to tithe or not to tithe?

Most pastors will have a problem with this but I am more convinced than ever that tithing is Old Covenant....as is not committing adultery or not bearing false witness etc. etc.

Old isn't wrong. It is just Old and the New has come. The old is the school master whose ultimate purpose is to bring us to the New.

Today in the church I visited the message was on tithing. Church budgets require it at least yearly. It was as good as it gets...lots of reasons why it is good for us, lots of illustrations on how we will be blessed or cursed by what we do with our tithe.

At one point three volunteers came up on stage as an object lesson. All three were hypothetically given $10,000. The first person gave 10% of the 10 thousand dollars they had been given (a very reasonable and blessed transaction)....the next person gave above and beyond the 10%, ( opening themselves for even greater blessing),...the third was stingy and kept it for himself and thus the object of much shame.

Then heads were bowed and hands were raised by those who were ready to begin to test God with their tithing.

As this was all going down I was just buzzing inside with excitement about the freedom I have come into as a result of the cross. The freedom that I am discovering in my identity as his son; no longer in bondage to the demands of the law; not just the tithing part but all of it.

A freedom that allows me to live outside of the law, no longer as a slave. I now get to live as the son of a very generous Father.

Do I give? Yes, my dad is a giver and giving is part of my new DNA. But it is no longer a performance that is motivated by obligation and shame. I have been set free from that. Everything changed since Calvary. The law was turned on it's head there. Most of my life I have endeavored to live in the New Covenant with the Old wrapped around my neck as a task master.

But now at the ripe age of 60 I'm beginning to get that my ONE vocation as the son of a wonderful father is to abide in His love. It is there that I become a true refection of Him. I don't even have to deal with sin any more. (I draw near to Him and He draws near to me). Sin and Shame have no power over me. I am the son of a very wonderful father who loves me just like I am and then transforms little by little until I begin to look like him.

As a result: My giving might look like someone else's tithing....but in all truth there is no longer any similarity. It is sometimes planned but often spontaneous. Giving now happens as my heart is touched and where my Father leads.

Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!

The safest place on earth

In Fathers arms.

He has never been an angry father. Often Old Covenant portions have portrayed him that way. But He never operates with anger like we often do. He never loses it. He is never frustrated. He doesn't get pissed off. His wrath is an expression of His love and is only used against the thing that is destroying the object of His affection.

I am that object. So I am always safe in his arms. In His arms is the safest place on earth.

As a parent who has sometimes out of anger been abusive with my own kids; He has never once been abusive to any of his. He has never had to apologize to me for losing His cool. If you really want to know him spend time in the Gospels with Jesus the friend of sinners.

Jesus was the exact representation of his dad. Like Father like Son.

Our Father is always approachable, always long suffering and kind, never envious, always secure, never rude; He doesn't get provoked, thinks no evil towards us, He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. His love never fails.

Two Cultures worlds apart

One; Need Shame and Fear based; The other Honor and Love based.

Good works and performance the bi-product of one; Super-natural and organic Fruit the evidence of the other.

One I can boast in; the other I have nothing to do with.

One; something I must strive for; the other, the genuine response of a transformed heart.

It can be very confusing. They both often can look the same from the outside. But the difference between them is astronomical. They are actually poles apart.

(NT scripture sometimes refers to fruit as works as in James “show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works”, but the context of the new covenant and primarily Jesus teaching is “fruit” not works. And the difference is astronomical.)

“Works” are the sweat of performance. Sometimes it’s survival instinct. Other times it is just plain sweat. And the end result is religion and or burnout.

Whereas “Fruit” is organic, the natural response of “abiding in love” or as a friend of mine says “Living loved”.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thine heart” is an old Covenant command. I honestly have tried to work and sweat that one out for most of my life…and never arrived. How many times have you been beat up with the scripture in Revelations about losing your first love, trying to conjure up something lost along the path of busyness and neglect? So many times I’ve failed…

But “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thine heart” is no longer a commandment. It is now a new covenant PROMISE, the fruit of a relationship with your Father empowered by the Holy Spirit. And first love is the cross. (Here in is love, not that we have loved God but that He has loved us”)

The only way you will genuinely love is with a “revelation” of the love of Christ. And don’t even try to conjure it up. Revelation doesn’t come that way. Revelation is just that, it is the revealing or pulling back of the scales until we see not with our eyes but with our heart….”the eyes of your heart being enlightened.” And it often takes time.., even sometimes decades for some one so steeped in religion like me.

Loving God can be work or fruit and the difference is night and day; they actually are worlds apart. You can get accolades for both but one is New Covenant…the other is the old. Jesus was the dawn of a new day, He went about the earth turning everything upside down, on its head. No wonder he was killed. It was absolutely contrary to everything they had learned from the old covenant while at the same time being the fulfillment of the hopes, dreams and promises found in it.

The dividing line between the two worlds was and still is the cross. Post the cross everything changed…

yet we for the most part are still unbelievably in the dark about it.

Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. We get it for the first twenty-four hours of our new life in Christ and from then on we are drug back into the performance and pretending that Jesus rebuked the religious class for; until we become the elder brother with no understanding of the relationship we actually have with father.

It’s not a fear-based relationship. It’s an Abba and son relationship, a relationship where we get to sit in his lap at our very worst, not our best.

This is our promise! And it comes little by little with a revelation of the cross, the pinnacle point of all history; the pivot point upon which the story stands; the culmination of everything that exists!. The crux is the crucifix.

I always rushed through the cross thinking that the power was in the resurrection. I used to condemn the Catholics for the crucifix, that memorial to the greatest of all historic events. I now own one, not that it in itself is worth more than a hill of beans. It is a reminder for me of a story so grand. Not a story where an angry dad whacked his son instead of whacking me. No a story where a father and son displayed such honor and a love so incomprehensible, so unimaginable and so defining of everything they were and are, to redeem a lost humanity back to themselves. Such love, such wondrous love! On the cross in the very person of Jesus the power of sin over a broken world was destroyed.

Now transformation happens not by our effort but "Completely", "Miraculously", "Super-naturally" by his effort as we learn to abide in His love. Sin is now a powerless nothing! It holds no power over us! It is no longer my concern or my focus. As darkness flees from light so sin is displaced in us and our worlds are transformed as we abide in his love.

I’m not saying that there is no sweat. There often is but there is also such Joy and Peace. In Fathers arms is the safest place on earth.

What is the strongest motivator in the universe? Shame or Honor?

Shame is how we build successful businesses, great football teams, and big churches.

Shame is an incredible motivator.

My buddy Steve told me tonight that the three building blocks for a successful business are Compare, Compete and Control and who doesn't want to be successful?

As I am reading through the Gospels, I'm watching what happens when Jesus enters the scene and I am yet to see him put shame on anyone and better yet I am amazed that Jesus has never shamed me, never, not even once in my short life. I have never felt shame in his presence

His perspective on me is worlds apart from the shame based world he entered. The world that judges people by their performance rather than by their intrinsic created value.

Why have I questioned God's Love for me my whole life?

Why is this message the most difficult to learn?

Why do I judge myself better than the homeless man on the street?

I'm really wondering if it is because I grew up in church. When I look back I can hardly remember a church experience that wasn't shame based.

Even our singing was shame based.... Songs like "I don't know why Jesus loves me".

The statement is rooted in shame. It means I am looking within myself for value and coming up empty. It is the very reason Adam and Eve hid from their maker.

So I try harder and then compare myself with or compete with others to cover or hide my brokenness.

My judgement of myself and others is based in performance and I'm in good company. Even the disciples after being His closest companions for three years were a paradox of these questions....rating themselves by and competing with each other, based on performance. It is obviously a pretty difficult hurdle to conquor.

At the very end Peter was still comparing his performance with the others..."even though all of the others fall away I'll be faithful".

Why is it still more comfortable for you and me to find our value in our performance rather than than in His Love?

Because the whole world, religious and non religious is still immersed in the throws of shame.

Most every political party, most every business, most every school, most every sports team, most every family and saddly most every church determines each others value by their performance.

But something REALLY BIG and much more powerful happened on the cross!

The cross changed everything!

Jesus didn't just live among us to model a shame free existence He actually took on our shame...He became sin and the shame that sin produces and was nailed to the cross, destroying forever the indictment that sin had legitimately built against you and me.

It was love that saw me as I was, helpless in my shame rooted existence and spoke forgiveness and healing over my deepest wound. He knew my value and in love took my shame and destroyed forever it's power over my life. I have been redeemed which means I have been restored to my original created value. A value no long based in shame but in the honor his love bestowed on me.

It's no longer about being right or good. (performance).

It is now about the security that comes from being loved not for my goodness but in spite of it.

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them."

Along comes Jesus with a whole new evaluation system, a whole new covenant based not in shame but in honor.

The old covenant viewed all men through the grid of shame but from Jesus perspective every man and woman born ,was born with intrinsic created value. Every time Jesus approached a person in any setting he saw them in their created value and so He treated them with incredible honor. Go and read the stories again. Every person!

Remember Zacheus., "I'm going to your house".....remember the women who came shame free into rooms based in shame to wash and anoint Jesus feet...remember the scribes, "how oft I would have gathered you as a hen does her chicks"...remember...

In fact every moment I have had in his presence has come with incredible honor. He has never rubbed my nose in my sin or failure. He has always placed such value on me.

He loves me. Why? Because he created me and I am special.

There is not a man or woman on the planet who doesn't have created value. Every man and woman born and unborn is loved deeply by God. He loves me because He created me in his image and after his own likeness and when he approaches me he always approaches me with honor. This is the Kingdom of God. a whole new world, a whole new value system .

The difference between the world and the kingdom of God comes down to honor.

In the world we find our value in accomplishments and or failures.

In the Kingdom of God we find our value in His love.

Honor is the strongest motivator!

Shame was no match, Love won!

Hallelujah!!!

When He comes into the room Honor comes with Him.

Since the cross we now have a choice...to live in the culture of shame or to create a culture of honor.

Shame walks into the room and immediately starts comparing and ranking himself with the others....It is so normal in every circle of association. It is our natural proclivity. Shame is easy and comfortable for all of us. You cannot help the opinions from forming in your mind. It is how we run families, schools, businesses and governments.

But when Honor walks into the room a fresh breeze comes with him, you immediately feel valued.

(The truth is you are valuable. You are His copy, created in His likeness and after his own image and the cross placed you on His dream team.)

When Jesus walks into any room (slanted right or left) honor and value comes with Him.

Jesus walked into all kinds of political, social and religious rooms filled with shame base people. Some got it, some didn't. The Message chapter 3;1, says "He went back in the meeting place where He found a man with a crippled hand." (with every intention to honor the man.) However... "The Pharisees had their eyes on Him to see if he would heal him, hoping to catch Him in an infraction." Now that is messed up!

Even two of his own disciples he jokingly nick-named "Sons of Thunder."

Shame and Honor are both powerful motivators.

Shame grades you according to your performance and leaves you to wallow and try harder. It's fruit is pretense, whereas Honor recognizes your intrinsic value and calls you up from the inside out.

It's the difference between canned salmon and fresh smoked salmon ...or church as most of us know it versus family...or planned and canned fellowship versus Jesus showing up fellowship....

The difference between Shame and Honor is His Presence. It is night and day. When He shows up everyone in the room is elevated. His presence is absolutely essential.

And now because of the cross, we are his shame free sons and daughters and His reps on earth. We have become hosts of His presence.

Yep thats who we are...LOVE in human form... in every circle of association.

No Shame on you...(Wayne Jacobsen)

What helps you boast at your achievements and contrive excuses for

your mistakes?

SHAME

What can turn a simple gift from God into feelings of superiority and

then at the first sign of trouble plunge you to the depths of inferiority?

SHAME

What can take you captive through the compliments of others and

then make you feel rejected by their most genuine criticism?

SHAME

What can make you rabidly chase an illusion of success that never

satisfies and then completely paralyze you with fear of failure?

SHAME

What will let you take credit for good things you don't deserve and

blame others for their hard times?

SHAME

What can make you feel smug in self righteousness and the next

overwhelm you with guilt and self loathing?

SHAME

Sin trapped us in SHAME and unworthiness....

We were born with it whispering in our ear and it spread like cancer

sinking it's tentacles into every thing you and I think and do.

Our only source of freedom from it is in our Fathers love.

Only when I find my security in Father's love is it's voice unmasked.

God didn't need a cross to love me.

He already loved me!

I needed the cross to be free from sin and SHAME.

And on the cross SHAME in the human spirit was undermined...

I am now SHAME free.

...no shame on me

• 
  

  
  

Karma stands on it's head!

Karma- Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap, what goes around comes around, an eye for an eye, "I will repay says the Lord".

Karma's prevailing truth: Sin requires judgment.

The Karma of Judgment is the one common theme in all of religion. Karma is a freight train of fury bearing down on injustice. It is a legitimate fear that haunts the sleep of evil doers.

And the governor Pilot had every reason for precaution the night Jesus was crucified. With a clear understanding of karma, in fear and cowardice he made an outward attempt at self preservation by asking for a basin of water, washing his hands in full view of the world, and absolving himself of any association.

When he did this, a whole nation represented by a few in history stood up and said “we will take the karma, we and our children”.

BUT

One man, alone on the tracks, on the darkest day in human history, stood down that freight train of fury.

In this one act of incredible courage and love, God, in the man Jesus, on a wooden cross, all alone, chose to become the lightning rod for karma… and absorbed in his own body the full weight and fury of the wrath due unrighteousness, absolving for all time, all of humanity, of any guilt by association.

"He who knew no sin became sin for us so we could become the righteousness of God in Him." Not only was his own body decimated by sin but the power of sin and its freight train of righteous karma was also destroyed in this one cataclysmic stand of incredible LOVE.

As He stood absorbing the full impact of judgment and fury, He looked out at His accusers and breathed forgiveness….and in so doing authorized us as righteous sons and daughters to do the same. Not only was sin dealt a destructive death blow but you and I became the Authorized Version for obliterating through mercy and grace on this earth any leftover karma.

How sweet is that…no more karma against us or through us.

You and I as believers are no longer instruments of karma! Instead you and I have become His Authorized Righteous Representatives to partner with Him in acts of LOVE, MERCY and GRACE in an orphaned and broken world.

Love won on the cross. Now through the cross you and I have become LOVE. That is who we are! Love now wins through you and me. Forgiveness reigns and karma stands on its head.

The Purpose Driven Life VERSUS The Jesus Loved Life

What happens when the Purpose becomes bigger than the people in my life?
Am I selling something or am I becoming someone?

The fix?
Knowing who I really am as a son of the Father... so loved by Him... free's me to love you...
It gives me conversations that matter with people that matter...call me some day and let me practice ...I so need to learn this...

Knowing who I am and living there FREEs me to serve you in the moment...

I used to think it was about me loving God...I am now learning that EVERYTHING flows out of His Love for me...

Here are some words I am finally (at the ripe age of 61) learning the meaning of ...

Believe- the acceptance and assurance of his LOVE for me

Hope- The excitement and anticipation I feel in my heart as the one He LOVES

Trust- The complete confidence I have in His ability, reliability, truth and strength because He LOVES me

Surrender- the abandonment of myself (my dreams, abilities and ambitions) entirely to His LOVE; giving in to LOVE

Yield- To give way to LOVE or to give my right of way to LOVE

Wait- To remain in readiness to receive His LOVE and to become LOVE

Lean- To incline and rest for support on His LOVE for me

Abide- To Live loved; to dwell in LOVE...my head against His chest

Faith/Works

I would like to suggest we change the word Works for the word Fruit in James. I would like to suggest that the works that Jesus expects in our lives are not the civic organization type of good works (although there is nothing wrong with Civic organization works).

I would like to suggest that the Greater Works life style Jesus expects from us is not the type of works we can boast in.

In other words the works He is expecting from us are not something we come up with on our own but flow out of a relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit.

His life is formed in us in a process that is more organic than sweat. And the word Jesus uses to describe the process is the word Fruit.

Now fruit sure looks like works. The main difference is the process by which they are accomplished.

Fruit, is the natural result of an abiding relationship in the Father, made available to every believer through the cross and fleshed out in the power of our promise, the Holy Spirit. The Life of Jesus was a life lived in the closest of fellowship with the Father and empowered through the Spirit.

And the good news is that it is also our promise as sons and daughters.

I believe James was describing a life filled with the Holy Spirit, a life that didn’t just profess something but a life of faith evidenced by its fruit.

Show me your faith without fruit… I will show you my faith with fruit…

Just saying…

Cure for Complacency???

I whispered in Mary's ear "we could be home by now if we had attended our regular place of worship." Now that was an obvious admission of complacency right there. My rear end was hurting real bad and after what seemed like eternity the preacher was finally coming to the close....this wasn't the first time I've sat through this word...

He had been presenting the case about our sorry assed complacency, exhorting us to finish well and finally we were on our feet, all heads bowed making a fresh commitment to do better and work harder...to put a stop to the complacency which can have such devastating results when we finally stand before our maker....he was doing his best to motivate us to love and good works... and staying hot...if we could hold tough till the end we would receive the "well done" from the master.

I was having a hard time holding on till he got finished...and was trying to imagine holding on till the end....

I so want to hear the "well done" but it was taking him too darn long to make the point...

Finally thank God the girl with the blond hair began to sing such a sweet song of worship and in a moment I was transported to the place the preacher had been trying to get us to for the past hour. With the song came a fresh revelation of how much He loved us FIRST. John says it this way..."Here in is Love, not that we love God, but that He loves us.....First".

In my mind I mused "Thank you Lord that First Love isn't some thing I drum up but something you have already initiated. Thank you Jesus for Loving me First. And thanks for the friendship...

Here is the quick cure for complacency and every other sin (anxiety, fear, unforgiveness, greed, lust, anger etc.)...try it...lean back and put your head up against His chest, take a couple of deep breaths, let Him wrap His arms around you, just be still and soak it up...waste some time with Jesus (B Manning)and learn the unforced rhythms of Grace (G Edwards)...and whalla ....passion is restored....

....good fruit is the natural result of abiding in His love...

The two sweet spots in Charlotte

I was leaving the Library, Billy Graham's Library, walking through the illuminated crosses in the last stage of the powerful presentation of the gospel for the umpteenth time... tears streaming down my cheeks.

There are actually two sweet spots I'll take you to in Charlotte when you come for a visit. Jack my brother in law, Ben my youngest, and I went first to the National White Water Center on Saturday braving the heat and the longer than usual lines. After signing off to any possibility of suing them for damages we spent at least 8 hours living on the literal edge... wrestling with all of the forces of nature....testing and proving our manliness. They told us nobody had actually died there that day.

We jumped off 40 ft. cliffs, tight rope walked over 60 ft gorges, climbed walls and ropes, sped through forests on zip lines and worked our way up to being thrown from the raft on our last and craziest run through the extreme number 4's....anyways all of the things Mary would find abhorrent. It was a sweet day!

But nothing is sweeter than an afternoon at the Billy Graham Library. I'll take you there when you come. We were ending our mostly self guided tour and again had the privilege of sitting in the comfortable theater seats watching Billy on the Big screen. George Beverly Sheas deep base voice was singing the last stanza of the close... "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that though bids me come to thee, Oh Lamb of God I come, I come."

I can't visit the place without being physically and emotionally moved to tears as the presence of the Holy Spirit hovers. I still remember the first time at the age of five walking to the front of a stadium with the choir singing "Just as I am", acknowledging Christ personally as my saviour.

Scrolled across the screen appeared the last verses of Matthew 11. "COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOR AND ARE HEAVILY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST".

Religion is such a terrible task master. It relentlessly continues to work at wearing us out by shoveling guilt, fear and shame, with the "add ons" and the "should have's" of regret and manipulation... the spoken and unspoken message of "your still not good enough"; so "give more, (laugh less) and try harder."

But today after a 56 year battle with religion, with tears streaming down my face I am realizing afresh that the message is still the same...it's still the best of news. It's how I began this race and it is how I will end it. It is all about How He loves! Every bit of it! LOL

The Message interprets it best, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

I'm about to be 61 and this is still the best of news...

He loves me....just like I am...

Come visit us in Charlotte!

Sweet Bliss....39 years

39 years of Bliss...yeah baby it's been sweet bliss...

We were driving through the mountains the other day together experiencing a powerful thunder storm and also driving in silence....complete silence for at least a couple of hours.

We had come to an impasse.

Mary had been speaking to me with hurt in her voice about an area in our relationship that she thought needed some improvement...and I had been completely unresponsive....as I tried to explain myself and secure her in the process. I was thinking that after 39 years she should just learn to accept my humor and wonderful personality...even if it sometimes put her in poor light...in all fun of coarse. "Gawd made me funny honey".

We were returning to Charlotte after a sweet weekend with Dan Mohler and our daughter and family in Nashville and I had in a couple of situations been publicly enjoying my wife's perspective on geography...

which of coarse reminded her of other times like just recently when I had made a last minute decision that I thought would make for a fun story but a story in which she was the pun of the joke ... just in fun I thought...

Anyways as I was saying we were driving in silence... at an impasse after 39 blissful years...

The next morning I was driving in to work and heard the Holy Spirit speaking to me about my sweetheart..."Lloyd" he said. "Have I ever had fun at your expense?" "Isn't that an interesting question" I thought.

You know, on my 25 minute drive into work I couldn't think of a time and by the time I arrived I had totally bought into what my sweet bride of 39 years had been trying to address. There were some tears of repentance and a phone call and letter to my sweetie.

Mary, you truly have been an amazing person to live with. Thanks for loving me.
And thanks Holy Spirit for continuing to love me more and more into your image.

Like I was saying...39 years of bliss....sweet bliss.

Living securely in Father's affection

Jesus TRUSTED His Father when the water was over His head and rising...
in the wilderness...
and then most significantly on the cross.

TRUST is the fruit of knowing you are LOVED.
Jesus lived securely in His fathers affection no matter what it looked and felt like...no matter how dark it got...now so can I.

If you know some one hates you or even dislikes you or is flaky in his affection towards you...(sometimes hot and some times cool)...can you trust him? NO-way!

I lived much of my life believing God was Bi-Polar.

How are we to trust a God who would take out his anger and wrath on His own son?
That is abuse in it's worst form beyond believability...
You can't trust that kind of a father. You can fear him... and try and appease him.
But trust? Impossible! NO-way!

How could a loving father destroy his own son to appease His anger?

Here is the truth...God is not capable of wrath and anger against anyone of us. He created us to be His Sons.
He is Holy but He is also Love.
And Jesus painted for us a perfect picture of what a loving Father would look like.

God's wrath is reserved for some thing and some one else...yes there was and will be judgement day... the day of the vengeance of our God.

Malachi and numerous other prophets prophesied about a coming great and terrible day of judgement.

Did you know there are actually two great and terrible days of judgement.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT DAY- Two thousand years ago on a cross called Calvary the wrath of God was poured out on that ( the power of sin) which was destroying the object of His affection (you and me).

It was a day in history where the fury of God was unleashed but it wasn't unleashed against His Son even though from Jesus perspective in that moment it looked and felt that way. You see it wasn't the cross that killed Jesus. It wasn't the Romans or the Jews that killed him. And it wasn't His father. Jesus was a perfect man! They could have stripped every bit of meat off his body and he would not have died. Mel Gibson did a good job showing that on film. Scripture is clear on this. "Only the man that sins dies".

No, it wasn't the cross that killed Him. It was His LOVE that killed him.. when He chose to become my sin. You see I was mired over my head in a substance that had so deformed and marred the original me. The me that He dreamed of when I first crossed His mind, way back before the worlds were made. I was His ruined, yet priceless work of art.

You see when Father, Son and Holy Spirit conspired to save you and me they knew that sin's power would have to be destroyed completely in order for our complete redemption.

It wasn't until God in the form of the god-man Jesus, out of LOVE chose to take on my sin...to actually become my sin that He became the lightning rod for the wrath of God. It was in those terrible hours, the great and terrible day of the Lord, where Jesus hung between heaven and hell absorbing the full impact of the fury of the Holy Loving Father. It was that act of amazing sacrificial LOVE where our sin was burnt to cinders, never again to have the power over our lives.

And in the darkest moment of history with every eye in heaven and in hell focused on Him... and every sense and awareness of His Father was no where to be seen or felt, Jesus TRUSTED and in one final act of obedience committed Himself to His Father..."into thy hands I commit my Spirit".

The finished work of the cross...the powers of sin broken permanently over our lives... when we chose to believe. Oh the Power of the cross! The great and terrible day of the Lord...

The Next JUDGEMENT DAY!

But there is coming another day of judgement...the day when the prince of this world will be judged...Hallelujah!!!

Today we get to live this side of the cross, in between these two great and terrible days of the Lord.
And TRUST is the currency!....my head against His chest...because He LOVES me...and my kids and my kids kids and your too...until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of His Christ!

Today is the day of salvation!
Today is another day that we get to live in the affectionate LOVE of an amazing Father...

Hallelujah!!!

Want to know Jesus secret for success? Send me $500...no just kidding!

Religion has made it the best kept secret in the universe and it is time you and I "get this" so we too can successfully fulfill our destiny...

There is only one commandment we are asked to keep.

I'm not kidding!

Jesus boiled all of the commandments down to one! And if you follow his story He only kept one.

He made it up and it was the only rule He lived by...remember how often He was in trouble for breaking other rules.

And it isn't the one that first comes to mind!

You interested... which one it is?

Hint...He said "a new command I give you"

(and it wasn't an add on to another list....It stands alone as the replacement for all of the other thou shalt lists, past, present and future... including thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, soul, mind and strength!)

....not that there is anything particularly wrong with all of the other lists....it's just that by discovering and obeying this one over riding commandment, all of the other lists become obsolete,

... because the end goal of all of the other lists are miraculously and organically fleshed out as we learn to live in the amazing revelation of this one thing....this New commandment!!!

Here it is.....

"LIVE LOVED" short for "Love one another as I have loved you."

This was Jesus secret to success. Because He lived securely in His Father's affection, He was able to TRUST His Father in EVERY circumstance. His one and only focus was to do always the thing that pleased Him. Because He lived loved He was the express image of His Father

Look it up!... John 12-17

The following in the Message is some of what He said to his disciples on that last evening before the cross...

"If any of you wants to serve me, then FOLLOW me. (stick really, really close to me or in other words live loved.) Then you will be where I am, ready to serve at a moment's notice."

"As you have the light, BE-LIEVE in the light. Then the light will be WITHIN you shining through your lives. You'll BE children of light."

...having LOVED his dear companions, he continued to LOVE them right to the end. (Actually one of the disciples, the one who referred to himself as "THE one Jesus loved dearly" well, he was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder during this conversation. He was definitely feeling the love.

"...so if I the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet...what I've done YOU DO." NOTE- We get to do it with Him as we live loved.

Then He said:

"Let me give you a new command: LOVE one another. In the same way I lOVED YOU, YOU LOVE one another." NOTE- The only way you will become loving is to abide in it yourself.

(to Peter and the others) "I am with you only a short time longer...where I go you are not able to come... You can't now follow me where I am going... You will follow later...the truth is today, before the cock crows you will deny me three times...(this is over your head, beyond your capacity) Don't let this throw you...TRUST IN ME ...I'll come back and get you so you CAN live where I live, do what I do, live in me...(the secret) I am the way, the truth and the life."

You see sin was the problem ...and He was about to fix the problem....the power of sin was about to be destroyed.... so we could be restored to our rightful created value as sons of the Father...we could live where we were born to live, with and in Him, where He is, in His position of advantage...loved.

Then Jesus reveals where He lived.. loved!

"Don't you believe that I am IN the Father and the Father is IN me?... the Father who resides in me crafts each word into a devine act."

"Believe me: I am IN my Father and my Father is IN me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see- these works. The person who TRUSTS me will not only do what I am doing but even greater things, because I am on my way to the Father, I am giving you the same work to do that I have been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it..."

"You will always have some one with you. This friend is the Spirit of truth...He has been staying with you and will even be in you.....you are going to see me because I am alive and you are about to come alive. At that moment you will KNOW absolutely that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

And here it is in plain english...the new home where we are to live...His love.

"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you....you can't bear fruit unless you are joined in me"...living loved.

"When you are joined with me and I with you, the relationship intimate and organic the harvest is sure to be abundant."

"If you make yourself at home with me and my words are at home in you you can be sure that whatever you ask will listened to and acted upon."

"I've LOVED you the way my Father has LOVED me. MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME IN MY LOVE. If you keep my commands" (abide in me, lean on me), "you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done- kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in His love."

"This is my Command: LOVE ONE ANOTHER THE WAY I LOVED YOU. This is the very best way to love."

"You are my friends...I no longer call you servants...I chose you and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil...LOVE ONE ANOTHER."

"You are about to make a run for it- saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I am not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that TRUSTING in me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace." (Again, we learn to live loved and to trust how? Usually like the disciples... by not trusting.)

"In this Godless world you will continue to experience difficult circumstances. But be of good cheer! I've conquered the world."

See...told you!

Again...What was Jesus secret to success?

Because He lived securely in His Father's affection, He was able to TRUST His Father in EVERY circumstance. His one and only focus was to do always the thing that pleased His Father.

He lived loved and was the express image of His Father...

As He is so are we in this world.

Abide in father's affection...lean, trust, believe...

ONE THING ONLY! Live loved my friends!

To trust or not to trust by Wayne Jacobsen

A friend sent me this and I felt it coincided with my last blog beautifully which then gives me a suspicion I may be on to something....
BodyLife • February 1996

Sara and I had spent almost a week among them. Invited to teach, we were also learning as we watched the simplicity of fellowship, worship and growth that this group of believers shared together. Finally, late one evening while sitting by the fire with some of their key people we got to ask our questions about the life they shared together.

"How do you teach believers to trust each other?" Sara asked.

By the facial reactions around the room, you'd have thought Sara might as well have asked them if they sacrificed animals. They glanced at one another, and shook their heads as if to say, "You really don't get it, do you?" I was taken back. We had witnessed their honesty, their openness, their service to each other. Surely they worked on trust.

One finally spoke, "Where does the Word teach us to put our trust in men?"

I started probing the deep recesses of my mind whirling through every Scripture I could recall. I couldn't come up with any Scripture to answer the question.

How could this be? Much of what I taught about the power of Christian community was to help people see how much they need each other, and assist them in building the kind of trusting relationships that would allow them to share God's life together. But I knew, and most of those I've taught also knew that this trust always breaks down. We are imperfect people after all, who will make mistakes, fail each other especially at critical moments which is why churches often leave a wake of broken people.

But isn't community based on trust? I've probed that question often since our encounter almost 8 months ago. Our last issue of BodyLife dealt with the trust we can have in the Father through the faith Jesus demonstrated on the cross. Now let's take a look at the implications of the cross in our relationships with other believers.

Why Didn't Jesus Do it?

It's probably the most difficult question I've ever been asked whenever I've taught on community. "Why do we have to trust others if Jesus didn't?" I've been asked that twice both of them referring to the same Scripture: But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. (John 2:24-25)

On both occasions I mumbled something about Jesus' superior wisdom and that no one was able to understand his death on the cross until after it was over anyway. But even at the time the question bugged me. If Jesus didn't trust men because he knew what was in them, why would he ask us to? But the only models I knew for body life were those where people were trying to trust each other.

I didn't stop at the time to realize it was also the common denominator in those who had been deeply hurt by past church experiences. They had trusted others only to see them turn on them whenever their struggles, needs or gifts didn't fit the prevailing agenda.

So as believers, are we or are we not to trust each another?
Turning to the Word

Three words continue to crop up in most teaching regarding the importance of church life: commitment, accountability and trust. These are used to describe the kind of life that brothers and sisters ought to share together. I've used them often to help people see the great value that body life can be to them.

'Commitment' is not used at all in the New Testament, though its root, 'commit' is. Interestingly enough it is overwhelmingly used to talk about committing sin, as in committing adultery. Only in the Old Testament can we find references about committing our ways to the Lord. Two references in the New Testament describe committing people to the grace of God. All of these, however, are clearly directed at the Father and his work, nothing spoke of being committed to each other or to the church.

Likewise our 'accountability' in Scripture is only directed at God. We are not accountable to the local church, to its leaders, or even to other brothers and sisters. Paul specifically exempted himself from such thinking: "To me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you; in fact, I don't even examine myself. The one who examines me is the Lord." (I Cor. 4:4-5)

Though there are extensive references to trusting and believing throughout the Word, I couldn't find one where we are encouraged to let another believer be the object of our trust. We are told to love each other, honor each other, pray for each other, bear each other's burdens, forgive each other, serve each other, stimulate each other to love and good deeds, be kind to one another and many other such things, but we are never told to trust one another. All references to trust and belief are firmly and exclusively directed to God. If he is the one in which all of our trust is invested, what do we have left over to give to another believer?

Interesting isn't it? Words we consider critical building blocks to body life are not even part of the foundation that Jesus laid for the church. In fact, these are the concepts that the church has historically used to bind people to its programs and agendas, as in, "Don't you trust the leadership here?" "If you're going to grow you need to be committed to what God is doing among us." "You've got to be plugged in somewhere so you can be accountable."

Jesus only gave us two directives: Love God and love each other. Doing that, we will fulfill all his ambitions for our lives.

Institutional Words
So why are these words so commonly used in the church today? Commitment, accountability and trust are all words that deal with institutions, and are necessary for the survival of any institution. It is what allows people to find identity and cooperation.

Regretfully many people don't have an accurate distinction in their minds about the church as God sees it and the institutions that have sprung up around it. We think of them as the same thing.

God sees one church that encompasses every believer in every corner of the world. He sees that not in its institutional failures, or the weaknesses of its leaders or adherents, but as the bride he is preparing for his Son. He views the church with great affection, desire and adoration. Gene Edwards, author of Tale of Three Kings, has taken to calling the church, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." I love that description and understanding it from that perspective will keep us from growing cynical and sarcastic about that which God loves so much.

But that is not the same thing as the organizations, buildings and meetings we call 'church' today. Wherever believers gather and seek to work together an institution springs up around it. That's what allows the group to organize, collect and spend money and make decisions. Leaders are almost always selected who provide certain 'services' for the members. That's been true for 1900 years and will probably be true up to his coming.

Men need institutions to function. Those institutions can be good, releasing the Lord's life and power among a group of people, or they can become self-serving seeking to use the institution as the extension of their own power needs or the means to their own comfort.

If church history teaches us anything it does demonstrate that while the institution that surrounds the church has often been helpful in preserving history, serving needs, testing orthodoxy and preaching the gospel, it also too often lets the institution overrun the life of God within it. You can always see that when a church battles over 'what's right' in nonessential matters instead of focusing on being right with each other in love and forgiveness.

Church renewal is often only letting believers re-discover what they had in the beginning, before the institution organized it to death. As such, the church often becomes a substitute in people's lives for a dynamic relationship with the Father. It happens so subtly that few are aware of it. We get so busy maintaining the program and meeting needs that we adjust to the waning life of the Spirit by increasing the institution. When it does we emphasize commitment and accountability.

The Father's Community
Our attempts to make other believers, or worse yet a church institution, the object of our trust, our commitment or our accountability is to place it in the role that has been reserved for the Father alone. That sounds dangerous, doesn't it? God has invited us to something so much better.

From the dawn of creation to Jesus' death on the cross, the Father's plan has always been to invite us into the fullness of relationship that he shares with himself. Since before time The Father, Son and Spirit have shared absolute joy, love, life, glory, power and wisdom without any thought of one being exalted over the other. God is a community and wherever he manifests his presence he builds community.

That's the hunger that stirs in people's hearts who desire to know the Father. It isn't necessarily for all the trappings of church life today, but to know the community of the Trinity, and be able to share that journey with fellow travelers who are learning to follow the Lord.

That's the connection Jesus was making with his disciples in the upper room in John 14-17. He wanted them to transfer the friendship he had with them to the Father and the Spirit, and with himself on the other side of the resurrection. "that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us." (John 17:21)

In exactly the same way the Father and Son shared life and love, he wanted to share with them as well. We get to experience their life, love, sharing joy and wisdom. Jesus identified that community as the basis by which believers would find their unity and their ability to demonstrate his glory to the world. It doesn't thrive on our trust in each other, but our faith in the Father. The former will leave us hurt and bitter when we fail. The latter will allow us to know God in ever-increasing fullness, and touching that it will be impossible for us to contain his life and love.

Body Life, Father Style
Almost without trying the Father's love in us will spill out causing us to 'one another' believers with love, prayer, forgiveness, insight, money, help and anything else others might need that we have.

Only out of that fullness and our trust in God to fill our own needs will we be able to share without any expectation for others to reciprocate, or any desire to manipulate their response. This is the essence of fellowship believers freely loving each other, assisting however we can, but without any compulsion to get others to do it our way.

We'll visit this topic again in a future issue, because it is so critical. Notice I've not given any institutional fixes here. What I want you to consider is not the structure you attend, but your relationships with other believers. Are you trying to trust them or do they demand your trust? If so, you will get hurt, because we will fail each other out of our own flesh, and even at times when we don't understand other people's obedience to the Father.

If you have been hurt like this, let the Father bring healing to your life. Your hurt, only testifies to your misplaced trust and holding onto it will hold you back from finding a freedom to experience the life of God and share it with others.

So what do our relationships with others look like?

A man in Australia expressed it best: "It looks like this, Wayne, "in my relationship with you I don't want you to trust me more, I want to help you trust the Father like you never have before. If you're doing the same thing with me then we're sharing fellowship. If I am and you're not, then I get to minister to you, which is a joy. But I'm not being cheated because I'm trusting the Father for everything I need."

Doesn't that make sense, and isn't it liberating?

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I'M NOT ALONE!

I watched as my pastor went around the room looking deeply into every man present until his eyes fell on me, gazing deep into my soul. I wanted to run, to look away, but He had such a presence and penetrating gaze. Without any words spoken I knew what He was after. Everyone knew. He was looking for disloyalty as though he were able to discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts. He was looking for the Judas in the room... as he offered us the bread and wine.

This was no ordinary communion service. This was the king and his men in the cave. This was our king needing something from deep inside of each of us, our commitment, our promise, our blood.

I gave him the response he wanted, unspoken but real non the less and it was at that moment I was had, as was every other man in the room that day. I drank that day to my allegiance and eventually my bondage, "not I...the others maybe, but I won't be the one to betray you."

For me it was sooner rather than later that push came to shove....within a few months I discovered to my chagrin that I was the weak link...I wanted to follow the man, would have taken a bullet, I loved him. I didn't overtly betray him. It came more as a question....a misunderstanding. I challenged him, questioning his judgement...actually thinking he would want me to, and that he would appreciate it later. I never saw it as disloyalty or it wouldn't have crossed my mind. But for my pastor, perception was reality. He read it as disloyalty and before I knew it, I was the Judas in the room. And in the end, both mine and his undoing.

This man was asking for more of my soul than I could afford to give him, Most everyone else in the room that day eventually discovered that they too didn't have the goods. But sadly for too many it wasn't until years later.

The last supper had the disciples sitting around the room enjoying His presence as usual, big dreams, high asperations, punching each other for the right to sit next to Him ... Jesus passed out the bread and wine looking deep into their eyes, every intention was to sober them and prepare them for the reality that was upon them. But He wasn't looking for or expecting their commitment and loyalty. In fact He had very low expectations on not just Judas but everyone at the table. He knew every one of them was about to turn tail and run.

The disciples- "Jesus, we believe, we get it...we now understand who you are"....Of coarse Peter was the most vocal....he had just told the Lord "I'll lay down my life for you". Jesus had responded matter of fact "no you won't, you'll deny me three times". He told them that they would all leave Him. "Do you now believe?...The hour is coming when you will be scattered each to his own, and will leave me a lone, YET I'M NOT ALONE."

Jesus wasn't looking for or expecting loyalty. He was stating a fact. He knew they didn't have the goods. He told them they didn't. And then He said it wouldn't be a problem, He was not alone.

He said "Don't let your hearts be troubled." in other words "Don't worry about it. Your commitment is not what I am looking for. I'm not expecting your loyalty. It's OK." He was looking for something more...something much deeper, something they could only learn through failure. He was asking but with very low expectations. "Could you not watch with me for even an hour?...go ahead sleep on."

A few days later after the resurrection they were all again together having breakfast on the beach. Peter's failure and disloyalty was fresh on his mind and Jesus looking deep into Peter's heart popped the question, "Do you love me unconditionally?"

A different Peter responded, "Lord you're my best friend, (I don't know about the unconditional part in your question, but I do love you as a friend.")

Again Jesus asked the same question and a broken Peter responded as before.

The third time Jesus lowered his expectations, "Peter do you love me as a friend?"

"Lord, You know all things, You know ..."

I'm going to suggest that Peter was experiencing Romans chapter 7...you know the chapter that identifies with our flesh's inability to soar above sin.

But I'm also going to suggest that Romans chapter 7 "Failure" is just the prelude to Chapter 8 "triumph". Our failure is the process by which we experience His love and learn to trust, not ourselves but Him, not our righteousness but His, even in the dark."

Our sin doesn't catch Him by surprise. As painful as our sin is to ourselves and to our relationship with him it comes as no surprise to Him. He knows that we will only come to trust after first experiencing the failure that comes from not trusting.

HE WAS NOT ALONE! Note:His security wasn't tied to the loyalty or disloyalty of His disciples. He was One with His Father and his friend Holy Spirit, secure in that relationship and about to provide everything necessary for your and my security as well. He was about to secure the same relationship for us that He had with the Father.

In hind sight what my pastor was asking for that night wasn't his to ask. Jesus never asked it of his followers. He never asked for loyalty. He did not entrust Himself to them. He knew what was in them and He knows that we too cannot be trusted. The meal wasn't and isn't about our commitment to Him. The covenant meal was and is about His commitment to us.

Sin was about to be dealt a crushing blow in the very body of Christ. Sin, the once upon a time champion over the human race, was about to be destroyed. The wrath of God was about to be poured out from heaven against that which was destroying the object of His affection, you and me and the whole human race. And the bread and the wine was a tangible picture of the price He was about to pay in his own body for your and my redemption.

Today during communion He's still not asking for our commitment and loyalty. He is offering His. He isn't looking for anything in us. Instead He has chosen to provide through relationship with himself everything we will ever need. "He became sin for us so we could become the righteousness of God IN Him."

His prayer that night was much bigger....His prayer was for us, that we might be one with Him, "as You Father are in Me, and I am in You....that they may be one just as we are one: I in them and You in me, that they might be made Perfect in one...that the world might believe." He wasn't praying that we would all get along. He was praying that we would get it... His offer is to abide in us as we abide in him.

Our sin, our failures, our lack of stamina, our worry, our laziness, our selfishness, our schizophrenic attempts at righteousness are only symptomatic that we don't have the goods, that we are insecure, and hints at the fact that we are not living loved, (abiding in His love) in those areas of our lives. And I've noticed from my own story it seems to take a lot of failure before I get it. What makes us think that any part of the Christian experience is doable apart from Him

The sin problem was resolved on Calvary Once and for All. He became our sin, our unfaithfulness, our brokenness so we could become one with Him and everything He is...the righteousness of God. Because of the price He paid we are now the pre-qualified recipients of a friendship unequaled in this life, the fellowship of the Father and Son through a friendship with the Holy Spirit. We have been invited to participate in the same relationship that they have shared in for all eternity.

The big news now is I AM NO LONGER ALONE! My source for everything Jesus now lives in me. My commitment and loyalty are no longer my chief concern. Living loved (abiding) is now my chief concern! And as I abide in Him commitment and loyalty are the fruit of that relationship. This is such good news! It doesn't depend on me. My friend the Holy Spirit lives in me and is all I could and will ever be.

And that's the reason the disciples had to experience failure that night two thousand years ago in a garden on the mount of Olives....and the reason you and I experience failure. And that's also the reason the tree with the forbidden fruit was in the center of that other garden, not in the periphery somewhere. He knew that as much as our free will was going to cost Him, and it truly was going to cost Him most, our choosing sin, our disloyalty, our failure, would be the process by which we too would learn to live loved and to trust Him in all things...and learn to dance as Jason says in his book Surrendered and Untamed.....and then become the world changers He dreamed about before the worlds were even created.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, never the less I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I life by the faith OF the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me....yes it is all Him.