Living Stones

 I used to collect stones of different shapes. I don’t know what happened to my collection, but I do remember the fun of collecting. My grandfather collected and polished hundreds of stones. I have a handful of his beauties. My sister and I were going to learn how to turn them into jewelry, but never got to it. I have a fountain on my deck that has many of Grandpa’s stones. The light and the water really make them stand out. I found a good home for them.

You can find rocks everywhere, in every size and shape in every country all around the world. Sand on the beach once was larger rock worn down by the ocean. People find interesting use for rocks. Many use the largest rocks to climb on for adventure. Stones have been used to build buildings over the centuries. Stone mason families designed and built magnificent cathedrals from stone. Artists have found marvelous inspiration in huge blocks of stone. Michelangelo’s David comes to mind, chiseled out of marble. Boundaries have been marked by stone hedges, designed to keep livestock in and predators out.

Why the interest in rocks? For one thing, they really are ageless. Even when whittled down to sand, they still exist. Not much else in life can claim that. Rocks are everywhere. I read that rocks are the recycling of earth’s materials, born from lava, compression, heat and pressure. Mostly rocks lay around us and we walk right by. They get kicked around, picked up, thrown, stacked up and knocked over. We have even come up with idioms like, ‘dumb as a rock’ or ‘dumb as a box of rocks’. ‘Solid as a rock’ is more complementary, but most are fairly negative: ‘between a rock and a hard place’, being ‘on the rocks’, he has ‘rocks in his head.’  Obviously our language compares rocks mostly with little or no intelligence, capable of being used to put pressure on us even as we also recognize their solid, dependable, creative properties.

The Psalms refer to God as our Rock – a foundation, a secure hold. In reading through the Psalms recently I counted at least 15 references to God being our Rock. Rocks are mentioned a lot in the Bible, from Moses speaking and striking a rock for water in the wilderness to Peter’s name meaning rock. Rocks hold a very visible place God’s creation.

Today is Palm Sunday. Today we remember a glimpse into Jesus the King and Messiah entering Jerusalem. Jesus’ followers believed He was riding in to claim his throne; instead He was riding into his death. For a brief second, though, we get to see a glimpse of the Old Testament picture of the King, even though the people shouting ‘hosanna’ on this day would, a few days later, be shouting ‘crucify him’. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem sets it all in motion. But first we have the parade and celebration.

Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover together. Jesus sent two disciples ahead, telling them they would find an unridden colt tied there. “If anyone asks you, ‘why are you doing this?’ say ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back shortly.’ (Mark 11:3) And so it went. People spread their cloaks on the road and others laid down palm branches. And they shouted ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ‘Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven.’ (Mark 11:9, 10) Luke 19:38 adds ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest’.

All this shouting and celebrating one Man riding a donkey into the city – what’s going on? The Pharisees in the crowd were not happy. They come up to Jesus and say, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” (Luke 19:39) Like the disciples had organized this parade. They were just coming into the city as they had many times. But Jesus wasn’t walking, he was riding a young colt, and the people were not just gathering around him, they were yelling praises, celebrating Him. They were seeing in that moment Who He was, and praise burst forth.

Zechariah 9:9 says, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Then the prophecy goes on to say “The battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (:10) The Psalmist wrote, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise you; you are my God and I will exalt you.” (Psalms 118: 26-28) See why the confusion. The Jewish people knew these Scriptures, certainly the Pharisees did. And here these verses are coming to life. The Messiah is here. He will save His people from their oppressors and reign forever.  And He will, but first He had to die. First he had to do battle with spiritual oppressors. He will ride right up to “the horns of the altar” to be a sacrifice in our place.

The Pharisees know what the people are thinking, and they want it stopped. John tells us that some were even shouting “Blessed is the King of Israel.” (John 12:12) Dangerous words in the presence of Roman soldiers. Even without the threat of Rome’s reaction, dangerous words to the religious leaders of the day. John goes on to tell us “the Pharisees said to one another, ‘see, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.” (John 12:19)

John also tells us many in the crowd were there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. They had seen a man dead several days come back to life. This Jesus was a man to follow. Others in the crowd had seen Jesus do other miraculous things. Imagine a leader who could make bread out of nothing and heal horrific wounds as well as raise the dead.  You couldn’t lose. So they gathered and shouted their excitement. And the Pharisees wanted them hushed.

Luke gives us Jesus’ response, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40) Those rocks on the road, lying there quiet as always. Things to stub your toe against, or trip over, too small to build or sculpt with. Plain, old dusty rocks – would cry out?  What? Rocks can cry out? Maybe ‘dumb as a box of rocks’ really means speechless, rather than brainless? Or both. But Jesus is saying this day is of such importance that all of creation, even the rocks, would shout if the people would have been quiet. The King of Heaven is entering here, Hosanna!

Paul wrote in the book of Romans, chapter 8, of all creation being held in bondage by sin in this world. Nothing is as God created it to be. All is broken. All creation is waiting for God’s remedy that gives hope and liberates. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” With those of us who know Christ, we all await the day when everything will be redeemed and made whole again. (Romans 8:18-25) Even the stones are part of groaning creation, and if not for the people shouting praises that first Palm Sunday, even the stones would have been unable to remain silent as the King passed them by.

Everyone on that road recognized His greatness, even the Pharisees. For most it was just a temporary, getting carried away by the moment. For the Pharisees it was a digging in to their plan to get rid of the competition. For Jesus it was a moment reflecting His incarnation – God with us, God on the colt showing a bit of His glory. Did you note that He’s on a donkey colt, not a huge war steed?  Jesus, humbly entering the City of David, yet even the stones recognize Who is riding by.

John tells us that the disciples really didn’t understand all of this until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They were caught off guard with His going to die, rather than going to battle against Rome. But Jesus had a greater battle to fight, a greater kingdom to win – our hearts and souls. What we could never do for ourselves, God in human form came to do for us. The Old Testament teaches that one day God will indeed redeem His Israel, but first He stopped to die on a cross for all humankind. The people that day didn’t know what they were praising, not just a temporal savior, but an Eternal Savior of our souls.

Isaiah and the Psalms refer to the coming Messiah as a Corner Stone to be built upon. This Stone was rejected by many – still is today. The Stone causes many to stumble and fall (see Isaiah 26:16, Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 8:14) But for believers I Peter 2:9-10 says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  All this because “as you come to Him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.” (I Peter 2: 4-5)

We are “living stones”! And we can shout out and sing God’s praises. God is using us to build His spiritual Kingdom. The Jews believed God’s plan was all about a physical Kingdom, and certainly the Bible teaches that this is indeed part of God’s plan. But the plan was so much more – Abraham’s children include all who believe and have placed their faith in God, through Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday reminds us that we believers in Jesus are part of God’s plan. He entered Jerusalem that day knowing He was riding ultimately to His death on the cross in our place. He also knew that a new week would dawn with His Resurrection. He rode into the city that day to make a way for all of us to be part of God’s Kingdom. A Kingdom so Great that even the stones sing its praises!

Welcome to Holy Week. Let’s spend the week remembering and thanking God for His marvelous work on our behalf. Let’s be praising stones this week.

 

 

 

 

Affective Disorder

Last week we were having a late winter snow storm. Since then it has rained like there is no tomorrow. Finally today, as I write, we have sunshine. It amazes me how these different changes in climate affect my moods. The snow was beautiful, but on the first day I needed to be out, which meant driving in it. That raises my anxiety level to a fever pitch. It was fine, but the anxiety dampened the beauty of the snow. It took the next day, when I could hide out at home, for me to really appreciate how lovely snow is.

Then came the rain, and subsequent flooding in many areas. An abrupt warming makes short stays out of the snow, and fills the rivers and fields with the run off. In the Pacific North West we have endless days of gray and rain in the winter. It can get to be a bit much. Everything feels depressed, sad. Lots of people can’t handle the weather – Seasonal Affect Disorder. It’s never affected me to that degree, but the dark days are hard.

It all changes in a second when the sun comes out. As beautiful as snow is, when you add sun to that whiteness, it can be breathtaking. When sun follows rain, there can be equally beautiful results. The light glistens off the raindrops, filling trees and bushes with a jewel-like quality. You can feel your spirit lift.

Not everyone experiences seasonal changes. I would miss them. Late winter and spring here can be very unpredictable, sometimes even dangerous, but I never cease to love the lengthening days, the bursts of color as flowers unfold. I saw some pictures from our snow days of daffodils covered with snow. Spring and winter colliding. Spring green is my absolute favorite color, debuting on trees everywhere.

Why all this musing over weather? I guess I am a little melancholy. It’s my birthday weekend. I am far from the spring of my life. I feel like 26. That’s how old I am in my head anyway. It’s not my real age by far. Interesting how we can get locked at a certain age and forget our real age, until we look in the mirror. Rude awakening.

Lots of rain, gray skies, birthdays to mark the passing of time. All around me the incessant news talking about war in Iran, more ICE detention deaths, TSA agents working without pay, gas prices rising, much like my rivers. These goings on don’t help the situation. I had tech gadget issues this morning. You would have thought I’d been given seriously bad news, the way my anxiety rose, sure I’d never get the problem fixed. (Ultimately, I tried the time tested fix – turn it off and turn it back on- all’s well). With anxiety running I can’t see the sunshine for the rain. Everything looks awful, out of control.

I was out with friends last week, and the three of us are pretty entrenched control freaks. We were talking about how life won’t cooperate with our need to have control. We can seem to have everything pinned down and then, out of nowhere, it snows, or my tablet is on the fritz, or a health problem rushes in.

You would think that I would recognize my lack of ability to control and would call on the only One who could do something, God. But no, I usually keep banging my head against the wall, failing again and again, when what I need is a reset. I know in my head that I have no control. I am not God. But I do know God personally. He has made a relationship with me through Jesus. He has control over everything. Why don’t I reach out? Pride? Stubbornness? Forgetfulness? Lack of faith? Probably all of the above.

Unlike the weather, I can be quite predictable. I can be counted on to try my way to fix my life and others’, and to do that first rather than not at all. Someone I love is in trouble, and I can spend hours thinking of things to say or do that will fix them or their situation. Given the chance I often try to insert my thoughts, wanting only the best. What arrogance to think we have that power? Sure, there are things we can do, give hugs, fix a meal, listen. Fixing health issues, marriages, broken friendships, not so much. In fact I might as well try to change or predict the weather. Once I set a more realistic boundary, I’ll still have enormous anxiety over the situation. I can’t fix it myself, but I can worry about it. In either case, not fixing and then worrying about it, the situation isn’t bettered one bit. It’s about that time I think to take it to God.

Odd how hard it is to learn to depend on God. I know from experience He listens and often acts immediately. So why am I so insistent on trying my way first, or failing that, just stressing out? Jesus tells us that “Without Him we can do nothing.” “Nothing” pretty much covers everything. And if we miss that point, Paul writes “I can do all things through Christ.” “All” pretty much covers everything too. Unfortunately, I am so rooted in doing things on my own, my own way, I can’t even see how silly that is.

Of course, there are things we can do. I can turn my notebook off and reboot it. I can look for the lost item or take myself to the doctor. But I can’t fix anyone else’s marriage or health or lack of faith. I can do little or nothing about national and international situations. I can’t change the weather. I can’t even truly fix my own major issues. The things I actually can control are pretty limited.

The book of Job ends with God not really answering Job’s question “why did the bad things happen?”  God’s response is basically, “Are you God?”  He asks if Job was there when the world was created? Did he have any part in that? Does he know where this or that springs from? Can he create any of those things? No, no and no! So if we are not God, why do we insist on trying to be?

I know that for me, it goes right back to control. I want to control my life. I need to feel that power. I really do wish, at times, I was God and could just fix it all.  Giving up control is hard. We are taught to believe that is a weakness. It is a vulnerability. God was showing Job His qualifications to take over the control of Job’s life, if Job would let Him. As we read in John 15, we can choose to stay connected to the Vine or not. We can choose whether we want to have anything to do with the Vine in the first place. But for things to function the way God intended, we need to stay connected to the Vine. And, fortunately for us, unlike a natural branch/vine relationship, if we fall off the Vine, we can reconnect.

I can’t control the weather. I can’t fix myself or other people. I can’t create a perfect environment. I can put my faith and trust in God, who can do all those things. Every day, and countless moments in that day, I have the choice to connect to the Vine or try to go it on my own. When I get it right, and let go of trying to control everything, I actually can find peace of mind and joy in my life and the world around me. Placing my life in God’s control is the answer to any affective disorder that comes along.

 

War and Rumors of War

The face of war rears its ugly face again. Another fight in the Middle East, this time begun by our country. The administration that ran for office disdaining American involvement in foreign conflicts, has delved into several in the last months. It’s an old story repeating itself. We always have a “good” reason for our actions, but the bottom line is usually same, and rarely good for the people we are supposedly helping, or for our men and women put in harm’s way to carry out their orders.

Wars and rumors of wars. For whatever reason, war seems inevitable at any given point in time. And here we are again.  It feels like we live in a much more violent world, but history shows us that violence has been here all along. We’ve just grown more creative. Now we fight wars like video games, manning missiles from afar, or flying armed drones. We also have plenty of weapons of mass destruction available. But one missile hitting a girl’s school massively destructed enough, we don’t even need to engage the big guns.

What’s the world coming to?  That’s a commonly asked question. Will we just keep fighting each other until we launch those weapons and destroy it all? Is it possible for us to find a way to peace over war? Who is in charge here?

Jesus is the one who used the phrase “wars and rumors of wars” when discussing the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.  The Old Testament spoke of a King, coming from the line of David, to free the Jewish people once for all. The Conquering Messiah. Those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah were confused when He didn’t form an army and throw off the Roman shackles. That is what they always believed would happen. And that is what the Bible says will happen – only in a much broader sense than just getting rid of Jewish oppression.

But first the Messiah had to come and deal with our relationship with God. There is no sense setting up a kingdom if there are not any constituents. The Old Testament also spoke of the suffering Messiah, often in the same verses as the victorious One. But those who studied the Scriptures missed that picture. It makes sense, since Israel came to always be under subjection to some other country. They looked to a real time leader who would set them free. God saw a bigger issue than an invading country – He saw us all under the subjection of sin. Sin imprisons and incapacitates us in much bigger ways, the biggest being separating us from God.  What good is being physically free if our soul is imprisoned by sin?

So Jesus had to come first to die in our place, and make it possible for us to live in God’s Kingdom. The centuries that have passed since Jesus came, taught, died, rose again and ascended into heaven have made it possible for as many as wanted to come into God’s Kingdom by accepting His gift of forgiveness.

However, there is still the rest of the story to occur. The Bible is quite definite that the Savior will physically return, and the world will finally be set right. Meanwhile, there will always be war because sin wants to do as much damage as it can before it’s forever destroyed. On the cross Jesus destroyed the power of sin over our lives. When He returns He will forever remove sin from all aspects of life. Until then, we have a choice regarding which kingdom we wish to be part of.  Once He returns, all bets are off.

We have a tendency to forget that God isn’t surprised by what’s happening here in our world. The invasion of Iran hasn’t taken God by surprise. He hasn’t lost control of the situation. Ultimately His full plan for humankind will be set into place. For now, we wait, and try not to do too much harm. I have no control over what my country chooses to do. I have some control over what I choose. While I wait for the Lord to return, I need to be about His business, bearing His fruit and doing His work. That means staying connected to the Vine as long as possible, and making quick confession when I fail and disconnect. That is my business. Meanwhile, God is about His, and we can count on that. He has a timeline we know very little of, and we don’t need to know. We simply need to trust that He is still in charge, no matter what stupid decisions we or our fellow humans make.

The picture in the Bible, especially in the interesting and strange book of Revelation, is that we might just take our world to the cusp of destruction. We are certainly headed that way and not just with the destructive power of wars. Our environmental destructions wreck equal, if not more, havoc. Day by day we act as our own weapons of mass destruction. Humans take the world to the brink of extinction and God steps in. We are told we won’t know when or where, but we are confidently told it will happen. The writers of the New Testament felt it would happen in their life time. It didn’t. So we are 2000 years closer to that then they were. Certainly all the fever-dream like pictures in Revelation have more reality in our time, just take the means of tracking people or the means of spreading a message worldwide. What seemed weird and almost indescribable to John writing about his vision, today has a lot of real time possibilities.

Years ago I took a group of High Schoolers on a trip through the book of Revelations. It was an amazing time of discovery and discussion. But what I remember best was their reaction to the end of the story. After the dust clears, and God has removed all traces of sin and brokenness from our world, John writes “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away….I Am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:1-5).

We sat there and absorbed those words. Imagine a world with a healed environment, a world with no sickness or pain, a world at peace, a world without sin. Imagine that possibility. At the end of Revelation John writes, “He (Jesus) who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I AM coming soon.’" To which John replies, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20). My students were in tears imagining such a world. They were also filled with hope that Jesus promised such a world was possible, and He would come again “soon” to make it so.

I find it easier today to say “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”  When I was younger I had so many things I wanted to accomplish before Jesus returned. Pretty selfish and immature of me. Most of those things I have had the grace to accomplish. I’ve had a really good life. But I’ve also had enough sorrow to make me yearn for a time and place where there will be no more tears. The only thing making me hesitant today is the knowledge of people I know and love who do not yet know Jesus. I selfishly want them with me. Nonbelievers wonder why Christians “shove” their faith around. Well, that’s the reason (though we shouldn’t be “shoving”). We believe Jesus is the only way, and without Him, there is no reconciling with God. We get to choose where our soul will spend eternity, and when Jesus’ returns He will separate those who chose Him and those who did not. That’s not arbitrary or mean spirited on Jesus’ account. If we didn’t wish to have a relationship with Him in this life, why would we care to spend eternity with Him? We were given the choice, it’s up to us what to do with it. But while there is still time, I pray for time for the people in my life to choose Jesus.

Wars and chaos do not surprise God. Sadden Him, but don’t surprise Him. War and chaos are the results of unabated sin in our world. We can’t possibly find true and lasting peace without God’s power in us. Perfect peace is only to be found in God. We can find a taste of that in our walk with Him now, but, praise God, He promises forever peace is on its way. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

 

I AM The Vine

 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” John 14:6

Audacious statement – beyond the I AM declaration, Jesus finishes it off with an absolute – no one gets to God except through Jesus. That makes clear what Jesus felt about other ways, other spiritual leaders, other religions, even Judaism. The only way to the Creator God is through Jesus. How does that set with you? Does Jesus’ explanation seem unfair? Egotistic? Why can’t some other route lead to God? How can He make such an exclusive claim? Who did Jesus think He was?  He fully claimed He was the I AM; He claimed to be God, in human form (fully human and fully God). He claimed to be the Creator of the universe (without whom nothing made was made John 1:3). What do we do with those claims?

We can accept them as true or false. We can choose to believe Jesus is who He says he is, or not. He gave us that choice. We can spend much of this precious life searching for some other way, trying other options, pursuing another savior. How has that worked out? Perhaps you’ve had a pretty good life, not a lot of suffering or trials; you’ve been a good person. What is your expectation for an existence once this life is over? Do you assume this life is all there is, and at death we just go into nothingness? Does that bring you hope or joy? Does it make you feel at peace about dying? If you do believe in God, do you assume your good person status will satisfy God as good enough to let you into an afterlife? Upon what basis would God judge? I don’t think any of us could claim perfection. What makes someone good enough?

The Bible says only through Jesus can we find what’s needed to appease God. We are all sinners – not one of us is perfect. We all fall short of God’s standard of “good” (righteous). And just one slip is enough to qualify us as lost in sin. Fair? We hold other humans pretty accountable, especially if they do something that hurts us. Yet God, our creator, isn’t allowed to judge what sin is? We all sin and fall short of what God demands. Does that make for a cruel God? Unreasonable?

What is unreasonable about providing a way out? What is unfair about giving humankind a way to restore relationship with the Creator, and allowing us to qualify?  God offered up Himself, in our place, took our sin and made us whole. We have been forgiven!  Most of us just don’t know that. The issue isn’t how bad or how good we are. The issue is what are we doing with Jesus – the way, the truth and the life? His death on the cross brought forgiveness for all sin for all time. It opened the door to stand before God, forgiven, based on what Jesus did in our place. All we need do is accept that gift. That gift, if we accept, brings us the promise of abundant life and joy.

That brings me to the final I AM.  This declaration goes along with the “Life” part of what Jesus has to offer. “I AM the vine, you are the branches.”

I taught English and I love words. There are lots of phrases in the Bible that give us insight into a relationship with God. One is the prepositional phrase “In Christ” ("in Me", "in Jesus).This is one of my favorite phrases because it bears such promise for us who believe in Jesus. Paul uses that phrase a lot, but it began here in John. (A fun study would be to read through Paul’s letters and underline every time you see “In Christ”)

John 15:1, 4, 5 “I AM the true vine and my Father is the gardener.” “Remain in me as I remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I AM the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.”

I enjoy gardening. I like watching things grow. When something is separated from the parent plant, it might live a while longer in a vase of water, but certainly won’t last as long as it would connected to the plant. Stems, branches, are meant to stay connected to the parent plant. That is the image we have here. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. As long as we are connected to the vine, we can bear fruit, His fruit, which we see in Galatians 5 the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.  What is impossible for us to do under our own power, when connected to vine, we can do exceedingly well.

Romans 8:4 speaks of the requirements of God’s law now being fulfilled in us, through us (rather than “by” us). Because of our broken nature, we cannot live a “good enough” life. But when we accept God’s gift of Salvation, we are, in addition to forgiven, given the ability to truly do good, bear much fruit. We can do this because we are “in the Vine”. The source of life that runs through the parent plant is now available to us!

Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

Romans 8:1,2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” That means we are set free from trying to earn salvation by being good and failing. We are set free from all the useless effort, because Christ did it for us, and now “in Him” we have life and freedom.

Paul goes no to teach “Christ in you (us) the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) Christ, through the Holy Spirit, also now lives in us. That is a forever, permanent status. 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your life in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Col 2:6) And, how did we receive Christ? By anything we earned or did? No, by God's grace made available in accepting His Son's sacrifice in our place. So we "continue to live our life in Him" in the same manner, by God's grace, empowering us with His Spirit in us, connected to the Vine.

Unfortunately, we are very wayward branches. We slip away from the vine and begin to attempt life on our own. We think we know better, or we now have it under control. We then end up breaking off connection/communication with the vine. Fortunately, it is easier to reconnect to Jesus than it is to reconnect a stem actually broken off from a plant. Our sins have been forgiven, we are assured an eternal relationship with God. But just like human relationships, communication, fellowship can be broken by our actions. Going to God and confessing what separated us from the vine, admitting that “without Him we can do nothing”, that relationship is restored. And when we are connected to the Vine, we can do all things.” (see Philippians 4:13).

People see “disconnected” Christians and judge Christianity as either a failure or ruse.  It’s hard for someone who doesn’t know God to see the problem isn’t with the faith, it’s with the very human believers. The ruse part can be somewhat true. Too many Christians underplay their life-long struggle with sin. So they put on an air of perfection, only to eventually be found out. Hypocrite is the term thrown around a lot.  Too bad we can’t just be honest about our failings.  This side of heaven we will never be free of sin or sinning. And the more we try to hide that fact, the worse it becomes when the bubble bursts.  The only difference between someone who believes in Jesus and someone who does not is that the believer has accepted God’s grace gift of forgiveness.  It’s there for the nonbeliever too. Other than having accepted forgiveness, Christians are just as human and just as prone to messing up.

I John talks a lot about our relationship with sin, using the metaphor “walking in darkness” versus “walking in light”. When we are connected with the Vine, when we are allowing God’s Spirit to run through us like sap in a plant, we are in the light. When we step out on our own, and choose to go our own way and do our own thing, we are back in the dark, blocking the Spirit's light. But, because of God’s forgiveness already there, our misbehavior doesn’t take away our relationship (lose our salvation), but it does hinder our relationship, limits our communication and growth. The answer to this, the way to reconnect with the vine is to “confess our sins”. We are to come to God and admit our shortcomings and ask Him to restore fellowship – reconnect us to the vine.

In this connection we will find the promised joy and abundance in life, even in the midst of life’s struggles and sorrows. A personal relationship with God through Jesus allows us a taste of heaven, a promise of what’s to come.  It also gives us an opportunity to be the person we long to be – kind, loving, gracious, the beautiful fruit of being connected to the vine.

What should we do with Jesus’ claim that He is the only Way, Truth and Life?  That the only means of coming to God is through Him?  Accept or reject that Jesus is God? Simply put, we can accept or reject His claim and offer.  Once accepted, we quickly learn that we are still us – we will still mess up, sometimes horribly. What we do in those moments affects our growth and daily access to our God. But just as in salvation, God has provided a way to reconnect to the Vine. Learning a habitual process of examining our lives and confessing will keep us connected.

Jesus, the Great I AM stands before us, arms open ready to receive us and connect us to Him.  As Mary Oliver

asked in her poem The Summer Day, “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I Am The Life

A few weeks ago we began this grouping of Jesus’ I AM statements with Jesus stating in John 14:6 “I AM the Way” and “I Am the Truth”. Today we’ll take the final part of this statement, “I AM the Life”.

What do we long for more than life, and particularly a full, abundant, rich life? We fight to keep our physical life going as long as we can. Humans have a remarkable sense of survival. Though some of us have given up on life, most of us fight through even the hardest of circumstances. We cling to life, even when we seem to have been shorted in the quality that life offers.

My sister fought cancer with everything she had. She knew the type of cancer she had most likely would take her down, but she wasn’t about to just give in. She made plans, and told everyone what those plans were. She wanted to plant tomatoes and enjoy them when they ripened. She wanted to go to Hawaii. She wanted time at the beach. She wanted to celebrate her next birthday, with ice cream cake. And when she was at her worst in the chemo process, she’d bring up those plans. She did get to taste a bit of tomato I grew for her. The week of her death she did celebrate that birthday and had a bite of ice cream cake. Unfortunately the cancer won out, but up to the end, my sister fought to live.

Genesis teaches that God created humans to live eternally. It was disobedience that brought death to Adam and Eve. They immediately died spiritually, and began the process of dying physically. Physically, every one of us since the beginning has died, is facing death right now, or will die. Death is a given; we just don’t know when or how. Death wasn’t part of God’s original creation, but sin ushered it in. Everything eventually dies. As much as we’d like to physically live forever, and as much as we try to hold on to youth and life, eventually death takes us all.

We tend to associate most of life with our human body. It’s all we know. But the Bible teaches that the body isn’t the true essence of life. We have something that energizes that body and animates it. We often refer to that essence as the soul. The soul is the eternal part of us. When we die, the soul departs and leaves an empty body behind. Jesus seemed more concerned with that part of us we call the soul.  In Mark 8:36, 37 Jesus asks, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

We need to note that when Jesus walked on earth He didn’t heal everyone. He could have, but He didn’t. Why? There is the story of the friends who lower their paralyzed friend through the roof of a house where Jesus was speaking. (Luke 5:17-26) Before Jesus physically healed that man, he first forgave him his sins.  What does that tell us?  Perhaps it is more important to have our sins forgiven, our spiritual health made whole, than to be healed physically. What good is our physical life if we have not seen to our soul? Lazarus, in John 11, was raised from the dead, only to die again sometime later in his life. The hope of an eternal life with God beyond our physical death is the greatest healing Jesus’ offers us. And our soul’s only hope is God’s re-establishing with us the relationship lost in the garden with Adam and Eve’s disobedience.

Jesus came to give life. He said he came to give it abundantly! (John 10:10) Jesus had power over both the physical and the spiritual life. He demonstrated his power over physical death by raising several people from the dead. The most impressive was his friend Lazarus, who by the time Jesus arrived had been gone several days. (John 11)  His sisters knew that if Jesus had gotten there in time, their brother would still be alive, but now they are despondent; it’s been too long. Jesus asks one sister, Martha, if she believes in Him. She says yes, and believes that someday she will see her brother again, at the resurrection. Jesus said, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25) And then he proceeded to raise Lazarus from the dead.

That really set the ball moving for the leaders to seek Jesus’ death. We know that Jesus gave His life, so that, as John 3:16 says, “Whosoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.”  Jesus came, lived and died for us, so that ultimately death could be defeated and those who believe would have life forever, physically and spiritually. Back in John 11 Jesus follows his statement about being the Resurrection and the Life with, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. Whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” John 14:19 “Because I live you will also live.”  And John 1:4 “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

Jesus is life.

We have lots of phrases regarding “life”. We desire to live life to the fullest. We try to live life a day at a time. We wish to live a purposeful life, a good life.  My father-in-law used to say he was “living the life of Riley.”  I don’t know who Riley was, but whenever my father-in-law was having a good time, or eating a great meal or experiencing a wonderful experience, he was living the “life of Riley”.  Obviously we all want to live that life.

Unfortunately, life isn’t always as good as Riley’s. We get sick; we lose a job; we struggle with relationships. Life can throw pain and suffering at us as easily as good times. Cancer was probably lurking in my sister long before it was detected. She was living life as fully as she could and then disaster struck. She was gone in six months from discovery. Riley was nowhere to be found.

Jesus offers us life abundant. What does that mean? Some claim that true Christians don’t have pain and sickness, so if life takes a turn, like my sister’s, something is wrong with your faith.  But Jesus doesn’t put that caveat on his statement. He simply states that he came to give us abundant life. He can offer that because He also simply states He is life. So what He is offering is Himself. If we come into a relationship with Him we can enter into His abundance.

So what does that mean? No sickness or sorrow or pain? Not in this life, but certainly Heaven will be free from anything that brings tears. But in the here and now, what is Jesus’ offering? When we think of abundant life, what do we imagine?

Physical death isn’t the end. If we have placed our faith in Jesus, we are promised eternal life, spiritually and eventually physically with our own body resurrection. (I Corinthians 15) As my sister’s body was dying, she found great hope and peace in knowing that her soul was going to live on in Christ’s presence. She might be physically dying, but her soul was spiritually alive. She had placed her faith in Jesus, and so even in the face of physical death she found abundance in Jesus’ promise of eternal life. And even more, she believed someday her body too would be made new. Romans 8 asks the question, what can separate us from Christ’s love? Paul answers, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, not any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

When we stood in my sister’s room, after her death, her body was still there. But the person who animated that body was gone. In fact, I believe her soul had begun to take flight in the days prior. She was closer to heaven then she was to earth. We loved that body. It was so hard to say goodbye and leave that beloved body behind. But we knew she was not gone. Her soul was experiencing the abundant of abundance, the real life of Riley, with our Savior in Heaven.

Can anyone else make such a claim to be The Life? Jesus did, and He promised if we believe Him we would have life too, and life abundant and eternal.