First Things

Invitation to an Epic

Still with me?  

Good.  Looks like we made it out of the shallows.

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve started our journey.  To be honest, we’ve covered a lot of territory.  Some of it was familiar.  But some of it may have been fresh and even surprising.  Before going further, it would probably be good to trim the sails a bit and reflect.

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In Part I, we learned that before the universe began, the Father, Son, and Spirit jointly conceived a purpose.  This purpose was not merely to save mankind from their sins or to make the world a better place.  Instead, it focused on making the Son preeminent in all creation.  This would involve extending their divine fellowship to beings yet to be created.  These beings would bear the image of God and be responsible for ruling the created realm.  The Son, through the Spirit, would indwell these beings, allowing them to live by divine life.    

But in Part II we learned that the momentum of God’s purpose was momentarily side-tracked by mankind’s rebellion against divine rule.  This rebellion shattered the universe in unfathomable ways, allowing darkness to reign in creation through tyranny, captivity, and death.  But through His incarnation, sacrifice, and resurrection, Jesus Christ was inaugurated King of all creation once again and has established His Kingdom among and within those He indwells.  As citizens of this Kingdom, we declare sedition against the pretender authorities and systems of this fallen world.  We live together as colonies of the Kingdom, manifesting God’s ruling presence by embodying, demonstrating, and proclaiming the freedom of the true King until He returns, bringing His Kingdom into fullness.

In Part III, we discussed the manifold supremacy of our King.  He is our savior, but He’s so much more than that.  He is our foundation, our source, and our identity.  Our association with Christ is so deep that He is, literally, our Life.  As we widen our aperture of the Son we’ll see Him in hues we may never have considered.  Captivated by His glory He will lead us as Christus Victor, our victorious Lord. Yet we see through a glass darkly.  As compelling as it may be, any revelation we have of our Lord today will be vastly incomplete compared to the glory yet to be seen.  There is simply nothing greater, deeper, or more sublime  than our Lord.  

In Parts IV, V, and VI, we put a fine edge on the Christian trivium of hope, faith, and love.  We identified hope as our expectation of future glory.  We identified faith as our trust in the Lord evidenced by our substantiating the Kingdom reality by our thoughts and deeds.  We identified love as demonstrating God’s divine nature by our sacrifice in elevating others, awakening them to their own identity as image bearers.  We recognize these as our work and divine privilege.

Lastly, in Part VII we were reminded that even as Christians we are wholly incapable of carrying out this high calling from our own power and ability.  We’re not transformed merely by reading the Bible more and trying harder to be a better Christian.  Instead, we’re reminded of the glorious mystery that had been hidden in the Son for countless millennia.  That we were meant not only to be vessels of God’s divine life, but to live by that life.  Only by engaging the indwelling Lord and living by the very Life of Jesus Christ can we begin to walk in victory, bear fruit for the Kingdom, accomplish our high calling, and experience the level of fellowship with God that He always desired.

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Over the last seven weeks, I hope I’ve revealed a renewed narrative–a framework of how we view everything as a follower of Christ.  Over the last two thousand years our primal worldview as believers has become dull and tarnished.  But rather than putting a new coat of paint on a feeble and tenuous Christian sentiment, I pray that what we unveiled expanded traditional narratives by light-years and firmly re-established it on the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

Rather than learning something new, I hope you’ve learned something ancient.   We’ll need this framework as we move forward.  It will serve as our map to avoid drifting back into the shallows.

So how’s the view?

I suspect a few will find all this “interesting”.  Some will appreciate a new perspective.  Some will yawn and look at their watch.  Others will be intrigued.  Some may feel it necessary to explain how it’s false and heretical.

But take a deeper look.  

Isn’t it so much more unifying, complete, and satisfying than the limited scope of the “traditional” gospel message of avoiding hell?  Isn’t it so much more engaging, inviting, and conversational than your heaviest catechism?  

If it is, it’s because your spirit resonates with the exquisite order, the complex simplicity, and the manifold beauty that is our Lord.  Why would I say that?  Because everything we’ve been talking about over the last seven weeks finds its origin in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is the narrative–the framework of all the things we’ve been talking about.  The pursuit Christianity is the pursuit of none other than Christ Himself.  

Our Lord.  In abundance.  Plus nothing.

Narrow is the Road

If in the last seven weeks you’ve caught any sight of the Lord, I pray that you would hold fast to it.  It will sustain you (for a while anyway).  But a life sustained by God is a life of continuous revelation.  There’s so much more to see.  From here we’ll not be moving outward from this mystery, but rather deeper into it.  

But small is the gate and the road that leads to life.  Only few find it.  At no point along the journey should we ever assume ourselves to be the good soil (Matt. 13:1-9).  The road to the Kingdom is filled with the wreckage of those who did.  There are several reasons.

First, there are distractions.

Entertainment, career aspirations, personal goals, politics.  The world is in no short supply of distractions.  They’ve been specifically engineered to distract us from seeing our true purpose and deaden our awareness of the supremacy of the King.  To apprehend Christ is to lay all else aside.   

…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…

Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)

To be captured by the vision of God’s Kingdom we need to rid ourselves of these distractions.  Please understand this is not a condemnation.  But I pray that you would let the Lord speak to you in the area of distractions.  I’m also not suggesting that we throw away our PlayStations and all move to a monastery on a hill.  This is simply a question of whether we have let something get between us and a severe pursuit of the Lord.  Things that do that are called idols.  They are a big reason why the road is narrow, even for those who claim Christ. 

Second, if you haven’t already realized it, following the Lord is incredibly costly.  Jesus’s somber words remind us:

Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 10:38 (ESV)

Did you ever notice that Jesus mentioned the cross before his crucifixion?  Seems like a strange thing to say so long before Jesus’ crucifixion was in anyone’s mind.  What did He mean by it?

When Jesus asks us to take our cross, He’s asking us to reckon ourselves dead to self-ownership.  He’s also saying that when we follow Him, we will experience pain, struggle, and severe loss.  Those who choose to follow Jesus will follow into much of the same pain that He experienced.  But He will also be found in it, through it, and on the other side of that pain.  And after getting through it, He will be greater in our eyes than He was before. 

…through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Acts 14:22 (ESV)

Pressing into the Kingdom will be painful.  This is a fact you don’t hear very often in the recruitment literature of Christianity.  It’s something you don’t hear often from the pulpit.  But I’m not here to increase the membership or make you feel good.  I’m here to tell you the truth.  The good news is that when you face this suffering, you have someone living inside of you who has experienced it and will bear it with you.  He will use it to shape you for much greater things.

Third, many will lose their way for lack of real mutual support found only in authentic fellowship.  Successful solo Christianity is an illusion.  In this journey mutual encouragement is going to be absolutely vital.  There are plenty of good Sunday-morning church folk out there.  But that’s not necessarily who I’m talking about.  I’m talking about those, like you, who have chosen to take the Lord seriously.  I’m not necessarily talking about the spiritually frenetic or religious nut.  You’ll recognize the people I’m talking about by their humility, visceral holiness, and their fruit for the Kingdom.   They’re people who recognize their dependence on Jesus. They allow Him deal with them so that Christ might be wrought in them.  Their lives will not point back to themselves or to their personal legacy, but rather to Christ.  These are the people you will need to find and then spend serious time with.

These kinds of people are very rare.  They may not be in your immediate circle.  Their theology may not line up exactly with yours.  You may even have to ask the Lord to lead you to them.  But having such people in close company may make the difference between ending the race well or being pulled asunder.

What Makes a Good Story

I don’t tell you these things to dissuade or scare anyone.  But they need to be said.  Too many people have started strong. But because they haven’t first counted the cost they ended up in awkward places in their lives.  The choice to truly follow Jesus needs to be based on a sober  examination of the facts, not on family tradition or on emotions alone.

But even so, maybe you’re thinking about the fact that you’ve got your ticket to heaven and that’s good enough for you.  Maybe you feel like there’s already enough pain in life and all that Kingdom stuff is for the “heavy-hitters”.  Despite all that’s been said, you believe that you’re just a “sinner saved by grace”.

Fair enough.  God bless you in your journey.  But before you make any final decisions, let me ask you something.

Have you ever wondered what makes a really good story? 

Deep and engaging characters.  A hero protagonist.  A dire situation.  Drama, romance, mystery, and danger.  Stories like that resonate with us.  It was almost as if we were created to be part of one.  

Though I’m not a huge fan, the Lord of the Rings trilogy has a lot of what makes a good story.  No doubt you’ve either read the books or have only seen the movie (to the scoffing of those who have read the books).

If you’re familiar with the story, let’s say that you are the happy hobbit Frodo Baggins at the beginning of the first book, the Fellowship of the Ring.  You’re hanging out at the Shire, living a good life and enjoying good company.  You have not a care in the world but to grow pumpkins in your garden.  

Now, one day you discover a ring tucked in an envelope that Uncle Bilbo left you before he went on his journey.  While you carefully examine the ring, I interrupt the scene and begin to explain how taking the ring will irrevocably change the trajectory of your life. This is what I tell you…

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“When you take the ring, you will be hunted down by the Nazgul.  Day and night, they will tirelessly seek you.  Stealth is your only defense.  If they find you, they will kill you.  

If you happen to avoid the Ring-wraiths, you will then be forced to enter the Mines of Moria. There you will encounter the Balrog where you may be killed killed or fall into a bottomless pit. If you happen to survive this, you will be thrust into several close-quarter battles consisting mostly of orcs.  They will want nothing more than to kill you (and then eat you). There is a good chance of losing several close friends on this journey. 

Presuming you survive these encounters, you will likely meet a giant spider while alone in a very dark cave who wishes to consume your flesh.  If you survive the spider, you will have journeyed for months with the constant burden of the Ring you carry.  It will tempt you beyond what you can bear.  

The weight of the struggle for Middle Earth will rest entirely on your shoulders.  Presuming you survive hunger, thirst, sleeplessness, exhaustion, temptation, and betrayal you will reach the fires of Mount Doom to rid Middle Earth of the Ring.  

Only after surviving all that may you return to the safety of the Shire. 

There are no guarantees.  The only way to know how this will end is to take the ring.”

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Given my description of your potential fate, which path would you choose?

Would you stay in the Shire and live a long and happy life? Or would you, through insurmountable adversity, take the ring as far as you can to Mount Doom with a very good chance of suffering a painful and horrific death in the process?

I’d say for most of us, the choice would be easy. Why would anyone choose to suffer when comfort is merely a choice away?

But now let’s change the perspective.

Now let’s say that you are Frodo Baggins at the end of your life looking back at the things that you’ve done, the risks you’ve taken, and the choices you’ve made. This is a critical perspective as all of us will be there some day.

Which life would you rather have lived?

Would you rather have chosen the life of ease and comfort? Or would you have chosen the life of struggle, pain, and sacrifice for the greatest possible good?

The truth is you and I have been invited into something much greater than J.R.R. Tolkien could ever have imagined.  Something much more real and compelling.  We have been invited into the eternal purpose–the greatest epic ever devised. 

Having been enlightened to the gravity of our situation and the certainty of how it will all end, which path do you choose?

Jesus is calling.

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