“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Mathew. 22:37-40
Jesus’ first and greatest commandment – to love God with our whole hearts – and then His second – to love our neighbors as ourselves – were never meant to be separated. As theologian Meredith Kline said, “The two commandments of Jesus do not distinguish two separable areas of human life but two complementary aspects of human responsibility…” Jesus made it clear through His teaching, and we see now clearly through His Scriptures, that the more we come to know and love Him, the more we should love others. Not separately, but one out of the other. The more we know the love of God, the more that love should be pouring out of us to others.
But how are we to love them? Not, as our modern Christian culture sometimes tells us, by preaching God’s love at them. No – we are called to love them like Christ. Because we are called to be like Christ, we are called to love others like him. “Why are we to love our neighbors? Because we love the God who loves them; and, according to the principle articulated in the Sabbath commandment (Exod. 20:11), the imperative to love God is also a demand to be like Him.” (Kline) We are called to become like Christ and love like He loved, with His love.
And what does that look like? Let’s look at His life: it looks like living out a love to powerful, so heartfelt, so compassionate that it draws people to you. It doesn’t look like preaching at people – it looks like showing God to people and then giving them a reason for your love when it stands out to them so much that they ask you about it. Christ never shied away from sharing Truth – but He lived in such a way that people actually asked to hear the Truth. It means we weep with those who are heartbroken; give to those that have none even, and especially, when we ourselves have none; we eat with those who are most hated and converse with those who could ruin our reputation even by our proximity to them; we do not follow religious tradition or what is culturally accepted but instead question the heart of the matter; we do not look at one as accepted and one as different (or one as American and another as immigrant…) but we look at all as children of God who deserve to be shown grace and pushed towards Something better. In John 4:4-26, Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman – a woman who, simply because she was a Samaritan (a group of people who were only half-Jew) was considered a foreigner and an outcast. She was a woman that no self-respecting man ever would have talked to at that time. Yet Christ approached her, asked her questions, spoke truth, and challenged her towards something better. He looked at her and saw a hurting child of God, and loved her. He saw no color, no race, no religion. He saw a woman created in God’s image and loved her with his actions.
Loving like Christ ultimately means we look to God’s Kingdom purposes and not our own – we love others more than ourselves and our own theology, our own purposes, our own political ideology, our own image. We die in humiliation, as Christ did, if that is what is required of us to accomplish God’s purposes; we love those who hate us to the point of heart-wrenching pain and cultural shame.
Out of God’s love, we are called to love others as He loved us.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
I am not my own...
"But by the grace of God I am what I am..." (1 Corinthians 15:10)
It is only by God's GRACE that I am what I am. It is by nothing I have done that I was born into a middle-class white family in America, that I was able to go to college, do prestigious internships, learn to read and write well, eat healthily enough every day to be able to focus and function in what I do, marry an amazing man who has a good job, etc. It is by the grace of God that I received all these things and am the woman I am. So why would I ever think that all those things are for me to take and use as I please? Why would I ever think that this life I have and all that I am able to is my own? I have done nothing to merit all of this - what I have merited is a life of pain and heartache, but by the grace of God in Christ I am saved from that, and for His purposes have been given all the aforementioned blessings. All that I am is His and all that I have is for Him. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price..." (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Therefore, why would I ever think that what I have is for me, to use for my purposes and as I please? I do not deserve what I have; it is by nothing I have done that I am here and not one of the girls born into a destitute family in India who could not afford to pay the bills so they sold her into sexual slavery. My heart hurts thinking of her. Why her and not me? The GRACE of God. I deserve nothing more than her. Who I am, what I have, is given by the grace of God in Christ for His purposes. I pray that my heart, that all of our heart's, would break all over again everyday for those who have been injured so much by the sin of this world, and that we would grow more and more convicted every day of the fact that we are what we are and we have what we have for the purpose of bringing God glory by bringing His grace to those who have not been blessed like we have. We are blessed for His purposes, to spread His grace.
God, show me everyday how to give all that I am to you. Show me how to give back all that you've given me, so that the pain of other's might be lessened by the blessings you have given me in Christ and by His grace lived out in my life.
It is only by God's GRACE that I am what I am. It is by nothing I have done that I was born into a middle-class white family in America, that I was able to go to college, do prestigious internships, learn to read and write well, eat healthily enough every day to be able to focus and function in what I do, marry an amazing man who has a good job, etc. It is by the grace of God that I received all these things and am the woman I am. So why would I ever think that all those things are for me to take and use as I please? Why would I ever think that this life I have and all that I am able to is my own? I have done nothing to merit all of this - what I have merited is a life of pain and heartache, but by the grace of God in Christ I am saved from that, and for His purposes have been given all the aforementioned blessings. All that I am is His and all that I have is for Him. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price..." (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Therefore, why would I ever think that what I have is for me, to use for my purposes and as I please? I do not deserve what I have; it is by nothing I have done that I am here and not one of the girls born into a destitute family in India who could not afford to pay the bills so they sold her into sexual slavery. My heart hurts thinking of her. Why her and not me? The GRACE of God. I deserve nothing more than her. Who I am, what I have, is given by the grace of God in Christ for His purposes. I pray that my heart, that all of our heart's, would break all over again everyday for those who have been injured so much by the sin of this world, and that we would grow more and more convicted every day of the fact that we are what we are and we have what we have for the purpose of bringing God glory by bringing His grace to those who have not been blessed like we have. We are blessed for His purposes, to spread His grace.
God, show me everyday how to give all that I am to you. Show me how to give back all that you've given me, so that the pain of other's might be lessened by the blessings you have given me in Christ and by His grace lived out in my life.
More than US
Something needs to change in our Christian culture today: examples in Isaiah and Amos show us that the more complacent, comfortable, and affluent God’s people were, the more they deviated from His Word and way of living. And this deviation led to God’s intense displeasure with them. Isaiah and Amos are just two of the many prophets that were sent to warn Israel to turn from her disastrous ways: stop living the way those around you are living, stop doing what you want, turn back to God’s way….
A common theme behind Israel’s sin throughout her history is selfishness. It is the same selfishness all mankind – yes, even (and some many say especially), the Church - struggles with today. It is our inherent selfish mindset that tells us we should do what we want, we deserve the best, that our first concern should be our happiness, our safety, our security.
But look at the prophets warning to Israel, and look at the culmination of God’s message in Christ: we are created to glorify Him above all else. We are created to be in relationship with Him and to live for Him. That means that our will, what we want, what we think we deserve, is not our focus. Christ’s message was one of God’s Kingdom coming onto this earth, of a new Way. He fulfilled everything the Old Testament spoke about and the prophets interceded for – He gave the opportunity to truly know God. And along with that, He showed what it looks like to live for God, to live as God desires us to live as His set apart people. Christ showed what it looks like to work for God’s redeeming Kingdom on this earth, and to live as the holy people He created us to be.
So then how should this practically look for us? I have come to realize maybe that means looking at life from Christ’s perspective, not mine. Maybe this means I am not the end, the center, the focus. I think it means that I am part of something so much bigger, so much more glorious than my selfish perspective originally told me…
Instead of seeing God has Someone who lives for our purposes, maybe we can get on our faces before Him as Moses did, aware of His glory and holiness and the fact that there is so much more He desires for my life and for this world than our selfish culture tells us.
Maybe my first thought in thinking about a government policy (possibly such as healthcare?…) shouldn’t be how it will affect me, but maybe it should be held up to the light of God’s Kingdom that He desires us to live under: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18) As His set apart people, we are called not to think of ourselves first, but of bringing Him glory by living differently – by living the way Christ showed us how to live.
Maybe instead of thinking of our own financial security or personal safety, we are called to GO. To DO what He has commanded, without fear or what the world will think or what the world can do to us. Does the beauty of my Savior and the glory of my God move me so beyond this world that I do not even think what twice about what it says I “should” do? The world says I deserve a nice house, a safe place to raise my children, a good job so I can live comfortably and be “responsible” with my finances. But what if there is MORE God desires for us as His people? “Go and make disciples of all nations…”(Matthew 28). In Isaiah 1 God says He is “weary” of the offerings of the Israelites, that they have become a “burden” to him. It is clear from Is.1 that the Israelites still observe the religious festivals and holy days God commanded them to observe, that they still bring Him offerings in His temple. Yet He says He is tired of their “vain offerings.” He then goes on to say that He will not hear their prayers, because their hands are full of blood, and commands them to “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Is. 1:16-17) It is clear that, although still doing religious actions, the hearts of the Israelites were not in the right place. They were not truly loving God and living for Him. He says truly living rightly for Him would be to seek justice, correct oppression, plead the case of the fatherless and widow….Is there a similar pattern with the Church today? Do we observe the religious actions our culture tells us are “good,” and then not really live in all that God has for us? Do we do what benefits us, what is “good” for us, and miss out on truly living the Gospel the way Christ showed us we could live it? We need to question the world around us. What is our perspective? Why do we do the things we do? Are they religious actions that our culture tells us are right, but are in actuality self-satisfying and self-pleasing?
Christ showed us how in Him, we can be made new and join our God in the redemption of the world! That means so much more than living for ourselves, than living the way our religious culture often tells us we “deserve” to live. We can go higher, wider, deeper in the love of Christ to know Him and know what it looks like to join Him in working for the fatherless and oppressed, in working to bring His Kingdom onto this earth:
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” (Phil. 3:10).
Do we really want to know Christ? There is such power in really knowing Him and in sharing in His resurrection and getting to fellowship with Him in sufferings – and He has given us an opportunity to truly know Him and fellowship with Him through living like Him! Are we living in that awesome reality, in the reality that there is more? It is not about us – it is about His glory, about living in the new Way He showed us in Christ, about living out the salvation we received in Him by bringing His Kingdom onto this earth everyday in how we live and breathe and move. We live for more. There is more He has for us than us.
A common theme behind Israel’s sin throughout her history is selfishness. It is the same selfishness all mankind – yes, even (and some many say especially), the Church - struggles with today. It is our inherent selfish mindset that tells us we should do what we want, we deserve the best, that our first concern should be our happiness, our safety, our security.
But look at the prophets warning to Israel, and look at the culmination of God’s message in Christ: we are created to glorify Him above all else. We are created to be in relationship with Him and to live for Him. That means that our will, what we want, what we think we deserve, is not our focus. Christ’s message was one of God’s Kingdom coming onto this earth, of a new Way. He fulfilled everything the Old Testament spoke about and the prophets interceded for – He gave the opportunity to truly know God. And along with that, He showed what it looks like to live for God, to live as God desires us to live as His set apart people. Christ showed what it looks like to work for God’s redeeming Kingdom on this earth, and to live as the holy people He created us to be.
So then how should this practically look for us? I have come to realize maybe that means looking at life from Christ’s perspective, not mine. Maybe this means I am not the end, the center, the focus. I think it means that I am part of something so much bigger, so much more glorious than my selfish perspective originally told me…
Instead of seeing God has Someone who lives for our purposes, maybe we can get on our faces before Him as Moses did, aware of His glory and holiness and the fact that there is so much more He desires for my life and for this world than our selfish culture tells us.
Maybe my first thought in thinking about a government policy (possibly such as healthcare?…) shouldn’t be how it will affect me, but maybe it should be held up to the light of God’s Kingdom that He desires us to live under: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18) As His set apart people, we are called not to think of ourselves first, but of bringing Him glory by living differently – by living the way Christ showed us how to live.
Maybe instead of thinking of our own financial security or personal safety, we are called to GO. To DO what He has commanded, without fear or what the world will think or what the world can do to us. Does the beauty of my Savior and the glory of my God move me so beyond this world that I do not even think what twice about what it says I “should” do? The world says I deserve a nice house, a safe place to raise my children, a good job so I can live comfortably and be “responsible” with my finances. But what if there is MORE God desires for us as His people? “Go and make disciples of all nations…”(Matthew 28). In Isaiah 1 God says He is “weary” of the offerings of the Israelites, that they have become a “burden” to him. It is clear from Is.1 that the Israelites still observe the religious festivals and holy days God commanded them to observe, that they still bring Him offerings in His temple. Yet He says He is tired of their “vain offerings.” He then goes on to say that He will not hear their prayers, because their hands are full of blood, and commands them to “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Is. 1:16-17) It is clear that, although still doing religious actions, the hearts of the Israelites were not in the right place. They were not truly loving God and living for Him. He says truly living rightly for Him would be to seek justice, correct oppression, plead the case of the fatherless and widow….Is there a similar pattern with the Church today? Do we observe the religious actions our culture tells us are “good,” and then not really live in all that God has for us? Do we do what benefits us, what is “good” for us, and miss out on truly living the Gospel the way Christ showed us we could live it? We need to question the world around us. What is our perspective? Why do we do the things we do? Are they religious actions that our culture tells us are right, but are in actuality self-satisfying and self-pleasing?
Christ showed us how in Him, we can be made new and join our God in the redemption of the world! That means so much more than living for ourselves, than living the way our religious culture often tells us we “deserve” to live. We can go higher, wider, deeper in the love of Christ to know Him and know what it looks like to join Him in working for the fatherless and oppressed, in working to bring His Kingdom onto this earth:
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” (Phil. 3:10).
Do we really want to know Christ? There is such power in really knowing Him and in sharing in His resurrection and getting to fellowship with Him in sufferings – and He has given us an opportunity to truly know Him and fellowship with Him through living like Him! Are we living in that awesome reality, in the reality that there is more? It is not about us – it is about His glory, about living in the new Way He showed us in Christ, about living out the salvation we received in Him by bringing His Kingdom onto this earth everyday in how we live and breathe and move. We live for more. There is more He has for us than us.
Believing in God's amazing grace
Why don't we live in the GRACE of Christ in our everyday lives? I think it's because the more we have, the easier it is to rely on those things - those material things that we can see and touch, rather than on the supernatural POWER of God that IS our's in Christ. God has promised that in Christ He will do more than we can ever ask or imagine....so why don't we ask?! We fall back on the money we have, on the material provisions we use every day, on the things we can see with our eyes that provide for us. We assume that there is no way to help that person, do that ministry, change hat situation, etc if there is no way that my material possessions will stretch that far. But God has promised us that in His grace, He can do so much more than the material world around us would allow. We need to live every day not based on what "practically" I can do, or what the world tells me is smart or wise, but on what the grace of GOD can do. What if we all lived like we really believed that living out the love of Christ could change things? What if I really believed that God will do more than I could ever do within my own abilities if I would just ask and believe? Christ's love is so powerful and so different - it changed the lives of all those He interacted with. What if we prayed to live in love like that, and then really lived that out? God's amazing love and supernatural grace can do more than we ever could with our finite abilities - we need to rely on those less, and on the POWER that comes with knowing and living in Christ. If it seems we don't have the money, the means, or the abilities to do what God has called us to do, then that doesn't mean He hasn't called us to do those things or to live the way He has told us to live - it just means we are called to believe in the supernatural grace and means of GOD more and our own practical means less. We live in an environment where we are able to rely on our practical means daily to survive - but we have been blessed to live in this environment not so that we would rely on it above God, but so that God can use these blessings through us to bless others and impact this world. We are called to give them up to Him so that He might use them in His amazing grace to do more than we could ever imagine - we are NOT called to replace God with them and rely on them to do God's work.
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