Declaration of Dependence

So 4th of July is comming here! Woo! So with that I'm also studying as a Greek minor right now and as I was doing some exercises just now trying to keep my chops up over the summer, I was translating Matthew 17:1-5. Here's how it reads...

"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (ESV)

I was looking back on it and I couldn't help but ask God, "How could you love me and call ME your son? I'm not perfect! I'm not good 100% I am BAD in my heart of hearts! There's selfishness, moments where my life doesn't match what I say, pride, impurity..." As I was on this rant to God, it was in an instant that the obvious was made obvious to my dense brain and really Savior-needy heart.

When God said to Peter, James and his brother John, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," and yet (as they would see with their own eyes) a few pages later allowed Him to be crushed and killed through the most shameful of all deaths in the Roman world, a cross there seems to be some SERIOUS contradiction going on here!

Merinading in this and thinking about a few more pages later, this vocal loving-on-Jesus by God showed that the beloved and well-pleasing Son was treated and punished by God, just through humans, as an enemy, unpleasing, sinful object of God's wrath so that those who were not beloved and were not pleasing to God would now be beloved and well-pleasing.

What's even more is that in the sight of God, no one can earn their way to be in a beloved well-pleasing relationship to God. We're not judged by God based on what we do or do not do because one way or another, we just are sinners. It is NOT by our own efforts, or our own charity fund-raisers or own being a good person but by the only man who God ever called, "my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased" yet killed him and slaughtered him like a lamb at the butcher shop.

So with amazed gratitude I believe this and will continue to declare with the grace God gives me my declaration of independence from myself and pethetic desperation and dependence on Jesus the Messiah alone for my true freedom. Through Him alone are we made beloved and well pleasing...it is finished :)

These Old Fishing Nets

I'll never forget hearing from CU's president, Joe Stowell, a sermon on the last part of the Gospel of John. I say that b/c I wanna give thanks to God for the men and women He uses to shape my life. Any ways, here's what comes back to me months later in light of recent run-in's with relationships, good n easy things I used to do, and not-bad but not-the-best activities God called me out of to pursue His call on my life in serving the Church...

"Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." (John 21:3 ESV)

Fishing was where Jesus called Peter from to "become a fisher of men" (Mark 1:17) Fishing was not a bad thing by any means. No doubt, it was good! It brought home the bacon...the lamb chops in the disciples case b/c they were Jews and didn't eat pork... it provided a service for the community as a grocery item, it was what their fathers did as a little boys and taught them how to do when they were little boys and that they too were to eventually pass on as the family trade... it was their element! They could catch fish in their sleep if they wanted to! But not this time.

God did not call them to be fishers of fish but fishers of men...to catch people into God's Kingdom, God's reign in their lives, awe, faith and trust in God's consuming grace and mercy and forgiveness! Though they had saw Jesus already crucified and had seen Him already gloriously resurrected from that horrifying death, something kept them from believing they were called any more.

Peter had denied his association with Jesus 3 times while Jesus was still on trial to get crucified. Add to it that Peter in his youthful passion vowed to Jesus, “Lord…I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37) makes one guilt-heavy young man. Ever been there?

Yet, because God made clear that He was well-pleased with only Jesus and called only Jesus His beloved Son (John 16:5) He punished Him through humans as if He was a stench of sin, unpleasing and hated in our place so we could now be forgiven for all we have done against God, are doing against God, and will do against God. Peter didn't get this until later on. Jesus asked Peter 3 times (coincidence? no!) "Do you love me?...Feed/tend my sheep/lambs." Peter caught His drift so much that he broke down sobbing, and he was forgiven and charged with an even greater calling!

The comfortable, seemingly secure, and easy "old fishing nets" you once tossed out with your dad at work as a kid seem to be a perfect place to retreat to when you've denied Christ, when the cross He calls you to carry makes you trip, when you run in to your old buddies you once used to toss it out with. But like Peter, Christ has restored you at His own expense.

Rather than taking up our “old fishing nets,” God help us when we hear you say, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26, ESV)

How Do the Homeless Show that God is Good?

Here's a conversation I had with a friend of mine that I thought would be of worth to share with all b/c I enjoy and appreciate this man's mind that asks good Q's and challenges me a follower of my Master, Jesus Christ. Here was his Q in response to me saying that the homeless show God's goodness.

James: "What exactly about the homeless speaks the Lord's goodness?"

Me: "From what I undestand in the Bible the homeless showcase God's goodness in that they are who God holds dearest and nearest to His heart. Because of this they are who He desires that His people would honor, love, and provide care for in His Kingdom...they're the greatest in His eyes not the least...
...If God is as great and glorious and powerful as the Bible says He is and then for Him to have the homeless be who His affections are so deeply directed towards and who He desires to serve, that makes my jaw drop b/c that's not how humans tend to think. We tend to be the opposite...get greatness, get glory, get power then get the hell away from the homeless. That's not God's way. He is good even though tragically a lot of times His people aren't...

...God spoke it clearest through His servant James,

"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (James 1:22)

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." (James 1:27)

...That's how the homeless show God is good. It's pretty amazing, really."

My friend James pushed back,

"So let me ask you this: would the eradication of homelessness represent a moral evil? Which is to say, working toward affordable housing for all, as a lot of ministries do."

Here's my response...

"Logic would say, 'If the homeless show the goodness of God then the removal of them and their state of living would be evil and therefore we should leave them and homelessness be.' However, St. Paul spoke on this issue in the context of discussing sin. Some Christians had this thought that if they sin more then they're showing God's goodness more because He is gracious and forgiving and therefore can show more grace and forgiveness. But that is a perverted use of His grace and forgiveness. We are given grace and given forgiveness that we may live joyfully righteous in response...

...St. Paul told the Roman Christians in a letter God's Spirit inspired him to write, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!" (Romans 5:20-6:2) So I'll piggy back on that and say shall we leave the homeless be and forsake them that God's goodness may be showcased? By no means! May the abundance we have be the portion that the homeless glean from."

Thanks so much James! I appreciate you very much n hope this will point you to deep affection and joy in God, ultimately through Christ :)