Sychar

You who are called the Christ and
the giver of living water,
lead me to the well
which springs up to life eternal.
Supplant my earthly appetites
with heavenly ones.
Cause me to drink from your well.
Quench my worldly thirsts.
Set my affections upon the cross,
and my hunger
upon the will of the Father.

Invocation

Only begotton son of God
come and cleanse this wicked heart
so that you might be pleased to dwell within me.
Come not as the gentle Lamb of God
but as the fierce Lion of Judah;
who with great zeal and passion cleansed the temple.
With your whip of cords
drive out the impurity with me.
Purify and refine that which corrupts this temple.
Transform this corrupt den of thieves
into a pleasing house of prayer
so that I might finally worship in spirit and in truth.

The Quest for the Contemporaneous Jesus

Like many Evangelicals, I place a high importance on the historical Jesus. My hope in a future resurrection is anchored in the real historical events of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. During the end of the 19th century, conservative Christians began to address several attacks against the historicity of Jesus. This was the beginning of several debates which still persist today. The result of this movement was an apologia that focused on outward historical events rather than the Inner Light.  While it is important to recognize the events in the New Testament as historical, it is  the work of Christ within us that compels us to believe.  During that time (and for the most part today), the Fundamentalists and Evangelicals focused almost exclusively on proving that Jesus’ life was a real historical event. Likewise, liberalism spent a lot of time and resources attempting to prove that the events of the Bible were not historical. Perhaps the truth lies in Jurgen Moltmann’s statement that the incarnation did not happen in history but rather to history. From this perspective, Jesus actively invaded the space-time continuum rather than simply being a byproduct of it.

Regardless, this is my heritage and for better or for worse, has shaped who I am today.  However, something happened a couple of years ago when I first began to show symptoms of what I now know to be Primary Lateral Sclerosis. Prior to my sickness, when I thought of Jesus, I thought of the historical Jesus. To me, Jesus happened 2000 years ago. He lived 2000 years ago, died 2000 years ago and rose 2000 years ago. While these events were important to me (they provided a way for me to be saved from my sin) they were not subjectively attached to me. They were merely objective historical facts. Facts for which I was grateful to be sure… but still just historical facts.

What I have discovered in the past two years is that Jesus did not merely happen, He is still happening. Rather than seeing Jesus hanging on the cross from afar, I began to see the crucified Jesus right here next to me in every contemporaneous moment of my life. He didn’t merely live 2000 years ago, He  lives today. When he bids me to come and follow Him, it is not a call to just follow the historical Jesus, but to also follow the contemporary Jesus. When I face temptation, I no longer look to the historical Jesus, but to the Jesus who is alive and who is within me right in the midst of the temptation. In my suffering, I am strengthened by the historical suffering of Christ, but I endure because of the Christ who is right here beside me in my suffering. The historical Jesus is past tense. . . the contemporaneous Jesus is my ever present help in need.

This discovery has transformed my relationship with Christ from a static propositional agreement between two people to a dynamic relationship between a man and his Creator. It has moved me from contract to covenant. From the desert to the land of milk and honey. I still place a good deal of importance on the historical Jesus. After all, it was the event of God invading history which has made this great salvation possible. However, I no longer observe the historical Jesus… I commune with the contemporaneous Christ in me- my hope of glory and the hope of the world. My invitation to you is to join me in this quest for the contemporaneous Jesus. Hold fast to the historical foundation of our faith but seek also the Christ who is right here, right now forever present with you in every moment of your life.

Thou Who Hast First Loved Us

This short prayer is from a book that I’m reading called “The Prayers of Kierkegaard”.  Kierkegaard has long been one of my favorite philosophers and theologians. My prayer is that through Kierkegaard’s words your soul might be stirred and your affections might be set on the one who has (in each and every moment) first loved us.

Thou who first loved us, O God, alas! We speak of it in terms of history as if Thou has loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing Thou hast loved us first many times and everyday and our whole life through. When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward Thee–Thou art the first–Thou hast loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward Thee in prayer, Thou art there ahead of me, Thou hast loved me first. When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul in thought toward Thee, Thou art the first and thus forever. And yet, we always speak ungratefully as if Thou has loved us first only once.

-Soren Kierkegaard

Total Praise:: Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Another one of my favorites.  It is very simple yet very profound. Meditate on these words and be blessed today.

Lord, I will lift up my eyes to the hills,
knowing my help is coming from You.
Your peace You give me
in time of the storm.

You are the source of my strength,
You are the strength of my life;
I lift up my hands in total praise to You.

Amen, Amen, Amen

The Folly of the Cross

 The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God.

I Corinthians 1.18

Suppose a small child has been instructed by his loving king that he must move a large rock from the bottom of a hill to the top.  This task must completed by each of the king’s subjects  so that they might be granted immortality and live with the king forever. The king (loving his people) desires that each one might live with him forever. The child is also told that he has  but a short time to do this, although the exact amount of time is undisclosed. The king, being a just man, also warned of dire consequences of his wrath should the boy fail to fulfill the requirement. If the boy fails he would be cast out into the darkness where he will be alone forever; or perhaps he will be slaughtered by the other degenerates who now live in the darkness or, even worse, devoured by beasts. The young boy begins his work immediately- after all, time is short (he doesn’t know how short) and he knows it is a terrifying thing to fall into the wrathful and just hands of his king.

While engrossed in the task of moving the heavy object before him (and impressed with its impossibility) the young boy was periodically visited by towns folk who had already received their king’s favor. While encouraging him to persevere (because the king’s favor is worth aquiring) they also told him of a way in which he could gain his king’s favor without having to complete the impossible task of moving the large rock. They called this way the “Good News”.

“You see” , they said, “our king has already (once and for all) moved this rock for us. It was many years ago, but indeed he has already met the requirements of his decree! All we are to do is confess our inability to meet his just requirements and ask him to forgive us for our failure to do it ourselves. After this, we are to freely receive the king’s own accomplishment on our behalf. Upon hearing this, our king (who is loving and wishes that none of us shall perish), will release us from our obligation and credit his own fulfillment of the decree to our behalf.”

“How can this be” asked the young boy? “Is not our loving king also just? What shall become of the consequences for not keeping his decree? Our king’s justice requires that a price be paid for my disobedience and his wrath is surely quite severe.”

“Ah yes” said the town folk. “Indeed his wrath is frightful and indeed the price must be paid. This is the most amazing thing about this Good News. Our just king (being also a loving king) has taken his wrath upon himself. Look! Here he comes now! He is back from the darkness and is drenched in his own blood. He has suffered at the hands of the beasts and they have devoured him- and yet he has returned in the fullness of his glory to conquer the darkness once and for all”!

The young boy (beaten and tattered) looks out in the distance and sees his bloodied king approaching from the top of the hill. He knows that his time is near and that he has failed to meet the requirements of his king’s law. Furthermore, the rock now appears to be further away from the destination and much larger than when he first started. What do you suppose the boy should do? With certain death looming on the horizon, the only logical thing to do is to muster up all the strength he can and push even harder than before. Maybe if the king sees that he has been exerting himself he will have mercy. Or perhaps he should break the large rock into smaller pieces and at least succeed in moving certain parts of the rock to the hilltop. After all, accomplishing part of the task has got to be better than nothing at all. What if the town folk were mistaken and have failed to see that the blood which the king wears is not his own, but is the blood of another poor child who has failed to meet the decree?

Faced with our inability to meet the righteous requirements of God’s laws and certain of our own impending death, reason would dictate that the only logical thing to do is to work harder at meeting God’s law. After all, as we are often taught, if at first we don’t succeed, try again. As I said a couple of posts back, we are a resilient people and when faced with a seemingly impossible task, we are often rewarded for the amount of effort we put into completing the task- even if we are never able to actually fulfill it. Maybe our own hard effort will be enough to please God. Or maybe, rather than trying harder and relying on our effort to save us, we should just run off as fast as we can in the opposite direction. Maybe if we can’t escape God’s wrath we might be able to postpone it for a short while by out running Him.

(Now Randy as you requested… here is the folly of the cross)

Instead of trying to work harder at being good enough to appease God’s wrath we simply need to acknowledge our inability and trust that God will credit His own goodness to our account by receiving his offer. Rather than running away from a wrathful God, we run to Him- we run to the cross and we cling to Him because He is our only hope. We trust in His good character to not only pardon our sin, but to accept us with His good favor. This runs contrary to every survival instinct that we have. We don’t run with open arms toward the one who has the authority, power and the right to kill us. To do so would be folly. . .and yet it is our only hope.