Heart Tracks - Broken Bread, Poured Out Wine

    "How many of us are willing to spend every ounce of nervous energy, of mental, moral, and spiritual energy we have for Jesus Christ?  That is the meaning of a witness in God's sense of the word......Am I willing to be broken bread and poured out wine for Him?"  Oswald Chambers

     There is a lot of preaching, teaching, writing...talk, going on in the church today about being missional, of being witnesses to a lost and dying world for Christ.  This is scriptural and needs to be obeyed, but I wonder, how much of our activity is really nothing more than that, activity?  Activity that goes on without the power and life of Christ filling it through and through?  How many of us see that familiar term "outreach" as something we do rather than something we live?  Jesus said that wherever He was lifted up (on His cross) He would draw all men to Himself.  Far more than our words, it is this reality of a crucified Christ living through the lives of His crucified followers that lays hold of the attentions and hearts of men.  When the witness of the people of God truly becomes that of lives that are broken bread and poured out wine, a power is released through those lives that will permeate a culture, and transform it.  Can we really argue that the culture that surrounds the church has had far more influence upon, permeated, the church than the church upon it?  Active lives are not the answer.  Lives that are truly broken bread and poured out wine are.
    In Titus 1, Paul's greeting to his readers speaks something powerful to me.  He writes, " I, Paul, a slave of God......have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives."  Two words stand out to me.  Slave, and sent.  Paul didn't consider himself to belong to anyone, including himself, but the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  He was not his own, but was immersed in the life of Christ, which is why he could say that for him, "to live is Christ."  He had no separation between his life and the Lord's.  Paul's life wasn't one of activity for the Lord.  it was one actively lived out in the Lord.  Elsewhere in the word, Paul said that he was now "free to be His slave."  Only the life that knows the reality of what he's saying is able to truly be broken bread and poured out wine.  Only those who are His slaves will truly come to know what it is to be free.
   Since Paul belonged only to Him, he was then free to be sent anywhere the father chose.  I think we tend to view the concept of being "sent" as being given a specific task and destinaton by the Lord.  I don't think we view our day to day life situations as places into which we've been sent.  What would happen in those places if we did?  What would happen if we started to view the places where we live, work, and interact on a day to day basis, all as places into which He has sent us?  Places that may be trying, harsh, dark?  Places that are uncomfortable, challenging, and yes, drearily routine.  Places that instead of finding a way out of, we instead discover ways to be His life and presence in?  Places where hearts and souls held in dark captivity have their dungeons, as Wesley wrote, "flame with light,"  light that in some small way, He has been able to shine through us, because we, as broken bread, and poured out wine, were willing to be sent there.  Brethren, this is not outreach, and its not being missional.  This is living in the power of a resurrected life.
   What will the yield be?  That's in the hands of the King.  Our part is to be broken bread and poured out wine.  Bread and wine sent to a starving thirsty world.  It may be in the most humble and anonymous place, but its a place to which we've been sent, as His slaves, to be His bread, and His wine, day by day, moment by moment.  This is what it is to be a witness for Him.  Will we live the witness of the broken bread and poured out wine?

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - Living In Garbage City

     Nick Vujicic, a 32 year old man born without legs or arms, in his book, Life Without Limits, tells the story of ministering in Cairo, Egypt at a place known as Garbage City.  It was the city's worst slum, built up against towering cliffs.  Nearly 50,000 people live there.  Egypt is a nation that is 90% Muslim, yet the population of Garbage City is 98% Christian.  They are outcasts to those around them.

    Garbage City gets its name because its residents get their living by combing through the refuse, the garbage of the residents of Cairo.  They drag what they collect back, and sort through it for anything of value that they can sell or use.  The streets are lined with garbage piles and stinking trash.  The odor can be oppressive.  Surely those who dwell in such a place, made to dwell in such a place, would live in deep despair.  Yet Vujicic says that's not what he found upon visiting them in 2009.  He writes, "The people there live hard lives, to be sure, yet those I met were very caring, seemingly happy, and filled with faith."  In Cairo, a city of 18 million people, Garbage City is the only predominately Christian neighborhood.  We in the west would call it a ghetto.  I don't believe those who live there would do the same.
   Vujicic says that as far as environments go, Garbage City's was the worst he'd seen, "but one of the most heart-warming in spirit."  In the midst of the squalor were churches.  Into one of them 150 people squeezed.  As he spoke, he was moved by the joy and life he felt and saw in the people.  He talked to church leaders concerning the life changing power that had been at work among the people.  They told him that "Their hope wasn't put on this earth, but their hope is in eternity.  In the meantime they'll believe in miracles and thank God for who He is and what he has done."  Their lives went beyond what they could understand, or control, beyond what they had no power to change, and lived in the presence of the One they knew and had experienced to be the God of all of it.  Their bodies were, in a sense, trapped, but their spirits were not.  They moved ever forward trusting and believing their God.
   Few of us in the west will live in such a place as Garbage City, not literally anyway.  Yet, I believe that all of us will find ourselves, if not physically, certainly emotionally and even spiritually, in our own version of Garbage City.  A place we don't want to be.  A place we long to escape.  How shall we then live....in whatever place may come to be our Garbage City?

   In my life, I have found myself at several times in a very real Garbage City of my own.  It grieves my heart to say and remember that my response was very little like that of the Egyptian believers.  Too often, most often, bitterness, anger, and self-pity ruled my heart.  I railed against my circumstances, and sometimes, against God.  For me, I did not often find my own "church" in the midst of it where I could, and did worship Him.  2 Corinthians 2:17 says we are to be "the aroma of life leading to life."  I wonder what "aroma" those around me noticed?  How much a "fragrance of heaven" was my life in those times?  In the Garbage City that you were in, that you may be in now, what aroma arises from your heart in the midst of it?  What worship comes up from our hearts in the midst of our own Garbage City?
   May you and I truly come to have, in any and all situations, no matter how hopeless they might seem, the heartset and mindset that at all times, He is able to in all situations, deliver, heal, or resurrect, but even if He does none of these, we will not cease to believe and trust Him.  May we, like the residents of Garbage City, move ever forward in Him, prisoner to nothing and no one, but Him.  Living our own lives without limit.

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - Chasing Tinsel

     When I was a boy, there was an annual after Christmas event that all the kids looked forward to: the burning of all the discarded Christmas trees.  Everyone would bring their trees to a large flat area behind our neighborhood, simply called, "The Dump."  An enormous pile of very dry trees was formed, and the local volunteer fire department was on hand to supervise it all.  Something I remember was that a number of the trees still had a lot of silver and gold tinsel clinging to them.  Even in the night, they seemed to glow.  However, once the fire was lit, it was a very short time before all of the trees, tinsel included, were consumed.  It was a quite a happening, and also quite a commentary on life both then and now.  Tinsel, which can gleam and be such an object of attention, in the end, is burned up, because it, like the trees, is shortlived.  "Tinsel," which many of us spend our lives pursuing with wholehearted energy, is in the end, a feeble prize.

     Many of us, perhaps you and I right now, are engaged in seeking that prize.  Prestige, achievement, recognition, the approval and applause of men, status, we can end up craving such tinsel, though we can go to great lengths denying the pursuit.  Those who comprise the church are not immune, in fact, we, particularly ministers, may be more guilty than all.  The thought of being unnoticed, unhonored, anonymous, clutches at our heart.  Despite our protests to the contrary, we can crave just as strongly, even moreso, the accolades of men, and the honors that go with them.  It's in our flesh, and can only be overcome by our crucifixion of that flesh.  In all things, including ministry, we need to come before Him asking just where every ambition of our hearts lead to the approval of men, or the approval of the Father?
    Henry Blackaby wrote, "Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow Jesus.  James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus, but asked for the two most prominent positions in His Kingdom while they did so."  I Kings 8 tells of the glory of the Lord so filling the Temple, that the priests could not stand before it, or perform their tasks.  I wonder if the performing of our "tasks" has become so all-consuming to us, that we leave no room for His glory, because we're too busy pursuing our own?  As Blackaby puts it, "God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity.  God receives glory from His activity through our lives." 

    James Dobson tells of his winning a number of trophies while a member of his college tennis team.  This was a source of great pride to him, particularly as they were displayed in the school trophy case for all to see.  A number of years after graduation, he was contacted by a school official and asked if he desired them.  They'd been discovered by a school employee in one of the trash dumpsters used by the college.  Tinsel, once so precious and coveted, was now discarded, useless, in essence, burned up.  In the end, how many of our "trophies" will suffer the same fate as Dobson's?
    What is the "prize" that you and I pursue?  Gold and silver that glows brightly for a time, but in the end is just tinsel, and is consumed by our God who truly is a consuming fire?  Or, do we pursue the gold and silver of the Kingdom?  Gold and silver that perhaps no one but He recognizes as such?  Gold and silver that may not bring the applause of any man, including those within the church, but certainly wins the applause of heaven, and the very throneroom of the King.  In the end, will our lives be defined by tinsel, and our lust for it, or by a hunger and thirst for that which "moth and rust" can never diminish, and never devour?  Do we chase tinsel and its rewards, or Him, and the reward of His Presence and life?

Blessings,

Pastor O, one who has chased much tinsel

   

Heart Tracks - Faraway Places

The late British pastor and writer T. Austin-Sparks said that "Sooner or later we come to the place where we must say, 'Lord, You are beyond me, beyond my comprehension.' "  This might seem obvious to us, but if it is, I think it's obvious more in theory than in practice.  Our western mindset which is determined to understand everything, including Him, leaves little room for mystery, and therefore, for real spiritual growth.  Sparks says, "Christ is always reaching farther and farther beyond us and drawing us out and beyond ourselves....We can't stand still.  We must go on."  Isaiah 33:17 reads, "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will behold a far distant land."  The wonder of it all is that the closer we get to that land, the further away it seems.  There is always more land to enter into, land that our human senses cannot comprehend, will never comprehend.  Yet, as we move toward and into it, we receive ever deepening glimpses of His beauty.  Such sight is only given to those who are willing to let go of all, and are willing to know what "all" truly means.  For such, the term "Let go and let God," takes on a meaning we never thought possible.
    Letting go and letting God.  We can be almost flippant when we say that, or encourage others to do it, but what is really happening in that?  For many of us, letting go of something to Him means we place it in His hands.....along with a detailed instruction manual as to how we want and expect Him to handle it.  Even if we have grown past that, we still may cling to promises we have taken hold of concerning what's been let go of, promises and expectations that we believe have truly come from Him.  Know that I believe we are to cling to the promises that He has given, but I believe that to really enter into that far distant land and behold His beauty, will require that we let go of even of the promises, for we may be clinging to them more tightly than we are to Him.  Promises can become idols.  So much so that anything He may have to say to us as concerns them, or our lives, can't be heard because we are so sure of what we have already heard.  That doesn't mean that a promise He has given is not valid, but it does mean that we are willing to surrender it to Him in trust, believing that His ultimate promise, that of Himself, will not fail.  Such surrender, such trust, will yield an ever deepening journey into the far land.  We don't worship the promise, or any other word, act, or experience.  We worship Him.  Worship is the fuel that carries us into the unsearchable riches of the King of that far distant land.
   Can you see that far land, and the beautiful King who rules it?  They may be just a hazy outline on the horizon, but they call to you, call you forward.  Fleshly understanding has to be let go, all has to be let go, in trust that nothing will be lost that is His desire for us to have.  And what we gain will be Him, His fullness, as we journey into that far land.  The Jesus Movement group 2nd Chapter of Acts had a song with the lyric, "Those faraway places are calling me home."  Can you hear the Voice that reigns in those places, that place?  It's the home we were made for, and its King is calling us.  Will we come? 

Blessings,

Pastor O   

Heart Tracks - The Mansion Builder

     "I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself."  John 14:2-3  I don't know anyone who doesn't love, or at least like that scripture.  We like the image of the Lord constructing for us an eternal dwelling place, a mansion if you will, that will be ready for us when we leave this realm.  In fact, when that time comes, He'll come for us, just as He promised, to in essence, carry us over the threshold into that mansion.  It's a beautiful picture, but I think in our humanness, our flesh, we've misconstrued what Christ is saying. 

     I think many of us, maybe most, think of this scripture in terms of Christ being there, in heaven, working on our mansion, while we, on earth, go about our (mostly self-absorbed) lives.  He's the "contractor" that we've entrusted with the building, blueprints and all, and we'll look forward to the day when we can take up full-time residence there.  Well, maybe "look forward to," is a little strong.  That would imply that we realize that this life, this "residence" is passing, transient, and unable to bring any lasting satisfaction.  Truth to tell, I think a number of us are quite comfortable where we're at right now.  The mansion is a great concept, but we've gotten pretty acclimated to the hovels we've built with our own hands here.  What's the rush in leaving?
     Here's the thing.  I don't think the Lord was talking so much about building a future "home" for us as He is a present one.  He's not off somewhere constructing our "dreamhouse."  He's doing it right now, or seeking to, in us.  As I heard someone put it, "He's doing a renovation project in us, except that we don't get to move out while it's taking place."  Renovation projects are messy.  A lot of "trash" is accumulated in the process.  Trash that has to be removed, thrown out, so that the renovation can go on, and eventually, be complete.  A lot that is ugly, useless, even dangerous, is exposed, and all of it has to go.  The Lord doesn't hire a "crew" to do that, He enlists us to work with Him, as He removes it from the, our, premises.  This renovation project will gut our entire home, our life.  When all has been cleared out, He'll then be free to rebuild it after His blueprint, which is His image.  That can't happen until He's "re-wired" the home so that it can have proper light.  His light, and that light reaches every room, every inch of that home.  When the renovation has progressed to His satisfaction, its then that He can "receive us to Himself."  Our hovel has been transformed into His mansion by the work of His Holy Spirit. 

    So, how's work on your "mansion" going?  Have you "hired" Jesus to get it built, make it ready, while you go on living here, and quite at home "here" all the while?  Or, have you allowed Him to move in, on site, and set to work with a passion to renovate a home that has serious, even deadly foundational problems?  Has He been able to make all ready for Himself, or, is our property one that's ready to be leveled, except we don't know it?  Where are we more at home,, in His mansion, or our hovel?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Hearing The Words, Missing The Voice

     Mid 20th century preacher and writer T. Austin-Sparks said that it was possible, indeed even common, for many to hear the words of Scripture, but not the Voice of the Spirit through them.  Paul spoke much of the Jews who regulalry read of the promised Messiah in their gatherings, yet consistently missed the Voice of the Messiah that was promised in those words and who had already come.  How like them are we, who week after week gather in our services, our prayer groups and Bible studies, and go over His Word, His promises, hearing the words, but being deaf to His Voice speaking through those words?  The words may take hold in our minds, but only His Voice can make them live in our hearts and lives.

    Larry Crabb tells the story of a friend who suffered a terrible fall, splintering bones in his arm and leg.  After several surgeries, he still had not regained use of the arm, and more, intensive surgery would likely be needed.  Even then, there was no guarantee he would ever have its full use again.  As he traveled down the elevator after that latest meeting with his Doctor, he heard the voice of the Spirit speak Romans 8:31 into his heart, "If God is for us, who can be against us."  These were not words to be memorized, or  a promise to be claimed, they were alive, and heard within the depths of this man's being.  As Crabb tells it, "In the midst of his suffering, he nearly sang.  He heard the music of heaven, the voice of God, and his passion for God leaped within him."  When God's voice speaks to us, we hear the music of heaven.  Such an encounter can only yield one result: Worship.  Is that our experience after our corporate or personal times with Him?  How often, at the close of a worship service or prayer group, do we immediately check our voicemails and text messages?  We've heard the words, but missed the Voice.  We've been in a gathering, but we've not had worship.
   Sheila Walsh tells the story of when she checked herself into a mental facility after a complete breakdown.  Huddled in a corner of her room, wearing only her hospital gown, a nurse, who she had not seen before, and would not see again, came to her and simply spoke, "Sheila, the Shepherd knows where you are."  She said that His voice, speaking through one she believed was an angel, enabled her to face her greatest nightmare, and know He was with her there, speaking to her.  She didn't just hear words, she heard His voice.

   What of you and I?  Are we, day after day, week after week, hearing the words, but missing the Voice?  Hearing what He says, but not what He means?  Are we doing the right things for all the wrong reasons?  Are we hearing the music of heaven, a music that enables us to face our own personal nightmares, and in them, triumph?  A music and Voice that crushes the darkness, and floods our lives and hearts with His light and His life?  What are we hearing, and what are we missing?

 

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Who, What, Owns Me?

    Whatever we seek owns us.  That's a strong statement I know, but that which we give our attentions to, our passion, is that which lays claim to us.  What is it that we seek today?  Position, provision, security?  The applause and recognition of men, even of the church?  Do we have what we think are  even nobler desires, the winning of souls, the building of the Kingdom, the advancement of the gospel?  All of these have one thing in common: None of them is Christ.  And, if none of them is Christ, yet we have given our hearts to the laying hold of any of them, then we, along with our hearts, are owned by that which is not Christ.  If we are owned by anything or anyone but Him, then we are in bondage, even if those desires seem to be the purest possible.

     Mark 1:36 reads, "And Simon and those who were with him, searched for Him."  Simon Peter, to put it bluntly, could be a real dunderhead.  He spoke and made observations and judgements before thinking.  He made promises he couldn't keep.  He was often led of his flesh rather than His Spirit.  He could be remarkably courageous, and yet remarkably cowardly.  Yet in all of this, one aspect of his character remained consistent.  He was always seeking after Jesus, and usually, when he sought, others that were with him were seeking Him too.  On the stormswept sea when he came walking to Him, during the night of both his and the Lord's trial, at the empty tomb, and after the resurrection, when he beheld Him on the shore.  Peter was known for many things, but the greatest of them was that he was a seeker after Christ.  Many things sought to distract him, and at times did distract him, but none of these things owned his heart.  They might hinder him for a time, but they could not hold him, for he, and his heart were held, owned, by Christ.  What holds, owns, yours and mine?
    What do those around us see us spending our life energy seeking?  Who and what gets the best of us?  Our jobs?  Seeing to the security and well-being of our families and ourselves?  Making sure that life goes as well and as smoothly as possible?  Ministry?  Do we seek to build a Kingdom that has His name, but our imprint?  One that enables us to make a name for ourselves (and Him too of course)?  We can be sure that there will be many who join us in the search for these things, who will willingly be owned by them.  Who and how many would say of us that we truly seek first His Kingdom, His righteousness, Himself?  Are others seeking Him because their hearts have been moved by our seeking of Him?  Are our neighbors, co-workers, families, and fellow members of the Body found among those "others."  Who is with us in our search, and what really, are we searching for?
    What has our heart has us?  What has our heart today?  Who has our heart today?  None of us are really our own, so whose are we really?

Blessings,

Pastor O  

 

Heart Tracks - The Dwarf Within

     "Cain knew God.  He just had no faith.....Faithlessness is not unbelief.  Faithlessness is the refusal to trust.  It's the refusal to rest in God, and therefore, risk for God."  Mark Buchanan

     In The Last Battle, the 7th and final book in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles Of Narnia series, Lewis tells of how the inhabitants of Narnia have just fought and won a great battle against the powers of evil.  Now they and their king, Tirian, await the coming of Aslan the Lion.  They wait with joyful expectation, and when Aslan does appear, they surge forward to touch and be touched by Him.  To experience the sweetness and fullness of who He is.  They are those that Paul wrote of, the ones who "Have loved His appearing."  Yet there was another group who held themselves apart from it all.  They view Aslan with distrust, and so do not, cannot partake of the intimacy that is before them.  Lucy cries out to Aslan, "Could you - will you - do something for these poor dwarfs?"  "Dearest," says Aslan, "I will show both what I can and cannot do."  Aslan then moves towards them, offering all of Himself to them, but the dwarfs only response is continued distrust, continued faithlessness.  "We haven't let anyone take us in," they proudly declare.  "The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs."

Aslan then says to Lucy, "They will not let us help them.  They have chosen cunning instead of belief.  Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison, and so afraid of being taken in, they cannot be taken out.  But come children, I have other work to do."

    The dwarfs are for the dwarfs.  I am for myself.  We are for ourselves.  To place all of ourselves, our need, our hope, our very life, requires a surrender so many are unwilling to make.  To give all to Him is to risk all in Him.  Part of us longs to do that, but another part, oftentimes the greater part of us, like the Dwarfs, holds back, stands at a distance from Him.  We will not risk being taken in, and so, we are never taken out.  As a result, like the dwarfs, we're left to our own understanding, our own strength, our own devices, our own cunning.  Like the dwarfs, we go on living apart, thinking ourselves free, yet all the while imprisoned in cells of our own choosing.  Jesus, like Aslan, will not remain and plead with us.  He offers Himself, but if we refuse, if we choose faithlessness rather than faith, He will move on from us.  He has other work to do.  Other lives to lay hold of.  Others who truly do love His appearing.  Will He come our way again?  I believe He will, but what reason is there to think that we will be any more ready to trust Him then if we will not now? 

   Always before us is the call of Christ to "launch out into the deep" with Him.  The dwarf within will not hear it, and will not go there.  The dwarf will always be for the dwarf.  Cain, and those of his tribe, will always be for themselves.  Who will we stand with today?  With Tirian the King, or with Cain the Dwarfs?  Who lives and reigns within?

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - Parallel Universe

     Lovers of science fiction will be familiar with stories about two universes or dimensions that exist side by side, but yet are invisible to each other.  Parallel universe's or dimensions.  Here's the thing:  It's not science fiction, for we live in just such a situation right now.  There is the dimension of that which we can see and touch, that we were born into and is the ground of our familiarity.  It's what the flesh is familiar and comfortable with.  It's the realm most would call "reality."  Then there is another dimension, unseen to the flesh, and so totally unfamiliar to it as well.  It can only be seen with the eyes of the Spirit, and understood with the mind of the Spirit.  It is very unreal to those who have made their home in the first dimension, and just like those science fiction stories, most of us are able to live out our lives totally unaware that it's there.  Jesus called this realm "the Kingdom," and said that all of those who were His were citizens of it, dwellers within it.  Yet, sadly, so many of the so-called citizens of that Kingdom live lives that seem just as unawares of that unseen realm as those who've never heard of it.

    I really like the way I saw Hebrews 12:2 rendered recently: "Looking off unto Jesus."  Another translation reads, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus," yet the only way we can fix our eyes on Him, is to take our eyes off of everything else that is not Him.  That means letting go of, even renouncing all those things that seem so real in order to behold Him who can seem so unreal to eyes that have seen so little, if anything, of Him.  Only by looking off of all things, people, memories, interests, desires, that have blinded us to Him, will we really see Him, behold Him, and lay hold of Him.  To behold Him is to lay hold of Him.  We will never see that parallel universe or dimension as long as cannot take our eyes off of the glitter and tinsel that seems to shine so brightly in our "reality."  As His Word says, that light we think we have, the glitter and tinsel, is after all, nothing more than darkness, and keeps us from seeing His light in the midst of it.  So, this present dimension, reality, which is passing away, keeps us blinded to the true reality of His Kingdom which is eternal and neverending.  We're comfortable in a realm where we should be most uncomfortable, and extremely uncomfortable, as well as ignorant, of the realm for which we were created. 
    I was in a prayer group yesterday in which the songleader sang a chorus that went "Lord, set us free so that we may worship Thee."  There is so much made of fellowships having worship services in which there is "freedom."  For us, that seems to mean freedom to raise our hands, clap, even dance.  Many demand that we have such freedom in worship, yet such freedom will never really be, no matter how much we wave, clap, or dance, until we are truly free in our spirits wherever we are.  For too many, freedom in worship starts at 11am and ends at noon.  After that, we go back to living in our familiar universe, if indeed we ever really left it in the first place.  We'll never be free until the scales placed over our eyes by this passing dimension fall of so we may see that universe that has always been there, yet unseen, and unknown to too many of us.

   What, in our lives, is blinding us to that parallel universe?  What is it that we must "look off" of before we can see Jesus?  Which dimension offers you your true comfort and security?  Which one is our real reality?

Blessings,

Pastor O