"JESUS IS NOT GOING TO DROWN ... THAT'S WHERE I WANT TO BE"

One of the most compelling stories in the Bible for me personally is found in Matthew 14.22-33. Jesus is walking on the water and his invitation to Peter to get out of the boat and join him on the waves.  Part of me is captivated by the vision of joining Jesus in being part of something immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.  As a servant of Christ--the safe, the mundane, the routine are a slow death and lost opportunity in the eternally significant work of the Kingdom.

Yet part of me recoils at the thought of stepping out of the boat.

Unlike many people, I enjoy being on the cutting edge of what God is doing to transform people's lives and the world.  But like many people, I don't want to be too close to the edge lest I stumble and fall over that edge.  I am aware of how easily I stumble.

But what is my fear (because that is what it is)?  Am I afraid of failing, or appearing foolish, or having more trouble than I can handle?

Or am I afraid of being truly transformed?

Peter tended to be on the leading edge of discipleship.  He was drawn towards the potential of being more than a mere Galilean fisherman. He threw himself passionately into what he was given to do.  And although he stumbled many a time along the way ... big time; ultimately he found himself in the vortex of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost where 3000 people gave their lives to the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

I once heard it said that Peter inside the boat out on those angry waves was involved. Peter fifteen steps out on the water was committed.  And Peter was in an entirely different place in his faith and his experience (and ultimately his impact) than the eleven who clung to the sides of the boat.

I don't want to be involved.  I want to be committed.

I don't want to be better. I want to be transformed.

And that will require to answer Jesus' invitation to step out of the boat and walk on the water.  Walking with him on the water. And if I have any hesitation at all, I need to remember that Jesus is out there.  "Jesus is not going to drown ... that's where I want to be."


Leonard Lee has written an excellent blog post on this passage from which I have taken my title quote. (Read Leonard's post ...)

WHY ARE WE SO CONFUSED ABOUT IMMORALITY

From an excellent blog by Bill Pratt called Tough Questions Answered

Why Are We So Confused about Morality?

Post Author: Bill Pratt
My good friend, Wes, sent me a video link (see below) because he knew it would drive me crazy!  (maybe he’s not my friend, after all)  The video features a guy named Lamar talking about illegal activities that people give a pass to.  The speaker mentions several activities that he thinks are wrong, and he even explains why they are wrong, but then he inexplicably trots out the tired postmodern cliche of, “These things are wrong for me, but maybe not for you” and one of my other personal favorites, “I don’t judge other people.”  He says that his position is one of neutrality.

Here we have a textbook example of moral relativism.  There are no absolute moral duties, because, according to Lamar, we were all raised with different moral compasses and we must remain neutral and not judge each other’s moral compasses.  You have your compass and I have mine.   This all sounds so fair and tolerant and high-minded, doesn’t it?

The problem is that Lamar doesn’t believe a word of what he is saying.  He really does believe that stealing is wrong.  The moment you stole something from him, I guarantee he would judge you, and harshly!  And what about moral laws against things like murder and rape?  Would Lamar hesitate to call those things wrong for everyone?  Would he say that he remains neutral about murder and rape?  I think not.

What irritates me so much about this kind of thing is that folks like Lamar are trying to portray themselves as heroes of tolerance and non-judgmentalism when they really are not (almost nobody really is).   I’m guessing  that if we could just ask Lamar’s family and friends whether he never judges anybody else’s morality, we would find out he’s just like the rest of us - judging every day.

And don’t we want there to be some judging?  Do we really want people to remain neutral about stealing?  How would you like it if your neighbor saw someone breaking into your house and taking your new LCD TV, but instead of calling the police, he just thought to himself, “I’m going to remain neutral.  Maybe the thief just has a different moral compass than me.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that my neighbors aren’t neutral.  In fact, I think most of them own guns…

THE BIBLE IS NOT SIMPLY AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Jared Wilson puts us onto this excellent post from Michael Kelley.

Why Won’t God Just Tell Me What To Do?

That would certainly make things simpler in life, wouldn’t it? Like if there was a blank page at the back of every Bible, and every morning you woke up and there was a personal, hand-tailored message for you from God. Telling you where to eat lunch. Letting you know how to get another job and when it’s going to happen. Informing you of the right choice to make about your relationship.

But it doesn’t work that way. At least not for me. At times, it feels like we are stumbling through the dark, groping along with our hands outstretched in front of us to keep us from bumping into something.

I suppose you could take this as evidence of the absence of God – of His distance. That He is aloof. That the details of life don’t matter that much to Him.

Or you could recognize that this apparent absence is actually evidence of the exact opposite.

Often, the Bible has been called an instruction manual for life. That’s not true. Nowhere in the Bible did I find instructions that I was to marry Jana. That we were to have children and what we should name them. That I should take a job at Lifeway or that we should move to Nashville.

If this is an instruction manual for life, it’s a bit like trying to put together a model airplane using the picture on the box. Sure, you can glean some broad details, but what about how the tiny engine blocks fits inside the frame? Or how the steering apparatus is put together? It’s those little details that are missing.

Thing is, the Bible isn’t an instruction manual for life, and because it’s not, we see that God is not absent from those small details. The Bible is the means by which we might know God in Christ, not primarily the means by which we might figure out the details of our own lives. God is the main character of the Bible; not me. And not you.

One of the characteristics revealed in the pages of Scripture is God’s desire for intimacy with His people. And perhaps that’s exactly the reason why you don’t find blank pages waiting to be filled in on a daily basis. If that were the case, then where would our relationship with God be? We would reduce Him to a cosmic slot machine who spits out answers when we pull the lever.

And you don’t love a slot machine. You USE a slot machine.

Maybe the reason God doesn’t always just tell us what to do in the details is because in this, He’s doing what He does in so many other areas of life: developing intimacy with us. He’s forcing us to talk and listen. To even argue sometimes. But to know Him rather than just His plan.

That, after all, is what eternal life is about: knowing God. Not knowing the answers.

BLAKE COLLINS ON HEARING GOD

Hearing God Speak through the Noise of My Brother

5 05 2011

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”… Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  John 20:24-25, 29

The ears and the mind are necessarily connected.  That is because hearing requires much more than just ears.  When we were children, we could hear the wind blowing through a sea shell but we thought we were “hearing the ocean”.  We could hear just fine, but we could not discern very well.  Now, as I get older (alas), I am finding that my ears don’t always hear very well.  I can be sitting with you in a crowded restaurant, trying to hear what you are saying and my “discernment” has to kick in so that I can make up for what my ears cannot hear.  I suppose that balance shifts more and more with time.

Interestingly, our Spiritual hearing works in a similar way.  When we are young (spiritually), we don’t discern all that well.  We may hear God’s voice, but we hear it along with all the noise and may not have the spiritual maturity to discern that which is God and that which is other.  I believe we develop that discernment over time, with the help of the Spirit.  I also believe this spiritual skill is critical to our life together in the church.  Wasn’t that the point of Jesus’ lesson to Thomas in John 20?

Thomas’ brothers came to him, filled anew with the Spirit and sharing testimony of Christ’s appearance, i.e., the transformation which had happened in their lives as a result of the resurrection.  Thomas heard their testimony, but he missed the Spirit in it.  He could not (or would not) hear it.  He wanted to hear it directly from Jesus.

Not surprisingly, Jesus showed him grace despite his disappointment in Thomas.  Here is an important implication of his words to Thomas in v.29: Thomas, you’re going to need to develop spiritual eyes to see the Spirit at work in your brother and spiritual ears to hear God’s voice in him in order to be effective in helping to start this revolution…that is how it will work in my church!

In the church, discerning the voice of God is a sign of spiritual maturity.  When we are spiritual babies, we may hear the wind in the sea shell and believe it is the ocean.  But as we grow older, we really must develop the “spiritual mind” to know the difference.  In order to be effective as leaders among God’s people, we must be getting better and better at discerning the voice of God in His people.  Despite their many flaws and despite the “noise” of their flesh, we must learn to listen and to discern and to recognize the Shepherd’s voice when we hear it…even through the thorniest of relationships with our most difficult brothers/sisters.  Our effectiveness as a leader depends upon this skill.

Will you listen closely today?  What unexpected message will God bring you through a brother today?

© Blake Coffee

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THE LIVING LOGIC OF EASTER

This from a great blog called REAL LIFE WITH GOD

the logic of living Easter
April 25, 2011

In the first few days following Easter, a great Scripture transforms it into a 365-day theology (instead of a 3-day weekend): “In view of God’s mercy . . . offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1–niv).

Jim Elliot, martyred missionary to the Ecuadorian Waodani Indians, journaled in 1949, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Prophetically, he had journaled these words a little over six years before he would actually be forced to reveal how much he believed them true. He and four other brothers in Christ were brutally murdered while simply attempting to reveal the truth of Jesus to those who did not yet know Him. This–Elliot firmly believed–was a Reason worth laying his life down for. He would leave a wife and a 10-month-old daughter behind. Of course, we see this as tragic–and it is. But, it’s not as tragic as we might think.

What did he lose? His life, yes. But, that’s something we’re all going to lose . . . since it’s never a matter of if, but when. Since we’re all going to die, did he really lose anything? He certainly had to let go of his family faster than most of us will or would ever want to. That’s tragic, too, of course. But, what if giving up his family in the short-term meant he could grow THE FAMILY OF GOD in the eternal term? You see, those 5 missionaries’ deaths weren’t the final chapter of what happened in Ecuador. The man who actually killed Elliot later noted that the missionaries had guns in their possession, but refused to use them. They didn’t defend themselves, so as to sacrificially communicate God’s kindness. It cost them their lives, but it didn’t cost them something they were going to be able to hold onto anyway. The Waodani who killed Elliot would later say: “I have killed twelve people with my spear! But I did that when my heart was black. Now Jesus’ blood has washed my heart clean, so I don’t live like that anymore.” Was God saddened and outraged that His servants were murdered? Yes. Is that the only way the Waodani could have come to know Christ as their Savior? That’s unknowable. But, did God use this tragedy for good? Yes. In that way, it confounds our sense of what tragedy is. Jim Elliot was no fool to lay down his life as a “living sacrifice.” Neither are you a fool when you do the same thing. In fact, when it says this decision is our “true and proper worship,” literally he says that it is the logikos (lah-gee-koss) choice of how to live (and die) in light of God. It’s where we get our word logical.

Basically, reasonable people know where to invest their lives. Illogical people invest it into stuff that they can’t carry with them across eternity’s threshold. In Jim Elliot’s journal where he first penned those famous words in 1949, his immediate thoughts that followed were a reference to Luke 16:9–

Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

What are YOU investing in?