The Gospel of Peace May Be Uncomfortable

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
John 20:21

The disciples were huddled behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. They knew there had been a resurrection. They had not yet seen Jesus, and were not going to go around talking about this. Until now. And Jesus came challenging their fear by giving them words of peace and of command.

When I think about how they must have been feeling, I see that Jesus was working them over. He was giving them a convicting message. They were hiding from the world. He was sending them into the world. They were huddled together in fear for comfort. He was breaking them up and sending them out into ministry. And the world had not changed its opinion of Him. The authorities would still be opposed to the saving message of the gospel. But these men were nevertheless challenged to get at the call Christ was giving to them.

How many times have I preferred the comfort of the church crowd to the challenge of the Great Commission? If I am not careful, I will stay huddled in the church. But the odd thing is that obeying Jesus in going into the world brings peace, nor from the world, but from Him. And the peace goes into the world one redeemed sinner at a time. It is a gospel of peace. I need to remember that.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

"It is finished!" - triumph in the tragedy.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

For the disciples this seemed like an ending, but for all of us, this was the beginning. The crucifixion was not just some horrifying injustice. It was not about man's cruelty to man. It was about God's love for mankind despite their cruel sin. And the world of humanity, represented by Roman authority and Jewish religiosity turned against God in a momentous sin. They crucified the Son of God. Yet, He gave up His spirit on His own. He would lay down His life of His own accord... freely.

It took these events to bring salvation. And the sins of the whole world, my own sins, were carried by Him to that cross and in His death I died. In the hours that followed, Jesus' body was lowered from that pain-filled cross and buried in a rich man's borrowed rock tomb. But on the third day... all the trauma turned to triumph.

His last cry from vinegar soaked lips was "It is finished!" And that is the first shout of victory that echoed three days later when His followers murmured unbelievably, "He is risen!" Christ's victory over sin and death came at a high price. And by faith I accept, living it at a high cost... offering my life in obedience to my Lord.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

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.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

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


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

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.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

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.