I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Many of us who were brought up in the Charismatic and Pentecostal stream of things have been taught a Christianity with an overtly unhealthy fixation on our faith. In the midst of all the good that came with believing that God actually still worked miracles; he still healed, he stilled provided financially and he still casts out demons, a little error crept in. We placed too much emphasis on how strong the individual’s belief is.  We are constantly reminded to be strong in faith. That we should not waver in our belief that this miracle or healing will happen. If it doesn’t happen, it simply means there is something wrong with us.

To me, this has built an unhealthy fixation on faith amongst Christians. We are more concerned with how much faith we display than in the goodness of God. It is a subtle reversal to the works mentality that is prevalent in most human religion and we allowed it to creep it in because we all love to boast about what we have done to earn the blessing. In this case, we have believed properly and unwaveringly.

Don’t get me wrong, I do agree that the belief and assent of the believer is key to living and enjoying the relationship with God. But I believe that Faith is a natural response to the goodness of God. We are not saved by Faith, we are saved by Grace. Faith is what happens when we find out what God has done for us. it is the hallelujah we scream when we think of the goodness of God to us through his Son. It is the smile on people’s faces, the feeling of relief and joy that I see in people when they dare to believe that God is actually better than they think.

Nevertheless, there is an ebb and flow with regards to our faith. Sometimes we believe strongly, other times the circumstances are so overwhelming, we forget that God is bigger than the challenge and he is actually on our side. When the rubber meets the road, there are times when we forget who we are; beloved children of the most high God.

This is where the beauty of the Gospel lies. It was never dependent on our faith. Our faith did not save us and it does not sustain us. Even in times when we are unsure and full of doubt, Jesus has no doubt. Consider the passage above, the man believed in Jesus enough to bring his son to Jesus for healing, but even then, he still had doubts. That did not stop Jesus from doing what he wanted to do. Because he is a healer, he is Love. The cry of the man for Jesus to help his unbelief is the cry of humanity. It is apt because that is exactly part of what Jesus does for us in his vicarious humanity. He takes our feeble attempts at faith, repentance, and worship and presents it alongside his perfect representation of these things before the Father. At the end of the day we are all people screaming “I believe, help my unbelief”

The result of this is simple, we do not need to examine the level of our faith (the epistles advise us to examine if we are still in the Faith and not to examine how strong our faith is) but to continually trust in the one who can perfect our faith, however big or small. We are also to trust that he is always on our side, even when we seem unsure, he will always help our unbelief. When you do that, your focus goes back to him and God sees you in your faith

The Ministry of Reconciliation

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall see God”

I believe there is a basic philosophy that underlies the faith of everyone who confesses to be a believer in Jesus (at least it should). It is a thought that derives itself from the person and work of Jesus himself. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that the Cross is Gods way of causing reconciliation between humanity and himself. It is his way of removing every roadblock and mindsets that caused us to see God as our enemy. He then goes further to state that we have been given the message of reconciliation; to plead to the world that they be reconciled to God.  What that means is that we tell the world, God has no grudges against us and he has put to death the obstacles of fellowship with him on the Cross. Now it’s up to us to live in this reality and come to terms with this truth

But I believe there is more to our ministry of reconciliation than just the mended relationship between God and Man. The Cross also brings to an end enmity between men. Ephesians states it succinctly, he has taken down the wall of division; We are now one new man in Christ (Ephesians 2: 13-14). We are no longer enemies of each other and so as children of the Kingdom, it is our prerogative to seek reconciliation and peace in all circumstances. That means we seek the way of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness in all aspects of our lives. That includes in the work place while practicing our vocation and in our personal relationships.

This is obviously easier said than done. Take me for instance, I am a lawyer by profession, it’s not exactly a profession that thrives on peace and reconciliation.  As a matter of fact, our Court system is called the adversarial system. On the surface, it might seem like a tall order to seek reconciliation when a dispute has reached the stage of going to Court. But I’ve come to discover that the Gospel has so affected me that I always seek avenues to resolve issues out of court; thereby avoiding the name calling and casting of aspersions that usually accompany a matter taken to trial. Even when my client is not particularly keen on it, I try to persuade and convince them that it would be more beneficial for them to tow the line of peace.

Thankfully, every time I get a settlement done, things have worked out pretty well. Even when it doesn’t seem so at first, sticking to the path of peace has mostly paid off. Of course, there are times when peace cannot be sought, then I do what I do to represent my client and ensure they get their rights up held. 

I believe this is the call of everyone who confesses Christ as King. He is the Prince of Peace afterall

The Most Resistant to the idea of a better God

Do you know which set of people are the hardest to convince that God is actually good and much better than they think? No, it’s not the consummate “sinners” who have spent their lives in debauchery; doing whatever feels right to them; it’s not the prostitute, who has sold her (or his) body over and over again, neither is it the Tax Collectors of this world; people who sold their souls out to be used by the rich and powerful to be instruments of abuse.

In my experience I find the most difficult people to convince of the goodness of God and thus, the least likely people to experience repentance are the self-righteous. The reason is simple, they are not aware that anything is wrong with their way of life. They have it all figured out, they don’t need saving or they have already been saved and now it’s their turn to play their part in the maintenance of their salvation. That is exactly what the passage above is talking about. The pharisees were quite content with their spiritual prowess; they were obsessively obedient to the law, they fasted quite regularly and they prayed fervently. They were also well versed in the Hebrew scripture. They were confident in their ability to obey God and they were damn sure that They were doing just fine. Theirs was the path to take. As a result, they had painted God in their image (as we all do); God was stern, unmoving and definitely unforgiving of certain things. He caused, or at least allowed sickness, poverty and death to fall upon those who were disobedient to his commands. And this was not a problem for them, because they had it figured out. They obeyed the rules, they were exempt from punishment, unlike the prostitutes and sinners that Jesus was constantly hanging around

This was the main problem the pharisees had with Jesus; he represented a God they couldn’t accept. 

A God that loved everybody and embraced them regardless of their deeds or misdeeds. A God that enjoined people to love their enemies and pray for their oppressors. It was impossible, this would shatter the whole basis of their existence, it would require a major shift in the thing they believed in the most; themselves. Hence Jesus’ remark in John 9: 39-41

"39.Jesus said,^a “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

They could not admit that they were blind, they thought they saw most clearly. They did not need Jesus to enlighten them because they were the most enlightened. They did not need the riches of Christ, they were spiritually rich. With people like these, you can only love them and pray that one day God opens their eyes. There is no amount of demonstration or preaching that can convince them. It is too jarring, too world changing for them to accept.  Because it means that their efforts don’t move God. It would mean that people will “get off” with their sins and thy don’t get to gloat at those putrid sinners as they are roasted over the fires of hell.

On the other hand, ragamuffins (to borrow a term from Brennan Manning) rejoice at the news of God’s unconditional love, we rejoice at the prospect of someone else; God in the person of Jesus, stepping in to rescue us from our bondage to sex, money and power. The prospect that Jesus will actually come into our hearts and live his life out through us is quite acceptable and in fact relieving to us. You see we too, like the pharisees, have a very flawed view of God. Most times, it is identical to that of the pharisees. The only difference is, unlike the self-righteous, we lack the will power to live by the rules. Some of us are constantly trying and failing at obeying all the rules, while the vast majority have just given up on it. We had resigned to the fact that we were going to hell, or that Gods favour would not be on us as much as the super spiritual, hardworking and diligent guys. Hence, we are keenly aware of our blindness, of our bankruptcy and of our need for a savior (at least subconsciously). So when we are informed of the good news of a compassionate, loving, heart transforming sacrificial and self-giving God, we rejoice and accept this wholeheartedly. This is why Jesus says the prostitutes and the tax collectors rushed into the Kingdom of God while the Pharisees stood by and criticized.

However, the scariest part of it is this, we all are self-righteous in some way or the other. We all have aspects of our lives that we are so good at, we have forgotten that it is a gift from God. We all have areas where we are so self-confident, we don’t think we need God or he is at best an addendum to our general awesomeness. Watch out for those areas, glorify God and always remember that it is Christ who works in you, to do and will his good pleasure. Don’t be a pharisee.

THOUGHTS ON EASTER

Hello everyone!!! Happy Easter. Hope you had a splendid time. We had a public holiday from Good Friday till today so it was pretty awesome. Got to spend time with family and friends and eat really nice food, what more can I ask for.

The best part of it is that we get to reflect on the basis of our faith again; the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. this is a pivotal aspect of our faith. Too often, I think due to the grotesque nature of his death, we pay a lot of attention to the crucifixion than every other aspect of the atonement. This is dangerous, this overemphasis leads to almost idol worship of the cross. It is Jesus we serve and worship. Not the symbol of his death for our sins.

But the Bible paints a different picture. Paul the Apostle states it thus

^“12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied”….  1 Corinthians 15:12-19

If Jesus had not risen, we have no assurance of our Justification, if he had not risen, we have no inroad into the eternal circle of relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And if he had not risen, it simply would have meant that sin was more powerful than Jesus and death had won. In short, “we are still in our sins”

But praise God that Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. And he has ascended to the right hand of the Father and taken us right along with him.

I used to wonder, which is more important, the death, the resurrection or the birth of our Lord? I have come to the conclusion that they are all of equal importance. Each event plays a pivotal role in the being of Jesus. However, I strongly believe the resurrection is the event that requires our most rejoicing. It is the culmination of our Lords mission to planet earth. It represents the death of our old man that was condemned by Sin and our newness of life. A life where we can enjoy unbridled fellowship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; free from guilt, condemnation and the constant need to perform at our very best. He loves us just as we are and the resurrection enables us to embrace that love. Therefore, let’s celebrate Easter everyday of our lives, knowing that God has raised Jesus from the dead and we are not in our sins.

May the Grace of our Lord be with you

THE MESSAGE FOR THE UNCHURCHED

Have you ever been told by a Pastor who is trying to justify all the expensive lights and the excellence and professionalism of their Church workers that they are doing these things for the “unchurched”? They believe that the high level of professionalism and the fact that the place of worship looks similar, if not better, than the best night clubs and concerts is what brings in people who want to have nothing to do with Church.

First of all, let me just say that I agree totally that whatever we do as a body, we should do it well. We shouldn’t be seen as sloppy and mediocre. There is a Spirit of excellence that I believe should accompany a believer. When God created the world, he looked at his work and saw that it was good. He never did anything halfway good or a little corrupt (every element of corruption we see now is as a result of Adam’s fall). Therefore, I believe we should be diligent and efficient in all our fields of endeavor. I also believe that when we gather, people who have not been gifted in an area of ministry have no business in that ministry; especially in music, and I believe those that have the gift have a responsibility to get better at it. I also believe that mediocrity can be a big turn off to an unbeliever; where everything looks sloppy, the “unchurched” professional who is used to excellence might not be tempted to come back 

However, I don’t think attracting the unbeliever should be our motivation for excellence. Neither should it be excellence just for the sake of excellence (perfectionism) we are excellent because we do whatever we do as a means of worshipping our Lord. We are not peddlers or salesmen and we certainly are not a business organisation. We are a community saved by Grace and partaking of the Life in the Trinity through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is that life that the unbeliever sees and wants to partake of. All the lights and stuff can bring in the “unchurched” but it cannot usher them into a relationship with Jesus, it cannot give them life. The unbelievers are not looking for a morally upright place that looks like a club, they’re looking for Life. They might not even know what they’re looking for. They might not be able to articulate the inner longing, but they know there is more to life than flashing lights and money (I know, because I have been an unbeliever before). That is what Jesus came to give us, the relationship with the Godhead that we were created for. This is the deepest and eternal purpose for our existence; to be embraced by God and to embrace him back. And we will not be satisfied until we are enlightened of this glorious truth of the Gospel; that God embraces us, accepts us and will never leave us.

   

This is why I joined the Church. I went to a wooden shack, where you had to take off your shoes and worship barefoot on a floor that wasn’t tiled and had no carpet. But I was accepted for who I was; no one expected me to change before they became friends with me and they gave me a sense of belonging. They loved me in spite of my imperfections and saw the good person in me that I did not even realize. That is the community that all humans long for. Even now, many years later after many of us don’t fellowship in that place any longer. There is a deeper bond and fellowship that defies distance between us. It was there that I began to see the real Jesus through the way I was treated and it was attractive, regardless of the fact that we were doing most things in a very mediocre and unscriptural way. This is what all people long for, and we are attracted and stay in such a place whether it is in an air conditioned room, in someone’s living room over dinner or in a wooden shack, with or without professional singers and ushers. Interestingly, most people that came and complained about the mode of worship or lack of professionalism were Christians (me included) who were comparing the Church to others. Most mega-churches are packed full of Christians cross carpeting from other Churches to a better looking place and unbelievers who just come to have a look at the place. 

 

When we lose sight of what we are and devalue and dilute our message, we find ourselves trying to be like the world in order to win the world over. The truth is that the world has won US over to them. In this scenario, the lights might draw them in but it can’t make them stay. In an attempt to stay “relevant” to the unbeliever, motivational speaking becomes the message of the Church. It becomes a place where you come to hear tips for success spruced with some Bible verses every Sunday and the only catch is you have to “give your life to Christ” for these tips to work. How laughable!! This is why there is almost no difference between believers and unbelievers nowadays. In fact, it seems like some unbelievers are more loving than believers. What do we expect? When we are being taught the world’s way of thinking and succeeding in the cutthroat economy, we end up like the world; ruthless and only concerned with being millionaires. Even our giving is in order to see it multiply a thousand times, so we only “sow” into “fertile soil”. We no longer give because we are generous; it is to satisfy a very self centered purpose.

Let me reiterate that I absolutely believe in doing whatever we are doing well. I have no beef with the lights and the great music and efficiency. But there is more to being a Church than just looking like a well run office. There is a Life we have and a loving fellowship we share- with God and with each other. That is what we offer to the unchurched and the backslidden and nothing should distract us from that.

 I pray the Lord opens your eyes to the reality and beauty of his Church and that his Grace be with you.

BEING HUMAN

“By this you know the Spirit of God; Every Spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God and this is the spirit of Anti-Christ….” 1 John 4:2-3

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist…”2 John 1:7

One afternoon, after getting bored with writing arguments and drafting Affidavits, I decided to delight myself with a round of my PC game: “Chinese mahjong”. Expectedly, one round turned into two and then three and then….. you know how it goes. After a while I got stuck in a level and I found myself going over it again and again without completing it. Somewhat frustrated, I suddenly thought to myself “why not ask the Holy Spirit to help you out with this game?” so I did. I said “Holy Spirit, help me finish. Jesus, join me in playing, so we can win.” Just as I had finished saying these words, I got a nudge in my spirit; I could sense Jesus telling me “I was already playing the game with you and as for exercising some sort of divine insight to win, what would be the fun of that?” Wow!!! Good news folks; Jesus loves being human.

There is something about us that makes us want to live superhuman lives; we wish we could fly; we fantasize about having x-ray vision, telepathy, pyrokinetics and so on. We therefore celebrate anyone who looks like they possess these qualities, even if it’s a work of fiction; hence our devotion to characters like Superman, Spiderman, Tony Starks, Edward Cullen and so on.

But we see Jesus and we see a regular guy. He did not possess any supernatural qualities in and of himself. As Jesus, God became totally and irrevocably like us in our fallen state (which is what is meant by God, THE Word becoming ‘Flesh’). Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus never performed any of his miraculous deeds as a result of some “special power” inherent in his DNA. He did all he did in fellowship with the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was born as a baby, and he grew up as a regular child; obedient to his parents and learning new things every day (Luke 2:51-52). He probably had to learn the family business of craftsmanship like everyone else, with many mistakes and missteps. He wasn’t pretending to be Human, he was and is Human. He spent the first thirty years of his life building things and doing nothing extra-ordinary. Now I'm sure he was a very good man and he was sinless, I'm sure people would have regarded his values as a little weird, though good natured but I seriously doubt that he gave life to a dead bird or he healed any of his brothers when they were sick.

Beloved, Jesus did not start being God when he was baptized in the river Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. He was God right from when he was born; all through his formative years and the period wherein he was a carpenter. Jesus is the express image of the invisible God; he came to make our God known, to express him and to explain him. And what did this image do? He lived a normal human life for thirty straight years. It doesn't mean that God was imitating humans; rather he was showing us that humans are living out Divine life by being human. He also showed the type of total trust and fellowship with the Father that a normal Human was designed to have. We were not created to try and conjure up spiritual power or strengthen ourselves, we were made to draw from His strength and let God be God in our lives.

When we realize that God is not only with us in our human activities, but that we are participating in his life while engaging in human activities, it gives our lives a whole new meaning. Just knowing that God, in the person of Jesus is with me; expressing his life through me when I chat with friends, do my job and even watch a movie tends to magnify the pleasure from those things a million times more. It also makes me realize the importance of what I do and how I live my life. I realize that my humanity is not to be discarded, but to be embraced and enjoyed; because God enjoys it. Hence, we are told to do whatever we are doing in Christ.

There is nothing wrong with being human, we were made by God and he doesn’t make mistakes. If there was a mistake, Jesus would not have remained human in his resurrection. He could have shed his skin and become another entity. That would have meant that our salvation included a transformation into something else, like a being of light; that is a form of heresy called Gnosticism and as we have read in the quotations above, any denial of Jesus’ humanity is a plunge into heresy and anyone who teaches such things is an Anti-Christ.

Please note that I absolutely believe in the supernatural. I also believe the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and will do wondrous things through us. I just don't believe we should look down on our humanity and expect to be transformed into some other type of being, and I believe Jesus has a lot of fun with being human

So enjoy your life, relish the legitimate pleasures of humanity and may the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you forever

THE LORD WHO SERVES US

But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that in this world kings are tyrants and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here no to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many”… Matthew 20: 25-28 (NLT)

This is the last in a series I started a few weeks ago on the Lordship of Jesus. You can check out the first post here and the second one here. In light of the just concluded elections in America, I think we’ll find them instructive. My point of emphasis has been that Jesus is Lord. That statement is not just one of a deistic or dualistic God; i.e. Yes, Jesus is Lord in some spiritual way but he is not involved in the affairs of this world. No!! It is a statement that bears serious implications on all things. Whoever is president of your country, that country ultimately belongs to Jesus, he has a purpose for every nation and every person and he will see that purpose fulfilled without violating our wills. That is the beauty of Jesus.

So I just want to encourage you, whether or not you believe in the candidate that won; whether or not you believe in politics or politicians; whether or not you even care either way. Fix your eyes on Jesus; the owner of everything and recognize that he is Lord. We have a leader that cares about us deeply:

Jesus washing his disciples' feet

 All of scripture is about Him. But all of Him is about you. Who he is, is who you truly are. He told us that unlike the world where their Lords are despotic, in the Kingdom of God, the first shall be the last and he who wants to be greatest must be a servant. He demonstrates that to us by being the First born of all creation and through that medium, he serves us thoroughly (Ephesians 1: 20-22, Colossians 2:9-11). He is our Lord and he is no hypocrite. If he says that leaders must serve, then he is the greatest servant of all. He makes all of Him available to all of us. He perfects our imperfections, authors our faith, strengthens our faith and completes our faith. What a Lord, what a God. When I think on these things, I bow down and worship, giving reverent praise to the Lord, my servant.

Congratulations America for a peaceful and successful election process, you should cherish it. Many of you probably don’t know the value of a Peaceful election. I’ve seen otherwise and I think you should be grateful.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continually be showered upon you. Amen

THE VICARIOUS HUMANITY OF JESUS

Below is a link to a great video by the good people at Grace Communion International. It is an interview with Dr. John Mckenna. I must say that GCI  has the most expansive material on the Theology of the Trinity that I know; Videos, Articles and other kinds of media. You can check them out at this link http://www.gci.org/.

The video below is a wonderful discussion on the representative nature of Jesus Christ for all humanity. The effect and implications of his being a man on the Cosmos. It is lovely. You can either download the video or audio or stream it

 Just click the link below and enjoy


The Vicarious Humanity of Christ

ROMANIA AND OTHER THINGS

Hey there!! If you have been following this blog you’d notice that there has been a silence for quite a while now. Well, it was not intentional. Certain things had to be done and it involved lots of preparation so I was temporarily unable to sit down and write.

One of the things that needed my attention was my trip to Romania. My lovely sister graduated from Medical School in Bucharest so we all went to celebrate with her. I spent two weeks with her over there. Incidentally, she has also planted a Church in Romania and another fellowship too. They decided that since it was a holiday period for the students, they would hold a one-day conference. It was tagged “Justified”. Well, it was a wonderful meeting in a beautiful hotel. I was invited to be the guest minister and the Lord really moved in the hearts of people. We also had the chance to answer peoples’ questions after the message, which is a really good thing. Afterwards there was music and partying and as is with students all around the world, the party didn’t stop until the deejay shut down. All in all it was nice. 

my lovely sister Rolly

I also got the opportunity to preach in another Church on a Sunday where I shared the Gospel from the perspective of the value of man; I so much wish we had recorded that meeting. In addition to this, I got to meet and make friends with people who are also growing in grace and it was nice to be around people of other cultures. For pictures of the conference please follow this link to their facebook page, Justified and please like their page

It’s so wonderful that our God would create us in such a way that in Jesus we are all one and yet we will never lose our uniqueness, our spark, that factor in our personality that makes us different from everybody else. Of course this is very much in keeping with the nature of God himself i.e. Trinity; our one God is three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. Each one of these persons is not the other but each one is God. And within the Trinity is perfect love, perfect harmony, perfect joy and perfect unity. They are ONE, yet they do not lose themselves in one another. It is a mystery; a divine logic beyond the realms of logic. Yet, that is what we see in humanity too, in Christ, he has made humanity to mirror their life and their logic

Let me just say that I'm really proud of my sister; Not only is she a Medical Doctor, she has also set up the foundations for the Gospel of Grace to spread in her own world. That is commendable. I'm also proud of all those who have joined her in this work and most of all I'm happy to have made friends with them, beyond ministry you are my friends and I know we will have a swell time on this journey together.

Till next time, may the Grace of our Lord be with you

THE LORD WHO LOVES US

“Have you noticed that even though you call me ‘Lord’ and ‘King’; I have never really acted in that capacity with you? I’ve never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others”…

-Jesus in “The Shack” by WM. Paul Young

I am continuing on my thoughts on the Lordship of Jesus from my last post. I love Paul Young, he expresses in one Novel volumes of theological thinking in a way that is understandable and that hits the main point of the Gospel home i.e. God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit loves you. And in the passage from his book that I quoted above, he drove home one simple fact; Love does not force its way.

Like I said in my last post, Jesus is Lord over everything and everyone. That is the Gospel we proclaim; the arrival of a new Emperor who has all authority and power in his hands. The good news about it is that this Emperor is on our side. He loves us deeply and dearly and wants us to partake of everything he’s got! Unlike the emperors and Kingdoms of this world who go about imposing their will on their subjects and forcing everyone in their path to either bow or be beheaded, this King decides to pick ragtag men from unlikely places (The Apostles, lowly Gentiles) and sends them into the ends of the Earth with one message; Jesus is Lord and he wants you to reign with him.

For approximately Two Thousand and Twelve years he has watched his brothers shun him, denounce him, kill his emissaries and followers and make a mess of the World he created. Yet he does not act in force, he does not destroy nations, he does not punish them, neither does he engage in a great act of wonder to make himself known to the World and to force his will to be done on Earth. He does not turn us into robots that obey his every word without questioning it.

Why is he like that? Because he is Love, and Love is patient and it is not self serving. He does not force his way because Love does not operate that way. So even though he is Lord of all things (and whether we like it or not, that is who he is), he will never ‘Lord it over us’. He will speak his mind and give instructions but if you choose to disobey, He will always respect your choice and the consequence of your actions. When you repent of your choice and turn to him for deliverance, he will deliver you instantly because he is bigger than your mistakes and he loves you. He will never bring that mistake to remembrance between the two of you because Love keeps no records of wrongs. Even if you disobey again and start the cycle all over again, he will keep doing the same thing; advising, respecting and delivering until you are ready to move on and get healed.

This is why I believe in Hell, I don’t believe it is the place where Jesus punishes those that reject his Lordship and banishes them from his presence; I believe it is a place where people exile themselves in a futile bid to run away from his presence and rebel against him (in case you’re not aware, it is physically impossible for a place to exist where God is not present, everything is in God; specifically Jesus). Whether or not there will be any such people is left to be seen and I will not speculate on that issue by giving a general statement for or against it. I’d rather stay on the side of Christ and say whatever choice you make will be respected, whatever torment you suffer as a result of that choice is still your choice. But God will not stop loving you, chasing you and drawing you unto himself. He has made the way open for all men to engage in a relationship with him but a relationship is always a two way street, even for the Lord.

IT IS HIM WE PROCLAIM

I have no ambitions. Seriously, I don’t. It’s one of the things my wife keeps talking to me about. I believe the Lord orchestrated my life to be this way. Growing up I never was one of those folks that wanted to have a large, complex life. I’ve always preferred to live simply and enjoy myself and my family. I never dreamt of being a billionaire business magnate with my hands in so many pies that all I have time for is the business. I just wanted to always have enough to give my family the best and keep my children grounded; respectful and loving towards others (eat your heart prosperity preachers)

Of course this way of thinking has shifted slightly as an adult. I don’t mind being a billionaire any longer, if it will afford me the chance of living my simple life and taking care of others. Plus, there are so many things I could do with those resources now in ministry and personally. But my point is that I have never had grand dreams, visions and goals for any of my business ventures. I just do them because I either have the skill to do it or I love doing it. Sometimes I try to create some great goal for my Law Practice; what do I want to do? How big do I want it to be? More often than not I draw a big blank.

Even in ministry, when I realized that I was called and gifted to preach the Gospel and plant Churches. I adopted the dreams and visions of most people ahead of me. I adopted their ideas of success in ministry and had these grand dreams of creating my own vast empire. I later realized that this was not what I wanted; it was just my attempt at trying to fit in with the crowd and not be myself in the midst of all the bandwagon riding. After reaching that point in my life where I abandoned all ambitions, goals, and fantasies of building my own empire, the Lord began to show me HIS purpose, HIS goal and HIS ambition. It is to build a temple where he can dwell in through Christ, to raise us up to be the Bride fitting for Christ and to make us a perfectly functioning body of Christ(an extension of his physical body everywhere) and to be his Sons in Holy Spirit and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Subsequently, he began to show me that every minister should have no aspirations of his own, because we were not made ministers by ourselves. He chose us and sent us to play our part in the fulfillment of his grand purpose. I came to realize that it was not my job to build things or make it grow, but to plant and water the seeds that I have been given by God (1 Cor. 3:5-9). My part is to proclaim to the world that a new emperor has emerged; Jesus our Lord and God. He is the supreme super power and the one for whom, through whom and in whom everything exists and as many as accept that and make use of his Lordship in their lives are given the right to be Sons of God. To reject Jesus is to reject truth and ultimate reality. It is to confine oneself to Hell.

This is why all Kingdoms eventually fall, all empires eventually fail and all superpowers eventually crumble, but Jesus lives forever and he reigns forever. Because they are all lies and only Jesus is true

I am the way, the truth and the Life… (John 14:6)

Of course when I say ministers should have no aspirations I am in no way saying they can't imagine or want their ministry flourishing. If God calls you to be a minister in any capacity, or he gives you a dream or business idea. It can be as far reaching as possible within the zone of the Grace he has given you. Our God is a BIG God. My point is whatever dreams one has , it should be in line with God's grand purpose and the Lordship of Jesus

We will be exploring this fact in the next few posts on this blog. What are the implications of Jesus' Lordship and how does he exercise it? It's going to be fun!!! 

Peace be with you

HE LONGS FOR US II

Before we go to today's post, I must first offer my sincere apologies for the drought of posts recently, been busy. Please forgive me. Now that we are through with that, let's go to the post. I will be continuing my series on my wife's trip and the things i was taught through it. I wrote them during that time period, I just couldn't get to post them. As a result, I don't intend to change the tone and tense of the post:

In the last post, we explored how God had a plan to be in close fellowship with us forever and how we abandoned that fellowship to strike out on our own. We saw how God missed us and went to great length to get us back through his Son Jesus.

Like I said in my last post, the parable of me missing my wife illuminated the Gospel to me in two dimensions; first is before the Cross, which we have dealt with, second is after the cross which I intend to write about today. You might be wondering, since the Holy Spirit is in us and we are in him, and the fullness of the God head dwells in us through the Spirit, how can we say that God misses us again or he longs to see us again? Well, there are two sides to my post today: He wants to see us physically and we want to see him physically

There is a passage in Paul Young’s book “The Shack” where Mackenzie the protagonist of the Novel meets with the Trinity for the first time. As he is about to knock on the door, it is opened by Papa (the character representing the Father) who upon seeing him gives him the biggest bear hug, he is lifted from the ground and kissed all over the place. His defenses are melted immediately, this has never happened to him before and tears start streaming from his eyes. Ultimately this is something every heart longs for; to be hugged, accepted and welcome by God. We seek it from every other person, every thrill, every Job, every good deed we do in ministry, every stride we take, but the truth is that we are seeking that these things fill a hole only God can fill. And he is willing to fill it, if we let him. I believe our hearts are longing for that bear hug from Papa, or more accurately we are wrestling against it in our ignorance and seeking it from others. However, not only do I accept the Holy Spirit’s agency in giving me this hug, I can’t wait to see him physically. I can’t wait till he returns and transforms my mortal body to the resurrected form and to see him. To touch my Lord and to see him hug me with tears in his eyes and mine as he says “welcome home my brother”. It is not the physical appearance of Heavens that creates a longing in my heart any longer but the person of Jesus himself

In the same vein, I believe the same for God himself. He has made his home in us and he finds rest in our bodies. But we are still told that Jesus will return, that he will split the sky and call us up to where he is (1 Thess. 4:16-18). If he were satisfied with the present state of things between us, he wouldn’t do that. He wants to see us and feel us; to eat and drink with us (remember God has become a man in the person of our Lord Jesus). I believe even though the Holy Spirit gives him something more than a digital impression of his presence, he still longs to return to us and feel us with his physical hands, see us with his physical eyes and speak to us one on one. We are his bride and we take his breath away.

So we can pray like the early Church prayed Maranatha, come Lord Jesus come

HIS HEART LONGS FOR US

Last weekend I saw my wife off to the Airport. She was going to see family and she’s going to be gone for a while so I’d been tearing up all day, in fact all week. But I never let the emotion show, I reasoned that she would not be gone for so long and the days would just pass by swiftly, so there was no need to worry. Whenever we talked about how much we would miss each other, I tried to keep a stoic demeanor and just be frank about it all

But as it remained two hours for her to leave, I began to feel the heavy weight of deep loss, I really didn’t want her to go, and I would miss her presence too much. As she walked past the security gate and went out of sight; not to be seen for the next couple of days, I felt a part of me leaving with her, and even though we have means of communicating with each other; Skype, chatting and plain old calling each other’s cell phone, nothing beats her being present with me here. I still miss my wife a whole lot, I’m not used to coming home, watching movies or even praying alone. Now more than ever, I cherish the presence of my spouse sharing everyday life with me. I cannot imagine how old people feel when they lose their spouse, no wonder they tend to sleep in the Lord quickly (especially if they were very close)

As I was driving back home from the Airport and contemplating these things, I suddenly felt a nudge in my belly: “This sense of loss I feel does not originate with me, it is a parable and it originates from God”, I could feel it originating from the heart of Jesus himself, communicated to me through the Holy Spirit.

I will talk about this in two layers; before the Cross and after the Cross

BEFORE THE CROSS

When Adam fell, he died. He separated himself from God and in his utter confusion about God and his character, he started hiding from God. This little act has degenerated over millennia to mankind having all these myths about the Father; twisted and convoluted ideas about the Nature and character of God that make us constantly fear him, distrust him and run from him. In a way we were passing through the Security gates and leaving the place of pleasure (Eden) and fellowship with him forever. We could still communicate with him sometimes, Israel had the Temple and he spoke through his Spirit to certain men. Many other nations had inclinations of their origin in God, but Satan twisted these inclinations and set himself and his demons up to be gods in those Nations. However, God still communicated with Gentiles, just not as frequently and directly as he did with the Jews.

But that was never enough, what he wanted was to live in us and share everything with us. He wants us to have a conscious knowledge of his presence in all that we go through in life; good or bad. He wants to fully express himself in humanity, and include us in the unbroken and unbreakable fellowship of the Trinity. This is what Jesus came to give to us. This is the plan that began in Eden but was not fully consummated.

He came to show us a true picture of God:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” John 1:18

He came to give us Life (a living fellowship with the real God):

“Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life; that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:2-3

Now I’ve had a glimpse of how the Father must have felt for millennia without our fellowship and of how the Son would have felt, waiting for millennia to become flesh and claim his Bride. Not that God is incomplete without us or anything like that. He can do without us; he is wholly whole and satisfied in the Trinity. He has just chosen never to do without us. Like Karl Barth says, “God refuses to be God without us”

So when he became man, he became the last Adam; fully representing us in a way that is much more powerful and effective than the first Adam. When he died, he put to death that Adamic race that alienated himself from God with its idiosyncrasies and he rose again to newness of life, a man completely innocent before God with complete access to the throne room of God. Now all that is left is for us to accept who we are and what has happened to us, and make use of it by engaging in a real relationship with God. The moment we believe this, the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling in our hearts and that connection is made.

“And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory” Ephesians 1:13-14(emphasis mine)

Please do not get me wrong, I understand the severity of Sin and Christ’s need to die and take our punishment. But we must remember that is not where the story starts. There was a plan before the fall, and the fall did not stop that plan, it only meant that Jesus had to make certain stops in carrying out that Eternal plan

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, just know that God longs to make his dwelling in your heart. He’s not disgusted at you, unhappy with you or disappointed in you. Sure, you might be doing things he does not like, but he’s not surprised and he’s very aware of the fact that only in him can you find the strength to change. He literally died to make it possible. If you have not accepted this gift please do and if you have, the least you can do is enjoy his presence and let him love you.  In fact, I believe that is all that is required of us.

Now, this post is getting too long for my liking, so I’ll write about the next insight in my next blog. Stay tuned.

REDEFINING OUR VOCABULARY

In recent years there has been a resurgence of the real Gospel, a sort of excavation of old and ancient foundations that were buried deep underneath a super structure of Legalism, spookiness, Gnosticism, secular Humanism and general worldliness. We are beginning to recapture the essence of the Gospel. We are beginning to read the Bible without the lens of religious conditioning.

As a result, I believe there is a need to recapture the true meaning of Christian terms and phrases. I have come to find out that a lot of the words we use bear a totally different meaning from what we were made to believe growing up. Most times, what we are taught are meanings steeped in Old Testament theology. Well, we have come to know that the Cross made a difference. The coming of Jesus and his death on the Cross has turned these terms on their heads and in fact abolished the Old Covenant. And it is in this context that the New Testament writers came to see and use these terms

A good example is the word Righteousness. We were told righteousness means doing right, obeying all the rules and being sinless; in other words, being spotless in terms of our behavior (it’s funny that those who interpret it this way and encourage people to ‘be righteous’ are not righteous themselves if they are to go by this definition). However, we have come to know that this interpretation is faulty in light of the New Covenant. No one can be righteous based on their performance. No one is spotless in and of themselves. So, God goes the other way round; he makes us righteous by giving us his righteousness and when we lean on that, impulses are created in us to do his will. We begin to bear his fruit, as opposed to creating fruit. Righteousness is not a doing; it is a state of being.

Similarly, there are various terms in our vocabulary we must begin to either redefine or rediscover its true meaning. Words like faith, sin, The Word of God, holiness, Church, responsibility, hope, Hell, repentance, Covenant and many more have a totally different meaning in light of the New Covenant. This is one of the things I’ve been thinking about in recent times. I will share my thoughts on these things as I feel the release to do so of course, but I would implore you to think for yourself and ponder on these things too. You have the Holy Spirit and he will lead you into all truth

Below is a video teaching by Ryan Rufus where he expounds on redefining Holiness, I think you’ll find it quite enlightening. Even if you do not agree with it, keep an open mind and let it spark up thought in you on these issues.

Till we meet again

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continue to be with you

Hol