God from the machine

Ancient Greek and Roman plays were often complex stories – layered with situations and personal tensions in order to create circumstances of comedy or tragedy for the main characters to work through.  One particular motif was to simply pile on the problems, one after another, until there was no chance for the characters to find resolution or peace.  Despite any efforts of the characters to find a solution or rescue themselves, all their choices only made their circumstances worse.  Then, suddenly, a new character would be introduced – a Greek or Roman god – who would enter the scene, miraculously fix everything, and restore order. 

The god would make a grand entrance, either lifted on stage through a trap door or hoisted over top to be lowered down to the characters by a crane.  The use of the grand machine entrance was to bring the audience wonder and astonishment as the god’s influence changed the lives of the characters.  As such, this plot device to rescue the story or characters became known as Deus ex Machina – literally, “God from the machine”.

Our world feels a bit like that kind of plot line, doesn’t it?

Wars rage across the planet and on our news feeds.  Natural disasters have hit hard this year – flooding, mud slides, wildfires, earthquakes – at the cost of many lives.  Political tensions are running higher than ever, as yelling and name calling has given way to violence and assassinations.  These things are happening across multiple nations, but the volume continues to increase, louder and louder.  Social media, once hailed as the modern way to connect with others, consistently causes division and stokes animosity.

Despite all our best efforts, technological advances, and great intentions, there are days when the light at the end of the tunnel appears to be getting smaller, even fading out.  You may question if there even is a light in the distance, anything other than a foolish hope that humanity will one day get our collective act together.  Because, in the end, despite all our energies spent, death overtakes every one of us.

But…what if the ancient playwrights were on to something?  What if their use of the Deus ex Machina motif was actually tapping into a deep cry from our hearts – that we know we need to be rescued?

It’s through Jesus that our rescue is made available.  He offered eternal life to anyone who would receive it as a free gift (John 3:16), and He repeatedly promised that He would one day return, providing a rescue to all who had believed in Him for eternal life.  Even the last words Jesus speaks in the Bible attests to this:

Revelation 22:20
Yes, I am coming soon.

How soon is “soon”?  After all, it’s been nearly 2000 years since Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead.  Although this seems like a long time to wait, according to the prophet Isaiah, the wait will be worth it:

Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain, the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the people a feast of choice meat, a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.

On this mountain He will swallow up the burial shroud, the shroud over all the people, the sheet covering all the nations.

When He has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.

On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.  Let’s rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

One day, death will be swallowed up in victory.  God will overcome the darkness and rescue us from our hopeless situation.  But not only will He fix everything on the large scale, He will also individually fix us – wiping away our tears and removing our disgrace. 

At that time, we will all agree – it was worth the wait.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

At His lowest moment, they needed Him

How close are you with your cousins?

I wasn’t all that close to mine, mainly because we lived so far apart that it was unlikely we’d see each other more than once a year.  However, I have met other people that tell me they are so close to their cousin, they may as well had been raised as siblings…even to the point that their cousin knew and understood them better than their actual siblings did.

Did you know Jesus had a similar family situation?

Growing up, and even into His ministry, Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in Him (John 7:1-9).  Can you imagine having a literally perfect older brother?  Yeah, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with him, either.  But Jesus did have a cousin whom He was close with.  His name was John.

John was born six months earlier than Jesus, but even in the womb, he recognized who Jesus really was (Luke 1:44).  John’s mission was to announce to the nation of Judah that the Messiah was coming (Luke 3:1-6).  He was even given the honor of baptizing Jesus (Luke 3:21-22), signifying that a new era in God’s relationship with mankind had begun.  John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, those chosen by God to point the people toward the coming Messiah and King.  But John was the only prophet to actually know the One he was pointing people to.  John knew better than anyone on the planet what Jesus had come to earth for, giving up his own opportunity for fame and fortune among the Jewish people.  His understanding is wholly encapsulated in his statement:

John 3:28-30
You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom.  But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice.  So this joy of mine is complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease.

John’s mission as a prophet wasn’t just to announce the Messiah, but to also bring the people to recognize their need for the coming Messiah.  His teaching routinely convicted people of their sin – some wanted to know how to deal with their sinful state, but others wanted to hide from it.  And John wouldn’t just call out the average citizens…he had no issue calling out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and political leaders for their selfishness.

As you can imagine, this caused John some trouble.  At one point, King Herod arrested John and had him thrown in prison.  Then through some shrewd political maneuvering, others manipulated the King into beheading John (Matthew 14:1-12).  This act shocked the people and word spread quickly to Jesus.

Matthew 14:13
When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone.

I don’t blame Him one bit.  You find out that your closest friend – your cousin that’s practically your brother – has been murdered on the King’s orders.  The person who understood your life’s mission the best has been violently taken away…and all Jesus wanted was some time to Himself, some time with just Him and the Father.  But that’s not what He got:

Matthew 14:13-14
When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns.  When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd

How deflating that must have felt.  Jesus wants to grieve, but even in His lowest moment, the people still needed Him.  They were still drawn to Him.  So much so they ran around a body of water to chase down His boat, in the hopes of meeting Him on the other side.

I admit that if I were Jesus, I would have been mad at that scene as I brought the boat into shore.  Too emotionally tired to explode with anger, I likely would have shut down in depression.  Every instinct in my body would have been to turn the boat around and go drop anchor in the middle of the lake…and I’m pretty sure I would have given in to doing so.  My internal dialogue would have been screaming, “Don’t they know how broken I feel right now?  Can’t they see I need to get away!”

Instead, this is how Jesus saw them:

Matthew 14:14
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

Jesus had compassion on them because He still saw them as they were, instead of viewing them as hinderances to His own desires.  They were sheep without a shepherd.  They were listless and leaderless.  They were drawn to Jesus, even if they couldn’t fully explain why.  They just knew He had what they needed.  Jesus did get His time alone with the Father a little while later (Matthew 14:23), so He could properly grieve and process the loss of John.

Therein lies the challenge for us.  When life punches hard – and it will happen – are we going to see people through the lens of our suffering or through the lens of compassion?  When you’re ready to leave and your classmates or coworkers ask you to help them out again…or that little hand reaches under the bathroom door when you just wanted a minute to breathe…or you’re in a rush at the store and down the aisle comes an elderly lady with a lost and confused look on her face…how will we see them?

I hope we choose compassion.  We cannot go wrong when we see people through that lens.  Even when we’re low, we can still compassionately connect and even meet some needs.  When we do, I’m convinced God will grant us the time we need to rest and process.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Fulfilling our need to be reconciled

I was sitting in church recently, when the pastor included a familiar passage in his message.  When this situation happens, it’s an easy trap for believers (especially if they have been taught from the Scriptures for a few years) to think, “Oh that passage.  Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.  I know what that means.”

And while it is 100% true that God’s meaning of His word does not change, the depth of our understanding and ways in which we apply the truth of God’s word most certainly can change.  Often these two arrive hand-in-hand – when we understand better, we can become better at applying.

That’s what happened as I sat there listening.  Our pastor was discussing what we share as believers by being a part of God’s family, and he took us to the familiar passage in Paul’s second letter to the believers in Corinth.  This is where Paul says that we share a mission to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world, specifically reaching out to others with the message of reconciliation:

2 Corinthians 5:18-20
Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.  That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us.  We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

Now, I’ve heard a number of sermons cite this passage, and they typically emphasize each believer doing their part in getting the good news about Jesus out into the world.  Those sermons focus on Paul’s use of the word ambassador and the ambassador’s job to represent God and His interests, purpose, and design for human life.

However…my mind went somewhere else.  I made a connection that I hadn’t thought of before…one that left me both stunned and (honestly) a little agitated.  It wasn’t about the job of an ambassador; I understand that part.  Instead, it was realizing exactly how God expects us to do the job of an ambassador. 

Let me take you through my thought process:

C.S. Lewis famously said in Mere Christianity that “Every Christian is to become a little Christ.  The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”  God’s plan for our lives is to make us more and more like Jesus, such that when the world encounters us, they have the opportunity to see Jesus.  And if, according to Paul, Jesus reconciled the world to God the Father THROUGH HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS…and I, as a Christ-follower, am to become more like Jesus…who has given the message of reconciliation to us…

THEN…for me to be an ambassador that clearly and correctly represents God…I have to be willing to die, just like Jesus was…and whatever God asks me to let die, for the sake of others being reconciled to Him, I need to give up – just like Jesus did.

As this conclusion dawned on me, sitting in church…my immediate, raw, and unfiltered thought was “Oh, come on!  Really?” 

I mean, I get that we need to be “good ambassadors”, play nice, and be good neighbors in the world…but that’s not what we’re called to do, is it?  No, after becoming the new creation through Jesus’ free gift of eternal life (John 3:16), He then calls us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24-25).  The cross is an instrument of death.  We’re not supposed to just carry the cross, we’re meant to use it.

So, ever since this realization, the question I’ve been pondering is “What in me has to die so others can be reconciled to God?”  I’ve grappled with a few ideas…several of them are hard to let go of.

That’s a tough question, isn’t it?  What about you?  What in you has to die so others can be reconciled to God?  What has to die so you can become more like Christ?  Here are a few options:

Our need for validation from others.
Our self-centeredness.
Our shame.
Our suspicions of people not like us.
Our desire to appear like we have it all together.
Only seeing people as tasks or obstacles.

I’m sure you could add something of your own, too.  I suggest picking one and taking it to God.  Tell Him you want to be a better ambassador, and that you’re willing to give up what He asks of you so that others will be able to hear the good news – Jesus sets us free and gives us eternal life, all we have to do is believe in Him for it.

The question still stings a bit, but we can trust that God’s answer is for our good and His glory:

What in me has to die so others can be reconciled to God?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

My dog hates to wait. So do I.

How’s your summer treating you?  Our temps in North Carolina have ramped up significantly in the last week – so much so that I’ve had to make a major adjustment to our family’s schedule.

I work from home, and although my days are filled with online meetings, I can typically step out for a short mid-morning walk with the dog.  This timing has benefits for both of us: he can do his morning business, and I can get a moment to clear my head away from talking to people on a computer screen.  If the morning is crazy-hectic, he may have to wait until lunchtime (but that’s a rarity).  He also normally gets walked after I log off for the day at 5:00pm.

Our pup loves this schedule, and if we deviate from it, he is certain to let me know.  First, he’ll come bump my leg with his nose.  If that doesn’t get me up and moving, he’ll try whining a little bit.  Then, he’ll escalate to just flat-out staring at me…off the side of my desk, with his eyes just barely above the edge, not blinking.  Just eye pressure.  Willing me to pay attention and take him outside.  His requests for the 5:00pm walk can start as early as 3:30pm, but they certainly intensify if we haven’t left by a little after our usual 5:00pm schedule.

However…the recent heat has forced us to change our schedule.  Now, we get a walk in before I start working and before the sun bears down on us – and of course, he doesn’t mind at all going out early.  But the after work walk?  That’s been pushed well into the evening, waiting until the sun is nearly gone for the day.  It’s just too hot for him otherwise.  The scorching pavement on his paws and the thick, humid air while walking around the neighborhood has him panting and overheated in no time.  So, we wait.

But like I said, he doesn’t like to wait.  In fact, he’s whining a bit right now as I type this out (it’s 5:47pm).  Not because he needs to do his business, but because he just wants to go and sniff and explore.   He doesn’t understand thermometer readings and heat indexes and the fact that extreme heat causes the most weather-related deaths in the US each year.  He just wants what he wants, and he expects me to provide it for him.

You’ve probably already drawn the same parallel and conclusion that I have.  When it comes to how I want God to intervene in my life…I can be a lot like my dog.  I don’t like to wait.  I’m certain my schedule is the best schedule.  I tend to whine if I don’t get what I want, when I think I should get it.  Never mind that God understands the real temperature of the situation and my ability to handle it at the moment…

Our ability to wait on God’s timing isn’t so much a lack of patience on our part.  Rather, it’s a lack of trust in God doing His part on His timing.  That stings a little bit, doesn’t it?  Yeah, me too.

King Solomon pointed this out in his collection of wisdom sayings:

Proverbs 19:2 (NIV)
Desire without knowledge is not good – how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

If my dog has hasty feet and tries to run outside when the door opens, he’s going to be met with a humid wall of heat that could cause him problems.  If we get hasty feet and run ahead of what God intends for us, we will miss the way He had planned for us to walk.  For me, running ahead of God has always led to more heartache than I anticipated.  While recovery and redemption are available, God always prefers that we make the wise choice and avoid the broken paths. 

And sometimes, the wise choice is to wait.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Honey is sweet, but this is sweeter

I love me some honey.

A peanut butter and honey sammich always hits the spot.  Honey drizzled on a hot, buttered biscuit just makes it better.  And if you’ve ever eaten pizza at Beau Jo’s in Colorado, you know that you gotta enjoy that leftover pizza crust by dipping it into some honey.

It’s not just good, it’s also good for you – especially if you can get it from local hives.  Raw, local honey is rich in antioxidants and nutrients; has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties; and contains prebiotics.  When we first moved to West Virginia, my allergies went haywire from being exposed to all the new flora.  So, I sought out some local honey.  Every day, a little went into my morning coffee, and eventually, my seasonal allergies weren’t a problem anymore.

While honey is readily available for us at farmer’s markets and in grocery stores, it wasn’t that way during Bible times.  Refined sugars were not available.  Most of the time, fruit (like dates, grapes, or figs) was boiled and concentrated down into a thick syrup, which was then used as a sweetener.  However, bee honey was the sweetest substance known in the Middle East.  It was rare enough to be considered a luxury.  Even a small amount was suitable as a gift to an important person.

With that scarcity in mind, take a look at this advice King Solomon gave to his son:

Proverbs 24:13-14
Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;
realize that wisdom is the same for you.
If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

When I read this, my first thought was, “I’ve never had honeycomb before.  I wonder what that’s like?”.  Fortunately, I have a friend who has several bee hives and was willing to share some honeycomb.  Let me tell you…if you haven’t had it before, it is an experience.  A delicious experience, to be exact.  The warmth of your mouth immediately collapses the wax comb structure, and your mouth is flooded with rich sweetness.  Although your first instinct is to start chewing the wax, your best bet is to simply suck on the collapsed comb and enjoy the honey.  I would also suggest spitting out the wax – you could eat it, but I don’t want to.

Honey from the comb is as fresh and raw as it gets, but as a son of King Solomon, you know this young man knew what honeycomb tasted like.  He understood how rare of a treat it was, because someone had to harvest it from the wild, wherever bees would make their hive – a hole in the ground, a hollow tree, or in a rock crevice.

King Solomon is taking something his son recognizes – and probably really enjoys – and uses it as an analogy for the value of wisdom.  Honey is good, rare, and sweet…but so is wisdom.  When we find wisdom, we need to taste and experience it, just like honeycomb.

Wisdom is sweet, too, but better…because it gives a future and an unfading hope.  The sweetness of wisdom doesn’t just last for a moment, but it continues on with you.

There is a catch, though.  King Solomon admitted that there is one.  Note that he said, “if you find it”.  Wisdom and honeycomb also share this characteristic: they must be sought out.  We must be willing to put in the effort and take the time to find it.

Are you willing to search for it?  You won’t find anything sweeter. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What a baby can tell us about Bible study

Let’s be honest…newborn babies don’t do a whole lot.  They eat, sleep, poop, and cry.  For the amount of work and round-the-clock effort they need, a running joke you’ll often hear new parents say is, “It’s a good thing they’re cute…”.

The terms “new birth” and “born again” are frequently used in the New Testament to describe what happens to a person who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  When you believe this, Jesus promises that we have new, eternal life:

John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Of course, Jesus’ disciples heard all about this “new life” as they followed Him during His earthly ministry.  So it’s not surprising that they would use similar terms in their own writings.  At the beginning of his letter to believers scattered across modern-day Turkey, Peter not only refers to our new birth, but two things we have been born into:

1 Peter 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Peter says we have been born into a living hope for the present life and into an inheritance in the life to come.  After reminding his readers how unique and special this new life is (despite any persecution they currently face), Peter encourages them to leave behind their old lifestyle and pursue living out of their new life as a believer.

While that sounds like a great idea, his readers need to know how to get there.  Does he expect them to just white-knuckle their way through life, avoiding all the bad behaviors they can along the way?  No, he doesn’t.  Instead Peter gives them practical advice, by going back to the new birth analogy:

1 Peter 2:2-3
Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Three observations about a newborn infant in Peter’s example:

1.      The attitude of the baby – How quickly does a newborn reach for his mother’s breast?  Babies might not know much, but they know where to go for what they need, and they will aggressively grab and pursue the nourishment they desire.

2.      The appetite of the baby – They are hungry, and only milk will satisfy.  How often do babies need to eat?  About every 3-4 hours, right?  How does that time frame compare to how often we go to God’s word for nourishment?  A baby wouldn’t survive eating just once a week on Sundays.

3.      The aim of the baby – He’s not eating just to fill his belly.  As he takes in the milk, his body uses it to grow.  A baby is not meant to stay a baby forever, and neither are we.  As we feed on the pure milk of the word, we will then grow up and mature in our new life.

Peter’s point is that we go to God’s word to sustain and develop our new life – but note that he said grow and not “know”.  While you cannot grow without knowledge, the focal point of our study of the Bible is growth, not simply collecting trivia.

You cannot grow out of being a spiritual infant without a steady diet of God’s word.  It is God’s primary tool for developing His children.  Growth may be scary or messy at times, but life is bigger, better, and full of more opportunities for those who mature and grow.  That is how we experience the promised living hope now and prepare for our future inheritance.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

We'll do greater works than Jesus?

Today is the Thursday before Easter, also known as Maundy Thursday.  “Maundy” is a shortened form of the Latin word “mandatum” which means “command”.  This Thursday remembers the day when Jesus held His Last Supper with His disciples and gave them their marching orders for when He would be gone.  In John’s record of Jesus’ teaching, three times Jesus commands them to love one another (John 13:34, 15:12, 15:17) and two more times He urges them to follow this command (John 14:15, 15:14).

There is a part of Jesus’ Last Supper teaching that has always sat a little odd with me.  Philip has just asked Jesus to show them God the Father, and this was Jesus’ reply:

John 14:9-12
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know Me, Philip?  The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?  The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own.  The Father who lives in Me does His works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.  Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

Truly I tell you, the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do.  And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Greater works than Jesus???

That’s a hard concept to wrap my mind around, let alone accept.

Many commentaries and preachers will say that Jesus’ “greater” comment was more about scope rather than size.  They’ll argue that we’re not running around performing even bigger miracles than Jesus did, but that because He went to be with the Father, the Holy Spirit indwells all believers – the result being that the good news of Jesus is spread to the entire world, instead of the small section of Israel that Jesus ministered in. 

While that answer makes sense, I’ve never been fully convinced it fits what Jesus was talking about here.  However, I came across an explanation from Donald Barnhouse that both helps me understand…and blows my mind.  He takes an analogy from a real-life hero, Wheeler Lipes, who was an officer in the Navy.  In 1942, Wheeler was a Pharmacist’s Mate aboard a submarine and had to perform an emergency appendectomy.  He did not have the proper medical equipment, nor any formal surgical training…but the procedure had to be done, as a fellow sailor’s life was at stake.

Here is Barnhouse’s retelling of Wheeler’s story and his analogy back to Jesus’ Maundy Thursday statement:

Aboard a United States submarine in the enemy waters of the Pacific, a sailor was stricken with acute appendicitis.  The nearest surgeon was thousands of miles away.  Pharmacist Mate Wheeler Lipes watched the seaman’s temperature rise to 106 degrees.  His only hope was an operation.  Said Lipes: “I have watched doctors do it.  I think I could.  What do you say?”  The sailor consented.  In the wardroom, about the size of a Pullman drawing room, the patient was stretched out on a table beneath a floodlight.  The mate and assisting officers, dressed in reversed pajama tops, masked their faces with gauze.  The crew stood by the diving planes to keep the ship steady: the cook boiled water for sterilizing.  A tea strainer served as an antiseptic cone.  A broken-handled scalpel was the operating instrument.  Alcohol drained from the torpedoes was the antiseptic.  Bent tablespoons served to keep the muscles open.  After cutting through the layers of muscle, the mate took twenty minutes to find the appendix.  Two hours and a half later, the last catgut stitch was sewed, just as the last drop of ether gave out.  Thirteen days later the patient was back at work.

Admittedly this was a much more magnificent feat than if it had been performed by trained surgeons in a fully equipped operating room of a modern hospital.  Study this analogy and you will know the real meaning of Christ’s words.  “Greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”  For Christ, perfect God, to work directly on a lost soul to quicken and bring out of death and into life is great, but for Him to do the same thing through us is a greater work.

Jesus can represent the Father perfectly.  He said, “the Father who lives in Me does His works.”  As such, Jesus can flawlessly show who God is to everyone He interacts with.  We are as far from perfect as Wheeler Lipes was trained to perform emergency surgery.  We are rudimentary and broken and unrefined, having no merit to partner with the Creator of the Universe in anything…let alone to be the ones to share the Father with other broken humans.  And yet…we who believe in Jesus as the Messiah are the ones whom God partners with.  That is the greater work.  This partnership is far better and more eternally impactful than performing physical miracles of restoring sight and healing broken bodies.  To use lesser instruments and still achieve the results that would come from perfection…that is a magnificent feat indeed!

So, on this Maundy Thursday, remember Jesus’ command – love one another.  But do not forget that we will participate in greater works as we partner with Jesus and show others who the Father truly is.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Jesus said you must

Jesus said you must
Originally posted on April 02, 2020

The word “must” is a big deal.  When God says we “must” do something, we need to be paying attention to what that something is.  In this case, Jesus is teaching the Samaritan woman what worship toward God should look like.  Watch for what Jesus says true worshipers “must” do:

John 4:19-24
“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans worship what you do not know.  We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.  But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.  Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

Notice that Jesus is giving instruction for worship, but He also says the Father wants to be worshiped this way.  But what, exactly, does it mean to worship in Spirit and in truth? 

First thing Jesus says is that God the Father is spirit.  The essential reason worship of God must be spiritual is that God is a spiritual being, not a physical idol.  Worship of a spiritual God requires spiritual worship, not just going through certain acts and motions of worship at a special location. 

Secondly, Jesus says that God the Father must be worshiped in truth.  The Greek word for truth (aletheon) is a compound word, consisting of a + lanthano – when independently translated means not + keep secret, not + escape notice, or not + be hidden.  Therefore, truth is found in what God has revealed about Himself.  This means our worship should be in accordance with what God has told us about Himself and in line with what He wants…not just whatever chords or lyrics give us an emotional response.  If we must worship God in truth, then people cannot simply worship God in any manner that seems attractive to them.  We must worship Him as He, by the Spirit, has revealed that we should.

When Jesus said that a time is coming when worship will not be on Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem, He was throwing out all division points between the Samaritans and the Jews.  Worshiping in spirit is in contrast to how the Jews worshiped physically, via ceremony and letter of the law.  Worshiping in truth is in contrast to how the Samaritans worshiped in ignorance. 

Both the Samaritans and the Jews were concerned that worship of God was done right.  However, they believed that focusing on the where the worship occurred would give them the closest relationship with God.  Jesus corrects this thinking and tells the woman that worship of God the Father is no longer confined to a specific location, but worship rightly done will focus on how – in spirit and in truth.

So how does all this relate to us modern believers?

Looking at Jesus’ teachings after this encounter can give us some help.  “In Spirit” can also refer to The Holy Spirit, which Jesus later sent to assist believers in the church age (John 14:26).  “In truth” can also refer to Jesus, since He is The Truth (John 14:6).  Putting this all together, true worship is in step with The Holy Spirit, with Jesus, and aimed toward God the Father.  This makes our worship a trinitarian event – we are interacting with all three persons of the godhead!

And yet, still today, some people worship God in religious ignorance.  Ritual activities and tradition have become so comfortable for many believers that their own spirit is not engaged during worship.  And unfortunately, a lot of modern worship services are so focused on generating an emotional response that they do not stay true to what God has revealed about Himself.  Jesus shows us the correct way to worship – in Spirit and in truth.  If we want authentic, real worship…this is how we must do it.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

All my heroes could transform

Growing up in the 80s and 90s provided me with many advantages – and one of the greatest advantages is that we had some of the best cartoons ever made.  With just a handful of TV channels to choose from, weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings were prime-time cartoon viewing as the networks put out their best efforts to captivate an audience.

Here is a short list of my favorites…see how many you recognize:

TigerSharks – A team of humans and aliens had access to the Fish Tank, a device that allowed them to transform from their humanoid forms into super-powered marine animals.  They used their abilities to defend the inhabitants of the planet Water-O from various evil enemies.

ThunderCats – The ThunderCats were cat-like humanoids who escaped their war-ravaged world to start a new life on a new planet.  They fought several groups of power-hungry, evil bad guys by calling on the power of the Eye of Thundera.  The Eye would grant the ThunderCats enhanced strength, speed, skill, or anything else they needed to defeat the evil Mumm-Ra and his minions.

He-man and the Masters of the Universe – Whenever the unassuming Prince Adam would hold the Sword of Power and say, “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!” – he was transformed into He-Man.  Along with his friends, He-Man defended his planet from the schemes of the evil Skeletor.

Transformers – The Transformers were split into two factions: the noble Autobots and the evil Decepticons.  They crash-landed on earth and continued their eons-long conflict, with the Autobots defending humans and the Decepticons looking to either enslave or wipeout the humans.  Both groups had a robot form and could transform into a vehicle or other objects. 

You might have noticed a running theme in all my favorite cartoons…and while I didn’t make the connection when I was a kid, it is rather obvious now: Every main character was able to transform from their “normal” state into a super-charged version of themselves with enhanced abilities.  Of course, these enhanced abilities were crucial to defeating evil and winning the day. 

I’m sure you can see the same theme in some of your favorite shows, movies, books, and comics.  Us gravitating toward stories of transformation-leading-to-success speaks to our own desire to change and overcome.  But sadly, most of our stories about transformation are external changes – the TigerSharks became aquatic animals, the Transformers changed their outer form, and both the ThunderCats and He-man gained physical abilities.  By and large, the transformation stories we seek to tell about ourselves are also mainly external – we got a new job, we went to the gym, we bought a new car – and while those things are good…there remains a part of us that is unchanged.  It’s the part inside, at our core, we most want to transform…and that isn’t touched by any external changes.

This is our dilemma.  How do we find real, lasting, life-altering change?

Jesus offers us Himself:

John 10:10
I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

The Greek word for life – zoe – describes a life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, and blessed, in both this world and the next for those who put their trust in Christ.  Once we believe in Jesus for His gift of this zoe life, we are part of His family and we can begin to experience this life-change here and now, as well as in eternity.

While Jesus’ gift is free to any one (John 3:16, 5:24) and cannot be lost, we can participate in our own transformation and experience into abundant life.  But this transformation doesn’t start with the outside.  Instead, the Apostle Paul said it begins with how we think:

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Being able to know God’s will sounds like a super-power for living a life that conquers evil.  To get there, we need transformation of our minds.  What are we thinking about?  What are we spending our free time exposing our minds to?  Are we being conformed to this age or are we achieving the transformation we deeply desire?

These are hard questions, but ones worth wrestling over.  Don’t skip this.  Stop right now and ask God to renew your mind. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The simplest way to describe Jesus

My mentor, Joe, taught me how to study the Bible.  It involves a 3-step process: first Observation, then Interpretation, followed by Application.  I have since taught this method to many others over the last 20 years.  Teaching it typically involves a classroom or small group setting, but I have taught this 1-on-1 as well.  Broken up over 8 weekly lessons, there is plenty of opportunity for people to practice and ask questions as they learn how to study the Scriptures for themselves.

After teaching this method a couple of times in a classroom setting, Joe had an unexpected request for me.  He wanted the entire 8-lesson process to be condensed down to a 1-page handout.  He was meeting with someone soon to discuss how to properly Observe, Interpret, and Apply the Scriptures, and he thought a 1-page layout would be helpful as he talked through the process…and he was looking at me to create it.

I was pretty stunned at his request.  I mean…8 lessons…each about 7 pages long…about 8 hours of class time…down to just one sheet of paper?  After I sat down at my computer, I began to move through the five stages of grief as I hacked and slashed section after section.  It took some time, but I finally was able to bring the whole thing down to just 2 pages.  I decided that these two pages could be printed back to back on 1 page – thus fulfilling Joe’s request.  I felt both relieved and a little accomplished when I emailed the final version to him.

If someone asked you, “Who is Jesus?  Why do Christians care so much about him?” – how would you respond?  Better yet, if you didn’t have a lot of time in that moment (and couldn’t review your life story or crack open the Bible), what would be your short, condensed answer?

It’s best to think about these kinds of situations before we actually get there…so, what would you say?

I would suggest having two verses memorized.  That’s it, just two.  The first one is the most frequently cited verse in all of Scripture, even in the culture, so it can be a familiar touchpoint to the one who’s asking:

John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

But then, I would suggest following up with a second verse that comes a couple chapters later:

John 6:40
For this is the will of the Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

These two verses clearly convey who Jesus is, why he’s so important, and what happens to someone who believes in Him.  In a brief moment, you can demonstrate that God loves us, Jesus gives us eternal life when we believe in Him, and His promise is forever – all the way up to the last day. 

I highly encourage you to memorize them both, so you’re prepared for any conversation that comes your way. 

But back to my example story with Joe…Sometime later, I asked how his meeting went and if the 1-page summary was useful.  Nonchalantly, he said that he didn’t end up using it.  Once again, I was stunned.  All the work and heartache I had put into that thing…and it wasn’t even used???  I bit my tongue, and we moved on to talking about something else.  It still bothered me for a while that all my efforts didn’t make a difference. 

However, even though Joe did not use the 1-page summary that day, it has been tremendously useful to me on many other days.  I keep a copy of that 1-page in my Bible, and it has become a go-to reference for me as I study God’s Word.  Additionally, whenever a new group completes the 8 lesson course, I present a copy of the 1-page summary for them to keep handy as well.  Just because my efforts didn’t get immediately used the way I expected them to, it didn’t mean that my efforts were wasted.  God has had other uses for the work I put in all those years ago.

I suspect the same will be true as you memorize the two verses.  You might not have an immediate, pressing situation where you need to share them.  But I am certain that God will take your efforts to memorize His word and use it later…maybe even in a way you wouldn’t expect.

Keep Pressing,
Ken