October 1 -- Part 4 -- Kraków

Yesterday was a fascinating and somewhat unusual day.  As you may recall in the morning I was sitting in Sweet Life, my favorite coffee shop.  Mariusz, the Polish speaker, was occupied caring for his mother.  We expected that would last only for a little while so I expected him to come at almost any time.  I chatted for a few minutes with an American friend who stopped by to say thank you for the comfort given last month while we were here.  Afterward it seemed like a good few minutes to do a bit of writing.  So fortified with a second latte I began to write.  

Mariusz's errand encountered bureaucracy!  What we expected to be a short time consumed the entire business day.  It was such a blessing to have an extended time to write in a pleasant environment without interruption.  Mariusz called and we met for supper and then got in the car to drive to the eastern edge of Poland near the Ukraine.  Our hotel in Hrubieszów is a delightful place.  I am sitting now at the breakfast table having let Mariusz rest a bit longer after his day with 8 hours of his driving the car and 7 hours of bureaucracy driving him nuts.

Meanwhile I have been thinking of you and these scripture passages.  When I consider these three passages, I find myself simultaneously awe struck, humbled and deeply distressed:

He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

Deeply distressed because virtually daily I meet and talk with people who believe themselves to be Christians who are living lives that remain self-centered.  Their prayers are continually about themselves.  They believe that God must do what they ask Him to do.  When their prayers are not answered then it must be because there is something wrong with them.  Every thing that is said in conversation is either building up their self images or an unfair rebuke of them.  Their "ministry" is continually about what they will be recognized and thanked for.  Anyone who fails to approve of them is an enemy of God.  They live entirely for themselves.  And yet they deceive themselves into believing that they are actually serving God and He should be grateful and recognize them.

Every time I pause to consider the humility of Jesus I find myself dumbfounded.  The One who created the universe and mankind has chosen to become one of us.  He has chosen to make himself vulnerable to our rejection.  He has taken upon Himself all of our blame, fault, and sin.  And yet He does not put himself on television.  He does not insist on public recognition.  The people He helps, He asks them to be quiet about what He has done.  He does not insist on being recognized.  All of this despite the simple fact that the entire fullness of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are pleased to dwell within Him and be identified in Him.

When I read the websites of some of those who claim to serve in His name I am forced to ponder.  How could anyone who actually knows Him act like this?  Consider for a moment:  The God of all glory, the Preeminent One in all the Universe, allows the entertainment media and the news media of this world to be completely dominated by stories and demonstrations of the power of satan.  Certainly this is not because He is without power to influence those media.  Or, if He chose, He could turn the sky into a video screen continually portraying the greatness of all that He has done.  But, instead, He chooses to remain hidden except from those who make a choice to seek Him.  He remains content to let the creation around us be the simple demonstration of His glory until we choose to seek Him.

This God of all Glory, He chose to become sin.  He chose to take upon Himself all our failures and blame so that He might transform us into His personal righteousness.  He chose to set us free from the law of sin and death.  He chose to make us alive in the eternal realm.  Why ?  Because He chose to love us and transform us into His Holy Bride, the most beautiful one in the Universe.  He chose us to be His beloved.  And He has sent His Spirit to equip us with that same selfless love with which He has loved us.

But, He knew our weaknesses.  He knew our limitations.  So He has chosen servants who know Him and love Him and sent them to serve us.  He has sent them not to rule over us but to be our servants.  Ones who will, in that same humility with which He has loved us, make themselves servants to us equipping us with all the spiritual tools we will need to become the disciple makers that He asked us to become.

But then, I am awe struck.  This God who became man, who knew how very weak and vulnerable we are, He chose to trust us.  He knows us !  How could He trust us even more than we can trust ourselves ?  He entrusted to us His personal power and prerogative.  He said that the people whose sins we forgive, they are forgiven !  That was in itself amazing.  But, He goes beyond this.  Over people whom He loves deeply, He entrusts us with a terrifying power.  The ones whose sins we retain; their sins are retained.

My prayer is: "Jesus, I choose to bow my heart before you and worship you because you are worthy of all praise and honor and glory.  I do not comprehend how or why you choose to love me so deeply.  My heart cries out in love to you.  I am worthy only because you paid the price to make me worthy.  I am in awe Jesus that you have trusted me and entrusted so much to me.  Please, I cry out to you, please, by your Spirit transform me so that I will not fail you; so that I will not betray your trust.  Please teach me how to be a humble servant even as you are continually humbly serving your Bride." 

What is your prayer ?

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart

Matthew 16:17 (NASB)

 . . . flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

John 4:24 (NASB)

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 20: 19 - 23 (NASB)

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “ Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

I Corinthians  1: 22 - 2:13 (NASB)

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.  Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

II Corinthians. 5: 13 - 21. (NASB) 

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, 

therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.