Greater than Angels

Twice I have been stranded on the road, in two different states (Oklahoma and Colorado). Though these circumstances occurred about 10 years apart, they share a common outcome. Both times I was picked up by an ordinary looking man, white shirt and tie, driving a green Jaguar with tan leather interior. Both times the conversation went about the same. The man said, " I normally don't pick up strangers but you didn't look too dangerous."


The first time, I thought little of it. On the highway between Dallas and Oklahoma City, it was not that unusual to see a nice car and a well dressed driver. I paid little attention to his appearance beyond that, being mainly concerned with getting a tow to a repair shop.


The second time, I was in a company car making a steep climb from the plains to West Cliff Colorado. I was struck by the similarity of the cars, thinking, are you kidding me? I really could not say that it was the same driver, having paid so little attention the first time. My best guess is that is was the same man, though he did not look any older. My only explanation for this is that this was an angel sent from God to help me in times of need, and that the similarities were intentional. God wanted me to know for sure that he had his hand on me.


The Bible talks of angels (Greek word: messenger) as presenting themselves to people in various forms. Often they appear to be so ordinary as to go unnoticed. Many have spent time with them without even knowing it. Contrary to popular ideas stemming from old movies, angels of the Bible are not dead people who appear here for some purpose, or who follow us around keeping us from harm. Angels are servants and messenger from God, created for that purpose, who worship God in heaven and carry his "messages" to people who need them. (Hebrews 1:14)


When angels let the glory of heaven shine through, they are radiant enough to cause people to fall on their knees. However, heavenly angels refuse to be worshipped. If an angelic being presents himself to you and you worship him and he is okay with that, he is probably an angel (fallen messenger) from another place entirely.


When the writer of Hebrews speaks of Christ as being greater than the angels, he was saying that even in the heavenly realm of angels, Jesus was worthy of worship. He elaborates that, unlike mere messengers from heaven, Jesus Christ is worthy of: being called God's own Son; worship by the angels; being anointed as King for ever and ever; being called Creator of the heavens and the earth: and to be seated at the right hand of God the Father to rule. (Hebrews 1: 4-13)


More than a good man, a mere prophet or a great moral teacher, Jesus Christ is exalted as Creator, heir of all things, the radiance of God, the exact representation God's nature, sustainer of all things by his powerful word, Savior and High Priest, King, Son of God, and above the angels. This is the Jesus of Scripture. Not just a humble carpenter turned itinerate preacher, Jesus first came here as a servant that he might rise as a King. We enter into relationship with this real Jesus by trusting him, by taking him at his word when he says:


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16


True followers of Jesus grow in relationship with him, trusting him more through trials and blessing, and seek to hear his "Well done" above all else. He is above the angels and so high above anything and everyone on earth, it all fades away in the radiance of his glory. If you don't know him these words seem strange and unreal to you. If you have an ear to hear, you already know what I am writing about here. We all need to be reminded from time to time.


The angels are great from where I sit. They have been in the throne room of God. That they spend time with us is nothing short of miraculous. But they bow to another--King Jesus.




"He became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs." Hebrews 1:4

The Greatest Name in the World

Arguably among the best violinists in the world, Joshua Bell was involved in an experiment a few years ago. He stood in a Washington subway tunnel and played his heart out for hours. Here's the thing--nobody noticed him! The same player who commands standing ovations from the most discriminating musical ears on earth barely turned a head. The subway masses came and went, eyes on the turnstiles and doors, minds occupied with the mundane cares of life. They failed to recognize the fact that, for a moment, they were in the company of greatness. They just were not expecting to find it there.

 

Similarly, when Jesus walked among men, there was nothing in his appearance to draw him any special attention. Those who knew him while he was growing up found any claims that he was great to be preposterous. They were astonished that he eventually drew multitudes to himself for healing, teaching and saving. So accustomed to the boy with dirty feet and splinters in his fingers from working in his father's carpentry shop, they missed the greatness in their midst.

 

Today, too,  we have forgotten much of his greatness. Even with the benefit of hindsight, we tend to boil him down to more comfortable, manageable dimensions--a gentle spirit, a humble servant, a great moral teacher, a lover of people. While there is truth in these descriptors, they are, in and of themselves, extremely misleading.

 

You see, we want Jesus to be our buddy, our tolerant older brother, or just our friend. We want that guy who slaps us on the back and beams at us with his unrelenting smile. We prefer the friendly Jesus who will never tell us we are wrong and will never use the "S" word, instead framing our transgressions as mere mistakes, human errors to be overlooked because, we are, after all, good people. Who would not want to hang out with such a relentless encourager?

 

One problem with this, revamped, user-friendly, politically correct Jesus is that he is not the Jesus of the New Testament. Gentle with the broken, harsh with the proud, impatient with the self-centered, the Jesus of the Bible commanded wind and waves and forgave--here it comes--SIN. His claims about himself were impossible (unless of course they are true). And the things the apostles later wrote about him stretch the limits of theological and scientific understanding. Creator, Savior, Son of God, the one and only Way to the Father, Jesus may be your friend, but not because you are good people. He chose to dwell among us in grace and truth so that he could restore relationship between a holy God and a fallen world (including us).

 

In one of his more astounding statements about himself Jesus said that if you want to see God you should look at him! While this is not our usual idea of humility, he was, nevertheless, the very epitome of humility--leaving the throne room of heaven in obedience to the Father to walk among the sweaty, sinful, and unwashed--out of nothing but the pure, unadulterated love of God. The love he has for us is not based on our worthiness, rather on the quality and unlimited quantity of God's love for people. It says little about us, and everything about him, Jesus, the greatest name in the world.

 

Hebrews 1:3

New International Version (NIV)

³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

 

 

 

The Most Controversial Name in the World

News headlines  rivet our attention to controversy. Think of the kaleidoscope of controversial names and personalities we have been subjected to in recent days, weeks, months and years. There is something about controversy that arouses our attention, whether we are drawn to or repelled by the controversial person.

In my lifetime, I have seen a remarkable thing come to pass. The Jesus of my youth, loved or at least tolerated by almost everyone in our culture, has become the most controversial person in the world. Let me explain.

When you think of socially acceptable topics of conversation, in a wide variety of settings, think about what can be, and what cannot be discussed without stirring dissention. Depending on the setting, today one can openly talk about hobbies, interests, politics, current events, sexual preferences of all types, and up to a point, religion. Religion can be talked about in general terms. One who appreciates beauty in nature or people is considered "spiritual." If one is a self-described Buddhist, people will nod in admiration of the person's supposed detachment from the things of the world...often at odds with the person's lifestyle. Someone might even speak of their love for God, and how they feel close to him in nature, in the embrace of an infant, or in the quiet hours of their own home. The common religion of the day is one that blends agnosticism (you can't really know) and Unitarianism (all paths lead to God).

Speak the name of Jesus, however, and you are likely to hear a couple of very different responses. Many will say something condescending indicating the have no problem with Jesus, because he was a great teacher, a gentle spirit, a great lover of people, etc. Others will deny that he even existed, in spite of the fact that we have more evidence of his existence than most historical figures whom no one questions. The problem with the last is resolved by open minded research of the facts. For a true seeker, I would recommend "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. Mr. Strobel is a former editor of the Chicago Tribune who set out to disprove the existence and significance of Jesus, and became convinced the evidence demanded the opposite conclusion.

The seemingly kind, condescending response is one that Jesus himself does not allow. What mere man, great teacher or not, claims to be God and promises to return to judge the earth? As C.S. Lewis puts it, Jesus own teachings allow us only two options. Either we must conclude that he is a lunatic or a demon from hell set out to deceive the world, or we must decide that he is who he claimed to be, the son of God, creator of the universe, the one true Lord who will soon return.

And that is the very core of the controversy. If Jesus was right about his self-proclamations, we owe him a response of gratitude and obedience. Obedience to another does not settle well with the human nature--we want what we want, when we want it. I believe this is at the heart of both off-target responses to the question of "Who is Jesus?" People just want to keep doing whatever they want, believing that there will be no consequences.

The Jesus of modern myth, relentlessly placid and politically correct, is a recent invention. If you would know him as he really is, check out what the Bible really says about him. He rebuked, confronted, and even threw some furniture around to make a point. He humbly submitted to the Father, but unflinchingly described himself as the only way salvation. Your response to him is your choice, but it does not change who he is. To deny him is to delay the inevitable, when every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2).



"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times in various ways, but in these last days he as spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." Hebrews 1:1-2

 

 

When God Gives You More than You Can Handle

It is often said, and believed to be a part of the Bible, that God will not give you more than you can handle. The idea is that each person has a breaking point, and that God, knowing where that breaking point is, withholds difficulties at a certain point so that the individual does not break. A few times when I have asked people where that is in the Bible, they responded by saying that they don't know but they are sure it is in there.

One of the better ways of finding what is in the Bible is to use an "exhaustive concordance." There are many out there and they are a good investment if you hope to know your Bible at all. You can take any word or phrase and look it up, alphabetically, and find it...If it is there, of course. You know what you won't find? A verse that says God won't give you more than you can handle.

At least 2 caveats exist in regards to this principle. First, there is a verse that says God will not allow you to be TEMPTED beyond what you can resist:

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it"  (1 Corinthians 10:13).

This has to do with resisting SIN, a word not often heard in the general public or even many churches these days. To sin is to miss the mark, to fall short of the holiness God knows will bring you ultimate joy (sometimes through temporary self-denial.) So it means that will not lead you into temptation  (as in Jesus' prayer) that is more than you can resist, and he will give you a way out of any temptation. This is not a verse that proves God will not allow you to suffer more than you can handle.

The second caveat is that Scripture seems to teach, by principle, that God WILL give you more than you can handle. Hold on and let me explain. Paul teaches that God's strength shines through when we are beyond the end of our ropes:

" ^7 ... Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

How else do we get there except that God allows us to walk through what we cannot otherwise bear, empowering and enabling us to do what we cannot do without him? He has to allow more than we, in our own strength, can handle.  It is the gift nobody wants, but those  who have received it, looking back, would not trade it for wealth, beauty or a life of ease.

At the foundation of the belief that God will not give us more than we can handle are a couple of errors. One is that we are intended to go through life relying on our own strength. Did you catch it in Paul's quotation of what God told him? He said that his GRACE is sufficient. Those who are self-contained and self-sufficient are not in need of grace. Grace is for the weak, the broken, and the fallen. Defined technically as "God's unmerited (unearned) favor," grace rushes in where we are lacking and gives us strength beyond our own abilities. If you are a believer in Christ, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you! What a waste it would be to rely on your own puny human strength to wage a spiritual war you cannot win without him.

Another error (even harder to confront) is that our lives are supposed to be comfortable, bearable, and most importantly, about us. A true follower of Christ, sooner or later, comes to realize that his individual life is about magnifying Jesus. Each encounter is to glorify Christ, by whatever means necessary. This causes you to see the temporary nature of everything else. Only Jesus remains. He will give you grace and truth, love and power--more than you can handle!

 

 

“And” is Better

A recent ad campaign brings this concept to us in hilarious clarity. “And” is better than “or.” Take sweet and sour chicken…what if it were only sour? What if a pee-wee coach were just loud and not clear? You get the picture.

 
Yet so often, in our theology and the way we do life, we gravitate toward “or.” I hear it in conversations; I see it in Facebook posts, televised sermons and the books on the shelves at local stores. We apparently think the message of Jesus is love “or’ judgment, grace “or” truth, mercy “or” love. By choosing “or,” we miss the beauty and mystery of “and.”

Most family therapists these days recognize the need for love “and” limits. Children who grow up without nurturance “and” boundaries become lopsided adults—either performance oriented to the exclusion of meaningful attachments, extremely insecure and needy, or entitled people who believe the laws and rules of society (and Scripture) do not apply to them. This is part of why our family structures are disintegrating before us, like a slow motion train wreck.

The way we view judgment is a great (but controversial) example. Jesus did indeed teach, “Judge not lest you be judged…by the same standard.” Paul, in a balancing “and” taught that we (believers) are to judge the conduct of those within the church, and discern (same Greek word as judge) truth from error. While we tend to see concepts in mutually exclusive spheres, truth and love are in fact concentric circles. The loving one tells a difficult truth for the sake of repentance, reconciliation (where possible), growth and maturity. In turn, it is part of a greater truth that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son so that all who believe in him would not perish. The coexistence of love and truth is what Paul alluded to when he said that, speaking truth in love, we will all grow up to resemble Jesus. And Jesus came in grace “and” truth, not grace “or” truth.

A major theme of Scripture is this concept that there is a Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Repentance, in turn, leads to forgiveness, and forgiveness leads to freedom--from judgment as well as the sin that binds us. We have become so afraid of “and” that many mainstream churches will not talk about sin because they don’t want people to feel bad about themselves. So people cannot be brought to a place of repentance, and cannot receive the benefits of freedom or a real relationship with God through Jesus.

Jesus was indeed a teacher of love, but not a love without limits. He forgave the woman caught in adultery “and” told her to go and sin no more. He said more about hell than we are comfortable knowing, and he was flat out angry with the self-righteous. Some equate the “religious” with the self-righteous of Jesus’ day, and they have a point. The bigger problem is that most people today feel that they have no need to repent because they do not believe in sin. How is this not self-righteousness? It concludes that people are good enough for a relationship with God on their own merit. If this is so, Christ died in vain—his sacrifice was unnecessary if people are good enough already. People who are already good enough do not need a Savior. This is a delusion and a lie and represents what Jesus called the “broad path” the majority takes, that leads to destruction.

He dwelt among us in grace “and” truth. He taught repentance “and” forgiveness of sins. While we may feel better about ourselves in the short term if we believe in love without consequences, when it comes to eternity, maturity and real relationship with God and others, “and” is better than “or.”

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ~ Proverbs 3:3 (NKJV)

Hungry Shepherds

 

Shepherds must be dear in God’s heart. They certainly have a special place in his book. Jesus described himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Secure in the crook of his arm, he declares that no man can snatch them away. Many of us are used to the beautiful paintings of Jesus, strong and tender, watching the flocks or carrying a lost lamb back to the fold.

The realities of being a shepherd were far from lovely. They lived apart from the cities, those who did not fit in. No doubt about it, they smelled like the sheep they cared for. Uneducated, not considered the portals of God’s news by anyone around them, yet they were the ones God chose to receive the great news.  Of all people—shepherds were the first to hear the announcement of the birth of Jesus. Another in a series of paradoxes, the good news of great joy came to those at the bottom of the social structure of their time.

“⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Luke 2:8-15 New International Version (NIV)

Born to uneducated teenage parents in an out of the way town they did not live in, a birth of questionable circumstances, in a stable, a manger for a bed. Then came this announcement to social misfits in the middle of nowhere. Today, the births of princes are photographed, bathed in beautiful light, everyone scrubbed clean and airbrushed, so easy to love. But when God came close to us, he did so in a particularly unattractive place and in the most unexpected way.

Mary hinted at God’s surprising ways in her response to the angel who told her she would give birth to the Son of God: “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away hungry”( Luke 1:53).

Not far away, priests lay in their warm soft beds, satisfied with their own piety and proud of their knowledge and positions. They were full of themselves. Too full, perhaps, to hear the word of the Lord. The shepherds, hungry and cold in the night, eyes searching the heavens as they had so many times before, looking and listening for God knows what, were filled that night. We know they received the word because of their response—“Let’s go see!”

When the baby became a man, he taught the principles of an inverted kingdom–blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. There are many ways of being full of ourselves these days. Educated, affluent, comfortable in our soft beds, distracted by a million shiny objects, we risk missing what God wants to say to us. Our lives are not about these comforts or accomplishments but, are meant to be about a relationship with the Prince of Peace. Are you hungry for him? He longs to fill you.

 

Being Light

The recent release of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” was heralded by trailers, actor interviews, airport events and press releases. Unless you were living off the grid, you knew the movie was coming. When any major event is about to take place, publicity agents make sure it will not go unnoticed. Several months in advance they begin sounding the trumpet to herald the arrival of their “baby,” their project.  Their job is to make sure we know the event is coming. Whether or not we attend is entirely up to us.

The arrival of baby Jesus was not unannounced or unexpected. The prophets of the Old Testament had long predicted his coming…he who would offer salvation and eternal peace to the nation of Israel and the whole world. John the Baptist, as a contemporary of Jesus, was the last prophet to announce his coming, and even John was foretold by the prophet Isaiah: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’” (Isaiah 40:3; Mark 1:2-3).   John knew his place relative to the Messiah he announced, saying that he would not be worthy to untie his sandals.  Whether people accepted the message or not was not about John.  Rather, it was about Jesus, whom he foretold. To reject the announcement was to reject Jesus, not John the messenger.

The presence and purpose of Jesus is hardly a secret in the world today. He is not unannounced or unexpected. We have many witnesses to him—the record of his life and ministry found in scripture, the sacrificial lives of the apostles and martyrs who knew him personally and were willing to die for the truth of his message, millions of lives changed by the work of his Spirit in and through ordinary broken people—yet not all accept him. We who believe in him and trust him for our now and future redemption are also called to be his witnesses. While we are not all given the gift of evangelist, we are all given the charge to evangelize.

Jesus taught his followers to be light in a dark world where it is easy to get lost. The witness of most believers is not preaching to those around us rather, it is the way we do life. The work of the Holy Spirit enables us to love in ways that we could not otherwise (persevering, forgiving, hoping, believing the best, never giving up…). These are often stronger witnesses than dramatic gifts or eloquent words.  He spoke to the inevitability of our witness in his usual clear and simple language—no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, the purpose of the lamp is to spread light to the entire room. As his followers, we are the lamp intended to light the rooms of life we inhabit.

Please accept this reminder that there is never a time when we are not to be that light for others. There is no encounter—even a non-verbal one—that does not count for the Kingdom.  The woman who holds up the line in the department store, the man who cuts you off in traffic, the difficult person in the workplace, all are in need of his light—an unexpected response from us that stops them in their tracks. It is not us people accept or reject—the gospel is not about us—but  Jesus, the one we are witnesses to.

 “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” John 1:4