The "Greatness" Answer

Luke 9:47-48
⁴⁷ And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, ⁴⁸ and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”

The central problem presented in these verses is that the competitive desire for comparative greatness seems to be ingrained in the human psyche and may even be biological.  Competition seems to be an inescapable part of the human experience.  Even in the presence of their Master, the disciples debated among themselves who should be the greatest.  In Jesus’ response, He did not condemn them directly for their desire or debate, but he showed them that true greatness – μέγας; megas – was not in superior assignment, position, or accomplishments, but was having and living in a closer likeness of heart to Jesus Christ, their Lord.

Jesus demonstrated this with a child whom he placed beside Him saying that “whoever shall receive a child in My name will receive Me and thereby receive the My Father.”  Interestingly, the word Jesus used for receive is δέχομαι; dechomai – “to take with the hand, therefore to take into one’s own possession.”  I see this as what we would say in today’s idiom “to open one’s heart” or “to take to one’s heart.”  In other words, to receive a child in Jesus’ name was to take that child who could do nothing for the disciple and in whom no particular credit or esteem might lie – to take this “nothing” to one’s heart because these children are the ones to whom Jesus had opened His heart.

Following that discussion, Luke includes another illustration of greatness, what we might call “group greatness.”  The situation came about because John saw someone casting out demons in Jesus name, but because he was not of the “disciple group,” John took exception to this man’s use of Jesus name and basically told the man to stop.  Herein lies one of the most serious problems in churches today, the attitude of exclusivity of ministry.  What had happened among the disciples was what happens so often in churches.  The disciples believed that they and they alone had the right to work in Jesus name – after all they were the ones who had paid the price to spend so much time with Him and had learned so much, or so they thought.  In the same way our attitudes degenerate to the place where we believe that what our group, church, or denomination does and the way we do it is not only the best way to serve Christ, it is the only way to serve Christ.  Anyone or any community of believers that is not part of our “group” is not only less a servant of Christ, they are actually unworthy of service to Him, and they might even be evil.

Lord, I do not or should not seek for greatness for myself in Thy service; I ask only that I will show Thy heart and open my hands and heart to all whom You would draw to Yourself.  May I also gladly and humbly serve alongside all those who serve Thee.

Coram deo

The Value of Being Lost

Luke 9:24
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

These verses contain a great wealth of truth and richness, but I feel compelled to focus on only one verse today.  Verse 24 states simply that the economy and reality of the Kingdom of Heaven is completely opposite from human expectations and understanding.  In seeking to save one’s life, one loses it, but losing one’s life for Christ sake saves it.

Central to this statement is the word translated “life.”  It is the Greek word – ψυχή psychē – literally breath; thus one’s life, soul.  The word encompasses that which is the essence of one’s person and being.  This word is used predominately in the Gospels and used by Jesus to describe that part of man which exists beyond physical death, thus one’s soul.

In the economy of the Kingdom, only those things done by the King or for Him will last.  All self-effort and personal works done in one’s own strength or for one’s own sake will fail and vanish.  Why is this so hard to see?  I struggle with this daily looking at what I do , what I can do, and what I ought to do as if the doing on my own has some merit or value, when the truth is that I must cast these “doings” into His hands, let Him direct my will, and in obedience to His will, I must spend myself.  That is losing my soul for His sake, and in that loss, He keeps me.

The difficulty lies not in my understanding of the truth of what Jesus said, but in the residual, nagging belief that in my own effort and intelligence, there lies some goodness that makes my ideas of what is best and right equal if not superior to what Jesus has planned for me.  I know this is the oldest lie of the devil, but it still finds a home in my self-will and sinful nature.  Know this, Paul commanded me to daily make myself the sacrifice and burn up that self-will as an offering to Him who alone is True and Good and Worthy.

Coram deo

Where Is Your Faith?

"Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galileee" -
Rembrandt van Rijn

Luke 8:25 But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

This incident of Jesus and His disciples in the storm is simple in its setting and details, but it is filled with importance.  The disciples were with Jesus in a boat crossing the Galilee at His instruction, and Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat.  A wind storm came up and the waves began to fill the boat with water.  The disciples realized that the situation was critical, awakened Jesus and said, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”  Jesus got up, rebuked the waves and the wind, and said, “Where is your faith?”

 I need to keep in mind the people involved in this event.  In the boat were at least four professional fishermen who had lived and made their livelihood on this body of water.  Most of the other disciples were from that region and would be familiar with the lake and its potential dangers.  These were not men to panic in adversity, nor would they be unskilled in handling a boat in rough weather.  When the Scripture states that they said they were in jeopardy, these men knew what they were talking about and had accurately evaluated the situation.  When they awakened Jesus and said, “We are perishing,” they fully expected the boat to sink.  This was not just an emotional response, but they gave a warning based on what seemed like a hopeless situation.

I believe that the sternness of Jesus’ rebuke for the disciples was not based on their expectation of disaster, but it was His response to the fact that when the disciples said, “we are perishing (sinking),” they included Jesus in the “we.”  The disciples might be excused because, this occurred before the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus’ walking on the water.  However, they had seen Jesus turn water to wine (John 2) and raise the dead (Luke 7), but the disciples had not yet come to accept that Jesus was the Christ, God come in flesh, regardless of all that Jesus had said and done.  Still they should have known that Jesus was the Anointed One and had power to manage every situation for the glory of God.

To the disciples warning of impending disaster, Jesus replied simply, “Where is your faith?”  I have to stop here in the narrative, because I see too many parallels to the weak faith of the church and among Christians today.  These disciples assessed their situation from their own efforts and experience and found it hopeless.  The spiritual problem was that they saw Jesus as only another victim of their hopelessness.  Now let’s pull this kind of situation forward in time to the 21^st Century.  We work hard to handle the situations and difficulties of life, we know our limitations and failures, and we may even accept responsibility for the problems we are in.  We do all we can to fix the situation with self-help studies and church programs and meeting and rebranding and deeper relationships and committees and transparency and whatever the current church fad may be.  The trouble is that we see Jesus as just another victim of our circumstances not the Creator of all things and Master of the “unchangeable.”  Too many of us have not internalize the “theology” we claim nor do we trust the Lord we say we serve.  Our 21^st Century church with all its programs contains no more faith than that old, leaky boat on the 1^st Century Galilee.  We do not have enough faith to see God eternal having a direct hand in our situation, and we do not trust Him for the outcome.

Coram deo