Beyond Me

John 7:38 NIV

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

What About You?

This week I have been substitute teaching in a class of second graders.  The level of affection they have for me has been astonishing.  I gave them an assignment to write two or three sentences about a cause and effect event.  For example, I planted seeds in the soil and flowers sprung up out of the ground.  A rainstorm came and the creek overflowed with water.  One of the children wrote, “Mr. Walkup and me went to Starbucks and we got coffee.  It helped me stay up late.”  Now, I have only been in the class three days and why I entered into this narrative I cannot say.  Perhaps it is just proximity, that I was the only adult in the room who could bring the child to Starbucks, but I think it was more than that.  Somehow, I made an impact on that student that was significant enough to enter into the story.  I was taken aback a bit when I heard my name being read by the child, but it also struck me how quickly we can become a part of the narrative of others.  We don’t even have to work at it.  We enter into dreams, we invade the emotions and thoughts of those we barely know, we impact people all around us.  Now you and I must ask ourselves the important question.  What sort of impact do we wish to have?

One of the fascinating people in the Bible was actually a sort of “second banana”.  Even his name is easily mistaken for his more popular mentor.  There are plenty of children named Elijah.  I have known several Elijahs, but I have never come across anyone named after Elijah’s apprentice, Elisha.  It is not always easy standing in someone else’s spotlight; many become jealous of their more illustrious peers.  But not this prophet.  There is never a hint of him wanting to take Elijah’s place.  Rather, Elisha just wanted to not mess up as he took on the critical role of chief prophet of Israel once Elijah was taken away by God in a fiery chariot.  He knew that he could never live up to that responsibility if he did not have the same tools his teacher had so he asked Elijah if he might pass them along to him.  It wasn’t like he was asking for Elijah’s saw and hammer, his stud finder or his stethoscope.  Elijah had something unique that he could not just hand over to his loyal apprentice.  It had to come directly from God.

When it was about time for Elijah to be taken away by God, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him before he left.  Elisha’s reply points to just what he thought of the task before him and how tough it might be if he did not have what Elijah had.  "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours — otherwise not." (2 Kings 2:9-10 NIV) Elisha, if he was to live up to the high standard of excellence his mentor set, needed, not Elijah’s talents or developed skills; he needed all of God that he could get.  He had to have every bit of the Spirit of the Lord that was within Elijah if he were to have any hope at all of leading Israel as God’s prophet.  The wickedness of the nation was too great and the expectation of how a proper prophet of the LORD was to be was set too high for Elisha to have any hope of succeeding if he did not have the same measure of God as Elijah.  That explains his audacious request; a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.  Perhaps you too have felt like the task before you was too great; that you had to have more God than ever to do what was set before you.  If anything truly good is to come out of your life, you need more God or you have no hope of succeeding, at least, not at what lasts forever.

When Elijah was taken up into heaven by God, what was left was Elijah’s cloak.  Not much of an inheritance and yet it was more than enough to provide for Elisha in his life’s work.  He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.  Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. (2 Kings 2:13-14 NIV) Right then and there, the LORD became a part of Elisha and all that Elijah did, Elisha could do…and more.  Let us be clear about this.  God did not give Elisha His Spirit and the ability to do miracles so that Elisha could make something for himself.  He did this so that God might pour out of Elisha and fall upon all he came across.  It was not for Elisha that the Spirit came into him but for the world that was lost and without a Savior.

The Bible has this to say about every Christian.  “You are not your own…”  You are not here for you.  That life of yours is not to make something of yourself.  It is a funnel out of which all of God comes to all you meet.  Jesus put it this way.  On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."   By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39 NIV) What can be said of this promise of Christ?  You do not get the fullness of God so He can stay cooped up in you!  There is no power of prayer, no comfort from His Spirit, no guidance and help in times of trouble for you so you can hold on to it and be happy with what you have.  Christ is not making you into His likeness so it all stays there with you.  You have God so that He might spill out of you and invade the world.  He is a torrent of Living Water that cannot be kept in the reservoir of your life.  There must be no dam blocking up His Spirit in you.

All of God is to break out of you and come spilling over into each person He brings you.  His love and patience and holiness and honesty and encouragement and hope and faith and goodness are all at the boiling point and if they don’t pour out of you, they will make you into a miserable little miser who is no good for anything.  But if His gentleness and His truthfulness and His mercy and His kindness come rushing from you, you will be the happiest person on earth.  There is no good in you that the Lord does not want becoming the good others gain.  It is the measure of Christianity, this matter of being a flowing river of holiness and love that goes out into the world and makes it good.  Before I took this recent assignment in the second-grade class, I wondered why Jesus wanted me with those same children and staff for an entire week.  I asked the Lord to use me as His cup of blessing and encouragement for them and if He didn’t, I did not want to go.  What good are you if God is not pouring out of you, making the world better, not because you are talented or smart or creative but because the Lord is supernatural, and He is the Savior of the world.  This world does not need more cool or successful people; it needs a Savior who can save them from their Sin and if you are available, He can pour out of you and save the world.

The Way of Peace

John 14:27 NIV

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Happy?

Anxiety seems to be on the rise as is depression.  One in twelve Americans struggle with depression and forty percent of Americans say they are experiencing more anxiety than they did last year.  Is there anything in particular that drives up your blood pressure?  What gives you a tension headache or causes you to lose sleep?  Has your temper caused you problems or discouragement zapped your strength?  What takes away your peace?    When you lose it, how do you get it back?  There are so many opportunities for you to become frustrated and discouraged and angry and even worried that it is no wonder so many struggle with maintaining their tranquility.  Perhaps you would like a bit more quiet in your soul…a little more peace.  Let’s talk about it!

Most of the time the way peace is reestablished is by a change in circumstances.  The bill gets paid.  A new job makes life better.  A divorce ends the fighting.  The prognosis improves.  If it is only a shift in the situation or the environment that changes your mood, then the quality of peace is haphazard and chaotic.  It comes and goes with the roll of the dice.  There is no depth to the peace, no staying power that withstands tough times.  The Bible has much to say about peace and plenty of examples of peace experienced during trying times.

Few would say that they are at peace when suffering, fewer still would be calm and undisturbed when dying while in great pain and yet it is possible.  As the early church leader Stephen, one of the first twelve deacons in the Christian community was being executed through stoning, he was not like most people.  He prayed without showing any signs of bitterness or anger.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV)  Of course this is not normal: Stephen’s reaction and perhaps we would add that it is not natural.  Yet it happened.  A human being with a human body and brain was able to pray for God to show his attackers mercy without any indication he was angry, bitter or despondent.   Without further comment, let us just admit that under terrifying and horrific circumstances, a human being can maintain peace within.

A second example of this same response to a terrible crisis is found in one of the books of the Bible written before the time of Christ.  Daniel, the ancient man of God, was ordered like everyone else in the Persian Empire to pray to no one other than the emperor or face execution.  Because he was faithful to the Lord and unwilling to renounce his loyalty to Him, Daniel continued to openly pray to the Lord.  Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.  (Daniel 6:10 NIV)  Again, such adamant loyalty to God at the risk of death is not normal and yet that is still how Daniel responded.   And so judgement was rendered against Daniel.  So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"  A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.  (Daniel 6:16-18 NIV) There is no record of Daniel pleading for mercy or demanding a lawyer or weeping in turmoil.  He simply accepted the sentence and peacefully waited to be killed.  Of course that did not happen and it was certainly a miracle that saved Daniel. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.  When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"  Daniel answered, "O king, live forever!  My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." (Daniel 6:19-22 NIV)

If for a moment you can just look past the supernatural aspect of Daniel’s rescue, consider carefully the peace Daniel possessed in the midst of a terrifying crisis.  Not only did he calmly keep praying to the Lord when the threat was so great but he also faced his execution without a hint of worry or complaint.  That may be even more supernatural than the angel protecting Daniel from the lions.  Such great internal strength is rarely found among people, not even God’s people and yet there it was.  Peace!  Once more in the Old Testament is an account worth examining if we are to see what sort of peace you can have.

The prophet Elisha had a group of apprentices who he was training to be missionaries in Israel.  They set about building a dormitory to house them all, cutting down trees for the construction.  However, the project had its difficulties.  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"  The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?"   When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.  "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. (2 Kings 6:5-7 NIV)  Once more, this predicament was solved through the supernatural intervention of God but before the remedy came, Elisha was unperturbed by the crisis the apprentice encountered.  Rather than panic or fret, Elisha calmly assessed the situation and knew what to do.  That sort of reaction is not strange or unknown in normal human circumstances.  There are plenty of people who stay calm when crises hit because they are skilled at problem solving.  What is telling is that Elisha is identified as a “man of God” which means something here.  As a man of God Elisha lived in peace when his friend fell apart.  There is a “man of God” sort of peace that we need to consider when it comes to anxiety and depression.

Let us consider the peace Mary the mother of Jesus had when she found herself facing a financial crisis.  She was with her son at a wedding and it would seem that she was close to the groom, perhaps a relative or a close family friend.  She discovered that the groom had run out of wine for the guests and this was horrifying for the family.  It would have been a source of humiliation for years in the small town if some solution could not be found.  Mary turned to Jesus and told Him the problem.   His reaction may have made sense to Mary but it is hard to understand now.  Literally it was, “What to you and to me?”  What does that mean?  It is not clear at all but Mary’s response is quite clear.  She told the servants of the groom, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5 NIV)  There is in this a casual indifference on the part of Mary to the wine crisis.  It was now in Jesus’ hands and she could calmly move to other business.  There is a strange, supernatural tranquility that comes over the person who decides a matter is now God’s problem and lets it stay with Him.  It is not reasonable to many; it is almost irrational and yet that is what happens to us when we give our troubles to God and trust Him with them.  God’s peace takes over our personality and with a calmness we cannot generate ourselves, our Lord of peace gives us His own serenity and stills our agitated thoughts. 

When Jesus died on the cross, a transaction occurred which completely alters the relationship between us and mental health.  By taking our sins into His own body, our Lord becomes free to work His own perfect life into ours.  It is not reasonable nor logical either that God would do this or that He does do it.  It is as the Bible puts it, a “mystery”. …the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27 NIV)  The incredible enigma is of Christ a part of you changes all the rules for personal peace.  Christ is a part of you which means that every piece of His personality is worked into you.  This includes His joy.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11 NIV)  We also gain His hope.  Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5 NIV)  And now, as we see, we also have the peace Christ has.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27 NIV)

The same peace Jesus had when the storm raged as He sat in the boat, that He had when His friend ran out of wine at the wedding, the same peace Jesus had as He was being taken off to be crucified is available to us!  How do we access it?  We pray!  Lord I need your peace.  I cannot get through this on my own.  My God, give me your peace.  I am stressed and worried.  Give me your peace!  It is there for you at any moment.  You don’t have to be fearful or worried or distressed.  The very peace of Christ has been given to you.  You just need to let it work in you.  You will notice a trigger for your anger or fear or worry.  It could be a bill, a health issue, a concern for one of your children, something your husband or wife is doing.  You have experience with these triggers.  They always get you but they don’t have to now.  You start to feel that old destructive emotion building in you:  fear, anger, despair, worry.  Give up immediately.  Admit you are not able to stop what is rising in you.  Pray.  Lord Jesus, I need your peace now.  The authority of Christ over the universe is right then in your favor.  His power demands that calm come over you.  You must trust Him though and that may take you some time.  You are so used to getting mad or worried, used to flailing about and trying to find a solution and so for a while you may have to suffer from depression or stress or anger that hurts you and others but give yourself time to get used to having Christ in you.  As soon as you cry out to God for His peace, He will give it to you.  Right then and there!  Go ahead.  Make use of the precious gift of peace Christ died to make your own.  Pray for peace in you.

Change

2 Kings 2:1 NIV

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.

How Do You Feel About Change?

We all have benchmarks when monumental changes have altered our lives.  My wedding day was one for me.  At the hospital discovering for the first time that Mary Jo and I would have a child was one.  The first time I taught in Russia was one.  Some were not so pleasant such as the evening when I was fired from the first church where I was pastor and the day I got a phone call from my dad that my mom had passed away.  The morning I snapped my leg in half skiing was another benchmark.  We try our best to figure out why certain events happen.  We sometimes wish God would tell us why certain things happen to us.. 

Perhaps you have been like me.  You have wondered why you had to go through something painful or traumatic.  Maybe it was the death of a loved one close to you or the loss of a job or even a career.  It could be that you aren’t sure why you had an injury or health issue.  You might be struggling with why someone doesn’t show you love or how come a person you deeply care about is facing so many trials.  Life is sometimes like a roaring lion and it is not always reasonable or even rational.  What are you to make of the changes you have in your life?  How should you respond to them and where is God in it all?

In the middle of the Gospel of John is an interesting story that illustrates the struggle many have with the wreckage in life.  As Jesus and His disciples were walking through Jerusalem, they came upon a man who had been blind from birth.  The disciples posed Jesus with the question, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9: 2 NIV)  The assumption was that being born blind was bad and that someone was to blame for it.  God would not just let such a terrible thing happen if no one was to blame, they reasoned.  Jesus saw matters differently.  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, “said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  (John 9: 3-5 NIV) 

Many times people get mad at God for what happens to them.  Others turn their back on God when things get rough because they don’t think He has treated them fairly.  The disciples wanted to know who to blame for the blindness of the beggar they came across.  Jesus did not put blame on anyone, not God, not Satan, not the man or his parents or even on luck or fate.  He did admit that God was at work and all was not lost for the blind man; in fact Christ seemed to indicate that this blindness made it possible for God to do something in particular for the man that could not be done any other way.  We all have experienced something like this if we have lived long enough.  A restaurant was closed but you stumbled upon a café you now love.  A boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you but then you met the person you eventually married.  A bout with depression gave you insight into deep psychological wounds that you had ignored.  Unemployment led to a new career that fits you better.  Jesus insisted that the blindness was not a curse laid upon the beggar but an opportunity for God to do something for him that would not have been possible if he had always been able to see.

The question before you is simple.  Do you really know what to make of your circumstances?  Are you certain of what your next steps in life should be?  Jesus said that He is the light of the world.  What does that mean?  Although there is much that is dark and confusing now, Jesus can help us make sense of it.  Death is irrational and cruel and sin has broken what once was a perfect universe.   In this darkness there is a light that shines and cannot be extinguished.  Where pain and sorrow seem to rule the day, it is not so.  With Christ we find that love rules the universe and that evil and death will be conquered by our Lord who died to save the world from its sin.  Yes it is hard now.  Yes we suffer many hardships and heartaches.  But there is a light that shines in the darkness and Christ will see you through whatever you face and show you the way.

The famous account of Elijah and his departure from this world in God’s chariot of fire ran on two levels…that of Elijah and that of Elisha.  For Elisha it was not quite as exotic as for Elijah.  Elijah rode God’s flaming chariot to heaven.  How exciting!  Elisha was left to sort out things on earth…life and death, loss and hardship, loneliness and trouble.  The account of the journey Elisha took with Elijah to the spot where God’s chariot would take Elijah away is fascinating from a psychological perspective.   Try to put yourself in Elisha’s shoes as he walked with his friend and mentor; knowing they did not have much time left to be together.  When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.  Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."  But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.  The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"  "Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."  Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.  The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"  "Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."  Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.  (2 Kings 2:1-6 NIV)

Elisha had many hours, maybe even weeks to process what was about to happen.  You have to wonder if he was really prepared to lose Elijah his friend.  Maybe he hoped that something would change things, that Elijah could stay a week longer, or a month or a year more.  If he just kept going with Elijah they might not be parted.  Elisha had the head knowledge of Elijah leaving but did he have the heart knowledge?  Was he ready for Elijah to go?  His response to the prophets who warned him of what was to come is telling.  ”Don’t talk to me about this!”  Have you ever known something was going to happen but you were not emotionally willing to talk about it…did not want to face it?  Elisha craved every last second he had with Elijah…cherished each last moment with him. Most assuredly he was not ready to face the fact that this part of his life was about to end; that he wouldn’t have Elijah with him any longer.

It is intriguing that we have no record of how Elisha knew of what was going to happen or any explanation of why God chose to take Elijah away just then.  There is no doubt though that it was God who was behind Elijah leaving.  As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2:11 NIV)  Somehow the Lord let Elisha know what He was about to do with his friend and mentor but we aren’t told how He did so.  Yet there were no silly explanations like so many create for why people die.  No “God needed him in heaven” or “Elisha was too dependent on Elijah to keep them together” or not even “God is making Elijah into an angel to watch over Elisha”.  No nonsense like that as a justification for what God did.  It was just the raw material of God and Elisha building a new life together without Elijah there.  Our Lord does not expect you to make sense of why certain painful and difficult times strike you.  You cannot draw straight lines between the tragedies and sorrows you meet and why you face them because our Lord is not ready to show you everything yet.  We live in a world broken by sin where death and suffering continue.  He does have something in mind for you now though just as He did for Elisha.  Elijah was gone and Elisha couldn’t do anything to change that.  For whatever reason, the Lord took Elijah away.  For whatever reason, you experience difficult and sometimes terrifying times.  God does not give you an explanation though.  It is there…and God is there.

A time comes…and it may be right now for you when you must give up making sense of what you face and begin to make sense of God.  Let me illustrate.  After I broke my leg and I was confined to a wheel chair I still was left with the responsibilities I had before my leg was snapped in half.  One of them was to go around the school where we lived just before bedtime and check the doors to make sure they were locked as well as see if anyone was on the school grounds causing or potentially causing trouble.  My three children wanted to go with me and my older son pushed my wheel chair.  While walking, we came across a large gang of young adults talking loudly in the field.  As we approached them, I was very concerned about what they were doing at the school and felt like I needed to investigate but I was also afraid for my kids.  I told them to leave me and go home which the two younger ones did but my oldest son insisted that he stay with me and push my wheelchair.  When we got to the group there were four young men and four or five teenage girls.  The conversation they were having was filled with cursing and I could smell marijuana too.  They all turned around to face me as I got close and the entire group surrounded me when I told them they had to leave.  The young man who seemed to be the leader of the group cursed at me and started making threats.  The other guys also drew closer and grew increasingly belligerent.  As I sat in my wheelchair encircled by this gang, I had three thoughts.  The first was just crazy.  I was certain I could take out the leader of the group even with a cast on my leg.  I had no idea though how to defend myself against the others.  Immediately I began to wonder about my son.  What could I do to protect him?  I knew he would not leave me.  My third consideration was that God with me and so within I began to feverishly pray for His help.  My mind grew so fixed on Christ that I barely heard what the gang members were saying to me or to each other but all of a sudden one of the girls said to them all, “Let’s just leave” and that is what they did. No further confrontation.  No more threats of violence.  They just left.

Was this a miracle?  Did God change the course of events for me and my son?  I leave that up to you to decide.  All I know is that in desperation, I turned to Christ for help and I was helped.  You may be at that point too.  Something has changed for you and you could use God’s help.  Maybe it is time to find out who God really is and if He can be your Savior.  Your mind, because of what is happening, is undistracted by the Kardashians, by President Trump’s tweets or what is going on in sports, it is laser focused on God right now.  The Bible insists that because of Christ, God can live in you if you invite Him to join you.  He is there and you are there.  What sort of God is He?  Does He have any love or mercy to offer you?  Is there a hope He can give you?  Is He big enough to see you through this?  Who is this Jesus?  It is time for you to find out.  In a world broken by Sin and wrecked by death and suffering, you have a Savior who also suffered and died too.  But now He is alive and He loves you and wants to go through whatever you face with you.  You may not have your Elijah to go with you but you have Jesus.  Find out for yourself who He is.  Let Christ be a part of your life.  Take a moment to invite Jesus to go with you, to make His home in you.  Since He died on a cross to take your sin from you and give you eternal life, He might just be the friend you need right now.

How Salvation Looks

2 Kings 2: 9 NIV

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”  “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 

Do You Have The Salvation of Jesus?

I have several times been stunned by what people of various ages and backgrounds don’t know.  What seems to me to be common knowledge is not always.  Perhaps you too have been surprised by someone’s lack of familiarity with what you thought everyone understood.   Maybe you spoke with someone who did not know why Christmas is celebrated or where the oil should be put in a car or what a trapezoid is or how many days there are in June.  None of us know everything and you don’t either but sometimes we can be caught by surprise when an intelligent and normal person has never considered what something was that you thought everyone understood.

Salvation is one of the most common terms used in Christian conversations and yet it is not really understood by many of us.  How does salvation look?  What is salvation for you now?  Can salvation be recognized when you see it?  Would someone who spent time with you be able to tell that you have salvation?  What characterizes salvation?

A good place to begin this discussion is by considering someone that Jesus Himself said had salvation.  Zacchaeus may be the most famous tax collector of all time.  He of course climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus over the crowd surrounding the Lord as He passed through Zacchaeus’s town.  Spotting the diminutive Zacchaeus, the Lord warmly called for Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and take him home for lunch.  Some would call Jesus audacious for making such a demand but Zacchaeus was thrilled.  Instantly Zacchaeus announced to Jesus and the crowd standing about that he was giving half his possessions to the poor and to all who claimed Zacchaeus cheated them by charging too much for taxes he promised to pay them back four times the amount he had taken.  Our familiarity with this account drains off much of the electricity it generated when first witnessed by the original onlookers.  Immediately after Zacchaeus made his proclamation of his new way of life, Jesus announced, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”  (Luke 19: 9 NIV)

In Jesus’ declaration we have the assertion of God that at least in this instance, salvation had a decided look to it. We can see two distinct manifestations of salvation in Zacchaeus.  He threw himself upon God to bring him happiness and contentment.  He did not need all the wealth he had accumulated nor the perks it brought him.  Zacchaeus was happy just having Jesus in his life.  We have in scripture numerous examples of “anti-salvation” too.  Consider the reaction of the elder brother in Jesus’ parable of the Father who welcomed home his young profligate son.  The older brother became furious that his father received his brother back with such enthusiasm and extravagance.  His chief complaint was that for years he had been loyal to his father and never was thrown a party, never given precious gifts.  The father must have been devastated by his older son’s blatant lack of satisfaction with him. Clearly his dad picked up on this part of the son’s complaint when he pleaded with his son to welcome back his brother.  “”My son,” his father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”  (Luke 15: 31)

Salvation, at least for Zacchaeus, made him happy just to be with Jesus.  He stopped caring so much for whatever else he had or didn’t have.  The older brother, on the other hand cared very much what he had or didn’t have and was not too interested in his father at all.  The father had to point out to the older son, “you have me”, as if the older son either did not know that or care.  Jesus did not have to point out to Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus had Him;  having Jesus was all that mattered to him.  Zacchaeus was well aware of his life with Christ and was thrilled to have Jesus regardless of anything else coming or going from his life.  Does your salvation look like that?

There is another aspect to the salvation of Zacchaeus that must be noted.  His salvation could be seen in his response to his past.  Illuminated before him in his mind was the wrong he had done and the ways he had cheated people by exacting unwarranted taxes from them. Zacchaeus; when he really saw Jesus and the salvation He offered knew he was a sinner through and through and had no mind to hide any of it from God or anyone else.  Zacchaeus started his new life with God by despising his sinning and choosing to live a good and honest life.  Does your salvation look like that?

If it were not for the great spiritual insight it offers, the account of Elijah and his effort to leave behind his apprentice Elisha so he wouldn’t be present when the Lord took him is almost comical.   When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."  But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel…Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."   And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho… Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.  (2 Kings 2:1-6 NIV)  When finally the two arrived at the Jordan River, Elijah took his cloak, struck the water of the Jordan with it and the Jordan River parted, allowing the two to cross on dry ground.  At that point, Elijah asked his apprentice what he could do for him.  When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"  "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.  "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours — otherwise not." (2 Kings 2: 9-10 NIV)

What an interesting request!  Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit…whatever that was.  Essentially Elisha wanted lots of what Elijah was inside of himself.    He was asking for the nature and personality of Elijah to be his.  And he got it.  As soon as Elijah was taken by God up to the heavens in a fiery chariot, Elisha left and came to the Jordan River.  Elisha did the same thing he saw his master do before; he took off his cloak, struck the Jordan River with it and voila, the water parted once more and Eisha was able to walk across it on dry ground.  Elisha saw many more miracles take place, even more than we read for Elijah.  He really did receive a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit!

The Bible tells us that like Elisha, we can have the spirit of another in us…the Spirit of God.  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8: 9-11 NIV)  How was Elisha to know if he was going to possess the spirit of Elijah?  If he witnessed Elijah being taken away by God, then he could know Elijah’s spirit would be his.  How do you know if the Spirit of God is in you?  If you are not controlled by the sinful nature but rather by the Spirit, then He lives in you!  Does your salvation look like that, like the Spirit of God lives in you and controls the way you live?

There is one more report in Scripture that we must consider when it comes to our salvation.  At the end of Luke is recorded a fascinating account of Jesus, after He was crucified and died, returning to life in a new resurrection body.  He suddenly appeared as two of His friends were walking from Jerusalem to the small town of Emmaus.  The disciples didn’t recognize him the entire time they walked but along the way Jesus explained how the Bible in the Old Testament told about everything that happened to Him and why.  Once they got to their home though and Jesus sat down with them to eat, the disciples made an astonishing discovery.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:30-32 NIV)

Jesus did two things for the disciples.  He opened their eyes so that they could see Him…not as a stranger or just another teacher but as God.  He also opened the Scriptures for them so that they could see Him there too.  How can you tell that salvation has come to you?  First, you realize by experience that Jesus Christ is real and He is Lord of all.  This is no longer a curiosity for you or an intellectual exercise of debate but a surety within; a decided matter.  Secondly, the Scriptures become a driving force for you and a fascination that skeptics and critics cannot shake loose from you.  You read the Bible and have a powerful drive to read the Bible.  You see things in it you did not notice before you had salvation.  The Bible becomes personal for you, the source of strength and wisdom you need and want.

When salvation comes to you, Jesus Christ becomes a part of you and what matters to Him matters to you and the sort of character He has gets worked into you just like it did in the Apostle Paul and Peter and John and James and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus.   It cannot be missed, your resemblance to Jesus and how He thinks when salvation comes to you.  Salvation is not a place where you go but a person you become.  The new you becomes free of sin and full of Christ living through you.  Every time you obey God, more of Him comes out of you and the world as a result, is a better place.

Mind Re-oriented

Philippians 3:15 NIV

 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Are You Aware Of Everything Going On Around You?

There is nothing quite as disconcerting as discovering something has been going on without you being aware of it.  We now have webcams that can keep tabs on our homes, our pets and cities that we have never visited.  The spy in the sky is now visiting our neighborhood and looking into our backyard.  It hasn’t always been that way and even now we can be caught off guard by what we didn’t know had been happening around us.  I used to read to my children just before bedtime and often I did it while lying down on the floor with the kids on each side of me.  I read everything from the Chronicles of Narnia to the Little House on the Prairie series.  When our two oldest boys were little, I started reading to them the Lord of the Rings.  Many times I found myself dozing off as I read; slurring the words and one or both boys would immediately start shaking me to get me to read further before falling asleep.  More than once I did fall asleep in the middle of a sentence and my kids knew I was then a lost cause.  I remember waking up perhaps at around one in the morning and finding that my wife and the boys were all up and about, playing, talking, making cookies.  I was stunned; why were they still awake?  Why hadn’t they gone to bed?  What else had they done while I was asleep?  For all I knew, they could have shaved my head, taken all the money out of my wallet, gone joy riding in the car and had a drunken party in the house while I was out cold.  I had no idea what I missed while asleep and no one ever really told me either.

Perhaps you too have felt like you were left out of it, not aware of everything that was happening.  Maybe at work others seem to know more than you about what the company plans are.  Perhaps your friends seem to have the “inside scoop” and you are oblivious to it.  You might feel like you are the only one who doesn’t get the joke at the company picnic or the only one in America who has no idea why Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are as popular as they are, why your teacher suddenly blew up at the class or why your mom treated you and your brother so differently.  In our information age, there is much we do not know and have no way of finding it out.  The internet is a blank page when it comes to some matters you care very much about and no amount of research may help you understand why your parents got a divorce or what led to your son dropping out of college.

There is within our era of information overload, a serious degree of information poverty that must be considered.  The Bible hints at this and it would be important for us to consider the possibility that there is a vast array of knowledge we could access that we are not even aware exists.  We should be disturbed by an account in the Bible that alerts us to how little we really do know about what is going on about us.  The ancient prophet Elisha faced a grave crisis or so it seemed.  A foreign ruler wanted Elisha dead and sent his army out to find him and kill him.  Elisha was staying in a village that was unable to defend themselves, let alone Elisha.  Elisha’s servant panicked when he saw the soldiers descending upon the town.  Elisha’s reaction was surprisingly calm and relaxed.  He reassured his servant that all would be well despite appearances.  "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:16-17 NIV)

We have here clear evidence that there is a significant amount of information we aren’t aware exists and never access.  Some would call this the supernatural aspect of our universe.  But it was not supernatural for Elisha or his servant.  It simply was not “seeable” before this but once their eyes were “opened”, they could see all the chariots of fire and hills full of horses and it was clear as day to them.  Afterward, if they had been asked how they could be certain of what they said they saw, they would not have an answer to give that would sound logical or even acceptable to most people.  That doesn’t mean that what they saw wasn’t really there on the hills; the inability to explain why they could see what they did doesn’t mean they hadn’t seen it.

Consider the situation here closely.  There was a great army of soldiers who had no idea that the hillsides around them were covered by horses and chariots of fire and there was an entire village that did not see any of this either.  Only two people in this huge crowd could see what was very certainly there.  This same sort of occurrence is described by the prophet Isaiah in the sixth chapter of his book.  He was in the Temple and Isaiah became aware of the Lord present there sitting upon the throne and seraphs with six wings flying about glorifying the Lord so loudly that the doorposts and thresholds shook and the room was filled with smoke.  Now it is highly unlikely that Isaiah was the only person in the Temple at the time but it may have been so.  If he was the only one present, it is strange then God’s question.  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8 NIV)  It seems that this is not a personal call directed only at Isaiah to go but rather a general call to anyone who is listening.  If that is the case, then who else was to hear this?  The Seraphs?  It doesn’t seem likely.  Was there someone else present who was to hear this too?  Perhaps it was all a dream…it just happened in Isaiah’s mind.  But again, the call for someone to go was not just for Isaiah it seems.

Is it possible that there were hundreds, maybe even millions to whom this call to go was directed but no one else was available to God; everybody within “earshot” was too busy with their own thoughts and concerns to receive God’s call?  Their natures were not adapted to comprehending anything so rich and pure as the call of God.  There is something largely overlooked which Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3.  Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:5-6 NIV)

We must sit here at the foot of this great statement of Jesus and let its implications sink into us.  It is often misunderstood at a very great point.  Many think the kingdom of God is heaven, that to get into heaven one must be born again.  This of course is true but it is only part of what this implies.  The kingdom of God is all that God inhabits and it is His Kingdom where He rules as supreme over all.  That Kingdom can only be entered by the one who has been transformed by the Spirit into someone completely new.  The Kingdom of God is all externals for the one not transformed.  It is books and lectures and church buildings and music styles and talent and rules and entertainment and possessions and personal improvement and issues and did I say rules?  But entrance into the Kingdom of God through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit is all about God…His presence, His direction, His love, His power, His mercy, His goodness and His life.  Christ is the Gate, He is the Way, He is the Life…the Kingdom of God is Him in every place.

Why are we so out of touch?  Why are we so oblivious to God all about us?  Perhaps it is because there has been so little God worked in us that we are unaware of Him.  We face a problem…a problem person…a problem with our bodies…a problem with our family or friends…a problem with work or school…and we go at it within the confines of only this kingdom, the kingdom of mankind and that is all we have…none of what is Kingdom of God decides for us how we think about a matter and how we approach it.  Until you enter into the Kingdom of God you cannot see anything or hear anything with certainty beyond the kingdom of mankind.  But when the Cross of Christ has formed Christ in you and the Holy Spirit begins leading you deeper into the Kingdom of God, you shall begin to hear the voice of God guiding you in matters and the power of God will begin to work through you and accomplishments that are impossible outside the Kingdom of God will be done by you because you are not the you that existed before the Cross of Christ formed Christ in you.  You are now Christ and you and that is the personality that exists.  It is a new personality that can see God, hear God and be empowered by God and that personality as it goes further into the Kingdom of God becomes more and more alive to God.

The temptation of Satan presented to Adam and Eve ran along two lines and for us it is the same fundamental temptation.  Satan inserted into the mind of Adam and Eve two thoughts.  God is not good enough and God is not competent enough.  If we accept either of these two thoughts, our mind will be shut out of the Kingdom of God, we will become deaf and blind to all that is opening up to us in the Kingdom of God.  Only the Kingdom of Mankind will be accessible to us because to approach God you must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrew 11:6 NIV)  Remember when the disciples wondered why they could not cast out the demon who was causing a boy to have seizures and Jesus replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:19-20 NIV)  It is as easy as breathing to stay with simple-minded determination in the realm of the kingdom of mankind and not go any further than that.  If you do, you have access to all there is in the kingdom of man but nothing more.  Faith in Christ however opens your mind to the Kingdom of God where the wisdom and power of God seep into your mind like living water nurturing the lovely plant which is your life. 

Do an experiment this week.  Make yourself completely open for God to guide you and empower your work.  In faith ask Him to guide you, ask Him to talk to you.  Only by faith in Christ will your mind be prepared ground for God’s seed to be planted there and if God has built His life in you, there will develop even this week a growing awareness of Him thinking in you and His thoughts will become clearer and clearer.  Power will be given you to see what only God can show you and bit by bit the Kingdom of God will become visible to you.  But you must start to make your mind open for Jesus Christ to work within your mind and that takes discipline and determination to not fall for Satan’s lie that God is not good enough and not competent enough to guide you!   Breathe out this prayer to the Lord. “Enable me Lord Jesus to do Kingdom of God things in a Kingdom of Mankind world.  Fill my mind O Lord with You!”