6.11.18- Pre Father's Day Thoughts

6.11.18

Pre-father’s day thoughts

My children bless me every day because they have chosen to seek, daily seek the meaning of Jesus as the King of their lives.  I love them and am very thankful for them.

I wonder if we have explained to our families the meaning of baptism as a death and a burial of an old man and the birth of a new creature.

John 3.

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^[b]again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Romans 6.

³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

2 Corinthians 5.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, ^[h]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

I would illustrate this from a blog post of Chris Altrock, minister for the Highland church in Memphis Tennesee.

In other words, righteousness has to do with relationship.^[6]Every relationship in our lives now comes onto the radar screen as we engage on this seeking with Jesus. Every interaction gets colored by our walk with Jesus. We might like to think that spirituality only has to do with me and God, or me and Jesus. But following Jesus means entering a journey, a quest, in which every relationship is colored by our identity as a follower of Jesus. It is thatlife-changing. It’s not simply about being baptized or placing membership and gaining entrance to an initial relationship with Jesus or his church. It’s also about embarking on a search, a quest, in which every human interaction is “righteous” or “right” or “just.”

Every word you write about every person you agree with our disagree with on social media. Every interaction you have with waiters or salespersons or stewards or the people who clean your home or hotel room.  How you handle interruptions. How you deal with difficult people. We’re on a journey to the deep center where every single relationship and interaction is colored by Jesus, is right and just–righteous.

In addition, Jesus calls us to seek, to enter a quest for, the “kingdom of God.” This is language of royalty, of kingship. When we decide to follow Jesus, we are following not just a helper, not just taking a walk with a friend. We are submitting to a king. And we are thus engaging on a journey of increasing submission to and obedience to this king and his reign or rule over our lives.

…

And this is where the journey really gets life-changing. It’s one thing to think about righteousness. Righteousness is largely about relationships. But as we embark on an adventure of turning more and more of our relationships over to Jesus, it’s still possible to hold parts of ourselves back. But with royalty, with kingdom, with Jesus as king, that’s another matter. By introducing this issue of seeking the kingdom of God, seeking to allow Jesus to be the king he truly is, we embark on a journey where it becomes impossible to withhold any part of ourselves from Jesus.

1. S. Lewis put it this way:^[7]

Christ says “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit.

Some of us recently listened to some missionaries who had been in China. One told of a church she was familiar with. A Chinese policeman was sent to a large house church and told to put everyone there under arrest. The house church had annoyed some local official and that official wanted to send a message. So the policeman did as he was instructed. He interrupted the worship service and placed everyone under arrest. But, it turns out, his mother was worshipping there. And when she saw him, and realized what he was doing, she confronted him. She scolded him. She demanded he let the church members go. And, in the end, he did as his mother demanded.

When we heard the story, we laughed. But it was a subdued laughter. Because we knew there wasn’t always a mother to stop things like this from happening. And we’ve been talking about incidences like this with Hunter and Ruby as we get ready to send them off to China. What would happen if some local official got sideways with them or with a church they are working with and that official sent the police on them?

During one recent conversation, Hunter calmly and simply said this: “I don’t care if I get thrown into prison for preaching Christ. My only concern is for Ruby and Josiah. Make sure they are taken care of if anything happens to me.” He said it as easily as me saying, “Here’s what I’d like for dinner.” It left me speechless. And, to me, it was an indication of a person who’s not satisfied with just getting in. A person who is seeking. A person moving toward the center of righteousness and royalty.

What about you? Are you really satisfied with just getting in? Because Jesus is inviting you on a adventure. It’ll alter your life. Make you late for dinner–and much, much more. But it’ll be the most fulfilling thing you’ve ever done.

Where are you on this journey? Are you seeking?