Serving Rascals, Clumsy Disciples, and Physically and Mentally Ill Believers with the Unconditional Love of Jesus Christ
–CS Lewis
Psalm 5:11, CSB
Matt. 22:37-39
Love is the ultimate response God is looking for from us. It is the currency of Heaven. The Kingdom’s economy is ‘the gold standard’ of love. It’s the way business gets done in eternity. Love! Without love ruling our lives now, we will arrive there as paupers and beggars. We will disobey Jesus as well.
God is our primary target to love. And the quality of it can be appreciated from its ‘source point’. Heart. Soul. Mind. These are the starting places for our affection. The caliber of our worship is summed up by the word, “all.” That word has a totality, and a significance to it. It further intensifies love to the only acceptable place. Love indeed is the perfect “make-up.” We’re never more beautiful then when we love God or another person.
As disciples who are indeed flawed and broken, we can still find a place where we can minister from. I can’t do a lot anymore, but I can love. Loving God is something I can do, even with my issues. I can always love. I can always give my all, my heart to someone else. I can always love!
And actually, this disability strips my discipleship to a simpler and basic level. At the “lowest common denominator” my faith is still valid and vital. I love Jesus, even when I can’t be a senior pastor or teach at my Bible School anymore. I accept this. I can even rejoice in this new “inadequacy.”
Fifteen years ago I sat waiting for my bus, at King’s Cross in London, England. I was all alone, and I felt it. There was also a strong sense of brokenness that encircled me, I was painfully aware of my disability. I was coming a bit unglued at the enormity of my mental illness. I sat staring at the floor just in front of me. I could do nothing else. All I could do is stare. Stare some more.
But suddenly, in my field of vision, just in front of me, hopped a bird with a crippled foot. Something had damaged him. The thing that profoundly spoke to me was that bird was not at all devastated, not at all. And the Lord spoke to me about that bird, and His comfort pumped right through to my veins. I felt I was right where I was supposed to be. I had become the ‘broken sparrow,’ and amazingly I could still follow. Maybe, even better now, because of my ‘limp’.
“Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:35
There is a hidden ‘process’ just lying in wait for us in this verse. The fact that it is there at all borders on our sense of reason. To be a brother, or a sister to Jesus is almost absurd. (And to be a mother is really pushing the envelope.) This verse is a true wonder! Too good to be true for a rascal like me.
But it’s not how we see ourselves, it is how Jesus Christ sees us. He sees us promoted and “and raised us up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:6). Ideally, family– as it’s designed to be– is in a level of intimacy exceeding all others. I have two younger brothers and in spite of not communicating for months we just ‘tune-in” to each other. When we do meet, it is on the same wavelength.
I’m going to shift gears on you now. I devoutly believe that the Kingdom of God, which includes the Church, “flows” through relationships between people. Some believe it flows through a denomination, or other structure. But it doesn’t.
The Kingdom connects and grows when believers have personal contact with each other. The Church is not chiefly an organization– but it is an “organism.” I value my relationships, because they have life in them! Are you trying hard to do God’s will in an area? Try moving towards personal contact with another. (I find that is often the way God leads me.)
Back to Mark 3:35. “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” This verse is not for everyone. One doesn’t relate to Jesus on this illustrious level automatically. The promise can only be triggered through obedience. What we do is the evidence of what we believe. (I told you it was too good to be true! :-) ) We ascend into family when we do God’s will. There are no short-cuts to intimacy like this.
But there is no other way to a closer and intimate relation to Him. I think this is true: He has no favorites among His children, only intimates.
Romans 6:6, NLT
C.A. Fox
The need of this moment is critical. Many believers have never came to this point of ‘knowing.’ Maturity comes when one realizes that crucifixion has dealt with the old man. We died when He died, we were there when He died, we were part of that event. Romans 6 is all about a believers ‘co-crucifixion’ with Jesus Christ. Calvary was far more than a religious event— it was where our sin was terminated. It was more than just a penalty carried— it was where our old nature put to death.
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
Sin has no power to sway a dead man. A man who is dead doesn’t respond to a girl in a leopard skin bikini. (It doesn’t matter if she is insanely gorgeous). He no longer can be tempted to sin. Why? Because he is dead. This is not an issue of semantics, it is not poetic interpretation of a metaphor. It rings true in heaven and it is quite real here on earth.
Sin should no longer remain in power of a believer’s life. We believe that our sins have been dealt with on the cross, that Jesus took our sins from us, bearing them as a ‘sacrificial lamb.’ But the same is true to say, “My sinful nature was also crucified with him.”
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”
John 12:24
The principle is from farming. A kernel of wheat will bring an abundance. But it must be buried first. The dead seed miraculously sprouts. At the moment of death it suddenly receives a new life. The dead seed grows into a bountiful harvest. This is the New Testament principle of dying to self. A few things:
Crucifixion should always be taken by faith in God’s Word and it will lead to resurrection. Crucifixion weakness is necessary for resurrection power. Jesus shares his life with us— his power is given to his people. He shares all that He is so we might become like him.
“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”
Romans 6:12-13
We’ve been given a gracious teacher in the person of the Holy Spirit. He will never condemn our feeble efforts to be holy. Be encouraged: God delights to make the weakest of us strong. He has done all He can to work holiness into our hearts.
Broken Believers 