Things Revealed

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me,'' Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Matthew 4:18-20

“Come, follow me” were the very first words Jesus spoke to Peter and Andrew. No doubt he Lord knew who he was calling, because the very next verse says, “At once they left their nets and followed him.

Every believer hears the Lord’s call to follow him. Sometimes it is the power of the word that draws us to Christ, or maybe a gentle whisper. Sometimes events do. And sometimes it’s truth revealed that causes us to see clearly. After all, it was Jesus who told Pilot, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilot dismissed this claim summarily with the infamous words, “What is truth?” and men and women have been wrestling with this question and their response to it ever since.

It says of Peter and Andrew that they followed Jesus “at once.” For many of us, we were slow to hear and maybe even slower to respond. But the Lord is loving and patient and while it is still “today,” he has warned us with these words: “if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

So for those who choose Christ, we follow him and learn of his kingdom; we follow him to the Body of Christ where we can fellowship with other believers; or we follow him wherever He leads us, whether it’s to family and friends, to the office or to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel.

Anyway you cut it, there’s a lot of following to a lot of different places. And along the way to victory in Christ, there’s a lot of heartache, betrayal and confusion. There’s rejection by unbelievers. There’s misunderstanding and human frailties within the Body of Christ. And there are trials that come no matter how closely we walk with the Lord. In the end, or at least at the point we think we are at the end, we can feel defeated, unworthy and unloved as we try to navigate the world, the church and our own doubts about what we are doing for the Lord and how well we’re doing it.

But take heart. Virtually every man or woman God has used to accomplish his purposes struggled with the same issues. Because God uses pressure and trials and doubt and pain to perfect something Christ-like in us no matter which path the Lord has led us down.

Look at Peter. “Come follow me,” the Lord said, and he did. Then he had the most remarkable life—here’s a few highlights just from the Gospels:

• He’s the one who first said “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
• He’s the one who found the coin in the fish’s mouth.
• He tried to walk on water.
• He was at the mount of transfiguration with Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
• He also fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked him to pray.
• He cut off Malchus’ ear with a sword when they came to arrest Jesus.
• And he’s the who denied Jesus three times, just as the Lord predicted he would.

In that moment of personal failure Peter wept bitterly, wondering if he was wrong about who he thought he was, about how far he had come and about his calling. So when it looked like the end had come, he went back to fishing. No ministry. No calling. Just work. He no longer felt qualified to serve and had somehow lost his way despite the profound life he had been living as one of Jesus’ disciples.

But look at Peter’s last discussion with the risen Lord (John 21: 11-22), the one where Jesus restored him:

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"

He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."

Peter’s restoration came when Jesus spoke directly to his broken disciple, asking him repeatedly whether he loved him and commissioning Peter, after each response, to feed his sheep. But perhaps the final words of restoration and reorientation were the most important, because they held the ultimate keys to his ministry, and to ours. Jesus' very last words to Peter were these: “follow me.”

Same as his first words.

Jesus says the same thing when we lose our way or grow weary, when we feel frustrated or unappreciated and when we think we are no longer qualified to serve him: “Follow me.”

That’s how your walk with God and your ministry began.

That’s how it is sustained.

And that’s how it keeps on track.

With all that you’ve accomplished or seen or failed at or forsaken, with all the questions that arise about where you’re heading, where you are and where you’ve been, Jesus reorients with the same two words: “Follow me.”

As the Book of Acts reports, Peter clearly got his bearings after hearing and responding to these words.

The same is true for us. When we wander off the narrow path or lose our way, God shows us the way back by saying "Follow me."

The next step is up to us.

It always is.

I'll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don't worry — he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father's instructions right down to the last detail.

John 14: 30-31 (The Message)

The last detail was no small point. It was the point of everything, the turning point for all mankind. It was selfless obedience to the Father. It was sacrificial love on the cross. And it was mercy beyond comprehension. Jesus subjected himself to unfathomable brutality. To separation so great he cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And to restraint beyond measure when he chose not to stop it all and call down the legions of angels at his disposal. But as Jesus himself put it, had he chosen another path or been led astray, “how…would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures exactly as written. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his sacrifice we were set free and restored. He gave his life for us. Nobody took it. No one could—not the Romans, not the Pharisees, not even Satan. And no one could lead him astray. There was nothing—no thought, no sin, no doubt—no leverage or claim that anyone had on him, nothing that could be used to manipulate him or prevent him from fulfilling his destiny, right down to the last detail. Jesus chose death on the cross that we might have eternal life, and in doing so freed us from the grip of guilt and sin.

There is no greater freedom in heaven or on the earth. Because of Jesus, neither the enemy nor anyone else has a claim on us. We are his. We are forgiven and spiritually debt free—born again with a clean slate. And his victory for our lives was sealed with these final words: “It is finished.” Nothing the father of lies can say will ever change that fact, no matter what the accusation, no matter what’s in our past, no matter how he tries to mislead us. His claims on our souls, on our minds and on our hearts are null and void. Our debt is paid. We are free. Period.

Still, Paul understood that the choice was ours when he said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Jesus wanted there to be no doubt about it. He put it this way: “if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free.”

Are you walking in God’s absolute freedom?

Or are you enslaved again by believing a lie of Biblical proportions?

Your choice.

That's the responsibility that comes with absolute freedom.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24

It is amazing how much we understand about our world and just how little we really know. We dwell in the midst of God’s creation and barely appreciate its majesty, its miraculousness or its mystery. From the secrets of what makes our heart beat to the vastness of the universe in which our spinning globe hurtles through space, God’s handiwork can both capture our imaginations or be missed entirely. Such is the nature of the God who reveals and conceals all at once. But once revealed—by his creation, by his love and intervention in our lives, by his son Jesus Christ—a profound transformation occurs in us. He becomes the object of our fascination, the desire of our heart and the love of our life.

He consumes us.

In fact, he more than consumes us: he is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Like a dry summer wildfire igniting everything in its path, God wants to burn up all the wood, hay and stubble in our lives — the deceptions, the sin and the lies that lead us away from him. He wants the depth of his love and the profoundness of his righteousness to capture our hearts and to cause us to plumb the deep waters of his Kingdom and of his only begotten son. And because we are made in his image, he wants us to love him with the same consuming focus with which he loves us. That is what holy jealousy is. That is why he is called El Qanna.

He is jealous for us when we turn to sin. He is jealous for us when our affections lead us astray. And he is jealous for us when we are consumed by our own unregenerate emotions because that is the path of destruction. It is the place where the King of our lives is dethroned in our hearts and his power is usurped by unholy passions. Whether we hate with white hot intensity, allow burning anger to blind us or are ignited with lust or vengeance, we have “disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded.” For Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, the consequence was death when "fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up." For us, it’s spiritual death—separation and estrangement from the King of Kings.

Jesus is the God of Forgiveness. Even on the cross, he forgave those who drove the nails into his hands and feet. His unconditional love knew no bounds at the moment of his crucifixion, and it knows no bounds right now as he sits at the right hand of the throne of God interceding on our behalf. His emotions—his love, his excitement, and yes, even his hatred of sin and injustice—are all governed by his perfect righteousness. He has given us the very same emotions so we can know who God is, what stirs his heart and what displeases him, and so we can share in his love and triumphs and the joy that comes from walking in forgiveness and freedom.

When we burn with the wrong kind of fire, we surrender to a different king. We allow the things of the world and its prince to consume us. We embrace unforgiveness and vengeance. And we ignore righteousness. In the process, we provoke God to anger, for He will not let our rebellion go unchallenged. Nor will he allow us to be consumed by such unholy obsessions. Which is why the writer of Hebrews warns us that “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” since “we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay…" The Apostle Paul put it this way:

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Titus 3:3-5

Jesus is the light of the world. By his transforming power he calls us to let our light shine in the darkness and by his spirit we burn brightly with God’s love, redemption and forgiveness. While the world embraces the wrong kind of fire, we are called to choose the Consuming Fire.

One way or the other, we are going to be consumed.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Romans 8:22-24

How can it be that “the whole of creation” which God spoke into existence and certified as "good,” groans—right up to the present time—as in the pains of childbirth? How can God’s perfect creation be so distressed? And what of us? Paul says we "who have the first fruits of the Spirit” are groaning inwardly right along with creation.

In truth, all of creation has been groaning for the Kingdom to come almost from the very beginning.

Adam and Eve were not exactly like us. At least not at first. For they were created innocent, neither of them having been birthed in sin as we were. But like us, both were given free will. They were also given the perfect opportunity to thrive in the most perfect place on earth—Eden—the place where God walked in the Garden with them, blessed them in every way and held forth the perfect plan for their lives. There was just one warning for the man (and through him for the woman): whatever you do, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That was God's only law. But like any law, it placed a limit on what they could do. And like anyone with a free will, they could choose to obey or disobey it.

By the fourth chapter of Genesis, the fall of man was complete. Paradise was lost and sin and death entered the world. Mankind was now so far from innocent that his every inclination was to do evil all the time.

In his fallen state, man cannot get out of his own way. Sinful man still has free will, but there have been some drastic changes. Before the fall, he shared the Garden of Eden with the holy and righteous God of the Universe. Since the fall, he shares the earth with, “the god of this world,” Satan, who in his rebellion "was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

Is it any wonder the world groans? Is it any wonder we groan? We live in a world contaminated by sin, populated by fallen men and fallen angels where evil flourishes and truth is nowhere to be found. As a result, the world disappoints. Our families and friends disappoint. And even the church can disappoint. Because none are without sin, and no one is immune from the pain of sin or its grip on their life. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Like Paul, we all can say “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”

But Paul also recognized he was no longer captive to sin, “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” We still struggle, but Jesus has made a way through the Holy Spirit. We still battle sin, but defeat is not inevitable. We may “groan inwardly” when we glimpse the Kingdom of Heaven and see just how fallen our world really is, but “despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Here in the world, where the fallen live among the fallen, we are nevertheless called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and to be a light in the darkness. We are the redeemed with feet of clay, new creations in the same old body, living in the same fallen neighborhood, battling many of the same old demons. If only believing in Christ and receiving his Holy Spirit would have changed us forever, our struggles with sin and temptation would have come to an abrupt and definitive end. If only. We are profoundly changed, but our fleshly nature refuses to submit or renounce its claim on our desires.

God could have permanently transformed us in all ways at the moment of our rebirth, but he did not. Because had he done so, had he changed our nature in that fundamental way, he would have taken something so important from us that our transformation and our love for God would have lost all meaning by the next day.

Free will.

We have become children of God and are now heirs of the King and friends of Jesus. But we must still make choices when we are tempted; when our faith wanes; when we are wounded, rebellious or just plain tired of persevering. Which is why scripture says "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." That's not quite as easy as it sounds.

Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” Jesus uses the language of war because a battle for our souls rages all around us all the time, only “the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world.” Our battle is in the heavenly realms and in our minds, where the choices we make affect not only our own walk with God, but the lives of those who look to us as "Christ's ambassadors." As believers, we see action every day. It is as if every voice we hear, every argument we entertain and every choice we make is the front line of the war. We may be prepared by God’s word, strengthened by his love, armed with His holy spirit and equipped with the mind of Christ, but at the moment of decision it is our free will that determines what actions we take and whose side we choose.

We are constantly confronting the same choice as the first couple. As we battle our flesh, as we battle temptation and false teaching and vanity and the need for recognition, and as we successfully force our will to bend to His will, the Kingdom of Heaven forcefully advances, and forceful, imperfect but saved men and women, struggling sinners all—people like us—lay hold of it.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. It is also near you, beckoning you home and holding forth the promise of God's ultimate redemption for his wondrous creation. Grasping this truth will energize you. It will lift your spirits and put hope in your heart for this troubled planet. There may be much that’s wrong in the world, but we’ve had a glimpse of the Kingdom to come and the unstoppable power of God's love to bring it to fruition. This fallen world we know is not the natural order our creator planned. Timothy Keller, in his book The Prodigal God, put it this way: "Jesus’s miracles were not so much violations of the natural order, but a restoration of the natural order. God did not create a world with blindness, leprosy, hunger, and death in it. Jesus’s miracles were signs that someday all these corruptions of this creation would be abolished.”

With every choice you make for God, every time you put others before yourself, pray for those around you, step out in faith and share your love for God with the broken hearted and the lost, you are serving as God's chosen vessel to restore the natural order in your corner of the Kingdom. And your obedience to God, even if it sometimes takes the full force of your will to obey Him, is a sign that the Kingdom of Heaven is still advancing, that love never fails and that the corruptions of this creation are much closer to being abolished than any of us can ever know!

Now that is worth groaning about.

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

1 John 2: 27

Where have we heard this before? And why do we need to be reminded that the anointing we received when we became believers “remains” in us? Because we are mere mortals. Born again, but from worldly stock. Some of us forget names seconds after introductions. Others forget important dates and appointments. And many forget that they have been transformed—filled with the power of God to do great and mighty things, forgiven for past transgressions and equipped in all ways to fulfill God’s call on their lives.

The anointing is for a purpose. One purpose is to bring us into intimate relationship with God himself, to know his love and fellowship. Another is to equip us deep within so we can step out in faith with holy confidence.

John says we received the anointing (an infilling of the Holy Spirit; the oil of God; gifting and equipping; the act of having been chosen by God). He says that it remains in us. When called to step up and step out in faith and speak the word of the Lord to friends or family, our first thoughts are often that we are not qualified. And rather than risk embarrassment, we remain silent. So John reminds us we are qualified because the anointing remains in us. No one has to teach us about it, because the anointing—the Holy Spirit—teaches us about all things. And it’s not just wishful or positive thinking, but the very power of God. Only, we must remain in him. (Jesus himself proclaimed: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”)

Paul put it this way: “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

And even before Jesus walked the earth, God’s radical plan was to pour out his anointing on our lives. It was prophet Jeremiah who told us what to expect:

'The time is coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD.

'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 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,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

(Is this word just for Israel? Not according to Paul, who tells us in Romans that the Jews are the natural branch (the original covenant people of God) while the Gentiles are the wild branch that has been grafted in. Which means both believing Jews and Gentiles are the new covenant people of God.)

Since the Garden, God has been reminding us that he provides everything as we abide (remain) in him. But like Adam, it’s in our nature to wander away and forget what we have been given and what we have learned. In fact, much of the Bible is the history of people walking away from God and forgetting what he has done. Many knowingly. Others unaware that they had even strayed.

Maybe it’s time to get our bearings again. Do we remember that we are anointed? Are we moving in it? Are we hearing the voice of God?

If not, we need to ask, Why not?

The anointing remains in you, even if you've forgotten about it. Let the Spirit of God show you where you are and just how far you’ve wandered. Then change your direction, remember the anointing and take your rightful place as competent ministers of the new covenant.

Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Acts 6:38

These were the words of Rabbi Gamaliel to the Sanhedrin after Peter and the apostles were arrested for preaching the word. The members of the Sanhedrin wanted to put them to death, but Gamaliel cautioned restraint: “consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.” Since Gamaliel was highly honored, they heeded his words. The apostles were flogged instead, and freed with a warning “not to speak in the name of Jesus.” As for heeding that warning, Acts says this about the apostles: “Day after day...they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

So much for derailing God’s plan.

Jesus said, "Many are called but few are chosen.” In fact, the call of Jesus is for the restoration of all mankind. Our response to that call is one of the rare instances in life when we actually choose ourselves. Sadly, few do, so few are chosen. But for those of us who raise our hands or hearts to the Lord, for those of us who exercise our right to become “children of God,” we receive "the Spirit of sonship" and become “heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ.” From that moment on we no longer walk alone or only in our own strength. And what we share with others—the good news that Jesus is the Christ—is more than mere words; it is the word of life infused with the power of God Almighty.

Gamaliel understood something we need to lay hold of. If what we do for God, or rather, what we think we are doing for God, is of human origin, it will fail. If we share the word to be noticed, to get recognition or to get credit from God, we will accomplish nothing. In the same way, if our motivation is to be seen as different or holy or somehow better than those around us, we will accomplish little that lasts. Worse, because our motivations are never as concealed as we think, we will likely harden the hearts of those who hear us because our words will be eclipsed by our motives. All they will see is more of the world.

But if we love God and are committed to pleasing him, we will share with others out of the overflow of our hearts. Whatever that leads us to say or do, no matter how inadequate we think our understanding or delivery, they will hear and see something supernatural. Something uniquely different. Something unstoppable. For as Gamaliel explained to the unbelieving Sanhedrin, “if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

As for those who try to stop us, don’t take it to heart or make it personal. Their opposition is not our fight. That battle belongs to the Lord. Let them fight against God.

And isn’t that really the point? To draw them into a fight with God (who says “come now, let us reason together”), then trust that the Lord of Hosts will bring them to the point of surrender, death and new life in Christ Jesus. To the place where to lose is to win.

There’s no stopping God.

And there’s no stopping us if our purpose or activity is from him.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it.”

Genesis 28:16

Life is full of peaks and valleys. There are times of trouble and tears and times of testing and triumph. But for better or worse, the uncertain road into the future rarely announces a curve in the road, a steep incline or a sudden drop off.

For believers, life is full of even higher peaks and lower valleys. Nothing is more profound or exciting than an encounter with the living God. There is no higher high. But when God is silent and we cannot discern his leading or presence, we become profoundly aware of his absence. Having known the riches of God’s presence, his silence can test the limits of our faith and endurance. We pray. We wait. We press in and keep doing the things we’re called to do. But in those quiet times—often very long times—it seems like we are completely on our own.

A day of feeling alone is bad enough. A few months of it is trying. A few years of it is life altering. Look at the people of Israel in Egypt. At Moses. At Joseph, Mary's husband. It’s in those long periods of waiting that God is most mysterious. And challenging. For it's during those very times that doubt and hope battle for supremacy in our hearts and minds.

Like all of us, Jacob was on a journey. Somewhere along the way he reached “a certain place.” He had a dream there. In it, he saw angels of God ascending and descending a stairway reaching from earth to heaven. Above it all stood the Lord, who said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go...” When Jacob awoke, he thought “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Then, when the awesomeness of where he was struck him, he realized, “This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Wherever we’re heading, there is a certain place along the way where God is just waiting to reveal himself. None can know where or when he will do it, but we can proceed with the knowledge that he wants to demonstrate his power. In fact, God has said to all of us, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” almost the exact same thing he said to Jacob. Knowing God is with us means he is every place we are. It also means we live every moment at the edge of the miraculous—because God likes to move through our testimony, through our witness and through our willingness to step out in faith and prayer. That’s how the lost get saved, the sick get healed and the gates of heaven swing open to receive God’s prodigal children.

We are the gatekeepers in the house of the Lord.

God’s certain place may be in a restaurant with a waiter, your place in line with a cashier or on the phone with a wrong number. And, like Jacob, you are unaware what God has planned. When the gates of heaven swing open, you may be the one pushing on them.

God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. What better time for him to move then when we are exhausted from the wait and from the battle for our hearts and minds. It’s not a question of being beaten, but of being surrendered.

God loves to bless the battle weary. It shows those entering the gate that it was he, not us, who made the way. And it reminds us that apart from him, we can do nothing.

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

Isaiah 59:15

Although Isaiah was talking about ancient Israel, what he said could apply to America today. In fact, it could apply to most western nations. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life,” but his place in our culture has been challenged for the past 50 years, and public references to him are the exception rather than the rule. Our culture's twisted view seems to be that if Jesus is the way, he's the wrong way. Oddly, one of the remaining places where limited references to God are acceptable is the courtroom. Witnesses still must swear to tell the truth while laying hands on the Bible. Yet if a potential witness was asked if he really believed what the Bible said—if he believed in angels and demons, heaven and hell, gifts of the spirit, in healing and speaking in tongues—his credibility would be in shambles before he uttered a single word under oath.

Because in these days, Truth is no where to be found.

In Moses' time, the Lord moved in profound sea-parting and earth-shaking ways. There were plagues. There were signs and wonders. There was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God’s fingerprints were everywhere and it didn’t require great discernment or wisdom to see what he was doing. Yet even in those miraculous times, the people of Israel grumbled and complained and fell into sin as soon as Moses took a little too long to return from the Mountain of God. The Lord saw the gold calf they had created while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments and told him, your people have become “corrupt.”

Becoming corrupt about the things of God is man’s natural tendency. In science, it’s called “entropy”—the process of degradation or trending toward disorder. In man, it’s called sin. And the environment in which sin flourishes is one where man and the culture in which he lives forget about God.

So God told Moses to teach the Israelites about God’s laws and decrees and to “be careful to obey” them. But it was more than a warning. It was an exhortation to remember:

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6: 1-12

Moses finished by admonishing God’s people to “be careful that you do not forget the Lord.” But in spite of the warning, they forgot anyway. Again and again, bringing God’s wrath and discipline upon them, causing them to be dragged into captivity and to live, to this very day, in constant struggle in the land God gave them, rather than in the peace he promised (a promise which will yet be fulfilled).

Are we living in peace? Are we remembering Jesus and being careful not to forget the Lord? Is our culture honoring him in any way? or are we squirming uncomfortably to avoid any quote, parable or reference to him out of fear of offending or being politically incorrect? Think about it: we live in times fraught with danger on every front: Nuclear weapons are being developed by outlaw nations. Pornography, always just a click away, is one of the biggest businesses on the planet, supported by the slave trade of women and children. Terrorism is a global problem that strikes locally and randomly. The world economy teeters on the brink of collapse. There’s supposed global warming, cooling relations with Russia and the disaster du jour on the front page of any newspaper you see. And we are busy trying to forget God, and worse ,trying to prohibit references to him in public and by people in government.

The Apostle Peter knew how important it was to remember God. He called on believers to “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world” or they would become "ineffective and unproductive" in their knowledge of God. In fact, he says such people are nearsighted and blind, “having forgotten" that they have been cleansed from their past sins and having forgotten that "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3

He then says “I will always remind you of these things” and that “it’s right to refresh your memory” and that “I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” Not satisfied that his point had been made, Peter begins chapter 3 of 2 Peter by saying this: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as a reminder to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” Why? Because the world is constantly reminding and overstimulating us about the pleasures of corrupt thinking and living, enticing us to go the way of the world and embrace sin wholeheartedly. Peter, however, wants us to be on our guard so that we “may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from [our] secure position.” 2 Peter 3:17

We live in a time of lawlessness, of false teachings without end, of moral relativism and the embracing of all sorts of sin under the rationalization of tolerance, and in a time when man’s systems and creations are being shaken to their foundations. The people of Israel did not remember God less than 40 days after he parted the Red Sea and delivered them from Egypt. How in this world of more subtle moves of God can we remember him?

By making our “calling and election sure.”

We need to know who we are. We need to constantly remember that we have been empowered by God. Chosen by him. We need to know we are God’s heirs. That we are his children. Individually called. That we have repented and have been redeemed. That we are transformed, renewed, born again, spirit filled, and are overcomers who are able to take a stand for God. That we are different than the world, aliens, pilgrims and sojourners whose home is in heaven and who have received the promise of salvation and eternal life. That we are Ambassadors of Christ, salt and light in a land of darkness, a land corrupted by the ruler of the kingdom of the air. And we need to remember it by being in the word, by talking about God with our children, by talking about him when we sit at home and when we walk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up. By encouraging and reminding ourselves and by encouraging and reminding each other daily about who God is and what he has done.

If we don’t remember daily, moment by moment, making our election sure and being effective and productive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are destined to fall. There’s a tidal wave of temptation, sin, fear and false teaching trying to sweep us up in its destructive power, and resisting its force is exhausting and futile, unless we stand in the power of our God. We cannot do that unless we remember what Jesus Christ has done in us and the power he has made available to us by the Spirit of truth. Paul exhorted us this way:

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:12-18

Only those who truly know God know that he hears their prayers. Only those dwell in God's word can remember daily that he is with them. Only believers who are armed (in the spirit) and dangerous (wielding the sword of the spirit) can withstand the pounding surf of dissipation that wants to drown us in sin. And only those who constantly remember what Jesus has done, can do and is doing, will stand firm. There just is no other way to persevere.

Because “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?'

Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:35-40

Not only do all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments, so too does the true nature of our relationship with God. Once we grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did on the cross, we begin to appreciate who he is. The more we understand, the more we respond. And the more we pursue God, the more likely we are to love him. But it is not enough to simply profess our love for Jesus, however wonderful that may be, because the idea of loving Jesus is both alluring and deceiving.

It’s easy to proclaim love for God, to read and attend meetings in pursuit of the object of our affections and to be genuinely enamored with the Him. And who would dare to question the depth of our relationship with the Almighty, for who really knows it? Certainly a changed life can be proof of a changed heart. But not always. Sometimes the outward changes are just that, the first and last fruits of our encounter with the Eternal One. Which is why John identifies a more reliable standard by which to measure a life transformed by God:

If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:20-21

To this he adds the following: "This is love for God: To obey his commands." 1 John 5:3. And this: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18.

Professing love for God is the easy part. The true measure of your love for him comes down to obedience and to this: If you do not love your brother, you cannot love God.

But we do love you Lord, we protest. Can't you see how our hearts are toward you? Yet his command to love the brethren exposes our own unwillingness to yield and reveals a heart steeped in worldly ways. After all, there are so many people who have done us wrong. Unthinking people. Selfish people. Dishonest people. Manipulative and unfaithful people. And not just people we read about. But people we know! People with names and with common history. People who were once part of our lives. Surely there’s room for us to claim an exemption from the requirement of loving those people, or at least room for us to merely tolerate them from a distance. The Lord must know our feelings are justified—he's seen what they've done. Yet Jesus, who suffered fools and evil men, who hated their arrogance, rebelliousness and religion, loves them still and said even of those who nailed him to the cross, “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

There's no getting around it. God loves the brethren. So too must we.

Brotherly love is one thing. But loving your brothers—real people in your life who push only your blood pressure heavenward—is the measure of your love for God and your willingness to obey his commands. Because loving someone is way harder than loving everyone.

Dean Koontz describes the difference in Odd Hours:

To love all the world at once is pretense or dangerous self-delusion. Loving the world is like loving the idea of love, which is perilous because, feeling virtuous about this grand affection, you are freed from the struggles and the duties that come with loving people as individuals...

Loving actual people is a never-ending struggle. It is the place where flesh bows to Spirit. Where anger and resentment yield to obedience. Where we choose to love and forgive rather than respond in kind. That’s what loving with actions and in truth is about.

Love with actions is an effort. To love those who hurt us is incredibly difficult. To forgive those who persecute and defame us doesn’t seem fair. To hold one’s tongue when there’s so much to say and defend and set right feels like injustice. And to love those who mock and hate Jesus is painful. Nevertheless, lovers of God are called to love them anyway—to love them supernaturally. Because supernatural love is the lifeblood of the Body of Christ. We are told that “God is love.” And on this side of Heaven, we who are transformed by the Spirit of God must translate that love into action. Such love takes care of the poor and the widows. It encourages both the lowly and those in high position. It is selfless. It is forgiving. It seeks no recognition. No reward. And most of all, it seeks no vengeance or retribution. Instead, it grows and multiplies through obedience to God and through the struggle to love those who hate or hurt us.

Love with actions and in truth is a spectacle to behold. Praying for those who see us as enemies, forgiving them, releasing them—not to God’s judgment or Satan’s plans—but from the icy grip of our own heart’s bitterness toward them, is a supernatural act without equal.

Don’t underestimate how profoundly freeing and life changing supernatural love is. And don’t be surprised when what you do in obedience to God’s commands gets more attention and has more impact than the words of love you share with those around you. Love with actions and in truth does that. For many, it’s the only evidence they can see that the transforming power of Jesus Christ is more than mere words and wishful thinking.

It's proof that the Kingdom of God is real.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Mark 11:15-18

The whole crowd was amazed at Jesus’ teaching because it shattered their understanding. In a moment, what they had known and seen and done was revealed as wrong. Maybe even ridiculous. Until Jesus shook their reality with his display of righteous anger, the crowd had accepted the practices that he found so offensive. They had been brought up in a system and culture that had been captured by the world for so long, they weren’t even aware of the great divide between the Kingdom of God and the way of the world. Worse, for them, the two had become virtually one and the same.

Things are not much different today.

There is nothing inherently wrong with trade and business. Commerce makes the world go round, whether in cyberspace or Samaria. But there are things that are holy and things that are not, and the Lord has ordained that the holy things not be treated with irreverence or contempt.

Look at Belshazzar, the Babylonian King. He held a great banquet for all his friends and decided to break out the good China. Only the good China was the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. It was while they drank from the sacred cups and celebrated their good fortune that “fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall.” Daniel was called to explain these things and told the King that by praising gold and silver instead of the God of all things, he set himself up against the Lord of heaven. By treating as common that which was holy, Belshazzar sealed his fate. Daniel then translated the writing on the wall and told the king that he had been weighed in the balance, had been found wanting and that his days were now numbered. Severely numbered, as it turned out. He was slain that night.

Most of us are confident that we would never set ourselves up against the Lord of heaven. At least not knowingly. But something very similar happens all the time. The market place that’s out there has a way of creeping into the temple, into the church and into our own understanding of scripture and of what is or is not acceptable. In our culture, almost everything is acceptable. In fact, tolerance is the god of our times and one of the reasons Christians are so reviled. By taking a biblical stand on almost any issue, we are seen as intolerant and closed minded—heretics of the new world order.

Yet that same tolerance for just about anything infects our own thinking. We’ve all seen how easy (and seemingly reasonable) it is to use proven marketing strategies to grow churches, sell books and worship music, evangelize and advertise. But it's like a Trojan horse. Once we accept the world's way of doing business and apply it to Kingdom matters, lots of other ideas, paradigms and philosophies enter in and become just as acceptable. Just as tolerable. As a result, growth and influence often trump love and intimacy. In the end, believers and unbelievers can become a kind of funhouse mirror image of each other, the one worshipping tolerance but having none for people of faith, the other worshipping the God of love but having none for the lost or even for each other.

Like those who ran the temple of old, we rob the lost of opportunities to hear the gospel when we judge them unreceptive or beyond hope; and when we withhold love out of frustration with their stand against what we value, we rob them of the power of the gospel. If we don’t guard our hearts, we can end up like Belshazzar, setting ourselves up against the Lord’s call to the lost and celebrating our works instead of his worthiness. Or we can end up like the money changers in the temple, exchanging God’s currency for man’s. Love for power. Godliness for worldliness. Then, as now, it’s the righteous anger of the Lord that shows us how much we have unknowingly embraced the world’s way of doing things.

Realizing how worldly we’ve become and just how broke we are in God's economy can elicit two diametrically opposed responses. The chief priests and the teachers of the law had one: they wanted to kill the messenger. Many still want to kill the messenger. The Psalmist has the other; he wants to kill the worldly ways within him:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

How we respond depends on our hearts since "no one can serve two masters."

Either way, search me is a killer invitation.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

Peter had just healed a well known man crippled from birth, telling him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." When the man arose on his newly restored legs, not only was he shocked and ecstatic, jumping and walking and praising God, but the people who knew of him were equally amazed (well, maybe not equally amazed, but amazed nonetheless). Everyone was caught up in what happened, and there was a great commotion. Peter seized the moment: he reminded his fellow Hebrews that they had disowned “the Holy and Righteous One,” had rejected him as Messiah and had been party to his death on the cross, only to see God raise him from the dead. And he told them “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” Basically, Peter told them, it wasn’t me—it was Jesus. And he called on his people to repent and acknowledge that Jesus was Messiah.

The Book of Acts reports that 5000 men became believers that day.

Now this was troublesome to the rulers, elders and teachers of the law. Jesus had already been crucified, and now—after his death—thousands decided he was the Messiah. These same rulers, elders and teachers had already rejected that claim. They had already discounted his miracles. And they had treated his teachings as blasphemy. But the people were not so sure, and apparently, not so hard hearted. In fact, Peter said they all acted out of ignorance and his message hit home with 5000 of them.

Nothing Jesus had done astonished the rulers, elders and teachers of the law because they were not open to see with the eyes of the spirit. What he had done provoked them. It infuriated them. And it challenged their authority. Now, however, what really astonished these same men wasn't that the crippled man had been healed—that was just an inconvenient fact—but something that hit closer to home. It was the boldness of Peter and John and that they were “unschooled, ordinary men.” Why? Because men without title, men who had not been trained in the proper religious schools, men of no importance, fame or reputation, men who did not have a birthright claim to be part of the priesthood, men who were not rabbis or part of the ruling council, men who did not pay their dues and advance by proper channels—such men simply did not go about preaching with authority to the people, or even more outrageously, to the Chief Priest and the Sanhedrin.

This was just not how things were done. There was an established order and Peter and John were out of order.

But Jesus had changed the way things were done. And when those 5000 came to Christ, something became apparent to those paying attention. Jesus had not only overturned the tables in the temple courts, he overturned the existing order of things. He made us all priests (not just the Levites), he proclaimed that he would destroy and rebuild the temple in three days, he made us the temple of the Holy Spirit and he became our Sabbath rest. He commissioned tax collectors, fishermen and tent makers to preach the Gospel. He sent out the twelve Apostles on his behalf, and 72 others who were nameless, positionless, without fame and without title, all of whom returned proclaiming “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He broke down the religious barriers and commissioned ALL OF US to act and speak on his behalf.

For the leaders of Israel, they had already made a decision, like many of our family members and friends, and they were not ready to reconsider it: they had already rejected Jesus. For them the miracles weren’t important. The message wasn’t important. That Jesus was crucified wasn’t important. But something still got their attention. It was that ordinary, uneducated men spoke boldly to the crowd and had the courage to take a stand before the Sanhedrin. Since the leaders had already rejected Jesus, all they could do was “note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Maybe that’s the first witness we have. People notice us. That’s what it means to be salt and light. They should note that there’s something different about us. Something special. Something that sets us apart—something supernatural. Which is why, like Peter and John, we must spend time with Jesus.

We are called to learn the word of God. To pray about all things. To worship. To fellowship with one another. To lay hands on the sick. To speak about Jesus. To proclaim his Lordship. To "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” To be transformed.

We are ordinary and uneducated people, changed by the Spirit of God. That's what the Lord has ordained through Jesus Christ. A new order! Not only have we been given Kingdom authority, but we have been given boldness in God. We are priests called to proclaim the Gospel, to heal the sick in the name of Jesus and to lead others to repentance and salvation. With all that has been given to us, something ought to be different! And it ought to be obvious to those around us.

Our friends and family should note that we have been with Jesus. That’s the first step for them. To see something new. Something other than what they see in everyone else. For us, being with Jesus—abiding in him—is the only thing that will ever set us apart and make us noteworthy. And it is often the very thing that will lead our friends and families to Christ.