Preparing the Heart

PREPARING THE HEART

 

Some of my FB friends read the blog articles I post here on Following Judah’s Lion. And those who do along with the small band of blog readers know that I am begging the Lord to do something special in all of us for His glory in this coming year. I am currently working on a post which begins with these verses. And before I finish the post I would like all of us to really read all the verses I am posting here in preparation for this upcoming post. Read them daily if you can. Meditate upon them; inhale them; seek their depth; and embrace them as God’s breathed Word directly to you. Allow them to break up the fallow ground within your heart and allow the Spirit to cultivate that heartland in preparation for the eternal seed of God’s Word that will reap a harvest all to His glory.

 

Ps.27: ⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

⁸ When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

(Please read all of Psalm 27)

Matt.6: ¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matt.6: ²⁴ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

 

May the Lord multiply His Word in our hearts.

 

 

A Call to Worship

A CALL TO WORSHIP

Προσκυνέω (proskynéō)

The word “pro” means before or to bow before and the word “skyneo” seems to be a derivative from the word kiss. Together the word indicates one who bows or even prostrates himself before someone and kisses his hand as a dog kisses the hand of his master. This a delicate and powerful verb and it brings strong and profound images. It is the word most used in the New Testament when translated worship. It not only requires an unusual focus without compromise, but it requires a knowledge of the object of our worship that is so powerful it literally breaks us away from the temporal and ushers us into an eternal realm which is filled with His presence. It is unlike anything upon this earth.

You can see people idolizing rock stars, and Hollywood actors, and politicians, and even religious figures. That may appear to be a sort of worship and in the fallen realm it is. But that is purely idol worship whether it is a man or beast or a material thing or even part of the creation. It is an abomination before God and He literally hates it. That kind of idol worship is rampant through this fallen nation as well as the entire world. And it has infiltrated the church as well. I will deal with idol worship and true worship in the Spirit in this post.

Idol worship appeals solely to the flesh. But God created man to receive His goodness and worship Him. So man has a capacity, and even a need, to worship. And if he does not know God through Christ then he finds something that he can worship. It can be a job, or a car, or a house, or a person, or his own success, or a philosophy, or nature, or clothes, or his own body, or his intellect, or it can be any number of things. He may not prostrate himself physically before these things but in his heart he worships them. But that worship is all vain and nothing more than idol worship.

The only true worship is the worship of the Creator. It is why man was created. God has given man the highest privilege of worshiping Him which glorifies God and fulfills man. Now when a sinner is redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ his spirit comes alive and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within his being. This a great truth as well as a great mystery. But the Spirit of God is what gives us the desire and the direction of our worship. He empowers us to understand the magnitude and majesty of our Great God and he guides into a worship that truly glorifies Christ.

But please understand that worship is not music. True worship emanates from the heart of a believer. Now music can assist with worship if it glorifies God. And even the music itself can help lead our hearts and minds away from the earthly and temporal realm. Even instrumental music helps to insulate us from earthly distractions and allows us to focus on our Lord. The first use of the word “worship” is in Genesis and it relates to Abraham going to worship the Lord by the sacrifice of his son Isaac. My pastor friend Scott LaPierre reminded me of this truth and it does have obvious implications and applications. All true worship comes through the divine sacrifice of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can praise God for food and clothing and life and health, but worship is eternally tied to the cross.

I have passed by church signs which say “Exciting worship!” or “Contemporary Worship!” or “Great worship!”. Now those phrases not only misrepresent the essence of what it means to worship God, but notice that the adjectives have to do with how it moves us. It is a humanistic expression of that which should be sacred and holy and given to our Wonderful Lord and Redeemer. It is meant for His glory and His glory alone. But make no mistake, you cannot truly worship God without His presence changing you. If you are just temporarily blessed than you have enjoyed some good music, but you did not enter into His presence.

Now you cannot include worship in a multi-task situation. Rick Warren suggested that you can worship God even while taking out the trash. That is absolutely wrong. You can praise God in those kinds of situations, but worship cannot be done as a “kill two birds with one stone” kind of exercise. In order to truly worship God we must forsake the cares of this world, sanctify the Lord in our hearts, and seek His face without distraction or compromise. That requires sacrifice and time and a sincere heart which must not be set upon anything in this temporal realm. If you are worried about lunch after church you are not worshiping. If you are thinking about bills or a job or a child or anything in the material realm you are not worshiping in the Spirit. Are you beginning to see just how shallow these worship times are in so many churches. The worship leader can gently guide the congregation through the various music songs, but if he draws attention to himself, or if stimulates the crowd by the weight of his personality or exuberance, then he is a stumbling block.

Worshiping God is a sacred and holy place. It is a labor of love to cleanse yourself of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, but we must be cleansed in the brazen laver even before we enter the Holy Place. No one can come out from the filthiness of this fallen world and rush right in and begin to worship God. A worship time is not part of a daily schedule which is allotted a certain amount of time. If time is a factor than worship is not. We must not only be redeemed, but we need to be cleansed by His blood and the power of His Word. If you spent no time in God’s Word or in His presence during the week then your Sunday worship will be soulish and not spiritual.

I am not saying that if you have been careless about your spiritual life during the week you cannot worship Christ on Sunday, but I am saying you must go through some sincere repentance. You have grieved the Spirit and you must make things right. That is why I believe it is wise and beneficial for the congregation to pray at the beginning of the service even before the music begins. To truly enter into the presence of God is not stepping into a closet and then leaving when you are done. I admit that being in God’s presence in a way which exceeds His general omnipresence is a wonderful mystery, however it is essential for believers even though it has been substantially lost to the western church.

But unless you truly take time in private to worship God you will be dependent upon auditoriums, a vibrant worship leader, great music, and a certain time and place before you can at least feel something. The average Sunday morning “worship service” is a well crafted event designed to move people emotionally and it has a time limit. So millions of church members come to a building on Sunday morning after having spent little or no time with God during the week. And the music begins and the worship leader comes out upbeat and exuberant and encourages the people to come alive. People begin to clap to the music and the praise band plays and the praise singers sing and after the allotted time it closes in prayer and the pastor rises to greet people. Yes, it is all so predictable and redundant. And that is what is called “worship” in the average evangelical church.

But I call your heart and mind to hear what I am saying. If you and I truly desire to be changed into the likeness of Christ in 2014 we will have to enter into a deeper place of prayer and worship in our personal lives. If we want our lives, our actions, our attitudes, our thoughts, and our beings to manifest the Lord Jesus we must first sit at His feet like Mary and listen to His voice, worship His Being, and seek His face through prayer and fasting. Nothing is born of God without travail. Anything of spiritual value is not given to those who are living for themselves or even those who have carved out precious little in their lives to meet with God.

Yes, we were given that opportunity this past year, but who among could claim we could not have done much better for Him? But here we are on the week’s eve of another year and that same opportunity is before us. I wish to step out on a fresh journey with many of you who feel the unction of the Spirit. I’m not speaking of forming some kind of club. But I desire a spiritual partnership, and internet church so to speak, which challenges us all and makes us accountable to God and each other. There is no distance in the Spirit. I believe God can use this medium for His glory in and through us. I am hungry for more of Christ and less of me. If that bears witness with your spirit then watch for my upcoming posts and let us seek Him together in a worship and prayer experience which gives a natural birth to servanthood.

Lk.7: ³⁷ And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

³⁸ And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
³⁹ Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
⁴⁰ And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
⁴¹ There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
⁴² And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
⁴³ Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
⁴⁴ And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
⁴⁵ Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
⁴⁶ My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
⁴⁷ Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
⁴⁸ And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
⁴⁹ And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

This sinful woman would not be denied. She desired to worship Christ. Let us ask ourselves just how relentless were in order to get to Jesus? Do we clear our schedules? Do we experience hunger pains when we are kept from Him? Do we care what others think? Do we speak on the phone more than we speak with Christ? Is our personal worship time so essential and so spiritual that it really is foundational to our spiritual life? And in the past month just how long and deep was your time with Him? And how dramatically were you changed in this past month?

Jesus was moved by the unashamed worship from this woman who was obviously had a reputation of immorality. But she did not care who saw her and she was not to be denied. Oh to worship Christ with such abandon that nothing else matters. To be drawn to the sec ret place under the shadow of His wings and there seek His matchless face with brokenness and worship and not to be even aware of time because you were being swallowed up in His glory has all but been lost to us today. Is that not what He desires from us?

Corporate worship has become a tepid and predictable exercise which resembles last week’s worship in time and depth. One closes his eyes during a song and blesses Jesus and as quickly as it began it ends. The service continues. It is a nice time of fellowship and the preacher does a good job and the music was a blessing. Next Sunday will be the same, and this coming week may see some devotional time which finds a small space between everything else. And so it goes.

If that is what we desire and what we think pleases God then all we have to do is repeat 2013 and we will arrive in December of next year just as we arrived in December of this year. Make no mistake if we truly desire to seek Christ’s face and allow the Spirit to slay us and remake us completely into His very image then this will be a great battle. Prepare yourself for the spiritual battle of a lifetime. This kind of journey has many dragons which are made by the world and the devil as well as many dragons of our own making. Do not enter the year with some kind of frilly vision of experiencing soaring emotions and having your earthly life blessed. No, it will take an unusual commitment that will require the entirety of you will.

If you can be compromised to the point of quitting you will. If you can I do suggest some times of fasting especially in the first weeks. Your flesh has been trained to think about and plan and to worry about all things pertaining to this earthly life. It will not relinquish its lordship easily. The battle will be intense and you will receive no real encouragement from others. In fact, you may well incur criticism. There will be no earthly reward. The reward will be Christ Himself.

The church has gathered together and invited Christ to come to our meetings. And yet all through the week the Spirit has invited us to come and meet with Him. His invitations have gone largely unrequited except a few convenient times which literally cost us nothing. We have convinced ourselves that we can rush into His presence and rid ourselves of the world’s stench quickly and after a half hour we rise to do what we had already planned and that is worship. We have accomplished our objective and we feel good about having had a “devotional” time. It cost us nothing.

In the Book of 2^nd Samuel we see God angry at His people in chapter 24 because they had conquered their enemies and felt very confident in their accomplishments. The Philistines and the Moabites had been defeated as well as other enemies. King David was a great leader and this string of great victories made them feel superior. God told David to number the men in his armies, and as David did the Lord saw just how proud he was in their number and strength. David now had his eyes on men and not on the Lord. 70,000 people died of a plague.

So David wants to offer a sacrifice unto the Lord and he approaches Araunah the Jebusite and offers to buy his land in order to make an altar unto God. But Araunah the Jebusite gives David the land and even says he will give him the sacrifice for free. But David refuses.

II Sam.24: ²⁴ And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

Oh my dear brothers and sisters how often have we offered to the Lord that which cost us nothing? In fact have we not settled into a religious patter where God is offered a small section of our lives and we have come to believe He is pleased with our offerings? If you will allow me some obvious allegory:

David’s leads a blessed life. His armies have been very successful and he is king. He rises and has his Jewish coffee while he reads from Samuel’s Study Torah for a few minutes. He bows his head and asks God to bless him that day and after a handful of minutes he rises to begin another wonderful day. He has met with God and he feels very blessed. He loves his country, he loves his family, his loves his preacher, he loves his life, and he loves the Lord. What could be better?

And here we are today going through the motions and training our minds to receive affirmation from a god we have created. This is not a shower of guilt designed to make us feel bad. This is the truth being exposed before our very eyes. This is what we have constructed and it literally costs us nothing save a few pennies in the church coiffeurs. We now can live our own lives and invite God to visit us once in a while. It is so very American, in fact it is the religious American Dream.

Now if that is what we want we already have it. It has been perfected into a well oiled machine. We can give God literally convenient scraps during the week and go to the gathering and perform self affirming worship during the music time and leave the building to live exactly the way we did last week. It is very chic.

But if we really believe Christ deserves more, and if we really believe we can find more of His presence, and if we believe we can be changed, then it will cost us quite a lot. But the cost comes before the reward. That is the divine order. The cross comes before the resurrection. Be prepared.

Unimaginable Majesty

UNIMAGINABLE MAJESTY

Heb.1: ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

How do you describe that which the human mind cannot even imagine? Even if we let our minds escape the realm of the possible and soar into the realm of the impossible we still can never touch the reality of the eternal majesty of the Risen Christ. God is an all powerful, all knowing, all present, and eternal being who is a spirit. So when that Spirit is made visible the majesty of that visible revelation is beyond imagination to say nothing of human words.

The entire divine plan is beyond reason or comprehension. We can understand that God created everything. When the Scriptures say that God created man in His own image it begins to be a little more complex. We can fully understand that Adam sinned and the earth and all mankind was cursed. That is very easy to understand.

We can grasp the concept that God desired reconciliation. And that some justice had to be fulfilled is also something we fully understand. A crime was committed and someone had to pay for it. We understand crimes and punishment. So far we’re with God in this narrative. Now the Old Testament Scriptures give some prophetic glimpses into a future event. Without the luxury of foresight many of them seem mysterious and unclear. That is why no one fully grasped the enormity of what God had planned. I mean the concept of a coming Messiah was well received by the Jews, however many still assigned a nationalistic quality to Him. They assumed He would come and fight for Israel and lead the country into freedom.

But the concept of the Messiah was always thought to be a man anointed and called by God. So when the Scriptures reveal this concept of an incarnation, well that is where we are just along for a revelation ride since we have no precedent, no logic, and really no intellectual place to which we can retreat and find some understanding. The thought of God becoming a man, a God-man, actually is beyond all human understanding. It is one of the main truths which cause men to stumble and reject Jesus even today. I mean who can believe such a thing? No one. Only the Holy Spirit can break through a man’s earthly intellectual pride and reveal to Him who Jesus was and is. And even then we must still receive it by faith because the glory, the enormity, the magnificence, and the monumental essence of the incarnation is so profound and so past human knowledge that only faith, given by God, can make a connection.

So now we can understand by faith that the Baby born to a virgin in the city called the House of Bread was the place where the Bread of heaven breathed His first breath. And with the Holy Spirit’s illumination we can believe that at least on our simplistic level. God did come and take on human flesh. A soaring mystery to say the least, but we can understand the concept and embrace it through faith.

But now what? I mean God now walks as a man while still being God, but what will He do to defend God’s people Israel? Israel is in captivity in their own homeland. Just how will the Messiah defeat the Romans and like Moses lead His people out of captivity and into freedom. Maybe He will use violence, but probably it will be like how Moses did it. God will work some miracle and destroy the armies of Rome just as he had done to Israel’s enemies in the past. It was still so unclear and even confusing.

But now we hear this Messiah, this God-man, claim that He was to be killed. What is this that our ears hear? When the leader of an army gets killed usually the army scatters. And here the Messiah is telling us before the battle even begins that he will be killed and still He expects us to fight alongside of Him? The conundrum deepens and widens. But then He hints that He will come back to life. Now we really are mystified and confused. How can all this be? Ok, our minds still can grasp some scenario where Jesus, the God-man, is killed in battle and God raises Him up. Yes, we can receive that and work it out in our minds. So let the battle begin.

But as the redemptive narrative unfolds we think we hear Him say that He will lay His own life down. What? He will allow Himself to be killed at the hands of our enemies? What a stretch of the human imagination, but we have come to believe so much I guess we must believe all this. He perhaps is going to die voluntarily and when He resurrects the Romans will flee in fear? Yes, that must be it.

But Jesus knows that we have worked it out in our earthly minds. You see, without the indwelling of the Spirit we can only go so far in our understanding. There is a glory, a majesty, and a mystery that will astound the angels of heaven to say nothing of fallen man. So fast forward to today. As the gospel is presented to our hearts and minds we are asked to believe that this God-man was a sacrifice for our sins and that He resurrected from the dead which proved Who He was and what He had done. Hey, we have watched men walk upon the moon. We have seen a vehicle maneuver on the surface of Mars. We have seen miracles in medicine. But now we are asked to believe this archaic religious notion as fact?

And in the midst of our fast paced and self consuming life we pause for an eternal moment. And within our hearts, our innermost being, the divine Spirit somehow communicates an unimaginable and majestic truth. We do not know completely how it all works or all the eternal details, but in a moment we believe that which is unbelievable. We do not understand it like we can understand the dimensions of our room, but through revelation we understand the gospel. And in that one eternal moment, as men would say, we get it. Simple, profound, clear, mysterious, but we get it. We will never be the same.

Like Lazarus, the Spirit has called us to come forth, and in the realm of the spirit our dead bones rose from their mausoleum of sinful death and we became a new creation in Him. Oh my. God spoke and the worlds came into being. But it cost God His own Son to redeem one soul, and here we stand, alive in Him. Now allow your mind to make some connections. I want you to imagine millions of people bring animals to the Tabernacle or the temple. Listen to the animal sounds of squealing and grunting and bleating. People are talking and the air is filled with animal smells. And these animals are literally slaughtered. Thousands upon thousands of gallons of blood are shed. Priests are covered in blood. The entire scene is a crimson carnage.

But there came a day when God came to be that Lamb. Please, let us cast off all our religious pretentions and Biblical pompousness. This is foolishness to the fallen mind. It is barbaric and bizarre. It is so much religious folklore embraced by an uneducated and superstitious people. It really makes no sense today. All of us know that. But that is exactly why no one, even those who studied the facts and became apologists for the faith, can believe such a thing without the enlightenment and power of the Spirit. Again, it is foolishness. Absurd. I mean let us have our religion and even call it Christian but please do not ask us to believe that outdated story.

But we believed. On a severely uninformed basis we believed the gospel. That Jesus as God, and that He died for our sins, and that He rose from the dead. Yes, we believed that like a child. Picture a man with his back pressed up against the Empire State Building. He looks up and he can see the building is very high but he cannot see its shape. But as he walks away, and the further he gets away from that building, he sees the shape of the building and he can even see the top in the distance.

And so it is with our faith in Jesus and the gospel. We believed the gospel like a child and as the days went by and we began to be taught by the Word and the Spirit we began to make out a spiritual shape. The Spirit took Scriptural pieces and added them more and more to the overall picture. We understood Isaiah’s prophecy about a virgin. We understood John the Baptist’s identification of the Lamb. We understood all the animal sacrifices pointed to Him. We understood His mission was spiritual and not national. We understood His death was a sacrifice and payment for our sins. We understood the reason for His resurrection. We slowly began to understand things about which we were so ignorant. We understood the overall spiritual narrative and how God had planned it all before there was the first light.

But as we thought about the love that drew salvations plan, and oh the grace that brought it down to man, and the mighty gulf that God did span, at Calvary,

We once again were in uncharted territory. We could now see the form and the shape and the sacrifice of the plan, but the clearer it all became the more we were spellbound by its unimaginable majesty. Who could have even imagined such a thing? Look at it. God has suffered and died for mankind, and for you and me. This unmasks us for the doctrinal frauds we sometimes pretend to be. That truth alone should makes us weep often. And if we can say it and print it and preach it without being moved by its unimaginable majesty then we are still with our backs pressed up against its truth with little understanding of the sheer weight of its eternal glory.

Without a true revelation of what Christ has done and Who He is then the gospels become a sort of religious Lord of the Rings adventure. I do not speak of knowing facts. I speak of Knowing Him through a revelation which can only come from the Spirit. I am not attempting to be spooky, and there are those who wish to project themselves as more spiritual and with a greater pipeline to God than the rest of us. But I am speaking of opening your heart with a humble surrender and seeking His face with a relentless hunger and thirst. I am speaking of receiving knowledge that does more than fill your brain cells. I am speaking of a knowledge which moves and breaks and changes you. I chose not to rehearse the vision of His wounds in this post, but I do ask you to receive the Spirit's revelation of the God of All Creation dying in a bruised and battered and crimson covered human frame. That, my friends, is what God knew, what God planned, and what God suffered.

This is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is the embodiment of all truth and in Him is the unimaginable majesty. We can receive the backside of His glory while still clothed in human skin, but please do not make the mistake of underestimating the colossal nature of His glory. His Person and His glory fill the infinite expanse of heaven. Oh yes, we have been given by His grace a wonderful and life changing glimpse of the Christ, but there is more than the human mind can imagine. It exists in an eternal realm that defies any earthly definition. And He who sits on the throne is literally clothed with unimaginable majesty that is unlike in essence and experience and visual expression than anything which can enter the heart and mind of the most dedicated servant of Jesus. So at the end of all this, what awaits us who have trusted in Jesus Christ?

Unimaginable majesty. Selah…

There is Nothing, Nothing Like Jesus

THERE IS NOTHING,
NOTHING LIKE JESUS

The bears do not discuss the possibility a deity exists. The dolphins do not question the purpose of their existence. The monkeys do not pray. So can you understand just how precious and wonderful man was made? We naturally know there is a deity and a Creator. The voluminous amount of religions reveal man’s quest to find and worship that deity. And billions of members of our fallen race worship an imagined deity and they feel religious and content.

I was raised in a home where my mother took us to church and my father stayed home. It was a mainline denominational church which was structured with images of the Old Testament law. It meant nothing to me and I went to catechism for three years and was later confirmed as a member. You see, that church believed they could teach you how to become a Christian and the teachings was what they believed.

So after having gone through the motions religion had no place in my young adult life. But I heard the gospel on television (yes, it was sometimes presented back then) and my life was forever changed. But as I sit here I am still amazed that I could have ever been drawn to such an eternal treasure and that I was allowed to even believe. What am I that Thou art mindful of me? To say I didn’t deserve to be grafted into God’s family is such an understatement it is actually self serving on some level. I didn’t deserve to be created; I didn’t deserve to draw my first breath; I didn’t deserve the ability to think; I didn’t deserve the love of my parents; and I didn’t deserve to receive the knowledge that God did exist.

But as I bow my heart I say this with all the humble sincerity I can know. I have never deserved to know Christ and become a born again believer. I was sullied by religion and I was enjoying the pleasures of sin without conscience. And yet the Holy Spirit still draws me to Christ even though I was His sworn enemy? Just what kind of illogical fable is this? Who really would want me? I am certainly not special in any way. So God the Spirit ministers to my heart and mind and I begin to feel a sense of hopelessness. I didn’t turn to Christ immediately because I was enjoying an earthly party thrown in my honor.

And yet the Spirit still strives with me? And then I began to think; then I began to meditate; then I began to dwell; then I began to wonder; and then in an unbelievable instant I began to seek. Yes it was all Him but my thoughts were consumed with the thought that Jesus was real and alive. You would think that going to church would do that to people but you would be wrong. But on so many levels sometimes church itself is a stumbling block for sinners to see Christ. But I would get up and as I put my clothes on I would think about Jesus. As I rode to work I would think about Jesus. As I welded under the helmet I would think about Jesus. I would see a statue of Jesus in the cemetery; I would see a bumper sticker; I would hear someone on the radio speak of Jesus; I hear that one of the Watergate men believed in Jesus; I was almost going insane.

So one night in March of 1975 I climbed up the face of Garrett Mountain in Wayne, New Jersey and sat overlooking the clear Manhattan skyline. I had promised myself I was going to once and for all settle this Jesus thing before I came back down. So there I sat and I spoke out loud directly to Jesus and I said, “Jesus, if you are real and alive I want to know You.” I sat there again in silent thought. And suddenly, I cannot fully put it into words, I receive the unmistakable witness of the Spirit. Yes, Jesus was alive and He was the only way to eternal life. Now I was not remorseful over my sin just then and I knew nothing of the law. All I knew was that Jesus was real and He now was my Savior and Lord.

I descended the mountain and I was never the same. Now I do not know how you came to Jesus. You may have been in a church or in a home or in an evangelistic meeting or even led to Jesus by your parents. But we can all agree that none of us had anything of any value that would have cause Jesus to desire us. We were wretched sinners who thought continually about ourselves. And still He sought us. Still He loved us. And when I think about the cross and that I, the sinner known as Rick Frueh, was on His mind I am undone. I am cut to pieces and broken before Him. Did He not know how many times I would disappoint Him even after He saved me? Did He not know the sin that often lurks in my heart? Did He not know how often I still think only of myself?

And yet here I am His grateful child. It still seems like a dream. And then one day I will go to be with Him. Such knowledge is almost too great to bear. I stand between being embarrassed by such love and being so thankful that I must run into the street and shout His praise! Sometimes I feel like a madman. Many times I feel like a fool. But if knowing Jesus and expressing my unbridled love for Him makes me a fool then let me be a thousand fools! And if I ever lose these moments where I am overwhelmed just by the sheer reality of Who He is and what he has done then let me die. For I have searched, God knows I have searched, and I have found nothing in this world that is worthy to be compared with even one moment in the presence of my Lord and Savior. Nothing…nothing.

A Pilgrimage Back to Jesus

A PILGRIMAGE BACK TO JESUS

If you are beginning to realize that the spiritual edifice has completely crumbled and you are standing in the midst of spiritual ruin just what do you do and where do you start to rebuild a faith that honors God and follows Jesus? I would suggest you begin by laying once again the Chief Cornerstone and slowly shape each additional stone to fit with it. That Cornerstone should be easy to find. It’s the one that the modern ecclesiastical builders rejected.

With those few words I have humbly attempted to both describe the current spiritual situation in the western church structure as well as my own personal journey. I realize that the phrase “back to Jesus” seems like hyperbole and a clever wording for effect, but I suggest it clearly and unambiguously defines the journey before us. I submit this short exhortation from our Lord:

Matt.11: ²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

And I add this as well:

II Cor.11: ³ But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

A man puts up a Christmas tree. He puts strings of lights all around it. He hangs scores upon scores of ornaments. He hangs angels and nick-knacks and candy canes and pictures and some homemade ornaments. He wraps the tree with silver and gold garland. And he carefully hangs silver tinsel from top to bottom. He calls his neighbor and invites him to come over. As the neighbor walks into the living room he exclaims, “What a wonderful tree!” But the neighbor cannot even see the tree itself. What catches his eye and what he is calling wonderful are all the decorations that have been hung upon the tree.

And so it is with the faith which claims to have Jesus as its centerpiece. We have decorated it with so many activities and buildings and organizations and doctrines and slogans and celebrities and marketing and finances and political issues and patriotism and many other things that people can no longer see Jesus. They see an organization which stands for some issues and does some good things and has pretty buildings and even has some friendly people. But the world cannot see Jesus. But what if we truly desired to let people see Jesus? Then we must first remove all the man made ornaments from our lives and the accepted practices of the church. And when we once again stand without preconceived ideas and church traditions, well then we begin to learn of Him.

That seems so simple and odd since we have learned about Jesus for many years. I mean how much more can we learn? Some of us have been to Bible school and some of us have taught Sunday School classes and some of us have read books about Jesus and some of us have read wonderful sermons about Jesus. I mean we know Jesus, we have trusted in Jesus, and we are headed to be with Jesus forever. So what more is there? That question reveals just how spiritually unconscious we really are and how the church has been so influenced by the culture and benign doctrinal teachings that we as believers in Jesus have long ceased being followers of that same Jesus.

We embrace and follow a doctrinal Jesus which is Biblically accurate and doctrinally sound but who is a lifeless caricature that we use to play pin the doctrinal tail of the true Jesus. Imagine you are living in a house, your house. You have your bed and your desk and your television and your clothes. You are quite comfortable in your house and you enjoy your life in your house, which you embrace as your home. But one day a man walks into your room and to your amazement this man is not your father. After your shock you begin to find out that this man owns the house you embraced as yours, but he is not your father. You feel like you are dreaming but you are not. Even though you love your room and all the things in it and you have felt at home there, you set out to search for the house that your real father owns. You can no longer feel comfortable in a house that is not owned by your father.

But if that man had not walked into your room you would never have known that the house was not your home. You could have remained content and comfortable and embraced your life even while living in a house which did not belong to your father. And this is the scenario many of us have had to face. We were comfortable and content within this church structure and within the house of faith built for you by that same church structure. Everything seemed good and your faith felt like home to you. But one day you realized that your Father did not own the faith in which you were living. You had always assumed your Older Brother was living in the master bedroom, but upon further inspection you are aghast to find the master bedroom occupied by a collection of men. Some of them seemed to be good men and men who knew their way around this house, but still your Older Brother was not there.

And after many days and nights of inward turmoil and fear about leaving that which you have known and even loved for so long, you leave that house and set out to find the house where your Older Brother lives. And you quickly realize that the house for which you are searching is not next door. You are going to have to walk through some pretty thick jungle and a stretch of wilderness in order to arrive at the house which must be your home.

So we are on a journey back to Jesus. It is not an easy journey and the path is only clear for a few feet at a time. We are considered fanatics and self righteous judges by our former ecclesiastical brethren, and we must always battle any hint of superiority. But this journey carries great hope of a reward that can only be found in Him. The further we walk away from our former church existence the more we see just how manmade it was. But we must constantly be reminded that our walk of faith and our journey must never be fueled by what is wrong with the structure we have left. Our journey is Christ; our walk is Christ; our mind is Christ; our heart is Christ; and our very life is Christ.

We are attacked by discouragement which tells us we will fail and just how much time we have wasted. We see people very happy in what we have left, and they enjoy pleasant fellowship which once was ours. But the Word of God sustains us with new and deep and enlightening truths which the Spirit brands upon our hearts. We are understanding things about our wonderful Savior which sometimes makes it seem as if we are meeting Him for the very first time. There is so much more to unlearn and so very much more to learn. It is quite a journey.

But this path is not filled with great crowds who encourage one another. Sometimes it is very lonely and without God’s Spirit we would despair. But we cannot turn back and we must press on. There is nothing about which to return and there is everything about which to gain. Think about learning of Jesus. Not just learning about Him, but actually hearing what He has said, fellowshipping with Him, and following Him in the here and now. Think about surrendering everything you own, everything you think, everything you desire, everything you know, everything you are, and everything you will ever be to Him and to Him alone - surrendering everything, dramatically and without exception and without compromise. You come before Him stripped of all your well worn pretentions and religious mindsets and you surrender it all. And you learn of Him. You seek Him. You eat Him. You drink Him. You live Him. And He takes your life and lives His.

 

Bondage? Oh no, freedom without limits. You no longer have wants or desires apart from the desire to know Him more fully. Walking with Him without the stifling influence and bondage of the western church construct you are now His disciple who is being made into the image of your Master Teacher. The world has always seen servanthood to Jesus as a conundrum. They see bondage and we testify of freedom. They see meekness and we see boldness. They see the last but we see the first. They see death but we see life.  And today the Spirit is calling out one saint at a time from the bondage of the western church and setting souls free into His marvelous light! Should we judge our brethren yet in bondage? No, never! We love and pray for them and let our lights shine without any self serving bellicose concerning how great we are. No, we serve and live at our King’s pleasure.

 

Instead of the gold of the knowledge of Christ we have been sold many pieces of Pyrite. And with this substance of fools we have built great organizations and edifices and dialogues and activities and seminars and celebrities and books and CDs and memberships and relationships and an aura of spirituality. And we can stand back with great pride and see what our hands and heads have accomplished. It is a colossal religious and cultural work in which we have found much solace, much affirmation, and much human community. But we have not found Jesus.

Our journey now is filled with giants and yet sustained by the grapes of Eschol and the wine of the Spirit. Do we feel a sense of superiority or a sense of arrival? Oh no, my dear brethren, we feel a tangible sense of brokenness and humility. In fact we often fight depression as it comes to offer its shoulder. No, with each day of this journey we see more and more journey ahead of us. But we have been loosed from the grave clothes which once were our friends. We are free but we walk with Jacob’s limp after being touched by God’s Spirit. We are sinful cripples who are whole in Him. We mimic the Greek Jews at the Feast of Passover who said, “Sirs, we would see Jesus”.

We have seen it all, but now we desire to see Jesus. We have seen enough shows, enough church services, enough great sermons, enough pageants, enough ribbon cuttings, enough marketing, and we have seen enough religion to last a lifetime. Now, we want to see Jesus. That is most certainly a metaphor but so much more than just a metaphor. If you wish to use your retinas and corneas than all you will see is what you have already seen. But if you dare to open the door of your heart and allow the Spirit to direct and refocus the eyes of the Spirit, then you will not only see Him who is above all there is, but you will be changed forever. And then as He is so will you be in this world.

 

And not only will you see Jesus...

but so will those who see you.

Jesus Speaks

JESUS SPEAKS

 

The Continuing Romance with Orthodoxy

THE CONTINUING ROMANCE

with

ORTHODOXY

When I became a born again believer in March of 1975 my whole world changed. I did not get saved in a church and I did not know one believer except me. In fact I was so fresh and unlearned that I literally thought I was one of only several thousands who knew Jesus like I knew Him. People looked different to me and I had a love for sinners. My mind was consumed with Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus. Yes, I was new in the faith.

I bought a Bible and began reading the words in red. Eventually I began to learn the Scriptures. I desired to preach and attended Bible College and was ordained and pastored. But now decades later I see something that happened which chipped away at my spiritual life. When you enter the “church world” you become a part of a system that draws your attention to political issues, national issues, world issues, economic issues, moral issues, community issues, and a literal plethora of Biblical debates ranging from the smallest and irrelevant issue to all kinds of doctrinal issues that were deemed non-negotiable.

Eventually you lose your heart for Jesus. You are a part of the ecclesiastical beast and it is always hungry. You didn’t desire that to happen, but like a giant conveyor belt the church system captures your heart and mind and you leave your first love. You now love your country, your family, your pastor, your fellow church members, your church, your doctrines, and your way of life. What you do not realize is that along the way you left your first love. No, you do not reject and renounce Jesus and you still believe He is the Savior.

There are wives who are separated from their husbands who speak well about their soon to be ex-husbands. They refuse to speak badly about him, and they encourage their children to love and listen to their father, her now ex-husband. When she sees her ex-husband they smile and are very cordial and even appreciate what they once had. The husband is still in love with his wife and he remains hurt because of the divorce. But the wife, although polite and kind and supportive, does not love him anymore. She grew tired of him and now she can live her own life and still have him provide for her and the kids as well as have him be a large part of the children’s lives.

That is what happens through this church system. You are polite and cordial to Jesus. You sing His name on Sundays and you point your children to Him. You appreciate His provision for you and you embrace His redemption. But you have become free to live your own life because somewhere along the way the church system and the cares of this world have led you out of love with Jesus. You honor and praise Him as well you should. You would never speak anything but good about Him, and to you He is Savior. But you do not love Him anymore. You are now living your own life your own way and you believe Jesus is blessing it.

Rev.2: Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

² I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
³ And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
⁴ Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

These are people who believe in and serve Jesus. They reject evildoers and they stand against error, heresy, and men who are false teachers. They work and are patient and they persevere for Jesus and His gospel. However they have fallen out of love with Jesus. Think about the implications of what the Spirit is revealing about the Church in Ephesus. Almost every pastor has preached on these passages and made some application. But here is the utterly astounding part of all that. Even churches which replicate the Spirit’s description of the Church of Ephesus preach on these verses without seeing and understanding that they themselves are to whom the Spirit is speaking. In fact, the Church of Ephesus could correctly be called an “orthodox” church. They did not compromise truth and they were not exchanging theatre for worship. They not only rightly divided the Word, but they were discerners as well.

Perhaps some of the members had blogs which accurately addressed false teachers and the battle against error and even apostasy. They stood firm on truth and they preached the true gospel. But in the process something had happened. Now this is so serious that the Spirit records it in God’s Word forever. And the indictment is profound and unnerving and should cause any true believer a great deal of conviction and even distress. Does it matter if we hold to Biblical truth and are faithful to serve Christ and even are bold against error but we no longer love Jesus? You know even the term “love Jesus” seems so hippie-ish and smacks of the Jesus People Movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

You see what has happened? We have become way too sophisticated for that kind of language and our ecclesiastical structure provides for us an atmosphere of self affirmation. You see, we are orthodox! We can smell a heresy coming for miles away. Just mention the name of Joel Osteen and our floodgates will open. Our pastor knows Hebrew and Greek and he preaches expositorally. We do not have stage smoke or strobe lights and we do not sing secular rock songs in our services. Our list of cults is unabridged and our Sunday School material is Biblically sound. You see, we are orthodox!

In a generally accepted that the word orthodox means that we believe the Bible literally and espouse doctrines that over the centuries were embraced by the church through counsels and study and what most mainstream churches taught as truth. There are fringe issues about which orthodox churches would disagree, and there are Biblical truths which certain churches seem to focus on that others do not. But all in all being orthodox means you adhere to the Scriptures and you do not teach anything that could be considered deviant, diluted, or just plain weird. And aside from differing views about elders or deacons or in some cases women in places of ministry, the orthodox community is tied together by an allegiance to Scripture, sound doctrine, a Biblical church structure, and an unquestioned commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So in light of all these Biblical allegiances it is difficult to understand how we could have left our first love. I guess it is quite necessary to define what we mean by Biblical love as it pertains to Christ. When the Scriptures say “first” it surely means that when we found Christ we were first redeemed and set free. And there is not second. But what does it mean to love Jesus? If you are Biblical in your doctrine and you adherence to truth, does that insure that you love the Lord Jesus.

Matt.22: ³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

Eph.6: ²⁴ Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

Here we have the word love used in both the Old and the New Testament. So it would seem that strict adherence to Biblical accuracy and an orthodox statement of faith as well as Biblical church practices are good and right but are not enough to qualify as loving the Lord Jesus. In fact, there is a fine line between holding to a Biblical statement of faith with a humble heart and holding that statement of faith with an air of self righteousness. It is possible to embrace doctrinal truth through a spirit of legalism that is reminiscent of the Mosaic Law. Even New Testament truth which is absolute and non-negotiable should not be received in tablets of stone but rather by grace through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They all must be received within the Person and redemptive heart of the Lord Jesus.

But the church in the west has left its first love and love is now way down the list if you ask unbelievers what they think of when asked about evangelical Christians. What? Many still think of love when asked about Jesus, but the evangelical community has so misrepresented Jesus that even His reputation has been sullied in the eyes of unbelievers. It would be absurd to suggest that American believers exhibit love for their enemies. We can hardly muster love for our brothers and sisters in Christ much less our enemies.

But we do have love. Much love. For what? We have a strong love for what we believe and the orthodox doctrines to which we have unquestioned allegiance. We speak them; we repeat them; we teach them; we defend them; we print them; we organize them; we wield them; and in general they are what we suggest reveals Jesus to others. We are of the orthodox tribe and that moniker means more to us than people thinking we are some wishy-washy loving people who speak with meekness and humility. We desire for people to know we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture rather than know us by the way we reveal Scripture in our lives. Yes, we are orthodox!

I hope you realize that talk like this seems like nonsense to many in the orthodox community. Many think that exhorting believers to be more like Jesus instead of focusing on doctrines is an attack on God’s Word.

So we now have an aberration of the faith which can legitimately claim to be orthodox. Does that not seem like an oxymoron? And “orthodox aberration”. What kind of Christianity is that? I mean what kind of strange ecclesiastical animal is that? But unless you look more closely you have been hoodwinked. Let us proceed further into this confusing labyrinth in hopes of revealing the true essence of what it actually means to be “orthodox”.

Webster’s Dictionary:

Orthodox:

: accepted as true or correct by most people : supporting or believing what most people think is true

: accepting and closely following the traditional beliefs and customs of a religion

Do you understand the implications of the word “orthodox”? If you look closely you will find that the word itself means that you believe what most people believe and you are following closely the traditions and customs of Christianity that have been established through many centuries. Now, is that what it means to follow Jesus? Are the ecclesiastical traditions of men and the customs and beliefs that have been handed down to us our template? Has all the meditation and praying and studying been already done for us? Does that mean if we nod in agreement with the traditional beliefs we can call ourselves orthodox? Yes, that is exactly what that means. But I suggest then that being orthodox is a significantly flawed and even diabolical moniker which strips us of the spiritual responsibility of searching the Scriptures for ourselves, bathing them in prayer, and setting out along a path that has been laid out by the Spirit rather than man.

So if we truly desire to follow Jesus we must escape the confines of orthodoxy and head to the freedom which searches and searches and searches some more until we see and understand who Jesus was, what He lived, what He taught, and then follow in His steps rather than handing in our doctrines like last night’s homework. You see, to be called orthodox is an embarrassing indictment. Let us desire to be called the “Followers of Jesus”. It is light years easier to be orthodox than it is to be followers of Jesus.

If we lay aside our precious doctrines, even all of them are true, for just a vulnerable moment then we might be able to see just how they have imprisoned us. Is it not a great deceptive feat when truth keeps us from seeing or even seeking deeper truth? Are we to study and embrace doctrines about Jesus or are we to hear Him and follow Him with all of our hearts? Is Jesus the Savior or is He also the Lord? And while we argue about Lordship salvation is Jesus the absolute Lord of everything we do and think? These are penetrating questions that should peal back all the many layers of traditions and culture that have encrusted the faith and made it the benign religious entity it has become.

Just a cursory reading of the Sermon on the Mount written in three chapters should reveal just how far we have strayed from following Jesus. We believe the narrative of the Sermon on the Mount is inspired; we believe every word of the Sermon on the Mount is inerrant; we believe the Sermon of the Mount was spoken by Jesus; we believe it was recorded by Matthew. Ok, good. But Someone desires to ask us a question.

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

The church continues to have a self affirming romance with orthodoxy, but it continues to be a form of spiritual infidelity.

I realize that what I have written is unorthodox.

It was supposed to be.