tenet of freedom

It seems that every sin—no matter against a brother or sister, or even against one’s self, all ultimately against God—holds within itself some idolatrous hunger for control, contentment, and exploitation of others to esteem self.  All three endeavors are bound together: one child only exploits another to secure self-contentment and one’s contentment consistently provokes an exertion to control such contentment as to not loose it, for eternal contentment is the desire of every soul.

But it is in our strain to control that we become slaves; it is in experiencing what we thought would bring contentment that we are left discontent and ashamed, and it is in our striving to lessen another that they become our greatest fear.  Our own handlings of our soul leave us in bondage, shame, and fear.

But it is the Father that frees us from bondage, the Spirit that heals us from shame, and the Son that teaches us to love over fear.  

We feel peace instead of strain, we know true joy instead of emptiness, and we desire love instead of malice only by living in the faith that He is the One in control, He is our only satisfaction, and that we are all His children loved to death so that we may become holy as He is.

tenet of holiness

“In your appearance and conduct, you observe the law, owing to your fear of punishment or hope of reward, yet you do nothing of free choice and out of love for the law, but unwillingly and under compulsion; were there no law, you would rather do something else.  The logical conclusion is that, in the depths of your heart, you hate the law.  What is the use of teaching others not to steal if you are a thief at heart yourself and, if you dared, would be one in fact?” (Luther 1522)

I asked myself the question, “What if there were no heaven or hell?” “What if God gave me a free day; a day to do whatever I desire; no punishments, no sin, nothing off limits?"  I made a list, and I dare not mention its contents here.

Here I am, all my life striving to do ministry, working, serving, investing in a faith that, God as my witness, I did with full sincerity; yet, it is my conscious that gives me up, that all this time I was but almost a Christian.

It didn’t matter what knowledge I had, it didn’t matter how many conversations I had with God, it didn’t matter what ministries I was involved in, it didn’t matter, at all, what I did, because in a moment of honesty, I realized I was doing it all against my grain.  My desires weren’t matching my actions (thank God!), but how long could I simply ignore the desires?  How long could I simply cover them up?  And did God create me to live in such dichotomy?  Did he create me to do one thing, but desire another, and for the two never to match?  Is being a Christian simply telling your desires, "no"?

Some argue that, yes, this is what it means to be Christian: to fight the desires of the flesh and that only in heaven will we not desire evil; and I would agree to a point.  Yes, we must fight them since we are born with them and they are contrary to the Spirit Christ has given us; and yes, in heaven we will not desire evil. But to say that on Earth our spirit cannot learn to hate evil and desire good is to state that the fall is stronger than the cross - that death beats Christ… which obviously, if you've read your Bible, you know this is simply not true.  I do not believe that we have to fight against our sin-nature for our whole life.  Just as in any battle, someone comes out victorious; so in our battle against our fleshy desires, a side will win, and since we have Christ on our side I know the right side can win, the problem is convincing myself that I actually want Christ to win – because as Luther said, “were there no law, [I] would rather do something else.” But I am confident that can change to say, "were there no law, I would still long to keep it, because it is good."

Christ told Nicodemus he needed to be born again; we need to be born again with a nature to love. It isn't easy; for as long as these sinful desires and behaviors have lied to my flesh saying I need them, it will take just as long, if not longer, to teach my body to live without them (i.e. beware of withdrawal symptoms).  Vulnerability is a good place to start, vulnerability with yourself, with God, and with a faithful friend or two; and even though your addiction may not be to alcohol, the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous wouldn't be a bad idea to go through either in reference to whatever desires you are addicted to. And lastly, you have to have faith that indeed, we can be healed.  "Your faith has saved you" (Lk. 7:36-50), "Your faith has healed you" (Mt. 9:18-26; 20:29-34; Mk. 5:21-43; 10:46-52; Lk. 8:40-56; 18:35-43), "Your faith has made you well" (Lk. 17:11-21), "According to your faith it will be done" (Mt. 9:27-34). If you don't believe Christ can fix you, then chances are, He won't.

I will not be satisfied in staying in the state of Luther’s quote (nor do I believe Christ is satisfied in leaving us there), I'm confident in this, that God will "sanctify [us] through and through… the one who calls [us] is faithful, and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:23-24). I will not be discouraged by the mindless talk of those who claim we are stuck with our desires of the flesh until glorification in heaven.  I disagree.  I believe in a God that can defeat our evil desires on earth so that I can, in the deepest part of my heart, want to do good, and abhor sin in this earthly life. This is where we begin to understand sanctification and holiness, it's not a score sheet of "have you ever sinned… oh, then you're not sanctified;" it's so much deeper than that - past your actions, past your personality, past your hormones, past your attitude, past your thoughts, all the way down to the inclination of your soul.  Christ wants to, and can, bend your soul to desire to do His will and everything else (your attitude, your thoughts, etc) will follow suit; to settle for anything less denies His omnipotence. 


I don't take credit for anything above - none of the thoughts would have gone through my mind if not for the means of grace listed below:

FURTHER READING:
More Than Forgiveness (S. DeNeff; 2002)
Addiction & Grace (Gerald G. May, M.D; 1988)
Saving Graces: Living Above the 7 Deadly Sins (S. DeNeff; 2011)
Have a conversation with Dr. Dave Ward and Dr. Bud Bence

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I did a cover of the song "Wretched Man" by Marcus Mumford, from the band Mumford and Sons.  He wrote this song prior to the band's existence and it has a lot of phrases from Romans 7:21-25 (which goes along well with my previous blog if you had the chance to look at it).  

Marcus capture's the battle with holiness: "What You ask just cannot be done; a spineless heart is what I've become.  This weight on my back is just too heavy; a holy life just wasn't for me."

if it doesn't load, here's the YouTube link: http://youtu.be/oLXS5m0vwUA

ROMANS 7:21-25  

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

tenet of purpose

Why did Jesus come?

I’m sure most of us could quickly quote John 3:16, stating that the primary reasons was to give us eternal life. However, Jesus came to show us more than a hope for what's to come, he came to give us a preview of heaven on earth; he came to show us the ultimate example of love.

John writes in the first book of his trilogy that, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." A philosopher which has had great influence on me once wrote, "To lay down our lives does indeed mean that we die; it means that we die to ourselves. It means that we die to our desires of self-advancement, and we die to our want of attention in order to show someone else that they are worthwhile… Love is other-oriented. Love is putting ourselves down to see another lifted up above us." But since the beginning of Jesus ministry his message of this love has been contorted by man to be that which it is not.

Luke 19:28-44: The triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We all know this story of Jesus' entrance into this city, the palm branches, and the hosanna's. But, what is usually interpreted as a celebration of the savior of the world some have reached a different conclusion of the purpose of this perhaps tumult. Palm branches during this time were used as a symbol of military victory and triumph. The Jews weren't celebrating redemption and a message of love, but a hope of Jesus as reformer: conqueror of Roman oppression. This would explain why Jesus wept over the city (vs. 42): his purpose was misunderstood.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, right before Jesus is arrested, "a detachment of men" as John says, came to arrest Jesus. This word 'detachment' means anywhere from 500 to 1,000 men. Why would you need this many soldiers to arrest a man who preached of love and peace, unless you did not understand him, and believed he was actually planning to lead a rebellion?

His disciples might have believed this too, as perhaps Judas' betrayal wasn't a switching of sides, but an attempt to get Jesus to finally act, as he might have believed this was Jesus' ultimate purpose. So indeed, it would make sense: Judas was getting impatient; putting Jesus under pressure would force him to commence his plan of overthrowing the Romans. I mean, his name was Judas Iscariot, meaning: Judas, a man from Kerioth, a land know for it's rebellions against the Roman empire.

Peter as well drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the men. Jesus responded to this action by reattaching the man's ear, and stating "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?… And then to the detachment he says, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?" It is at this moment that the disciples realized that Jesus was serious about this love philosophy and at this point of revelation that scripture tells us "all the disciples deserted him and fled" (Matthew 26:56b).

And to top it off, it would make sense that the Jews would ask to trade Jesus for Barabbas, as Barabbas was a notorious prisoner, know for his involvement in rebellions against the Romans. So they traded Barabbas, which means 'son of the father' for the Son of the Father.

They didn’t know Jesus. They misunderstood his purpose completely. Oh, he indeed would bring reformation, but on a scale so much larger—and deeper—than any could imagine. Just as many times we are too busy putting expectations on him that we forget what he is all about and what he has called us to do. We can all get excited about the power of Christ, and "the infinite possibilities born of faith" as Teresa of Avila writes, but we too often seek the possible creations we contrive in our mind over the Creator himself.  He does not only want us to know his power; he wants us to know him.  

So "Dear friends, let us love one another,for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God"

                                        -1 John 4:7.

tenet of ministry

John the Baptist, when asked who he was simply stated, "I am the voice of the one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'"

When asked who I am, I would probably mention people i associate with, what my major is, what i'm planning to do with my life, etc: things that people value in the typical American culture. But John didn't need to affirm his position to the priests and Levites by speaking of his associations, he didn't need to mention his education, or impress by stating his future life goals. No. He spoke in the present, that he was the voice of the one who called him in the desert, to make straight the way of the Lord.

My name is Daniel, and I was born to make straight the way of the Lord, as is everyone reading this. Perhaps this looks a little different today, as Jesus has already come once, but he promises to come again, and until he does he has told us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded us.

For some reason though we often forget that our purpose is this simple. Perhaps because we've complicated it. The Church is filled with competitors more often than confessor.

One could have a really 'good' ministry job that provides a high salary, good facilities, large attendance results, and be looked at highly as being very good at what he/she does; while another could have a really 'good' ministry where they work in the slums, no pay, and people aren't coming to Christ, and they can be considered a real trooper. 

Pride can be found in both.

Both of these ministries are needed ministries, but when we're doing them to reflect our worth, they have no worth. Somehow in the midst of striving to be the best we can be for Christ, we often get caught in comparing "our ministry" to other's, and we forget "our ministry" is God's; we're preparing the way for something greater than ourselves.

John's disciples couldn't understand that John and Jesus were on the same team. They said, "Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan-the one you testified about-well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that i said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete."

Whatever ministry we do finds its value in Christ alone; therefore, we must realize that we serve one Christ and hence we are all part of the same body. So whether we're preparing the way of the Lord, or simply preparing the way for another member of the body to prepare the way of the Lord, we can learn a lot from John's final words to his disciples in reference to Jesus' rising ministry:

"He must become greater; I must become less."

-John 3:30