giving up our rights

“Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).

“He must become greater, I must become less,” John the Baptist (John 3:30).

“Paul, a servant of God….” (Titus 1:1).

Humility is elusive, because just when you think you’ve got it… you don’t!

For some humility is a gift.  It comes extremely naturally.  To very few humility is second nature (my grandmother is like this).  However, for most, humility is a daily choice that runs contrary to our nature.  A decision that is willfully made.  Day after day.  Moment by moment.  To humble ourselves and be ever so willing to become obedient to death, even death on a cross (connect Philippians 2:8 with Luke 9:23) whether that cross is physical or metaphorical.  To give up our rights and die to ourselves so that Christ might be lifted up and exalted through us.

When someone is being questioned in regard to a crime by a governmental official they will first be advised of their rights before any questioning begins.  The Miranda warning reads, “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.  You have the right to have an attorney present prior to and during any questioning.  If you cannot afford an attorney, the court will appoint one to you.  Should you choose to begin answering questions, you have the right to terminate the interview at any time.  Do you understand you’re rights?”  When the answer comes back, “Yes,” the next question asked is, “Will you voluntarily waive your rights and answer some questions?”

In Christ, humility demands that we give up our rights.  We give up our rights to be first.  We give up our rights to be center stage.  We give up our rights to be heard.  To be proven right.  To be exalted.  In order that He might be first.  Center stage.  Heard.  Proven right.  And exalted.  The cross of Jesus requires that we give up our rights, take up our cross daily, and follow Him.  That we would willfully empty ourselves of self.  And that in turn, we would be filled by Him.

I wonder how this God-ordained approach my impact some of our struggling relationships?

Glory to God!

Jason

ten words

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  Ten words.  That changed everything.

In an instant, everything changed.  It was all in God’s divine plan.  All in His divine providence.  All founded in His divine initiative.

Decades later (and especially a century later), the incarnation would be at the center of debate.  There were many who questioned the validity of the Word becoming flesh.  It wasn’t entirely Christ’s deity that was under scrutiny.  It wasn’t solely His humanity that was doubted.  It was the mental gymnastics required to accept that He was both.  Divine and human.  Simultaneously.  Upon initial consideration, can we blame them?  We have the benefit of 2000 years of theology.  But the reality that Christ was 100% God and 100% human, you have to admit, is a doctrine that must be based solely upon faith.  Because it makes no earthly sense.

But He was.  Christ was with God in the beginning (John 1:1).  And then He became (John 1:14).  He became, He took on flesh, and He lived and walked and ministered among us.  The incarnation is intended to blow our minds.  And it should!  That God was willing, that Christ was willing, to “take on the nature of a servant” and be made “in human likeness” and to become “obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:1-11) should amaze us!  It is certainly designed to.

And the amazement of the incarnation must not end there.  Because the wonder of it all is that Christ is “incarnate” in us (if we can use that terminology).  God is revealed “in the flesh” when His people live out our calling as those who belong to Him.

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).  Verse 27 comes at the conclusion of an entire section of Paul’s letter to the Colossian church which centers upon the incarnation of God in Jesus.  He then transitions to the incarnation of Christ, in us!

That a holy God would, through His perfect Son, reside within an unholy and imperfect people should amaze us!  It is certainly designed to.  Our reality as those who have been sanctified by the Spirit purposes you and I to reveal His deity in our humanity.  In our divine and human nature(s).  Christ is us, the hope of glory.

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  Ten words.  That changed everything.  Ten words.  That change us still.

Glory to God!

Jason

the fullness of obedience

As I write this article I have eight commentaries, four Bibles, and two hermeneutical texts on my desk to help with one particular verse that I’d like for us to consider today.  I seldom refer to quite so many, and generally choose for us to be less technical during our “time” here, but in this case I wanted to unpack one specific verse of Hebrews a bit, only to begin to initiate our thoughts in this direction.

First the context: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.  Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and designated by God to be High Priest in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:7-10).

Jesus’ submissiveness and faith is certainly at the center of the Hebrew writer’s thesis.  The Messiah willfully chooses the cross so that we might be saved.  He is our High Priest, interceding on our behalf as both priest and king, without beginning and without end (“in the order of Melchizedek” – see Genesis14 – Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness”).

But the one idea I’d like for us to focus upon is that our Savior “learned obedience” from what He suffered (v8).  I understand the author’s impetus in that Christ is “made perfect.”  He is made whole/complete/glorified as He is resurrected by the power of God.  Atonement for sin is achieved.  Eternity secured.  But what does it mean that He “learned obedience”?

Are we to deduce that Christ had not “learned obedience” until the cross?!  Absolutely not.  So what then does it mean?

What if we were to read verse 8 like this: “Christ experienced obedience from what He suffered”?  Does that help us in our understanding of what is being communicated?  Or, “Christ learned by experiencing the fullness of His obedience”?  Does that change our perspective?

Christ’s entire life and existence defines discipline and fidelity to the Father.  Obedience characterizes the whole of our Savior’s existence.  We are called to imitate His obedience and discipline as we strive to live called lives (Philippians 2:1-11).  And yet what is being communicated to us here in Hebrews 5:8 is Christ’s experience of the fullness of His obedience.  The Apostle John shares something similar as he describes the Upper Room scene where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love” (John 13:1).  It’s not as if He had not revealed His love prior to the moment.  And certainly His love will be made manifest the follow morning!  But through the servanthood of the Lord in the Upper Room, the Apostle describes the revelation of the Savior’s love as it is experienced by His disciples as He washes their feet.

The culmination of the life of Christ, a life lived in complete and total surrender to the Father’s will, is revealed as He “humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).  As Christ experienced the fullness of His obedience.

Therefore when Jesus calls us as His disciples to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23) experiencing the fullness of obedience, each and every day, is what He is after!

Glory to God!

Jason

habitual humility

The next discipline explored in Dissident Discipleship is what Augsburger calls Habitual Humility.  

Habitual Humility “is the primary evidence, the undeniable sign of Christian discipleship.  Humility is the sincere concern for the good of others balanced with simple gratitude for the gift of ones self, shown in a genuine willingness to serve the neighbor and heard in the gentile laughter of self-effacing humor” (p99).

Augsburger defines Habitual Humility as “unpretentious personhood.”

The spiritual discipline of Habitual Humility requires a proper view of God and the relationship He extends through Jesus Christ.  As the believer develops an abiding faith in Christ and a healthy, spiritual perspective of what God has accomplished on our behalf through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, humility in our lives lived before Almighty God is revealed in every facet of who we are.  Humility is a sign of maturity.  And is reflective of a healthy approach to the Gospel message.  Habitual Humility is easily evident in our perspective of faith and within the relationships with others (especially those with whom we disagree).  Do we love our neighbor?  Do we act justly?  How do we see the poor?  Do we love mercy?  Are we a people identified by mercy?  Do we walk humbly with God?

Only when we fully grasp the love of God revealed in Christ and the fullness of the relationship that God extends, will our continual response to Him and to others be as it should be: a lifestyle characterized by humility, and a yielding to Him so that His glory may be evident in us.

Glory to God!

Jason