Following Judah's Lion

2012

Phil.3:7-14 - But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The new year is here. I do not set dates but I do see signs. We may not have much time left to serve Christ in this world. It cannot be denied by anyone who has even the slightest level of discernment that the entire world is on the very precipice of calamity. And in some areas, calamity is a daily experience.
Americans are worried about money and losing even the slightest portion of the “America Dream”. However we as believing followers of the Lord Jesus must never bow to such earthly pursuits. Our lives must be consumed with Him, and everything we do and say must be to His glory alone. We cannot serve two masters. Jesus is Lord and must be served and worshiped as such.
It would not take much to throw the entire world into total violence, confusion, and utter collapse. But even that prospect should not move us. In fact, as we see the day approaching our hearts should leap within us and our lives should walk in the power of His resurrected will. This is no game, and I am well aware that such dire claims have been made before. But one day they will come to fruition. Perhaps 2012 will see a monumental prophetic movement that shakes everything that can be shaken.
But, sadly, with all that on the horizon the western church continues to practice a religion that bears no resemblance to Christianity. In times past disciples lived lives of sacrifice. Today professing disciples live lives in pleasure. In times past disciples spent many weekly hours in prayer. Today prayer is a lost discipline. In times past disciples separated themselves from the systems of this world. Today professing disciples are consumed with all sorts of worldly battles. In times past disciples embraced their own cross. Today professing disciples embrace neither their cross nor His.
The walls are broken and burned, and the temple of the Lord has been ransacked. The shepherds sing pretty songs from behind the pulpit and the sheep love to have it so. Music is now our god, and worship has become a thing rather than a glorious expression emanating from a heart given to Christ. Men and women can lead weekly lives of prayerlessness, adultery, sexual immorality, and all sorts of hedonism and yet clap and raise their hands on Sunday morning. There is no conviction nor spirit of holiness in God’s house anymore.
Our salt and light are now gone, and like Samson of old, we do not even know it. The practice of church continues with a powerless expression that satisfies the flesh but starves the spirit. This is not Christianity. This is another religion, a cult, that has been carefully ushered in and given the name of Jesus. But it is another Jesus; a wealthy Jesus in the lineage of Santa Claus. This is not the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This is a caricature that smacks of a fallen western culture. This Jesus is a divine bell hop who serves man and all his desires.
2012 will bring more of the same and worse. Diabolical lies are spread through Christian television and ignorant people write checks to false prophets. The entire mess is a disaster. But judgment must begin at the house of God. And since the church at large is now a whore, we as individual believers must hear the Spirit’s voice and follow the Great Shepherd as he leads those who will hear out of spiritual adultery. And although we lament the current spiritual apostasy that sweeps the western ecclesiastical landscape, we cannot let it end there. We must rise up and seek God’s face.
2012 is full of all kinds of spiritual opportunities. It is altogether possible that if we seek God’s precious Word with a fresh thirst and a new commitment to understand and obey, that the Spirit can open that Word to us with a vibrancy that resurrects truths that we had long since placed upon the shelf of familiarity. John 3:16 and other well known verses may come to life with such profound application and understanding that it may seem that we never really comprehended their depth before. If we open our hearts and delve into the fathomless treasures of the Eternal Word of the Living God, God has promised to reward those who seek Him with that kind of diligence.
And when we begin to awaken to the glories of God’s Word with such brokenness and immeasurable resolve, we will find that we begin to know Him in greater intimacy, love, and a well spring of worship. And when we are driven to the prayer chamber to meet our Bridegroom, it is in that spiritual furnace where the Spirit burns away the dross of our lives and little by little lifts the sacred veil that separates the revelation of His Person from those who just use Him to gain heaven or those who are willing to die to see Him. And those who have their statement of faith as their God must wait outside, while those who journey further into the realm of prayer and worship will be given the priceless gift of His presence. And once you have tasted His presence nothing this side of heaven will suffice.
I do not speak of some self righteousness that claims to have been visited personally by angels. Or some charismatic preacher who says he went to heaven and by that draws attention to himself as well as increases his own earthly wealth. Away with all that! But I do reject the notion that we who do have a solid, Biblical theology can traverse no further in the realm of the Spirit. I cannot agree with those who relegate prayer and worship to some perfunctory exercise and who are so afraid of being labeled that they eschew any meaningful disciplines of the Spirit designed to know Him more fully. And while we rightfully reject contemplative and centering prayer, it does not mean that we cannot approach God’s throne with brokenness, humility, and a Jacob-like relentlessness.
Please do not let false teachers rob you of what the Spirit has for you. The Industrial Revolution has robbed the church of the one precious commodity necessary for any spiritual maturity - time. People now carry televisions around in their phones and I-Pads. All the gimmickry and electronic accoutrements have stripped us of the greater treasures of the Spirit. Rare are the believers who can spend quality time alone with God, free from all the cares of this world, and without an underlying anxiousness about what they have to do next. How tragic.
But 2012 does not have to be a mirror of past years. And this year can be a year of spiritual progress that beaks up the fallow ground, plants good seed in good soil, and reaps a personal harvest to God’s glory. And by a harvest I mean life fruit that bears His image. The days are evil and the time grows short. And if we could be assured that sometime in 2012 we will stand before the Risen Christ, would we live differently? Are we still in love with Jesus or have we left our first love for the mistress of this present world? Do not waste this coming year. Break open the alabaster box of the life God gave you and lavish it upon Him!
Do not wait for the church as an institution to wake up and seek His face. You and I have personal mandates from the Spirit that beckon us to come and dine. How much of our lives are filled with things that do not profit spiritually? Do we really want the quality of our spiritual lives to be measured by what we do not do or by which heretics we reject? But in order for these things to change the person who worries about the cares of this world, and who fills your mind with carnal things, and who casually relegates time with God to the back burner, that person must die. He cannot be reformed. He will not be redirected. He receives no correction. In fact, he is most creative and will allow certain adjustments to be made in order to preserve the core of his carnal pursuits and distractions. He will never admit it but he desires to be lord. No, he must die and he must die every single day.
Why didn’t Jesus allow His blood to be shed without the cross? Why didn’t he orchestrate a narrative that had someone slit his throat like the priests did to the animals? Our forgiveness is in the blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, so why the cross? The cross was meant to kill sinners. And when Jesus says that if we desire to be His followers we must take up our own cross, he is outwardly suggesting that we die. In fact, He is more than just suggesting. Death to self is a spiritual mandate. Shallow is the believer who by faith applies the blood to his sins but who never pursues his own cross.
Yes, Jesus paid the price for us, and it takes only childlike faith to believe on Him and be saved. Halleluiah!! But is that all He deserves? Are we not bought with a price and belong solely to Him? Is He not our Master and we His bond servants? There is no real pain in saving faith, but there is much pain in being conformed to His image. And that is why the church by and large avoids any authentic pursuit of discipleship. We seek a bed of roses and not a crown of thorns. The church has long since defined discipleship as teaching a convert the systematic truths of Scripture, and although that is surely extremely important, it falls embarrassingly short of the path laid our for us by the Master who embodies those truths. A computer, rightly programmed, can spit out an orthodox theology.
And again, we cannot serve two masters. We cannot follow the dictates of this earthly life and also follow the dictates of our life in His Spirit. They are enemies! We have so emasculated the Christian life so as to make it unremarkable within a kingdom of darkness. The flesh has become very adept at appearing religious, and that flesh now reigns. But we again have an opportunity to break these earthly chains and go forth from our spiritual lethargy and find Christ once again! Is that reward too insignificant to pursue? The Risen Master not only awaits the adoration of His servants, but He Himself has promised to help those who seek Him. Can there be any words to adequately praise the name of such a God??
So let us set aside our hearts this year. And when we stumble, and when we do get distracted, let us be quick to repent and quick to go directly to Him who can forgive and restore. This may be the year of His secret coming for His bride, I do not know. I long to see Him. But of this I can be sure. This can be the year that allows the Potter to break our lives, put it to death, and create a life that reflects the glory of God’s eternal Son. Please Lord, let it be so.