Grandma's Hands

Dee and I were sitting in worship together this past Sunday as I was not scheduled to deliver the sermon.  Caleb, a young man pursuing the ministry, was delivering the message  – with the text being John, Chapter 1.  John 1 is likely my most beloved New Testament chapter, with the 51st Psalm being my joy in the Old Testament.

Dee is a note taker [I am not], and as the Word was being proclaimed, I was struck by a thought.  I asked Dee for her notebook and wrote, ‘I wonder what Heaven must have been like during Jesus’s thirty-three year absence?’  After worship, once back home, I went to Rolling Meadows, a local retirement center, to lead Chapel Service, and I posed that question to the attendees.

I have tried to imagine our Lord’s empty throne while He was with us.  During His time with us, nothing came crashing down, which speaks to our Triniterian belief [us].  God’s will was indeed done on earth as it is in Heaven.  We did receive not only our daily bread but living water as well.  Jesus affirmed that we are ‘in this world but not of it.’  Also, every good gift does indeed come from God!

Am quite confident I will be considering this thought for many days to come, but I think the one thought that has truly captured my attention is this:  Always, always begin with Heaven first irrespective the matter before me.

God is so beyond good!

‘Who do people say that I am?’  ‘Some say you are…..’  ‘But what about you, who do you say I am?’

Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me [the Gate].  Jesus is way, Jesus is truth, Jesus is life, Jesus gate.  When we speak of the way/truth/life/gate, they are more than descriptors for they are Jesus….Himself — a reflection of His all completeness and sufficiency.

When we come to the throne of grace [seeking mercy] we are coming to a person, Jesus….Himself, for grace and mercy are He.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was so distraught, God did not send grace, yet Jesus told Paul, in his moment of need, ‘My grace is sufficient for you this day.’  Why would God send grace to Grace?  It would be akin to sending peace to peace.  Jesus was telling Paul, you have Me, you are complete in Me, trust Me with your circumstance for I am sufficient — do as I told Peter and the others  — ‘Follow Me’ and in doing so one is following Grace!

Yes, grace is ‘God’s unmerited favor toward mankind’ but grace is not a thing but rather, a Person.  Scripture tells us ‘God is love’ and not ‘Love is God’.  Jesus is grace and not Grace is Jesus….

Colossians 2:9…….

It is quite normal and customary to seek understanding of the world in which we reside — it is how we have been stitched together.  Yet, this natural curiosity extends beyond the visible and seeks to comprehend that which is veiled — invisible — and this too is reasonable, another aspect of who we are.

If not careful, which is the point of this item, we will inadvertently  — despite the best of intentions — leave a matter wanting.  Is something better than nothing?  Maybe, maybe not for it likely influences  — even shapes — one’s introspection and worldview.

To be precise, many Believers in Christ have been taught and will mimic the following:  Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward mankind and there is no good argument to be made against.  However, one has to know it to be an inadequate descriptor for it has given rise and fuels the oft heard expression, ‘cheap grace’ and I am afraid to concur.  In our attempt to comprehend the invisible, the unfathomable, we inadvertently construct a ceiling which contains, to our detriment.

To be more specific, any understanding, much less the articulation of grace, which is muted by the absence of mercy, is fool’s gold.  We are saved by grace, yet the other end of that metaphorical stick calls for our consecration toward the great will God has for us:  that none should perish and for our sanctification and if one cannot appreciate God’s mercy then how will we ever come to a healthy understanding of His grace?

Further, we know salvation belongs to God, imputed to us by His Son’s sanctified life, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Yet, we are told to work out our salvation with ‘fear and trembling’.  God’s grace calls for a response:  accept or reject, there is truly no sanctuary for lukewarm [cheap grace].  Our response is clearly before us:  become obedient and live or remain in disobedience and perish, here/now/eternally.

My wife reminds me, ‘remember who you are and to whom you belong’ — a vivid reminder of God’s all  complete grace and demands my response!

I have never had an Isaiah moment whereupon he experienced the throne room of God, but I have become intimately familiar with prayer and petitions as well as Romans 5:3-5.  Covid19 had its way with me and has served as a cleansing in ways that I continue to discover.  My eyes no longer see but behold, my ears no longer hear but discern, and my heart has less to do with my desires and more with His desires.  God chose not to end my life but rather to use it to declare Himself to me and prayerfully to others.  I became intimately familiar with the blind man brought to Jesus by his three friends.

People, some that I will never know in this life, from all walks of life, prayed for me, and I hope your petitions have not gone wanting because Jesus has made my life richer in His things because of your faithfulness!  The Palo Duro Presbytery welcomed me back and have pastored Trinity Presbyterian Church and presently do so at the United Presbyterian Church of Montague County.  Have the absolute joy and privilege of being Chaplain to Faith Mission/Refuge in its New Beginnings component.  Am able to participate in chapel services at Rolling Meadows and Presbyterian Manor as well as a group in Pakistan.  Will occasionally fill the pulpit at First Presbyterian Church in Seymour and lead a wonderful group in a weekly Bible Study at the YMCA.

I share these things not for the purpose of ‘look at me’ but to let others know prayer is not only real but practical and wherever I may be – watch this – I am the one always be blessed for it is in giving that we truly receive.  I am going to spend eternity with a lot more people that I would have never known.  All relationships are deeper because of Jesus, whether it be with my family, friends, or simply acquaintances, for it is no longer about me but Him!

I still have some lingering, minor health effects, but nothing to ‘write home about.’  Have always lived a charmed life, but now I see it as most blessed.  Please do not misunderstand, there have been moments and bumps along the way – some self-inflicted and others being simply life. 

My deepest takeaways to date:  simply live for Him, and the rest has a way of falling into place.  Embrace His forgiveness, learn to live with it, and extend to others.  For those who have and continue to love me in spite of me….thank you for your perseverance as it has brought forth hope!

‘But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods  your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

In the ways of Christian salvation doctrine, one typically finds two schools of thought, and they are diametrically opposed, and my fear is, to our detriment.  We have literally divided our own house, and worse, neither side willingly listens to the other.  One school subscribes to ‘election’ [God has pre-determined who will and who will not be saved/born again – Calvinism] while the other claims ‘salvation is available to all’ [Arminianism] and this said position does not imply God to be unawares.

It is quite easy to see why both perspectives have gained a foothold from a Scriptural point of view, but selecting one or the other does not serve well the Body of Christ.  Romans, Chapters 8, 9, and 11 speak to election while 2 Peter 3:9 suggests otherwise – as does Titus 2:11, and Matthew 28:18-20 [commonly referred to as the Great Commission].

In such a seeming contradiction, it behooves us to step outside of specifics and consider the whole – much like trees and a forest. To begin, God has always intervened in the affairs of mankind for if He didn’t, we would be mired in hopelessness and helplessness.  In fact, we are described as ‘at enmity with God’, and as such, there is nothing within us that would seek Him apart from Him.

The Biblical record is clear, straightforward, with God electing to intervene by setting apart persons such as Noah, Moses, Joshua, Joseph, David, Solomon, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and so forth.  In fact, God set apart an entire peoples – the Hebrews – to proclaim Himself to the world at large.  There is no mystery to be found here in terms of God using peoples to be His ambassadors [Paul voices as much], with its culmination found in the complete work of His Son!

The work of Jesus made salvation available to all – first to the Jews and then the Gentiles, unlimited, no boundaries to be identified in the works of the New Testament.  Paul, in Romans, did not negate salvation to all but was addressing the boundless beauty and glory of reconciliation – the mind of God!  We are the ones who choose to limit the arms of God to but a few and are reaping an awful price for doing so, but I digress.

If election were valid, then why even proclaim the Good News of the Gospel?  Is a very reasonable inquiry, for if God has indeed selected [elected], then there is no force in nor under Heaven to prevent His works.  If true, it serves as an exercise of futility – for both the elect and non-elect —- the elect are wasting their time evangelizing and the non-elect have no standing.  Think about it, return to the Garden of Eden, the opportunity for Adam and Eve to exercise their will is nothing but a ruse if they indeed had no choice.  Further, did we not witness our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness much less His struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane?  Even a casual observer could see the opportunities for choice!  Maybe, just maybe, God was prepared for whatever paths chosen!

Further, where is the victory – much less love and adoration – if one has no voice?  How is one compelled to love?  Is there even a word for a ‘compelled love’ and what manner of love is being referenced in John 3:16?  Gratitude?  Absolutely, I am not going to Hell!  Does this line of thought limit ‘that light which overcomes the darkness?’  Absolutely, it does!  Have we become so dull that we now discount the miracle of the second birth?  Election sure seems to sow that manner of seed!

Anyway, it is my contention that ‘salvation is available to all’ and that God has indeed set apart some, pre and post the work of Jesus.  Truth be known, an elect is probably unaware of such a designation and would likely fold under its weight… would be akin to seeing God face to face.  We must resist this need to ‘pick a side’ for the work is too monumental.  If we are to pick one or the other, the better selection is ‘salvation is available to all.’  Election runs the risk of becoming stale, stagnant, and flirts with Phariseeism and worse, limits the atoning death of Jesus.  Salvation available to all is as consistently seen in Scripture as is election.  Maybe it is time that we give God all the elbow room He needs to transform lives —- is this not one of the central pillars in the story of Job?

John tells us that Jesus sanctified Himself for us and that one act serves as the gateway for everything one could ever possibly desire.  Its truth is so far reaching that we scarce to comprehend, much less capture!

When Jesus said, ‘it is finished,’ that is precisely what He meant – nothing can be added nor removed.  His death and resurrection allow us to be ‘seated with Him in the heavenly realms’ right now, this very moment, and I strongly doubt we have any inkling as to what that truth conveys for eternity much less the ‘here and the now.’  Though surprising it ought not be as Jesus addresses the abiding relationship we enjoy with Him!

If one joins together His sanctified life, abiding with one another, and being seated with Him in the heavenly realms, it is only logical to conclude that we are ‘complete in Christ.’  My lingering concern, constant companion, is that I truly have precious little understanding of the enormity of this condition – though I hope some realization is beginning…

I am learning that for me to ‘be holy’ or anything related to holiness must be His.  He has realized holiness and all for us and wants us to cease our striving to be and simply allow His holiness and all to become our holiness and all.  In other words, it is His peace, joy, goodness, kindness, self-control, gentleness, love, and faithfulness, where we find holiness, and yes, completeness!

We must ask God for ‘Christ consciousness’ for that is which removes self-consciousness…allowing Him to live in and through us rather than trying to do anything for Him – this is the work for us. “The complete life is the life of the child.  The child of God is not conscious of the will of God, because the child is the will of God [O.Chambers].”  Allowing Jesus’s sanctified life to become our sanctified life is the will of God, for this is our wellspring – the source of living water – our being ‘complete in Christ.’

Enter His Sabbath-Rest…..

‘Do you not know you are a temple of the living God?”  Such a far-reaching inquiry which examines quantity and quality!  The entire body, much less all that goes within its confines.

One would be hard pressed to identify as a Believer in Christ absent a reverence for God, likely  impossible as trying to do otherwise reflects an absence of a contrite, humble spirit and heart [King David].  King David, ‘a man after God’s own heart’ either strayed along the way and/or God used the moment to deepen David’s understanding and relationship with God.  Needless to say, something was wanting in King David’s ways with God.

Once King David confessed, ‘against you and only You have I sinned’ his reverence for God became really real and his transformation commenced.  Read his anguish and deliverance in the 51st Psalm — it is so breathtaking that it unnerves.  Job experienced similar and said it his way, ‘my ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you’ and if Job was anything he was a righteous man transformed right before our eyes.  King David and Job, far from being ‘two peas in a pod’, but came to the same conclusion  —- there is a reverence that rightfully belongs to God from His own.

When reverence for God results, it will return to the one who reveres, it has to.  It is one ‘who casts their bread upon the waters’ in action.  It does not return as a form of self-respect — which this world is absolutely in love with!  It returns as a reverence for self – we begin to grasp the love, grace, mercies, loving kindness of God, bound and culminating in the life of Jesus.  Our hearts are tenderized, and our spirits become contrite, meek.  Reverence of self does elevate self but leads one to bondservitude…is anything but self-reliant, haughty, prideful, conceited.

It is the freedom in Christ – the liberties – Paul speaks of to the Galatians, is the substance of the boldness of the Apostles, and the manner in which we are to approach our blessed Savior’s throne!  This manner of reverence has no place with a false humility – which has the odor of death – for that which I suggest is vibrant and has the aroma of hope – hope not of this world but that which is of Heaven!

This manner of reverence comes at a high cost as it requires a submission and obedience – two qualities that have no natural resting place within us.  Expensive?  Priceless, as are the body and blood of Jesus!

“Do you not know…….”

God instructed Adam, not Eve, as she was not yet on scene, not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge.  We do know Adam misled Eve, motive aside, because he told her to ‘not even touch it.’  Remember, Eve was deceived, the sin rested on Adam’s shoulders.  On the surface, it appears as though Adam and Eve were presented with two choices, but were they?

Yes, not eat of the Tree of Knowledge, or eat of the Tree of Life and any other for that matter as there was no prohibition.  This is how we are taught or at least what most of us hear.  However, might there have been a third option, and that was to leave both Trees alone – to let them be and be satisfied with knowing God.

We know the consequences of their choice but beyond that whatever we conjure is speculative as there is an absence of a frame of reference.  I think it safe to say there were two paths available – possibly three – and God was prepared, He was not caught unawares.  Further, there had to be two paths available  – possibly three – for God would not have presented the option to choose in the first place.  He created us to be able to choose, we are not nor have ever been robotic.

We have no idea what Adam and Eve forfeited, anymore than we know their pre-fall disposition/character.  We do know it to have been boundless and beyond our imagination as God gave humankind His Son as the only pathway to reconciliation.

I think it safe to speculate that Adam and Eve existed in God’s Sabbath-Rest – that which is now available to us – but they were seemingly unable to ‘be still.’  Let us enter into God’s Sabbath-Rest by emptying ourselves and allowing Jesus’s sanctified life to be our life.

I think it impossible to have eyes which behold nor ears which discern absent a heart that is ever tender.  To have such eyes and ears, one must be transformed, to have a heart that belongs to Jesus.

Case in point, Dee and I have been married for 47 plus years – she is my wife, mother of our 3 children, and grandmother to 10 grandchildren – wife/mother/grandmother, roles that she has come to learn and fulfill.  Glorious roles according to Holy Scripture.  However, is there not more to the roles she fills?  Of course, for we know those roles are not her but rather a reflection of this station in her life.

To the point, how much better would I be as husband/father/grandfather if I looked beyond and beneath these roles?  Ought I not see a sister-in-Christ first and foremost, and should I do so I will begin to behold and not simply see, discern and not simply hear, and freely love as I have been.  Ought I not see sisters-in-Christ with our 2 daughters, daughter-in-law, and 4 granddaughters?  Ought I not see brothers-in-Christ with our son, 2 sons-in-law, and 6 grandsons?

In no way am I suggesting the casting off of roles but rather a desire to enrich others and our interactions!  When I filter my life through His heart, then everything changes.

It is tempting to search out the ‘truer truths’ of the kingdom of Heaven but in doing so we run the risk of ‘drilling where God is not drilling’ and have to contend with the effects of a dry hole.  Case in point, Luke 15 tells us of a sheep that went astray and was sought, found, and returned by the shepherd, and he carried the sheep back to the herd!  Interesting on its face, yet some have speculated he did this because he broke the sheep’s leg to teach it a lesson!  Really?  One honestly believes a sheep is going to connect wandering, a broken leg, as a reminder to never again stray…wow…but that thinking and yes, teaching, is out there and leading others astray!

Long story short, I promise, don’t over stimulate your relationship with the Holy Triune.  Do what we are told, ‘bringing every thought into captivity.’  How might I even begin to accomplish this manner of an instruction?  May I suggest for consideration the following — why don’t we simply set our minds and hearts on ‘pleasing God’?  We can begin our day this way/examine ourselves during the day this way/when we rest in the evening we can ask ‘did I please you this day’?

Sounds pretty simple, almost childlike, but it is anything but that, for it opens the way for God to reveal Himself absent our tendency to clutter things —- notice Martha and Mary!

I do hope your 4th to be most pleasant and as His we of all ought to value freedom!