Being Made "Hallow"

"This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment:  In this world we are like Jesus."

Like Jesus.  How can I ever be like Jesus?  My sister and I had the privilege of sharing Christ with a man who sincerely claimed to be his follower.  And a follower of Buddha.  And a follower of Hinduism. And just about anything else that was "truth." When we told him scriptures, he'd get excited and say, "I know!  I know!"  We sat with this beautiful man for two hours - a divine appointment my mom would call it, unplanned by us, but uncannily arranged by God -  as he told us of his 30 year search for truth, expounding on concepts so similar to the scriptures that one could easily be confused.  And the basis of his truth was love.  And who can argue against love?  Once we knew how to "love", we would BE God, not just like him.  That was the difference.

One of the marvels to me is how the Spirit of God leads and teaches us.  It seems that suddenly I will hear a keyword repeated from a variety of sources and I just know that God is trying to teach me something.  As I've wrestled with what it means to be "in Christ" (keyword) God has been driving home how this should affect me - how I should be "like Christ."  To the man I mentioned above, being like Christ was to have his consciousness perfected in love (sounds good) and therefore become God (sounds like the foundational lie whispered in the Garden).  It occurred to me that the more he described love, the more he portrayed love devoid of relationship. Empty.  And suddenly I understood just one reason why perhaps God made me.  you.  a people.

Now the only way I can ever be like Jesus would seem first, that I have been justified by His atoning death - placed "in Him", and secondly, I am being sanctified as a result of the continuing work of the Holy Spirit within.  The first is like the potter throwing a new lump of clay onto the wheel, purposing to fashion it, the second is his fashioning.  Paul states, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness!" [Romans 6:17-18]  To speak in plain language, Paul uses an example from everyday life in verse 19:  "Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness (remember how a little leaven leavens the whole lump?), so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness."  This infers a continuing sorrow over sin such that it drives us to repent when it ensnares us (and it does so easily).  I love the way John Piper puts it:  "...even though justifying faith does not produce perfection in this age, it always produces a new direction in this age.  It dethrones sin, enthrones God, and makes war on sin in our own hearts and bodies."  [Slaves to God, Sanctification, Eternal Life, Dec. 10, 2000].  

C.S. Lewis says it this way in Mere Christianity, “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either. 

“What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” 

Or to paraphrase Kevin DeYoung:  "while the church is not a 'museum for good people' but a 'hospital for the broken,' it is indeed the purpose of a hospital to help sick people get better."

Like Martin Luther, my heart has been pierced of late over this very issue, as tolerance becomes the keyword of this generation even in the church.  But should the church tolerate overt sin in the name of love?  Should an individual tolerate sin in his/her own life in the name of loving oneself?  Is it love to tolerate sin that threatens your very soul?  Should we rest in being in a 'right position' if our position isn't righting? 496 years ago when Martin Luther stood up against the atrocities in the Catholic Church - his first thesis was just this struggle:  "When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said, "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."  Sin should bother us and motivate us to say, "help me, Lord!"  Help me be like you. And we, as the Church, shouldn't be so quick to frown on our brothers who struggle with sin - we all do.  We should be helping each other overcome!  We should be part of that body that says, like Jesus: "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."  That is love. Like King Louie in The Jungle Book we might sing, "I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too!"

The steady hand of the potter is upon me. This, my friends, will be a  lifelong process - this sanctification - and if I am to truly love, then let me truly love you, God, and love my neighbor as myself.  Fashion me.  Make me.  Mold me.  Let me be like Jesus. 

If you google a list of the character traits of Jesus Christ, you can find plenty.  In fact, here's a list from the Blue Letter bible:

He was Obedient

Phl 2:8

He was Meek, Lowly

Mat 11:29

He was Guileless

1Pe 2:22

He was Tempted

Hbr 4:15

He was Oppressed

Isa 53:7

He was Despised

Isa 53:3

He was Rejected

Isa 53:3

He was Betrayed

Mat 27:3

He was Condemned

Mar 14:64

He was Reviled

1Pe 2:23

He was Scourged

Jhn 19:1

He was Mocked

Mat 27:29

He was Wounded

Isa 53:5

He was Bruised

Isa 53:5

He was Stricken

Isa 53:4

He was Smitten

Isa 53:4

He was Crucified

Mat 27:35

He was Forsaken

Psa 22:1

He is Merciful

Hbr 2:17

He is Faithful

Hbr 2:17

He is Holy, Harmless

Hbr 7:26

He is Undefiled

Hbr 7:26

He is Separate

Hbr 7:26

He is Perfect

Hbr 5:9

He is Glorious

Isa 49:5

He is Mighty

Isa 63:1

He is Justified

1Ti 3:16

He is Exalted

Act 2:33

He is Risen

Luk 24:6

He is Glorified

Act 3:13

Are You in a Bubble?

Recently I took a class in using my Apple computer more efficiently.  I was absolutely blown away by the minutia that I could input into my event calendar, including maps, websites, addresses and the travel times between events; in my iPhoto library, I could tag faces and locations, then quickly share it with the world of Email, Message, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter,  through Photostream, Airstream and iCloud features.  During my brisk stroll through the mall to the store, I observed most mallpeds (mall pedestrians) not window shopping, but busy instead on their phones, shutting out distractions with their earbuds, as they walked with a focus that would cause their classroom teachers to envy.  Is it no wonder?  They must:  Listen to music?  Check their navigator? Check in on Facebook?  Capture a selfie? Update their status? Change their profile?  Twitter their thoughts? Search coupons (maybe?)? Text their shopping location?  Diagnose themselves?  I don't know, but I do know storefront windows have to find a new way of competing with the window browsing on our phones.  

For me, there is one great benefit to this tech society.  No longer do I have to wonder how God could possibly count each sparrow or hair off my head that falls to the ground.  Seriously, that was one of my biggest obstacles to coming to faith.  How can God know everything about me - and everyone else?  Impossible!  Not if he is bigger than Apple - and has the infinite space of the universe for storage - no need for massive server farms. And what's up with Apple storage calling itself "iCloud"?  Have they never read Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...."?  We certainly are.  And God is certainly bigger than Apple (now the most "admired" company in the world according to CNN Money) and I doubt He even needs a "server farm."  

"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought." 1 Chronicles 28:9a

"And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."  Romans 8:27

"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."  1 Corinthians 2:10

I do wonder, however, if we as individuals might just be at the pinnacle of our "knowledge."  As the world of technology knows more and more about me (and I gladly share the details), this great "cloud" is becoming more and more a bubble to insulate me.  Ads are geared toward what I search - they track my every move on my machine, some turn on my microphone to hear what I'm doing, some turn on my camera to watch me (if that's not scary....); my calendar fills up with the minutia, pictures tag me, location services tell me what's around me.  In this small world of commercial greed, I am very important. This small world that Thomas Friedman proclaimed flat - open, accessible, cheaply traveled, and the great equalizer of competition for knowledge, goods, and services, is reverting to the very small world of one - me, and I am quickly my own "willing" victim.  

And that's really all it was about when Satan gave Eve an apple.  "God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" [Gen. 3:5].

Now if only we could find a way to tell the difference and to discern truth. Isn't that what Pilate asked?

Jesus claims to be the truth. "I am the way, the truth and the life" [John 14:6].  He promises that "if we seek him, we will find him" [Matt. 7:7] and that we "can know the truth and the truth will set us free" [John 8:32].  If you are searching for truth (and most of us claim to do so), don't leave out a search through God's word - it might be worth an eternity of browsing time. 

Comfort in the Ark

The twilight of sleep blesses me.  It is here where I reflect, not just my day's activities or what tomorrow shall bring, but on the dichotomy of incredible blessings God has bestowed upon me and the fiery trials that pursue me. It is here upon my bed that I beseech Him for my children, my family, my friends, my faith.  Sometimes sleep itself is sweet, sometimes it escapes me.  Some nights I fall quickly into slumber as into the arms of the lover of my soul; other times,  I wrestle to settle the thoughts and anxieties of my mind, this twilight struggle prompting me to cast all my cares upon Him, cry out to Him and pray.  Psalms echoes the importance of meditating on the Lord as we pass into slumber.  David encourages us to delight in the law of the Lord day and night [Ps. 1:2] and promises "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness....when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches" [Ps. 63:6].

This sweet twilight can be a time for reflection - a time when God who searches the heart can reveal truth and correction.  Jeremiah warned that the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick - who can understand it?  The Lord is able. "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind...." [Jer. 17:9-10].  David attested to this fact "O Lord, you have searched me and known me...you are intimately acquainted with all my ways," [Ps. 139:1-3] and prompts, "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still" [Ps. 4:4].  Scientists agree that sleep is the reboot time for our mind and bodies, a time where the demands of our activities don't interfere in the process of healing and growth.  Perhaps spiritually it is a time to hear God's still small voice, a time wherein the Psalmist writes, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me" [Ps. 16:7]. Young's Literal Translation interprets it this way, and I love it:  "I bless Jehovah who hath counselled me; Also in the nights my reins instruct me."  I like to picture the mighty steed submitting to the direction of His maker to go in the right direction!

Yet sleep is a time of vulnerability.  Time magazine begins an article by Belinda Luscombe [Oct. 17, 2013] on sleep with this, "In a predatory world, sleep doesn't make much evolutionary sense.  Why would any creature lie down, shut its eyes and not move for about a third of a day?  It's like an invitation to be eaten."  I love that.  Luscombe quotes a new study out of the University of Rochester Medical Center suggesting that, not only is sleep a time for consolidating memories and recharging cells, sleep is your trash pick-up time - yes, garbage collection day.  The brain cooperates in this by shriveling up to 60% making less roads to travel.  Imagine that. Reminds me of the mighty brain submitting to the clean-up of His maker!  Sleep deprivation has long been considered a symptom of mental illness, but now studies suggest that it actually contributes to psychiatric disorders [Harvard Health Publications]. Anyone who's spent a restless night or has a newborn child can attest to that!  Our bodies beg for serious shut-eye. It's as if our brain says, "rest already so I can work."  Sleep may not be convenient in the evolutionary scheme of things, but in the spiritual, it is a time we learn to let go and trust in a very practical way.  A time we can enter into rest knowing we are safe "in Christ" no matter the storm, just as Jesus, tossed about by the turbulent seas of Lake Galilee demonstrated His perfect trust in His Father (who neither slumbers nor sleeps) by....sleeping!  

There was another boat mentioned in the Bible that served to save and preserve those on board.  Noah's ark [Gen. 6-7].  Bear with me through a few comparisons.

God sovereignly chooses one family of sinners to preserve in His mercy; Luke 1:77-79 outlines the mercy of God resulting in salvation to His people.  

Noah hears God's voice and fears Him [Heb. 11:7]; John 10:27 says "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Noah walked in obedience to God's commands [Gen. 6:22]; John 14:15 says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." 

Noah built the ark in faith, being warned of things not seen as yet [Heb. 11:7]; 2 Cor. 5:7 says we walk by faith and not by sight.  

God counts Noah's faith as righteousness [Gen. 7:1]; we are declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [Rom. 3:24]. 

God directed Noah to build the ark, giving him very explicit directions; 2 Tim. 3:16-17 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.   

Noah condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness according to faith [Heb. 11:7]; James 4:4 says friendship with the world means enmity against God. 

God sealed the door shut [Gen. 7:16]; God seals us into the body of believers with His Holy Spirit [Eph. 1:13-14]. 

Noah persevered through the storm of judgment; Matt. 24:13 Jesus warns his disciples of great tribulation, but that those who endure to the end shall be saved. 

God's mercy saved only those who entered the ark; John 10:9 says, "I [Jesus] am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."  

The ark was the only means of salvation; Acts 4:12 reads, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

Thereby we can conclude that the ark is a picture of Jesus Christ and Noah the believer who has entered in to the rest.  But I found a tidbit very surprising the other day - of course, just before I went to sleep. The next day I thought I'd lost it - I knew it was important, but for the life of me I could not remember it.  BUT GOD.  There, on a bathroom shelf, two days later - at someone else's home, sat a devotional.  It read:

"When the dark clouds of trial, struggle, grief, or suffering roll in and settle on us so thick that we can barely see ahead of us, it's easy to forget there is a place of calm, light, clarity, and peace we can rise to.  If we take God's hand in those difficult times, He will lift us up above our circumstances to the place of comfort, warmth, and safety He has for us."

Comfort!  Noah!  Noah means "comfort"*!  Comfort in the Ark!  My heart leapt for joy realizing that the picture of Noah dwelling inside the Ark is that of the Holy Spirit - the Comforter - dwelling in Christ and in every believer.  Truly "I in Thee and Thee in Me, for Time and For Eternity."  (Thank you, mom!)

How comforting it is to find rest in Him.  He is my Hope, my ever present help in times of trouble. Jesus beckons, "come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" [Matt. 11:27].

Remember upon your bed tonight these comforting words from Isaiah:
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You." [Isaiah 26:3]



* A few more very interesting facts about Noah:

"Comfort" is given as the Hebrew definition for Noah, but there are two 'Biblical' meanings according to www.sheknows.com:  Repose and consolation.  

If you've been following my posts, you will remember "Because Ye Are Unleavened" stating that the fourth question of the Passover was changed after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 from "on all other nights, we eat meat, which has been roasted, stewed or boiled, but on this night we eat only roasted meat," to "On all other nights we eat while sitting upright, but on this night we eat reclining [to repose]."

Consolation immediately brought to my mind Simeon who "was waiting for the Consolation of Israel." Upon seeing the child Jesus, Simeon blessed God and said: "Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." [Luke 2:25-32]

To me Noah's very naming points to the saving work of Christ and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit in the believer in Christ.

"I in Thee, Thee in Me, For Time and for Eternity"

He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  

Ps. 91:1

What a promise the Lord has given us that we have a secret place, safe from every harm, a place of comfort and security.  Where is this place?  Psalm 90:1 says it is in the Lord: "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations," and 91:9 proclaims, "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."  

Last night, I rested in the comfort of the Lord, meditating on what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, thus it was amazing to me to come to my next "sleep study" on Romans, entitled appropriately, "The Holy Spirit, Our Seal and Constant Companion."  I say "sleep study" because, at night, when I can't fall back to sleep after a 3 am awakening, I always listen to a sermon.  In all honesty, and somewhat shamefully, I'm usually lulled back to sleep by the monotone voice of a preacher yet happy that the word of God is lodging somewhere deep within the recesses of my mind.  The monotone voice of Barry Minsky is the reason I chose this series in Romans, but God, in His infinite plan, had other intentions for me. 

I'm sure you have noticed that I have been fixated lately on what does it mean to be "in Christ" and how should that affect us?  For this post, I will be focusing on being "in Christ."  I think my contemplation started many years ago when we sent out Christmas cards asking "Who do you say I [Christ] am?" reflecting Jesus' poignant, personal question to his disciple Peter that began with the broad stroke, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  It's a question that all of us who have a knowledge of God (and Romans 1:19-20 tells us we all do) must answer.  It's the proverbial elephant in the room.  We read in Scriptures all Jesus proclaims to be; we have people tell us who they claim he is; we have all of creation testifying that there is a creator - yet all of this information demands we either shelve it ("suppress it" is what Romans 1:18 calls it) or be changed by it.

Jesus, in righteous indignation, overturned the tables of the moneychangers who merchandised easy salvation - how convenient that the Passover observer didn't have to cart his doves or sacrificial lamb over many miles or could leave the observation of its perfection to the seller - last minute sacrifices could be bought and sold at the sinner's convenience.  The first three gospels recount Jesus' actions and quote Him as saying, "My house shall be called a House of Prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers," and John quotes Jesus saying, "Take these things away! Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise!" 

I thought, how interesting that He spoke that rebuke to the merchants selling doves, the very symbol of the Holy Spirit; it reminded me of David's cry when acknowledging his sin, "Do not take your Holy Spirit from me!"  Rather than cry for mercy, the Jews question Jesus' authority to do this: "What sign do you show us, since you do these things?" 

Jesus answered that their sign would be "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!"  The sign of Jonah given to a wicked and adulterous generation in Matthew 12:40: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  They, of course, used His words to condemn him of blasphemy, but John 2:21 clarifies that the temple Jesus spoke of was his own body.  

It follows then, that to be in Christ, is to be in the Temple of God.  

What blessed unity, this secret place, wherein a believer dwells, experiencing the glory of God - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. I struggled many years with how can God be one God if there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?  I heard it preached once not to think of the Trinity as (1 + 1 + 1), but rather (1 x 1 x 1), each being the fullness of the other.  That made sense to me. How can a man and a woman become one flesh in the eyes of God?  How can two people, raised in varying ways, perhaps in different locations, pledge to forsake all others and promise him/herself to the other as long as they both shall live?  Only by being married, could I realize this miracle that happened. I don't know how God miraculously joins a man and a woman as one flesh, or makes one new man out of Jew and Gentile, or takes a multitude of sinners and makes them one in Christ, but He is. My mother, when she was baptized into Christ, said it well: "I in thee, thee in me, for time and for eternity." I didn't expect to find in Romans 8 this unity of God and believers.  Here is an excerpt of Pastor Minsky's expounding on Romans 8, but I would encourage you to listen to his entire sermon, The Holy Spirit, Our Seal and Constant Companion:

"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."  Romans 8:9-17

First of all, I want you to note that the Lord makes a point of calling this individual, the Spirit, by different titles in Romans chapter eight beginning with verse nine.
Listen to what he is called.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
So he is first called the “Spirit of God.” Well, now let’s go on a little further.
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Do you notice? He is the Spirit of God, obviously referring to God the Father. So here is this relationship that the Holy Spirit has with the Father. And then we find that he is the Spirit of Christ. And so there is a relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Then we read in verse 10.

“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Here we have the Spirit who dwells in us being called the Spirit of God, he dwells in you; the Spirit of Christ, anyone who does not have the Spirit does not belong to him. And then we are told if Christ is in you. Do you see the point? What the Word of God is doing for us here is bringing together the various persons of the trinity and indicating in the clearest possible way that there is an intimate, integral relationship that if you have the Spirit, he is the Spirit of God. If you have the Spirit, he is the Spirit of Christ. If you have the Spirit, it, in fact, is Christ himself, who is dwelling within you.

If we are in Christ then, we dwell in the temple of the Lord, the temple He raised from the grave in three days, the new and living church.  We dwell in the secret place of the Most High - under the shadow of the Almighty.  Not only do we dwell in the temple, we who are wed to Christ, are the temple, as surely as a husband and wife are one.  First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "Do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price."  Our salvation, our reconciliation to God, was bought with a price - the price of God's own Son, stamped with the approval of the Holy Spirit, bonded in love "for time and for eternity."

Enjoy Psalm 91 performed by Sons of Korah: