It is 12:00 (noon) and I am sitting at the kitchen table feeling pretty good about myself. You see, I decided to start “working out” again this morning. Last week I organized the garage and set up the treadmill and made room for the Total Gym (I know some of you may be snickering at the idea of using a gimmicky machine peddled by Walker Texas Ranger, but when you’re fat like I am, lifting 25-35% of my weight is more substantial than for you skinny people. Besides, it works so shut it!). I realize it took me a week to actually use the equipment, but that is part of my plan. I have to know a week in advance that I am going to start exercising or else I will keep putting it off and never get around to doing it. Setting a day in the future tricks my mind into thinking it is procrastinating when in actuality it is staying on schedule. This is just one of the ways I have to get around the mental landmines created by ADD and laziness (Laugh if you will, but it works). So anyway, I did some exercising and it felt really great. I’ll keep you up to date on my progress and you all can help keep me accountable. If I stop mentioning it, then I have stopped doing it.
After my workout I sat down and read some in Piper’s Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. He wrote about the invincible life of Jesus… about His resurrection. Simply stated, Piper highlighted the fact that Scripture tells us that Jesus’ resurrection was not simply a cool magic trick or a grand finale in His miraculous career; rather it is demonstrating His power over death and assuring for us all the promises of God. In Romans we are told that since we, as followers have “died” with Christ, then just as He resurrected, so shall we be resurrected (6:5). Paul also tells us in Romans that the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the Spirit that offers us life in our mortal (flawed and impermanent) bodies (8:11). I love that Piper highlighted this aspect of the resurrection. What it shows us is the greatest truth of the gospel: without Christ, we are nothing. We are in desperate need of the power of Christ and His Spirit to truly live life. There is a prevailing idea within mainline churches that morality (proper behavior) is equal to redemption. In other words, if you act the part, then you get the part. Our churches have created some sort of unreal notion of what the perfect, biblical Christian looks like and then wrongly enforces an unattainable goal for which everyone must strive. If you have to strive to get something, then you have to strive to keep it. This is why guilt, not joy is the prevailing emotion experienced by the majority of church members and attendees. The bible clearly states that we are powerless in our imperfect and depraved state to attain righteousness on our own. It is by the resurrecting power of the Spirit of Christ that we are even able to consider living according to Jesus’ standard much less actually do it. I thank God every day that I am given the ability to live as His child with the righteousness of Christ to sustain my capacity for righteous living that reflects the glory and joy of Jesus rather than the condemnation and self-righteousness of Christian piety.
As BJ and I are part of a church-planting movement in the Orlando area, we want to be constantly aware of this issue within established churches. We desire to present the biblical notion that Jesus changes our hearts and lives, and not our own self-awareness or self-reliance. Many established churches have fallen prey to the worldly, sinful notion that Jesus helps those who help themselves. This type of self-actualization and self-reliance undermines the teaching that we are totally incapable outside of the power and work of Jesus Christ (John 15:4-5) to help or change our condition. Yes, there are things that we can and must do to change our lifestyles in an effort to de-rail our self-destructiveness; but we cannot sustain these on our own. I can plan to workout every day in an effort to turn the fat train around, but if I continue
to eat like a slob, then I will continue to be a fat guy who works out a lot. The formula is incomplete. Trying to be a good and righteous person without the power of the resurrected Christ is like running on a treadmill while eating a deep-fried Twinkie… it doesn’t work. The power of Christ always precedes the benefits of living in Christ. This morning I also read some in the book of John about a few of the miracles that Jesus performed in His ministry. One miracle that stood out to me was in chapter 5 where Jesus healed the invalid in Jerusalem. There was an invalid man who was beside the pool of Bethesda. Jesus asked the man “don’t you want to be healed?” To the man, this question carried the weight of condemnation that many people who visit our churches feel. You see, the pool was believed to have healing properties whenever an angel disturbed the water, but only to the first person that enters the water. His answer to Jesus was, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (v. 7) Basically, “yes, of course I want to be healed, but I am not able to do it on my own and nobody will help me.” Jesus told him that he was healed and to get up and go home. Later Jesus caught up with the man, rejoiced in his health and then told him to sin no more. Jesus’ power preceded the ability and benefit of living a life of righteousness. We are called to introduce people to the love and power of Jesus Christ, and to help them begin their journey with Him. We cannot save people, and we cannot change them. That is the work of the Spirit of Christ. I pray that as we progress with the Roots Community and with our future plant that everyone involved would embrace the power of the resurrected Christ as the ONLY means for true transformation, in our lives and in our community.
Lord help me to continually know that You alone appoint us for salvation, and that my job is to be Your tool for bringing people to the knowledge of who You are and who the Son is. Help me to live in the resurrected power of Your Spirit and not in the impotence of my strife and self-righteousness. Help us as a community of believers to offer everyone the grace and mercy You have given us so that we may be able to show them the love and hope that you offer the loveless and the hopeless. I pray for those of us who are still in need of a job, that You would provide in Your time and Your power. I pray for those who will be and have been asked to support us financially. I pray that You would prepare their hearts for sacrificial generosity. And, Lord I pray that we would always live in the awareness that we, too are invalids in need of Your help.
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