make this abundantly clear. The fate and destiny of all people hinge on His opinion, and are related to the response each individual has demonstrated to Him and to His people.

Now there is a specific context in Matthew 25. It has to do with "the kingdom" and as such I believe it has to do specifically with the fates of those who will be part of Christ's future millennial reign. But the bit of this that gets my attention has to do with Jesus' insistence that He as the King will determine the eternal fates of those present in this judgment. For those declared righteous, there is eternal life. For those who did not welcome Jesus and care for His "least of these", there is eternal punishment. Heaven and Hell are real fates according to the teaching of Jesus.

There is a growing reluctance to preach this in the current evangelical climate. Two doctrines have crept in to replace Jesus' clear teaching. One view, Universalism, claims that specific faith in Christ, repentance of sin, and a Christian understanding of God will not be necessary to be accepted by God. What matters is sincerity and a commitment to whatever good the person knew. But this is not taught in the Bible, and false religion.... especially ones that promote human works over God's grace, are decried throughout the Bible as insufficient to save. The second usurper is that of Annihilationism, which says that Hell exists, but the soul sent there does not eternally suffer, but instead is destroyed, thus making God somehow more "pleasant" in His role of Judge. Again, this does not square with what Jesus taught specifically about the destiny of those in Hell (see Mark 9:44-48).

So the reality of my life, just as important as the food I eat and the air that I breathe, is that eternal destiny is the fate of every human soul on the planet. It is the first priority for understanding the human need and bettering the world of humanity. It is the first need of my life and should be a driving force for my love for the world.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Eternity,Judgment