LEFT BEHIND

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I was thinking this Christmas holiday about what we really communicate to the watching world about the meaning of Christmas. We so easily spew out our criticisms toward the commercial marketplace with all of its politically correct "holiday" decorations. There are lots of lights, a herd of reindeer and an older, slightly overweight man with a long beard dressed in a bright red suit, but you would be hard-pressed to figure out what Christmas is really all about by observing the marketplace.

Think of it this way. What if an alien suddenly showed up during the Christmas holiday? What would he or she or it understand by what is seen?

I agree that the marketplace is filled with misleading hints of what the holiday season is all about. However, I feel the religious marketplace may be communicating poorly as well. They are much closer to the truth than the commercial marketplace, but still I wonder if in our churches we are holding on to several caricatures of our own.

If you were to try to communicate Christianity to an alien with only symbols, what would you use? Most of the symbols during this time of year seem to be a baby in a manger, a cross to identify something as Christian and possibly clouds that signify Christmas has something to do with the heavenlies. Just tonight at a local Christmas Eve service, they used two prominent images-the cross and the manger-as their theme.

However meaningful these symbols may be, there are a few possible problems. First, these symbols-manger, cross and clouds-tend to localize Jesus for us. If we focus our worship and adoration on the manger, we tend to leave Jesus right there. But Jesus grew up, because he was on a mission.

Second, these symbols tend to limit Jesus. If we are able to keep Him in the manger or on a cross or even in the clouds, we leave Him there as a precious baby, a dying savior on a cross or a mystical expression that is difficult to identify with. Therefore we limit Jesus to one of these images and roles.

Third, to focus on these symbols leaves you alone to your own thinking. The clarity of the awesomeness of Jesus is lost or left behind. Don't leave Jesus behind in the manger. Don't leave Jesus behind on the cross. And, don't leave Jesus behind in the clouds.

A man in the state of Washington became so frustrated with it all that he hung Santa on a cross. Now, that's really mixing your metaphors!

To leave Jesus behind in these or other images is to worship an impersonal God. And if He is impersonal, then we are left to worship Jesus through our religious traditions and commandments of men, through the lens of religiosity and churchianity. We miss the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus, personally.

This Christmas make it your purpose to focus on Jesus, the person of Jesus. He wants to be your friend. He wants to live among us as we gather together. He wants to walk with you. He loves you and accepts you and all He is asking is that you follow Him. What makes this most amazing is that God was pleased that the entire fullness of God was made to dwell in Him. In Jesus was the full presence of God-Immanuel, which means God with us! He came that we might find that fullness of life in Him.

There are 3 most vital things about Jesus that you can hang on to as you end this year and begin the next: I. The Character of Jesus is impeccable. No one disagrees with this. He lived His life walking the walk and walking the talk.

II. Following the teachings and principles of Jesus will bring meaning and fulfillment to your life. There is no self-help seminar, no motivational book or life-coaching workshop that is produced without His teachings.

III. Following Jesus will lead you to a personal relationship with God. If God were ever to take on human flesh and walk this earth, He would be like Jesus.

To sum it all up: Do everything you can do to walk, talk, think and love like Jesus, because all the fullness of God dwells in Him.

Matthew 5:4

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When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, 3 ``Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 ``Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 ``Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 ``Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Remember, we started with "poor in spirit"-to REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY. to have a right evaluation of yourself before God-your wickedness (making it possible to do almost anything, any time) and your wonder (you are not as bad as you could be, since you are created in the image of the God of gods). Now, we come to the second beatitude-"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

#2 REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES To reframe your weaknesses means to develop a sensitivity to that which keeps you from being and doing all that you were created to be and to do. This discipline or attitude builds right on top of the first-reaffirm your poverty. Once you have a right evaluation of your self, God, and others, you must be sensitive to anything that might pull you down or pull you away from being and doing what's right.

I see this as a mourning process. Learn to mourn over your weaknesses. I view weaknesses in two ways. First, your inner vulnerabilities that make you prone to fall apart or to do foolish things. Second, the trials you face when you suffer loss or when you are in the midst of your various problems.

You reframe your weaknesses by mourning-genuine mourning. By the way, when you mourn, you must feel the pain. Moan and groan over it! Feel it! Don't deny your feelings about it! The pain is for real, so really feel it! If you mourn properly, you'll discover something of a surprise on the other end. You will find a sense of comfort and inner joy.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, you don't need to look for problems and troubles-either generated by you or delivered to you. They have already been scheduled for your endurance! One of the primary growth factors in life is developing your muscle of endurance. When you reframe your weaknesses, you set yourself up for greater growth! So, don't waste your sorrows, reframe them!

What is it that keeps you from walking with Jesus? What keeps you drifting away from what you know you really want with respect to your faithfulness to Him? List it out and actually MOURN. There's something about identifying it and saying it that helps to push it out of your way!

Matthew 5:1-6

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Now we come to the most amazing seminar/workshop Jesus ever taught. In a book, A Few Buttons Missing, Gerald Fisher, an eminent psychiatrist, views this speech as the summation of the most complete statement of psychological health ever given in one speech or one writing (article, chapter, or book). In fact, he states that there is no better articulation of the essential principles of mental health than is summarized in these basic attitudes!

Jesus has already begun to do wonderful things in healing and touching the lives of so many in His new ministry among them as the new Rabbi in town. He has already chosen a few men to follow in His dust-to be taught in His way. So now the question automatically arises: "Jesus, how does your teaching differ from all of the other Rabbis' teaching that we have grown up with? How does your teaching compare with what we've been taught?" Jesus sets out to answer this underlying question among the people and it is recorded in Matthew 5-7. These are the most dynamic chapters in the New Testament and the most revolutionary!

Jesus is about to redefine the Law of Moses, to redefine what it means to be "righteous" before God and to work over every person who dares to listen from the inside out!

Jesus begins by painting a portrait of what a happy believer ought to look like--how a person who is walking with Jesus ought to be. He uses 8 colors as He paints this picture. They have been called the Beatitudes. They are so outside the box that many theologians and ministers have relegated them to a later time in the kingdom, refusing to apply them to our lives today. But this is precisely the point of what Jesus is saying. He wants those who are willing to follow Him to walk to the beat of a different drummer. It is truly at the root of what I've been referring to lately as living your life in a CSI manner:

C-covert, underground, not showy, but invisible. S-subversive, revolutionary, seeking to see people transformed from the inside out. I-indelible, permanent, eternal marking of a man or woman so that they own it for themselves from here to eternity.

Jesus carefully describes each of these 8 dimensions with a very few words. Each one begins with "happy" or "blessed" are you when you are this way or that. "You'll do well to be this way" is his point in every one. However, He will turn your world and thinking upside down as you contemplate each one. The first 4 are all about our personal relationship with God on the inside. The second 4 extend the first 4 out into our relationships with others. It is truly a great pattern for first walking with Jesus and then walking with others. Over the next 4 days of this week I want to take the first 4 "beatitudes"-1 each day-and see if we can't "catch" the essence of what Jesus is saying and own it for ourselves in a new way.

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, 3 ``Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 ``Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 ``Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 ``Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

It all begins right here: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". You are blessed if you have this quality of being poor in spirit. The term "poor in spirit" is a word that means that you must beg in order to eat. You are that desperate! It's having a right evaluation of yourself before God. He's God and self-sufficient and I am not! In order to embrace each of these beatitudes it seems best to me to rearticulate each into a discipline or an action step. With "poor in spirit" I see the discipline as.

#1 REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY--Jesus is speaking to a massive group of people who have been taught by some of the most haughty men who have spent their lives outlining what it means to be right or righteous before God and that system is really a performance system of attempting some level of perfection. Jesus begins at the very opposite end of the spectrum. Righteousness begins when you understand your total need for God-your spiritual poverty!

To reaffirm your poverty means to have a right evaluation of yourself before self, God, and others. All of life begins right at this point. Possessing a right evaluation of yourself before self, God, and others is true humility-the exact opposite of the blindness of pride. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; it's universal among humans and it's devastating! Pride always seeks to be exalted, to be first and to be praised. (Don't misunderstand! There is a good sense that some people identify as pride as in self-confidence or self-satisfaction, but I believe it's helpful to call it just that-self-confidence or self-satisfaction.) Pride blinds you to the point that you don't see your self for who you are becoming, you position others in a crippled, weakened condition, and you begin to think that you may be God-the center of the universe!

Pride is not always blatant. It's an insidious cancer that skews your thinking, distances you from enjoying your relationships, and sets you up for a fall in whatever you do. [Some people get credit for being cheerful, when they are really just proud of their teeth!]

Reaffirming your poverty is the recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy. It's coming to grips with your humanity! I have brought upon myself the most devastation when I have violated this attitude. I used to believe I could jump over buildings (or anything in my way) in a single bound. I knew I could break through brick walls, no matter how thick. There was nothing much that I could not do or overcome!

But I want to confess to you that with this prideful attitude. I have enjoyed many successes, but I have endured many failures. A better way to say it is that on many occasions in my life I have failed miserably! Just to be able to recognize those failures is a freeing experience. The tendency is to reframe every one of those horrible experiences, blame someone or something else for what went wrong, and rid myself from those marks against me.

What I've learned is that it is through the pain of the miserable failures that I've grown the most. In the midst of that pain I have learned vital truths about me, God, and the others in my life.

To reaffirm your poverty is to stand at the threshold of the best of your life. This is precisely where those who must overcome their addictions have to begin. Without a doubt the most effective movement over the last several decades has been AA, Alcoholics Anonymous. This originated as a recovery movement for those who were struggling with the abuse of alcohol and its devastation upon their lives. It has grown to include those who are struggling with nearly every kind of problem imaginable-drugging, gambling, eating, sex, shopping, relationships, etc. The real beauty of this movement is that in order to find healing-to find life-you must recognize your own inadequacies. You must come to grips with your humanity. You must enjoy true humility-a right evaluation of your self, God, and others. You must reaffirm your poverty!

I am convinced that those who are struggling along in their recovery groups may be the most blessed people of all, because they have been forced by the gravity of their problem to face themselves, God and others more honestly. I am also convinced that everyone struggles with a problem that he or she must face head on in order to find true sanity and freedom in life. The only place to start is through this vital discipline of reaffirming your poverty. The Twelve Steps begin right here:

1. We admitted that we were powerless over our problem-that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others in need, and to practice principles in all our affairs.

Only when you come to the end of yourself does your life begin!

Are you willing to embrace your spiritual poverty-your personal bankruptcy? You don't have to be an addict to be spiritually bankrupt. Or I should say, you don't have to be addicted to chemicals to be spiritually bankrupt. This is a life problem. We are all broken and spiritually bankrupt! One of our main addictions is that we are stuck on ourselves-our self-centeredness, the big "I" for everything to revolve around.

Start today to reaffirm your poverty. You are pretty bad off on the insides in need of supernatural empowerment, yet you are not as bad as you could be, since you were created by the God of gods and He doesn't make junk. So, there is a wickedness (the downside) and a wonder (the upside) about you. This is a right evaluation of yourself before God. Those who reaffirm their poverty before God are operating within the very presence of God and therefore they are practicing God's kingdom on earth and have the assurance that they are in possession of the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 4:18-25

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12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 15 ``THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES- 16 ``THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.'' 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ``Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.''

18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said* to them, ``Follow, Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'' 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus approached two sets of brothers-fishermen-and summoned them to follow Him. What is most important here is to understand what is really going on here. This isn't one person walking up to another person and calling them to drop their nets and follow. The Jewish culture was a religious one and revolved around the teaching and leadership of the Rabbi's. Young boys were initially educated by the local Rabbi. As each student grew up he was always being evaluated by the Rabbi to determine how far along the student would go. Is this a good enough student to follow in the dust of the Rabbi or would this student be rejected from advancing into a higher education? When a Rabbi accepted a student, his parents were so proud. If rejected, then the student would be sent home to take on the profession of his father. This student's parents still accepted their young student, but this rejection meant a little lower level of society for their child.

These two sets of brothers had obviously been rejected by their Rabbi's and were therefore working in the trade of their fathers. When the new Rabbi, Jesus, came along and picked out these brothers to follow in His dust, this was an amazingly attractive opportunity. Note that James and John's father, Zebedee, doesn't seem to resist their decision to leave the family business. He was thrilled that a Rabbi had picked his kids!

23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. 24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

NOTE that Jesus went all over, teaching in the local synagogues, proclaiming the "good news" of the kingdom. His primary activity to demonstrate this "good news kingdom" was to be all about the question, "What can I do to help?"

NOTE that Jesus' primary mission for these new followers of His teachings was to "make them fishers of men." CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING ABOUT FISHERMEN.

ARE WE FISHERMEN? Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And L0, there were many fish in the waters all around. And the fish were hungry.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year. Those who called themselves fishermen met to talk about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.

Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.

Continually they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. They sponsored costly nation-wide and world-wide congresses to discuss fishing, promote fishing, and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, the fish calls, and any new bait.

In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. All the fishermen seemed to agree that what was needed was a board which could challenge fishermen to be faithful to fishing.

Large training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years, courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology. But the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. And those who were sent out did exactly as those who sent them. They formed groups and held special meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to declare how important fishing was. They talked about the great need for fishing. They prayed much that many fish might be caught. They analyzed the fish and discussed what is necessary in order to catch fish. But one thing they did not do, they did not fish.

Now it's time that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen, yet never fished.

Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don't catch fish are not really fishermen. Is a person a fisherman if he never catches a fish?

Jesus calls us to follow Him to become fishers of men.

Matthew 4:1-11

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Check out I John 2:15-17--15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, ``If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'' 4 But He answered and said, ``It is written, `MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.' '' LUST OF THE FLESH-Dependence-The Devil always wants to get your dependence upon anything other than God.

5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said* to Him, ``If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, `HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and `ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.' '' 7 Jesus said to him, ``On the other hand, it is written, `YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.' '' PRIDE OF LIFE-Dominance-The Devil always wants you to put God to the test, pushing you to the edge.

8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, ``All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.'' 10 Then Jesus said* to him, ``Go, Satan! For it is written, `YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.' '' 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. LUST OF THE EYES-Desires-The Devil always wants to give you more at a very high cost-to do it his way, to bow down and worship him instead of God!

NOTE: As soon as Jesus was announced and affirmed by His Father and His Spirit He was led by the Spirit into an encounter with the Devil. 1-You will find this same thing happening in your life. Immediately after one of your highest points, expect the real attacks and testings from the Evil One.

2-The same 3 temptations Jesus faced were the same as Eve and Adam encountered in the garden and the same we encounter today.

3-In every encounter with the Evil One Jesus came back at him by quoting the truth from Scripture right at him. The same is true for you today.

4-To counteract the counterfeit temptations from the Evil One you must know the genuine truth of God very well.

5-Your greatest temptations will come, when you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired-H.A.L.T.

6-Check out James 4:6-7: ``GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.'' 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.