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Not a Cliché

/ Bryan Lowe / Leave a comment
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“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.”

Isaiah 42:3

Somehow, we can get ‘side-tracked’ in our thinking. We get confused and the enemy makes sure we don’t walk in the truth. At this present time, it does seem like some of the Church is nothing more than an exclusive club for the wonderful. It seems that those who attend are the ‘achievers,’ those who have somehow arrived at a certain acceptability.

They are there for social reasons–they eschew any real intimacy with Jesus.

For many of us, we are taught that we must have it all together; more or less complete and functioning at an acceptable level to follow Christ. We keep thinking if we work really hard then we just might arrive at a place of acceptable ‘perfection.’ This has become our religion now, this “gospel by achievement.”

But does Jesus agree? Is His Church made up of only ‘completed’ people, those who have it all together? Do we need to become accomplished before we are acceptable? Perhaps we need to find some answers. Perhaps we won’t like what we find.

After over 40 years of following Jesus (most of the time in ministry) I’m starting to realize that I’ve had much of it all wrong. I’ve read that Jesus receives the lame, the tax-collector, the leper and the whore. He deeply loves the unlovable, in spite of what the Church might say.

I believe that true grace is ‘foolish’ to man, and defies human attempts to explain it. Grace is the free, undeserved goodness and favor of God to mankind. We dare not doubt this.

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

God’s love is completely undeserved. It comes without preconditions. He loves us when we are terribly lost and fallen. It has no bounds or limitations. It is unconditional. Grace grabs us and takes us to a place we’ve only dreamed about. We’re irrevocably changed when we understand.

It is a relationship and not a religion. That’s not a cliché.

This ‘world-system’ desperately wants to confuse us. We discover that Satan detests our intimacy with the Lord Jesus. He marshals all of his demonic strength in order to obscure this truth. It’s funny, but Satan likes ‘religion.’ And he hates our nearness to Jesus. (2 Cor. 11:2-3).

All of us are seeking forgiveness, and yet somehow we think that God won’t accept us. Often we stop going to church, pray, or read His Word. We are slowly becoming hard, and it seems like we are slipping into some sort of a ‘spiritual daze’. Our spiritual malaise is starting to look like it’s permanent.

But Jesus is completely enthralled by your faith in Him!

He doesn’t pull away from the ‘sick’ and the weak. You must understand that intimacy is Jesus’ idea to ‘heal’ you. He draws us to a place of friendship with God. Intimacy with Jesus is God’s exclusive way of ‘turning us’ holy. That’s why Satan militates against “first love” faith.

There is a repentance in all of this.

We need to completely change our mind about our sinfulness. His cross and His blood are enough. But it’s genuine intimacy with Jesus that cures us, not keeping rules or having excellent doctrine. We will never be ‘good’ enough, but even in our sin we are deeply loved!

He knows it all, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, and gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.

“They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.”

Isaiah 40:29-31, Message

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The Whips of Jesus

/ Bryan Lowe / Leave a comment

John 2:14-17, NCV

 “In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves. He saw others sitting at tables, exchanging different kinds of money. 15 Jesus made a whip out of cords and forced all of them, both the sheep and cattle, to leave the Temple. He turned over the tables and scattered the money of those who were exchanging it. 16 Then he said to those who were selling pigeons, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place for buying and selling!”

17 When this happened, the followers remembered what was written in the Scriptures: “My strong love for your Temple completely controls me.”

He really did use a whip. The text tells us that Jesus carefully took some cords and made a whip by intertwining them. What can I say? I’m amazed at His response to what He saw happening in the Temple. Jesus saw deeply saddened Him to the point that there wasn’t anything else He could do.

It appears that there are three distinct whips in the N.T. that we should take into consideration.

  1. The one Jesus carefully braided to “cleanse the Temple.” (John 2:25.)
  2. The one used on Jesus’ back as part of our atonement. (Isaiah 53:4-6.)
  3. The one that believers experience in the ways God disciplines us as His children. (Heb. 12:6.)

All three are important to see. All three have their own meaning. The first one: The Temple is finally clean. The second one: He was punished for me. The third one: He intervenes in my life to make me a holy person.

The third whip is my focus here. He intends to sanctify us by correction. This discipline is the way Jesus separates us from our sin. We’re being disciplined in order to become holy people. Hebrews 12 explains the process.

“If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.“

Hebrews 12:7-8, KJV

God’s intention isn’t to inflict punishment upon us. His correction isn’t a way by which we make amends for our transgressions. It’s crucial to remember that Jesus has already taken upon Himself the full weight of our sins, fully satisfying any debt. He absorbed it all.

God, in His role as a loving father, corrects and guides us with deep affection.

It’s important to note that God’s methods of discipline do not involve any form of “spiritual child abuse” whatsoever. His love is extraordinarily good, it never wavers, never turns into something evil. He patiently works His will, using loving and healing hands.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Hebrews 12:11, ESV

God has corrected me a 1000 times throughout my 40 years of following Him.

Not with a leather whip mind you, but a braided spiritual cord of correction. What He saw taking place in the marketplace of “me,” (my temple), brings Jesus grief and sorrow. I’m the temple of the Holy Spirit, and He fully intends to make me pure inside. Hebrews 12 tells me what to expect as a son. I need to be corrected.

It’s good to ponder this.

Isaiah 53:5, (context. 4-7)

Yes, a “whip” will be used, but cautiously, even though it may hurt us. Jesus will never intentionally correct you beyond what you can handle.

These three whips are vital, they educate us about the Lord’s efforts. They help us to comprehend and experience God’s workings. As much as we’re able, we must embrace them.

“God’s corrections are our instructions; His lashes our lessons, and His scourges our schoolmasters.“

     James H. Aughey

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The Pearl of Great Price

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“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Matthew 13:45-46

The pearl was truly magnificent! This merchant had never seen one like this. It gleamed in his hands, and he knew he must have it. It wasn’t an option, he had to buy it. His response–sell everything to the highest bidder (of course), and buy it.

O.K. I’m going to take a different approach with this parable. Perhaps it’s not us seeking the precious pearl, (the kingdom of Heaven), rather, just maybe it’s about Jesus seeking us. This different interpretation isn’t as weird as it seems. Please read on.

We know that Jesus loves the Church. He gave up Himself for Her.

He loves everyone, but he’s crazy about his people. I have a shirt, and I’ll wear it sometimes when I feel like it could touch someone, it says “Jesus Loves You, but I’m His Favorite.” I know it’s funny, but maybe it’s true? I’m beginning to understand that he loves me, intensely, and He has given Himself to have me.

Perhaps we are the pearl?

Jesus sees, and he must have it. So He comes, and pays the price, he sells it all just to possess us. Now we know that there isn’t anything remarkable about us, and actually, we know our sinfulness, we’re spiritually evil all of the time. The theologians call it “the depravity of man.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3; Job 15:14-16; Matthew 15:19).

We become the “elect”(2 Timothy 2:10) when we really put our faith in what Jesus did for us. Believe me, that’s not what I feel or sense about myself. It’s not what the world sees. But it’s what He perceives, and He desperately wants me to understand, to truly be his own–and I don’t know why he would do such a thing.

It makes no sense to me at all.

“Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.”

    Blaise Pascal

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“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world,

that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:16, Amplified