Yes, another beautiful evening as the sun sets low on the horizon. Spring has sprung, flowers are pushing their way thru last year’s rubble and ground cover to start the yearly cycle of spring, summer, fall, and winter … round and round. We all know it gets dark every evening, every day of our lives it gets dark at night, but yet so many are still afraid of the dark. You would think we’d get used to the idea of night. Everyday it gets dark at some point, and everyday, many are afraid of the dark. i wonder … are we really afraid of the dark or are we diverted from the real truth in that our fear is more about being afraid of what or who might be in the dark, something or someone cloaked in a lack of light which might harm us? When we can’t see, our imagination runs wild inserting some drooling monster lurking just out of view … odd, how we tend to not think about what goodness might be out of our sight, but lean toward the possibilities of unseen badness. Actually, being afraid and fearful keeps us locked in dark places. You might be surprised at the people who see a path of escape and safety, but are too afraid to step into freedom. It’s as if they’ve been prisoners and slaves so long they can’t image being anything else anymore.
i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts.
Last program i asked a question: What will it take for you to be OK with God? And, what will it take for you to be ok with yourself? i know, i know, we so easily stand up straight and quote scripture about trust, courage, and faith, but yet, if we could observe the life habits of most believers, their lives would tell a different story than what they’ve spoken about themselves.
Evidently, it wasn’t enough Eve had a relationship with God. She wanted something more, almost like saying the Lord was insufficient, and she had to have something else to make her OK with her place and life. She was even willing to take to herself something which was incompatible with life in the garden in order to be OK. Her perfect place to live wasn’t enough, God wasn’t enough for her, Adam wasn’t enough, her never being sick or wanting for anything wasn’t enough, her immortality wasn’t enough in that, for her, sin had not occurred yet, so there was no death and dying until sin entered in for herself and Adam. But yet in all of the goodness of God at her fingertips, she needed something more to be OK.
In this present day, i call the condition, “Jesus and … ” In Isaiah 43:2, God said, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”, or 1 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you”, somehow we think we need more than God’s grace and assurance. i’m exploring my own heart lately, and how much of a grip does “Jesus and … ” have on me?
We say often, Jesus is all i need, and all i want. We close our eyes and sway with the music, hands raised declaring regularly with all sincerity, but our lives speak a different story. It seems what we think we believe and what we really believe are often not the same as much as we’d like. i am eternally grateful the Lord takes up our slack far more than we can imagine, truthfully, we are incredibly ignorant as to the vastness of our lack of knowledge and understanding, and just how much God makes up the difference in our falling short.
The word “congruent” means in agreement or harmony. By the blood of Christ, He balances the books of the whom-so-ever’s which believe on His name, that’s called reconciling. He makes us congruent with His values. With the constant onslaught of the media and news service, which are regularly put in our eyes and ears, we are not as prepared as we think to alter our way of life based on sound reasoning and solid evidence. We have become accustomed to having several conflicting ideologies floating around in our heads, and we end up feeling as though God is not enough and we must have something else to complete us.
For many, disillusionment with other believers and the church come easily, self-righteously, concluding others are strange or hypocritical. When some sing too loud, are out of tune, wear questionable clothes, have bulging eyes, double chins, overweight, underweight, hair too big, too much make up, or even just laugh a little too loud or too often, to us, they are just too peculiar to engage with any seriousness. Always “too” something, according to our very subjective measure of what is “excessive”. We are secretly sure the faith of “those” others is probably just some religious hype they don’t really understand.
Of course, we, ourselves though, we are all together ok. “I’m fine, just fine!” Carefully singing softly so if we’re out of tune or time no one notices. Many are careful to wear what is perceived as “acceptable” clothing. If we’re over weight we tend to sit at the back so as to not feel like a spectacle, or if we laugh we make sure it is about things acceptable, not too long, not too loud, always at the right things, nodding approvingly with a slight benevolent smile we’ may have practiced in the mirror.
How often do we minimize some aspects of what Jesus said, and exaggerate others in order to advance a personal agenda? Would that be an example of Jesus AND an agenda making us ok? Usually the agenda is first and Jesus comes after, using Him to advance ourselves. i think, often, that our personal, unspoken agenda supersedes and is competitive with God’s values.
Is Jesus really sufficient for you? C’mon, don’t just say “yes” and blow the question off. Ask the Lord to show you if that’s really true and embrace His answer. Do we really need to be recognized from the platform as “someone others should pay attention to” in order for us to be OK? That is Jesus and recognition. Isn’t it enough God has spoken to you, or do you need to also be validated by someone other people recognize as being in authority in order to feel like you’re getting what you need?
If you wonder if that’s you, i’m going to be transparent here: i started to get wind of my own subtle dissatisfaction with God because i noticed every time a great lead guitar part came up with one of my favorite tunes, i would imagine myself on that stage, playing the strings off that guitar, so hot my hands would catch fire right before the eyes of the congregation. i would imagine people lauding my name, shaking my hand, wagging their heads, wide eyed and saying “wow” alot. i would imagine anytime i walked in a room, people knew my name and wanted to ask me questions about my latest project, or encourage me to expound, in profound terms, concerning some topic being discussed. Here it is: i found myself dreaming of being validated as often, or maybe even more often as i thought i needed to be loved. That’s Jesus AND validation. You know, God will validate each of us if we give Him time, but i think most of the time, we need Jesus AND recognition far more immediately than we’re willing to wait on God to do it correctly.
Is that too honest for you? Too close? My friend, pop the bubble of your own illusion, and if you’re disillusioned, remember, you had to have had an illusion first in order to become dis-illusioned. That scenario of myself perfectly describes the “Jesus and … ” mentality. If God said, “My grace is sufficient for you”, then i should have no need to have Jesus and the recognition of my peers in order to be ok, right?
Hector sat in the great congregation somewhere near the front two rows, nearest the head pastor where all the other suits sat. He was middle aged, tan, poised, had the chiseled features of a movie star with gracious, defined workman’s hands, the sort of hands everyone loved to shake. Every Sunday he sang with such conviction and held his hands up just right. He had all the moves down pat so he looked like someone others should revere and look up to. Hector loved his life as long as he didn’t think about it too deeply. Over the few years i knew him, and having had many discussions about what constitutes real life in Christ, i started seeing a Hector who was really pretty sad, never quite satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, he was a great guy, but he was always looking for that little bit more, Jesus and… He was indeed a man of faith, but it seemed it was never enough.
Before he was in the full time service of the church community, he had a professional-type job in town. He was good at his job, climbed the ranks with many accolades. He was smart, and efficient, people liked him and they liked talking to him. Somewhere along the line though, he decided that albeit he had a 4-year degree in something ‘er other, he really wanted to get his masters in divinity, and then, yes, THEN, he could really serve the Lord. His wife was very satisfied with where they were, all she really wanted was for him to be consistent and repeatable, steady and reliable. But noooo, Hector needed something more. He said Jesus was all he needed, but the way he lived he was never really OK with God or himself.
Hector quit his job, which created a burden on his family who never really wanted to do the full time ministry thing from the start. He achieved his divinity degree, and got into full time ministry somehow. Oh, God was more than big enough, but Hector needed more. He had to have Jesus and ministry to be OK, he needed Jesus and recognition, Jesus and leadership, Jesus and looking good, Jesus and … something more dynamic, or so he thought.
Eventually his wife left with the kids. She left him with his suits, his spiritual relevance, glitz and glamour, and his need to be more than … well, just more. He was so sure God wanted him to have the house, the car, the recognition, and the ministry, oh and especially the ministry. He figured all this must be God, after all, look at how easy it was to get into a leadership position. All the right doors just opened up for him.
Friends, not every blue sky is from Heaven, and not every storm is from hell.
He really loved to walk the halls of the church admin building and spend time praying while looking out the inspirational big picture window of his office. i myself must admit though, the halls were beautiful to walk through and the view was spectacular. It all came so easy it surely must have been given to him by the Lord. Right?
One day, i happen to be at lunch and Hector happened to be at the same place. i don’t believe in coincident, so i figured it must be an appointment made by the Lord. As we made small talk it was evident he was looking good as usual, but the truth was he was all to pieces. As he began to unfold his dilemma, he told how He was doing the dream, except it felt like it was someone else’s dream, a dream built of slick seminary advertising he’d seen in a Christian magazine printed on glossy paper. A dream built of wanting to be, you guessed it, more. He related how his wife wanted to reconcile, and in the turmoil of the unfolding drama with his family, he began to realize God was big enough to take care of all his needs. He explained that when he started seeing that Jesus was indeed sufficient, he had the revelation that all his days had been made up of “Jesus and”, minimizing God and maximizing an agenda, minimizing some things Jesus said, and maximizing others in order to support “his badge of ministry”. A few months after that lunch, i learned my friend Hector reconciled with his wife, left the big ministry, and now oversaw a much smaller church where he’s connected, regularly inspires the congregation in faith and life-giving depths of honesty. i heard he considered his real strength was, not his rugged good looks, not his divinity degree, not his charismatic influence, but his best playing card was Jesus, honesty, transparency, and being authentic.
Friends, the enemy kept Hector spinning in “Jesus and … ”. As long as Hector believed he needed more than Jesus, he never really grasped what God had intended for him. As long as he felt the need for more than Jesus he was never completely committed to the faith he declared as more important than anything else. In light of that, i’ve got Revelation 3:16 in mind. What do you think?
i think luke warm faith is worse than no faith at all.
In case you’re considering putting off addressing your issues of the “Jesus and…” phenomena in yourself, why would you delay the investigation? It’s not like something will magically change and you won’t have to be honest or responsible, we can’t ignore our issues till they go away. We can’t be indifferent enough to make our deep seated challenges go away. This deep rooted problem of “Jesus and … ” didn’t get there over night, it won’t disappear overnight, and it didn’t suddenly appear because it’s contagious like a cold having been caught from someone else. It’s something which grew over time and was born out of unbelief and irresponsible thinking, being allowed to grow in the dark somewhere in our hearts. The fact that it was “allowed” means there was a choice, and we indeed, are choosing.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “The longer we bide our time on dealing with issues, the greater our chances are of running out of time.” The longer we let “Jesus and … ” stand, the more prevalent it becomes, undermining our faith, short circuiting the plans God has for us, and then it may not be long before we are replacing the name of the Lord with our own.
“Jesus and … ” grows in the fertile soil of secret dissatisfaction, and here is something i know, secrets have a way of not staying secret. Friends, we can’t win a race by not entering the race, problems don’t get solved by NOT dealing with them. For our issues to be solved requires we have an attitude to win, and winners are a pretty determined bunch for sure. Do you have a mind set to win, or is it an attitude willing to resolve easy issues but satisfied to let stand other, more difficult things requiring too much uncomfortable honesty?
We had a home church at our house. A lot, i mean a lot of people came and went. After many months i wondered why many of those folks who came, said they just absolutely loved the presence of the Lord there, loved the closeness, authenticity, transparency, and honesty, but then never came back. So i went around and found some of them, inquiring as to what motivated them to not come back, if they didn’t mind talking about it. Some didn’t want to discuss it, but several did. The answers were pretty telling. Among other reasons, they all, individually, said, the transparency and the level of honesty was just too uncomfortable, it was all too close and too revealing. One lady said she was used to operating in a certain way among believers in a larger church body, and could no longer, as she put it, she couldn’t “be herself”. My interpretation of what she was saying was that, in a larger body she could get away with posturing and acting out and no one would doubt or challenge her. She was very believable as long as a low level of transparency and honesty was good enough. Another person said they were used to being “in leadership” and were uncomfortable with their statements and declarations being challenged. Oh … wow.
Winners don’t just jog for exercise, they’re in it all the way. They read books and magazines about running, they set goals for themselves, and they train and push themselves toward those goals. But as far as our relationship with God, generally, not many act like someone who is determined to win a race.
To grow as a Christian, we’ve got to be in the race. If we are going to win at football, we’ve actually got to be on the field and we must move the ball. Now, i realize that sounds completely obvious, but in reality, there’s a lot of folks trying to run a race they’ve never actually entered. Transparency, emotional availability, honesty, and authenticity are not exactly top of their list of things important.
Do you have the attitude it takes to win? And now that you’ve heard this, you’re responsible for the insight you’ve gotten, so, what are you gonna do about it? You can’t un-ring the bell once it’s been rung, and once you’re aware of “Jesus and … ” heart postures, it can’t be ignored.
i believe we all have the human tendency to want quick fixes, and easy answers to strenuous problems. But this is not a sprint, this is a marathon. Learning to be honest and authentic takes time and determination to get closer to the Lord. i believe a lot of people are attracted to deliverance ministries due to the sales pitch which sounds like: “Do you have major problems? Are you dissatisfied? What you need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray over you in tongues, you’ll have an emotional experience and maybe even speak in tongues yourself, and you, yes YOU will be delivered once and for all from all those tough problems you’ve been struggling with.” The emphasis on instant, and miraculous deliverance from any problem is very troubling to me. i’ll add that i firmly hold to the promise of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The point is not whether anyone believes in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but of instant deliverance coupled with a “Jesus and … ” mentality, instantly getting out of dealing with real problems. We may be delivered today, but at some point, we simply must do the work to resolve the issues below street level which got us needing deliverance to begin with. Taking anti-depressants may help someone get over the hump in the moment, but truly, it’s just a band-aid, and doesn’t actually solve anything in the long run.
Do you think in the story of my friend Hector, when God brought him to his life changing conclusions that Jesus was sufficient, do you think he came to that easily and instantly, like he woke up one day with a bright light in his room and an overwhelming epiphany? Nope, it took time and trial, it took persistence, pursuit and a heart to be an overcomer. It took honesty and transparency. He didn’t simply “let go and let God.” and suddenly everything was beautiful. He had to find his “long haul attitude”. Previously, Hector was obsessed with always trying to “arrive”, but yet he was constantly plagued with the feeling of “Not having arrived”. His real answer was not “from the world” but “from the Word”. Jesus was/is his answer. He is sufficient and necessary, and that is sufficient as in competent and ample, and necessary as in the bottom line rule, can’t live without Him. God is big enough to take care of us, and searching to get more than Christ doesn’t solve anything, but complicates everything.
i believe many treat Jesus as necessary but not really sufficient, so they are always searching for “Jesus and … ”, they need something else to be OK with themselves and God. They seem to believe that faith in Christ is one of many conditions in order to be truly saved. Other conditions in addition to faith in Christ would be Jesus AND baptism, Jesus AND joining a church, Jesus and a covering, or Jesus AND a specific style of music.
When we start letting legalism dictate to grace how it will act and look, we’ve entered into the “Jesus and … ” phenomena. Jesus AND the right clothes, Jesus AND a certain way of acting, Jesus AND good works, Jesus AND the feasts, Jesus AND the law.
Paul warned the church in Galatia of the “Jesus and … ” attitude, necessary but not sufficient. Galatians 3:2, “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”
The inverse of necessary but not sufficient, is sufficient but not necessary. That may seem like something which only points to the world, but then, when we live like Jesus is all we need on Sunday, and then we put him aside the rest of the week, taking care of all our issues on our own, we’re saying He is sufficient for salvation but isn’t necessary to do life. i’m a smart guy, it’s the truth, but in all my smarts i’m not smart enough to run my own life. Nope, just not.
The Lord is not only fundamental and paramount, but He’s also abounding and exuberant. We discount His abundant provision of Himself when we hold ourselves and others to rules which imply Christ is not enough, subtly fertilizing a “Jesus and … ” mentality. We exempt His necessity when we ignore Him, taking matters into our own hands. Whoever you are and whatever you’re facing, i can assure you, Christ Jesus is more than enough, and if you feel you must have “more” than Christ, then the lie has found it’s root in your soil. Is your life built around the love of God? Jesus is sufficient, always, every time, without fail, and there’s never a time He is not. Think about it.
Hebrews 9:26, “ … for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
“Once for all” is a key phrase here. i don’t know how you read it, but i read it as saying whoever you are and whatever dilemma you’re facing, Jesus Christ is more than enough. How sufficient and necessary is Jesus to you? Is He enough for you or is the Lord only pretty much enough, for the most part sufficient, and more or less necessary? Yes, i’d bet most of our listeners go to church and are involved somewhere, but that doesn’t mean we’re not secretly dissatisfied with our place in the Body of Christ. Is Jesus your “once and for all”, “one and only”? Maybe you’re like everyone who wants and needs a Savior, just not exactly that Savior? Maybe you agree with the truth God speaks to you, but not with God who said it, you know, the old “it’s not what was said but who said it” thing.
Under Levitical law, sacrifices were not sufficient but they were necessary. Every time a sin was committed a sacrifice had to be offered, still no sacrifice was sufficient, and was only good for a year. Not only that but the priests themselves were insufficient in that they fell short of the glory of the Lord, so not only was the sacrifice necessary yet insufficient, but the very people who were appointed to make atonement were themselves insufficient and unable to offer any complete redemption. The sacrifice for sin was only good for a year, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is good for all of eternity. Instead of many sacrifices, His is once and for all, never needing to be repeated. Jesus is sufficient and necessary.
This has been Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation. This programming is meant to inspire us all to a deeper walk with God, below the surface of our presentation face where we’re always being so safe. Safe in our music, safe in our decisions, safe in our faith, safe in our opinions. It’s time to walk on water, take a chance with God.
The Lord says, “behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every person what is theirs according to what they’ve done.” It’s nearly payday friends, is your life built around the love of God, or have you built the love of God around your agenda for more? Jesus and …
He is sufficient and necessary. Always. Drive carefully this week, be a responsible person and think, think before you act or speak. Pray for your neighbors, you truly do make a difference. And a big amen right there.