Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Take the Key


Once there was a man who was thrown in prison for killing another man. His sentence was life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Many years passed, and the man in prison fell into deep depression. He was very sorry. He wept for what he had done, and sitting alone in his prison cell he desperately wanted to make things right. He often thought about what was going on outside of the prison. He dreamed about freedom and what that would feel like. In spite of no hope and the worst of circumstances, somehow he managed to go on, day after day, year after year. The mundane routine and predictability of the day, although hopeless, sadly started to serve as a comfort to him. 

But there was something very unique about this particular murder case.

The Judge had made a written stipulation when the man was sentenced. It was a written stipulation which the murderer didn’t know about. See, way back when the man was sentenced to prison, the judge gave the dead man's brother the option of setting the murderer free under two conditions: the brother of the deceased had to completely forgive the murderer, and then give him the only key to his house along with all his possessions and let him move in. Forgive him and give him a new life. The stipulation was high. The brother was very wealthy.

After a long time had passed, the brother heard about the murderer - how he had expressed regret and sorrow about what he had done. Amazingly, without hesitating the brother raced to the prison.

When the brother arrived he provided the prison warden with the stipulation paperwork from the trial, the warden had no choice but to arrange a meeting. The brother was then humiliated as he went through security and was stripped down to his underwear and given the clothes of a prisoner while inside.

The brother was led to a large room where he waited for the murderer to arrive. During this time the warden showed the murderer the stipulation paperwork and explained to him that the brother of the man he murdered is waiting for him in the next room. The murderer dropped to his knees as the weight of the moment gripped his heart. Tears flooded his eyes as he heard the loud buzz of the prison door opening.

As the door swung open he saw a man on the the other side of the room, now beginning to run towards him. The murderer, still on his knees, braced himself with his head between his knees waiting to be kicked and beat by the brother. As the running footsteps drew closer, they started to slow down and finally stopped right by the murderer’s head. 

The brother, standing over the man who killed his younger brother, sat down on the floor next to the murderer. After a few moments the murderer finally looked up and their eyes locked. The brother’s eyes were opened wide, with, compassion. Confused tears streamed down the murderer’s face and as he opened his mouth to speak nothing but sobs poured out from the inner depths of his soul.

“I…I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

The brother replied, “I know you are son.”

“I’m a murderer! Why are you here?? Why are you doing this??”

The brother declared, “You are forgiven” and wrapped his arms around the murderer. The mouths of the nearby prison guards dropped as they saw the reckless act of love unfold before their very eyes.

The brother continued, “When you did the things you are now ashamed of you did not know who you were. You didn’t know where you came from. You didn’t know what you’re capable of and why you’re here. Son, look at me. I forgive you completely.”

When the prison warden heard those words, he looked down at the stipulation paperwork and put a checkmark next to stipulation #1.

The murderer, now violently sobbing, embraced the feet of the brother and wept aloud while thankfulness poured from his heart.

The brother reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. “Son, this key gives you access to everything I own. Everything I have is now yours.” And he set the key down on the floor. “No longer will you call yourself a murderer. From this point forward your name will be Justis, which means ‘righteous one’.”

Justis continued sobbing on the floor, and his eyes came into focus on the key. 

“Son, take the key” the brother told him.

After a long while Justis got up and dried his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. “Sir, what you did is amazing. I sincerely thank you for your forgiveness. I can now die knowing that I am reconciled to my Maker. So, thank you.”

Now speaking in a more firm voice the brother said, “Take the key”.

Justis turned around and started walking back toward the prison guards.

The brother, now screaming, “Son! Take the key! There is more – everything I have is yours! I have given you freedom!”

Justis continued walking back into the prison, and the guards shut the door behind him.

The brother’s eyes were streaming with tears. “TAKE THE KEY JUSTIS! TAKE THE KEY!” The prison guards shook their heads at the decision of Justis while putting the shackles back on him.

The prison warden, still standing there with the stipulation paperwork, said “I’m sorry sir, but the prisoner did not accept your key. I cannot sign this paperwork.”

The brother turned, hung his head and walked out of the prison. Every day after that he returned to plead with Justis – telling him about his freedom. His destiny. His inheritance.

Often times we become so comfortable with the routine and predictability of slavery. We get comfortable with our three rations per day. We get comfortable with the same prison inmates. We get comfortable with the shame of dead religion. We feel undeserving and hide behind false humility. We say things like, “It’s my cross to bear” and begin to fear the very idea of freedom. We forget freedom even exists. Or worse, we’re deceived into thinking the prison cell is the most freedom we deserve.

See forgiveness is awesome but it doesn’t save us. It doesn’t set us free and empower us to change. It cleans up the old heart but doesn’t give us a new one. It tears down the old house but it doesn't raise up a new one. It’s the resurrection of Jesus that saves us. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). Sadly, most churches only like to talk about the death of Jesus - forgiveness - leaving us with a key to the door of nowhere.

The new heart of flesh is given in this life, not the one to come. It is finished. His death reconciles us, His life saves us. We need to take the key and leave the prison. We need to see what lock it opens. Jesus died to deal with who you were, but was resurrected to make you into something new.

We’re not forgiven prisoners. We have been set free.

Take the key!

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” – Romans 5:10

Divided Kingdoms Don't Stand

I like to keep my lawn looking good. There's nothing like a thick, lush, dark green lawn. I have a lot of different tools & supplies for keeping it looking good such as my lawn mower, my weed whip, weed killer, edger, fertilizer, dandelion remover and those kinds of things. I own my lawn, and I'm in control of my lawn. I'm responsible for what goes on in my yard. My name is on the title and I have assumed the responsibilities of a home owner. Pretty soon my sons will be old enough to start helping me out. I will teach them how to use the mower, the weed whip, how to fertilize and all the other tips & tricks for keeping it looking nice.

When that time comes I will go out into the lawn with them and demonstrate. I will get down on their level and let them try and walk along side of me until they get the hang of it. After a few demonstrations and having them walk along side of me for a few weeks, I will formally hand over responsibilities to them. I will transfer my authority as the home owner to them, my sons, and give them the key to the mower. Then I will go back into the house.

While I'm in the house, I will listen for them and keep my ears open for any cries for help. I'll be thinking about them a lot, and hoping they do well and really take ownership in the work. While sitting in my chair I'll glance over at their pictures on the coffee table and think about how much I love them and how proud I am to be their father.

Then I'll remember that the lawn falls prey to voles and grub worms during certain times of the year. For a moment I'll be concerned but then I'll remember how I showed them how to get rid of these vermin and parasites and that there is nothing to fear because my sons are in control and they have way more power than those little things. Just step on them and throw out some poison. I love watching them take authority over these things - just like I taught them to do.

Never in a million years would I consider opening the window and start shooting my sons with a BB gun in the knees to teach them something or to see if they can still take care of the lawn while in pain. Never in a million years would I take some dandelion seeds and throw them out into the lawn. Never in a million years would I 'take' one of my sons while the other son weeps for the loss of his brother and calls me "mysterious."

Never.

Why? Because I'm a loving father. Because suffering never really teaches us anything other than how to endure more suffering. Because just as Jesus said, "a kingdom [or lawn!] divided against itself cannot stand."

If I was telling my boys to take care of the lawn while hurting them in any way, or allowing voles & grubs into the lawn, or weeds - I would not have a lawn for very long, and I would be a terrible father. My sons would likely give up, thinking that I must have changed my mind about wanting a nice lawn because I'm sending all their problems. "We might as well sit tight and take a break - it looks like Daddy must have changed his mind about us."

See, Satan's #1 goal is trying to deceive us into thinking God is somehow responsible for evil & suffering because our entire identity is formed by how we experience God's love.

Because we have fallen for this deception, we come up with complicated, false theories & doctrines about the absolute sovereignty of God which is completely unbiblical - we tell the world that "God is in control" and lay down in the lawn while the weeds, voles & grub worms take over. We tell each other that Daddy's tools stopped working anyway. Our loved ones die from grub worm bites, and at the funerals we try to comfort them by saying Daddy is in control and "Daddy works in mysterious ways."

But He does not work in mysterious ways. He is good ALL the time. He is not mysterious, and He put us in control of the lawn.

To this, there are some Christians who will say, "That makes for a pretty small God" as if claiming that removing evil from God somehow diminishes His nature. To me, that's just sad. Removing the allowance of evil from God doesn't diminish His nature or character - it strengthens it. It puts evil its proper place - "Satan, the father of lies". Anything other than this Jesus describes as the "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" - attributing evil to God's goodness.

Other Christians will say, "Wait a minute, I learned a lot from the times of my suffering." Of course you did, because "all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). God doesn't cause the suffering. He may pick you back up and "work it together" for your good because He loves you, but He never causes it. He loves you. He never pushes you off your bike, He just picks you back up and bandages your wounds.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." - Jesus

See, God loves you. If something is not going well or if there is evil in your life, use the authority He gave you and command it to leave. "The power of life and death is in our tongue" (Proverbs 18:21). You have the keys to the lawn mower. Pick up the rake and smack that thing in the head. Don't blame God. If you want to blame someone, blame the adversary - Satan. And then step on him.

May we trust in the goodness of our Father. May we trust that our Daddy's garage is full of "everything we need for life & godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). May we look up at the house window, see our Father giving us a 'thumbs up' from His chair and mouthing the words "I love you. Well done. You've got this."

Realm of the Butterfly

The other day my boys and I found a caterpillar crawling in the backyard. The thing about caterpillars is that they are really slow and they can't see very well so they will crawl right up into your hand. The boys were looking at it up close and passing it back and forth. In the midst of all the commotion they dropped it and one of them accidentally stepped on it. Whoops.
 
I explained that there would be one less butterfly in our yard this year which led to further chats about the life of caterpillars. You know, one of those father-son teaching moments where we try to explain complex processes in kid terms as if we really understood it in the first place. I felt like Clark Griswold talking with Rusty about exterior illumination.

It really is pretty cool though - how caterpillars transform into butterflies. I think the technical term is metamorphosis. It got me thinking about the gospel which basically says the same thing happens to us when we're born again. We are literally born again into new creations, just like caterpillars becoming butterflies.

But there's no butterfly without the cocoon experience. There is no life without first dying. Early on I struggled a lot in my Christian walk because of this - I never completely died. I never crawled into the cocoon. I never "took up my cross". See, if we try to get born again without first dying we will end up in perpetual labor. Stuck in the birth canal. Trust me. Straddling the fence never ends well. He who wants to save his life MUST lose it. I looked for other ways but there wasn't any.

When we finally get to the point where we understand the cocoon experience is the only pathway to life, we crawl in - sometimes even without fully understanding what the cocoon will do to us. But we do it - either by process of elimination or sometimes through the help & encouragement of others.

But I think we often focus too much on the cocoon - as if the cocoon is the entire point of the Christian life. Death. We come to the end of ourselves, repent of our sins and crawl into the cocoon never to be seen again. But forgiveness is not the point of the gospel. The point of the gospel is the new creation. A new heart. Wholeness. Freedom. The restoration of that which was lost. It's as if we never ate from the tree in the garden. We are forgiven SO THAT we can walk in freedom and "newness of life" as ambassadors of a new kingdom - a kingdom not on the ground of the caterpillar with its poor eyesight and dulled senses, but a new kingdom in the realm of the butterfly - the new creation - looking down on our circumstances because we are "seated with Christ in heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6).

See, Jesus didn't just die for our forgiveness. Forgiveness is awesome but there is so much more than the cocoon experience. The rest of the good news is that you enter the cocoon as a caterpillar - and you leave as a butterfly. You are no longer a slave to the ground but free as the wind. There is only one catch: in the kingdom of the butterfly you can only use your wings when you actually believe you have them. Just like the butterfly as it emerges from its cocoon, we cannot see our wings - the new creation - with our natural eyes. At first, we only know we have been changed because of the words of the first Butterfly who went before us. We can't see our wings so we must believe His words instead of our eyes. It's only after taking the leap from our cocoons that we gain the revelation of who we have actually become.

There are two kinds of Christians out there - those who take this leap and those who don't. For those who don't, they crawl back in the cocoon and wait for the first Butterfly to come back with more detailed instructions. For those who do, well, they are out playing and making more cocoons.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Heb. 11:1

Voice of Truth

It could very well be that the knowledge & beliefs we inherited from our parents were only partially true or not true at all. This isn’t something we normally like to consider but Jesus demands it of us. Our pursuit of the Truth must always outweigh allegiances to our family. That’s why many people believe the truth with their minds but their hearts will refuse it because it seems to contradict the faith of their parents. People think they are dishonoring their parents by believing something else, believing in a different way, finding a new church or making other changes. But in reality this is not about dishonoring people but rather the “pulling down of strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4).

This is what Jesus meant when He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). He wasn’t trying to be mean or harsh, He was simply saying they might not be right. He was saying we must have the willingness to follow Him regardless of the cost – regardless of what our parents taught us (or didn’t teach us) about spiritual things. He was saying we must follow the whisper of Truth wherever it leads us.

Our families love us and want the best for us but we must be willing to follow Truth – even if it leads us outside the camp.

“And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” – John 10:4

Children

Today I was with my 7 year old boys pretty much every moment of the day. We went to church, we went to Target, we played at home and I answered a gazillion questions for them (some questions multiple times). Then for the rest of the day I helped them mount their God-forsaken homemade Pokemon cards on posterboard and laminate them. Over and over again we did this. They basically think I'm an arts & crafts god now. I have to admit, I'm pretty good at mounting & laminating homemade Pokemon cards.

It's a gift.

There was one moment in the middle of the day when they were coloring (yes, homemade Pokemon cards) when I had a chance to go out to the garage to do some organizing. I went out there for 30 seconds before I realized I forgot something, so I went back in and Owen was standing there staring at me with his mouth open and a disgusted look on his face, "DADDY WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!? I WAS WORRIED - I FINISHED MY POKEMON CARD AND I'M READY TO LAMINATE."

After a lengthy apology for not manning my post I proceeded to laminate their homemade cards with clear packing tape while they asked me for snacks, how to use the computer and what my favorite Pokemon character is.

My parents tell me to soak these moments in because a time is coming when they will want nothing to do with me. I can see the truth in that - every time I blink they seem to get bigger and bigger - and a little less dependent on Susie and I. As parents we often get tired and frustrated but I think when the smoke clears we all enjoy being needed. Wanted. We all enjoy providing for our children. Teaching them. Encouraging them. Loving them.

"Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these...Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Luke 18:16; Matt. 18:3

What was it about children that Jesus loved so much? Was it their intellect? Their perfect work? Their theology? Their doctrines?

No.

It was their dependence on others. It was the complete absence of pride & shame. It was their humility. It was the absence of judgment & criticism. It was the absence of entitlement. It was their lightheartedness and emotional sensitivity. It was their freedom.

See, childlike dependence is ironically the only doorway to true freedom. This is how God set it up. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Him will find it.
Part of what it means to lose our life is to lose our worldly reputation. Children will laugh, cry, shout, plead and beg in front of others without even thinking about it. When we break away from the pack and start pressing into God, people may shake their heads at us. Even the so-called religious folks may label us "immature" and persecute us. In fact, Jesus said they would. For the love of God, the religious folks accused Jesus of being demon possessed! If Jesus is our model for what normal Christianity is supposed to look like, bring it on.

I believe God gave us parent-child relationships as a model which tells us exactly how He wants us to relate to Him - with utter dependence. With reckless abandonment. Hands in the air, crying to be held. If you want help finding God, just watch your kids.

May we depend on God like our kids depend on us. May we pursue God with reckless abandonment. May we stand in the doorway and say, "Daddy, where have you been? I have been worried and I'm ready for your help."