A Place of Rest

We’ve seen the cartoon in which a stranded man is crawling along in the desert, dying of thirst, and he looks out and, there, in the distance, water and palm trees! He charges toward the oasis and dives into the refreshing water only to find that it was a mirage, a trick of the eyes that mistook the heat shimmering off the desert floor for a pool of water. Splat! Instead of a mouthful of water, a mouthful of sand.

An oasis is a geographical phenomenon where, in the midst of barrenness, there springs up a source of water capable of sustaining life. Oases are the way stations and resting places of ancient caravan routes. In his famous invitation, Jesus puts himself forward as a kind of oasis. In a landscape made barren by sin, he offers, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The invitation is to unite with Christ in a relationship in which he bears the burden of the law, as well as our sin and its consequences. It’s all of grace and we are blessed to be yoked to Jesus.

The church, in kind, needs to be an oasis; a place that offers Jesus’ promised rest. People weary from sin and overburdened by the world’s unrighteous expectations, need to know of the one who will take the burden from them. While this has always been an expectation for the church, in our day we need to particularly be an oasis for those struggling with same-sex attraction or who self-identify as gay. If their desire is to live in the manner that God desires, in our day they will not find the encouragement they need from those outside of the church. It is increasingly the case that they are not free to speak of their inner conflict for fear of a new form of Pharisaism, one practiced by those who embrace gay orthodoxy. Ironically, the church is the only place where they will hear that their desire to walk as God desires, while difficult, is good.

If we are to be a place of rest, however, then we need to search our hearts. Are we able to listen to the language of their struggle? Are we patient enough to bear with their habits and behaviors as they put of the old self and put on the new? To be an oasis we must reflect the love and mercy offered by the one who invites them to take his yoke upon them and learn from him. Those who come must not end up with a mouthful of sand when what they sought was water.

Forward-looking Faith

Living by faith is not easy. Let me clarify that statement. Living as though the future has a greater claim upon our lives than what confronts us on a daily basis is not easy. It has cost people their livelihood, even their lives. Yet, that’s what faith calls us to. We cannot see the future. We cannot feel the future. But we are to be assured that the future as God has envisioned it will come to pass, and faith says we must live now in the light of that truth.

Why is forward-looking faith so important? Because what awaits us -- what awaits all of us -- is the final shaking out of all that has transpired under the sun. All will come before God to give an account of their days, and the perfect judge will judge perfectly on that day. As he will know everything prior to our opening our mouths, it should be obvious that one’s only hope is to be found in Christ on that day, clothed in his perfect righteousness.

This future oriented perspective has the power to shape our daily existence. As Hebrews 11 and Psalm 37 outline, it enables us to push back against sin and the sinful, proclaim the gospel, persevere through trials, and even pass peacefully from this life to the next. For example, it empowered Noah to publicly bear witness to God’s word, Abraham to leave the known for the unknown, Joseph to confidently declare that the future God had promised his people would come to pass despite the evident strength of the present to deny it, Moses to identify with the people of God when blending in was a real option, and Samson to believe that past failings do not need to define future reality. Additionally, keeping our eyes focused on the Lord’s future we need not fear or envy the wicked. They may have power to trouble us in this life but they are powerless to separate us from the hope set before us; they may prosper on account of their wickedness but their temporal blessing will only bring eternal condemnation.

Living out forward-looking faith is not easy for the present seems so much more persuasive. But if we remind ourselves who holds the future and the reality he has promised, we will have strength to endure and possess the prize that awaits.

To Seek and to Save

Events that had been planned from eternity were about to unfold. Jesus, knowing that the “days drew near for him to be taken up,” had “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). That determination had brought him into proximity of the place that symbolized God’s presence among his people. Soon, despite the accolades that will accompany his entrance into Jerusalem, he will be rejected by the “righteous,” who should have been able to see him for who he was. They will remand him to be humiliated, tortured, and finally executed. Spiritual blindness was a persistent problem for Israel; now the malady would prove decisive. In a stroke of divine irony, however, a blind man will recognize him and an unrighteous man will welcome him.

Jesus proclamation that the “Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), reveals that the heart of his mission was to wrest from men and women any sense that they have no need of him. Men like Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, and Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector in the employ of Rome, were persuaded of this need, and when they heard that their savior was passing by, they laid hold of him.

Jesus’ encounters with these two men serve as a fitting exclamation point to his ministry prior to Holy Week. He had proclaimed his purposes early on in his hometown of Nazareth (see Luke 4:18-21) and he had been faithful in demonstrating that, as proclaimed, he had come “to seek and to save the lost.” That explanation of his work within the context of these two final encounters, places his entire enterprise within an eternal frame. The confession of Bartimaeus and the contriteness of Zacchaeus reveal faith in Jesus that saves them not only from earthly bondage but from eternal judgment as well.

Just after these encounters and prior to his ascent to Jerusalem, motivated by the misapprehension of many as to what was about to take place, Jesus relates a parable that warns of the consequences of not grasping who he is. The message: understand now and live accordingly, for when I return it will be too late. We are in that time period right now. It extends from the moment of his ascension until his reappearing. Pray that, like Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus, you will have ears to hear when the good news about Jesus is made known to you. The faith that will be engendered will result in eyes that will see him as the savior of the world.

Becoming Established

I think it not unlikely that when we hear that some one is involved in preaching the gospel we think of an evangelistic effort designed to bring someone to faith in Christ. Paul’s language from Romans 10 tracks along these lines: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved . . . But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” Yet, in this same letter, when writing to Christians, Paul speaks of the gospel being used by God in an additional way: “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ . . .” (16:25). This is what we considered on a recent Sunday: how the message the church preaches, the good news that God has acted to save us from his just condemnation, not only saves us, but also strengthens, or establishes, us.

The goal that God has for his children (and, therefore, the goal that we his children should have for ourselves) is that they would become increasingly mature and steadfast in the faith. According to the apostle, this requires that we not leave the foundational message of the church behind after having been brought into the church by it. God intends to use the reality framing truth that we are sinners saved by grace to continually shape our thinking, responses, motivations, and plans.

How does this work? Well, knowing that all you deserve is hell yet you have been given heaven, and this gift was not anything you earned or bargained for, should temper any temptation you might have to think of yourself more highly than you have a right to think. Such humility will do wonders for your relationships across the board! It will also allow you to be grateful for your successes rather than boastful. On the other hand, knowing that God has expressed his love so profoundly and concretely in giving his son to intervene on your behalf, and that at the cost of his son’s life, should allow you to rest in the knowledge that you are cherished by God even when everyone around you devalues you to the point of virtual non-existence and you are inclined to agree with their estimation. Either response, self-exaltation or self-denigration, will be tempered by a deepening appreciation for the gospel. The shedding of both of these mind sets, along with a host of others, will mark us out as mature, established, strong men and women of the faith. And the source for such transformation is the gospel.

Church 101

Do you belong to a church? You should. Associating with a particular church and involving yourself in the life of that community is the biblical norm. The thought that a Christian would consider him or herself a member of the body of Christ without joining a particular expression of Christ’s life, would have met with apostolic incredulity. Despite the widespread individualism found in the American church, membership in a particular congregation is basic. In truth, it’s beginner stuff -- Church 101.

Every scriptural figure or metaphor for the church depicts a relationship among believers that is inescapable and indivisible. Perhaps the most vivid in terms of the indivisibility and necessity of church belonging is when Paul likens the various members of the church to parts of a body: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ . . . For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you’ . . . Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12). The force of Paul’s argument challenges all expressions of go-it-alone individualism among the church of Jesus Christ.

Joining a church indicates a seriousness of pursuing Christ that is balanced and biblical. When you take on the challenge of being a Christian in community, you move from being a consumer to a contributor. Private expressions of faith and personal devotions are tools that the Lord will use to deepen one’s knowledge of him, but it is the hard work of living together as God’s people that will prove the most stretching. You bring your strengths and your weaknesses to the relationship and all those with whom you are in covenant will benefit. If you are not already in covenant with a group of biblically minded Christians, then prayerfully seek one out and join it. It’s what Jesus wants you to do.

Becoming Persuaded

It’s not unusual to receive a report from Open Doors or Voice of the Martyrs (organizations that monitor the persecution of Christians) about a woman or man who formerly would have identified as Muslim but has now converted to Christianity, being threatened with death unless he or she converts back to Islam. It's humbling to hear of the threatened brother or sister holding “fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23). Why would they rather die than yield up their belief in Christ? It can only be that they have become persuaded that faith in Christ is more valuable than even life itself.

Persuading people is at the heart of the gospel enterprise, while “point-of-the-sword” conversions, like the kind alluded to above, are anathema. Though the church has been guilty of promoting such spurious “conversions,” it was not the practice of the apostles and cannot be the practice of any gospel believing and preaching church.

The gospel is a message to be proclaimed and believed. Both activities engage the heart and mind. Coercive practices subjugate them.  A person might submit out of fear, but fear is not faith – and faith is what is called for by the good news.

In this vain, it’s important to acknowledge that Paul says that he could have “commanded” Philemon to receive Onesimus back but preferred to appeal to him (Philemon 8-9). This is because, I would suggest, Paul trusted the gospel way of getting things done. He wanted his friend to be personally persuaded that forgiveness, love, and reconciliation was the right course of action for a Christian. And being persuaded, he could meet the personal and societal challenges of such a turn of events with persevering faith.

So, whether it’s first coming to faith in Christ or pressing on in the new life set before us, being persuaded as to the goodness of the person, purposes, and power of God is key. Without being convinced of these things we will not joyously follow Christ out of love and faith. Our hearts will lack ardor and our faith will prove tentative and, as we will be prone to doubts and fears, the ability to confess, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) will not be ours.  The best we will be able to offer him is grudging, reluctant, and timid obedience.

Invitation to Grow

Koinonia, a Greek word that has rich meaning for the Christian. It stands for the reality that in Christ believers, bound together by our faith in Jesus, are called to mutual participation and identification with other believers. As N. T. Wright instructs: “The idea that we need to grasp . . . is that, in Christ, Christians not only belong to one another but actually become mutually identified, truly rejoicing with the happy and genuinely weeping with the sad . . . Koinonia is part of the truth about the body of Christ. All are bound together in a mutual bond that makes our much-prized individualism look shallow and petty.”

In theory, koinonia is noble. In practice, it is difficult. Followers of Jesus are brought into the body of Christ by the electing grace of God. As a result, we find ourselves in fellowship with people that we might not normally gravitate towards, and once in relationship we are called to maintain that relationship, sometimes at great cost. But if we are willing to pay the price, there is great reward.

This is what Paul was assuring Philemon when he asked him to receive back into his household Onesimus, his runaway slave, newly converted. Paul knew that this would be challenging for Philemon. But if his friend would fully embrace the implications of koinonia he would grow to understand in a deeper way what it means to be in fellowship with Christ and Christ’s people. Wright’s paraphrase of Philemon 6 is to the point, “I am praying that the mutual participation, which is proper to the Christian faith you hold, may have its full effect in your realization of every good thing that God wants to accomplish in us to lead us into the fullness of Christian fellowship, that is, of Christ.”

So, those folks with whom you worship each Sunday, you are bound to them in Christ. You are called, therefore, to koinonia, mutually identifying and participating in life with them for they, too, have been reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. In humility, work out your differences; in generosity, rejoice when they rejoice; with empathy, join them in their sorrow; in love for Christ, serve beside them in his kingdom. In this way we will all mature, until we “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).