More Than Many Sparrows...

"Do not fear, therefore -
You are worth more than many sparrows..." Matthew 10:31

Who is this Jesus that I love?

The Jesus I love doesn't have long flowing girlish hair and a halo shining over His head.  He doesn't tell me to just sit back and put my feet up, because I "deserve a break today."  He doesn't cover my eyes so that I won't see the nasty things that are going on in the world today.  He doesn't promise me that I will never be hurt by any of these things because I belong to Him.  He doesn't follow the script written for Him by false teachers of a phoney gospel.  No. The Jesus I love has a radical agenda.

The Jesus I hear speaking in my ear is on fire.  He is deadly serious.  He's speaking about life and death.  He isn't "playing at religion."  He demands that we take Him seriously or not at all.  If we want an easy chair to soften our ride into heaven, sipping a Margarita while we have a mani/pedi, we're going to have to find another Jesus.  I can't squeeze the Jesus of the Gospel into the round peg so many churches have pounded out for Him.  I don't know what God they're serving, but, it isn't the One who suffered and died for me.

"Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit."

Matthew 7:15

This is the Jesus that captivates me -

"These twelve Jesus sent out saying: ... As you go, preach saying 'The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons...  Whoever will not receive you, nor hear your words... I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"  Matthew: 10: 8, 14,15 What?  Really?  My that sounds awfully harsh, doesn't it? Where is the "nice" Jesus, we've all grown to love?  The one who accepts everyone and everything and never calls a sin a sin, let alone, even thinks of sending anyone to hell, if there really is such a place! This can't be the same guy! That's right.  It isn't.  This is the real Jesus, calling us to wake up, pay attention, come out of our fairy tale and preach the real Gospel. The one that He died for, and, for many of His followers, the one they will die for also.

Here's another golden nugget from the lips of Jesus as He sent His disciples out.

"Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore, be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and beat you in the synagogues. You will be brought before kings and governors for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles..." Matt. 10:16-18

"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak.  For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but, the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Matt. 10: 19-20

"You will be hated by all for My name's sake, But he who endures to the end will be saved...If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of His household. Therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.  Matt. 10:22

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But, rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell..."  Matt. 10:29

I am captivated by the Jesus who calls us with fire and passion to follow Him, to sell out to Him, to fear nothing man can do to us in this life, but to shout from the rooftops what he tells us "in the dark." I don't want to be bothered with cheap imitations of this Jesus, who is worth everything I have to follow Him.  

Believe me, I am not, by nature, a courageous person.  I run and hide when I see a spider.  Put a mouse in the room and I may die of a heart attack!  I know I am not given to this kind of courage on my own.  But, I am in love with this God who promises to be with me, to give me the words to speak, even when I am trembling for fear of my life.  

Terrorists are rampant, kings and dictators torture and kill.  Help me to remember, Lord, God, that You have called us to this glorious Gospel, for Your name's sake, "as a testimony to them..." Matt. 10:18

I don't want to chase after the wind, following a fraud of the gospel.  Give me the real Gospel.  Let me live and die on that Gospel and nothing less.

For I Am Persuaded...

"The Gospel is able to take us all the way home..."
Allister Begg, Truth for Life Ministries

This week has been like riding the waves of a tsunami, as I have tried to absorb the news that one of my brothers has been diagnosed with lung cancer.  He is four years younger than I am and has had a difficult life.  He is scheduled for surgery to remove a growth from his lung in October.  He was scheduled this week but cancelled it out of fear that he would not make it through the surgery.  My heart goes out to him, but he must have the surgery if he is to have any chance at all of beating this.

In my brother's case, he was in denial pretty heavily when he called me to tell me he has cancer.  He spent most of the hour long conversation joking about inconsequential things, while avoiding the matter that was most on his mind.  I had no idea what he was dealing with.  At the very end of our conversation, just before we hung up the phone, I "happened" to ask him what I thought was an innocent question about his health.  He answered instantly with the blunt statement "I have lung cancer."  I had to ask him to repeat what he said, to be able to absorb the shock of what he had just told me.  He said it a second time and then waited for my response.  

There are some moments like this that take us beyond our ability to express in words what we are feeling. Without prompting, completely unbidden, a rush of memories flooded my heart of my brother as a little boy; as a handsome young man at his wedding; later, watching him holding his new born babies in his arms...

Of course, not all of my memories are happy ones.  My brother has had more than his share of heartache in his life from the very beginning.  In many ways, he has never healed from some of the most painful experiences he has gone through.  Remembering those moments makes me cry with him for things that happened that never should have...  I remember it all...  And I close my eyes and wish it wasn't so.  

There is an old saying "If wishes were horses, beggars would fly..."  But we don't live in a world of fairy-tales and castles, and beggars that fly.  We live in a real world that hurts us and fails us sometimes, worse than we want to admit.

What are we to do when the heartache overcomes us?  When we wish it were different, and know it is not?  I am convinced that it is at these times that the Gospel of Jesus Christ matters most. When we can't fix life, explain it away, or stand the pain that we are carrying, we need the Gospel. We need to know this just isn't all there is.  We need to know there is a God who sees us and understands the depth of our pain.  We need to know that He is able to carry us all the way home.  

I am in the middle of one of those times with my brother.  I do not know if he will make it through the surgery in October.  He has a myriad of health problems that have weakened him even before this diagnosis.  I would be a liar if I said I am not afraid for him.  I am. Right now, in the midst of my anguish for my brother, I am doing the only thing I can do for him - I am carrying him to the Lord who has a hold of him when I do not.  I stand at the foot of the cross and claim the saving grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for my brother.  

I heard a teaching recently by one of my favorite preachers, Allister Begg, of Truth for Life.  I don't remember a lot of what he said, but I remember these words.  "The Gospel brings us all the way home.  Do not fear and tremble in the face of death if you know Jesus Christ.  For there is not one bit of you that will end up in the trash bin of the universe except your sin."  I love that.  And tonight, I find great comfort in the truth of those words.

My prayers are with those of you who are going through something in your own life that has rocked you to the core.  And, if you would, lift up a prayer for my brother.  That God will be with my brother through the surgery and through all of his tomorrows. 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."  Romans 8:38.39  NKJV