Not of This World

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."
John 18:36

Jesus is different. We cannot treat Him like any other historical figure and think we got Him right. He was bringing something to humanity from another realm. His kingdom was unlike anything this world had ever seen. And it is ironic that Jesus says this in the situation that He does.

He is on trial for His life and is standing before Pilate, the Roman governor who has the authority to pronounce sentence on Him. He has been brought to Pilate by the Jewish religious authorities who arrested Him, but who had no final say so on His fate. A "system" is being worked, twisted to kill Him... it was politically complicated. But not for Jesus... His kingdom is not of this world.

He made it clear that the "might makes right" thinking of Rome was not how His kingdom worked. And He made it clear that His kingdom has the highest authority. His calm answer before the judge was evidence of His innocence of the seditious charges the Jews made of Him before Rome. Pilate saw this for what it was. He literally washed his hands of an innocent man's blood when he handed Jesus back over to the Jews, accompanied by a Roman crucifixion death squad. But Jesus and a kingdom were still in charge. This was God's plan to bring salvation to all who would believe and usher in a King and a kingdom that are not of this world.


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The Scriptures as agent of change

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17

Jesus prayed that God would use His Word as the means to holiness for His disciples. We are changed through the process of sanctification. And we become more like Christ by knowing, believing, following, and obeying the truth. We know the truth in the Holy Scriptures. There is no other way. Jesus Himself asked for God the Father to do this in us.

So it is absolutely imperative for me to be changed by the truth of the Word of God. Only by exposure to the Word, acceptance of its truth as I come to understand it, and applying the principles to my daily experience can I truly mature in my faith and become more like my Master. So getting into the Word is a mandate of discipleship. It is my work for true life. And it is a life's work.

Lord,
I thank You for the accessibility to Your Word that I enjoy. It is an abundance of riches. And it is also a serious demand. You want me made holy, changed, and charged for Your service by my intake of Your truth. Do so in me, even today!
Amen


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Peace & Pain

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. ”
John 16:33




There is a two-fold contrast of promises that Jesus makes to His disciples here. It is not particularly enjoyable to contemplate, but it is ultimately comforting. Jesus announces that He came into the world to bring peace to them through relationship with Him. That is well and good, but there is more to it. He could not guarantee that peace meant a conflict life in this world. It meant that pain would come from the world even while they were receiving peace in Jesus.

Christianity runs counterculture to the way things generally are in the world. We hold to absolute truth; the world runs from truth. We say sin brings judgment; the system says being bade is fun and a personal pleasure, even a right in some instances. We decry injustice and evil for what they are; the system perpetuates personal wealth and pleasure at expense of other people. All of that brings "tribulation" to those who swim against these currents.

Jesus' final words provide the perspective and encouragement we need: "...take heart; I have overcome the world." He would do so by dying on a cross at the hands of the powers of this world. He would then carry the sin of that world and later rise from the dead to offer victory over sin and death in this world to all who would change and be changed by trusting in Him.


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The Infinite Intimacy

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15

This is the kind of close relationship that Jesus was preparing to secure on the cross. By making peace with God through the atonement, He was creating the new terms of intimate friendship between God and man that had not been present since the Garden of Eden. The disciples were the first people to get a taste of this experience in their relationship with Jesus.

And Jesus correctly defines what makes friendship different. He saw it as a matter of intimate knowledge. He held nothing back with His disciples. All that He had heard from His Father was made known to them. Friends share that kind of knowledge and life together.

God is hiding nothing from me in His Son. God is clear and straightforward and knowable in the Incarnation. That is why Jesus came. That is the power of the work of Jesus. It is the witness of the life of Jesus. God's will is observable in a life... one that I can delve into deeply through reading the New Testament, paying particular attention to all that is shown in the gospels.

And the knowledge is mine to share in Christ today. I believe this infinite intimacy is still the heart of my Lord for me, His follower. All disciples of Jesus will KNOW Him as their life's pursuit (Philippians 3:10). And it is the direction of mine. Thank You, Jesus, for coming to make Yourself known and to call me a friend!

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Peace, man!

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27

Peace is the gift of Jesus, and it comes specifically through the ministering work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). The promise to the disciples was that the Holy Spirit would guide them in all truth and bring to mind the things that Jesus had taught them. Peace would follow in the work of the Spirit of God in their lives.

I live in a world that has always desperately wanted peace, but defies true peace at every turn because it sinfully resists the Spirit of God and the Savior Who would bring it peace. Hippie idealism has defined peace for many in our culture. But peace is not about a selfish "mellow life", or the absence of any military conflict. Peace is found only one way: through the One Who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and can redeem broken, restless souls one at a time when they come to Him.

My busy life can scream for peace without obedience to the Holy Spirit keeping me centered on Jesus. I must make my day focused on the Word of God that shows me the Son of God so that I can obey the will of God so that the Spirit of God may do His work in and through me. The result of that commitment and obedience is peace... real and God-given peace.

A bowl... a towel

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
John 13:14-15

Jesus came with a bowl of water
kneeling down, setting the example,
He served and washed calloused feet, calloused hearts
and in so doing set humility apart
as the service example
for all His disciples.

He wiped the wet feet with a towel
leaving with His men the teaching
that servanthood is the principle
creating ministry hearts, a service example
truly caring and always reaching
to the needs of all the world.

After the advance of two millennia
I need these words with challenge
knowing I live a self-driven lifestyle...
it crashes down with a bowl and a towel
in this call to action, simple service message
is for me, the disciple.

A bowl and a towel equip me
going into all I do in a life of ministry
Feet may not be my first call exactly
but humble service is always before me
Taking no credit, but kneeling humbly
all things to all men that some may be saved.

Crying out the claim

And Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me."
John 12:44-45

Jesus made it clear that He had a unique relationship with the Father. He said that seeing Him was the same thing as seeing the Father. This was certainly a claim to deity that Jesus did not make in secret. The text says that He cried it out. This claim was public knowledge and became more and more an issue during the Passion Week leading to His crucifixion.

John 12 makes it clear that the religious authorities recognized what Jesus was claiming. They were losing coverts to His teaching. They were moving to deal with these claims and silence Him. If He were just another rabbi, there would have been room for Him in the system. There was no room for Him to claim to be God.

And I can see Jesus as nothing less than God, even as He is fully human. That is why as I read the gospels, I must be very attentive. I am looking at the life of my God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He claimed it and proved it in all that He did. I believe it. That is the best fact of my life.


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