Who is the Consistent Me?
(a short drama happens, with the kids coming out and laying down cloaks and palm fronds and shouting "Hosanna!" Jay walks up front riding on a "horse" and goes behind the puppet stage. Isaac gets up and shouts "Not even one week later!" Then Jay walks back down the isle carrying a cross, as the kids shout, "crucify him!")...
I can't help but look at those people, not in judgment at how ridiculous they're turnaround was, not in disgust at how cruel they must have sounded, not in disappointment at how ignorant they were.
When I look at this drama, I feel cold and afraid, because I am one of them. I may not have been there at that specific time, saying what they said. But like them, without Jesus, I am a traitor to God, my praises empty and dishonest, hidden with it a sinful, ugly, selfish creature.
But I have Jesus. And even though I may be skipping ahead a little bit, and maybe spoiling the ending...Jesus dies, the Truth, the Way, the Life, dies. And when He does, He pays for all of it...
Every time I've lied. Every time I've stolen. Every time I was speeding in my car. Every time I made fun of someone. Every time I said something mean to someone. Every time I told God, no! Forget you! I'm going to do what I want!
He died for that.
He died for me. For us. It hurts, how much I deserved what happened to Jesus, to happen to me, not Him.
He wasn't like those people who shouted "Hosanna" one moment and then "crucify him" the next. He wasn't like them. He wasn't like me. He didn't deserve any of that. He didn't deserve to be shouted at. He didn't deserve to be spit on. He didn't deserve to have His beard torn. He didn't deserve to be whipped. He didn't deserve to have people lie about Him. He didn't deserve to be beaten beyond recognition. He didn't deserve to die.
I do.
But that's not what happened. The only thing that I own, the only thing that is well and truly mine is my sin. And Jesus took what was mine, without asking me, and died so that I wouldn't have to.
What sticks out to me in all of this is that Jesus could have stopped it at any moment. He could have called down legions of angels and stepped down off of the cross whenever he wanted to.
But He didn't.
He died. He died a terrible horrible awful death and knowing that Jesus had to go through just breaks me heart and if I was there watching it I have no idea what I would have done.
I wish that I could say that I would run up to the cross and shout, "NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! I SHOULD BE ON THAT CROSS, WE SHOULD ALL BE ON THAT CROSS!"
But I'm scared. Because I think its even more likely that I wouldn't even say a thing. That I would just stand there. That I might not even look. That I might try to slip away. I hope that I would at least have the decency to cry.
And in all of this, in looking at the life that Jesus lived and the death that he died, I am so overwhelmed by how consistent Jesus is. When I read the bible, Old Testament and New Testament, I am so ashamed by how consistent God is. Every dark, bloody, foolish, sinful, awful moment in the Bible doesn't reflect poorly on God, it reflects poorly on us!!! We are so inconsistent!
But when Jesus died, and sorry to ruin the ending, when He came back to life, He set an example for us to follow. He didn't just pay for our sins, He came to give us eternal life, those of us that believe.
There's a musician who I really like, his name's Phil Wickham. He sings a song called "True Love," and its about Jesus dying for us. Towards the end of the song, he is singing the chorus, part of which goes, "We were free and made alive, the day that true love died the way that True Love (Jesus) died."
And there is a pause in the song. And in that moment. In that quiet moment, I can feel and see the deep hurt of how sad it was when Jesus did what he did for us. And then Phil cries out...
"BUT IT DOESN'T END THERE! 'Cause Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, yeah he is alive, he rose again!!!"
And right after he says those last few words, he shouts, "do you believe that?"
Well, do you?
A friend, a new friend, but a very dear, wonderful brother in Christ, shared this with me yesterday. Two questions that we need to ask ourselves.
Did you believe the Gospel? What did you do with it?
Because if you believed the Gospel, but don't do anything with it, then what good is it to you? Merely acknowledging the truth but not consistently living it out gains you nothing! As much as works without faith are meaningless, so too is faith without works dead!
Brennan Manning is quoted as having said...
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle, That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
Why is it so easy to be inconsistent?!
Why am I so inconsistent?
How many times have I given a bad witness because what I was doing didn't match what I was saying?
The greatest joy of my life so far, has been and will always be, growing closer to God. And as I grow close to God, as I become more and more consistent in my walk with Him, I began to think less and less of myself. God has given me so much wisdom since I've moved here. He's taught me so much, made me so wise. But I am so ashamed because almost every single bit of it reflects poorly on me!
Out of all of you here I personally feel like I need this message the most!
But...
But by the death Jesus died for me on the cross, I am free, I am made alive.
And He calls me to live a life after His example, a consistent life of prayer, reading the bible, fellowship, discipleship and sharing the Good News.
So who am I? If you took a snap shot of my soul every second for a whole day and tried to get an idea of what the majority of the pictures were telling you about me, what would you see?
Would you see Jesus?
Or would you see me?
...
Something partly aside, something I suppose we can say, a little extra...
One of the wonderful benefits of consistently living out your walk with the Lord is gaining a better understand of the Kingdom of Heaven, of the unfathomably deep fellowship that we can have with each other in worship and in life.
But that is merely a reflection of where we're going, where we're headed. Heaven. I can't wait. Live consistently now and embrace everything that God wants to tell you, give you, teach you. And watch you see hints and glimpses of the beauty that is to come.
In the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle, CS Lewis
"Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among the mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the glass there may have been a looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different — deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked like it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean.
I can't help but look at those people, not in judgment at how ridiculous they're turnaround was, not in disgust at how cruel they must have sounded, not in disappointment at how ignorant they were.
When I look at this drama, I feel cold and afraid, because I am one of them. I may not have been there at that specific time, saying what they said. But like them, without Jesus, I am a traitor to God, my praises empty and dishonest, hidden with it a sinful, ugly, selfish creature.
But I have Jesus. And even though I may be skipping ahead a little bit, and maybe spoiling the ending...Jesus dies, the Truth, the Way, the Life, dies. And when He does, He pays for all of it...
Every time I've lied. Every time I've stolen. Every time I was speeding in my car. Every time I made fun of someone. Every time I said something mean to someone. Every time I told God, no! Forget you! I'm going to do what I want!
He died for that.
He died for me. For us. It hurts, how much I deserved what happened to Jesus, to happen to me, not Him.
He wasn't like those people who shouted "Hosanna" one moment and then "crucify him" the next. He wasn't like them. He wasn't like me. He didn't deserve any of that. He didn't deserve to be shouted at. He didn't deserve to be spit on. He didn't deserve to have His beard torn. He didn't deserve to be whipped. He didn't deserve to have people lie about Him. He didn't deserve to be beaten beyond recognition. He didn't deserve to die.
I do.
But that's not what happened. The only thing that I own, the only thing that is well and truly mine is my sin. And Jesus took what was mine, without asking me, and died so that I wouldn't have to.
What sticks out to me in all of this is that Jesus could have stopped it at any moment. He could have called down legions of angels and stepped down off of the cross whenever he wanted to.
But He didn't.
He died. He died a terrible horrible awful death and knowing that Jesus had to go through just breaks me heart and if I was there watching it I have no idea what I would have done.
I wish that I could say that I would run up to the cross and shout, "NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! I SHOULD BE ON THAT CROSS, WE SHOULD ALL BE ON THAT CROSS!"
But I'm scared. Because I think its even more likely that I wouldn't even say a thing. That I would just stand there. That I might not even look. That I might try to slip away. I hope that I would at least have the decency to cry.
And in all of this, in looking at the life that Jesus lived and the death that he died, I am so overwhelmed by how consistent Jesus is. When I read the bible, Old Testament and New Testament, I am so ashamed by how consistent God is. Every dark, bloody, foolish, sinful, awful moment in the Bible doesn't reflect poorly on God, it reflects poorly on us!!! We are so inconsistent!
But when Jesus died, and sorry to ruin the ending, when He came back to life, He set an example for us to follow. He didn't just pay for our sins, He came to give us eternal life, those of us that believe.
There's a musician who I really like, his name's Phil Wickham. He sings a song called "True Love," and its about Jesus dying for us. Towards the end of the song, he is singing the chorus, part of which goes, "We were free and made alive, the day that true love died the way that True Love (Jesus) died."
And there is a pause in the song. And in that moment. In that quiet moment, I can feel and see the deep hurt of how sad it was when Jesus did what he did for us. And then Phil cries out...
"BUT IT DOESN'T END THERE! 'Cause Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive, yeah he is alive, he rose again!!!"
And right after he says those last few words, he shouts, "do you believe that?"
Well, do you?
A friend, a new friend, but a very dear, wonderful brother in Christ, shared this with me yesterday. Two questions that we need to ask ourselves.
Did you believe the Gospel? What did you do with it?
Because if you believed the Gospel, but don't do anything with it, then what good is it to you? Merely acknowledging the truth but not consistently living it out gains you nothing! As much as works without faith are meaningless, so too is faith without works dead!
Brennan Manning is quoted as having said...
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle, That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
Why is it so easy to be inconsistent?!
Why am I so inconsistent?
How many times have I given a bad witness because what I was doing didn't match what I was saying?
The greatest joy of my life so far, has been and will always be, growing closer to God. And as I grow close to God, as I become more and more consistent in my walk with Him, I began to think less and less of myself. God has given me so much wisdom since I've moved here. He's taught me so much, made me so wise. But I am so ashamed because almost every single bit of it reflects poorly on me!
Out of all of you here I personally feel like I need this message the most!
But...
But by the death Jesus died for me on the cross, I am free, I am made alive.
And He calls me to live a life after His example, a consistent life of prayer, reading the bible, fellowship, discipleship and sharing the Good News.
So who am I? If you took a snap shot of my soul every second for a whole day and tried to get an idea of what the majority of the pictures were telling you about me, what would you see?
Would you see Jesus?
Or would you see me?
...
Something partly aside, something I suppose we can say, a little extra...
One of the wonderful benefits of consistently living out your walk with the Lord is gaining a better understand of the Kingdom of Heaven, of the unfathomably deep fellowship that we can have with each other in worship and in life.
But that is merely a reflection of where we're going, where we're headed. Heaven. I can't wait. Live consistently now and embrace everything that God wants to tell you, give you, teach you. And watch you see hints and glimpses of the beauty that is to come.
In the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle, CS Lewis
"Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among the mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the glass there may have been a looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different — deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked like it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean.
It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia so much is because it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!""
The Unicorn in The Last Battle (by CS Lewis)
...
I am so excited to go home. I am so excited to not have to worry about this life, this life that is messy, and tough, and hard. But for now, we're here, together, and I am glad to be here, and I am glad that I made it this far without breaking down into tears. Because I am so, so, so unworthy to say a single word of this to any of you.
But its not about me. Its not about you. Its not about us.
Its about God.
He passionately, deeply, unconditionally loves every single one of us.
And God...well, He never changes.
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