Trust Jesus

Trust is a big deal for people. Marriage, for instance, is based on trust, not just on love. Or, for another example, would you give your wallet and keys to the next person you meet on the street? Why not? Probably because you don't trust they would take proper care of them.

Why should you trust God? What does he have for you? Well, he sent his Son to tell us about himself (John 14:9), to provide the only way to God (John 14:6) and to bring us life. John wrote at the end of his gospel, in 20:31, "But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name."

Belief is important in John's gospel; John uses the word over 75 times. That's nearly 4 times per chapter. Believing in Jesus means trusting him -- relying on him for what we can't do for ourselves. Including, first of all, saving ourselves from destruction as a result of our sins.

Do you trust him? That's the question. Do you trust that he really has died for you? Do you trust that he has given you life with him, a life without end? Do you trust that it is a gift from him to you? Or do you think it's something you can earn, if you're a good enough person? John records Jesus saying this, in 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." See, we can believe that Jesus existed, but what's really important is believing what he said, and trusting that he meant it.

Trusting Jesus means you've already entered into the life he has for humanity: a life of knowing, being in relationship and living in the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A life that will, after your physical existence is over, lead you into the presence of God forever. Not trusting Jesus, on the other hand, is a much harder road. Refusing to trust Jesus means choosing to miss out on everything he has for you. Not much of a choice. But then, God still leaves the choice up to you.

Which one do you choose?

More than These

Jesus said some tough things -- things we don't always like to remember, or teach. Like when he said we have to hate our relatives if we want to be his disciples: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26, NIV) And being his disciple is what he has called all of us to do; so we should take his words seriously.

Hate, meaning really despise and be angry with? No, what Jesus said, in the lingo of the day, was that, in order to be his disciples, we have to love him so much that everything else fades into the background and doesn't mean anything to us, compared to him. The Message version reads this as "let go of" his family. So if you aren't willing to let go of even what is closest to you, you aren't really a disciple, because you're not paying enough attention to the Master.

Dallas Willard, in his classic book The Divine Conspiracy, explains this idea. He uses the analogy of a math teacher to his student: unless you learn addition and subtraction, fractions and decimals, no way are you going to learn algebra or trigonometry. If you don't have even the basics, how will you learn the real stuff?

Unless we are so focused on the Master that he is, without question, the most important issue in our lives, we won't really be discipled -- taught, instructed, led -- by him. Multi-tasking just isn't gonna make it with him. Being less than devoted won't work with Jesus. Focusing on temporary-life matters so much that eternal-life matters don't get much attention, means that Jesus doesn't matter as much as he should.

Okay, we still have to eat, and pay our taxes, and all that stuff. Living in a monastery isn't necessary for spiritual maturity. But here's a measure of focus: what's on your mind most often? For example, which thoughts are most frequent: ideas of self-protection and getting ahead, or hearing the Holy Spirit tell you how to love someone? Anger at someone who has offended you, or forgiveness and seeking God's wisdom in responding? Convinced of your own rightness, or seriously asking the Lord for correction?

Do you love Jesus more than these other people/things? I know I need to clean out some of the mental and emotional clutter, and focus on him, because I want to go deeper with the Master. Wanna go along?

Trust

"In God we trust" has been a motto of the United States, by law, since 1956, and has been printed on all coins and currency since 1955. (Isn't it ironic that this motto appears on our money?)

Trust is "a reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc. of a person or thing" according to the dictionary. I think that if we really did trust in God, we'd rely less on the money.

Adam and Eve had a problem with trust. They didn't fully believe that God had given them everything they needed, or they wouldn't have believed the Serpent's argument that God was holding out on them. Their lack of trust was the root of their sin. Humanity ever since has lacked that same trust. Even though we seem hard-wired to want to believe in something greater than ourselves, when it comes to daily life we try to work things out by ourselves instead. Another way of saying that is that we don't really trust God to come through for us. And just about every sin you can name traces its way back to not trusting God to provide what's best for us.

I know some people who claim to trust God, but they seem to spend their time trying to manipulate him -- reciting verses from the Bible, claiming various promises, and figuring that their works somehow obligate God to come through with the new car or the job or whatever. As though God were a slot machine or a vending machine -- put enough coins in and something is bound to come out. But God is much wiser than we are, and he will give us what we really need, not what we think is best for us.

Isaiah 28:16 says this: "Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken." That foundation stone is Christ himself -- for salvation, and for the faith to live every day (Gal. 2:20). God tells us to trust him, to build our lives on Jesus (see Matthew 7:24-27) and not on our own efforts.

It's easy to say you trust God. But your daily schedule and your bank book show what you really trust. Looking at mine, I know that I sure need to trust him more. I pray you're learning to rely totally on God, for everything.

Jesus: Present or Absent?

Did Jesus contradict himself? In Matthew 28:20 he says "I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." Then in Acts 1:9, Luke records that "After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him."

How could he keep his promise to be with them "day after day after day" but no longer be visible? Acts 1:2 says he was with them visibly "until the day he was taken up to heaven" but that was "after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit." Now, that's interesting. He was visibly with them, teaching, but he taught through the Holy Spirit. Why?

Two reasons, I think. First, Luke records the Holy Spirit's work many times in the book of Acts, so he notes here that Jesus taught, but not just by his own words but "through the Holy Spirit." Was this something they could somehow sense? It's possible, but not likely -- we don't see any visible or audible signs of the Spirit until Acts 2:2-4. Instead, it's probably a note that the Spirit was there, already working to prepare them for what was shortly to follow.

Second, the Holy Spirit continued to teach and lead the apostles on through the New Testament record, both in Acts and in the epistles. But let's remember that God is one (Mark 12:29) not three separate beings who happen to be united. The Spirit is called "the Spirit of Christ" in Romans 8:9 and "the mind of Christ" in 1 Cor. 2:16. So the risen Son of God, Jesus, continued to be with them in the person of the Holy Spirit. And he was teaching them at this point in the same way -- not just with his audible words and his visible facial expression and gestures, but in the work of the Spirit.

How about us, today? Since we haven't seen him with our physical eyes, we 'see' Jesus through the eyes of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:10 says "But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets."

So Jesus is with us, "day by day by day" through the Spirit. That means a large part of being his disciples is seeing him, hearing him and following him through the Spirit. How do you do that? Something called the Spiritual Disciplines, (also called the Holy Habits) which help us hear and follow. We'll keep talking about those.

Change of Heart

"Okay, Pastor Mark, you're saying that I need to pray that other people will become aware of the salvation God has given them through Jesus, so their lives will be blessed and on top of that live in God's presence forever. Not a bad idea, I guess, but I don't even like my neighbors, and I'm really glad the noisy one down the street moved away. And some of my relatives -- oh, the stories I could tell you! So I don't even want to pray for them."

Shoot, you think that's unique to you? Hardly. But if God felt like that, would he have loved you? Hmmm...I know he wouldn't have loved me. But his Son (the perfect expression of God's love to us) came to die in our place, before we made a move -- see my old favorite, Romans 5:8.

God's purpose and passion is for everyone to know him face to face, forever. He wants that to be our passion too. Paul wrote to Timothy: "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth." Paul defines that truth in verses 5 and 6: "For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time."

But, if you really don't feel like it, perhaps the first prayer is for a changed heart -- to learn to feel like it. Actually, it's to learn to feel like God feels, in the words of Jesus himself: "But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike." (Matthew 5:44-45).

In short, though you may not love your neighbors, Jesus does. If you don't love your neighbors, you need his love, not yours, to flow through you.

Yep, Jesus commanded us to pray for others. But sometimes we have to tell God, paraphrasing the man who wanted to believe and wasn't sure how (Mark 9:24) “I do love, but help me overcome my un-loving!”

God will answer that prayer. Try it for a few months and let me know what happens.

Pray without Ceasing

Some friends of mine say that nobody comes to salvation through Jesus Christ without prayers -- lots and lots of prayers -- being sent up on their behalf. Is that true?

Well, Jesus has already done all the heavy lifting for us. We read in Hebrews 2:9 that "by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone." And in 1 Tim. 2:6, we see that Jesus "gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone." So that part is done. And how do we, and others, come to know this amazing grace? Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of "sin, righteousness and judgment."

So God is perfectly capable of doing his work without our help. But how does he want us to feel and act toward our neighbors who may not know him yet? Do our prayers matter? In what way?

Jesus said in Matthew 5:44 "But I say, love [even] your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!" So loving our neighbors means praying for them. Even the guy who plays his music too loudly, or runs over our geraniums with his Jeep. How do we pray -- that they will reform, in order for us to be more comfortable? Rather, that they will come to know the love of God, who through his Son's death and resurrection has already brought them from death to life.

Jesus' command about love gave prayer as the first example of how to love someone. In prayer, we learn to care. When I'm praying for someone else's salvation and peace, for his or her sole benefit, that prayer will change me, helping me to care for that neighbor as God already does. I'll be more likely to respond lovingly -- as God, through Jesus, already has responded -- in any interaction. Earnest, intentional prayer for them to know Christ's love will make me more likely to be the right example and, if it comes up, to give them the right words also. And to be able to thank God, with genuine love for them, when they accept the love he is offering them. Without that prayer, God's work will still be done for them -- but less of it will be done in me.

Jesus told us to pray for our neighbors. Somebody prayed (maybe for years) for you to come to know salvation in Christ. Who are you going to pray for today? This week? This year? Without ceasing? --And how will all that prayer change you?

Why are you here?

Last week at summer camp, seprockies.org, one of my friends got to reflecting on life's purpose. I encouraged him to think what he wanted on his gravestone, because that's the last word we get.

How about you? What is your purpose in life? Do you know what God says about it? I find my purpose summarized in 2 Cor. 5:15 -- "He [Jesus Christ] died for all, so that those who live would not live to please themselves. But they should live to please him who gave his life for them and rose again from death." This is part of the Great Reversal talked about many times in scripture: that in Jesus, God has both offered and accepted a perfect human life to replace my sinful (even with the best of intentions) humanity. In Jesus, I have (in effect) died, so I don't have the death penalty for my sins hanging over me: "We are certain that if one person died for everyone else, then all of us have died" (2 Cor 5:14) In Jesus, God has offered me eternal life, so instead of just a temporary reality ending in death, I get to live with him forever in the ultimate reality of his presence.

So, what do I do in the meantime? God answers me through Paul, in that same chapter 5, verses 18 to 20: "And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!' "

My job is to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ in saying "Come back to the Father of all things and live with him forever." My calling is to show how God has taken care of the debt caused by our sin and fallenness by his Son, Jesus Christ, and that he welcomes all people into his eternal home. My joy is to talk about the unbelieveable-yet-true love God has offered us, and to show that love to everyone I meet, regardless how unloveable they are, because that is the same love God has shown to me.

Well, it's not just me. Every Christian gets this privilege. Every one of us gets to show and to tell somebody else about this outrageous offer God has made us. Who do you know that needs to hear about this news? How might you tell them about it? Would you use a story, or a song, or a picture, or modeling clay, or what? And if you're worried about whether it will work, are you willing to give it a shot anyway, and let God work out the results? He's really good at that -- after all, it worked for you!

What will your gravestone say? For that matter, what does your Facebook say right now? Or your face? No sense waiting until it's all over to say it...