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Danger

” Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute?

The tourists are having coffee and doughnuts on Deck C. Presumably someone is minding the ship, correcting the course, avoiding icebergs and shoals, fueling the engines, watching the radar screen, noting weather reports radioed in from shore. No one would dream of asking the tourists to do these things. Alas, among the tourists on Deck C, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts, we find the captain, and all the ship’s officers, and all the ship’s crew. The officer’s chat; they swear; they wink. a bit at slightly raw jokes, just like regular people. The crew members have funny accents. The wind seems to be picking up.

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” pg. 52
— Annie Dillard

and

“There is always the temptation in life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for years on end. It is all so self conscience, so apparently moral…But I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous…more extravagant and bright. We are…raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.”
— Annie Dillard

I am drawn to a much more dangerous religion then I am presently engaged in. I have been lulled into a TV like trance by the cares of the world and like most of the people I know, school has replaced experience.

In High School I took “Family Planning” Class. As a 16 year old I mostly went because the class was primarily populated by girls, including my current wife! Yes, my motivations were not totally pure but they provided the groundwork for what became my primary understanding of God. My subsequent faith and eventually my love of food.

I believe that like what modern pornography is to sex, what passes in some places as the christian religion is often no different in comparison.

During High School “Family planning class” (which was secret code for sex ed.) we watched a movie about the birth of a child. I think I even had to have my mom sign a permission slip because the movie left nothing about the birth to the imagination. After the hour long movie I was sure that I was an expert at human birth. I was just as certain that I was an expert and at the act that made the little humans because of Penthouse.

On January 3, 1979 at midnight my wife began labor and my life changed. I saw, heard, felt, smelled and touched the real thing. Our daughter was born at 3:20 am. From 3:20 until 3:21 am time stood still and I watched the life enter her. Real replaced knowledge.

My life has never been the same.

Do we really realize how dangerous we are? We carry around inside of us the power that breathed the universe into existence. It’s beyond science…

“The Root of Darwinism is Faith

…I ask the academic evolutionist, as I ask the self-proclaimed Christian: do you believe your own ideology enough to act upon it? If you believe that Natural Selection, the laws of Chance, evolved you from an amoeboid to a human being after millions of years, do you think Chance would let you down now? Are you willing to give up control, giving yourself up to Chance that you may witness evolution within your very own being?

“Creationists” often say it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in their version of creation. I certainly agree.

So, Darwinist, you say that you do not believe we were zapped into existence by a Big Guy in the sky, but that Chance actually formed us from the dust of the earth?

Yes, it surely does take faith to believe in evolution.

It takes zero faith to believe in the “creationist” version of creation.

Belief is not faith. It takes belief, but it takes no faith whatsoever to believe we were zapped into existence by a Big Guy in the Sky. Faith requires action, a change of heart. Belief does not. The “Creation Science” theory requires no action, no change of heart (no repentance). Belief is a part of faith, but belief is not faith.“

from

Living without money

In our Christian effort to control our input and output we have cheated God out of what he wants to do.

Being dangerous is not being in control. It is free falling without a parachute. It’s floating in a tidal wave. It’s ground control to Major Tom.

Can you hear me?

”Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?“

John 17:20   “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Ever thought about this?

Being one does not leave another option.

“one” just is.

Exsistance consists of one choice; life or un-life.

one choice. You get to choose, but, once you do choose, you must live as if that choice is true. Or you have not chosen.

Choose.

One or not? other then one what is there? in math terms the opposite of one, is plus one. Which is no longer one.

It really is quite simple and difficult at the same time because one is one. No need to think too hard, one.

John 8:12   When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

At this point the time for discussion is done. The time for study is completed. It is now time to follow.

one

We perceive grace as soft on sin. We manage behavior.

Grace is offensive. It tares us apart, crushes us, pulverizes.
Grace is a raging fire which melts.
Grace is illogical and stubborn. relentless and violent.

It leaves us stripped bare, naked and exposed.

Once we stop fighting it and surrender we can live.
No fig leaves, no shame.

Light leaves no questions. grace leaves no humiliation
Love engulfs us and enflame us until nothing else remains.

Love is not possession, it is being possessed.

grace is the fuel that love burns to consume.

I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS

“Hos. 9:7…the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.

Today, I received a call to action for prayer based upon the premise that we might be defeated.

WE ARE CLUELESS!!

The more people I dialogue with the more I am convinced we have been duped into believing that somehow we are to operate in fear and defeat. At the risk of sounding like a name it claim it dude. We operate from a position of abundance.

He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies.

“An important value we discovered is that we have a lot of room to investigate new moves of God and be a part and learn from them. That’s the way I want it to be. In fact, it would be tragic to me if the Vineyard drew back into a safe place where there was no chance for error. Don’t ever stop taking risks. Whatever community of faith you are with, allow the Lord to do what He wants to and through you.” J Wimber

“If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to put your hand in his hand and say, ‘I’m scared to death, but I’ll go with you. You’re the Pearl of great price.’” –John Wimber

Psalm 2: 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs…

I wonder if God created with laughter. Bubbling over with joy and laughter God said, Let there be light. And it was good. Spilling out and splashing across the dark. light.

Psa. 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good…

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart…

Gen. 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

“ Sing the song!” the heavens seemed to cry. “We never could have been without the melody that you alone can sing.“

                        The Singer, Calvin Miller

Psa. 33:4           For GOD’S Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out.

                        The Message (The word ”sound“ here is an adjective) But I am taking license using it as a noun.

Heb. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Col. 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Last post we looked very briefly at how he created all things good. Out of His goodness He created all things and they were, good.

1John 1:5   This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

The God who is light itself spoke light into being.

This blog is called “student of jesus”, everyone is a student of one-thing or another. Some call themselves Jesus students but are more likely in reality just bible scholars, not a bad thing but a different thing then a student of Jesus. The bible is the book. Jesus is the man, you can learn about the man in the book, but the book the bible is not Jesus. Jesus words and actions will not contradict that which is in the bible but there is so much more. This is what we become students of both what’s in the bible AND the so much more. We Christians say we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father (resting). But we behave as if he died and is hiding from us until some yet to be specified date.

Vineyard includes the GE Ladd, Kingdom of God theology called “the all ready and the not yet”. Basically it is saying that the Kingdom of God is at hand but is not fully realized in this present age. The difficulty I have with this is not the concept but our frame of mind because of it. We are living as if the NOT YET is in control of the already. It is THE Kingdom of God that is at hand. While the theology has merit, we sometimes have it upside down. We behave as if the darkness really is in control. It is the Kingdom that is at hand. It is the light that dispels the darkness and perfect love that casts out fear. Mercy that triumphs over judgement. On D day the invasion was the beginning of the end.

The view of a relationship with the Living Jesus is tainted in this same “light” so we default to the safety of what we think we know. A book 9good, right, and holy book. Yet with a little patience we can have a relationship with the living Jesus from the book. It’s in the book…Heb. 8:11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Luke 10:21   At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

It is all really simple. God has designed everything to be as easy for us to understand and accept as is ”humanly“ possible. The beauty of the simplicity of it all is contained in the man. He, being ”love“ himself, is.

How does a student become a student of love. 1John 3:16   This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

It is from this foundation that we rest in him.

”Take and eat…“

In my last post I said; ”God is not a God of systems, God is the God of redemption. It’s His job and His desire. We operate out of rest. He will manage the details.“

God gave manna in the dessert, he is still doing it today.

Luke 12:22   Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.
Luke 12:29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.

Phil. 4:19 And my God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ – the crucified, resurrected, enthroned, triumphant, living Lord will and is doing this.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

This is where we begin our discussion of wealth. It can start in no other place, and end in no other place. But IN HIM.

”We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.“

Oswald Chambers

Out of this view is where we place value. Value in people, goods, services, groups, work, family, community and money. This value is expressed from a Kingdom perspective in what we Christians call fellowship. Koinonia.

from Him and through Him and to Him are all things…

Money!
Money is severely misunderstood in American Christianity. I am not saying I have the answer, I am saying that what passes currently as sound financial stewardship is sadly tainted. Tainted by capitalism, communism, socialism, and greed.

Matt. 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

1Pet. 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve;

Money in itself is not bad, money is impersonal, but it is the love of money which causes us to do things in the Kingdom we might not do if we knew otherwise.

In my view it is rooted in where we place value. If we really value a person as part of our Koininia (fellowship) we view them as who they are in Christ. period. However we have lost sight of the value of an individual because of who they are and their worth as one of His precious children. Their value has become what they earn or what they can offer us. Ever listened to a sermon on tithing. Most of the ones I have heard are primarily a reaction to a drop in giving. For once I would love to hear one from the standpoint of abundance, for that is where we really live.

Value.

What is someone worth? Forbes reports the wealth of individuals a net worth. This has become their value in our current culture. The things they own. We treat them differently because of what they own or worse what we perceive them to own. If you have ever been talked into a network marketing job you will find this carried to the extreme. People become marks for your downline (residual income) and for the most part stop being humans. Much the same as the Forbes viewpoint.

For the most part, churches have taken the Forbes mindset as well. Our view of Kingdom economics leaves God almost entirely out of the picture. Yet it is framed in such a way we can be easily fooled.

The current evangelical Christian mindset looks something like this and takes on various shades of this thought.

Earn all you can so you can give all you can. Budget, get out of debt, and tithe a percent.

Matt. 19:24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

What often results are focused on the value of money vs the value of an individual. So churches become business and people are eliminated to protect the institution. ouch. Value is placed in the wrong place and on the wrong thing. This makes perfect sense when we look at a business which is an entity of its own. A corporation is itself measured by profit and loss. The people who work for the corporation are assets or liabilities.

To argue that the greater good is the whole and to sacrifice an individual for the whole is to make ”Jesus“ out of something that is not Jesus. 1Pet. 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…

Our primary value in the Kingdom is found around the table, who you break bread with. It’s in the book. Taking it to its simplest form we are responsible for those we break bread with not the building we do it in. We will spend eternity with the people not the building.

This is going to be difficult for many to understand but God WILL and DOES provide.

Psa. 37:25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

More to come…

“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” ( Matthew 9:28 ).

Gen. 1:31   God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

Gen. 2:1   Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

“The word “good” here comes from the Hebrew “tov”. It is better translated as “delightful” or “fat: or ”incredible“ …this world can be improved by no human work-it is abundant, satisfying, magical.” Ched Myers

Rather then focusing right now on what went wrong, I want to dwell here in “good”. This is where we are going, ultimately. To good, to God’s good pleasure, to complete. this is what I understand the word glory to be. The reality of God’s ultimate intention. God himself is good. His purposes are good. The end is good. Even the word we translate saved or salvation (Gk. sozo) is healed, delivered made whole, good. We enjoy this goodness, because of what he did as us for us.. Life, love and laughter and joy flow out of good. Thanksgiving flows out of good. This is where we begin…good. Nothing is to wonderful to be true, is my mantra. We were created for life, goodness, joy, love and peace. Hope. there is hope. and we get to trust. Faith is the fuel, hope is the road and love is the being.

It was very good, and God rested.

It is in this rest we live and move.

Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Since we are made in the image and likeness of God…Can we rest?

I enjoy what I do for a living, I’m told I am good at it. However asking me to rest takes some doing, getting me out of rest once I am in it takes work. I primarily work these days to pay my mortgage and feed my family. I took out a mortgage thinking I was investing in the future for possible retirement and to have an inheritance for my kids. As a result of the recent financial downturn, I am basically renting the house from my mortgage company. So, I work now with the understanding that all the sweat and money we have put into our home to improve it is the property of a bank. a gift. All my labor is now in service to the same.

Thus I have had to re-examine my relationship with money vs my relationship with God and how it effects resting in Him. Because what has resulted is a far cry from resting in Him. Much like the Jews in the Exodus I grumble and complain. Slavery robs us of rest. You cannot serve both God and money.

Prov. 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Meanwhile on a global scale;

“American Child Sex Slaves Are Being Arrested, Not Rescued“ July 9, 2009 headline.

Kids turn to sex for money…

From “Whom Do You Serve?
by Marva J. Dawn – borrowed from sojo.net.
        
”Why does money have such control over us? Before I read French theologian and social critic Jacques Ellul’s Money and Power, I thought money had little or no influence on me. I had grown up with just enough to have all I needed without getting spoiled by superfluous luxuries. Since college my life has since been filled with a passion for the hungry. Surely money wasn’t a problem for me?

I am going through a personal revolution in my attitude towards God and money.

I am a businessman, a social- entrepreneur. I developed and operated a (on purpose) non profit restaurant for 5 years with varying success. The Cafe opened with no debt, no investors, no capital expenses to depreciate. No rent. We were given everything we needed. Later we were given more…what happened? We stopped resting.

The cafe closed.

”Do you believe I am able to do this?” Jesus

“I’ll wait for you.” U2

But do we? wait?

Heb. 4:1   Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

Heb. 4:6   It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

… 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

About money:

We have been seduced out of rest by our view of money. God created sabbath and jubilee. we created weekend sales and credit cards. God created rest and faith, we created budget and poverty. God created generosity and abundance, we created hunger and greed. We systemized the whole thing and as a result have failed to rest. We took over management of the economy from the one who fed the 5000 with loaves and fish or the four million everyday for 40 years…in the dessert.

Money and wealth has created an alternate “sacred” culture, many of us have our feet firmly plated in both camps. Accountants replace the pastor, CFO replaces the elder, The Wall Street Journal and spreadsheet is the new scripture, money is blessing. Poverty has become an inconvenience rather then a travesty. We wink wink nod nod at the problem as we tuck ourselves in at night. But God forbid the Dow falls below 10,000 points. Banks are the new church. Even churches are burdened by debt and become slaves.

Prov. 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

“The 20th century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. ” John Berger

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity“. George Bernard Shaw

26,500 children die each day of hunger. Do we care?

I love living in America in the 21st Century, my children have never been without. I know where my next meal is and when it is, I will most likely cook it myself. But I have become apathetic to the death of so many kids. It doesn’t seem real of relevant. The United States has donated millions and millions to hopefully stem the tide of AIDs in Africa…Yet…

Ezek. 16:49   “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

This often quoted verse is almost never heeded.

We fear hell because of sins like lust and we turn a blind eye or at best a few minutes to the heart of the Lord.

All the while Jesus asks…

“Do you believe I am able to do this?“

God is not a God of systems, God is the God of redemption. It’s His job and His desire. We just cooperate out of rest. He will manage the details.

I will attempt to pull these thoughts together in the next post.

Wealth in itself is not a bad thing at all… ”…the Chosen people stopped recognizing God’s glory in the form of wealth and started thinking of wealth as valuable in itself“ Ellul

Wealth like sin is a result of something else.