The First World War concluded in an Armistice that made WWII inevitable. At least, the existence of standing allied armies able and willing left no doubt of the outcome. Since the Korean War ended in an Armistice, that continues to be an explosive political and military issue, America's enemies have found that we will fight only UNTIL it becomes too expensive militarily, politically and financially. UNTIL...then we pull out our troops and leave the nations helped to protect themselves. Consider: Cuba, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, and now, Afghanistan.
In a humanitarian gesture that wouldn't be necessary had we allowed our military to fight TO VICTORY, we now invite those to America those who befriended us while in their country but left them vulnerable once we pulled out. As a result, Afghanis-friendly to America will be coming here because we wouldn't fight TO VICTORY over radical Moslems in a Moslem country. The radicals learned from the North Koreans and Chinese, the Viet Cong and Communist Cubans, that they had only to persevere against us to eventually drive us out. It's a painful reminder of our fall into an untrustworthy ally, who will help us only UNTIL it becomes too expensive. But all in keeping with America becoming the tail, not the head. As a result, we invite to America more religious fanatics, who bring with them the demand to keep their religious beliefs while giving only lip-service to America. And, in the present administration, any religious faith is welcomed without demanding the Americanization that all previous immigrants faced as EXPECTATIONS. The secularization of America continues. End Part I
0 Comments
Called "Black Jack" Pershing for his successful leadership of black troops in the Indian wars and Cuba, General John maintained such a fixed, serious mien that a friend once said, "he could no more laugh than a stone image". Life History, U.S., Vol. 10, p. 17
Well...Christians can no more succeed on their own in the spiritual life than newborn infants can walk, run a 100 yard dash or learn simple math. We don't pretend we CAN serve Jesus adequately. We DEPEND entirely on the Holy Spirit to achieve in us even the most rudimentary spiritual task, and certainly any significant role in serving Jesus. We have found what General Pershing didn't: the Overcoming Lord Jesus Christ. General Pershing couldn't change his personality. We can't change ours either, but whatever ours is, we can be altered from sinful to forgiven, from weak to strong, from being overcome to being overcomers. Because...our King...adored as an infant, Master of life in ministry, Victor over death in resurrection, Sovereign over all of God's enemies in history and SOLEMN FRIEND of every believer in every generation...remains our spiritual resource. Nothing is impossible for Jesus. Not even emboldening weak into powerful disciples who serve him adequately, sufficiently and overcomingly. As the Revolutionary War continued, British manpower increased from the 4,000 Gage had in June 1775 to 55,000 soldiers, not counting American sympathizers and Indians. While 200,000 Patriots enlisted, Washington fought with less than 8,000 Continentals in any battle.
While short-term militia fought well at Bunker Hill, Massachusetts and Bennington, Vermont, others at Kip’s Bay and White Plains, New York, fled in disarray. However, Alexander Hamilton understood the American strength even in defeat and the British vulnerability even in victory. The very many who fled one battle had plenty of safe room to run from capture, and hung around to fight again. British troops straying from their safe cantonments could find themselves snatched by American guerrilla units. Life History U.S., Vol. 2, 18. Three spiritual lessons emerge from these accounts. One, Christ often finds himself like Prescott and other militia commanders: he has many followers but never enough workers. Many people who attend services but never enough to staff lay ministries. Many who put their last dollar in an offering but few who pay the first ten percent of their income. Or many who attend sessions to be taught, but NEVER ENOUGH to shoulder the load of TEACHING the lessons. Etc., Etc. Two, many of us in Christian service mourn our incompetence/insufficiency to the cause—no power to carry the load. Which generally means that 85 percent of church work is funded and staffed by 15 percent of the membership, and sometimes those bearing the load know others could carry it more successfully.. (But do those non-involved 85 percent expect Jesus to WELCOME, not CONDEMN, them?) Three, those with leadership qualities must be Christ’s front-end servants: first to serve, last to quit. When serving pro-actively, they need a “come on, folks” activism, not a “go on, folks” passivity. And when failing, despite their best effort, a willingness to try another way, never to think no other to success exists. Here is the rest of the story. Those who serve Jesus, including Ministers, and fail in some way to be competent and adequate—who lack power to carry their load—can still, by being there, trying, upset Satan’s plans. While we may flee some encounters with him, we never go far. And we’re always challenged by Jesus to stop the retreat, return to the front and TRY AGAIN. Satan has no answer to the disciple who keeps trying to be like Jesus, while Jesus always has power to make us ever-more like him than we used to be. Keep trying Christians. God wills us to succeed! And out of failing can forge success in another way. Fini Sent in June 1775 to defend Bunker Hill against British attack, Colonel William Prescott instead chose to defend adjacent Breeds Hill with his 1200 man militia. Nevertheless, Bunker Hill remains fixed in the American conscience.
On June 17, 1775 General Gage flung two waves of veteran soldiers at the entrenched rebels, both failures, with numerous casualties. Then, because Prescott received neither reinforcements nor ammunition, the third British wave washed over the Hill, sweeping the Minutemen away. Ordering his men to leave the redoubt, he followed their retreat. When a British officer had earlier asked a friend of Prescott how he would fight, the friend presciently said, “To the last man.” As one of the last to leave, Prescott continued fighting, thrusting his bayonet into enemy soldiers who dared approach him. He died in 1795, an honored patriot. Obviously William Prescott’s genes passed to his progeny. His grandson, William Hickling Prescott, despite near-blindness that should have prevented a writing career, nevertheless successfully compiled admirable histories, including his 3-volume History of the Conquest of Mexico. Life History U.S., Vol. 2, 18 End Part I Who then are the forceful people Jesus wants in his Kingdom? Who are those he honors and empowers as his disciples?
A. Those with Robust Faith in Him Who know:
WHO KNOW... whoever we are, and whatever our condition: if we seek Jesus, we’ll find; if we call him, he’ll hear; if we need him, he’ll come; if we persevere in faith, he’ll always accompany us and never forsake us. And no earthly experience or satanic power will ever be able to separate us from God’s love in Christ Romans 8:37-39. B. Those Who Follow Jesus, Wherever and Whatever Jesus will never descend to what we want him to be in order to make us comfortable or tell us what we want to hear. But he WILL ALWAYS LIFT us to where and to whom he eternally IS—so FAITH in him is invincible! We know if he:
C. Those Who Personally Activate Faith God has done for us what we never could. He’s provided the means by which we can be forgiven and the means by which we can be triumphant Christians. All this is God’s WORK on our behalf. But all of it has value in us ONLY if we activate God’s potential spiritual energy into kinetic, spiritual energy—into ACTION. Johnny Cash said he wanted to be a LIVE WIRE so no one would step on him. Every Christian must want to be a LIVE WIRE, extending the spiritual power received from Christ to the one lacking it, charging with spiritual power those without it. Christians today can be and must be visibly forceful, influential servants of Jesus. Given the opposition faced in culture, we cannot be weak, insipid, uninspired, uninspiring go-along-to-get-along disciples—so concerned with what others think we don’t take time to develop a robust, no-nonsense faith in Jesus Christ. And having developed it, intend to use it as a witness for Jesus when the opportunity comes. The very trouble evident in culture demands Christians of strong lives empowered by the all-conquering Christ to be his all-overcoming servants. Whether we’re accepted or rejected, welcomed or hated, God won’t accommodate our desire to compromise when teaching his word; or to weaken his authority to accommodate humanity’s instinctive need of self-will; or to dismiss his holiness to accommodate our sinfulness. It’s HIS WAY, or NO WAY, to servanthood and eternal life. The forceful Christian always says, I want to keep my life in God’s will—that’s where I want to be. I want to keep it in God’s word—that’s where I want to live. I want to keep it in God’s work—that’s where I want to serve. Christians, claim the benefits the Holy Spirit grants you. Possess his gifts as freely as God has given them. Be bold, confident, assured and secure by being Christ-centered with all the power of Heaven at your disposal. Understand... those deprived of your spiritual vitality will protest yours. Never let it be a reason you deny your God-given Grace. A last exhortation and encouragement. Whenever we get frustrated enough to quit TRYING to be a forceful Christian, listen quietly. For you’ll hear the Holy Spirit whispering in your mind, “I’m not through empowering you to continue TRYING to be a forceful Christian. And until I am, you can’t be through TRYING. So continue!” God WILLS his Truth to triumph through us. He will never let us lose serving him unless we quit TRYING to be his forceful servants. Finale Jesus surprisingly chose tame characters as his disciples in Matthew 5:1-12. In Matthew 11:1-30, a similar, even less-likely gang.
That such people would be spiritually forceful seems a contradiction! Indeed, common sense tells us that the weary and burdened aren’t forceful, but weak; aren’t advancing into life, but retreating from it; aren’t fearless, but fearful. And, finding forcefulness, strength and courage from a MAN who described himself as gentle and humble, imposing an easy yoke and imposing a light burden? It all sounds strangely mystical, imaginative and illusory. But no, it’s simply a spiritual antinomy: a contradiction between two equally valid but opposite principles. It’s a divine inconsistency that’s perfectly rational when God dictates it:
The weary and burdened are truly the strongest people, the truly forceful, the truly contented, the truly committed. Because we rely on GOD. Aware of our innate human weakness, we’re never so strong as when we admit it and let God’s strength work in and through us. Paul discussed that very truth in II Corinthians 12:7-10. He discovered greater strength in FAITH through GRACE when God denied, not granted, his request. We always need more FAITH in God just when it seems we need something else—an answer, a blessing, an assurance. C.S. Lewis wrote about it: the Kingdom of God is absolutely strongest in human lives when you feel ALONE, EXHAUSTED, HOPELESS, ABANDONED by God, but you refuse to DOUBT! You persist in going on because FAITH in God assures you that God sees, God knows, God cares—and you CAN TRUST GOD! Billy Graham held a revival in Los Angeles after WWII. Stuart Hamblen, well-known Hollywood personality, attended the first service—and walked out in protest of Billy’s pointed preaching. Sometime later, struggling with a decision to surrender his life, he called Billy and asked for prayer. Billy replied, “You don’t need prayer, you need repentance.” Prayer is no substitute for repentance when we sin. Hamblen repented. John the Baptist struggled to reconcile his view of Christ’s ministry with his own expectations. Jesus didn’t offer him sympathy when asked to clarify the discrepancy. He instead challenged John to CONTINUE having FAITH in his initial appraisal of him John 1:29-36. End Part XIII B Jesus eliminated three of the greatest enemies the Christian faces. First, he maintains our discipleship as a personal relationship with him, not as a formalized document of beliefs and behaviors. Second, he establishes self-denial as the first requirement of discipleship. For consistent success in that discipline stimulates spiritual growth. Third, he stresses that it’s ALL ABOUT GOD, not about us. About God’s Holiness and Sovereignty and Ownership. GOD alone over history:
God sent Jesus when he wanted a SINGLE personality to be his model strong man, his model spiritually forceful man, his model spiritually VIOLENT man warring against all the ways Satan had occupied human lives. To this day Jesus continues his crusade against wickedness. Which is why Satan uses his stooges in culture to attack Jesus and his church. The opposition Christians confront in culture reflects Christ’s Indomitable Presence, not his decreasing strength. His people must lift their heads, pull back their shoulders and forcefully present Christ’s demands to an increasingly corrupt nation. This blog, in its parts, identifies the forceful people Jesus accepts as heirs of his spiritual treasure. Surprisingly...the very ones he described in Matthew 5:1-5.
Surprisingly those...and more surprisingly...those in XIII B. End Part XIII A The Baptist and Jesus were only NEW voices calling for change in Israel. Ranging from confirmed ascetics, to armed revolutionaries, to ceremonialists wedded to tradition, other groups had long been pleading their cause as the means to an improved religious life. The Gospel duo had that characteristic common to them, but one appeal absent from every other group: they insisted that national repentance before God preceded any positive visitation from God.
Consider some of the strong men offering an interpretation of God’s Kingdom. For example, the Pharisees spent 3½ years violently attacking nearly anything Jesus said, did or claimed. They never stopped assuming their priority as authentic interpreters of Moses THROUGH the TRADITIONS built by centuries of rabbinical thought and speculation. That included the sanctity of the Sabbath. For example, the Judaizers held fanatically to their anti-Christian teaching even after becoming disciples. The priests of Acts 6:7 may have led in their mindless crusade. They were Christianized Jews committed to keeping Christianity merely as a sect of Judaism. They demanded circumcision for all Gentile males before being baptized, in essence making them first converts to Moses, then to Jesus. Since Paul championed freedom from Mosaic statutes for Gentiles, the Judaizers continually attacked the integrity of his apostolate. Paul replied with a blunt, harsh, incisive flint-knife slicing of their pretensions. He called them “dogs, men who do evil, mutilators of the flesh” Philippians 3:2. They were “alienated from Christ;...fallen away from grace” Galatians 5:4. “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves” Galatians 5:12. Such violent invective from an apostle-prophet proved necessary in defending Christian freedom against anyone seeking to imprison “faith through grace.” Laymen also proved they could be forceful. Well-intentioned as they were, and excited into delirium by Christ’s feeding of 5,000 men, they aspired to compel Jesus to be their King John 6:14-15. The Twelve had, with THEM, become intoxicated by the miracle...with only Jesus sensing its toxicity to his purpose. The Essenes, men of no religious violence, and Zealots, armed revolutionaries favoring it, also existed in Jewish society. The Essenes, by their withdrawal from society, disappeared when Titus’ legions demolished the Temple in AD 70. The Zealots, armed themselves, and seeking to thrust swords into every upraised Jewish hand, found themselves captives in the Roman/Jewish War AD 66-70 and sold into slavery for trifling amounts. The Pharisees appealed to TRADITION. The Judaizers to CIRCUMCISION. The Essenes to SEPARATION. The Zealots to WAR. Even John to LAW. Only Jesus made LOVE the distinguishing factor of his appeal. As a result, out of all those strong appeals, ONLY ONE prevailed: Christianity. For out of all those strong men, ONLY GOD-in-the-Flesh existed: Jesus the Christ who LOVED the world SO much he gave his life to forgive our sins. End Part XII The Baptist recruited men sharing his commitment to righteousness under Law. Jesus recruited men who could only become like him when he empowered them on Pentecost John 14:15-18, 23, 25-26, Acts 2:1ff, as examples.
The difference between the leaders: the mortal John could find other mortals, especially in that religion-focused land, dedicated to strong Mosaic lives. The God-in-the-flesh-Jesus would find no one like him. As the writer’s 4-volume study Their Own Best Defense repeatedly proves, the disciples as men of their age couldn’t have produced the Jesus who LIVED by his own genius. Consider just three examples for this blog. He amazed the disciples when he said it was hard for rich people to be saved—reflecting Prosperity Theology of the day Matthew 19:23-25. They were astonished that Jesus would no longer allow husbands quick divorces Matthew 19:10. They feared the Pharisees’ view that ceremonial washing remained in place even after Jesus rescinded it Matthew 15:10-12. The men-of-their-age mentality met its end in Pentecost’s Fire. Which kindled Christ’s mind alive in them as it extinguished their old natures. Then, and ever-after, the apostles served Jesus with all the spiritual ferocity of all the wild beasts in creation. The Holy Spirit turned their energies into the single focus of spiritual work in Christ’s name. So empowered, bold and unafraid, courageous and fearless, they counted no cost to serve their Lord and any cost paid recompensed beyond calculation. Their faithfulness to Jesus, under incredible toil common to all, I Corinthians 4:9-13, found their fullest expression in Paul’s life, II Corinthians 11:16-29. Even a God-given respite by a beatific vision, glorious as it was, meant an added hardship II Corinthians 12:7-10. It almost seems that the unconscionable hatred Saul of Tarsus expressed for Christ had its counterpart in the sufferings Jesus imposed on Paul the Apostle Acts 9:15-16. End Part XI As mentioned in Part I of this series, and based on Matthew 11:1-30, with emphasis on verses 12-13, the word translated forceful in the NIV is also translated violent in other versions. Other Parts emphasized the colossal influence both John and Jesus wielded, Jesus more powerfully by preaching a positive message.
Neither man, whatever his message, proved acceptable to Israel. John they saw as a man of the desert, too severely ascetic to understand what living in community entailed. And Jesus as too social, even eating with the outcasts of society AND lifting a cup in the company of the Upper Classes. The entire nation couldn’t fathom that John’s message of repentance prepared listeners to accept their sinfulness despite being religious. Which in turn would open their minds to accept Jesus, who came expressly to “seek and to save what was lost” Luke 19:10, and to give his “life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:48. Which included those who considered their social position exempted them from sins so prevalent in common people. Just like today: the financially prosperous and socially prominent consider it their good fortune not to be like others. It included also anyone in any stage of sin, from the intellectual snob to the immorally corrupt. To empower John’s call to repentance of a people who felt themselves exempt, and Christ’s claim to succeed Moses to a people who felt he couldn’t be replaced, demanded the KIND of men they WERE: original in their thinking, robust in their spiritual confidence, clear in their grasp of spiritual truth, the depository of rare spiritual commitment to God’s truth and overflowing with God’s wisdom as only his holy prophets could be. It’s clear that John recruited disciples loyal to his position: those willing to condemn, correct and debate issues John 3:25. Who felt John had the ultimate reputation in religion and resented Christ’s greater popularity John 3:26. Who felt so strongly the need to preserve traditional interpretations of Jewish traditions that they sided with disciples of the leaders against Jesus Matthew 9:14-17. And, BY THE WAY, the Baptist’s influence continued to be felt in the Roman world when Paul evangelized Acts 13:24-25. It even led to the first case of a Baptist becoming a Christian only Acts 19:1-7. End Part X |
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|