Obedience That Comes From Faith

A piano is a complex musical instrument, made up of many components that fit and work together to make music. Oh, but wait... the piano itself can't do anything without the musician at its keyboard.

In the New Testament the church is called the body of Christ. In Ephesians chapter two Paul describes the church as God's building. And we are living stones.

I'm wondering if this image of a piano might be one some relate to a bit better. Christ is the head of the body, and the Chief Corner Stone, and the Piano Player. The reason the image of the piano appeals to me is that I more readily see how necessary each chord is to the whole, but how each is useless without the others. That each are in tune, not only with the note that they play, but with each other. For there is the relative tone, and the absolute tone. For instance, Concert A is 440 Mhz - it also referred to as perfect pitch. All the other strings are tuned to that . . . in relation to that. Each not is a certain number of mhz up ↑ or down ↓

Hmmm... in that case perhaps Christ is Concert A, and God is the one at the piano... and the work of God on this earth is the song that is played.

Regardless, there is the fact that each needs the other. There is the fact that God tunes, and connects us, as each of us respond to his work in our lives. Just as the potter forms the pot, so the musician tunes each string.

The obedience part is not only the fact that each is tuned and ready, but each sings the sound that it was created to sing, without being in charge of the whole work.

The whole idea of a plan being ours from beginning to end... is what I'm letting go of. I obey, and do as God has for me to do each day, and my satisfaction is in the fact that I've been obedient to Him.

My brother-In-Law, David has been given the task of being in a hospital bed yet again. To regret that he isn't off doing something else is indeed understandable. And perhaps that is because we are all meant to have a purpose beyond simply surviving from day to day. An inner, Godly drive . . . but in the meantime, David getting up off that bed is partly David's task, and partly God's.... God's part at this point seems to be the greater of the two, but isn't it always?

Lead Role In The Cage

In a moment I will ask you to listen to a song by Pink Floyd. But first let me set the stage for the poetry that emerges from my own heart, mind and soul, so that you can share with me that same heart, that same moment, as though we were both sitting together, in a quiet room, exploring the depths of our hurting hearts.

In Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"

The song starts out as most do, but there is a perhaps not so subtle change from most songs, its not obvious at first, but as the song continues we realize that what we heard at first is a crude copy of the real thing.

How is that?

Well, the opening is repeated, but this time the full sound of a live acoustic guitar is heard playing along with it.

We realize that the opening sounds like it was coming from a the speaker of a cell phone

The other image that will spring to mind is one that came to me when I heard that an original band member had left the rock group due to mental break down of some sort.

In a jam session, one or two band members play some original music they've played on their own. The other band members join in with their instruments, and add in harmonies. There's the lead guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, pan flute, all playing creating a song that would have no other way of coming into existence. The emerging song is one that came from the group. The magical feeling of this is seldom duplicated in the world's most of us live in. Lyrics are usually the last to arrive in such a method, but they too come from this collective genius.

I see a member of the band that was left behind, missing the one that has left.

He's in his hotel room, after a concert that left the audience wanting more,

and he's playing a recording of his former band mate playing his guitar, on his cell phone of course!

...and he picks up his guitar, and plays with his friend that he misses so dearly. Knowing there's "music" that the two of them could be creating, that simply will never be, because of the one missing.

Now, right click on this link, and choose "open in new tab"

Click on play and listen.

"Wish You Were Here"

Then, if you would humor me a little longer, click play again, and skip back over to this page here, and read the lyrics below while listening the second time.

"Wish You Were Here"

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,

Blue skies from pain.

Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?

Hot ashes for trees?

Hot air for a cool breeze?

Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,

Running over the same old ground.

What have you found? The same old fears.

Wish you were here. 

I think the most significant line in the whole lyric is,

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

"A walk on part in the war..."

"a walk on part" is an allusion to a stage play... and the play is entitled "The War" in a play there is a star, a villain, and various supporting characters their names are usually on the Marquis outside the theater, and featured in the ad's you'd see on TV. A walk on part is one played by some un-named person. Their presence is vital, but only in the sense that they are one of many. It is the "many" that are vital. But without "each one" there is no "many"

*we see here the image of the jam session's magic, and the tragedy of the missing band member.

"The War" we could easily replace with "The Cause" or "The Fight" ... I think he is alluding to why the band started in the first place. It's the youthful desire to make a difference instead of just going with the flow, and letting it all slide.


"A lead role in the cage..."

Here we see the allusion of the stage continued, but now the production is "The Cage" and the fellow is now the star of the show. The Cage conjures up what? If we think of an animal caged up in a Zoo... we see that they are given things in that cage that imitate their natural environment, and all of their needs are supplied... food, water, shelter, heat. The four basic elements we all need to survive. Safety is also inherent. But there are one or two things missing. Vital things. Purpose, and freedom. One's jailer is the one who put us in the cage. The way we got into the cage is by responding to the allure of the one who's objective was to cage us.

Are you the one who has been deceived into thinking that your part in "The War" is insignificant? Did the one who caged you tell you there is no eternal supply of power? Did the deceiver belittle your purpose hidden in Christ? Did the one who caged you convinc you to start thinking of yourself... instead of the family you are a part of?


THE WAR is the battle of the ages, between God and enemy of our souls who is down for the count. His only weapon is deception, his only goal is to take as many of us with him as he can! He convinces us it's hopeless... and the more of us he convinces, the more of us fall prey, and find ourselves in a cage.

Don't give up! Don't give in!

Time for another song!

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

 

CLICK HERE FOR YOUTUBE Video 

It's nothing new, all of us have been there done that at some point in our lives. My prayer is for you that "[you] may come to [your] senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."


2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (KJV)

2 Timothy 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)

2 Timothy 2:22-26 Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. (The Message)

That's me...

I am so at peace... and yet in the quiet time of inactivity... I tend to get uptight... thinking that there is something I should yet be doing...

My life gets more and more ridiculous as this latest series takes shape, and draws to its peak.

I ultimately feel that all the grip I ever had on the things that most also aspire to, what all of us tend to strive for, alludes me.

Once upon a time I made mention in a journal that God is my only obstacle. Frustrated so by my own efforts to become me, I was on the verge of ever trying to make it happen. So shaped and formed by the Hollywood image of what a hero is... what being significant means...

Yet a few conversations of late have made me feel that feeling of the Holy Spirit flowing through me, taking me from one scripture to the other to the other . . . leading myself, and whomever he's brought my way through a journey of knowledge and encouragement, and knowing our creator.

I'm here, Lord, and you are there. . . none of this means anything to me . . . but all that you have given me to look after... Cheryl, Ashton... Jamie, Sarah, Nicholas, Cherish . . . Timothy . . . I ask that you release me, that you continue to work within me, and within my life to set me free, empower me to do your will, and walk in the steps and path you have laid before me.

Amen

Examining a Vision Statement

The Vision:

To be a vibrant family of Spirit filled believers making an impact on our world with Christ’s message of hope.


The Plan:

1. Equipping people in spiritual formation to live like Jesus
1. John 15:¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. 
2. Encouraging people to develop authentic & accountable relationships
1. I keep thinking of this book I've just started reading, "So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore" on page 39
• John:  Accountability is not for those who struggle, Jake, it’s for those who succeed.
• Jake:   But aren’t we accountable to each other?
• John:  Where did you get that idea?
• Jake:   It’s in the Bible, isn’t it?
• John:  Can you show me where?
• John reached down and pulled a Bible off the booth seat next to him and tossed it on the table.
2. And then I think of verses like,
1. 1 Corinthians 2:¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
• Paul makes this point a little clearer in chapter 4:³ . . . I do not even judge myself. ⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
2. Romans 14:⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
1. passing judgement then is in reference to condemning and final judgment
2. John 12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
3. James 5:¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working... ¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
3. Engaging people to the missional activity of furthering God’s kingdom.
1. John 15:¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These these things I command you, so that you will love one another.

So the term, "to live like Jesus" is vague, and/or brief. Is it as simple as what Jesus commands his disciples to do in John 15? Or is it a complicated set of criteria, where we examine each other externally to see if we are living up to that standard? Where we look for where our brother or sister in Christ is messing up and we exhort and/or confront them about it.

Or are we to do as James saying in chapter 5 there. We confess OUR sins to one another. 


But then there's the part in 5:19 "... but if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back"


There's a difference between the brother whom we encounter who is making a full confession of Christ, and of following Christ, and the brother who wanders away into error taken captive by some temptation.

I'll leave off for today with another quote from, "So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore" on page 44

• John: “Because real body life isn’t built on accountability. It’s built on love. We’re to encourage each other in the journey without conforming people to the standard we think they need.” 
• Jake:  “That sounds like relativism, John!”
• John: “It’s not, it simply respects the process God uses to bring people into truth. I’m not talking about different things being true, for different people but about people discovering that truth in different time frames. If we hold people accountable, they will never learn to live in love. We’ll reward those who are better at putting on a front and miss those who are in the real struggle of learning to live in Jesus.”
• Jake: “I can’t even imagine sharing that kind of journey with others.” 
• John: “It’s the best, Jake! It opens the door for people to be authentic and known exactly for who they are. It encourages them with drawing near to Jesus, not trying to fix everybody with our answers for the universe.”

I also have rattling around in my brain the AA thing, "Attraction not promotion"

Taking Chances

Cribbage, and life...

In Cribbage  you choose the cards that will first of all give you the most points. If you have a choice between cards, you choose the one's that can  be enhanced, or failing that, the one's which would  yield the greatest points if the right up turned card shows up.

. . . but if you choose the cards that would give you a hi-score IF the right upturned card shows up . . . you've got (52 - 12 = 40) a 1 in 40 chance that the card you want will show up.

I wonder how many of us play life by the odds rather than by what's actually there? We go beyond "If only..." and move right past it to... "when this happens, then I'll do this this and this..." and we forget all about the fact that we've just built all our hopes on an "if" a mere chance in who knows how many possibilities.

Picture Jesus

 The picture I'd love to have is one of Jesus going about his father's business. I'd see his humility, the love in his eyes, the strength in his arms, and gentleness in his touch, and maybe a glimpse of his listening heart, both to those around him, and his "Father which art in heaven" ... or what about the one after the business had been done? That'd be a tough one to see.

In support of Faith

The solution to both lives depicted in the paragraphs to follow is to read, listen, and hear the Word of God and obey it.

• ^{Luke 11:28} But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

There is a fellow I know who struggles with sin in his life. He struggles with the constant temptation to step over the edge and into sin. He avoids certain situations so that he will not fall into sin. His particular fear is that he'll commit adultery. He wondered out loud to me one day, as he stared at a young lady we saw as we drove down the road, "why do I still find my mind going to where it shouldn't... I shouldn't have these thoughts about her..." On the outside of it his desire seems good. But to me its merely distracted from the true trouble. Of course he's right. Unrighteous thoughts toward a passer by isn't a good thing. But should we be living our lives by such emotion? "I shouldn't" ?

Now, contrast this with the person who smugly believes and states that they are a Christian. They do not engage in regular fellowship with other believers, they don't read their bible, nor do they even know what the Bible says. They don't pray anymore than to cry out to God in each crisis. They celebrate his birth, by giving each other presents at Christmas time, they celebrate his death and resurrection by hiding chocolate eggs for their children to find, they celebrate Thanks Giving by stuffing themselves with Turkey and/or Ham and potatoes.

Fragile Tools, Disloyal Dogs and less than perfect pots

Today I lent my Swiss army Victorinox knife to a passenger so that he could use the flat head screw driver accessory to tighten his water bottle harness to his bike, for fear it might otherwise fall off whilst his bike sits on my bus bike rack. As he worked, he mumbled something about hoping he didn't break my tool, and I immediately replied, "any tool that breaks while yer using it is like a dog that runs away from you all the time!”Keep running" I'd say, "no dog worth having that wants to run away” How does God deal with us when we break under pressure, or run hiding from a task?

• Proverbs 17:3 the crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

Because we have our own, God given, free will, we have a part in who we are, and who we have become. A person submitted to God, puts their lives in his hands. Just how that happens is what living the Christian life is all about! But lets take a look at the image here in my mind.

• A potter will make a pot on the spinning wheel, and finish it with glaze and a trip to a furnace so hot that its called a "Kiln" is it to judge the pot, prove the pot or to complete the pot?

• In the case of a human potter it’s a case of completing the pot, and proving it

• If the pot is only dried, and not fired, it can be reclaimed! I remember doing this in high school with all of my goof ups! If the pot didn’t turn out the way I wanted it, or I made a big mistake, I tossed it into this water tight trash can filled with water and other goof ups. It dissolves, and settles to the bottom. The water is then drained off, and excess water is expelled, pressed, etc and eventually you have a new lump of clay, and a re-newed opportunity to make your pottery

In pottery the process of casting it on that spinning wheel begins long before it starts spinning. The clay must be found, originally, and the right clay has to be found. The potter would know the before and after colour from past experience, some dry and after being fired turn different colours. The clay also has to be kneaded by pressing and folding and turning it so as to get all the air bubbles out of it. Air bubbles in the walls of the pot will cause it to explode in the extreme heat of the Kiln"

Even after all that, he must pitch it into the middle of the wheel and carefully centre it, and begin to work; the walls must be just the right thickness, the height to wall thickness ratio has to be just right, the final steps are drying, trimming and glazing. This is the part I usually goofed up! The glazes do not look anything like they do BEFORE firing as after. After all is done, the pot is ready for the kiln. In the very end it’s been made exactly for the right purpose! A bowl, a vase, water jar, and the artisan is seen and praised! The created work receives no glory for being so beautiful, or useful!

The same process is true for a well made tool, and believe it or not a well bred and raised, and trained dog!

In our own hands we cannot succeed, in the master's hands HE succeeds in the purposes he has grabbed a hold of us to perform! And every task HE brings us to we need not fear cuz it’s what he made us for!

Now to move out of the imagery, we are not an inanimate tool or pot, with no will of our own. We were made higher than a mere animal, however wonderful a dog may be, it isn’t anything like a son or daughter! When we are in Christ, we are children of God.

We are his workmanship!

• Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

• 2 Timothy 3: 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

• Hebrews 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed

Galatians 6:1-5

Galatians 6

•  ¹BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.
•     ²Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it].
•     ³For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.
•     ⁴But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.
•     ⁵For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [little] load [of oppressive faults].

Its been in pursuit of better health that I have seen one good development in myself, and its there in verse 4. I allowed myself to get fat and out of shape, because of comparing myself to others. In comparing myself to others I got discouraged because of those I felt were in better shape, or more talented than me, and I encouraged myself by comparing myself to those that were in worse shape than me, and didn't have the same talents as me.

At this point I have to think of my own personal best, and work toward improving that. I use "norms" to understand where I'm at. This is in the area of my health. But what is the "norm" in spiritual health?

In Ephesians we see that we are to be imitators of God, and that Christ Jesus himself is the one who came and lived a life that demonstrates this! Christ is whom we compare ourselves to, and whom we aspire to become like.

What's more encouraging is that we have the Holy Spirit as our coach to guide us in this process of becoming like him.

amen...

Paper Airplanes

• 1 Corinthians 2:¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

For Christmas my daughter and her husband gave my son a special present. One that he goes to every morning since they gave it to him. Its 365 miniature paper airplanes, one for each day of the year!

Sufficiently inspired I decided that I could make some special planes of my own, and set to make some! Now, of course, since I know next to little or nothing about the aerodynamics of flight my planes looked just  great, but flew no place! They left my launching fingers and promptly plopped onto the ground!

That's what made me think of these verses in 1 Corinthians. There's the natural realm, it would seem, and no spiritual realm. To my five senses the world is only as they sense it. What I can touch, taste, hear, see, and smell is the natural world around me. The laws of physics, and all scientific knowledge is a discover of that world, and God truly ordained the study of Science, not to exclude God, but to Glorify God, and to acknowledge all the wonders of his creation. Science can be traced back to the early days recorded in the first few chapters of Genesis when God gave man the task of naming all the animals. He brought each living thing to Adam to see what he would name them. Wonderful thing is we have scientist still who find new species of life!

But there is a spiritual realm! And that realm is not other than the natural one, it is the realm that all other realms are contained. The bible describes it as the Kingdom of God. The bible defines that world, and the only way to comprehend it, to understand it is by way of the revelation of the Holy Spirit of God indwelling in each of us who have come to believe in Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord!

Romans 1:21... describes the opposite of that effect,

• ²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

This is a description of when mankind abandons the worship of God through Science, to making the natural world around them their God.

When things don't go the way we expect, its time to admit that there's something we don't know, and in this case its someone we don't know. And knowledge begins with, acknowledging him, and crying out to him to save us.