I just want to share with you some of the things I have been meditating on. Jesus’ life has always fascinated me. I want to start by looking at “How He came”. I believe this can really speak to us.
When it comes to our flesh, Adam is in survival mode. We fight to preserve our rights and our life. We know how to survive better than we know how to die. How does this line up with Jesus’ mission and how he came?
When I look at His life, Jesus was in reckless abandonment! HE came with a mission to give his all.
Phil 2:5-8 states: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
When Jesus came into the world he did not come with an inkling of self preservation. As a matter of fact He laid it all down. Further more, He came to give his life as a ransom for many. In short we can say that He came to die, and that gave it a purpose.
This mindset played into everything he did and said. He didn’t come to preserve the curse and sin, He came to kill sin and the curse. Only once do we see him trying to preserve himself while praying in the garden. “If it is possible let this cup pass me by.” Yet he submits to God’s will and lay down his self preservation for the will of God to be done.
How much are we still trying to save our skin. Jesus made it clear when he called the disciples to follow him. “If you are not willing to give it all up, you are not worthy to follow me.” – Matt 10:38
The mandate of Jesus and the Church is the same: We have no right to self preservation! In the kingdom we die to live and live to die.
We lead by example. How do we lead when they ask for our tunic. Do we walk the second mile, do we turn the cheek or do we fight to survive.
Jesus said: “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it can not bear any fruit.” – John 12:24. He came without self preservation and he left without any self preservation. This is the key to LIFE.
Let’s lay it all down in reckless abandonment and be like the one we follow.
Bob Mudd gave me a devotional, Mastery by E Stanley Jones” and I am not big on devotionals. As a matter of fact this is my confession: This is my first devotional I ever owned. As I am reading each day, it looks like this guy is reading my mind. E Stanley Jones talk about dying to self in this way:
E Stanley Jones:(Paraphrased) The disciples struggled to make the shift to the kingdom mindset that is dying to self. We see their struggle in their everyday life. Here are some examples.
1. First we see the disciples struggled with and for position. They are arguing about who is the greatest amongst them and who will sit on what side of Jesus. They were looking to rule instead of being ruled by the Spirit. They were self seekers instead of God seekers. Still too much flesh.
2. They showed resentment against those that were different. “Should we call fire down like Elijah?” How dare people not receive us when we are with the Messiah. They used religion to cloak their resentment. Still too much flesh.
3. They were full of pride. Peter basically stated that he is too good to deny Jesus. “I will never do that and I will even die for you Jesus.”When Jesus announced that one of them will deny him they all asked “who” it was when in essence they all had the potential to deny him, and did as they all fled and left Him. Still too much flesh.
4. They were spiritually impotent to cast out a demon from a boy. The boy had a better case of demon possession than they had of Spirit possession. What was outside still looked greater than what was inside of them. They were using God while not yet at a place where God could use them. Still too much flesh.
5. They were gripped by fear. They were hiding even after experiencing seeing Jesus after the resurrection. Intellectually they were convinced but emotionally they were held by fear. How can an external threat be bigger than the experience of the resurrection? Still too much flesh.
6. They were held by pre-christian notions. “Lord when will you come and establish the kingdom?”They were trying to fit His universal kingdom into their narrow nationalistic view. Deliver the Jews when all nations waited to be delivered from sin and the curse. Still too much flesh.
Jesus had them to go and wait in Jerusalem until they were ready to surrender all that was left of them. If you want to see how much flesh you still have, just go and pray. Pray for ten days and see what dies in you. At the end of themselves were the beginning of God.
God can give blessings, but he gives the Holy Spirit when we give ourselves unconditionally and fully surrendered.
May we all come to the place of being fully surrendered so that a generation might see God in us.
Jesus said that the Kingdom is like leaven – Matt 13:33.
Paul states that a little leaven effects the whole lump – 1 Cor 5:6.
The attributes of leaven are to influence. The kingdom has a purpose and that is to influence and to effect the whole person. Leaven or the kingdom are like a divine virus!
The first thing I see when we look at viruses, we see a few things that is applicable to us. If I take an Ebola virus and injects that into myself, my fate is sealed. The outcome is determined because the Ebola virus has one purpose and that is to consume its host and kill it. I don’t die the moment I receive it, but my fate is sealed. That virus will grow and multiply and eventually do its job.
The seed that God plants in us does not immediately kill my flesh or my old man. It doesn’t mean I am dead (we should be) the minute I received the Kingdom, it does mean that my fate is sealed. That seed of the kingdom will stay its course and eventually my flesh has to submit to the purpose of the Kingdom. Just like my body slowly submits to a virus so does my flesh submit to the divine virus, the kingdom. As the virus is doing its job, I am slowly dying day after day until the life of the virus is stronger than the life of my body. Finally, the life in me submits to the life in the virus. The kingdom is no different. Daily we die as our life is overtaken by the life of the kingdom. Paul states the following: “I die daily” – 1 Cor 15:31.
The second thing I see about viruses are: If I take that same Ebola virus and kill it, and then inject it into your body, it is now an inoculation that is happening. When that virus lost its life, it no longer threatens my existence but helps my body build up an immune system against the very thing that came to kill me. What were supposed to kill my flesh now gives life to the flesh.
Why do people struggle so much with the flesh? Why do we struggle so much to kill the flesh? Why has the divine virus become an inoculation instead of a purposeful threat to the existence of my flesh?
Matt 15:6 Your traditions have made the word of God of no effect. Jesus says that the words he speaks are Spirit and life. We were born not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed. The seed is the word. The word is Jesus. He is the divine virus that God plants in us to kill our flesh.
Our traditions have neutralized the life and what was meant to kill us now inoculates us. The church has lost its life and is now a system that inoculates the world against the kingdom or the divine virus of God. Once we get the life of God back and stop to substitute his life with rituals and religious paraphernalia like title’s and man made ministries, we will be able to overcome not just our own flesh but also the things of the world.
The good news is that his life can never be killed. It might be rendered ineffective for a season but it is still there. Get back to your first love and start to pursue Him again. The life that he gives will eventually overcome.
As I walk this out, daily I can see where his life has consumed my life. I am also honest enough to recognize where I have substituted his divine encounter with my flesh, with some of my own traditions. I have run after things instead of after him. I am scared to die sometimes. I still need to surrender some stuff.
Can I invite you into this process with me? The outcome is sure. Only when we die can we experience resurrection life. You cannot raise something that is not dead. You remember when you were driving somewhere with the family, the question you kept on hearing from the backseat. “Are we there yet?”
The divine life is asking us this day: “Are we there yet, are we dead yet?”
