Brown's Daily Word 8/20/07

Praise the Lord that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is also is the Lion of Judah, who breaks every chain gives us the victory again and again. He is the mighty warrior. He is known as the captain of the host. He comforts those who are afflicted. He afflicts those who are comfortable. He sets the captives free. In Luke 12, we read that Jesus came to bring fire to the earth! He came to make all things new! Friction is inevitable when the New Creation encounters and confronts the same old world.
Dallas Willard wrote that the world “thinks of justice, peace, and prosperity in negative terms. Justice means that no one’s rights are infringed. Peace means no war or turmoil. Prosperity means no one is in material need.” (Willard, Dallas, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Harper Collins, 1988.) In the New Creation, peace is defined, not as the absence of conflict, but as the fulfillment of the promise of the Kingdom.
In a book called The Blue Mountains of China, Rudy Wiebe put it this way:
“Jesus says in his society there is a new way for [people] to live:
you show wisdom, by trusting people;
you handle leadership, by serving;
you handle offenders, by forgiving;
you handle money, by sharing;
you handle enemies, by loving;
and you handle violence, by suffering.
In fact, you have a new attitude toward everything, toward everybody. Toward nature, toward the state in which you happen to live, toward women, toward slaves, toward all and every single thing. Because this is a Jesus society, and you repent, not by feeling bad, but by thinking different.”
(Wiebe, Rudy, The Blue Mountains of China, McClellan and Stewart, 1970.)
Luke’s Gospel also makes clear that the peace of the New Creation is not just a matter of personal attitude. It is a structural reality
Where the lowly are lifted up and the hungry are filled. (Luke 1:52-53)
Where there is release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and where the oppressed go free. (Luke 4:18)
Where blessed are the poor and the hungry and those who mourn. (Luke 6:20-21)
Where God’s people love not only their friends, but also their enemies; where the other cheek is turned; where shirts are given as well as coats; where lending is done without expectation of return. (Luke 6:27-35) The peace of Christ, which comes through the cross of Christ, is powerful, because strength is found to come from weakness, and greatness from submission, humility, and service.
The peace of Christ is not about opposition. The peace of Christ has only one agenda—to make all things new in accordance with the promise of the Kingdom. Following Christ means living each moment of each day with Christ at the center. To say that Jesus Christ is Lord is to say that Caesar is not, and that our modern day idols—whatever form they may take—are not!
When Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in Germany in the 1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had the opportunity to leave Germany. He chose to stay and resist. “Christians in Germany,” he wrote,” will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose; but I cannot make this choice in security.” Bonhoeffer chose to follow Christ, and it brought him into conflict with his world. He vocally opposed the Nazi regime and its policies, spent two years in a concentration camp, and was executed a few days before the Allies liberated the camp.
When the Nazis occupied Holland, Corrie ten Boom was a middle-aged woman who lived with her father and sister and worked with them in the family watch shop. She made no particular decision to become a part of the underground. She made lots of little decisions, though, to follow Christ. She helped to place hundreds of Dutch Jews in hiding in the countryside. Soon there were several Jews living and hiding in her home. Corrie ten Boom chose to follow Christ in the face of the occupation. Eventually she was imprisoned, first in Holland and then in a concentration camp in Germany. She survived, though her sister and her father and her nephew did not. Only one of the people who had been hiding in her home was ever captured; the rest survived the war.
Thousands of other Christians, whose names we will never know, in Germany and other parts of Europe made little decisions to follow Christ, accepting the cost, and it made a difference. Christ, over the last 20000 years, has not watered down his demands upon our lives. He has not watered down his demands nor has he given any sales, or easy bargains for those who would want to find an easier and cheaper way. There are no red hot deal, no easy sales, no closeout bargains, no end of the month clearances with Jesus; the cost to follow him is still and will always be full surrender of one’s life. The cost is a high price, that of my life, but the prize is life--abundant and free. Live in and through Him who bought and paid for my life with the surrender of his life on the tree at Calvary.
Examine for a moment one of the many Old Testament figures say, Daniel. He was forbidden to pray to Jehovah. Violation would result in being thrown into the lion’s den. It wasn’t a tough decision for Daniel to make for he had already made some strong convictions concerning his relationship to God. He kept praying. He was thrown into the lion’s den.
Or take one of my favorite movies "Chariots of Fire", which is about a man who eventually became a missionary and who also won a gold medal running for the 1924 British Olympic team. It happened that Eric Liddell almost lost his chance for that Olympic gold because of his conviction in Christ. One of his preliminary heats was to be run on a Sunday morning, when he would be in church. He announced that he would not run. He was brought up before the British Olympic Committee, but he still refused to run on a Sunday. Then another runner voluntarily withdrew from another heat and let Eric run in his place. Eric ran and won and eventually won the gold medal. He had his eyes on a goal, that of Christ, and was willing to lose the medal he had trained for because of his convictions. There was a cutting edge to his life.
Any Christian living a life full of conviction needs strength which comes from God through his Holy Spirit in our lives. It is God who gives us the strength, the courage, the fortitude, to keep that trust and faith in him strong. The Bible says, "No one who puts his trust in him will ever be disappointed, no one." The inner strength is available for every one who is willing to call upon the resources of God to give them the courage to stand by his or her convictions. The inner strength we receive from God is JUST like that. We know that, as we live, God is watching us, and He will give us the will, the strength, and the inspiration to live for him.
Sometimes we are called to make a stand that cuts across lines that tend to separate us from others, or from what society holds to be dear. If something or someone is destroying your relationship to God, or dimming your vision of righteousness and goodness, if must be stopped. Sometimes we must separate ourselves from situations, or people in order to remain true to our convictions, true to our faith.
Take, for example, Joseph. Potiphar's wife, had designs on this young man. She thought it would be great fun to seduce him. She tried with all of her charm, but Joseph refused. He said no to this woman and said, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" You remember that he had a price to pay for this rejection, for she brought false charges against him and he was persecuted for righteousness sake."
This is the kind of life Jesus is calling us to live. He calls us to a life with a cutting edge that chooses the costly price of ultimate loyalties to the cheapness of easy thrills or momentary relationships. It is a life that holds onto abiding joys, instead of reaching for quick kicks, and easy pleasures. It is a life that is called upon to weigh the consequences, to think first and then react. We are to react in a way that puts God first and our desires, our aims, and our pleasure second. It is a life that even sometimes calls us to stand apart, or maybe even to stand alone, even in a family. But know and believe that this life full of loyalty, full of commitment, full of Jesus is an abundant life. It is life that is truly rewarding; it is a life worth living.
Jesus calls us to live for Him. He calls us to a life of loyalty and commitment, a life that is lived on the cutting edge of society. He calls us to live with conviction; he calls us to a life in faith. He calls us to live with courage, to draw on His strength and he calls us to be tested. He calls us to make a stand, to live by our convictions even when those convictions might bring separation, or pain into our lives.
We can live up to this calling because we know that Jesus is truly the way, the truth and the life for us.
In Christ,
Brown