Will Suffering-jpeg“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truths—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

  • Reformation… we seek to abide by and serve up the true truth of the Bible.
  • Revival… we seek to model biblical Christians living in word and deed.
  • Constructive Revolution… we seek to spread the true gospel right where God has planted us with urgency, compassion, and radical self-abandonment.

Today’s Picture and Pithy Paradigm ranks as one of humanity’s top existential / everyday questions: “Will Suffering Make You Bitter or Better?”

In fact, if it weren’t for the “total immersion process” I experienced on the subject of suffering as I wrote my book on the same topic, I would have been even more surprised when so many folks made a special effort to comment on the very same question—that is the sub-title of my book.

“Hmmm…” people say, Will suffering make you bitter or better? You know something? I hadn’t thought about it that way. We do have a choice in the matter, don’t we? Or do we?”

That very common response to such a simple yet deeply fundamental and ubiquitous question revealed a great deal to me, but top on the list was this: Not only the general public’s proclivity to not having given much thought to their instinctual reaction to life’s unavoidable pain—E.g., it’s killer and there’s nothing I can do to mitigate it… suffering is mostly about bitternessbut the church’s as well.

The overwhelmingly large number of people who had become so accustomed to living in a culture of comfort, to avoiding discomfort of any kind, and now not only conceived suffering as one embittering experience heaped upon another, but additionally the main blotch against God’s good reputation… and even His very existence.

The Church Must Do Better… Lest God’s People Grow Bitter, Insular, and Ineffective.

Christ empowered The Church supernatural and the church institutional to biblically and pastorally steward and apply the answer to one of life’s most important questions, “How could an all-loving and all-powerful God allow such horrid and widespread suffering in the world?”

The light and salt of Western church— beginning with leadership—has failed in their duty to sufficiently answer and internalize theodicy—e.g., the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil and suffering. This is a painful shame.

And, as a result, the broader culture is justifiably resistant… even downright angry and closed to the idea of a relationship… to believing in such a God. Who wouldn’t be?

A Berlitz Course on “Why?”

Before we look at the three steps included in “God’s protocol for redemptive suffering” [as coined in my book], allow me to offer a very brief answer to “WHY?!” God allows suffering to occur.

  1. “In the beginning…” (Genesis 1:1) from Day 1 to Day 5 God made all things good (Genesis 1:25); leading up to very good (Genesis 1:31) on Day 6 when His final, consummating creative act included God’s Image Bearers in the form of the first of humankind in the form of Adam and then Eve.
  2. God created Adam and the Eve purely out of His Love and Truth. But in order to satisfy the most basic definition and relationship within the logic and “contract” of love, God had to include the existence of free will in mankind—and, therefore, the option of UN-love to exist as well. Otherwise humankind would have been mere robots and the purity of God’s love nothing more than a pure yawner as God acted as The Master Puppet Master and Man a marionette manipulated from above by strings attached to each wooden-jointed, and lifeless limb.
  3. The only strings attached to Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was to obey His command(s)—the “proto-command” of God’s love and truth and mankind’s appropriate response of gratitude-filled obedience—NOT to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil planted as the centerpiece in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:17).
  4. You know how it went down… Eve then Adam willfully disobeyed God (Genesis 3); sin, separation, evil, darkness, tears, bitterness, decay, suffering, and a stench so pervasive the entire universe was blighted with the scent of disobedience, the putridness of pride, the sludge of egotism, and the start-up of a whole new industry of “idols manufactured in the hearts of humankind” (Augustine, Jeremiah 17:9; Ephesians 2:1-3).
  5. “As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness…” (Romans 3:10-18; 5: 1:18-32)
  6. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through the one man Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” (Romans 5:12).
  7. “But… [HUGE BUT!] in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law [people born into sin and sinning at every turn], so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7, parenthesis added)
  8. The centerpiece of God’s Plan of Redemption is based upon how God was faced with the biggest dilemma ever: How to Love humankind in Truth; how to be BOTH utterly LOVING and completely JUST at the same time; how to deal with Humankind’s transgression while continuing to be true to Himself. God could NOT simply turn a blind eye to Mankind’s Sin [inherited] and sinning [habitual]—and be utterly holy and righteous unto Himself.
  9. Here’s how: God flipped Original Sin [the spiritual DNA of all humankind inherited from Adam and Eve] and Habitual Sin [the outflow of pride, pretense, egotism, and selfishness run wild] on its head by the substitutionary, atoning death of His one and only, perfect Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became “The Second Adam” in order to make things right. Jesus Christ—perfect in every way—when He died upon the cross became the atoning sacrifice for the Sin and sins of the world—E.g., for those who believe (John 3:16).
  10. SO THAT any/all of the unavoidable suffering and pain borne out of The Fall [when suffering originated and ALL things went bad] would have either of two effects: a) to help bring people to their knees to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord for the first time, or, b) to sanctify, make holy, purify… to conform people more and more to the likeness of Jesus Christ—who have suffered [and we all will…] and have been saved.
  11. God flipped the fact, consequences, and unavoidable nature of sin and suffering on its head and made a way that might sound insignificant but it makes ALL the difference in the universe AND in each every heart that chooses to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ: God’s Plan of Redemption. God didn’t simply put in place a plan to heal the world by sending His only Son to die and be resurrected for the sins of the world—for those who believe—but God included a plan to redeem all of the suffering as well—if we will embrace the fact that WE have a role in God’s plan to redeem suffering of any and all kinds… little or big.
  12. The GAP between suffering for no apparent reason AND redemptive suffering in Christ is as wide and deep as any question and answer humankind can consider. It’s The Church [universal] and the church [institutional] responsibility to identity and help the adherents of the faith to close this GAP.
  13. If The Church or folks in the church do not understand and embrace this fact then they are essentially saying, “We have chosen avoid one of God’s main instruments for conforming us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.” This is a very bad decision for any church to explicitly or implicitly make.
  14. “Why does an all-powerful and all-loving God allow such horrid and widespread suffering in the world?” Because He loves us. Can you see this better now? God loves humanity so much He turned the most God-awful depravity THAT MAN CREATED into a redemptive force to, a) bring us to Himself, and then b) transform us into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ (Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 5:10) after we have repented and been saved.
  15. You see, God didn’t have to allow suffering—let alone REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING—to exist at all: He could have wiped mankind off the face of the earth and be completely sufficient and justified within the Trinity.
  16. Can you see how much MERCY is contained in the Godhead, Beloved of God? The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all working together and separately to USE the suffering mankind began to redeem the universe. If this doesn’t bring us to our knees in worship, and to the streets in winsome and urgent evangelism, it’s a very big problem.
  17. We have to fully embrace God’s most merciful and wise ways to redeem the suffering that WILL absolutely and unavoidably come our way (John 16:33).
  18. There are many complicated reasons why fallen/pagan AND redeemed/saved people will avoid all of the DIS-comforting measures involved in working through suffering in a Christ-centered, community-based, and world-changing ways: In the first group, a) Pride rules and in the second b) the remnants of Pride still remain. Please don’t let pride stand in your way.
  19. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:12-19).
  20. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
  21. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing [proving, refining, tempering, maturing] of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-3, parenthesis added).
  22. “Lastly”, because it’s of first importance, in order to benefit from God’s Plan of Redemption in the context of suffering we have to be first REDEEMED. We need to have BEGUN the spiritual journey God offers us in Christ in order to BENEFIT from how the Spirit uses trials for tempering, maturity, perseverance, Christ-likeness, and ever-increasing effectiveness.

Please, never forget, God’s Mercy includes BOTH Salvation for time and eternity AND the mercy of His Justice in the Condemnation of those who refuse to repent and cry out to God: The Mercy of Hell [that God uses as the balm of ALL injustice] is reserved for those who refuse to bow a knee to Jesus (Mark 3:29; John 3:18; Romans 6:23). The Mercy of Heaven is reserved for those who repent and bow a knee to Jesus (John 3:16; Acts 16:31). It’s as simple, important, and urgent as that: God will forgive ANY sin if we run to Him, but God cannot forgive ANY sin if we do not. (Mark 3:22-30; Matthew 12:31-32)

As quoted in the preface of my book on suffering, few, if any, have said it more clearly and better than this:

There are only two kinds of people in the world. Both are sufferers. There are the people who build their trust on things beside God so that when suffering comes it takes away the sources of their joy so they become sadder and sadder, and madder and madder, and worse. And then there are the people who suffer, but who seek to build their trust on God, on the basis of his infinite suffering for us on the cross, so that God becomes the source of their joy. When suffering comes in their lives, it drives them into deeper joy. It drives them more into God. And so suffering makes them better and better, and more like Jesus.

There are only two kinds of people in the world! They’re both going to suffer. There’s the kind of person that suffering makes worse, because the source of their joy being taken away. And there’s the kind of person who suffering makes better because the suffering is pushing them towards the one source of joy that is not subject to circumstances. Jesus Christ suffered not so that we might not suffer, but rather when we suffer, we could become more like him! (The Sufferer, Sermon by Pastor Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NY, March 7, 2004)

God’s Protocol for Redemptive Suffering: “The Weeping, the Window and the Way”

Following are the three phases for redemptive suffering—based upon the Bible verses I heard from God the Spirit on Christmas night while with my father after he shot himself and I cried out to God on three separate yet intertwined occasions.

The book I wrote on this subject is a 384-page book. Please know that there are lots of details that won’t be included below, but more than enough to help anyone who’s tired of getting bitterer rather then being made better by the unavoidable trials of living in a broken yet [partially] redeemed world.

1) The WeepingFree-falls and Foundations, (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1; Deuteronomy 31:6)

Creation: In the beginning . . . God said, . . . (Genesis 1:1)

Christ: In the beginning was the Word . . . (John 1:1)

Covenant: Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread… for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)

When I first found my dad lying in the snow on Christmas night and dying from a gunshot wound, I fell to my knees next to him. And I fell, and fell, and fell… as if I would never stop the terrifying free-fall into a nauseating vertigo and darkness. I cried out to God to help me and stop the free-fall, and He answered by by the Spirit and the Bible verses above.

All weeping, all tears, all trials, and all tiny and tumultuous freefalls in life are God’s offer for revealing and firming up the foundations of our faith.

ln a horribly broken and drastically dark world, little and big freefalls occur every day. Without exception, every one, we come into contact with is in some sort of freefall of life. It’s not a matter of if but when the brokenness of this world will nick us—with a paper cut of losing a parking space or missing out on an invite to the party of the year—or crush us—with news ranging from the loss of dearly beloved friend or family member to planes flying into buildings.

Human beings were not designed by God to experience “temporal or existential freefalling.” It’s not how we were made by God; we cannot live in a state of freefalling very long; and, in desperation, we will flail and grasp at anything to halt the freefalling whenever it occurs: Will we reach out for The Only God or the little gods of our own making? The difference makes all the difference.

Every human being has faith in something. Freefalls, trials test the nature and worthiness of everyone’s faith foundations. If the foundations of any human being’s faith are not based upon the Bible’s doctrine and application of God’s Creation, Christ, and Covenant it will prove unworthy, insubstantial, and like standing on thin ice in the middle of a big lake: Horrifying! Embittering! Hardening! Fear-filled! And anxiety-producing on every level—spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical.

Human beings cannot live—let alone flourish—while existing on the faulty foundations of life: Such as our looks, our wealth, our grades, our fitness, our relationships, our in-crowd, our club memberships, our trophies, our intellect, our victimhood, our ANYTHING other than a repentant, bona fide, born-again, newly created faith in God, through Christ, and by means of the Spirit.

Please spend some quality time with God and a community of Bible-loving people to make some humble yet courageous inquires about the foundations of your faith “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8).

“Freefalls and Foundations” is the first step.

The answer must be some-one, not just something. For the problem suffering is about someone (“God—why does he . . . why doesn’t he . . .?) rather than just some-thing. To question God’s goodness is not just an intellectual experiment. It is either rebellion or weeping. It is a little child with tears in its eyes looking up at Daddy and weeping, “Why?” This is not merely the philosophers’ “why?” Not only does it add the emotion of tears but also it is asked in the context of relationship. It is a question put to the Father, not a question asked in a vacuum.

The hurt child needs not so much explanations as reassurances. And that is what we get: the reassurance of the Father in the person of Jesus Christ, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

The answer is not just a word… but The Word; not an idea but a person. (Peter Kreeft, What is God’s Answer to Human Suffering?)

BOTH theologically– and practically-speaking, when suffering occurs remembering and going deeper into the foundations of Creation, Christ, and Covenant is vitally important. Each one of the foundations of the faith could be plumbed for a lifetime! Put a brake to all of life’s fast-paced craziness and plumb the depths for a while. Remember, shore-up, deepen, and witness the foundations of your faith.

2) The Window—The Truths and Falsehoods within the Heart, (Romans 1:18; Romans 8:1)

More Sinful: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth (Romans 1:18).

And More Loved: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

At this stage of my time with dad and God I saw my sin more clearly than ever before. I was pounded by wave after wave of “The Would-a, Could-a, Should-a’s”. The crushing I was under was unbearable; I cried out to God to stop it; and the perfect passages above came to me: The plain truth of the Gospel was laid out: I was more sinful than I could imagine while being more loved than I could hope for!

This is the opening for redemptive change.

Once resting on an indestructible and absolutely rock-solid foundation of Creation, Christ, and Covenant, we are assured there is no punishment is involved in our suffering, only purification: This is a time [no matter how long it takes] of searching our heart, discerning between the falsehoods and truths of our faith, and using the time to, a) vanquish and defang falsehoods while, b) embracing, revitalizing the truths.

Don’t underestimate the importance of this: When suffering used of God helps us get a clearer, more detailed, real, and Spirit-rooted perspective of the complexities of our heart… It’s HUGE!!! And it’s also not easy, is it? But worth every once of our time, talent, and treasure to take advantage of the window of our heart blown open by a trial of any kind.

We cannot manufacture this state of open-heartedness caused by our heart being shattered into so many pieces: “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)

In the case of our heart—and the transformative nature that God’s plan for redemptive suffering has upon it—just as being born-again has this effect: “And I [God] will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20, parenthesis added)

SO ALSO does God’s promoting a change of heart via redemptive suffering, sanctification, maturity, holiness, and conformity to the likeness of Jesus Christ, in the exact same way: “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh…” The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart!

Please slow down and take to heart the importance of taking care of your heart—talk to someone grounded in the faith—when any trial blows open the window into your heart: The inevitable trials of life vary in the duration and depth of pain associated with each experience.

EACH trial, and the potential treasures of transformation, should be understood before we try and “move on”, “get back to life”, or somehow mitigate the pain by avoiding a deeper understanding of it in any number of ways. We need to talk about our suffering and faith so that wise counselors can help us make the necessary and redemptive distinctions between exactly what we embrace as true or as false.

Allowing the truths and falsehoods about our faith to simply live on and co-exist within our heart creates a form of emotional ambivalence that can easily stunt our faith and decrease its effectiveness—in word and deed.

Purification, sanctification, growing up, and softening of the heart is all about replacing falsehoods with God’s True Truth—and gaining God-, self-, and other-awareness. Please take however long you need to—and more… because we tend to be such poor mourners and shallow searchers of the heart—when the window into your heart is opened by a trial of any kind.

Please do not unwittingly, hurriedly, fearfully, or pride-fully pass by or compartmentalize the effects of your trials and the open window of and into your heart.

3) The Way—Turning Back into the Chaos as a Co-Redeemer, (Ezekiel 11:19; Romans 8:28, 12:2; Job 19:25)

Mark the Change of Heart: Less Stone, More Flesh: I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19).

Moan the Purpose of the Spirit: Less Me, More Christ: We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Marvel the Mercy of God: Less Whining, More Worship: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

Move the Mountain with Faith: Less Ruminating, More Redeeming: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25).

On Christmas night, while with my mortally wounded father, there came a time when I had to turn to face a hoard of emergency personnel. The miraculous bubble of my time with The Spirit and dad was popped by reality. I had to stand up from being on my knees, turn 180 degrees, and walk towards the cold and cruel chaos of this broken world. As hellish and heavenly as being with dad was, the thought of leaving the miraculous space and stepping into a mass of shock, tears, denial, avoidance, and unfettered love… was absolutely petrifying to me!

But the Christ-enlivened, intentional, daily walk into the chaos is exactly what Christians are called to do.

This is an especially important, power-packed, and complicated phase of God’s protocol for redemptive suffering: It’s an accumulation of the previous two phases being done WELL or POORLY; it’s a very rich, deep, and profoundly consequential part of the protocol in and of itself [just look at the four parts above];  it’s the fruit of God’s plan of redemption by means of God’s people being more and more LIGHT and SALTnot less; it’s a direct and unmitigated reflection of God’s promise [via the Holy Spirit] to “make little Christ’s of each of us”… or not;  it’s the perfect example of why “the Spirit-led conformation of a Christian into the likeness of Christ” is just as real and consequential as the Spirit fluttering over the void before Creation—and it leapt into existence!

The Spirit is The Supernatural Heart-Changer and he changes hearts, aligns emotions, and makes straight the path towards redeeming the world in word and in deed. REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING is a very big part of this heart- and world-changing reality.

By far and away one of the most dreadful impacts of not realizing or refusing to allow God to more fully redeem the unavoidable trials of life is the decreased, minimized, scant, or missing redemptive impact on this dark and fast-decaying world: If redemptive suffering makes us more and more like Jesus Christ, what would the impact be if we willfully chose to avoid the journey and its benefits?

The anticipation of moving back into the chaos of a broken world as a stronger-still co-redeemer in Christ can paralyze or rush us. We should try like hell to avoid both temptations.

For the “co-redeemer in Christ”, the way back into the chaos of a fallen and broken world requires supernatural and human will power, purpose, and preparation. Don’t waste your tears!

Before we turn from the trial God has allowed for the purpose of sanctifying us, we must, must, must take time to Mark, Moan, Marvel, and then Move.

Mark the Change of Heart: Less Stone, More Flesh

  • The supernatural person and power of the Holy Spirit re-creates our heart so that we will less hardened towards God and more “fleshy”, loving, and obedient.
  • This is not a metaphor; spiritually-speaking the Spirit transforms our heart—and we need to take the time to MARK IT and see how it has changed and talk to others about the changes.
  • When walking back into the chaos of life, prepare yourself, and shout from the rooftops about God has changed your heart!

Moan the Purpose of the Spirit: Less Me, More Christ

  • Pain is oftentimes so deep and hurtful that all we can do is moan—like the Spirit does to intercede to Christ on our behalf (Romans 8:26).
  • In preparation for moving out into the chaos as and for Christ, we need to remind ourselves of what The Spirit’s main role is: Helping us die to self. Pointing us to Christ. And encouraging us to be conformed into Christ-likeness—wherever God would plant us.
  • From the time we repent and come to saving faith in Christ, the Person of the Spirit within us is counseling, pointing, conforming, persevering, and mortifying sin… ALL for the purpose of making less of us and more of Christ.

Marvel the Mercy of God: Less Whining, More Worship

  • If any person ever born were given the chance to see the total depravity of their own heart, they would likely die of a heart attack at that very minute.
  • No human being could stand to see every atrocity ever committed by FallenMan—contained in the potential for, and actually fulfilled, SIN and SINNING in his or her own heart.
  • If this is true—which it is—then we should be marveling at the manifold mercies of God in Christ and by the Spirit with every fiber of our being each and every day.
  • So before we move out into the chaos we must do a reality check on our many and deep propensities for grumbling, whining, complaining, and begrudging God… and replace such foolishness with worship, worship, and more worship!

Move the Mountain with Faith: Less Ruminating, More Redeeming

  • As I stood, turned, and walked towards the chaos of the world on Christmas night, the final Bible passage the Spirit said to me was, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). BUT the final words from the Spirit were just as amazing… nearly more so… “You have been redeemed to redeem… redeemed to redeem…”
  • In the most powerful and transforming way imaginable, I was reminded—as all of God’s people desperately need to be—that my redemption was ultimately for the purposes of helping redeem others. The healing and hope doesn’t END when we’re saved; it’s just the beginning.
  • As you process you’re suffering, take however much time you need to be reminded of why you have been counted worthy of God’s saving grace in Christ: In order to tell others of God’s amazing grace!

Let’s Review

  • The Weeping: When God allows any sort of FREE-FALL to occur in your life, please take a close look at what FOUNDATIONS you’ve built your life upon. If it’s anything but, a) God’s creative and sustaining work (Genesis 1:1), b) Christ’s atoning sacrifice for your sins and His Lordship for your life (John 1:1), and c)  God’s covenant, unbreakable promise to never leave or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6), then you have unknowingly or knowingly decided to rest your unspeakably worthy and eternally valuable life on faulty foundations that WILL [not if but when] forsake you and guarantee you a life-worth of free-falls, bitterness, loneliness, and despair.
  •  The Window: Once you are resting on God’s three-pillared and unshakable foundations of Creation, Christ, and Covenant, you have the assurance of, a) having been adopted into a brand new spiritual family and b) no more shame! THEN and only then can you listen to the Spirit and a counselor’s words NOT of punishment, but purification: It’s heart-cleansing, transforming, sanctifying, and conforming time!
  • The Way: Now it’s time to re-enter the hurricane of chaos and brokenness in this dark and decaying world—MORE LIKE CHRIST! Please remember to take your time to Mark, Moan, Marvel, and Move.
  • The cycle of the WEEPING, the WINDOW and the WAY repeats itself over and over until Christ returns, Beloved. Each turn through the cycle should result in a more and more mature, fruitful, and effective Christian. Each cycle is offered for God-like holiness, Christ-like service, and Spirit-led revival and change in the world. Each “loop around the horn” is meant to NOT JUST transform hearts and the world for TIME, but will also be an obvious and remarkable part of each of our ETERNITY in heaven as well!!

Why does God allow such horrible and widespread suffering to occur in the world? To reflect His Glory and transform our bitterness into betterness, for the betterment of the world.

“And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God…” (Ezekiel 11:19-21).

Can’t wait to see you at The Training Table next week when we’ll chew on Fellowship: A Feast of the Heart.

JohnDoz

Resources:

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, by Pastor Timothy Keller

Why Suffering? by Ravi Zacharias

Suffering–By Category, via Ligonier Ministries

Keep the Vision Vital-jpeg“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truths—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

  • Reformation… we seek to abide by and serve up the true truth of the Bible.
  • Revival… we seek to model biblical Christians living in word and deed.
  • Constructive Revolution… we seek to spread the true gospel right where God has planted us with urgency, compassion, and radical self-abandonment.

I know you’ve probably said this before: “Wow! This is the most important thing I’ve read [seen, heard, etc] ever! No really… like E-V-E-R!”

After a while we have to be careful to not cross the “never cry wolf” or “Harold Hyperbole” line, right? “John, you’re always saying THIS is the most important or THAT is the most important. Make up your mind, Bro!”

This sort of exclamatory remark or revelation is motivated by a few different and overlapping things, but the one I’m serving up as Feast of the Heart at The Training Table “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8) is this:

Making claims of this kind is [at the very least] a symptom that we’re alive; we’re indwelt by an organic and ever-expanding Spirit Who’s always pressing us to know, grow, and sow doctrine and delight; we’re actively and intentionally seeking out life-giving growth and service; we’re on the look out for new and transformative ways to add value wherever God has planted us; we’re attentive, discerning, discriminating, and vital beings; we’re bursting with newly-formed wisdom; we’re standing right in the middle of the flowing and foaming stream of Trinity Truth and Love scooping up buckets of living water to quench the thirst of anyone within our reach of influence and concern; and we’re so excited about all of the above that we can’t wait to pass it along.

When we’re living a truly and deeply VITAL life, “WOWS!” are a matter of life and the source of being a life-giving person.

So, now that you’re prepped… even over-stimulated…, “This is the third most important thing I’ve read [seen, heard, etc] EVER!” [The first being a relationship with Jesus, and the second being loving self and others in the light of the first most important thing.]

Do You Want a Worthy Leadership Legacy? Good.

The Devote Yourself to Keeping the Vision Vital!

Did you know that 70% of CEO’s are relived of their duties due to the inability to carry out their main responsibility: Executing the Vision/Mission of the organization? (C.K. Prahalad) Note the key words here: “carry out.”

You see, it’s one thing to create a great Vision and Mission—which too few leaders actually do well, if at all. But it’s an entirely different thing to carry it out—or, put another and the best way, “to keep the vision vital.” Keeping the vision/mission a vital part of any organization’s ongoing activities is at the heart of great leadership. And if this isn’t so, then there’s only one way the culture of any organization can go: Flat-lining. Dead employees walking. Clock-watching folk who can’t wait for the weekend.

For the best of first the people, and then business/organization, leaders of any stripe need to fully immerse themselves into exactly what “keeping the vision vital” entails. Why? It’s actually a leader’s main responsibility, and, super-importantly, the reason for being a leader at all!

Without getting too far ahead of myself, here’s how the leadership guru John W. Gardner put it: “Effective, enduring, and memorable leaders set a vision and use their authority to create an environment where people can contribute to the vision’s success and flourish doing so.  Leaders are environmentalists.” This is so huge.

If you are a leader of any sort, you’re in a God-given place of great responsibly and even greater potential to transform lives. And, don’t miss this one, along your primary path of transforming lives you will—by the very nature of achieving the primary goal—have a successful business/organization of any kind as part of your legacy as well.

Let’s look at three of the MUST’S for any leader to be successful at not simply co-creating, but Keeping the Vision Vital.

As an avenue for helping you internalize the following truisms about good-to-grand-tastic leadership, please imagine yourself proclaiming the following bold, italicized, and vital verbatim to an audience beginning with your self, your God, your spouse/sample family members, your leader peers, your accountability coach, person or group, your board of directors, your business or ministry advisory team, your direct reports… or maybe just with your Labrador Retriever—after all, whom, with any sort of conscience, wouldn’t try and be real with a Lab?!

1) “Anything Important to the WE, Must Begin in ME!”

This is the most important beginning to the journey from blah to awesome leadership. The simplest [yet robust when the details are carried out] Organizational Effectiveness Models has the following components:

“THE WE”

Vision—Why do we exist?

Mission—How will we achieve the vision?

Core Values—Who are we? How will we conduct ourselves in order to achieve our vision and mission?

Strategic Roadmap—How do we achieve our vision and mission?

Alignment—Has the vision, mission, core values, and strategic roadmap been clearly communicated to all of our key stakeholders?

Personal responsibility—Are we unleashing the involvement and potential of the people in the organization?

Results—How are we measuring results to assure success and continuous improvement based on our vision, reality, and key stakeholders?

“IN ME?”

The most crucial question and answer that guides all the rest is this: “Have you taken the courageous, painstaking, exhausting, humbling, and glorifying first step of applying this sort of Organizational Effectiveness Model TO YOURSELF?”

Have you, would you, could you, can you—carry out the process of substituting each of the above “WE’s” with the most personal “I” that exists at the present time? AND keep it vital over time?

Any leader’s OUTSIDE-IN effectiveness and legacy will be based on this most important INSIDE-OUT beginning and continuous revitalization. Begin and/or re-begin [renew and share if you’ve already done some work here] “Today… ” (Psalm 95:7-8).

I can’t reinforce the importance of this beginning to assuring a great leadership legacy enough. The role of being “The Steward of the Organizational Vision” will always be a direct reflection or measure of having taken the first step of being “The Steward of My Personal Vision”.

2) “The Heart of Leadership is a Matter of the Heart!”

If any leader will take double-dog seriously the spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical journey required in the aforementioned beginning and seminal first step, his or her heart will be changed. Sure, we all have choices to do any part of life halfheartedly, but that’s exactly what our life will amount to: A HALF-lived life, FULL of regret.

Why go there? Put all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength into the right and best beginning.

And even though there are numerous doors we could walk through to describe the sort of change of heart that is most important to occur in any leader, I’ll put one biggie out there to help move us along to the next stage: Emotional Intelligence.

If we will jump in with both feet, and surround ourselves with the sort of loving and truthful community to help us carry out the process, the following components of Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Factors will emerge and grow [if we keep it vital and help others do the same] in the heart. [The Biblical references are from me—and for the Training Table audience running the good race and committed to living a Godly, Biblical life.]

Self-Awareness (Ps 139:23-24; Jer 17:9; Mt 5; Rom 1:18-32, 8,   10:8-13; John 3:16; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Rev 21:1-8)

Definition: The ability to recognize and understand your most core beliefs, value system, emotions, and drives—as well as their effect on others.

Hallmarks: Realistic self-assessment; self-confidence; self-deprecating sense of humor.

Self-Regulation (Ps 17:4, 119:11; 1 Cor 9:25; Gal 5:23; 1 Pet 1:13; 2 Pet 1:6; Heb 12:1; Tit 1:8)

Definition: The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods. The propensity to suspend judgment—to think before acting.

Hallmarks: Trustworthiness and integrity; comfort with ambiguity; openness to change.

Motivation (Pr 21:21; Ps 40:6-8; Mk 12:28-31; Acts 17:11-12;  Rom 15:4; 1 Pet 2:20;                  2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Definition: A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status. A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.

Hallmarks: Strong drive to achieve; optimism—even in the face of failure; organizational commitment.

Empathy (Rom 15:1; 2 Cor 1:3-7; Jn 1:14; Lk 1:32; Eph 2:8; Phil 2:7; Col 1:15; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 13:3)

Definition: The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Skill in treating people according to their [heart] emotional reactions.

Hallmarks: Expertise in building an retaining talent; cross-cultural sensitivity; service to clients and customers.

Social Skill (Ps 133:1; John 17:20-23; Rom 12:9-16; Rom 15:5; 1 Cor 1:10, 13; Eph 4:3-13, Col 3:14; Phil 1:3-11, 2:1-2)

Definition: Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. An ability to find common ground and build rapport.

Hallmarks: Effectiveness in leading change; persuasiveness; expertise in building and leading teams.

It’s Organic. It’s a Journey. Patience and Perseverance is Required.

But the Harvest Will Come and Be Plentiful!

Now, don’t get me wrong: If any leader commits to the best beginning by means of the full immersion version of applying the first principle of “Anything Important to the WE, Has to Begin in ME!”, the above-outlined Emotional Intelligence Factors will not simply leap into a full-fledged, matured, and anecdote-riddled existence.

Any farmer knows that’s not how the farm OR life works. It’s Organic. It’s a Journey. But it must BEGIN, begin in the right way, and be cared for in the appropriate and most robust and “communal” [get other trusted people involved] fashion.

But I guarantee you, the above beginning is one of the very best ways to plow the [often] hardened and neglected soil of the heart; to plant the seeds of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill; and to then commit to steward the baby and fragile tendrils of new life—as “The Fruits of Emotional Intelligence” begin to grow, overtake the heart, yield fruit in their time, and act as a feast for those who are [so very, very] hungry for the sort of leadership every human being is flourished by!

This is complicated, heart-shredding and mending stuff, and no small matter; but when the heart of any matter is a matter of the hearts involved, it’s well worth the investment of as much time, talent, and treasure as it takes.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23)!

Keeping the vision vital will eventually come more and more naturally to the leader who is stewarding the vitality of their own heart and life. And when leaders flat-line, so do the led.

3) “My People: Image Bearers not Commodities!”

Please get this one: Certain things done right will roll-up to surprising outcomes. In this case we’ve started with,

1) “Anything Important to the WE, Must Begin in ME!”

…followed by,

2) “The Heart of Leadership is a Matter of the Heart!”

…and this investment—and the steps towards the end of being the very best leader anyone can be—will always have an impact on one vitally important area of life: How we think about people.

And if there’s anything that ranks up there as the Numero Uno factor for being a human being LEADING human beings—it’s what our worldview, core values, and practical treatment of what it means to be human consists of.

3) “My People: Image Bearers not Commodities!”

As a leadership coach, the following verbatim from employees [via a Gallup Research Workplace Audit: “The Most Important People Issues for Growing the Business”] is about what matter most to people at work [in ANY sort of organization… because organizations are people together] was an invaluable tool to help a leader, a) see what really matters to the people they LEAD, and b) how each “satisfaction marker” was connected to the Organizational Effectiveness Model that a leader is in charge of executing.

The connection: “What gets people most excited, flourishing, and fruitful working here?” And, “How can a leader’s influence over organizational effectiveness assure that we’re flourishing people—to get great business results?”

Make no mistake, we live in a day when, for a whole host of reasons, human beings have been commoditized and minimized in far too many ways. The workplace is no different… or even worse than elsewhere. This is one very important reason why “great-to-stand-out leaders” have to say, “NO! I will never treat the people I lead in that fashion. In fact, I will treat each person as God treats them: His invaluable Image Bearers. This is the highest and best articulation of my role as a leader.”

Please cut me some slack [I get really agitated about this] as I offer a leadership verbatim that is all too common in today’s nightmarishingly commoditized, out-of-balance, and purely bottom-line-driven organization: “If you’re unhappy here, don’t let the door hit you in the ass.” This is the antithesis of what admirable leadership acts and sounds like, but it’s more the norm, not the anomaly, of our day.

Please take a close look at each of these employee/people key satisfiers. NONE of them are tied to extrinsic or financial reward. Once again… sing it with me… The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart! Do you as a leader get that message pretty darn deep within your own heart?

“At work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.” [RE: Vision, Mission, Core Values, Alignment]

“The vision/mission and values of the company makes me feel my job contributes.” [RE: Vision, Mission, Core Values, Strategic Roadmap, Alignment]

“I have a best friend at work.” [RE: Core Values, Personal Responsibility]

“At work, my opinions seem to count.” [RE: Core Values]

“My work associates are committed to doing quality work.” (RE: Vision / Core Values / Personal Responsibility / Alignment / Job Performance Review Process)

“In the last year I have been given opportunities to learn and grow.” (RE: Mission / Core Values / Alignment / Personal Responsibility)

“I have the resources I need to do my work right.” (RE: Core Values / Strategic Roadmap)

“In the past seven days, I have received recognition or praise for good work.” (RE: Core Values / Alignment / Personal Responsibility)

“The person I report to seems to care about me as a person.” (RE: Core Values / Alignment / Personal Responsibility)

“In the past six months, someone has talked to me about my progress.” (RE: Core Values / Alignment / Personal Responsibility)

“There is someone at work who encourages my development.” (RE: Core Values / Alignment / Personal Responsibility)

“The data clearly show that within successful business units employees have clear expectations, close relationships, can see how what they do relates to “something significant,” and have an ongoing opportunity to contribute to that “something significant” while learning and growing as individuals. Further, the behaviors that help to define these seemingly intangible perceptions can be discovered by studying the success within one’s own organization.” (A Hard Look at Soft Numbers. The relationship between employee perceptions and business outcomes, by Curt Coffman and Jim Harter, Ph.D.)

Leaders, Leaders Everywhere, but are the Led Being Fed?

As John W. Gardner said, “Leaders do not invent or manufacture motivation.  They unlock what is there, awaken what is dormant, and tap hidden reserves. It is one of the tasks of leaders to ensure the continuous renewal of the systems over which they preside. The release of human possibilities is one of the most basic of social objectives and leadership goals.”

People are starving for Godly and great leadership. And it’s in scant supply. Will you consider taking the time to take this to heart and ramp-up your concern and influence as a leader?

Please set aside however much time, talent, and treasure as it takes to internalize what we’ve chewed on at The Training Table today. There’s a leader in you that deserves to be grown-up to its fullest measure—and there are people out there who can’t wait to have you show up!

Leaders exist everywhere. They’re not necessarily born leaders; they can be made. God needs leaders. Homes need leaders. Neighborhoods need leaders. Churches need leaders. Organizations of any/all kinds need leaders.

Seek to really LEAD in ways that can transform any organization while assuring the hard work and joy of leadership, a legacy of no regrets, and the satisfaction that innumerable other hearts were revitalized by your commitment to Keeping the Vision Vital.

There are numerous little and big ways that leaders steward the vision/mission, keeping it vital, as he or she goes about doing life and business everyday. These three principles and practices are a necessity:

1) “Anything Important to the WE, Must Begin in ME!” [INSIDE-OUT before OUTSIDE-IN; the personal and organizational effectiveness model.]

2) “The Heart of Leadership is a Matter of the Heart!” [The planting, growth, and fruitfulness of emotional intelligence factors.]

3) “My People: Image Bearers not Commodities!” [The revitalization of what people, human beings… doing things, really amount to—as a core motivation for the release of human possibilities.]

Pull up a chair at The Training Table next week when we chew on the “The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms”—“Will Suffering Make You Bitter or Better?”

Blessings,
JohnDoz

Holistic Model-Burst Version-3-jpeg“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truims—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

(more…)

The Water and the Fish-jpeg“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truims—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

(more…)

Getting to YES Diagram - Copy-jpeg“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truths—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

  • Reformation… we seek to abide by and serve up the true truth of the Bible.
  • Revival… we seek to model biblical Christians living in word and deed.
  • Constructive Revolution… we seek to spread the true gospel right where God has planted us with urgency, compassion, and radical self-abandonment.

The Anecdote of Our Dandy and Dizzying Days

What have you experienced as being the two most common responses to the everyday inquiry of a stranger or even your closest friend or family member, “How are you doing today?” After having listened carefully for a very long time, my observation is:

1) “Fine.” or

2) “Really busy.”

[And, by and large, the parenthetical following both of these off-handed, instinctual quips is, “And you really don’t want to know the details… Do you?” But that’s another topic… Sort of.]

So, given my propensity to try and peel off at least a layer or two of the onion, my follow-on response is: “That’s great… If you wouldn’t mind, tell me what you’re up to… and how’d you get so crazy busy?”

“Thanks… Oh geez… What am I up to…? I feel like I’m always being pulled in a hundred different directions. If I had to stop long enough to think about it I’d have to say I have no idea how I got so busy. The demands just keep coming… I’m sure a part of it is that I have a hard time saying ‘No.’” Ms./Mr. Busy says.

In Bondage to the Incessant Demands of This World, Your Bad Habits, and/or the Devil?

If there is one area of life that all humanity could agree on that needs some very close scrutiny it’s this: What we say “Yes.” and “No.” to… and why. Why is it so hard or easy to say “No.” and/or “Yes.”? After all, “Yes.” and “No,” are such a simple words and deeds, right?

Au contraire, mon ami!

In fact, whether or not we have any control over our “yes’s” or our “no’s” is a very complicated topic and inner struggle of EveryMan. Why so? From the 30,000’ to ground-zero perspective, it’s about Sin (The Fall, Original/Inherited Sin, Genesis 3, Romans 1:18-32) and our sinning (the daily habits of the heart that are too often subservient to the world (Romans 12:1-2), the flesh (Galatians 5:17), and the devil (Ephesians 6:11-12) ways.

If this sort of explanation sounds intellectually anachronistic or feels like condemnation, that’s understandable [the church hasn’t kept pace with the culture’s stinking thinking about cause and effect], but it’s the only explanation that actually, a) makes philosophical, logical and anecdotal sense, and b) has a viable solution that works and lasts!

Let Your YES! Be Yes and Your NO!, No.

When, in the Book of James, one of the most profound yet practical and “applicable” [how to apply, live out the Christian life] parts of the Bible, says, “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation” (James 5;12), “…above all…”? That’s pretty strong, right? Said a different way, “if you’re a Christ-follower the most supremely important thing in your life is having your priorities worked out so that every interaction with anyone God places in your life is directed at glorifying God and blessing others.” Period.

“Getting to YES!” is the Leading Indicator… Without it, “NO!” Only Promotes Sin, Legalism, License and Yuck

Here’s what The Triune God of All is saying to you if you are a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ—those whose life is supposed to be launched, lit, led, lifted, litigated, liberated, and leavened by the Bible—“The YES! of my life is to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all of my strength; and to love my neighbor as myself. That is my YES!… and my reason for everything in life and in death.”

Human beings were originally created by God to follow His Law perfectly, but ever since Sin and sinning entered the universe—and wholly-marred all else since then—our instinctual, knee-jerk, sin-spring-loaded response to God’s or any authority figure’s, “NO!… do not do that…” is, “Hell yes! I want to do that more than ever now!” Hell being the operative word… This is why our YES! must precede and dominate our “No.” (Romans 6:14; 11:16; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Ephesians 2:8-9) YES! is the leading indicator and No. is the lagging indicator.

Let you’re YES! in Christ guide and guard your life, the No’s will take care of themselves. Left unguided and unguarded you’re YES! in Christ will lead you to the lukewarm-disciple life of making oaths, commitments, promises, and practices that do not honor God… nor will they bless people.

So why do so very few people have a living, breathing, freeing, and joyous “YES!” as a deeply rooted, fruitful, and influential part of their life? It’s a complicated and hard work—because the land has been left fallow for so long… But it can be reclaimed and revitalized beginning “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8).

Please Begin the Work and/or Renew It “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8)!

Take a good, long, hard look at the inset graphic, “Getting to YES!” If, as it should be, the above-referenced statement, “The YES! of my life is to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all of my strength; and to love my neighbor as myself. That is my YES!… and my reason for living and dying.” is FIRST in place, bring a friend and follow the steps below for creating a Vision, Mission, Core Values, Strategy, Accountability, and Results for “Getting to YES!”

1) VISION:  Why do I exist? [What does the fulfillment of my Mission look, sound, taste, feel like?]

2) MISSION: How I will achieve my Vision? [In brief.]

3) CORE VALUES:  Who am I?  How will I conduct myself in order to achieve my Vision, purpose? [What explicit set of behaviors?]

4) STRATEGIC ROADMAP:  How do I [strategically] achieve my vision, mission?

5) ALIGNMENT:  Has my vision, mission, core values, strategy been clearly communicated to all the key stakeholders in my life?

6) PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:  Who, what community am I accountable to—to lovingly, truthfully, and urgently help me stay on course?

7) RESULTS:  How am I measuring results as a witness of The Trinity’s grace and truth, and to assure continuous improvement?

“…it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

To repeat: Please Begin the Work and/or Renew It “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8)!

The world; our own/old/prideful/selfish/controlling/sinful self; and Satan are dead-set against the development, community-involved, and daily living-out of our “Getting to YES!”, beloved. But this is vitally important “… above all else…”.

FREE at Last!

When we are in bondage to the world’s, our own selfishness, and the devil’s schemes and ways—devised to yank us around like headless chickens (James 1:6)—the aimlessness of our life, and the chaotic EMOTIONAL AMBIVALENCE that flows from it, will lead us to feel condemned and will wreak havoc with our ability to “… let our “yes” be yes and our “no” be no…”: In short, it will prevent us from living the blessed life (Matthew 5).

Like a chameleon, our guidelines for our “Yes.” or “No.” will vary for each and every person and circumstance we’re in. This is surely no way to live… In fact, it’s not your and my life at all: It’s a mere reflection of other lives, whims,  whimsies,  circumstances, and fast-passing worldly ways.

The demands of worldliness, darkness, and chaos on your life will not end until Jesus returns. We have a clear, free-will choice, marathoners for Christ: “Getting to YES!”, being free and exemplary with our “No’s”, keeping it a vital part of all of your life, and displaying the freedom, focus, and joy of doing so to and for others… will guarantee you INNER commitment and contentment and OUTER Christlikeness:

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15, emphasis added).

The Seen: Every jot and tittle of our life… each of our roles and all of the goals therein… the first and last area of influence you and I can assert in this life [and seen in eternity—2 Corinthians 5:10]… are primarily influenced by a God-glorifying, people blessing, “DeeperYES!” Every word and deed that flows from “God’sYES!” in your life will make you better and better, more fruitful, loving, compassionate, long-suffering, and more like Christ.

The Unseen: Conversely, whether we see it, embrace it, or believe it or not, neglecting this work of and for your heart will have a primarily negative impact for time and eternity. Every word and deed that does NOT flow from “God’sYES!” in your life will make you more and more bitter, cynical, anxious, hardened, isolated, needy, cagey, fearful, and more like the anti-Christ.

FREE Indeed… 

Imagine yourself being accosted [even in a friendly way…] by yet another request of your time, talent, and/or treasure. Here it comes… And rather than feeling pressured, anxious, insecure, small… or condemned in any way, you feel free and excited! Even at the chance to define and refine your YES! Why? Because the Spirit has just provided you the opportunity to intentionally, God-glorifyingly, and people-blessingly say YES! or NO! in the CONTEXT of your commitment to the vision and mission God has placed upon your life! This is why God has you on the planet [still].

This hard-fought-for yet joyous freedom is what all people yearn for, Beloved. And God wants YOU Your “YES!”… to be an example of it each and every “Today…” (Psalm 95:7-8).

JohnDoz

Resources:
To Be Told, by Dan Allender

The Purposes of God, by R.C. Sproul

Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren

The Call, by Os Guinness

Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

 

 

Beliefs - Values - Behaviors Model-B-jpegWelcome to a re-mixed set of vittles for you to feast on at The Training Table!  The menu is carefully selected to regularly nourish those who are in Christ and running the good race set out for us (2 Timothy 4:7; 2 Corinthians 9:24). If you would like to maintain a weekly diet for running the good race, please subscribe to The Training Table.

“The Power of Pictures and Pithy Paradigms” is a series of timeless truths—each of which will serve to reinforce the Feast of the Heart Vision, Mission, and the main motivation for my own life in Christ and love for those He places in my life.

Vision
Everyone reformed, revived, a constructive revolutionary!

Mission
Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

  • Reformation… we seek to abide by and serve up the true truth of the Bible.
  • Revival… we seek to model biblical Christians living in word and deed.
  • Constructive Revolution… we seek to spread the true gospel right where God has planted us with urgency, compassion, and radical self-abandonment.

It’s Time to Remember and Get After Getting Real
First of all, there’s a very good reason the Bible uses the word(s) “remember”, “let me remind you”, “have you forgotten?”, “did God not say?”, and numerous other synonyms for the same call-to-action, over and over again: Due to inherited Sin and habitual sinning, we are indeed a forgetful lot, right? If we can’t admit this most basic symptom of The Fall (Genesis 3) we’re in a heap of trouble. And the fact that God—via the Bible writers—constantly and lovingly calls us back to remember His Love and True Truth is a mercy beyond all reckoning!

In addition, we need to be a consistent, truthful, and loving as well: God providentially places people in our path each day who could benefit from a reminder about Who He is, and who the person in your midst is from God’s perspective… the chance to be reminded and help others remember is right in front of you and me each day (Psalm 95:7-8).

So this remembrance is about one of the most basic paradigms in the purview of God’s original creation and sustaining activities: Our worldview or belief system is at the heart of all that matters (Proverbs 4:23; Ezekiel 11:17-21; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Romans 12:2)—and at the root of any living organism. What philosophy, logic, and truths we hold most dear about the essentials of life, identity, origins, meaning, law, liberty, relationships, purpose, death, and the thereafter… is the wellspring from which our core values or everyday behaviors arise.

Our worldview matters whether we know it, or realize it, or not. That’s because we were created by God that way: We’re organic organisms and Image Bearers of God. No matter how we use our free will choice to live in alignment with how God made us… or not… our ability to live contented, fruitful, joyous, purposeful, and loving lives depends on our worldview: What we hold most dear in life, death, and everything in between.

“What is a worldview? As the word itself suggests, a worldview is an overall view of the world. It’s not a physical view of the world, but rather a philosophical view, an all-encompassing perspective on everything that exists and matters to us.

“Worldview is any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement or religion that provides an overarching approach to understanding God, the world, and man’s relations to God and the world,” says David Noebel, author of Understanding the Times.

Each and every infinitesimally small and infinitely grand spiritual, emotional, and psychological “spark” that [eventually] animates our life begins at the level of our worldview, mindset, or perspective of life.

“Whether conscious or subconscious, every person has some type of worldview. A personal worldview is a combination of all you believe to be true, and what you believe becomes the driving force behind every emotion, decision and action. Therefore, it affects your response to every area of life: from philosophy to science, theology and anthropology to economics, law, politics, art and social order—E.g., everything.” (Del Tackett, Focus on the Family)

When any human being looses sight of the fact that, a) worldview matters and, b) the details of one’s worldview matters most… he or she devolves from what God intended for any human being’s fulfillment.

As C.S. Lewis put it, “One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human.” (God in the Dock)

And that’s exactly where we stand as the culture of our day:  The slow-but-sure and incrementally corrosive movement of post-modern secularization and relativistic [no absolutes or True Truth] philosophy over the past 100 years has left us in a very bad predicament—there are far too many signs of people living less-than-human lives. [E.g., Abortion. Euthanasia. Pornography. Family nucleus fragmentation. Same-sex marriage. Transgender rights. Embryonic research. Genetic enhancement. Political dishonesty and unaccountability. Etc.]

Can you clearly and concisely state your worldview? It’s vital [life-giving] that we can… Someone with a biblical, Christian worldview believes his or her primary reason for existence is to love and serve God. Please consider answers the following questions, based on claims found in the Bible and which George Barna used in his survey:

  • Do absolute moral truths exist?
  • Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
  • Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
  • Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?
  • Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?
  • Is Satan real?
  • Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?
  • Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?
  • What bearing does the Bible have on institutions such as marriage, family, children, church, society, etc?

The Worldview—Emotion Connection: The Way God Wired Us

Lastly [albeit there’s much more…], the reason the Bible exhorts us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23) is that our emotions [among other things] flow directly from whether or not our worldview [E.g., how the Bible uses “heart, mind, soul, strength”, etc] is aligned with the Bible’s True Truth and Love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

When our worldview is aligned… deeply, vitally, life-givingly rooted in the soil of the Trinitarian Truth of the Bible… The Fruit of the Spirit [love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control] will glorify God, be evident to others, and the source of our ability to be the light and salt of the world—to reveal Truth, dispel falsehood, and stem the decay of this of’ times stinky world which Jesus is making brand new (Revelations 21:5)!

Conversely, when any human being’s worldview is misaligned, or out of line, or maligned against… The worldview set out by God in the Bible, his or her affections, the entirety of one’s emotional life, one’s state of ambivalence will be warring against itself in a whole array of seen and unseen ways, Beloved. Human beings cannot live that way. Left unchecked, warring emotions impact our psychological, mental state… Things will unravel. It’s not a matter of if, but when, and to what extent.

Perhaps the pithiest, most purposeful, easy to grasp and most popular worldview statement in the Bible is this: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whosoever would believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This truism about God’s Plan of Redemption is the hinge-point, the determining factor, the net-net, yea or nea… as to whether any human being ever born will be in heaven with God or hell with other rebels… forever. Worldview is important.

Marathoners in and for Christ, do you have down-pat, a rock-solid, reliable, trustworthy, and relatable story about your worldview? As an example, here’s a handy start to any conversation about how we relate to all things: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” (C.S. Lewis)

JohnDoz

Resources:
Comparing Worldviews

A Conscious and Consistent Christian Worldview, Os Guinness

Why is Worldview Training So Important for Today’s Youth?, R.C. Sproul, Jr.

The Truth Project, Focus on the Family

How to Develop and Maintain a Christian Worldview through C.S. Lewis’s Essay: “The Poison of Subjectivism”, by Joseph A. Kohm, Jr.

20140320-010522Welcome to the Training Table where you can depend on some spiritually-nourishing chow, carefully prepared, to help you run the Godly and good race! For what good is a good race, unless it’s a Godly race (2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Corinthians 9:24).

The World’s Change Management Plan—When It’s Good, It’s God’s!

I’m not going to go into any level of detail relative to the volumes upon volumes of what “organizational change management” takes into account. But I can say just one thing… In two slices: a) Devoid of super-solid leadership who transparently or at least tangentially borrows from God via the likes of say, Covey, Blanchard, Kubler-Ross, Maxwell, Kotter…]; b) any long-term, transformational, top-to-bottom change will only scratch the surface, or cannot really occur at all.

“Change” is something God originated, and leaving Him out—or using principles and practices that contradict His Truths—always leads to highly unsatisfactory and unsatisfying results.

You might say, “Wai… wai… wait just a minute, Doz. I’ve experienced some deep and good changes in organizations before, and God was never brought up!” If that’s really the case for you, do me a favor and dig down into the principles and practices employed by deep, transformational change of this sort: Trust me; they were laid down first by God in the Bible. There’s nothing new, that’s True and Good under the sun.

And the larger the organization the more challenging… or impossible… because there are simply more of the forces of Sin, sinning, and organizational entropy working hard against God-pleasing and people-blessing… change.

This is one of the main reasons why we FEAST on the appetizers, entrées, and deserts of leadership, leadership, and leadership at The Training Table so often!

Change is Hard; Transformational Change is Impossible… Without God.

Some say change is hard—that’s because the spiritual, emotional, and psychological vice-grip human beings have on their pride and a wide of array of idols, egotism, inner-fears, false narratives, and multifaceted pretences. Akin to a very shaggy Shaggy Dog frolicking in the burrs all day long, there’s a huge amount of very tedious and painful “combing and teasing out of the burrs” to get things back to right! We might as well shave off the shagginess to the quick… And try, try, and try again… to stay out of the burrs.

Not gonna happen. To extend the metaphor, even if we underwent the de-burring it’s impossible to stay out of the brush!

Some say change is impossible—purely out of their frustration and hopelessness in the people around them, but, even more powerful, purely out of their own inner resistance to change the deeper things in themselves. Our idols, inner fears, and false narratives about our story put down [even generational] roots so deep it can feel like someone tasked us with taking out The Redwood State Park with a weed whacker, right? Again, not gonna happen. The tool simple doesn’t suit the task.

The clear and present danger and indomitable reality of the hardness and impossibility of change is one of the most powerful and effective death grips the world, our own falleness, and the devil can maintain on our life… On any human being’s deepest desire and potential to really and truly CHANGE… In order to LIVE, FLOURISH, and be temporally and eternally FRUITFUL.

By Just One yet Heart-Shattering Measure…

Lest anyone think I’m exaggerating this reality, please consider at least two generations of today’s youth—and the incidence of self-destructive behavior linked to “the apparent impossibility of deep, transformational, God-intimate… change.” When any Image Bearer of God [but especially a child] is abandoned to the hopelessness of, “This… I… can never change.” death “by a thousand paper cuts” or quicker does is not just light duty, my friends, it can appear like the most freeing option there is. For far too many, suicide is far better than daily despair.

Believe me, I do not say this lightly or without compassion on so many parents who have lost their beloved children to despair. In Christ, forgiveness, repentance, and redemption is real; but so is our responsibility for, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” (Proverbs 127:3) “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:6; Colossians 3:21) See: Titus 2.

You see, as God, the Bible, and St. Paul stated and repeated many times and ways, humanity is, a) born into Sin and b) has the habitual habit of sinning (Romans 1, 2, 7; Ephesians 2:9, 2 Timothy 2:9 and Titus 3:5… lots more). If any human being is not introduced to the reality of God’s Plan of Redemption—or “Change Management Plan”—the apparent intractability of his or her “Sin and sinning nature” will lead to despair, self-destruction, or, at a bare minimum, “a life of meaninglessness and chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1)

The ability to change… RADICALLY… exists; and God’s honoring us enough to offer us a free will choice in the matter exists along side.

God’s Change Management Plan, Process, and Fruitful Produce

Please cleanse your palate… Take a really deep breath or two… and do a quickie yet focused stretch of your neck, shoulders, and torso… before we dine on the next course.

God’s Plan of Redemption takes into account the ONLY fact and form of transformational change that matters as the first matter of change, that all fundamental change follows from, and that we need to pay very… temporally [to live in and for today]… and eternally [to live with for all time]… close attention to:

In the Beginning, the Trinity Created

Before anything at all existed, the pre-existent Godhead the Father thought, God the Son spoke, and God the Spirit fluttered and all of creation leapt into existence.

[Do you believe this to be true? It’s just one manifestation, very early in the Bible, of the Holy Spirit’s person, power, and practice that’s impossible to put aside, while hoping to believe in Him.]

And the Spirit is continuing to flutter and RE-CREATE today! This is a profound truth that has mysterious and supernatural AS WELL AS manifestly practical and natural consequences.

And please understand this: Just because any rampantly secularized or “pragmatized” human being or culture no longer believes in the realms of the supernatural where God “lives, breathes, has His being,” and maintains sovereignty of all life and death does not mean the supernatural realm of God’s sovereignty does not exist anymore. In fact, it not only exists, but it has a direct influence on how all things actually change.

JUST AS… “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering [“fluttering”, KJV] over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)

SINCE CHRIST WAS RAISED… At just the right time, the Spirit of God FIRST hovers over the hearts of God’s chosen ones to bring each of them back from the dead… to life!

This “first cause” in the realms of God’s “continuing creativity” and our own salvation and eternal destiny is so seminal! And yet so unmentioned at the level of detail whereby we can be honest about why Jesus Christ [essentially] asked the same question to most everyone He encountered, “Have you been born again?” (E.g., essentially, “Do you want to be forgiven or healed? If you choose the latter devoid of the former you will remain terminally ill.” (Matthew 9:28; Mark 9:23; John 16:31… more)

Before… repentance, and before any whisper of our own awareness of our sin and our need for a Savior and Lord… The Spirit hovers and initiates the CHANGE of heart, mind, soul, and strength. Do you realize that you and I… and all of humanity… are so utterly corrupt that you, we are utterly incapable of turning from having been born into Sin, and our habitual sinning… to God?

Regeneration—This work of God is closely, yet mysteriously, linked with his effectual calling so that the two could conceivably be considered one simultaneous work of God. It is distinguished as that act of God’s grace whereby he supernaturally implants a new, Christ-aware heart and spiritual life in us so that our internal spiritual governance changes. It “carries with it the operative grace whereby a person called is enabled to answer [God’s specific and effectual] call…to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel.” [i] This supernatural work of the Triune God working separately and in union is frequently illustrated in Scripture as God’s gift of a new heart, a heart that is alive and honorably responsive to Biblical truth. It is God’s work alone that initially changes the heart, and yet Christians are called to evangelize and make disciples. This apparent contradiction or tension is God’s to command and ours to obey, nonetheless.” (John Dozier; Berkhof Systematic Theology, W.W.W., Appendix B)

Regeneration, Being Born Again, CHANGES Everything!

After regeneration comes, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification… When Christ returns to make all things new.

The Spirit’s most loving act of REGENERATION is aimed at CONFORMATION so that Christ’s growing, maturing, and increasingly effective disciples resemble HIM more and more each passing day!

Before we take some really important time to marinate slow and deep in the Bible’s inspired and inerrant Love and Truth concerning “God’s Change Management Plan” below, please allow me to offer two more points:

1) Being a “born-again Christian” is considered by far too many people [even in the church] to a form of Christianity or “religion” that is reserved for particularly needy, bankrupt, gutter-dwelling, gin- and urine-soaked, and inordinately dire derelicts—who need something well beyond a little religious spit and polish… “Like the rest of us.”

If it isn’t obvious enough by now, Jesus Christ’s perspective on this is that being born again is the absolute bottom-line, crux, essence, and foundation-beneath-all-foundations requirement for, a) inclusion in His family, and b) the eradication of shame—that originated in the Garden at The Fall!

There is no other way to gain access to The Family of God OR kill deader-than-dead the effects of humankind’s Sin and sinning [in part while we’re alive and absolutely when Jesus returns].

It’s so like us to be like Nicodemus, right? Loosely translated, “Hey, Jesus! I was wondering what it’s gonna cost to get out of this mess I’m in? I see my need and I’ve got the resources to pay the debt…”

And Jesus might reply, “The cost of the debt you owe is as far out of your reach as the distance I had to span to become a man, Nicodemus. This state of your heart is so dark and deep that you that you have no resources to deal with it in the least! You literally have to be spiritually reborn and made a new creation… IN ME and by THE SPIRIT.”

The net-net is SOLA Gratia—by Grace ALONE! Not—like all other religions have it—“It’s mostly Grace plus a pinch, or a front-loader full, of some of your own works… to get right with God.”

We contribute NOTHING to our salvation except for our sin, Beloved.

If we don’t get this [“the sin side of the Gospel”] one way down deep, we can never, ever, no never fully know and sense the extent of God’s love and manifold mercies for us in Christ Jesus [“God’s love side of the Gospel”].

2) When we are regenerated, hovered over by the Spirit, born again, converted… it’s all the same… our transformation is begun and all of our sense and sensitivities are, a) instantly, b) slowly, c) incrementally, and d) progressively changed! The way we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is instantly changed, and yet, for most of us, it’s indiscernible at first.

This is why getting on the road to discipleship is vitally important: It acts as a the necessary and logical catalyst for GROWTH from being a spiritual infant to a mature, wise, discerning, self-sacrificial, and Christ-like disciple. Growth is the catalyst for the Christian’s increasing sensitivity of being in touch with the Trinity via all of our senses:

The way we “see, hear, taste, touch, and smell” all of life is infused by the Spirit of God pointing, pointing, and pointing to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is The Supernatural Heart Changer and Pointer to Jesus… The summum bonum, E.g., “the highest good”, of our faith in word and deed, Beloved!

For some people the touch of the Spirit’s regenerating change of heart from dead-cold-stone to a living flesh is subtle, nearly indiscernible… For others, the change of heart is more dramatic… most not to the extreme of Paul’s Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9) radical, ecstatic, blinding, and scales falling… conversion.

If we… if you or your loved ones… feel the slightest touch of God the Father or His Son Jesus moving you towards Himself, the Spirit has already touched and fluttered over you heart. Follow the lead. Follow the lead. Do not be to prideful or ashamed of worldly to talk to a Bible-based leader, disciple of Christ.

Pastors, Church Leaders Need to Know God’s “Change Management Plan” and Speak the Truth in Love.

This is very important: In these days of a living in a rampantly secularized [no God, all the here-and-now], privitized [what occurs in our private life has no bearing on our public life], and pluralized [relativism reigns, no transcendent True True exists, only each person’s version of truth matters] culture, the situation couldn’t be more plain and dangerous. A complicated mix of Christ’s more mature disciples, infant disciples going undiscipled, unbelievers who think they are disciples, and unchurched people are all sitting together in church on Sunday morning.

Pastors, church leaders, Christ-centered counselors, Care Ministry leaders, etc. need more than ever to be Biblically aware, “Trinity aware”, “culturally aware”, wise, discerning, and plain in regularly reminding all people in the church of the above reality of God’s Change Management Plan, Process, and Produce.

While preaching, teaching, or communicating in any sort of ways, church leadership needs to remind people of the nuances as well as the mega-changes that occur to the heart, Spirit/emotions, and actions of a person when the Spirit’s regenerating, “fluttering”, transforming, and conforming is at work!

The church of our day needs to be about lots of things, but acknowledging and clarifying God’s people of God’s Change Management Plan, Process, and Produce is vitally important. The supernatural realms of God Plan of Redemption are very real. Please take some very quiet, prayerful, and communal [go deep and discuss this within a community of the faithful] time to marinate on the Bible passages concerning the Spirit’s regenerating “change management process” below:

Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh…

John: 1:13
…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:3
Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’.

John 3:5
Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’.

John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:7
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’.

John 3:8
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 2:4-8
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…

Colossians 2:13
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…

Titus 3:5
…he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…

James 1:18
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

1 Peter 1:23
…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…

1 John 3:9
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

1 John 2:29
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 5:1
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

1 John 5:4
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 John 5:18
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

God’s Change Management Plan, Process…

…and Produce

Please closely consider, and please do so with another born-again, regenerated, converted, thank-full, growing, and worshiping disciple of Jesus Christ… The sorts of questions offered as “the produce” or fruit of your own faith journey, Beloved of God.

  1. Do you have a conversion story? Are you ready, willing, and excited to tell it to others?
  2. Have you enjoyed fellowship with Christ and the Father?
  3. Are you sensitive to sin?
  4. Do you thirst for God’s “living water” in His word, the Bible?
  5. Do you obey God’s word?
  6. Are you very much aware of the spiritual battle going on within you?
  7. Do you reject this evil world?
  8. Do you eagerly await Christ’s return?
  9. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life?
  10. Do you have an increasing presence and growth of The Fruit of the Spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
  11. Do you love other Christians (and spend time in community with them)?
  12. Have you made a commitment to a local church—membership, preaching/teaching, worship, growth, the sacraments, and service?
  13. Do you try and radically give of your time, talents, and treasure for Kingdom-building work in word and deed?
  14. Do you experience answered prayer?
  15. Do you experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
  16. Can you discern between spiritual truth and error?
  17. Have you suffered rejection because of your faith?
  18. Do you have a strong desire to know your own gifts and use them to fulfill God’s command of being light, salt, and of service?
  19. As you experience everyday life and the people therein, are you always listening for signs of whether or not they are saved?
  20. Are you angry, indignant, offended, insulted, or so confused that you’re reeling inside… by any of the above? If so, please use these emotions as a sign that you should seriously question the nature of your faith—and speak to someone of a bona fide, born-again, Biblical faith…ASAP.

Offered as a sinner saved by grace… to serve,
JohnDoz

areyoureadytogrowbig2Welcome to the Training Table where you can depend on some spiritually-nourishing chow, carefully prepared, to help you run the Godly and good race! For what good is a good race, unless it’s a Godly race (2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Corinthians 9:24)?

It’s Been One of Those Months…

I know you have had one of those days, weeks, months or maybe even years that I’m thinking about: There is a principle or a topic or a twist and turn in your life and/or faith journey that, apparently out of nowhere, seems to pop up in every other interaction you have with another person. It’s like a recurring theme; a certain topic that’s near and dear to you; or perhaps an integral part of your personal story that is seminal in some way.

For me, some of these sorts of experiences have revolved around things like… the Roman Catholic Church I was brought up in; my early-life experiences of shame, criticism, and anonymity; my habit of the heart of looking for love in all the wrong places; my compulsion around things like an inordinate love for the outdoors, athleticism, and/or heroic adventures; or the experience of being in such close proximity to the victim of a suicide—as I was with my father after he took his life December 25, 2002.

These sorts of “Big Rock” topics (Covey) not only come up in conversations every once in a while but they will often come up in such close proximity to each other and with such a degree of repetition that it is blatantly obvious that God is trying to influence and continue to shape and reshape my faith in His Son—and my behaviors and influence towards those who He has providentially yet intimately put right smack dab in the path of my life… and my life in theirs.

These occasions and experiences are not by any stretch of the imagination coincidences; they are Godcidences that I… and we… should make very special note of and take very seriously.

“That Discipleship Thang!”

The first “major” [E.g., being brought back from the dead!] milestone in my faith journey consisted of being brought to faith first by the person and power of the Holy Spirit touching my heart and supernaturally turning it from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh… But not far after being supernaturally born-again I was placed in the hands of three Disciples of Christ who introduced me to the person of Christ and the power He had to love me and affect a radical change in my life.

But that is where it ended… I was never told that there was a next step in THE… or MY… journey of faith that was absolutely crucial to what follows after being made a disciple… And that is discipleship. I was just a reborn, brand new infant in the faith, but I was left nearly naked in the cold and rain of the world, my own habits of Sin and sinning, and the devilto fend for myself. I had no idea at the time, but this was not right. [In fact, if anyone or any church is outspoken about evangelism, and can’t point to how MAKING disciples is explicitly stewarded, accompanied and followed by GROWING disciples… that’s a very big problem.]

It wasn’t until I had moved from Aspen to St. Louis in 1987, nearly four years after my conversion, that I started listening to KSIV radio and the awesome preaching and teaching of the likes of RC Sproul, John MacArthur, Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Ravi Zacharias, Vernon McGee, Chip Ingram, Adrian Rogers, David Jeremiah, and numerous other Reformed preachers and teachers… That I began to see the absolute necessity of the leadership, the discipline, the content, the communication, and the community that was absolutely necessary for my journey of discipleship. And for the discipleship of ALL disciples of Jesus Christ.

Since that point in time, and especially in the last 10 years, the issue of discipleship has come around again and again in very poignant ways and very specific people and places in my life.

There Are Many Doorways into the Realm of Discipleship… Many are Left Unopened.

Today at the Training Table I am going to offer you Marathoners for Christ a perspective on discipleship from John Piper entitled “Going Hard After the Holy God.” I found this perspective to be incredibly refreshing, roundly robust, chocked full of things that are indeed a fantastic and yummy and vital [life giving] feast of the heart!

Please… Remember that you are a marathoner for Christ running the good race! You’re called to be fit; you should be in pretty damn good spiritual shape; you are to be prepared and eager to teach, admonish, encourage, point, warn others in the faith; it’s due to your persevering by the power of the Spirit but also because you’re obedient and cooperating by loving, training, growing, serving, and maturing… Net, net, you’re called and passionate about “Going Hard After the Holy God.”

John Piper’s words below are extremely important for any disciple of Jesus Christ who knows, a) the place and importance of discipleship, b) the troubling absence of intentional, consistent, and continuously improving Discipleship Principles and Processes in far too many churches, and, c) the need for those who are being called upon by God to step up… and get ‘re done… God’s people need to heed God’s call on them to do so now.

Chew your food well. And influence others by and through it where and whenever you can. If you have a heart for the topic of discipleship… and for YOUR OWN and OTHER’S discipleship… you will find this content a humorous and scrumptious feast of the heart!

“Going Hard After the Holy God.” (John Piper, January 8, 1984, Philippians 3:2-16, The Holiness of God)

“Our theme for the week of prayer has been, “Going Hard After the Holy God.” Last week we focused on the Holy God. Today we focus on “going hard.”

The phrase is adapted from A.W. Tozer, whose little book, The Pursuit of God, has a chapter entitled, “Following Hard after God.” Tozer wrote this book in 1948, but if anything, it is more relevant today. After showing how Moses and David and Paul and all the great hymn writers were even thirsting after more of God, he writes,

How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ… and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshiping, seeking, singing church on that subject is crisply set aside. The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford, or a Brainerd. (pp. 16–17)

True Grace Creates Desire for More Grace

So Tozer rejected the false logic which says: if you have found God in Christ, you need no more seek him. I reject that, too. And I join Tozer in replacing it with these words, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart” (p. 15).

Or as St. Bernard sang it:
We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Matthew Henry is right: “Wherever there is true grace there is a desire for more grace.” When Paul said, “Don’t be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), his aim was to make God-aholics out of all believers. The Spirit is not deadening; he is addicting. The evidence that you have him is that you want more of him. Continued indifference to growth in grace is a sign of no grace.

This morning I would like to show from Philippians 3 why we must go hard after God and how we can go hard after God. I want to persuade you that the pursuit of God is not optional, even after conversion, and I want to give practical help in the performance of this duty.

Four Reasons Why We Must Go Hard After God

First: why do I insist that you must go hard after God, or, which is the same thing, why must we go hard after Christ? There are at least six reasons given by the apostle Paul in Phil. 3:7-14. I’ll only mention four. The first two answer the question why by referring to the future rewards of the pursuit. The last two answer the question why by referring to the past causes of the pursuit.

1) In Order to Know Him
First, we must go hard after Christ in order to know him. Verses 7 and 8: “Whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul went hard after Christ, forsaking all the things people normally boast about; and he did it in order to know him. Notice verse 7 is past tense—probably referring to conversion (“I counted all loss”). But verse 8 is present tense: he continues to renounce everything that hinders his getting to know Christ.

Why? Because knowing Christ is a value that surpasses everything else. The evidence of conversion is whether you become a Christian Hedonist. Christian Hedonists always go hard after the highest value. They sell everything joyfully for the buried treasure and pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44–45). We must go hard after Christ, because not to means that we don’t want to know him. And not to want to know Christ is an insult to his value and a sign of spiritual stupor or deadness in us. But when you go hard after Christ, to know him, the reward is your joy and his honor.

Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:18–19 that we “may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” There is so much of Christ yet to be known! His wonders are inexhaustible to all eternity. You, who claim that he is your pearl of great price and your treasure chest of holy joy and yet who do not go hard after him to know him, are caught in a contradiction that cannot go on. You must go hard after Christ, or eventually surrender your claim to own him as the Lord of joy.

When a man falls in love, he is driven by an inner compulsion to know his beloved. And therefore he goes hard after her and spends time with her. When a student admires his professor and treasures his wisdom and that professor invites the class to his home, the student goes! I had a great teacher in seminary. And when he offered a course in his home called “Hermeneutics for Eggheads,” I signed up immediately. It didn’t matter what the title meant. It was my teacher’s course. It was my teacher’s home. That’s all I needed, because I wanted to know him. The first reason to go hard after Christ is to know him.

2) To Confirm Our Justification
Second, we must go hard after Christ to confirm our justification. Justification refers to the wonderful act of God in which he forgives all our sins and imputes to us his own righteousness through our faith in Christ. Start with the second half of verse 8: “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Notice: present tense, “I am counting all things as refuse”; I am forsaking them; I am pursuing Christ. Why? In order that I might gain Christ and share in God’s righteousness.

What does it mean to gain Christ and share God’s righteousness? Paul is a Christian and is straining forward to this. So surely it means at least gaining Christ’s acceptance when he comes to judge or when we die. To lose Christ would be to lose everything. To gain him would be to enjoy his fellowship forever. Paul is speaking as a Christian and looking into the future and doing what he must do to gain Christ and be found clothed in God’s righteousness and accepted into heaven. What must he do? He must pursue Christ. He must count all things as rubbish and go hard after Christ.

But wait! Isn’t justification by faith? Yes. Verse 9 is clear: the righteousness Paul pursues is based on faith. But he is pursuing it! As a Christian he counts all things as loss in order to have this righteousness. (Compare the words for “pursue” and “obtain” in Romans 9:30 and Philippians 3:13.) Conclusion: the faith which justifies is a faith which forsakes earthly values and pursues Christ. If justification depends on faith, and if forsaking the world as refuse is necessary for having the benefits of justification, then it is plain: saving faith is not merely a one-time decision for Christ. Saving faith is an ongoing preference for Christ over all other values. The pursuit of Christ is the evidence of genuine faith in Christ as our treasure. Therefore, we must go hard after Christ in order to confirm our justification.

3) Because We Are So Imperfect 
There are at least two more reasons we must go hard after Christ, which look not to future rewards (like knowing himenjoying justification, and the two I have left untouched: sharing his power, v. 10, and being raised from the dead, v. 11), but which look to past causes. The first of these is found in verse 12: we must go hard after Christ because we are so imperfect. “Not that I have already obtained or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own.”

We must go hard after Christ because we are so deficient. A failing student should pursue a special tutor. Nearsighted people should pursue an optometrist. People with strep throat should take antibiotics. Alcoholics should pursue a support group. Young apprentices should follow their master at his work. Not to go hard after Christ means that either you don’t trust his power and willingness to change your imperfections, or that you want to cling to your imperfections. In either case, Christ is scorned and we are lost.

4) Because He Has Made Us His Own
The final reason why we must go hard after Christ is that he has gone hard after us and, indeed, has by faith made us his own. Verse 12 again: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own,because Christ has made me his own.” This sentence explodes the false logic Tozer referred to which says that if Christ has found us, we need no more seek him. If he has laid hold of us, we need not press on to lay hold of him. Paul reasons exactly opposite to this: I press on in order to gain Christ, because Christ has already gained me. Paul’s conversion was not a cage to hold him back but a catapult into the pursuit of holiness. The irresistible grace of Christ overcoming Paul’s rebellion and saving him from sin did not make Paul passive; it made him powerful!

The best commentary on Philippians 3:12 is Philippians 2:12–13: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you.” Go hard after Christ, because Christ is at work in you! “Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), for the Lord is working in you what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21).

The reason the Bible can make our salvation depend on our pursuit of holiness without turning us into self-reliant legalists who have no assurance is that it makes our pursuit of holiness depend on the sovereign work of God in our lives. Work out your salvation, because God is at work in you. Your work is his work for his glory when done in dependence on his power.

The most fundamental reason why you must go hard after Christ is that Christ is in you, moving you to go hard after him.

Three Steps in Going Hard After God 

Now we turn from the why of our pursuit to the how. Here we will focus all our attention on verse 13 which tells how Paul presses on: “Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own (or: I do not regard myself to have obtained); but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on.” There are three steps here in the way Paul goes hard after Christ.

1) Develop Holy Dissatisfaction
The first has to do with the way he views himself. Literally it says: “I do not regard myself to have obtained.” Paul’s pursuit of Christ rises out of a profound dissatisfaction with the way he is. Could it be that there is a connection between how little earnest pursuit of God there is today in the church and how much we are told to think well of ourselves? It is a wonderful thing to have been taken possession of by Christ. But it is a thousand times more wonderful when we realize that he has taken possession of people who remain sinful.

The first step in going hard after the holy God, then, is to develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual life. Stand in front of the mirror of the Word and recognize that you have not yet arrived. The hearty admission of our spiritual imperfections is the starting point for the pursuit of God.

Let’s pause and clarify this. Many people today would say, “Piper, you are utterly out of touch with real people. People do not need a negative appeal to think more about their guilt. The malaise of American culture inside and outside the church is an epidemic of guilt and bad feelings about ourselves. Don’t tell people that what they need is to develop more dissatisfaction about themselves. Do you really think the people in your congregation like themselves?”

No, I don’t. But I think real humbling guilt is extraordinarily rare. And I think 99% of our bad feelings about ourselves is rooted in pride. For example, suppose you go to a dinner party and find out when you get there that you are dressed wrong; and then you spill your coffee; and then you don’t know which fork to pick up first; and then the joke you attempt falls flat; and when you are leaving, you call your hostess by the wrong name. How do you feel about yourself when you get home? Rotten. You hate yourself. You’re depressed. You don’t want to show your face. You feel like quitting your job. What’s the use when you’re such a klutz?

Now I ask, where does all that low self-image come from? Whence all these depressing, immobilizing, self-denouncing feelings? Is the answer: God’s offended glory or your offended pride? People who are depressed and immobilized and angry because their behavior has injured the glory of God are very, very rare. But people who are depressed and immobilized and angry because their behavior has prevented them from having a reputation of being cool and competent are very, very common.

When I plead with you to develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual life, I am asking for something rare, not common. I’m not asking you to feel worse about your inability to appear cool and intelligent. I’m asking you to feel worse that you possess so little of Christ. The first step in going hard after God is to feel bad about the right things. Develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual life.

2) Forget the Things Which Lie Behind
The second step in going hard after God is to forget those things which lie behind(v. 13). I take this to mean that anything in your background which hinders your pursuit of God you should put out of your mind. Don’t take this to mean that memory has no place in our spiritual artillery. It does. Some battles are won by “remembered mercies” (Psalm 77:11; Hebrews 11).

The point is not: never look back. The point is: only look back for the sake of pressing forward. Never substitute nostalgia for hope. Memories of successes can make you smug and self-satisfied. Memories of failure can make you hopeless and paralyzed in your pursuit of God. Never look back like that. Give humble thanks for successes; make humble confessions for failure; then turn to the future and go hard after God.

3) Strain Forward to What Lies Ahead
The final step in going hard after God is to strain forward to what lies ahead (v. 13). Paul provides his own illustration of straining forward in 1 Corinthians 9:25–27, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

The way to go hard after God is with all the discipline and self-denial of an athlete. I doubt that there has ever been a Christian who reached heights of knowledge and joy and obedience without plan and discipline and self-denial. God does not promise his riches to aimless people. Paul did not run aimlessly or beat the air. He lived with spiritual goals in view and controlled his passions for the sake of those goals.

Here’s an example of how Jonathan Edwards followed Paul’s example. Sereno Dwight writes,

He carefully observed the effects of different sorts of good, and selected those which best suited his constitution, and rendered him most fit for mental labor… In this respect he lived by rule, and constantly practiced great self-denial; as he did also with regard to the time passed in sleep. He accustomed himself to arise at four or between four and five in the morning: and in winter spent several of those hours in study which are commonly wasted in slumber. In the evening he usually allowed himself a season of relaxation in the midst of his family.

Whether you follow Jonathan Edwards or not, I urge you, on the basis of Paul’s example, to be like an athlete. Set yourself a goal to know more of the Word of God, to grasp more of the will of God, to love more of the wonder of God; and then make a plan of prayer and study and worship and go for it with all your might.

In sum, the word this morning is this:

  • Develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual attainments,
  • put out of your mind anything in the past which hinders your pursuit of God,
  • strain forward like an athlete in training.

For imperfect as we are, it is God who is at work in us to will and to do his good pleasure. We do not run in our own strength and, all the more therefore, we can be assured that going hard after the holy God will bring us to know him deeply and enjoy the sweet confirmation of our justification.”

[John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.]

The leadership, communication, discipline, content, community, and process of continuous improvement about DISCIPLESHIP is sorely missing in too many churches today. I hope Pastor Piper’s incredible feast for the born-again, race-runner’s heart is so fulfilling for you that you “take it and run with it!” for yourself and any others in your circle of concern and/or influence.

JohnDoz

Resources:
Discipleship, Dietrich Bonheoffer

The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship, Dallas Willard

The Call to Discipleship, Pastor Tim Keller

The Essentials of Discipleship, John MacArthur

Christianity Without Discipleship Is Christianity Without Christ, John Piper

The Heart of Discipleship, John Piper

Intentional Parenting: Family Discipleship by Design, Tad Thompson

Make Disciples, Dave E

Hands (1)Welcome to the Training Table where you can depend on a spiritually-nourishing feast of the heart, carefully prepared, to help you run the Godly and good race! For what good is a good race, unless it’s a Godly race (2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Corinthians 9:24)?

The Creator as Sustainer

Just this week it occurred to me… again [like it has a bazillion times before]: Since we have lived under the pale of an anti-theistic, naturalistic, Darwinian philosophy of origins for so long, the “fact” [E.g., in reality a fiction of devilish, unscientific, and foolish imaginings] that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were not involved in the CREATION of the universe has left many people… dare I say an alarming many… in the untenable place that… ERGO… God could not be involved in SUSTAINING the universe.

Let alone—on the most intimate level imaginable—you and me.

It stands to reason, right? “For too many years, the prevailing orthodoxy in the scientific academy has faced no meaningful challenges at the epistemological level. This prevailing orthodoxy, which I will call a naturalist evolutionary theory of origins, believes in a chance-driven, naturalistic universe and believes time + chance + matter = life as we know it in all its mind-boggling complexity in this universe.” (Richard Land, The Intelligent Design Movement: Rocking Scientific Naturalism)

And, I’m afraid, not that digging deep and reasoning things out is associated with much these daze, whether we actually drill down and connect the dots or not [E.g., since God is not Creator He could not be Sustainer], there exists within each and every heart:

a) A TRUE TRUTH that we are infinitely and intimately created and sustained by the Triune God of All Who really and truly exists (Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; Revelation 4:11, Colossians 1:16… 100+ more) and,

b) A LIE that we exist purely as a result of time + chance + matter dominates our spirit, emotions, and our actions… each and every day: Recognized or unrecognized, seen or unseen… this ambivalence about the reality of God as Creator and Sustainer has a sure, interconnected, and much more influential impact on us than we can imagine!

These two antithetical, existential, and practical ideas are at irreconcilable loggerheads with one another—and yet so many people live as if it doesn’t actually matter. Maybe it’s actually as easy as flipping coin: 1) Either nothing matters and you and I will end up as nothing more than food for worms, OR, 2) in Christ, you and I can matter to The Only One that matters… for time and eternity. “Flip it!” Or, better yet, “Choose this day…” (Joshua 24:14-15).

As Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has said, If you came from nothing, and you end in nothing, at least have the integrity to admit that your life ‘in between two nothings’ cannot possibly amount to anything.”

When there is a warfare of worldviews going between ANY human being’s heart, spirit, and actions… is a very big problem… whether we recognize it or not, Beloved.

And yet, unwilling to embrace this reality one way or the other, far too many of us “suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18) and are unwilling “GoDeep!” (Hebrews 4;12) and come to any irrefutable conclusion.

As a result, we live lives racked by unresolved and existentially conflicting spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical ambivalences. [Def, uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things.]

No human being can actually live life to the fullest… in this “state of heart, mind, soul, and strength” (Matthew 22:37).

“An anxious heart weighs a man down…” (Proverbs 12:15 NIV)

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” (Proverbs 13:12 NLT).

“Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy” (Proverbs 14:10 ESV).

“Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains” (Proverbs 14:13 NLT).

“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30 NIV).

“The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4 NIV).

“A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly” (Proverbs 15:13-14 NIV).

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD” (Proverbs 16:2 NIV).

“The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them; honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions” (Proverbs 28:1 The Message).

“My Very Own Creator and Sustainer?” It’s True! Or is It…?

My wonderful 100+ year-old grandmother, Mimi, used to pine away in her nursing home bed, “Oh Johnny, I just can’t understand why God is leaving me here so long. I just want to go and be with him. Oh… I know, I know, he’s got a lot going on. I know he’s too busy with the really important things to take care of little ‘ol me.”

It broke my heart to hear her say that… And I spent much time loving Mimi and trying to convince her that, on the contrary, God has an infinite amount of time to spend for and with each and every person who sought to know and love Him.

Many people living in our postmodern culture have embraced this false and heart-hardening theology. They believe that God might have gotten things started just fine, but has since abandoned the helm of the ship, leaving us to flounder in a sea of chaos and random circumstances. Even committed Christians either, a) sometimes fall prey to a worldly view of God as benevolently indifferent, distractible, or even so impersonal as to be sadistic… or, b) if they do believe God is The Creator of All they do not give Bible-based, regular, meditative, voluminous, communal, sacramental… thanks!

The idea that the Creator has adopted a policy of benign neglect toward his universe could not be further from the truth. Nor could it be more frightening! In times of weeping, we have no other foundation than to cry out to a God who is near. Consider these True Truths, all revealing our dependency on the Triune God as creator and sustainer, inspired by God and drawn from the Bible:

  • Our own personal control over our destiny is limited and yet empowered by free will: “Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?” (Job 36:19; see also Proverbs 11:4)
  • God’s omniscience, apart from a personal relationship with the Savior, is convicting and frightening: “No creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
  • The human lifespan is brief; our strength, insignificant: “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.” (Isaiah 40:7)
  • Wealth, no matter how much we amass, will not keep death at bay: “The sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of His pursuits.” (James 1:11)
  • We cannot save ourselves (or anyone else) in the Judgment: “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him.” (Psalm 49:7)
  • The War of All Wars is over, but skirmishes for souls will continue until Christ returns: “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.” (Revelation 12:10; see also verses 7-17)

Have you been born again? Is THE Creator and Sustainer YOUR Creator and Sustainer?

In short, the human condition is utterly bleak apart from Christ. Yet, we need not weep alone. Our fears need not overwhelm us. Not only did God create a magnificent universe for us, beautiful beyond our wildest dreams, he also sustains that universe in an even more magnificent fashion.

He does this under the influence of the reality of his Plan of Redemption, the resurrection, and the finished-but-not-yet-complete (until Jesus returns) work of Christ. He rules it, directing events in it for the good of his people (Romans 8:28). Because he does, we can trust him, even when we weep in frustration, loss, pain, and suffering (1 Peter 5;10). These foundational promises can slow and then halt the unavoidable freefalls of living in a broken world of any kind.

Remember… Yes, the Triune God did indeed create the universe in a perfect fashion (Genesis 1,2); he gave his first Image Bearers Adam and Eve the choice to love him back and they failed the test (Genesis 3); all the universe [including Original Sin inherited by all humanity] was thrown into chaos and decay in every imaginable way but God was acutely aware of this as well (Genesis 6;5); and he had a Plan of Redemption in place under which he is most magnificently and mercifully making all things new again for those who love him by means of his Son and in the power of the Spirit (John 3:16; Ephesians 1); and hellish for those who will not (Revelations 21:8; Romans 6:23).

  • God sustains us in every trouble: “Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health” (Psalm 41:1-3).
  • God keeps a close eye on us and supports us: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
  • God’s Son is always with us to counsel and comfort: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 13:5-6).
  • Jesus has sent the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to direct and sustain us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world [those who haven’t put their faith in Jesus] cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:15-18; 17 – parenthesis added).
  • The God of the Bible is unique, altogether transcendent, imminent, infinite, and intimate with those who love him: “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” (Psalm 116:1-4).
  • God’s Word sustains forever, giving us wisdom: “Your testimonies [the Word of God both in Christ and in the Bible] are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24 – parenthesis added).
  • God pours out his love for us in Christ. No circumstance or power, not even the most dire, can pluck us out of his hand: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
  • God’s person, presence, and power sustain us: “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:3-5).
  • We are not alone, even when we feel alone: “Be strong and courageous… for it is the LORD your God who goes with you… He will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Is it time to stop the freefall…(ing) and shore up the foundations of your faith? Here are some questions you may find helpful as you think through the first foundational truth:

Do you believe with all your heart that the words with which the universe began are true? Explain.

“The Bible’s beginning sets the stage for the Bible’s ending—and for everything in between.” To what extent do you believe this to be true? Why does it matter?

What is your response to Keller’s loving, truthful, yet polarizing quote above, If you came from nothing, and you end in nothing, at least have the integrity to admit that your life ‘in between two nothings’ cannot possibly amount to anything.”

If you were to believe in the deepest recesses of your heart that the God of the Bible was the self-existent, perfect, all-loving, all-truthful, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present Creator and is presently the Sustainer of the Universe, what difference would it make in how you, personally, dealt with life’s trials and/or its joys?

Would it help or hurt you in your sufferings and joys of any kind to know that the God of the universe created you and loves you?

Consider Job, quite possibly the most afflicted person other than our Lord, described in Scriptures. In chapter after chapter, his friends and family chided him. When he finally presented his case before God, what answer did he receive? (Job 38-41)

Why did God give this specific reminder of his love and truth to Job, do you think? How do God’s words to Job further illuminate the concepts you have about life’s unavoidable and inevitable freefalls and God’s everlasting foundations?

The reality of God as The… Our… Your… Creator and Sustainer is a fact and the foundation of life we cannot truly live without—and that we can truly live within!

JohnDoz

Resources:
Death in Adam, Life in Christ, R.C. Sproul

The Four Spiritual Laws

What is Meant by “Original Sin”?

Getting the Gospel Right, John MacArthur

The History of Redemption, John Piper

Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen Myer

Do We Live in the Matrix? Ideas on Creation.

Sun RaysWelcome Marathoners for Christ (Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 9:26; Hebrews 12:4; 2 Timothy 4:7).

I wonder how many times a day, a week, a month… maybe a decade, perhaps—God forbid—EVER that we slow way down to stop and thank God for… a single breath, a heartbeat, the blink of an eye, the scent of a flower, the sound of a bird, the glimpse of a commonplace beauty, the ability to take on any complicated task of any kind, hot water within seconds, light at the flick of a switch, arriving safe and sound from a trip, heat or cool in the air at the touch of a button, heat to cook just a dial away, the early-evening light bathing the mountains in alpen glow, food in the cupboard or fridge… a smile from a stranger, a sunrise or sunset, rain on our face, a mother duck and her ducklings crossing our path… ten fingers, ten toes… Not spending the day in the E.R.

Shall I go on to name the godzillion ways God’s Goodness is reflected in our life? And we usually don’t give it a passing thought, do we? This most basic lack of attribution to God comes as a great cost and diminishment of our heart, faith, spirit, and desire to bless God and others.

The Bible says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good…” (Psalm 34:8). Goodness so sweet and beautiful you can taste it! “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17; both emphasis added). Not just an occasional, but every

ALL Good… ANY Good… Is a Reflection of God’s Vast and Merciful Goodness.

In the context of God’s Common Grace, He has providenced that, a) He withholds from all humankind the vast and unspeakable array of BAD that flowed out of The Fall (Genesis 3); and b) He has provided all humankind ANY form of GOOD that reveals itself in the tiniest and grandest form of good we see and don’t see every moment of every day. And much more…

“Common grace curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men.” (Louis Berkhof)

If God lifted His hand of protection from the BAD of the world—and your life—any and every aspect of death, darkness, and decay would be revealed and wipe the world… and you… OUT! And not one thing at all that we attribute to the range of really awesome to remotely GOOD can happen without God’s Common Grace.

“Common Grace is seen in God’s continuing care for His creation, His restraining human society from becoming altogether intolerable and ungovernable, His making it possible for mankind to live together in a generally orderly and cooperative manner, and maintaining man’s conscious sense of basic right and wrong behavior.”

Ask yourself today, “At what level am I truly aware and deeply, openly, overtly thankful for God’s Common Grace? Or are you mistaking that anything that goes well in the world for God’s responsibility or your deserving? Please think again… “If my demands to just get what I deserve were to be granted by God there would be nothing left behind this pulpit but a pair of smoldering shoes!” (R.C. Sproul)

From the second after The Fall in the Garden of Eden what mankind deserved is hell. So, when any notion to respond to God’s grace in the most common way like, “Oh, the scent of that garden is heavenly!” Please, think about what you’ve just said.

In the context of God’s Special Grace, He has providenced that, ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-7; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9; 1 Peter 3:21; Ephesians 2:8-9)

God’s Special Grace is “beyond Common” due to the fact that the names written in the Book of Life since before time are, at just the right time, regenerated or brought back from being spiritually dead by the Spirit, and then capable of seeing their sin, repenting, have been justified and have faith in Jesus Christ—first as their Savior from hell and then their as their Lord as His disciple in the upward-trending journey of faith, perseverance, conformation, and service in Jesus’ name until He returns in glory.

We Must Take the Time to Reflect… On ALL Good Things.

And reflect again and again every day!

There I was: an eight-hour evening of “pearl diving” (dish washing) had finally ended!  It was 2:00am and we had had another hunormously busy night at The Chart House of Aspen restaurant with 500+ dinners served and, yours-truly, the “the solo diver”.

I was racked with exhaustion, and yet still jazzed-up, after having completed another “marathon of diving” on a December holiday evening in the sleepy little mining town of Aspen.

It took me some time to suit up in my winter bicycling gear for the ride home.  It wasn’t until I stepped outside while walking my studded-snow-tired mountain bike that I got a cruel but refreshing slap in the face of a 25 degrees below zero reality check.

“YO!”, I said to myself as I straddled my bike in the middle of the desolate Durant Street intersection, and zipped-up tight for my half-hour-long ride home.

There was a perfectly beautiful full moon right over head, and I was psyched to end my long evening with a refreshing spin and wind-down before bedtime.

As I rolled across the snow-packed street that sounded like crackling-squeaky-tires on Styrofoam, it was then that I suddenly stopped short of clipping into my bike pedals.  I turned my head and lifted my face towards the sky to listen very carefully as the light wind shifted back and forth.

There it was again: one of my favorite sounds of the faint and distant honking of Canadian Geese.  The elusive but clear honking came and went as the light and shifting wind made all the difference in the hearing.  So I could see the dark night sky more clearly, I decided to walk my bike over to an area that wasn’t so well lit by the near-by street light.

I stared up intently into the black, star-studded, full moon sky.  Suddenly, there it was!  A thread-like, “V”-shaped strand of geese some thousands of feet above me!  No!  Wait a minute… There THEY were:  As I continued to stare up into the sky, and my eyes grew more and more adjusted to the lack of ambient light, I was witness to a most glorious sight indeed: not one, but hundreds of thread-like, “V”-strands of geese moving and honking across the black, star-studded sky.

I could now more clearly see how their underbellies were brightly lit by the reflection of the full moon off of the Colorado mountain snow below them.

God’s Goodness is Reflected in ALL Things!

I was absolutely stunned and awed by the sight of hundreds of thousands of big ‘ol, white-bellied honkers working their way towards the warmer climes.  What an unbelievable sight and gift that was indeed!

“…coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…”

It wasn’t until ten years later—after my conversion at the age of 33—that I had the blessing of the bigger and more inestimable gift:

You see, beloved friends, I had come to realize that even though this marvelous event I had witnessed was very special indeed, it was merely a reflection of something much better.  Much brighter.  Much bigger.  Much more awesome… So much so that, if you’re a born-again Christian, “waking up each day in heaven” [will sleep will be needed there?] after we’ve been there for ten-thousand years will be the most exciting thing ever!

Imagine this: Those thousands downy-white geese bellies reflected the light on the snow; which reflected the light of the full moon; which reflected the light of the sun—on the other side of the planet millions and millions of miles away—which reflected The One and Only Light, Love, and Truth of The Trinity’s co-creative and sustained act of “Let there be light…”, “In the beginning…” (Genesis 1, 2)!

So awesome, only “Wow!” suffices, right?

Please, Reflect on Your Own Life.

Have you come to the place in your own life of realizing that even the greatest, most awesome blessing you could ever dare imagine… is only a reflection… and a dim one at that… of God’s effulgent and manifold mercies?

And that the most seemingly insignificant little blessings… are but a reflection of God as well?

Is there a time that you could point to when you experienced a shift—dramatic or subtle—between seeing reflections of God’s Common and/or Special Grace?

As Jonathan Edwards once preached, “A true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of religion; a real sense of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things; an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind, and more sublime nature than in other things; a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart.” (“A Divine and Supernatural Light…”)

You see, when the Bible tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows”, there are at least two very, very important reasons why this truism of the Christian faith can make all the difference in our lives by reversing the curse of ingratitude and idolatry put within all hearts in The Fall (Romans 1:18-32).

First of all, when we accept the occasion of our gratitude as coming from the proper cause we are drawn ever-closer to our heavenly Father in deepest thanksgiving and praise of Him: The First Cause! Every heartbeat, every breath, every quake in a blade of grass, every downy feather that falls from a bird, every star nebula, every dimension we won’t discover until we’ve explored the heavens in our millionth year praising God there… it’s all of God.

Everything and anything good is of God—because in The Fall it ALL went… What? Yes, BAD! Ever since The Fall, God has been working out His Plan of Redemption in Christ, in You, in those who believe… AND in those who do not—so that they may before Jesus Christ returns and it’s too late to repent and believe.

Between this very day and when Jesus returns and it’s too late, a) God’s growing, conforming Believers; and b) God’s wooing unbelievers to the end that they repent, are justified, and have faith to believe. On the other hand, Satan is opposing God’s plan by, a) keeping unbelievers unbelieving and, b) keeping Believers as ineffective as he can.

Secondly, we must be very, very careful not to confuse the occasion of the thanksgiving, with the cause.  Do not stop at even the greatest gift experienced in this worldly realm: go the The Giver.

Do not linger simply at the blessing of family; go to The Creator of Family.

Do not even stop at the thanks for life; go to The Creator, Sustainer, and Offer of Eternal Life.

Do not feign faith in either liturgy or tradition or cozy-warm feelings… but look through the man-made manifestation to The Source of All Worship, Love and Truth!

Then, and only then, is your heart—the wellspring of your life (Proverbs 4:23)—provided the best chance of getting it’s priorities right, ushering out the wrong, and being a witness for others to do the same.

St. Augustine put it this way, “But what do I love, when I love Thee? Not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embracements of flesh. [These are reflections…] None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embracement when I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner [born-again, Spirit-led] man: where there shineth unto my soul what space cannot contain, and there soundeth what time beareth not away, and there smelleth what breathing disperseth not, and there tasteth what eating diminisheth not, and there clingeth what satiety divorceth not. This is it which I love when I love my God.” (Confessions 10.6.8, parenthesis, emphasis added)

Augustine loved the things of this world not in themselves but as a reflection of God’s redeeming work within him! It begin within so that the vestiges of God “from without” are not as praiseworthy as The Most Worthy One. Have you been born again within and from above?

The Warning of Mistaken Reflections

Once we make the mistake of confusing the cause with the occasion, well, as it turns out, we will make little gods out of the blessings… and not The Blesser! Our fallen heart will make good things… the only thing.

And, due to the upside-down nature of sin in the world and in our hearts, we become inextricably attached to this world and all of its sparkling and momentary allurements; and not “the Father of the heavenly lights above” – from whence EVERY, ANY, ALL good and perfect gift come; including and especially His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

There is only one main way to have one’s heart transformed daily by the truth of the verse from James 1:17 we are feasting on today: “The Testing of Your Faith”.

Please read and meditate on the verses from James that surrounds verse 17 today… and in some form, every day. The Book of James, Chapter 1, holds the secret to how to treat the reality of living in a partially redeemed yet still very broken world in such a way that no day goes by that you and I are not in awe of “the Father of lights”—the triune God of all goodness who is reflected in every detail of ANY “common and/ or special goodness”.

In closing… maybe there’s an opening for you: The Eternal Now.

Let me remind you of how James 1, in particular, speaks to “the accumulating effects of redemptive suffering”: Redemptive suffering—treating, responding to, the inevitable, unavoidable trials of living in a broken world as one of the main ways the Spirit grows (Hebrews 5”12-14), refines (Zechariah 13:9), matures (1 Corinthians 13:11), works all things together for God and good (Romans 8:28), and makes holy (1 Peter 1:14-15) the sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:5-7)—and stores up more and more wisdom (James 1:5) in the heart of the sufferer (Ezekiel 36:26); Psalm 51:10) so that he or she will treat ALL of life more and more like Jesus Christ did (Romans 12:2; 2 Peter 3:18):

NOTE: This organic, supernatural spiritual growth cannot be manufactured; we cannot muster it up; there is no “Twelve Steps…” book about it; it’s the new heart plus the grace of God, the fruit of faith, the humility of repentance, and dying-to-self serving in Christ’s name… regularly applied to life’s circumstances.

If we will accept the immeasurable gift of the wisdom of God in Christ… WITHIN US, we will see each and every little and big circumstance of this passing life that God providentially orchestrates NOT first as circumstance, BUT first by circumspect—“And we know that ALL THINGS work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

As we mature as Christians we retain more and more of Christ’s ability to see each day as The Eternal Now: We’re more and more wise, vigilant, scrupulous, attentive, judicious, and watchful for and of God’s Goodness—and, by contrast, it’s opposite: the world, the flesh, and the devil’s badness—in everyday’s time-boundness AND eternality!

Jesus Christ in us—by the person and power of the Spirit—lived in The Eternal Now as GodMan. He was infinitely and intimately present!

And even though we cannot live each day in the exact same way Jesus did, we CAN, CAN, CAN be present in all sorts of ways WHILE we are witnessing how and what we are experiencing is a REFLECTION of GOD’s eternality.

Proof speaking, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29; Philippians 2:12-13).

Principle speaking, Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)) and, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Process speaking, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17); “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6).

Practically speaking, “…speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Ephesians 4:15; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 1:3-7).

How many of you could be honest enough to reflect on times when you might have treated “the shifting shadows of an earthly blessing” as an END, rather than the MEANS—to see through it, to “the Father of heavenly lights above”? When we begin with the Common and Special Grace goodness of The Trinity, all of life—both good and bad—is placed in the proper perspective and the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, can flow and help redeem the world.

When in Doubt, When in Praise, When in Living… Raise Your Gaze!

Whenever you see the Good of God’s Special Grace, raise your gaze to God and thank Him for His Plan of Redemption; and whenever you see the good of God’s Common Grace, raise your gaze to God and thank Him for His Plan of Redemption!

“If God is the great object behind all other beauties and magnificence, then to praise and admire Him would be ‘simply to be awake, to have entered the real world,’ while not doing so would be to become far more profoundly crippled than those who are blind, deaf, and bedridden.” (Tim Keller, CS Lewis, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God)

Please remember, beloved of God, every jot and tittle of gratitude and goodness is merely a reflection of God’s goodness. Be truly thankful and thoroughly blessed by the one and only true source of gratitude “who does not change like shifting shadows”.

In deep gratitude to Him, my Father of the heavenly lights… and the light within my own heart,
JohnDoz

Resources:
God Wants You to Give Thanks, John MacArthur

Gratitude, Desiring God, John Piper, more