What Is Authentic Abundant Life, Part I

¹⁰"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10, NAS

In John 10:10 the Lord Jesus made a promise that is rarely grasped by most of His followers. We assume we know what the Savior means and use His words often in our sharing, teaching, preaching and thinking. But we still often to miss it … Big Time!

We all know the Master’s familiar words, “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly!” At least we “think” we know them! Somehow it has taken me years to dig into this verse seriously and precisely. I see now that my familiarity bred a blind assumption. I hope all of you reading this are way ahead of me! My guess, however, is that our shared, creeping slowness to comprehend the Lord’s true abundance has most of you in a similar flesh logged spiritual boat! It has also taken me years to accept more desperately and perceptively another inescapable truth … the extreme necessity of my drinking His cups and carrying His cross! This is absolutely essential if I am to discover the magnificence of “Jesus abundance!”

I think I always had “the life” part of the verse on my radar. This was my salvation, wholeness, completeness and deliverance from my emptiness. By faith and confession I experienced eternal life and was born again into the life of the Spirit. Everything on earth changed! I found a “vitality” in my existence that I had never known before. I was alive to the realities of my Creator-Redeemer-Perfecter. I became a Christian, a Believer, a Disciple, a Follower of Jesus as my Savior and Lord! This was Phase One!

The deeper perceptions of the “abundance” part of His kind of life also missed me for many years. At first I thought it referred to “more blessings” on my life in the world as it was. It meant I would find a beautiful wife, we would have healthy children, find a good job and economic freedom, be significant with our peers, experience career advancement, rejoice in fulfilled goals, etc. The Lord’s promise was sort of a “happiness guarantee” for my future! Abundance simply meant I would live the life I was already living, but with Jesus it would get better and better. I moved on to Phase Two.

It didn’t take but a few years to realize that, again, I had still been missing it! Our Lord’s main purpose with me wasn’t to give me a better life “down here,” but to lead me to a life that was focused “up there.” The abundance wasn’t to have more and better of what I already had, but to discover a Christ kind of abundance I had never known before. I began to find more contentment and excitement in the purposes of heaven than the events on earth. Hence, Phase Three.

I increasingly realized that tasting and experiencing daily the life of Jesus living in me was more wonderful than I could ever have imagined. Still something wasn’t complete. I sensed a deeper dimension was lacking. Even though I was thrilled by the gift of Christ in me and with developing an overcoming walk in knowing Him and loving Him, there was yet an abundance I seemed unable to grasp! This Phase Four period helped me see that the truly Abundant Life is not found in receiving the gifts of God, no matter how tremendous they might be. Abundant Life could not be measured by what I was “getting,” even if the “getting” was “good getting,” and the “getting” came from the Father. No! There remained a deeper dimension than that! I began to ask the Lord to help me see it!

At last I entered Phase Five and recognized the open secret! Abundant Life, at its root, is not fully found in what you “get” but in what you “give”! Anyone can be a “human getter,” but it takes the God touch on a person to become a “spiritual giver.”

The Lord Jesus lived the most Abundant Life of anyone who ever walked the earth! Agreed? And He didn’t live “this kind of life” by getting but by giving. Amazingly, He had nothing material to give, only His Truth! In His own words He made it clear. “I have come to give My life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). His Father exemplifies the same characteristic, “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son …” (John 3:16). The abundance of the Godhead consisted not in first “giving things” but in “giving Himself.”

In His last teaching session with His eleven Disciples He made it clear. His mind must have been focused on His crucifixion that was less than fifteen hours away! “…But I Am in your midst as nothing more than a Servant!” (Luke 22:27). He is simply saying My purpose in being on earth is to give … to the Father and to you!

Certainly our Lord taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that He gives us “the things” we need to sustain our earthy life. But the Master also made clear that there is a higher agenda of life than things, events, duties, possessions, achievements, etc. There exists an Abundant Life, according to Jesus, that exceeds all other realities. It is created in having a pure and dynamic love relationship with Him, with the very Being of the Godhead! It is that life He wants us to have. It is that life that gives us experiential access to the abundances of God. It is in finding that life we learn what “more abundantly” really means! It’s that life that “… enables us to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine …” (Eph. 3:20). It is that life that “… makes all grace about toward us, so that in all things, at all times, having all we need, we will abound in all good works!” (II Cor. 9:8).

Yes, the Lord does “get” something for His “giving.” Us! “Father, I have revealed You to those You gave me!” (John 17:6). But the Savior’s abundance is so great that He could “give” before He “got.” And He gave to us whether He got anything back or not! His abundance is so vast that nothing is ever lost! He also “got” the pleasure of the Father! “This is My Son, Who I love, with Whom I Am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Life at its best is to give to others! Abundant Life at its best is to give Jesus to others!

My definition: It seems clear to me that Abundant Life is directly linked to “giving” pleasure to the Father! It also means “giving” others compelling insights into Messiah’s promises! If this is our true ambition, we will begin to smell the fragrance of “life more abundant! (II Cor. 2:14). And in all this there is a hint of Phase Six!

The Bullet of Community: Who Packed Your Parachute

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Philippians 3:7

The following is based on an e-mail I received some time ago. It triggered a deep response of gratitude in my mind and heart for Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:7). I have added my personal reflections as an Air Force pilot at the end of Charles Plumb’s story. Quite often, in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please or thanks to other people, forget to congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, neglect to give a compliment or to just do something nice for a person for no reason except Jesus! Here is a great war story that ought to be fresh every day!

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was hit and destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy territory. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. To know the story of the brutality, pain, loneliness and despair these men who were held prisoner by the communists endured will make each of them exalted heroes in every American’s mind. Plumb survived that ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If the chute you packed hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man who had packed his chute. Plumb remarked later, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything else because, you see, I was a fighter pilot, and he was just a sailor.

Plumb thought of the many hours that particular sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the aircraft carrier, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute. Each time that sailor packed a chute he held in his hands the fate of someone he didn’t know. (I shall never forget my trip to the survival section of my Air Force unit. While we watched the “airmen” pack a chute one of us might use, we were briefed on the critical precision necessary if the chute was to work properly.)

At the end of his lectures, Plumb always asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?” This is a great question! Someone always has and always will. We can’t survive our mission in life without help.

Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. It could be an ordinary need or an unsuspected crisis! Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when he ejected from his aircraft over enemy territory – he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports while enduring hunger, isolation and beatings before finally reaching safety. His experience should be a forceful reminder that all of us need to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. As you go through this week, this month, this year … recognize people who pack your parachute!

This story by Plumb makes a significant and encouraging point! As a former Air Force jet pilot, I never had to use my chute. I came closest to doing so one cold February day over the North Atlantic. Why I came so close to “bailing out” is a moving story I’ll have to postpone until later. But here is what was in my mind. My first thought was that the freezing water would be my second challenge, once I got out of the plane (my first challenge). But I had confidence all along my chute would work. They had for all my fellow flyers whenever they had needed them. The Lord has all of His Cross Disciples on a spiritual mission for His purposes. Reaching the target is often risky and dangerous if we fly the mission right. Some of us will be hit hard and lose much, but we must never forget His vow to save us. Wherever we are, He has packed our chute with the promise of His Presence. Even in our worst emergencies, He is there and He has already worked out His plan! Every one of His chutes is guaranteed to work when needed. Remember, our spiritual parachutes are His promises.

All of us can be like that sailor who packed Plumb’s chute. Whenever we “put” something of the truth of Jesus into another person’s life, we are packing their spiritual parachute. It could be a comment, a word of counsel, a sermon, a Bible study lesson, quoting a verse of Scripture, a written note or e-mail, etc. Every true Disciple should seek to pack his or her own mind as well as the minds of others with “parachute truth” about the Lord Jesus. How are you doing at it?

Having Christ’s truth loaded in your mind, when the whole world hates you enough to fire every lie they can to destroy you, not only makes your mission “rescue possible,” but gives you confidence and peace while you live out your life in the heat of the battle! Thank God for the “truth packers” He has brought into your life! I have made a list of some of mine. As I read their names in gratitude … many of them now in heaven …. I know the Lord used them in significant ways to “pack my chute!”

“Keep in mind that if the world hates you (and tries to shoot you down) know that it hated Me first … but I have chosen you (to fly My mission of truth) … I will send the Holy Spirit to testify to you about Me … so that I can send you also as the Father sent Me … you must be a witness of what it means to be with Me in all I Am intending to do, have done and will do (John 15:18-19, 26-27). The world hates Me because I testify to what it does is evil (John 7:7). Man your planes, My followers, and let’s take off! Don’t worry about what might happen to you. Just be concerned about flying the mission as effectively as possible. Remember … I Myself have packed your chute!”

A Mother’s Day Example

Dr. McCarty and I discussed an appropriate post for this week.  We decided that wishing our readers a meaningful Mother’s Day celebration was perfect.  He asked me to write the following based on Luke 10:38-42.  Ruth Ann

This beautiful little account tells how Jesus stopped in his travels about the country teaching, preaching and doing miracles to dine at Martha’s house in the village of Bethany.   Martha was the kind of woman who would memorize each issue of Martha Stewart Living if she had been able to subscribe in her day.  She wanted to make her guest not only welcome but very welcome in her home.  Her elaborate preparations were to insure her honored guest was given the very best … and that everyone in the community and on the guest list knew she could throw the best parties in the whole village.  Martha was the very picture of the harried hostess.

Martha had a younger sister, Mary.  As she bustled about, Martha realized her sister was no where to be found.  She wasn’t fetching water or tending the fire.  She wasn’t setting the table or lighting the lamps.  Everywhere she looked, Mary wasn’t there.

Martha stuck her head around the door to check on her guests.  The Lord was talking with the other guests and, much to Martha’s surprise and consternation, there was her absent sister sitting at the Master’s feet.  The sight provoked her … so much work to do to get this meal on the table and there sat her sister doing nothing!  With housewifely zeal she waited for a pause in the conversations.  Then she pounced.

“Lord, do You not care!  My sister has left me to get Your meal on the table all alone.  Send her back to the kitchen to help me finish dinner, won’t You?”

Jesus’ gentle voice rebuked her as he said, “Martha, Martha, you are too house proud, too busy trying to make everything over the top.  You are letting yourself become so stressed out you are missing out on having Me here.  Mary has chosen to sit at My feet and focus on the One Thing that is most important.  I won’t take that away from her nor let anyone else do so.”

No doubt Martha got her meal on the table in good time, but I think she redirected her energy from fussing to fellowship with her Lord.  Mary was doing this already.  I can just see Martha taking the hint and joining in the richer “meal” offered her in having more of Him, the One Thing that is needful.

As we celebrate all the hard work and loving care given us by our mothers this Sunday, we at Ventures for Christ pray that every one of these exceptional women is encouraged to take time for the One Thing Mary found that long ago day.  Whether they are busy Marthas or reflective Marys, all our mothers (and all the rest of us as well) need more of the Savior above all else … may we find Him in abundance!

The Passion of Praise: The Seeds of Truth, Part 1

My first quest in life … now that I have accumulated some wisdom from knowing Jesus over 60 years … is not to find more answers and reasons to satisfy my mind! Though I have had many questions answered, I still seek the one thing greater … that one thing I would dare call the greatest! I seek foremost the power of a heart that rapidly and continuously is filled with praise for the Godhead! I have found that all I truly desire, in order to more quickly and fully fulfill all my being yearns for, is praise for all that Jesus is! What He has done, is doing and shall do thrills me with a confidence and contentment beyond words! I ask nothing more for this brief and conflicted life than the request of the Palmist, “Let the high praise of God be in my mouth …” (Ps. 149:6). This is the highest confirmation I seek to prove to others our Lord’s words, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of …” (Matt. 12:34). It is impossible for a heart to be filled with gratitude and unhappiness at the same time! “The Lord sheds joy on the upright in heart …” (Ps. 97:11).

Samuel was told that the God of Israel doesn’t evaluate a person by outside looks or socio-political accomplishments but by the heart alone! The Lord looks for people after His Own Heart! (I Sam. 3:14). The ultimate exalted purpose and climactic satisfaction of being human is to learn the fullness of what it means to be alone with God … one on One … only you and Him … heart to Heart!! All deep and lasting meaning begins there and nowhere else! No human being can last long or last for much if their starting point to find significance doesn’t start with their Creator-Redeemer-Perfecter.

Most Disciples are drifters! They float through life without the power of a spiritual engine to choose the most noble directions (Heb. 2:1-4). They are not disciplined enough or tough enough to meet the Savior daily in a radical, pure, desperate, broken, honest, yielding and praising way. Their time commitment in the Scripture is snatched away! Their true hunger for Him alone as their source of everything is too shallow. Their daily agendas are choked full of “this world” concerns driven by the secondary and the trivial. Few there are who break this pattern. Our Lord knows all this and has lovingly nailed us all. Only those with noble hearts plant His seeds of truth in their minds, master it and produce by endurance a crop that blesses! Check out His words in Matthew 13:1-22 and Luke 8:1-15!

We must put ourselves in as many positions as possible to “receive the seed of God’s truth into the soil of our hearts.” No receiving, no producing. Some receiving, some producing. Much receiving, much producing. Our Lord Himself said what you receive (seek, take, grasp, hold, retain, study, understand, plant, obey, hunger for, yield to, etc.) of My “seed truth” will be multiplied in you by 30, 60 or 100 times! The more one grasps of the “seed truth” of Christ, the more potential he or she has to produce in quantity what has been planted in quality! The richest seed to plant is “praise seed” because it produces the courage to face and outthink everything else. “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh. 8:10).

The Disciple whose faith thinking results in supernatural joy and praise will have the power to stand against, endure and overcome anything and everything! “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus … Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross … and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). If being “there” isn’t praise, what is? True heartfelt praise will seat the Disciple at the Lord’s right hand. It is there we gain a “new consciousness” about everything! As we “see” reality with His eyes we cease to be victims of the fall and become “watchers” of His present and coming Kingdom. This praise position is compelling, energizing and electrifying!

Receiving this “seed truth” as rapidly as we can gives us “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God which has been given to us …” (Luke 8:9). Knowledge about many things is good! But knowledge about the Kingdom is everything! Why? Because the former is knowledge about “what and why”! Kingdom knowledge is about “Who”! We actually “know” this King and begin to build “a vital relationship” with Who He really is and to experience the power, the awe, the brilliance and the nobleness of how He governs His earth and our hearts! The first most powerful sign that a person is experientially connected with Who the Savior really is to them is praise! When the Disciples first encountered the risen Lord they “… couldn’t believe it because of their joy and amazement!” (Luke 24:41). To me, that is the greatest definition of praise in the Scriptures! That Christ Jesus lived, suffered, died and rose again for me so that I could become a part of His eternal family is too much for me to believe and take in. Yet I know it is true. All that is within me of His Spirit tells me so! (Rom. 8:16). I can only respond to Him with praise … in joy and amazement! Everything in me “as a sinner” tells me it can’t be true! All that is within me of His Holy Spirit tells me that it is! “I will praise the Lord Who counsels me!” (Ps. 16:7).

Spiritual Combat Alert # 3: Preaching and the Face of Jesus

I have already spoken of the three levels of content preaching … what, why and Who. The what and the why preaching are necessary to the growth of a Disciple, but the payoff and goal of transforming vision is Who preaching. “Sir, we would see Jesus!” (John 12:21).

There are also, in my view, three levels of method preaching. Some proclaimers of the Gospel mostly “preach at” the congregation. They tell you what’s going on, what the Bible means, to get things right and to do it now! And there are times we need to hear it!

The second method is what I call “share with” preaching. These exegetes of Scripture simply truth talk with you about the processes of the Gospel and how truth works in our lives and in the world! We also need to hear that!

The third level is the one I hunger for. I have labeled it “point to” preaching. These are the messages that seem to pull back the curtain or open the veil so that we can see our Blessed Christ Jesus in a fresh or new light. We are drawn to a more wondrous realization, a sweeter awe and a deeper praise for the magnificence of all our Messiah Savior truly is. I call these times of eager listening and heart hearing “transfiguration touches.” I seem to be carried to the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John and with them “see Jesus only!” (Matt. 17:8). I believe we need to hear this the most!

I can’t help but to continually ask the same question those astounded first Disciples asked. Remember when they were with Him in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and the Master “calmed the great storm”? This miracle moved them from fear to Awe! “Who is this “man” … that even the seas and the wind obey Him?” (Mark 4:41). Their response to His power was not based on exploring the “what of it” or discussing the “why of it.” They wanted to know the “Who of it.” They recognized that the answers to the whats and whys is Who! “Who” was this “Man” to be able to do such things and Who wanted them with Him while He did it?

Oh, I need some “preaching at.” The Lord knows my “flesh” needs to be rebuked and disciplined. I need to be called up short on my self-pity, my prayerlessness, my lethargy, my ignorance of Scripture, my lack of cross seeking, etc. We all need to pray, “Help me Master!” (I Tim. 3:16).

I also need the “share with” messages of comfort, encouragement and understanding. We all need a few of our leaders telling us we are doing better or have done well! (Isaiah 40:1-2). How grateful we are when one of His messengers teaches us about “the fellowship of His suffering” (Phil. 3”10-11). “Thank You Master!”

But, above all, I need large doses of “point to” preaching! It is then when the messenger is so filled with adoration, Scripture, brokenness, transparency and hunger for more of the Lord Jesus that new horizons of Godhead wonder penetrate my mind and flood my heart! I find my lips repeating the words of the beloved Apostle John, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). Those are the moments when we can all say, “Praise You, Master!”

Let me close with a true story about my beloved mentor, J. Sidlow Baxter. When he graduated from Spurgeon’s Seminary in London in 1928, he went to pastor in Northampton, 60 miles west of the city. During those early years, many people who passed through his ministry had heard England’s most popular preachers in the late 1800’s and following. The most outstanding, of course, was Charles Haden Spurgeon of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. He is recognized as one of the most outstanding preachers of all time. His sermons were published world wide. He went to be with Christ in 1892!

Sidlow would query everyone he could about these great preachers they had heard. He told me he loved their comments and it gave him an insightful and wondrous perspective.

He would ask a couple, “What did you think of J.H. Jowett (1863-1923)?”

Their response would be, “Oh, what a master of the English language. He was brilliant and had the gift of making things crystal clear!”

Or he would ask someone else: “What was your impression of F.B. Mayer (1847-1929)?”

They would almost always comment, “He had a wondrous ability to make the Scriptures come alive and stir our hearts with Truth we had never seen before!”

Or he would say: “Tell me about Mr. Moody!” (Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899), the famous American evangelist.) Those who had heard him would respond, “Oh, what fire, what a broken heart, what zeal, what wit and warmth! He lacked some polish, but he certainly had the power of the Lord when he preached!”

Sid told me he asked about other notable pulpiteers and received many various answers. Yet when he came to Spurgeon, the answers seemed all the same. When they spoke of the “Governor” … his English nickname … there almost always would be a pause and brief reflection, “Oh, the Gov’ner … when Mr. Spurgeon preached it was like hearing the Lord Jesus Himself speaking to your heart!”

Isn’t that it? We know the Lord uses all kinds of preachers, with all kinds of messages and methods, with all kinds of strengths and weaknesses, with all levels of faith and flaws! What grace! Yet rejoicing that the Lord can and will use it all to His glory, we all still hunger for the ultimate … to find for ourselves … the “Who” of His Presence! How fulfilled are those who find “Jesus only” flooding their being, capturing their minds and pouring His love into their hearts! (Rom. 5:5).

“This is My Son, Whom I love; with Him I AM well pleased. Listen to Him!” (Matt. 17:5). Yes! Listen to Jesus! The “Who” of the Godhead!

Spiritual Combat Alert # 1: Preaching the Who of Jesus

Having listened to hundreds of sermons for over 65 years, having been a preacher myself for 50 years, having read scores of sermons and having taught classes on communication and preaching, etc., I have come to the conclusion there are three types of preaching as to content. Measuring the results of sermons will always depend more on the anointing of the Father and the spiritual hunger of the hearer rather than the qualifications of the preacher. Nevertheless, every preacher must constantly seek to know Christ better and then embody that truth in his preaching. Identifying the “level” of the preaching will always enable the mature Disciple to gain fresh and deeper understanding from the Father regardless of the content and power of the preacher. This is true whether the preaching is shallow or deep, simple or complex, average or outstanding.

Anointed listening is far more important than anointed preaching. To my thinking every “good preacher” should always aim to include all three levels of content in his preaching. To be one or two dimensional in one’s preaching will never take your hearers to the ultimate goal every sermon should aim for … lifting them into the Presence of Christ. But, let’s get back to our “three levels.”

The first level is what preaching. This is when the preacher’s main emphasis is on what to believer, what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, what’s wrong and what’s right, what’s going to happen in the future and what to think about God, the church, morality, government, missions, family, the Bible, etc., etc. All of these things are necessary. They are very satisfying to the many Christians who live in a “what world.” In such a limited reality they only need “what” answers. “What information” is enough to start growing on, but never enough to be fulfilled on. What preaching is for the children of the faith. It can increase vision and move you to action, but rarely move you into the mysteries of the daily life of cup-cross-resurrection!

The second level of preaching is why preaching. Those more thoughtful seekers in the faith love the whys. They provide numerous discoveries about our realities and confirm our beliefs about our Gospel message. Answering the whys will quickly show advancement in the faith. We need the whys if we are to build an adult faith that is responsible and effective. We love why answers and why preaching because it is far more stimulating and challenging than learning the whats.

Parents of young children are never challenged when their little ones ask, “Mommy, what’s that?” Easy. As these children grow, however, the questions deepen and so does the difficulty of the answers. “Daddy, why does this happen?” Hard! Why preaching answers many questions, solves many doubts and stirs many minds. There is no doubt we were created to learn the whys and to use them. Yet they are still not enough, something deeper is missing! There is much more to knowing the Living God than having our questions answered about what to do and why we do it.

Hence, the third level of preaching should be the goal of every preacher. It is what every Disciple most deeply needs. Its experiential payoff significantly exceeds the other two. It is Who preaching! What and why preaching are necessary if we are to learn the ABC’s of Jesus’ ways and the MNOP’s of His cross. But this deepest kind of preaching reveals most richly Who the Lord really is by conveying to us the XYZ’s of Jesus’ heart! I’m convinced we actually taste the wonder, the wounds and the whisperings of His Presence within us! I know that this is the kind of preaching I hunger for and love the most.

Many preachers seem to preach mostly what and why sermons. Good for the mind and good for covering the basics, but limited in presenting “Jesus only.” We all need to know more about what the Savior died for and why He did it … His cross-resurrection event … but most of all we need to know Who this Person really is to show us such lavish love, tender forgiveness and gentle patience.

What preaching can motivate us to seek the truth. Why preaching can thrill us with the wonders of the truth. But it is Who preaching that grips us with a passion to fall in love with THE TRUTH!

Mature hearers of the Word appreciate the what and why preaching and learn as much as they can from it. But, once exposed to Who preaching, they learn there is a qualitative difference. When the hearer actually sees, as well as hears, the incarnational fragrance of the knowledge of Christ Jesus in a preacher, it is an experience he or she longs to repeat for the rest of his or her life (II Cor. 2:14).

Give me as much Who preaching as I can get! What and why preaching may fill me with the truth … about Jesus … but it is Who preaching that thrills me with loving The Truth … Jesus Himself.

Spiritual Combat Alert # 2: Preaching the Face of Jesus

There is nothing wrong with “what preaching” and “why preaching” except that “it” usually doesn’t go far enough. Many preachers are too immature to go beyond “it” and hearers are too self-satisfied to know they need more than “it” gives them. The “it” they are missing, of course, is “Who preaching”! The “whats” and “whys” of faith are without question essential, but they are only “preliminary” to the higher “Who preaching,” which is ultimate. Again and again the Old Testament shouts the message from the lips of its prophets. After Israel experiences the “whats” and the whys” the summary purpose statement is always shared or implied, “ … then they shall know that I Am the Lord!” (Gen. 28:13; Exod. 6:6; Ezek. 6:13). The point of it all is to climax in “Who” He really is! “The whats and whys” of the burning bush, the plagues in Egypt, the Exodus itself, the manna in the wilderness, the water from the rock, the Ten commandments, the bronze serpent, etc., etc. all were foundational so that these “whats and whys” might lead Israel to know and love the Who of reality … the Lord of all the earth!

“Who preaching” leaves you enthralled with “Jesus only.” It seats you at the feet of the Master, transfixed by the glory of His Face and hanging on to every word that comes out of His Mouth. It puts one’s hearers where Mary of Bethany was … actually being in the Presence of Jesus! It gives a person the calm but colossal assurance that he or she is achieving, receiving and believing in the indwelling, surrounding and superintending of the Presence of the Messiah. It is to spiritually, yet actually, “see His Face” in that moment of reality!

Absalom (who had murdered his brother, Amnon, as revenge) had been forgiven by his father David and permitted to return to Jerusalem. However, Absalom was denied access to the king. He knew what David was doing and why things were happening as they were, but it was still not enough for his heart! He had been back in Jerusalem for two whole years without the honor of being in the King’s presence. Absalom had cried out to the chief of the army, General Joab, “I want to see the King’s face …! (II Sam. 14:32). Absalom yearned to be in the presence of this one who was his father, his king and the anointed leader.

The story of Absalom is a sad tale of squandered potential. He was David’s favorite son, yet the one who betrayed him. II Samual has five full chapters (13 to 18) devoted to this event from Amnon’s sin to Absalom’s death to David’s cry of grief! The roots of a magnificent father-son relationship were there, but they were lost. David failed by not being aggressive enough for the truth! Absalom failed by not being submissive enough to the truth!

The great tragedy of this story is that David, the father, and Absalom, the son, both wanted the same thing … to see the face of one another and to know the wondrous presence of fellowship restored and enjoyed!

Absalom’s heart, even in his weaknesses and flaws, speaks for all of us at the depth of our desires and hopes. We, too, say with him, “To what glory is it to dwell in Jerusalem and never see the face of the King?”

May all of us who preach, teach, share and witness be dominated, controlled and focused by this highest and most exalted aspiration. People will be delighted to learn the “whats” of the Gospel. They will be intrigued by the “whys” of the Gospel. But what they yearn for most … knowingly or unknowingly … is to have their very beings carried into the Presence of the “Who” of the Gospel.

“For to what glory is it to call yourself a Disciple yet never see the Face of the Savior?”

I Need Healing for My Dis-Ease

³³ Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. ³⁴ Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. ³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. ³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. ³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. ³⁸ Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. ³⁹ Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. ⁴⁰ How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness. Psalm 119:33-40

Being saved is first recognizing you have been sick unto death! You have been brutally wounded by sin … so severely, in fact, that recovery is out of the question. You can do nothing to “heal yourself”! There is only one narrow hope … and only if you “make it” to the Gospel Hospital.

Once you say, “Yes … I desperately need to go!” and when the servant helpers finally get you there, the Great Chief of Staff puts you in the Spiritual ICU. He announces to us all some time later, “Our patient is going to make it. It’s going to take a good deal of time to recover, but he’s on the mend. It might take years, but eventually he will be as good as created … even better!”

Here’s the plan!

1. Put him on IV. He must be slowly force fed the medication truth that will restore his bodily functions. His diet will be closely monitored for maximum nutrition to restore him as quickly as possible.
2. Of course no exposure to alcohol, drugs, tobacco or other toxic habits that diminish his health potential.
3. His ICU “mentor nurse” will also monitor his pain medicine when the discomfort reaches too high a level. We won’t let him feel more pain than he can stand!

In other words the new Disciple recovering from sin and sins must:

1. Incline my heart toward massive doses of Your truth.
2. Turn my eyes from gazing after vanities rather than Your grace.
3. Confirm to me Your promises where alone I find the love and truth that heals.

So read Psalm 119:36-38. These three verses were the first three I memorized from the magnificent 150 verse 119th Psalm. Only much later (years!) did I realize that their application to “my condition” would result in verses 39 and 40! (The Savior’s promises are connecting and unending!) Note the triune healing of making the Master’s promises BIGGER than your problems rather thinking (and acting) like your problems are BIGGER than God!

1. He will take away the shame that always drives me to “feel guilty” because His truth has cleansed me (119:39).
2. I will discover a longing and delight for His Presence as my supreme ambition and full satisfaction (119:40).
3. He will make me an overcomer as I am drenched with His forgiveness and the gift of His righteousness (119:40).

So I awake each morning with my first thoughts being focused on “more of Jesus.” I rush through my “getting up procedures” and then sit at my little desk where the Scriptures, my reading, my thoughts, my prayers, my praise and my writing open up my little world and His colossal universe. It is then I see them both with His eyes and move into His kingdom dimension! It is then I delight, enjoy, thrill and revel in the Savior’s incredible Presence. I find myself continually requesting the first words of our stanza from Psalm 119:33-34, “Teach me, O Lord, to follow Your ideas … when I discover their magnificence I know that I will treasure them and seek to grasp more and more of them until the end of my life. Understanding You compels me and captures me! I yearn to obey You because I possess Your ideas with all of my heart. I know what it is to experience the full delight of Your Overwhelming Presence!” (HDM)

The Bullet of the Christ Life (Part 2)

When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you." Exodus 15:23-26

Let’s pick up with the following from last weeks post on the meaning of the Christ Life! We find Moses and the people of the exodus at the bitter waters of Mara. They are just three days out from the miracle of crossing the sea, after the resurrection of our Lord, the greatest miracle to occur thus far on earth. Yet they were already groaning, griping and complaining. The Israelites cried out against their leader when they found undrinkable water in the desert. Blaming a leader is always the first reaction of immature and self-centered people. Moses’ reaction is a magnificent example to all who wish to live the Christ Life. Faced with turmoil, problems, demands, injustice and rebellion he turned to his Lord and was shown the Divine plan for deliverance, overcoming and sweetness.

Our lives can be dominated by “grace sweetness” if we learn to keep stirring the bitter waters of earth with the cross of Jesus (Ex. 15:23-27). If we authentically cry out to Christ as our only deliverer, He will answer us and show us what to do. As He did with Moses, He will “show us” a new dimension of reality. The Redeemer will reveal to us immediately the cross (tree) we are to take and use to overcome our crisis. Note that when the people turned on Moses in criticism, blame and rage, he didn’t react against them. Instead, he went to God! This is always the mark of maturity as we live with our own imperfections and the wearying imperfections of others! The Hebrew word here symbolizing the cross could be translated stick, piece of wood, log or tree. Whatever “it” was was enough! None of us will ever grasp the full meaning of our Lord's cross, but, if we see enough of it in whatever form in the midst of our crisis, and trust its promise power over our problem, our situation will become enjoyable.

What is our Christ Life lesson from this incident? To the Cross Disciple, one who is focused on the Christ Life, it makes absolutely no difference what people do to you, say about you or how they fail you. All that eternally matters is that you respond to all other people … both outwardly and inwardly … in such a way that you please the Father. We should be like His Son! “Father, forgive them!” (Luke 23:34). Pleasing the Father about how you respond to people will steadily blow away any and all pain people may cause you! Besides, we need to be harassed by the imperfections of others so we will expedite our hunger and search for the perfections of our Savior.

Think of the delight in the Lord’s heart when He saw Moses make his great decision! Instead of cursing back at the people who were cursing him, Moses turned from their foolishness and disbelief and sought the counsel of His Redeemer. Even thought the people were faithlessly wrong in their grumbling and self-centeredness and Moses was obediently right, he still left them alone and “cried out to the Lord” (15:25). One man’s belief in the Savior’s Voice overcame and trumped the shallow faith of thousands of others.

The breakthrough here, out of an impossible situation … no water in the midst of a desert … was the result of Moses’ seeking “more of the Master in the midst of the mess.” (This is one of my current mottos!) The Lord told Moses that the whole episode was a test of their faith. He wanted them to learn “precise supernatural obedience” rather than put their confidence in “vague natural belief” (15:26). If you are in your desert right now and are desperate for the water of life, the Lord is ready to help! Why not do the Moses thing and “cry out to the Lord”? If your heart is ready to truly believe that dependence on the Lord is bigger than distress over your problems (?) and truly ready to yield to praise to whatever might happen according to His sovereignty (?), then you can count on His showing you “the cross answer to your problem”! After all, the Lord Jesus told us life won’t work unless we take up His cross (Luke 9:23).

Just praise God for the people or events that brought you to “the bitter place” so you could “take the test”! Put His cross answer on your test paper and the sweetness will come! That’s what students of the Christ Life learn when they listen to their Teacher! “Triune Thinking” always shows us His cross solution for our bitter waters! There are many things we need to learn that we don't like learning. The lessons bring tension, anxiety, disappointment and hurt! But they are all made temporary by faith! They teach us the Mind of Christ! And to live with His Mind is to overcome all that enters our experience. This is the essence of the Christ Life!

Masters at living the Christ Life have learned the great secret of endurance, overcoming, adequacy and contentment. No matter what hits them they have learned to “throw the cross” into the situation and are confident of triumph. The Beloved Apostle John confirms the process, “Fully developed love for the Father throws out all of our fears. (I John 4:18) Hence, one of the compelling wonders of the seeking the Christ Life!

The Bullet of the Christ Life (Part 1)

A Rationale for Living

The Lord Jesus sadly declared that the incredible life He offered to mankind would be found by only a few (Mat. 5:13-14)! To discover the small gate and narrow path to His Light demands precise following (John 8:12). My vision for Ventures is to be a ministry “to the few” in hopes they will “impact the many” with the “precision secrets” of the Christ Life. I must quickly add that I consider anyone who is hungry for more of Jesus to be numbered among “the few.”

In every generation our Lord has raised up men and women to stir the fire at the heart of His radical message (Luke 3:16; 12:49). Veterans of the cross must tell the generations following (Ps. 89:1). Comprehending what many have called “the Christ Life” is the highest path that will enable the honest and hungry Disciple to break free from the “devil’s circle” of boredom, routine, mirage, frustration, pretense, failure, legalism, powerlessness, lethargy, shallowness, rebellion, deception and depression.

These pathologies have defeated multitudes of Christians. Still, church history witnesses to a genuine and overcoming remnant who entered the advanced dimension of “father spirituality”! At Ventures we call this the Z-Life … the pursuit of living the Christ Life at its highest level (I John 2:12-14; Rev. 1:8). Children learn the ABC’s of the faith while adults sort out the MNOP’s of taking up the cross. Only the fathers and mothers who know that everything is “in Christ” are most fully prepared to live out the XYZ’s of their own servant vision. Their primary passion in life is to understand and follow the Servant of Heaven … Jesus! (Luke 22:27) Remember the Savior’s words, “I Am among you as one who serves!”

My goal is to impact Disciples with the seed truth of “advanced Christianity.” Foundational and anointed insights are being honed, graphed and rephrased into a fresh strategy for “precision discipleship.” Our Ventures mission is to excite and enable everyone we can to “put” all of their thoughts and circumstances “in Christ”! To do so is to endure and conquer the agonies and ecstasies of existence and to reign in life by being an overcomer! (Rom. 5:17). Our lives can be dominated by “grace sweetness” if we learn to keep stirring the bitter waters of earth with the cross (Ex. 15:23-27). If we authentically call out to Christ as our only deliverer, He will answer us, as He did Moses. The Redeemer will show us immediately the cross (tree) we are to take and use to overcome our crisis.

A Revelation of Life

But what is the essential Christ Life? It is for us to be awed increasingly by the purpose of Christ being “in you” and of your being “in Christ”! It is to experience in your inner self all you can of what He experienced in His inner self while He walked the earth. It is to learn and absorb from every idea, relationship, event or situation … good or bad … something more about our Lord’s wisdom, intentions, suffering and joy! It is to realize how God is taking everything messed up on earth and putting it back together for His eternal purposes. It is the stunning realization of the brilliant and wondrous Person the Lord Jesus must be! It is to be amazed at what He has to endure to bring His love promises to fallen and arrogant people like us. It is to know Him … confidently, intimately, ecstatically … and the power of His constant rebounding resurrection (Phil. 3:11). It is to join the Godhead in the dream and the drama of highest vision as you achieve your zenith ambitions as a new creation in Christ Jesus (II Cor. 5:17).

In summary, it is to increasingly discover “in Christ” the why and how of what the Father created and redeemed you to be and is now perfecting you to become (Eph. 3:10-11; Heb. 10:14)! The key word in this discovery is “identification.” The more we experientially identify with all that Jesus taught, did and endured, the more we possess for ourselves the same kind of life He lived while He walked the earth. It is my conviction that the most immediate and direct path to making this revelation real in one's life is the process I call “Triune Thinking.”

It is my conviction that the most immediate and direct path to making this revelation real in one's life is the process I call “Triune Thinking.”

A Resultant Called the Christ Life

What are our conclusions about this “in Christ” reality? The clearest insight would be the Apostle Paul’s witness in Philippians 4:11-13, “I have learned the secret of what it means to be sufficient and adequate for every circumstance I encounter. I have been initiated in ‘how to be enough’ for all the things that challenge me … and I overcome them by my ‘in Christ’ empowering!” As authentic Disciples, facing the deceitful offerings of a fallen world, we will do well to heed the counsel of an insightful French philosopher, “Nothing is enough unless you are enough!” The conclusion … I am only enough when I am convinced that Christ “in me” is enough!

Your Purpose and Mine

Once we begin to identify our Christ Life connection we more resolutely embark on our adventure of earthly and cosmic purpose … for Him, for others and for ourselves (Eph. 2:10, 4:32). That destiny is rooted in our Lord’s thoughts in John 20:21. “If you truly love the Father then go into the world just as He sent Me and repeat My Life!” Can this stunning and staggering command be fulfilled by the sorry likes of you and me? Evidently yes! The Savior does not command us “to do” unless He knows we “can do.” But only if we are becoming masters of the Christ Life! Only if we capture the passion of Isaiah 6:1-13 … to see … to cry … to go! Our goal is not to do it all … we can’t … but we can aim at doing “enough.”

Our Ventures passion is to be a precise and strong voice to the Father’s people! We trust our efforts will compellingly illustrate the centrality and magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ to all who will listen! Daily … hourly … even minute by minute … we can be recipients of His Promised Presence in every earthly circumstance!

Dear friends, it is the pursuit of the “Christ Life” alone that will awaken us to all life can be. It is only “in Christ” that the pull of the impossible will take your life beyond itself. To “put” all you are “in Him” is the risk each of us must take to find our true self created and recreated in the Godhead’s likeness! Christ Life living is to continuously lose ourselves for Jesus’ sake and become participants in the wonder and thrill of the Kingdom Purposes of God, “To lose your life for My Life is to save your life …” (Luke 9:23-27). “Triune Thinking” is our best tool on “fixing” how to lose our life for His!

When I Am Weak … Hallelujah!

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. II Corinthians 12:7-10

I still remember with startling clarity the first time the blessed Spirit made II Corinthians 12:7 real to me! The verse instantly put a new, stunning hope into my heart! Ponder Paul’s words of truth: “To keep me from being conceited (or too elated or getting the big head or giving in to self pride or putting myself on a high horse or thinking I was really somebody or acting superior or being overrated, etc.) because of these wondrous revelations the Lord has given me, He gave me a thorn in the flesh … .” Let’s save discussing what this thorn might have been for another time. The primary issue to consider is that 1) God Himself gave the thorn, 2) He didn’t want Paul to be too elated over revelations of truth, 3) rather, He wanted Paul to be elated most about Who the truth came from, 4) He desired that Paul recognize his desperate weakness so that he would seek, learn and appreciate God’s power, 5) He was determined that Paul learn the deeper dimensions of grace (God’s initiatives on our behalf) so he could become more and more like the Lord of glory—Jesus! (I Cor. 2:8).

Wow! We all need “this kind” of thorn! How well I remember those early years after my conversion! I was so joyous. Everything was going right for me and I had Jesus too! I was on top of the world. In fact, when I began to realize how good things were for me, I was so joyous I “kept rejoicing myself right out of fellowship with God.” I would suddenly realize I was leaving Him out of my life. I was more motivated by what I was given than by the One Who was giving it!! I was putting too much confidence in my revelations and my situation and my possibilities. This caused me to decrease my expectations and joy in Christ alone! Hasn’t it happened to you? Our answer to this severe error is to regain our thorn(s) and the lessons the Master is giving us.

Thorns are necessary! I had to learn it was Christ alone and not Christ plus … anything … that was the secret to abundant life! My efforts, my knowledge, my giftedness, my situation, my accomplishments, my position, my recognition, etc. were all pale seconds to the superior options of my Savior and my Lord! To think any other way only exposed my weak and fragmented thinking about the foundational truth of life, “… it is in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead lives in bodily form … and this fullness has been given to you ...” (Col. 2:2-4, 9-10). What utter weakness and foolishness and madness it is to displace Christ by seeking more excitement and fuller meaning in something else. Everything else is either secondary, irrelevant or a lie compared to experiencing the continuous presence and magnificence of the Lord Jesus!

Note how Eugene Peterson translates our verse in The Message, “Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations” (12:7).

Freedom from my thorn(s) could be the worst possible thing for me. I would miss grasping the greatness of true humility before the Savior (12:7). I would be blind to how to use my human weaknesses as my path to His grace initiatives in my daily life (12:9a). How else would I be alert enough to “Take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23). I would not gain the impact strength that enables me to overcome (12:9b). I would not experience the joy that floods my soul in knowing that someone like Him everlastingly loves someone like me! (12:10). I would be denied the spiritually intoxicating wonder of supernaturally turning all my agonies and despairs into non-issues. In finding grace to replace my thorns my heart is flooded with confidence, wellbeing and delight. Truly tasting our Lord’s sufficiency and perfection creates an inner praise that passes understanding! There are no words to describe it!

Above all, I would not have learned that, in His great compassion for me, His “no” for my will is always my possible “yes” for His will (12:8). Our thorns are our gains! They bring the pains we cannot ignore so that certain weaknesses will be no more. Our “flesh effort” will wane and His “Spirit energy” will reign as we face and endure the realities of life (12:10). These pressing, inescapable “downers” that beat on us turn our “flesh trying” (human strength) into “grace trying” (Spirit yielding). To say “I’m trying” reeks too much of a flesh perversion and is doomed to mediocrity and probable failure. To say “I’m yielding” puts the emphasis where it belongs, “I’m trying to understand how the Lord is working in my life to increase my yielding to Him in this issue.” My paraphrase of this great passage goes like this, “When I discover how weak and void of power I really am, it propels me to faith-act (believe) His strength is already in me and will be released by my yielding to that truth.”

Let me summarize it all this way! Discovering my weaknesses can always open the door to Christ’s strength! What joy! Blessed is the Disciple who is learning how that works. To experience the exhilarating reality of it will put Paul’s incredible words in your own mouth, “For Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses …” (12:10). What a fantastic echo of dear David’s words in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

To delight in what the Father has designed is to discover the highest desires of your heart so that you can develop into a Disciple in whom He can delight! The greatest people who ever lived are those that brought the most delight to the Father. He in turn gave them the greatest delights of living. As our Lord declared, “I do always the things that please (delight) the Father” (John 8:29).

Perhaps this little poem, discovered and given to me by my faithful secretary of twenty plus years, will motivate you, as it did me, to praise our Creator-Redeemer-Perfecter for our thorns.

Unlocking Our Weaknesses

by J. Danson Smith

The text of this poem appears variously titled “Endurance” or “God-Given Thorns” or quoted untitled.

Strange gift indeed! - a thorn to prick,
To pierce into the very quick.
To cause perpetual sense of pain;
Strange gift! And yet, t’was given for gain.

Unwelcome, yet it came to stay;
Nor could it e'en be prayed away.
It came to fill its God-planned place,
A life-enriching means of grace.

And he who bore it day by day,
Found Christ his power, his strength, his stay.
In weakness glorified, since thereby
The power of Christ might on him lie.

Oh much-tried saint, with fainting heart,
The thorn with its perpetual smart,
With all its wearing ceaseless pain
Can be thy means of priceless gain.

God's grace-thorns, ah, what forms they take!
What piercing, smarting pain they make!
And yet, each one in love is sent,
And always just for blessing meant.

And so, whate're thy thorn may be,
From God accept it willingly,
But reckon Christ, His life, the power
To keep, in thy most trying hour.

And sure thy life will richer grow,
He grace sufficient will bestow.
And in Heaven's morn thy joy twill be
That, by His thorn, He strengthened thee.