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Come Further Up and Further In!

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Joel 1:14 Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land in the house of the Lord, your God, and cry to the Lord [in penitent pleadings].

Preaching Today gave the following illustration regarding fasting: A woman from Omsk, Russia, is reportedly suing McDonald’s over an advertisement featuring cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, which she said caused her to break her fast during Lent. Ksenia Ovchinnikova, an Orthodox Christian, said she was trying to stay away from meat and other animal products during the six-week period leading up to Easter. She said, “When I saw an advertising banner, I could not help myself. I visited McDonald’s and bought a cheeseburger.” In her official complaint, she explains: “In the actions of McDonald’s, I see a violation of the consumer protection law. I ask the court to investigate and, if a violation has taken place, to oblige McDonald’s to compensate me for moral damage in the amount of one thousand rubles ($14 US dollars).”

It’s easy to laugh at the irony of this woman’s spiritual condition but truth be known it actually mirrors the spiritual condition of many. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus described Kingdom Citizens as those who gave, prayed and fasted. He didn’t say, If you give, pray and fast – He said WHEN. The value of getting closer to Jesus was forfeited for a fourteen dollar cheeseburger (and may I add, not a very good cheeseburger). How much was getting closer to Jesus for this woman? $14! Throughout the Bible you discover characters selling out for far less (Esau sold out for a bowl of soup). At least Judas held out for thirty pieces of silver (approximately $340 US). Ananias and Saphira held out for recognition and praise from men. (Which didn’t turn out so well for them).

The whole point of prayer and fasting is to sanctify, or set apart time to seek to draw near to God; to enter into His manifested presence. To make this issue even more pointed Rom. 1:7 states: To [you then] all God’s beloved ones in Rome, called to be saints and designated for a consecrated life….We are called to be saints which derives from the word where we get our english derivative, sanctified. 1 Cor. 6:11 states: And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In other words, you were set apart – for giving, fasting, and praying. But Scripture doesn’t end there. 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,…If we are sanctifying as Lord in our hearts – we are setting apart Jesus as Lord of our heart; the Lord of our mind, will, emotions, personality, and body.

Jesus said in John 15 repeatedly, If you abide in Me….Jesus hadn’t yet ascended to the Father when He spoke this to His disciples in the Upper Room. It must have sounded strange to their ears. (Most of the time they didn’t understand what He was talking about). It wasn’t till later they connected the dots. For Jesus to make this command, and expectation, He knew they would connect this saying with how, and what He taught. In other words, later on they would know what it meant to abide, or remain in Jesus; to stay in close proximity to Him. Since they knew what it meant to abide, or remain in Him, they also knew what it would take to not abide, or remain in Him. Not only did they understand this aspect of abiding they also knew there was more of Him. They saw Jesus as C.S. Lewis described Aslan carrying the children of Narnia into the New Narnia: “Come further in!” Aslan cries, with laughter in his eyes. “Come further up!” (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle) The Unicorn, of The Last Battle, in the last of the seven novels of the Chronicles of Narnia, entered the New Narnia, describes drawing near to Jesus well: “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been look- ing for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that is sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee- hee! Come further up, come further in!” He shook his mane and sprang forward into a great gal- lop — a Unicorn’s gallop, which, in our world, would have carried him out of sight in a few moments. But now a most strange thing happened. Everyone else began to run, and they found, to their astonishment, that they could keep up with him: not only the Dogs and the humans but even fat little Puzzle and short-legged Poggin the Dwarf. The air flew in their faces as if they were driving fast in a car without a windscreen. The country flew past as if they were seeing it from the windows of an express train. Faster and faster they raced, but no one got hot or tired or out of breath.

Christmas Dishes

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Romans 1:5-7 It is through Him that we have received grace (God’s unmerited favor) and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the nations,6 And this includes you, called of Jesus Christ and invited [as you are] to belong to Him.7 To [you then] all God’s beloved ones in Rome, called to be saints and designated for a consecrated life: Grace and spiritual blessing and peace be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jackie Hill Perry, from Outreach Magazine writes: There’s a sermon by Pastor Tony Evans in which he uses an illustration involving dishes to make sense of the term “holy” or “sanctified”. In his home, there are two types of dishes. There are the regular dishes. Those dishes that contain the average meal, on normal days, for your ordinary and unimpressive breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Some of them are chipped, maybe even cracked. Then there is another type of dish. These dishes don’t even see the light of day until a tall green tree with multicolored lights flicker. Something significant has to be happening under the roof to make their use a necessity. When all is normal again, the multi-colored lights are unplugged, the wrapping paper collected, and the guests have finally gotten up from the table – these “Christmas” dishes, after being cleaned, aren’t placed in the cabinets with the normal, average, unimpressive dishes. No, absolutely not. They’re placed in an entirely different cabinet, that may be in an entirely different room, separated from everything unlike them because there is nothing in the house like them. They are set apart, unique, different, other, distinct, cut off from what’s considered common. To put it metaphorically, these dishes are “holy.”

Called to be saints? The word saint comes from a root word from which we obtain our word “sanctify”. To be sanctified is to be set apart, and holy. What does it mean to be holy? To be above average, uniquely different from all that is normal, average, and expected. We refer to God as being Holy, and obviously He is above average, and uniquely different from all that is normal, average and expected. But guess what? Because of Jesus’ Blood, and anyone who trust’s in what it accomplishes, God sees them as holy, sanctified, saints. In fact I can confidently say, Saint Robert is writing these words to Saint (whomever is reading this – that is trusting in Jesus’ Blood). It’s not our confidence, or trust in our performance that distinguishes us as such. No, absolutely not. It’s our ongoing confidence, and trust in what Jesus did on the cross that qualifies, verifies, and validates us. Notice I say, ongoing. It’s not simply a past tense event. It’s an ongoing process till you see Jesus face to face. You weren’t simply saved from your past. You are in the process of being saved. The same can be said of sanctification.

Sanctified, set apart to Who or what? Well obviously to the Godhead: the Father, the Son – Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (He is not an IT). But there is more: Romans 1:17 For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. You, and I, like Christmas dishes, are set apart to grow in faith, through faith, leading to more faith. If you believe in Jesus’ Blood you believe in what that Blood is doing for you, and in you. When you believe that – trust that – you seek to be sanctified, and you grow in faith, through faith, leading to more faith. One compliments the other. Like His Christmas dishes you are set aside to display the Bread and Water of Life – Jesus. During the Christmas season the atmosphere shifts and changes. People change reflecting the reminder of the reason for the season. Now the question becomes, What do you believe about Jesus, His Blood, and His cross? The deeper that work goes the greater the faith grows. Is your faith growing? Are you growing – spiritually? Is your way of thinking aligning more and more with the Word of God? Is your life becoming centered progressively around Jesus? Progressively centered around His Word? Then you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, Hello saint of Jesus. Merry Christmas!

The Swimming Hole

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Hebrews 1:1-3 In many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, 2 [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order].3 He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,…

Three things really stand out to me when I read this passage: Revelations, God Spoke, and the Mighty Word of Power. The summer before I went to college (1981) I was terrified of going. I had only been walking with Jesus in a conscious, personal relationship for only a year and a half. I did not want to lose what I had with the Lord. My plan of action was to not work a part-time job that summer seeking to draw near to Him. Back then I didn’t know that’s what it was called – I just did it. Mostly I spent my time reading, memorizing, and studying the Word – praying about what I discovered in its’ pages. I had no idea the transformation it was making, the revelations that were coming to me, and how God was using it to speak to me. I had no idea until some friends from church invited me to go swimming in a creek located behind a golf course not far from my home. The only way we knew to get to that swimming hole was through the woods located on the other side. There was a footpath worn through the woods which ended abruptly with a twelve to fifteen foot cliff dropping off to the creek below. The scene offered you a breath-taking view of the golf course, the cliff, and the meandering creek. Whenever we visited this site we were compelled to run down the path, leap out in the air, hurtling towards the creek below. The run was necessary in order to clear the four foot bank located at the bottom of the cliff. It was a great place to swim. But on this particular day, while we were swimming and having a good time, a group of boys who lived on the other side of the creek near the golf course, chose to invade our space. I was OK with that until one of them used some profanity. It was just one word. But that one word shot through me as if someone had slapped me in the face. I was startled and stunned by it. Now you have to understand why this was significant. I had used profanity from the time I was nine years old. I wasn’t a stranger to colorful language. What struck me in this moment was why and how one word had startled me. As I pondered the significance of that moment several things came into focus, and Jesus’ Words came to me in revelation that deepened my understanding of the power of His Words. All Scripture is God-breathed. The Holy Spirit was reminding me of things Jesus had said, and in that moment a Scripture came to life: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (Jn. 15:3) That moment was significant because I realized the significance of my spending time in His Word and prayer. His Word had been cleansing me, and now a distinction had been made between sacred speech and profane speech. His word was upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling me. His Word had been cleansing, and setting me apart to Him, and for Him. The even more amazing thing? I wasn’t even conscious of its’ effect. Ephesians 5:26 refers to the “washing of the water of the Word.”

James 1:18 states: He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,...and 1 Peter 1:23 states: For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. You have been born-again, or spiritually birthed, by His Word. And you are a new creation in Jesus because of that Word. Your new being is made for that Word – nourished and strengthened by it. Like us teenagers, that summer of 1981, new creations are called to leap out into the deep things of God. You are called to plunge into and swim around in the deep waters of His Word. It calls to you. By faith, pursue it, and don’t forget to have fun in seeking the Wonders of Who He is. Become conscious of the impact of those words, and praise Him for the gift you hold in your hands. In all the world there’s not a Book like it.