Unintentional Discipleship

“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” 2 Corinthians 3:2

After church there is a pot luck. Someone is asked to pray over the meal. Everyone gets quiet. She stands and prays. Unintentional discipleship.

Your Fourth Day group meets at Denny’s. Someone has just ordered a Grand Slam and gets a text asking him to come and respond to a pastoral emergency. He dismisses himself and leaves without a thought. Unintentional discipleship.

One in church a man stands and nervously shares a “word” he feels God is giving him for the congregation. It is powerful.  Afterwards he mentions he has never done this sort of thing before and sits down, a bit embarrassed. Unintentional discipleship.

A teacher in the teacher’s lounge is frustrated at a broken copier. She lays her hands on it and asks Jesus to make it work. It works. Her colleagues stare in disbelief. Unintentional discipleship.


Discipleship can be intentional (through academic curriculums, Scripture memorization, topical studies, etc.) or unintentional (through the doing of life and responding to it’s daily demands with grace and spiritual fortitude). Either way, whether in the classroom or on the street, discipleship happens. It is both taught and caught. Truth is: People watch us. They copy us. They may even wind up doing the same things as us.

When I was a youth leader in Denver I led a worship set and it was really nice. Kid’s were genuinely brought into the presence of the Lord. When I was packing up my guitar a teen came up and told me he had been watching me lead music for years and wanted to be just like me. He even asked me to pray for him to be just like me.

Unintentional discipleship. You see, people are watching, learning, and actually believing that the way we pray, respond to pastoral needs, share what we think the Lord is saying, or lay hands on machines is the way they need to be doing those same things. It’s both a sobering responsibility and, at the same time, a magnificent opportunity. Just think. People look to us so they know how to share the how life in the Kingdom works with others.

TakeAway: Think of the people God has surrounded you with. How has He intentionally and unintentionally work His Gospel into their lives’ through you? Take time this month to ask God to fill you with his Spirit that you may be living witnesses to the Loving God, intentionally and unintentionally, in everything you do.

Repentance Made Easy

Again I ask, “Why does a person repent after committing a sin?”

Answers vary. But I maintain that if you are repenting so that you can get back to being good then you are repenting for the wrong reasons and will soon enough find yourself smack-dab back in the same situation that warranted your original confession in the first place.

And that has it’s downside. Because if we repent time and time again, and time and time again fall into the same despicable behavior, it wont be long until we see it as an endless loop, a casual cycle of give and take, without any real expectation that we could ever be delivered from the sin that so easily besets.

So, why does a person repent? Because we were bad? To do better? To realign ourselves with the moral code?

Even though we live in the New Covenant of Grace I am increasingly convinced that most of the church operates in what I call a burning bush mentality. You remember the burning bush. It was the vessel wherein Moses received his call to ministry and the place where he received the law. God’s desire was that he would have a people who would worship him, have relationship with him; a people he could call his own and there would be a real sense of intimacy between he and his people.

The gist intimacy was living within the law. If they obeyed Torah they enjoyed the blessing of God’s presence. If they didn’t, God withdrew from them until they were realigned with the precepts of the law. In this sense, intimacy with the Lord had to do with how the people obeyed or disobeyed the law. In short, it had to do with behaving, a code of conduct; or, to be precise: works.

Few people enjoyed intimacy with God back then. Moses did. He spoke with God as a friend. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the OT prophets enjoyed rich fellowship in the Spirit with him as well. By and large it went like this: if you were living according to the Law you were experiencing God’s favor. If you weren’t, you weren’t.

I remember standing under a waterfall once. It came right down from heaven and splashed me on the top of my head. If I was to move outside of the stream it went dry. That’s the way it was back then. Step out of the stream and you run dry. The stream, in that case, was the Law.

But all that didn’t work. We have learned since then that the Law kills. Like a cancer, it gets under our skin and can kill us. Jesus flipped it all around and, in essence, said, “I still want to be your God, you still have a tendency to sin. You’ve probably learned that it’s impossible to keep the Law, so believe in me, the Fulfillment of the Law, and all the privileges set aside for those who would keep the Law, will be yours through faith.”

He’s saying we can’t do it. He can. Believe in him and you will receive what you don’t deserve. So now it’s a whole different deal. Back then it was all about keeping the moral code. Today it’s all about Grace. Grace infuses the personality of God into our hearts. In Grace we have become true children of God, intimate with our Father, as we place our faith in Jesus Christ.

Grace is the new burning bush. We no longer take our righteousness from tablets of stone, but through the Holy Spirit as written by the same finger who wrote the commandments, only this time they are written in our hearts.

So what is the place of the Law in this new day and age? The Law is no longer essential for salvation but has become a natural by-product of the person who walks in the love that has been poured out upon us through the Holy Spirit. Let me be clear here - as it plays into something I’ll state below. A person cannot be saved by keeping the Law. The embers of the burning bush have faded away and now a new Way has been revealed. It is only by grace that we are saved. The Law, if taken too devotionally, will wind up killing us.

The Law hems us in, it reveals the parameters of righteous behavior - very much like speed limit signs provide safe parameters on the road. It is still a good thing. But is still cannot save. We are privy to the intimacy of God through grace and nothing else. We may feel better if we’ve been good. We may pat ourselves on the back and say “good job” when overcoming a temptation with the Love of God. All fine and well. But keeping the Law has little to do with getting saved.

Back then, when a person sinned, it was evident. Their behavior gave them away. Today it’s not so clear. Why? Because sin becomes more than the breaching of a moral code. It is getting out of sync with the intimacy of God. It is the moving away from the sweetness of fellowship found exclusively within the marital-like relationship between Parent and child.

When I sin I grieve the loss of intimacy and relationship with my Father, not the fact of what thing I did or didn’t do. That’s how a person can sin and not do (or do) a thing. I don’t have to commit adultery to sin. The mere thought of adultery is enough to strain my intimacy with God. It’s that sensitive.

Jesus makes reference to this when he shares with the religious leaders that, though the outside of the cup is clean, the inside of the cup is filled with dregs. What he meant by that was that they were doing all the right things - keeping the Law - but they were far from intimacy with God.

Now we all sin. We all move away from the sweet spot in Christ Jesus, regardless of what we do, or don’t, do. When we move away from that place, that place of abiding in the Spirit, we have sinned. When we sin, how do we get back into the sweet spot? How do we realign ourselves with the intimacy of God?

We call this repentance. When a person repents he or she decides in the mind to realign oneself with the grace falling from above. It’s a simple process, really. It is a reevaluation of the breach, a recognition of the fruit of the breach, and a repositioning of oneself back in the sweet spot of the Waterfall, if you will. It demands humility and honesty. In the best case scenario, a person repents and draws back to God because of the loss of intimacy and friendship he or she once had but has no more. “I remember my Father’s house,” we say. “I am longing for the delicacies from the table, the sweetness of being back home, and just to be hugged in the arms of my Father. I am so thirsty for that which I have lost.”

Again I pose the question: When you repent, what is at the heart of your desire to repent? Is it to be back in good standing with God? Is it so that you won’t flub it up again? Is it so that, by getting back into proper behavior, you can once again live within the favor of the Divine?

Careful here. For it is a very subtle difference. It is tempting to repent back to the principals given us in the burning bush, tempting to repent to get it right. Right? I repent to do better. I repent because I fell short. For sure we all repent because we got something wrong. But that something wrong is far deeper that merely the doing or not dong of a thing. That something wrong is the drifting away from intimacy in Christ. The doing or not doing of the thing is simply the fruit of intimacy lost. The loss of moral compass from True North is the first breach, the real sin here. The stuff that we fall into as a result of that is secondary.

The problem with most repentance today is that it appeals to the stuff that we should have done or should not have done and not to the reestablishment of intimacy with Jesus. We already know that we can be doing all things right and be standing outside the Waterfall. The Pharisees did all things proper, yet their hearts were far from God.  Even though he was standing right in front of them they recognized him not. For their fleshly passion of the written word blinded them from seeing the Living Light of the world.

O, but to repent back to intimacy! What a blessed gift that is! To be reunited with my Creator as Adam was before Eden’s Fall. That is the goal of true repentance. When that is achieved the Law becomes the wake of my boat, the ripples expanding out from the pebble’s splash, and the joy that comes from God’s abundant life. It’s not that the Law is bad. But Sinai’s tree is smoldering. It has been replaced with the New Wood of Grace which, when fully embraced, contains the very DNA of the original bush.

Intimacy? Found in Jesus Christ and his gift for us. Moral code - works and behavior? The fruit of that relationship.

Sin? Moving away from the sweet spot of living in the Spirit. The breaking of the Law, works of unrighteousness and works of the flesh are a horrific by-product of the one who has lost intimacy with their God.

Repentance? Choosing to realign oneself with the outflow of God’s love found in the Grace of Jesus Christ. It is not an appeal to a higher Law, or even asking God for the power to keep you from doing the stupid thing again - for those prayers will go unanswered and be un-empowered anyway if not first posed within the Spirit of God. Ideal repentance makes its appeal to the love of God, not the Law of God; the wood of the Cross, not the wood of the bush. It makes its appeal to Mount Calvary, not Mount Sinai. To Grace, and not works.

The true repenter understands that only when he or she is in right standing with God - standing within the love of God as poured out in the Holy Spirit - that the code of behavior will be attained, and that with such a glorious radiance and natural innocence that those who know not the sweetness of God will be drawn to it, through the fragrance of the redeemed, through Grace.

How To Share Christ Without Being A Nerd

Jesus spent his time telling how wonderful his Father was. What did he say? He told people his Father loved them, his Father had plans for them, and that the oppressiveness of sin, shame, regret, and other human baggage could all be lifted and forgiven as they rearranged their lives  under his headship.  In short his mission was all about telling others about his Father.

2000 years later? Nothing has changed. He is just as passionate about telling others about his Father as he was back then. He is still infusing purpose and eternal destiny in human hearts, still rescuing others from the wiles of the devil , and still wooing people into God’s love through his goodness – only difference  is that he is using you and me to carry it forth.

Sharing God’s love is what we do best. It is our DNA. It is our heritage. It should come natural. Why have we made something so easy and natural into something so difficult and complex? We are Christ’s body, are we not? We have the mind, heartbeat, and soul of Jesus, do we not? As Christ's body, the continuation of his love is poured out from heaven through us.

That is the foundation for sharing his love. Once that is established, the rest is glorious gravy. Our problem is that the church is often viewed as a hustle-bustle of energy-sapping activity. Her shepherds look stressed, her sheep are consumed with conferences, teaching series’, and spiritual exhaustion. Much of what we call discipleship has little to do with doing life and more to do with the checking of a “to-do” list, complete with theology, scripture memorization, and other essential academia. If we are not careful we may think we need to be educated learned men in order to gain respect from those who need Jesus the most.

Have you heard the phrase, “We are human beings, not human doings”?  So true. The best things flow from being, not doing. Being is flow. It simply is. It is in that “is-ness” that Christ’s Spirit is caught by others. We spend so much time doing that we have forgotten the best things flow from being. Endless activities, though potentially good, present an anemic church to the world - one consumed with stress, more meetings, more consumerism, and production, and more expectations (only this time it’s all done in the Name of the Lord).

Mary had a little Lamb
Her sleep was, O, so sweet
Then Mary became born again
And died for lack of sleep.

Welcome to your Sabbath rest! Why would anyone want to join that?

Being in authentic witness is easy. It is not so much about what we do as much as who we are. We do have a mission. The world is dependent upon us to be lights in her darkness.
It is our ongoing dependence on God that is the key to authentic, non-nerdy, evangelism.

Here are some reminders on witnessing to bring into the marketplace in the morning:


1. Christ in us speaks louder than we do. There is no sure-fire method/formulae of sharing the 5 spiritual laws, no cleverly orchestrated Cecil B. DeMille conversion epic, no anointed whacks on the back of the head with a ten-pound KJB, or no 4D multi-media production that will reach a thirsty soul for Christ. Rather, it is the fragrance of Christ in us (2 Corinthians 2:14) that become the hinges of the doors of their salvation. That’s something that just can’t be worked up. Jesus loves to be seen by others through us. While our tracts are important they wont be effective unless united with that certain “Something” within us. God’s love transcends far deeper than anything we could ever say.

2. God’s mysterious ways provide guilt-free witnessing. Perhaps you and been particularly burdened to share the Lord with someone, but didn’t. Or, on the other hand, perhaps you have witnessed to someone for hours, only to look back to realize you misquoted verses, ran down rabbit trails, or even compromised you own moral character. Guess what. It’s all right if we don’t do it right.  They wont go to hell.  God loves them too much and would never be so foolish as to place their entire eternal destination solely in hands of a single, trembling saint.

If we’ve “blown our witness” – God has already known that and has arranged someone else to share that same Gospel with them. This doesn’t advocate sloppy evangelism - not at all. Yet, God’s grace covers the times when we’ve fallen short of the mark. Let us be about the business of skillfully preparing for the for the privilege of sharing Christ with the person ahead, and not condemn ourselves for not bringing them to salvation, or (upon hindsight) realizing what we said may have been misinterpreted for something else. God know. He’s bigger than all that.

3. Jesus didn’t witness to everyone and neither need we. Good news: the salvation of every person you see on the sidewalk is not up to you! In Jesus’ day everyone needed to hear Good News. But not everyone heard it from Jesus. Jesus was very decisive with whom he talked with. He did not heal everybody. No doubt he passed many people on the streets every day without talking to them, even though he knew they needed him.

Jesus witnessed only to whom the Father was showed him. That was his success, if you will. When he got in the public arena, he was acutely aware of those to whom he was to share, or not share, with. If his Father willed it, it happened. If not, he kept on walking. Somewhere down the line they would hear the Gospel. But it would be in God’s time, from someone else.

Each of us is wired to reach a specific target market for God. You are specifically created – temperament, personality, humor, etc. – to reach a specialized slice of the non-Christian demographic. Because of that, not everyone will hear about God from you. But some will. They are your open doors. When you run across the person you naturally click with, go for it; naturally and humbly, taking advantage of the divine encounter. Use your vocabulary, your salvific experience, the verses you know and how God uses them in your life. Don’t witness like someone you are not.

4. Different Seeds for Different Soils.  When it comes to where people are in the Lord - or in the process of conversion - people are all over the map. Some only need a light-hearted reminder they are not alone in the universe. Others need a clear understanding on a spiritual precept – like “unconditional love,” for example. Some need water, others need miracle grow. Some need to be heard. What worked well with the last person may not fly with the future person. Our words need to be “on time” with where the person is at the time of our interaction. In short, our words need to be prophetic.

In college I was led to speak to a woman after class one evening. It was difficult for me because of what the Lord had asked me to share. I told her that I was a Christian and the Lord wanted her to know that her aborted child forgave her.  She was visibly struck. She placed her books down and was overcome by God. After a moment she looked up and said that another person came out of the blues the week previous and said the same thing to her. I smiled, said, “Perhaps the Lord is trying to tell you something”, and walked away.

Witnessing is much broader than sharing the message of salvation. It is a prophetic labeling, or defining, what God is doing around those he has us around. That woman may have been a believer or not. Little matter. God met her where she was in her journey to heaven.

5. Love rules. Our greatest witness is seen in how we love others. We may have great boldness, great prophetic insight, superior gifts of teaching, tongues, and  hospitality but, as Larry Norman sang, “Without love you ain’t nothing without love. Without love you ain’t nothing without love.”

Love is the true litmus test of our credibility before the world will be revealed in the way we live out Christ in the context of Christian community.  Do we love one another – I mean really love each other, sacrificially? I believe this is where evangelization really begins.

May God provide us with growth and opportunities to share his love in Jesus Christ. May he form us into authentic people. May we love others as he loved others, and as he loves us.

We Have All It Takes to Disciple Others

I can’t think of a better video to explain discipleship.

The task of “discipleship” is sometimes daunting. It’s believed the discipler first must have been somewhere big in the Lord before he or she sets out on the ginormous task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Perhaps seminary. Or, better yet, getting the victory over that besetting personal character flaw. “Surely,” we think, “I must obtain some sense of spiritual perfection before going out to save the world.”

But that’s not God’s expectation of a discipler. To him, discipling means looking back to the person(s) behind you and inviting them to step into the movement where you happen to be at any given time in your walk - regardless if you’ve been in it a day, or 30 years.

Why do we waste so much time getting ready to disciple others?  For many of us, the busyness of seeking to fulfill some self imposed expectation of what it takes to be a discipler only distances us from our original call to “Go!” and "make disciples among all nations."

And the world is waiting. And dying.

Truth is, as a Christian, you have already been equipped to disciple. Why? Because you are already “ahead” of the person who knows nothing about the Faith. It’s not rocket science. How far ahead of the game do you need to be anyway? You would be surprised how much you have to give away, right now, right where you are today. (Actually, it’s not that you have so much to give; it’s that the world is so very badly lacking.)

Discipleship begins where we are: at work, with our family, with our best friend, with our parents. We tell your story, we share that we are on a journey, we invite them to join us. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what we do.

Action. Plan to do something which will foster your walk in Jesus. It could be a DVD series, watching a "Jesus" movie, or a book you’re interested in on the some aspect of the Kingdom. Then, look at the people God has placed around you. Invite everyone you know to do that with you. Don’t presume to know who “is ready” for “this step”. Your job is to sow the seed. The ground it lands on is inconsequential. You may be surprise at who responds!

Paradigm Shift #4930: Praying in the Name

When we pray in the Name of Jesus it's like we are using his Name as a little extra oomph to get our prayers deeper into the Throne Room. We say, "In the Name of Jesus, in the mighty Name of Jesus, in the All Glorious Name of Jesus," and other things like that.

But I wonder if we shouldn't be also praying in the Authority of Christ, too. The Name IS authority after all. If I am an ambassador for the United States and happen to be in another country, I carry the full authority of my home nation. In my resident alien-ship I can decide things, make decisions, and carry on with business as if I was the President himself.

Perhaps if we went about our prayers and ministries in the confident power of his anointing upon us we would be able to speak AS the authority of the Name and not cling to it as if was a magic formula for answered prayer.

Praying in the Name is a good start. Proclaiming in the Authority of that same Name is a shift of praying that challenges us to walk as empowered witnesses. We are Name bearers by virtue of our redemption in Christ. We are the Name. We are the Body. We need not be redundant.

More on Labeling

Last Blog I shared that labeling is the new witnessing. That means, as far as sharing the Gospel goes, it's far more fruitful to label what God is currently doing in or around a person than it is to witness your own testimony or even go through a tract of the Four Spiritual Laws.

You can read it for yourself.

So what is needed to be a labeler? Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Spiritual Alertness. There is life and there is spiritual life. A person who is spiritually alive will have the worldview of the Kingdom of God, the supernatural, and an understanding that God is everywhere, always up to something, always revealing, always coaxing others into his arms. 
2. Iconographic Sight. Following of heels of spiritual awareness, the labeler needs to have the ability to look through the things seen into things unseen. Creation, events, situations, heartache - God uses it all as portals of grace. Everything we see are iconic teachable moments of the Eternal.
3. Gifts of Revelation. When confronted with a situation a labeler will wonder what God is doing or saying. God speaks through the Spirit. A labeler needs the Spirit to speak revelational moments.
4. Common Sense. Labeling isn't rocket science. Many times it is just calling a shot over a person. You don't need to go to seminary to be a labeler. You don't even need to know the Bible all that well. Your spiritual authority will cover that as you speak the Word.
5. Compassion. Behind it all God loves people. His desire is to have fellowship with all people. He knows we are hurting. If his heart is in us then we will love the people, speak to the people, and bless the people in the spirit of compassion.
6. WIsdom. Jesus not only did what he saw the Father doing but the Father also told him what to say and how to say it. We want to be like Jesus.
7. The Holy Spirit. Need I say more?

Labeling: The New Witnessing

A big part of Jesus' ministry was simply labeling what God was doing in the world. He didn't make it. He didn't force it. He didn't manufacture it. But when God showed up he was quick to label it.

Labeling is what we are all about. Without labeling God's Love, people wouldn't recognize him in their midst. We're pretty blind, you know.

"Check out the lilies of the field. You think they look good? Your Father has clothed you much better than they." See? They were just doing life and happened to be passing by a field of lilies. Jesus simply shared what the Spirit was revealing through creation at that time.

Labeling is simular to witnessing but labeling can be more poignant because it provides "on-time" descriptive of something happening in the here and now - something happening around you, your friends, or an event.

Witnessing shares personal stories and BIblical narratives designed to present a protocol for coming to Christ. Labeling is different, though the revelation of Christ is no less compromised. Labeling is simply a verbalization of what God is doing at any given time. This is that.

For some, the idea of being a labeler takes the heat off. It lessons the academic responsibility of the labeler, allows him or her to speak matter-of-factually out of their authority in Christ, and provides an "on-time" example of the nexus of God's love and the particular life experience of the listener. Labeling carries a prophetic punch that is hard to argue with.

Example: A person comes to you and tells you her experience when she was in church. "I can't explain it," she says. "I just felt peaceful all over." How would a labeler respond to that? She would respond, "That was the peace of God. He loves you."

Labeling isn't rocket science. It's just affirming what God is doing in the people around you. Want people to see Jesus? That's easy. Label Jesus in the people around you.

Bill's website HERE.

The Lamb of God
Douglas Webster, The Discipline of Surender, Chapter 11

Here is a picture of Jan van Eyck's painting Adoration of the Lamb (1432). I posted it as large for you to be able to see and consider the numerous symbols of surrender embedded within. Which one strikes you the most?

The image of surrender in the Lamb of God runs deep in the veins of our Life. It links Christ's sacrifice as a continuation of the Jewish protocol of of temple worship and it links us, who have been washed with that same precious substance to the Day when, we who are washed in the Blood of the Lamb, will be reunited with him and remain with him forever. Appropriating Christ's sacrifice to ourselves is the only - the ONLY - way we get to heaven. It restores us to the New Eden, where we are once again untied in favorable companionship with God and have fellowship with him in the cool of the evening. 

Yet, with all it's theological importance, Webster's comments ring true. "Moderns are looking for a friendly Jesus who makes them feel better about themselves, but the Biblical Jesus laid his life down that our sins might be forgiven" (p.105). Wow. That slaps me in the face. You mean Jesus didn't die to make me feel better. You mean I have something called sin in my life? Are you telling me I need to be forgiven before an all-holy God? Are you telling me that you are in and I am out?

Exactly. 

It's interesting that in the Jewish temples - the first ministry station was always an altar upon which sin was dealt with. It was the first thing the worshipper saw when walking into the temple. Sure, there were other - more wonderful things to experience in the Temple (personal washing and cleansing, sacramental experience, intercessions, and the privilege of being intimate with God) but none of them could be experienced until the worshipper dealt with the sin in his or her heart. In fact, in the Tabernacle of Moses, the Altar of Sacrifice was not only the first ministry station of the temple. It was also by far the largest. 

Perhaps you have had a change to share about the forgiveness of sins to a neighbor, co-worker, of friend at school? Share with us their reaction. What are some modern objections to the Faith as you have heard them?

Douglas Webster, The Discipline of Surrender, Chapter 10


A powerful chapter not only describing the passion of our Lord but also bringing out the ways that thorns in our flesh keep us humble, relieve us of our self-sufficiency, and get us into "weakness" so that God's power can be unleashed.

Webster writes,"The thorn is not an obstacle to God's will but a catalyst for doing God's will... it prepares us for ministry" (p.98). Of course much of the world sees weakness as something that prohibits success. Not so with God. His is an upside-down kingdom. I can remember so well my own struggles in becoming ordained to the Priesthood, some 25 years ago. I struck out not three, but four times! Yet, with each passing strike my self-sufficiency lessoned. It wasn't until the fourth strike that I fell to my knees completely emptied of how I could be a good priest, or how the church needed my gifts, or what a terrific guy I could be to this or that particular people group... That's when God said, "Finally, something I can work with!" 

It reminds me of a story I once heard of John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement. One night he was found in a cheap hotel at the end of his rope, completely exhausted from doing ministry. Nothing was happening. No souls being saved, no healings happening, no nothing. To him, pastoring the church seemed senseless. He rolled over and fell to his knees and remained there, at the side of the bed, completely emptied before the Lord. It was then when a beautiful thing happened. He heard the voice of the Lord say, "John, I've seen your ministry. Now I want to show you mine." John was finally ready. He returned to his church with new priorities. It wasn't easy at first. But soon thereafter his church exploded with signs and wonders, healings and miracles - and new music to go along with it - of which the world is still embracing. 

Webster asks a couple of wonderful questions - questions which I'd like to pass onto you:

What has God allowed in my life to remind me of my weakness? (p.95)

What has God placed in our lives [in our community life at St. David's, for example] to remind us of our weaknesses and Christ's power? (p.97)

"And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him." Hebrews 5:9-10

I have heard it said that a bird with its wings clipped is still a bird. Jesus, though clipped, remained God. In his case, the clipping continued to his death.

I think of the pre-incarnate Jesus as this magnificent free-flowing glorious blob of divinity, without boundaries, knowing no restraint other than his own self-imposed restraint to be about the will of the Almighty Counsel. Then he comes to earth as a man and submits himself to the first big "clip", if you will: humanity. Suddenly all he is has become fractioned off to a time-sensitive, geographically limited piece of creation which, like a metallic cookie-cutter slicing into an enormous piece of cookie doe - laid out across the counter of eternity - separates him, limits him, and defines as a mere fraction of who he really is.

Through his life the clipping only grows. These walls of limitation seem endless. Not only does he willingly submit to a physical body, but to its emotions as well; it's highs its lows, it's hungers and it's pains. Then there is the submission to Palestinian culture, her foods, her religion, and then to the government of Rome, it's system; then to court trials, agony, and then real death - extinction. Thus God left the boundless majesty-driven environs of heaven and shrunk through his suffering into absolute nothingness.

How did he do it? Why DIDN'T he call upon legions of angels to bail him out of this ever-increasing tightening of the grip of his own creation upon everything he was?

Jesus perceived each corner of the road to the Cross firstly, as designed by God. For him, there was purpose in each "clipping" of his wing. His relationship with the Father was at such a place that he trusted his Father. He understood his Father loved him deeply and was able to be about the business of the Father with this assurance as its backdrop. This became challenging at the end, where Jesus cried to take the cup from him. But even here his Father heard his many cries and sent him divine assistance out of that same love and care. Soon thereafter he came to his senses and embraced the way of Life to be only lived in going to his death.

Second, it was Jesus' Godly fear which kept his heart humble. When a heart is humble it is by default teachable. And "teachable" not in an informational way - knowing formulas, design, facts, or statistics. But in a deeply formative and living way. Humility allows the heart to hear far deeper than the academic. It allows the heart to be formed with the understanding of Purpose. Perfect humility breeds perfect understanding of the ways and presence of God.

And while we will never understand the full disposition of Divinity, there is a place within the humbled heart that is able to willfully and joyfully resign to the sufferings of his design, no matter what they be. For us, the knowledge of his purpose, companionship, and promise to guide us through to the other side is all we need to acquiesce to all things Godly - including suffering.

Jesus became perfected in the things he suffered. He embraced them, bowed down to their senseless extremeness. He lived his whole life that way. He came in crying as a baby and wailing as an adult. His entire life was a never-ending series of submitting to sufferings. He got used to that. It became his lifestyle. It prepared him for the final submission. As submitted, joy was released. Power and grace streamed from his hands and heart in miraculous ways, streaming into others with all the force of a mighty river, damed at it's falls but funneled and transformed into currents of electricity which, if not for the limitations of the dam itself, could never reach the glorious extremes of his ministry.

His lifestyle of suffering took him to into the heart of death - his very own death - where he there became perfected.  And through that perfection he became the writer of a New Book, the author of eternal salvation to all who [in turn] obey him.

Praise God for his perfection in suffering.
Pray to God the same for us all.

The Crowing Rooster
Douglas Webster, The Discipline of Surrender, Chapter 9


Somewhere along the line I have picked up the phrase, "You will eventually become the thing you judge." Don't know where I heard it but I believe it may be true. Do I judge the thief? I will become a thief? Do I judge the adulterer? I will become an adulterer. Do I judge the gossiper? I will wind up telling everyone I know about that gossiper.

Webster does a phenomenal job here. The life of Peter is something to talk about for many, many posts. Peter's Pride runs akin to our pride, he says. Even though we are warned in Christ, we are deceived by our pride into thinking we don't even need the warnings! Praise God that, like Peter, after our denials of Jesus the Spirit of God in us will always convict us into Life-giving repentance, not a death-giving regret (i.e. Judas). 

It may be worth noting here the difference between condemnation and conviction. The devil condemns us after we have denied Christ. But the Lord convicts us after the same act. Condemnation drives us to remorse. Conviction is always lined with the fragrance of Destiny. Condemnation draws us inward, isolates us, and blinds us from seeing not only who we are as children of God, but questions the whole of our relationship with him. Condemnation will say, "You are bad. Get alone and wallow in your the realization of what you did. And, while you're at it, let's look deeply at all the other things you supposedly did for your God, if they were anything at all. Do you really think you are walking with him? Did God really say?" And so on down the line. Condemnation will seek to undo in your head everything you have ever done in your heart for Christ. 

Conviction is different. It says, "You blew it - but get up! There's more to do. I have a work for you. I forgive you. Trust me in that and let's move into the plans I have for you!" See the difference. For us that means we need to be listening to the voices in our head when seeking restoration. We need to discern whether we are feeling one way or the other. The Holy Spirit first reveals the sin. That's the good thing. But the devil is quick to rush in to blame and confuse and seek to keep us in that guilt-ridden state for as long as he can. Our response to this assault? Don't listen to it. Rebuke it and run. Choose rather to accept the loving conviction of the Father and then allow him to feed you on the beach of restoration. "Do you love me?" he will ask. "Yes, Lord, you know I love you. I still love you," will be your response. Notice here Jesus doesn't go back to the event. He doesn't seek to unveil Peter's motives for the denial, what he could have done better, why he fought for Him one minute and was denying Him the next like the devil will do. Didn't matter. Jesus wanted Peter to know he was forgiven and that it shouldn't hold him up. Get up. There is real work to do!!! "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Comments?

Back to the book. I was struck with how the rooster was transformed from a reminder of something terrible to a memorial of restoration! Only God can do that. "The rooster is a strange Biblical image, but it was Jesus who drew it to Peter's attention and to ours for our own good" (p.88). Christians place a unique symbolism in normal everyday things. Why? God uses normal everyday things to incarnate himself prophetically through them: a donkey, a towel and basin, an altar, and so on. 

What normal everyday thing has God used in your world to reveal a deeper meaning? Download a picture from the internet and post it - explaining how God has used the thing in your life!

The Towel and Basin

The Discipline of Surrender, Doulas Webster, Chapter 7

Just this morning I was asking the Lord for a heart of humility. Not exactly that. But a heart that can appreciate and live into humility. I think humility is needed so we can breath in all that God is doing in our life. Else we mis it.

Humility was absent with Peter. He refused to simply "be" in the midst of what God was doing in his life. In this case, he was hidden from the greater mystery ("... the full extent of [Jesus's] love". Jn. 13:1) and forced to deal with the awkwardness of his Rabbi washing his feet with a lesson that has endured thousands of years. I want to be like that. Not like Peter. But like a person who is continuously and deeply reflective of all that God is doing around me, if I am indeed graced with the ears to hear and eyes to see.

Question: Is it easier for you when someone washes your feet (speaking parabolically here) or when you wash the feet of others? 

Webster states on p.69 that the caring for the practical, daily needs of others is equated with washing the feet of others. 

At the homeless breakfast on Saturday there was a woman who was holding a card dear to her chest. She was smiling. I asked her about the card and her face lit up with the story of how she was on the bus when a man invited her to sit next to her. She took the seat and noticed he was writing out a greeting card. He signed it, licked the envelope, and gave it to her, just before getting off the bus. She showed me the card. It was an Easter card. In it he wrote that God loved her. That she was his child. And that, through the power of the resurrection, it would all work out. That man washed that woman's feet. Not through the tools of towel and basin, but through the tools of pen and paper. 

We could all do that.

As baptized Christians we have been washed with towel and basin. Remember it? It wasn't the washing of hands to justify our behavior (like Pilate). No. We have been washed by Jesus himself through baptism and "marked as Christ's own forever". There was a basin. And there was a towel. So, for us anyway, our challenge may be to wash others in the same love wherein we have been washed, to comfort with the same comfort wherein we have been comforted, to weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. But not with hearts that are cold and akin to "just doing the right thing". Anyone could do that. God calls us to do all that stuff with hearts of humility. Why? When we do things with hearts of humility it allows God's love to be transferred through the doing of the thing. Surrendering to a heart of humility enables God's love to be received and given in a way that the essence of heaven is revealed to all who are present. Without love it everything we do is all just a wash.

"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me" (Jn. 13:8). What does that mean for us today?

The Easy Yoke

The Discipline of Surrender by Douglas Webster. Chapter 6

I have often heard that farmers will usually yoke a stronger animal with a weaker one. Even though the weaker animal may be huffin' and puffin' under the weight, it is only a fraction of what it could be taking, if not for the strength of the lager beast. I think being yoked with Christ is like that. 

Webster shares that we become yoked to the freedom in Christ, not by theological education, or being spiritual know-it-all's, but through the doorways of our wills (p.56). It is then when, in obedience, we willingly yield to God's wisdom, love, and call. I love it when he says it is then when we enter into a "partnership with the Lord Jesus" and an "empowered partnership" to boot (p. 60). Wow. What a great partner to have!! God.

But there are those, Webster writes, who seek to live with each foot co-yoked onto numerous differentanimals at the same time (my words, not his). "Sometimes we insist on trying to travel the Christian life with all our personal baggage of guilt, materialism, lust, and selfishness" (p.55) When I read these words I was struck with the haunting memory of Robert DiNero in THE MISSION trying to climb up the mountain - all the time clinging to his baggage. And the joy that met him when he was set free. This is an iconic scene which I commend to you HERE.

When you watch this link what do you see?

A Prophetic Word from Gen. 22:6

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. 

As young "Isaac's" we have been redeemed with the fire and the knife of God's mercy. So why are we still on the Altar?

Some stay because it's familiar. We've grown accustomed to it's hard, stony surface. Others are afraid to get off the thing. Still others aren't quite convinced they have really been set free by the knife and purified in the fire. And God waits.

Here's what came to me in church yesterday:

"I have cut your cords with my knife. I have cleansed you with my fire. You are free to rise from the altar. But you do not. Why have you not risen in the Grace where in you can stand? You sin is behind you. Your shame is consumed in my Provision, the scapegoat of the Sacrificial Lamb, crowned in a thorny thicket. 

"Arise, my child, get off the altar of your past and I will lift you into your future. There is nothing holding you back from my end. My plans will formulate as you get off the altar.  Arise from the shame of your youth. It is over. Finished. Dance on its ashes in the power of my Provision."