A Promise Worth Testing
Hello, friends. I hope that your summer has got off to a good start! Some of you have likely been working already for weeks, while others are still casting out their lines. Please know I'm praying for God's provision for you.
One of the books I'm reading this summer is called The Divine Embrace, by Robert Webber. It is part of his Ancient-Future series, and addresses what he would call ancient-future spirituality (his previous books include Ancient-Future Faith and Ancient-Future Time). The essence of his book is this: the spirituality that best responds to the post-modern search for meaning is the Christian spirituality of the New Testament and the early centuries of the church, which he defines as "God's passionate embrace of us; our passionate embrace of God." In us experiencing this, he says, we accomplish his eternal purpose for us: "to take care of the world, and to make it the place of his glory."
The book is very compelling, especially since I also have the great privilege of preaching on 1 John at my church while our pastor is away. The message I'll be preaching this Sunday has really awakened me to the amazing relevance of the gospel to life in the 21st century, and of the truth of what Webber has written about. If you'll bear with me, I want to share a few encouragements with you for your months abroad.
The passage I'm preaching on is 1 John 3:11-24. Read it! John is writing to a church in disarray. False teachers have come in and poisoned the message of the gospel, so that more and more people are confused about what it means to be spiritual or enlightened. People are being convinced by these false teachers that the point of Christianity (as they define it) is that it's all about you - your enlightenment, your self-fulfillment, your satisfaction. Once again, sin has crept in and twisted God's work.
Into this confusion John writes an amazing encouragement that is so relevant to our lives today. Boiled down, he tells us this:
1. It's not about you. There is a much bigger plan in motion, moving history toward a complete renewal, when all things will find their meaning and unity in Jesus Christ. Living for yourself will just entwine you in the soon-to-pass world (2:16-17); it's a losing proposition. So let it go!
As you prepare to be a lead worshipper this summer, I challenge you to ask God to expose the ways that you've allowed the ways of this world - "wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important" (2:16 MSG) - to become part of the way that you practice your faith.
2. It's all about Him. In his epistle, John points over and over to one historic event - the incarnation and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. If you want to be connected to God, let go of all your feeble attempts to reach Him, whether through legalism or charismatic intensity, and focus on Jesus Christ. You'll discover the total sufficiency of the work He has accomplished through his work on the cross: cleansing (1:7,9), forgiveness (1:9), overcoming power for living (5:4), rescue from enslaving idolatry (2:2, cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19), purification of motives (2:2, cf. Hebrews 9:14), and welcome into God's very presence as a friend and worshipper (2:2, cf. Hebrews 10:22) (see last year's post on Heb 9 & 10)!
As you prepare to be a lead worshipper, He knows that you feel inadequate; but he's not asking you to measure up, he's asking you to look up to him. He invites you to discover just how precious Jesus and His work really are. I encourage you to spend time this summer, even for a few moments each day, reflecting on the cross and all that it means for your relationship with God. Use music, Scripture, your imagination... whatever it takes to lift your eyes up to the vision of Jesus Christ, crucified on your behalf. This is the love that we celebrate in our worship!
3. "Love is a temple, Love's the higher law." A quote from U2's song, "One," captures well what this passage communicates about the beauty of love. He puts the pieces together this way. When Jesus summarized His commands, he said, "Love one another." This is the "higher law," the bottom line. Jesus said that when we keep or treasure His commands, he will come, with His Father, by the Holy Spirit, showing Himself to us and dwelling with us (John 14:21-23). John says, "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him" (3:24).
You may be longing for a powerful encounter with God this summer to get you ready for the year to come. While I certainly don't discourage seeking powerful experiences of worship in a church or meeting near you, it can be far simpler than that. If you're looking to experience the presence of God in a powerful way, reach out with His self-forgetful love to another person. In the space and time between you and that person you've loved, where His will is being done on earth as it is in heaven, you'll experience the personal reality of the presence of Christ! Love will become a temple for God!
4. "Ask, and you will receive." This is an incredible part of what it means to share life with God. John tells us that if we trust like children in the completeness of Jesus' work for us, and if we, like mature children, take on our Father's priorities by acting like His Son in loving others, that we'll gain His ear! We'll pray, and know that our prayers will be answered!
Don't we all long for this - a prayer life that reaches and heaven and brings it down to earth? It's not something I experience as a regular reality. But it's a promise we should all believe God for - that if we make our lives all about glorifying His Son and doing what His Son commanded us to do, He'll eagerly answer our prayers. So I encourage you to test him on this promise this summer. Seek to treasure Jesus as your first love, and to practice His teachings. See if it's not the pathway to a life of fruitfulness, both in action and in prayer!
Feel free to send me updates on your journey this summer. I always love knowing how I can pray more specifically for you.