No Ordinary Thaw

Here’s an excerpt from a story some CHILDREN wrote a number of years ago. Unexplained really. See if you can “make the connection.” Breath-taking and stunning at the same time if you can “catch on to” the implications in the allegory.

Background: The story is fictitious non-fiction. That is the period and many events in the story are non-fictitious, but told from the stand-point of fictitious characters. The excerpt is of a fictitious character, Ezra, speaking with the non-fictitious character in Jesus’ day, Jairus, the synagogue ruler:

Ezra sighed, “I do wish father could have come. We both have yearned to see and worship at the temple again,” Ezra paused as he stared into the crackling fire, “and to sit under the teaching and guidance of the scribes and Pharisees.” He leaned back on his hands and looked up into the stars. “Jairus, my father specifically asked me to see what the leaders in Jerusalem say about Jesus—whether He is the Messiah or not. The teachers of the law know the Scriptures well. Surely when they meet and hear Jesus, they will listen to and acknowledge the words He speaks. Don’t you think?”

In a clear, serious tone Jairus spoke, “Oh, Ezra, I’ve heard our leaders speak many times in the temple. I’ve seen them worship and carry out their duties. Some do seem to have a heart for God, and yes, some may listen. But many live only external lives, desiring mainly to be seen of men. Some do care about the law and about doing everything right, but they seem to never yield their hearts. They hold that our traditions are equally as important as God’s commands. In fact, I don’t think some can tell the difference anymore!” Jairus shook his head and gazed into the flames.

Startled by what Jairus was saying, Ezra asked, “You don’t think some can tell what difference anymore?”

“The difference between the traditions established by our fathers and God’s own commands,” Jairus repeated carefully.

“Give me an example.” Ezra could feel a slight apprehension rising in his heart.

Jairus waited a moment before he responded. “All right, Ezra. We could talk about the thousands of ‘extra’ interpretations and explanations by mere men. We could discuss the mighty grand Sanhedrin and how an invention of man has become ‘Yahweh’s Voice’—or men wish it so. We could discuss Saul and the King’s administrative positions and rule versus Samuel’s God-given rule of anointing—man wants impressive stature and postion while God wants heart and spirit. There are hundreds of examples that few today ever question. It seems we are drunk on our traditions and too fearful to ask, ‘Why?’! But now, shall we consider the synagogues?”
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Been listening to Francis Chan lately. I really like this guy’s heart. He’s a real person without a doubt. Here are some quotes from his Crazy Love book we’re reading with some others right now. Something to think about:

It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.

In the United States, “numbers” impress us. We gauge the success of an event by how many people “attend” or “come forward.” We measure “churches” by how many “members” they boast. We are “wowed” by big crowds. Jesus questioned the authenticity of this kind of record keeping. According to the account in Luke 8, when a crowd started following Him, Jesus began speaking in parables so that those who WEREN’T genuinely listening, WOULDN’T “get it.” When crowds gather today, speakers are extra conscious of communicating in a way that is accessible to everyone. Speakers [today] don’t use Jesus’ [truth and righteousness and wisdom] to eliminate people who are not sincere seekers.

The fact is… He just wasn’t interested in those who fake it.

The American church is a difficult place to fit in if you want to live out New Testament Christianity. The goals of American Christianity are often a “nice marriage,” children who “don’t swear,” and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is RARELY considered. That’s for the “radicals” who are “unbalanced” and who “go overboard.” Most of us want a balanced life that WE control, that is “safe,” and does not involve suffering.

(all emphasis mine)

That approach and Wisdom is not something we see exhibited around us, is it? How is it that Jesus is the most loving person who ever lived, and we think we have a “better way” than Him? That we actually “love people” more than Him by our accommodation and compromise of the true gospel — and therefore our MISrepresentation of who He really is, and also therefore, in effect, our altering of the gospel? Jesus purposefully told people, “Shhh! Don’t tell anyone I told you this!” He purposefully spoke in parables to keep the pretenders and the people who wanted Jesus only for His perceived “benefits” (to themselves) from truly understanding Him. Can you imagine? He purposefully told people when He did miracles on a number of occasions, “Don’t tell anyone I did this,” “Don’t tell anyone what you just saw here.” Can you imagine?
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I normally don’t post twice in one day (or even in one week), but this was so totally jaw-droppingly real — when I read it, was like “YYYYEEEESSS!!!” — I had to post this today. Just terrific:

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough… It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daises alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

–G.K. Chesterton

Man, if that doesn’t just tickle you to the bone, if that doesn’t just resonate with you as “Yeeessss!!” I don’t know what will.

There actually is a progression of Spiritual Life that John alludes to in 1 John 2 that depicts our lives spiritually as progressing from children, then fathers, THEN Young Men. He wrote it twice to make sure we wouldn’t miss it. The spiritual progression of men and women is from childhood to fathers/mothers (taking responsibility in God’s house) THEN to Young Men and Women — warrior/priests who are absolutely taking it to satan and busting him in the chops (1 John 2:12-14).

The progression is toward who God is. And God is Young.

Related

• Children, Fathers, Young Men

An email passed on:

From: Don

Now, as always, God reveals Himself to “babes” and hides himself in thick darkness from the wise and prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood if we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than the life and love — of, in, through, and to God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-”and” effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the “and” lies our great woe. If we omit the “and”, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.

–A.W. Tozer

Because the pursuit of only God is the pursuit of the One Thing — the One Person — who will require the most expansion our hearts. Everything and anything else will not require the same amount of space and our space polluted with other things leaves less than the optimal space for Him (John 8:37).

I was shown this full page ad today that someone recently took out in a New Zealand newspaper:

Dear Christians: I am a Christian, and I am going to be real with you.

Brothers and sisters, “Christianity,” as our experience and history show, is a lie. [He simply means that what we commonly call "Christianity" today... isn't. Not that the Truth of Christianity itself is a lie, but simply how it's being expressed and represented as God's Heart and Mind... is a lie.] Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, and He prayed that all His followers would be One. God answered Jesus’ prayer… but since Acts something’s gone seriously amiss. Jesus said a divided kingdom would fall. Christianity’s history proves its nature: competing for members, money, power and prestige using worldly methods and systems and measuring success against worldly standards. This is not Jesus’ Kingdom any more than its 10,000 schisms equal One Faith. This is not “one love, one mind, one heart, one accord.” This kingdom is Babylon and her daughters. King Jesus isn’t schizophrenic.

The Old Testament foreshadowed our times. God raised up many saviours to Israel: Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel; but upon each of their deaths the people fell away. The apostles of Jesus guided their generation, but upon their deaths the people fell away. For those with ears that hear, the last eighteen centuries correspond to Israel’s Babylonian captivity, at the end which God called His people back home to Jerusalem. He is calling His people home again today. That stirring energy deep inside — if you feel it — what is it?
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From a recent email encouragement and book excerpt:

What was the “church life” like in AD 30-70? It was identical, really, to the “disciples’ life” during the last three years of Jesus’ physical existence. That experience of intimate fellowship had simply been transplanted geographically to the cities and villages of the Roman Empire.

According to Luke, the gospel that he wrote described what Jesus “began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). The book of Acts, then, was what Jesus continued to do and teach, after His ascension. This time He was “doing and teaching” through His people, the ekklesia.

First century believers, then, saw themselves as continuing the life that the earliest followers had enjoyed with Jesus on the hills and highways of Galilee and Judea. They were still His spiritual family, “seated in a circle around Him” (Mark 3:34). They still hung on His every word. They still built their lives on the foundation of putting those words into practice. Acts 2:42-49 is really only a description of several thousand people putting Matthew 5-7 into practice together.

The “religion” of Christianity is in truth only meant to be the “religion” of Jesus. It is nothing more — and certainly nothing less.
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If nothing else, you should see the incredible video attached to this at the end, but…

I’ve been contemplating a thought for a while now. Deeply disturbed for years at the prevailing views so easily foisted upon us by the enemy — so quick we are to cry “foul!” and to approach so many things with a “What’s the big deal?!” posture… Surely we are not to live anxiously or with some kind of unhealthy paranoia. But yet at the same time, a more healthy suspicion of our world would go a long way. The problem really seems to ultimately lay in the cost that is associated with sacrifice which our flesh inherently detects and rebels against.

For those interested in antidotes against these kinds of things — “[we fight] with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” stated Paul (2 Corinthians 6:6 NIV) — I’d like to offer one: Eternal Perspective. In fact, the context of that entire passage in 2 Corinthians 6 is all about Eternal Perspective because there is no way Paul nor anyone else would undergo all of what is mentioned in that passage without it.

Eternal Perspective is one of the greatest weapons against what the enemy throws at us. What is Eternal Perspective? It’s essentially seeing things just as God sees them. From the perspective of time, God is able to stand back and look down on time. He sees the past. He sees the present. He sees the future. According to Ephesians 2, “we’re seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.” Anyone who sees and experiences this as a Spiritual Reality is properly positioned to see time as God sees it. We should be able to “step back” and view past history applied to the present with some discrimination and see the future with anticipation and hope as a result of how we view the past and the present.

What does this mean? What’s the application? For one, it should help us with many things that the world, which has been “blinded by the god of this age” cannot see nor if they could would they accept. The picture that Hollywood paints is accepted. The “cultural norms” of today — and this could be any of a myriad of things concerning dress, modesty, morality, what is called “arts and sciences,” what is presented to us as “professional” or “expert,” etc. — are generally accepted as they are presented. What was considered immodest in 1920 is laughed at today. What is considered normative from the standpoint of celebrations, holidays, shopping, books, entertainment, games, technology, etc. is always presented as right and okay and innocuous.
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The “Letting Go” or “Let Go” theme has been a major emphasis in my personal life for the last year and God has worked in huge and “hard” ((to the flesh) ways all year long on this. I got this in my inbasket just as I was about to pull out the book Let Go and read a little bit more from it this afternoon before some chores. I don’t know if God could highlight something any better even if He came down and spoke audibly to me. Just slapped by it:

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13)

It is the Will of God that human beings should get into moral relationship with Him, and His covenants are for this purpose. Why does not God save me? He has saved me, but I have not entered into relationship with Him. Why does not God do this and that? He has done it, the point is — Will I step into covenant relationship? All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant.

Waiting for God is incarnate unbelief, it means that I have no faith in Him; I wait for Him to do something in me that I may trust in that. God will not do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man has to go out of himself in his covenant with God as God goes out of Himself in His covenant with man. It is a question of faith in God – the rarest thing; we have faith only in our feelings. I do not believe God unless He will give me something in my hand whereby I may know I have it, then I say — “Now I believe.” There is no faith there. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved.”

When I have really transacted business with God on His covenant and have let go entirely, there is no sense of merit, no human ingredient in it at all, but a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and the whole thing is transfigured with peace and joy.

-Oswald Chambers (emphasis mine)

An encouragement sent from a sister in another state who is standing strong in the midst of a lot of trials:

When people realize it is the living God you are presenting [and] not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. –Jesus (from The Message)

The apostle Paul said “Curses on you if all men speak well of you.” If everyone likes you… if every unsaved or merely religious person in your physical family has absolutely no problems with you… maybe it’s not the Living God you are re-presenting to them at all? “A student is not above his Teacher.” If it’s God we’re truly re-presenting, there should be some people who hate it… and therefore hate the re-presenter. Even from your own physical family. According to Jesus. If not? Then we have to rightly question whether we’re truly representing Him.

It’s interesting that for a lot of people, we feel if we’ve “upset” someone that THAT somehow proves we are “unloving” and unlike Jesus. But in fact, it may actually be the ABSENCE of people being upset with us that proves we’re not really following and properly representing Him. I’m not talking about “provoking people” unnecessarily. LOVE THEM. And then watch in astonishment as they are upset with you and hate you in return. Not everyone responds positively when you try to “snatch them from the fire.” In fact, most don’t.

Remember… It only took 3 years for most people to get so completely fed up with the most loving Man who ever lived, that they eventually slaughtered Him like some farm animal in that short span of time. Isaiah says that by the time they went to put the nails in His hands, He was unrecognizable. :-(

Another alpha-numeric page of thought and encouragement I received in email form yesterday that has probably zoomed halfway around the world already… Shared here because it was well… good:

SELF CONTROL: FAITH, HOPE and LOVE
(an alpha-numeric communication amongst many Saints…)

So WHY did Paul, given the chance to speak to a king about Jesus, decide in the Spirit to speak to Felix of “righteousness, SELF CONTROL, and the Judgment to come”? (Acts 24:25)

What does “SELF CONTROL” have to do with anything — other than losing weight or other forms of difficult restraint? Surely we “buffet our bodies daily” and we “make our bodies our slaves” to the praise of His Glory. But, what is SO significant about SELF CONTROL that Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would use such a limited and rare opportunity before the nations and its kings to speak of SELF CONTROL?

Self Control is far from some isolated “good character attribute” of athletes and Pharisees.
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