Hey Jesus! Don't You Care that We are Dying?

I'm having a little crisis of faith right now. The Lord spoke to me about developing a seminar called "Dying to Live." So far the response from the pastors I have spoken to has not been overwhelming!

Have you ever been doing what you believe the Lord told you to do, and then encountered obstacles and setbacks that made you wonder if you really were doing the right thing? Of course, we all have. Then we begin to doubt whether we really heard Him. Our doubt exposes our lack of faith.

In three of the gospels, we read the story of Jesus sleeping in the bow of the boat while the disciples were being tossed about in a stormy sea. They awoke Jesus and said “don’t you care that we are dying?” I bet that’s how you feel sometimes when you are in the middle of a trial! You are struggling for life and death, and Jesus seems nowhere to be found!

Let me back up to the beginning of the story. Jesus says, “Let’s go over to the other side.” In Luke’s account (ch. 8), it says they “launched out.” The words suggest energy, a determined state of mind. In Matthew’s account (ch. 8), it says “Jesus got into the boat, and the disciples followed Him.” Again the word suggests agreement and participation. Determinedly, they set out: they are all going to “the other side.”

But then something unexpected happens—a storm threatens not only the success of their trip, but even their lives. They awaken Jesus and with a tone of accusation: (what? Did they perceive Him to be careless or passive) “Don’t you care that we are dying?” You know the rest of the story: Jesus rebukes the wind; the seas calm immediately. Then Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith. Why? Because Jesus had already told them they were going to the other side. If Jesus has called you to do something, you can be sure it will be done. But you can also expect that there will a few obstacles along the way, even some severe and threatening storms. But rest assured. If Jesus says you are going to the “other side,” you ARE going to the “other side.” You will get to the promised destination. Our faith is proven through these storms: "by faith and patience we receive the promises of God" (Heb 6:12).

Pay Attention to What You Eat!

There is an article in the SF Chronicle today (also on the Network News last night) that scientists have “discovered” through various studies that it doesn’t matter what kind of diet you may be on, what ultimately matters is how many calories you eat. Now there’s a big ‘duh’ isn’t it!? … And adding insult to injury, the study was probably tax-payer subsidized!!

I’ve known for years that I had to watch my calories. But recently, I met with a cardiologist (since I have a history of heart problems in my family—and I am now 60) and he put me on ‘bad’ cholesterol-reducing medicine and told me to begin monitoring my blood pressure. As a result, I find I am paying even more attention to what I eat (no more salt, no more canned food) and even less red meat than before.

God is interested in what I eat too. He says ‘man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.’ In the wilderness, God fed the Hebrews with manna. Centuries later, Jesus said the manna from heaven was a symbol of Him, as he referred to himself as the bread which came down from heaven. Then Jesus made such an outrageous statement that many of His disciples actually stopped following Him. He said “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Of course we understand that Jesus was, again, speaking in symbolic terms that man cannot survive spiritually on natural/physical food but needs spiritual food to have real life. Seems to me, Jesus was saying “pay attention to what you eat.”

When you have tried to diet, you know that if you cut down your calories too quickly, you were hungry, and then tempted to eat the wrong kinds of food. Successful eaters know it is better to eat enough ‘good’ food so that they are less likely to be hungry for, or craving, the ‘bad’ stuff. So it is with our spiritual appetite. Maybe you are not eating properly (the bread of life, God’s Word) because you are full from eating from the world’s banquet of pleasures. (Or perhaps I should say from the world’s trough!)

Adam and Eve ate the wrong food and died. If you and I eat the right food, we live. I encourage you to pay attention to what you are eating!

What are You Paying Attention to?

Paul said we should "set out minds on things above, not the things on earth" (Colossians 3). OK. Sounds like a good plan, but how?! Every day there are so many things that pull my attention toward the earth, keeping me earthbound. Come on! You know exactly what I am talking about...Sometimes it is really just the business of my life on earth; sometimes, though they are relationships. We all have people in our lives whose minds are very much set on earthly things, and they try to influence us to dwell on the earthy things. How do we have relationships like this without being unduly influenced by them?

Paul says in Romans 6:16 "don't you know that whatever you obey you become a slave to--whether a slave to unrighteousness or a slave to righteousness?" The word "obey" can be translated "pay attention to." It comes from the root word to "hear." When Jesus says His sheep "hear" His voice, He means they obey Him. The word for obey is simply the prefix "huper" or we might say 'super' plus the word "hear." Obeying is simply "super-hearing" or really "paying attention to" something or someone. It could also be translated "heed."

So how do I avoid becoming drawn into or becoming a 'slave' to the earthly things and earthly influences? I don't pay attention to them. I can see them; I can hear them; and I am certainly aware of them. But I do not pay undue attention to these things.

By God's grace, I am learning to pay more attention to the 'unseen' things of God, walking by faith, not by sight. The writer of Hebrews (2:1) says we should "pay much closer attention to the things we have heard..." As a counselor, I know that the primary reason people get stuck in the old ways is that they continue to pay far more attention to the "old" than to the "new," that it, their present realities in Christ.

Satisfied Longings

In more than 25 years as a counselor, I can tell you that every one of my counselee’s problems found its root in an unmet longing. We all feel a longing in our hearts for intimacy, to be connected on a deep level with family and friends. And when this longing goes unmet, feelings of isolation and loneliness, even depression, control our lives.

Perhaps you have not realized that these longings are your primal desire for our heavenly Father--there by God's design. Who better than David expresses this longing of our hearts for Father love? "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have beheld You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory, because your loving-kindness is better than life…as the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God" (Psalm 63:1-2; 42:1).

But listen to this: GOD also LONGS for us. Isaiah‘s words in 30:18, express the heart of our Father God: "…the Lord longs to be gracious to you…He waits on high to have compassion on you…how blessed are those who long for Him."
Forgetting that our “natural” longings are really longings for God, we try to satisfy them by earthly means. But they are not easily satisfied, are they?

How can our longings be satisfied? By delighting in God (Psalm 37), seeking Him, seeking to please Him, and avoiding anything that chills our passion toward Him. God says: "I love those who love Me, and those who diligently seek me will find me" (Proverbs 17). And we must watch our hearts to root out anything of self-love. Remember: Jesus warned in the latter days, "the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).

What Do You See?

When Adam and Eve sinned, their “eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” Their view of themselves, of God, and of their environment changed from holy to profane, from eternal to temporal, from spiritual to material.

So it is not surprising when Paul prays for the Ephesians that the eyes of their hearts will be opened so they can see the heavenly things again—no longer “earthbound," focused on temporal and material things. When our eyes are opened to see as God does, these eternal things of the Spiritual realm become more real to us than the things which are temporal and material. You "see" by faith, (not sight). You see God's purposes in all your circumstances. You see God's opportunities in everything. Through God's eyes you view people, whom you formerly found hard to like, with compassion and kindness. You see sin and how horrible its consequences are. And you will hate sin all the more because it prevents you from seeing all of this, focusing you once again on yourself and all that in the earthly realm!!

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Self-Improvement or Self-Annihilation

Jesus said that no-one would be able to follow Him, unless he would deny himself and take up his cross daily (Luke 9:23). Paul speaks of it as "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus" (2 Cor.4:10). He meant of course that as Jesus died to his own will (“I do nothing of my own will, but I always do the will of my Father) so we too must never do anything of our own will. We cannot simply change our will; we must die to self-willfulness.
Jesus once spoke of those who seek to patch up an old garment with a new patch; He said the new fabric would tear the garment. This is called SELF-IMPROVEMENT! What was needed, Jesus said, was to get rid of the old garment and get a brand new one. This is the lesson: The old man (born from Adam) cannot be improved. He was crucified by God in Christ (Romans 6:6). It is not a change; it is an exchange. We have to exchange our will for His, the self-life for the Christ life!

God is not to be thought of as a psychologist whose goal for us is self-improvement; God does not take our life in Adam and make it better. He makes it deader. By our co-crucifixion, we are already dead to sin (once for all), but by our “daily” cross-bearing, we are dying to “self.” What freedom it brings; now we can live in the ‘newness of life’ Jesus gives us as a result of our co-resurrection! (Romans 6:4)

Think of this: dead man do not get angry or anxious or depressed. Dead to sin and dying to self, we are able to experience the life of Christ energizing us (2 Corinthians 4:11).

The Alternative Gospel in America

I have just begun reading "Christless Christianity, the Alternative Gospel of the American Church," by Michael Horton. This book speaks volumes to my concern (albeit indirectly) about the cross-less message of Joel Osteen.

When I began this “dyingtolive” blog on December 27, 2008, my first post was called “Let’s talk about Joel Osteen.” I wanted to use this venue to illuminate and expose the false teaching of Joel Osteen to those who think him to be harmless. In my view, anyone who has the largest church and TV audience in the world, and whose teaching minimizes the saving work of God through Jesus Christ, and is called “the most influential Christian in America," cannot be considered harmless.

However, today I am announcing I will no longer focus my conversations on exposing the half-truths of Joel Osteen. Having searched the internet these past few months, I am satisfied there are enough people already doing that. From this point on, I will use this blog to share the multi-faceted “dying-to-live-abundant-life” truths that I love so much.

However, having said that, please allow me to share with you some writings from Michael Horton’s book that truly capture the essence of the problem confronting the American church today, and which is easily summed up in the teachings of Joel Osteen.

In this Alternative Gospel, Michael Horton points out: “everything is measured by our happiness rather than by God’s holiness, [and] the sense of our being sinners becomes secondary, if not offensive.” The Alternative Gospel tells its followers they are truly “good people who have lost [their] way, but with the proper instructions and motivation can become a better person,” in effect making the need for Jesus’ work of redemption in our lives irrelevant. In fact, Horton says, by “assimilating the gospel to [our] felt needs, we end up saying very little that the world could not hear from Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, or Oprah,” … “focusing the conversation on us—our desires, needs, feelings, experience, activity, and aspirations—it energizes us.

"Aside from the packaging," Horton says, "there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups."

And the quote from Horton's book which I find most compelling as we examine the message of Joel Osteen is this one:

“God is not denied but trivialized—God exists for the pleasure of humankind. He resides in the heavenly realm solely for our utility and benefit...as a personal shopper for the props of our life movie: happiness as entertainment, [and] salvation as therapeutic well-being."

Making God in Our Own Image

Again, I have been thinking about what it means that we are created in the image of God, and it occurs to me that what self-centered men and women do is to turn it around and make God into their image. They imagine God to be someone who fits their idea, meets their ideal, and fulfills their dreams and ambitions. The “heathens” do this with their gods, but perhaps it never occurred to us we can be guilty of this too. And when God doesn’t meet our “ideal,” we get angry with Him, or at least, disappointed. Instead of taking the time to really know God and understand His ways, in our disillusionment, we distance ourselves.

It seems to me that too few believers have a passion to know God for Himself. Not only do they want to be “like” God, they want God to be “like” them! And worse, they want a god who exists only to serve their interests. It’s all about what God can do for them—not what God purposes to do with them, not about Who He is. And the real beauty is this: God wants to be known!

Better than accomplishing your goals, achieving your dreams, and feeling good about yourelf is the knowlede of God.

Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD...for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24)

Embracing Nothingness

Jesus said “I do nothing of my own initiative.” Jesus did not say he was nothing. He said He did nothing unless God directed Him to do it. This was hard for me because everything I would “do” was meant to make me feel like “something.” I could not easily embrace this nothingness. I wanted to feel like I was good at something! But Jesus says “you can do nothing apart from Me.”

How do we embrace this nothingness (as Jesus did) without undermining our personhood, leaving us feeling irrelevant? In the same way Jesus did—by not looking at self, but focusing on God. Jesus was fixated on pleasing His Father. You and I need to fixate on Jesus. Stop trying to prove your worth by doing! Think about this: in God’s economy, the opposite of something is NOT nothing. The opposite of something is everything. When you truly embrace the fact that you can do “nothing apart from Him,” you are really at rest. When Jesus fills you up, He becomes “everything” to you, and your life is anything but irrelevant.

One last thought: God does His best work when He begins with nothing!

How Does God Define Prosperity?

Following is an excerpt from Zac Poonen's Word for the Week, dated February 8, 2009. You can find all of the message at: http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/word_for_the_week.php

"This book of God's word shall not depart from your mouth"(Joshua 1:8).

You can't build the church with people who are interested in material things. You can build the church only with people who are interested in heavenly things and a godly life. Don't attract the wrong type of people to your church by offering people earthly prosperity. Does God's word promise you that He will give you a house or a car? No.

God's Word promises that you can overcome sin, and that you can come into a life where you rejoice in the Lord always - 24 hours a day – without being depressed, discouraged or defeated - always triumphant, always rejoicing and always giving thanks, in everything and for all people.

This is the new covenant life (Canaan's land flowing with milk and honey) that the Bible promises. Confess it then and say, "Lord, this is the life I want to live all my days."

Joshua was commanded to meditate on God's Word day and night. God promised Joshua both prosperity and success, if he did that (Joshua 1:8). The real "prosperity gospel" is one where our lives become prosperous and successful in a heavenly and spiritual way. 'Prosperity and success' are the two things that everyone in the world seeks for. But they don't seek for these in the way God says in Joshua 1:8.

Pray for Brokenness

All of the prosperity teachers have a good thing in common: they encourage people to live the abundant life that Jesus offered. But unfortunately, they do not tell you what it will cost you to get it.

In the Old Testament story of the Hebrews journey out of Egypt and finally into the Promised Land of Canaan, Canaan represents this abundant life: a place where we live in victory and fruitfulness. But before they took possession of this Promise, the Hebrews were instructed to camp at Gilgal where all the men were told to be circumcised. Circumcision, a cutting or breaking of the flesh, is a symbolic ritual that meant commitment and dependence. The Hebrew men had to acknowledge their dependence on God alone in order to receive the Promise of God. Likewise, before you can enter your “Canaan,” you must be “broken” of your self-life. You must allow God to expose and cut out everything that remains of your natural strength and self-determination; only then will “He” be everything you need.

Before I understood this need for brokenness, I resisted, not knowing it was His work to set me free. Remember how the Lord fed the 5,000? He broke the bread first! It was not enough to take the five loaves and bless them. They had to be broken before the multitude could be fed. This is a process that has to be repeated in our lives daily. God takes us, blesses us, breaks us and uses us. If we become proud because we have such a blessing, He has to break us again. And this process continues through life.

Instead of praying for God’s promises in our lives, we should be praying for brokenness! Pray for many “breakthroughs” as you seek to be a person of great faith! When you have broken out of your own will, and your eyes have been opened to see the Lord (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God), you will rejoice that He has broken you. It should not surprise you then, when just as you are about to break through to your “Canaan”—some promise of God you have waited for—that God brings about a trial in your life that will expose, and then cut ever more deeply into the bone, tissue, and muscle of your pride, false confidence, and self-reliance.

Thank God, He loves you too much to let you go into your “Canaan” with your natural weapons, for they would surely sabotage you, and bring about your defeat.

How Can You Say You are Willing to Die for Your Faith If You are Not Willing to Die to Your Self?

SAUDI ARABIA: AUTHORITIES ARREST CHRISTIAN CONVERT. Five months after the daughter of a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious police was killed for writing online about her faith in Christ, Saudi authorities have reportedly arrested a 28-year-old Christian man for describing his conversion and criticizing the kingdom’s judiciary on his Website.

ERITREA: THREE MORE BELIEVERS DIE IN MILITARY CONFINEMENT CENTERS IN PAST FOUR MONTHS. Three Christians incarcerated in military prisons for their faith have died in the past four months in Eritrea, including the death on Friday (Jan. 16) of a 42-year-old man in solitary confinement, according to a Christian support organization.

As I read these stories—only a few of the thousands of such in the world today—I cringe when I think of the American Church mentality of comfortable Christianity. Sunday after Sunday in our comfortable padded chairs, our heated and/or air-conditioned buildings, and our brilliant use of technology’s bells and whistles, as we drive home from church, we lament that the old car we’re driving doesn’t have cruise control. While across the planet, millions of Christians are thrown into prison, beaten, tormented, starved and executed. Can we say we are willing to die for our faith, and yet complain that the worship music was too loud last Sunday or refuse to forgive the pastor for neglecting to thank us for helping clean the kitchen after the annual Missions banquet last month?

When I even think of the title of Joel Osteen’s book Your Best Life Now, I want to weep for the condition of the body of Christ in America. The real heroes of faith are not here; they are all over the world. They are dying for the cause of Christ, while we are not willing to die to our selfish interests.

The author of the book of Hebrews describes the real heroes of faith as “…[those who] experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword…men of whom the world was not worthy…and all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised…so that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (11:36-40).

What's Your Self-Worth?, or What is Your Self "WORTH?"

Much of our 21st century teaching seems to be on the edge of fulfilling the prophetic words of Paul, who said, in the latter days people will be lovers of self.

Books like Joel Osteen's Become a Better You and Your Best Life Now speak so much of self-image. I thought hard and long about why this seems so wrong to me when it has the appearance of something so good. Then it occurred to me that self-worth is about how one esteems oneself. I know that sounds obvious, but let me try to explain why that bothers me. The word “worship” comes from the archaic English word “worth-ship,” meaning “full of worth.” We worship that to which we ascribe worth or value. We worship God because He is the ultimate value in the world. Of course, everything else pales in worth by comparison. Therefore, when we talk about our self-worth, it seems to me we’re dangerously close to saying we worship ourselves. The same can be said about self-image. One of the commandments is that we are not to worship any man-made image. I wonder, does that include our own image!

In his book The Life of God in the Soul of Man (1674), Henry Scougal wrote: "The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love." If our excellency as human beings is measured by that which we love, and our modern teaching is more about ourselves than God, we are certainly living in low times.

Are You Magnifying Your Problems, Magnifying Yourself, or Magnifying the Lord?

In the Old Testament, the word “magnify” is always used in regard to God, not humans. To magnify God means to make Him Bigger, or we could say to make Him the focus of our attention. Magnifying something means you look intently at it; you study it. When I experience a trial, I realize how quickly I focus on my problem, making it bigger than it really is. As I was reading Psalm 69 and 70 yesterday, I noticed the Psalmist uses the word “magnify” when he is experiencing a trial: “[when] I am afflicted and in pain, I shall magnify the Lord.”

When hard times come, we have a choice: we can magnify the problem or magnify the Lord. But there is another option that keeps appearing in the “think positive” messages of today’s prosperity teachers (read any of Joel Osteen’s Daily Devotional messages and you will see this trend). The message is to magnify yourself with “I am” messages: I am successful; I am wealthy, I am prosperous; I am wise, I am well-liked, etc.

These “I am” messages really make us to be equivalent to God. Jehovah means “I AM”, the Self-Existing One. I’ve often thought we should be careful about our “I am” statements, whether they are used in a negative way (I am a loser) or a positive way (I am great). Our “I am” statements must always be premised on the great “I AM.” It is only Christ’s life in me that makes me what “I am.” Because “He is,” I am. The next time you are tempted to magnify your problems. Magnify the Lord. “Greater (Bigger) is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

Magnifying the Lord always puts things in their proper perspective!