Reminder: The Lord is Near, or Answer the Door

I was wondering about the Bible passages that say "the Lord is near" (or "at hand"), or where the Lord says, "I am with you." Look here for a compilation of these "I am with you" statements of the Lord. The characteristic refrain is, "Fear not, for I am with you." It's a remarkable list, taken together. The resounding sense is, "Don't be afraid. The Lord is with you, fighting for you, protecting you, and guiding you." How's that for a confidence-builder.

Now, just for good measure, here are a couple of "the Lord is near" verses:

• The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Ps. 34:18
• The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Ps. 145:18

And as for "The Lord is at hand":

• Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.... Phil. 4:5

By the way, the Greek word translated "reasonableness" in the ESV is "gentleness" in the NIV. You might also say moderation, or patience. These words describe something that comes with the understanding that "the Lord is near." By the way, the same Greek word appears in the following verse, and here the ESV translates the same word as "gentle":

• But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. James 3:17

Reasonableness, gentleness, moderation, patience, this is a realm of words that describe the emotional/spiritual climate of the Christian life. You can't get it unless it is given to you "from above." It is "wisdom from above." Which reminds me:

• Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” Eph. 4:8

Such wisdom as is marked by remarkable gentlesness, patience, and reasonableness; all this must be a gift from God, and it is based on Jesus having ascended victoriously to the Father's right hand. If we are not experiencing these gifts, if we need more of that "climate," perhaps it is because we need to hear what Jesus is saying to the church at Laodicea:

• Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Rev. 3:20

Note: reading these verses in their context will do nothing but improve your understanding. I just thought I'd share.

Our Discomforting Savior

Have you seen this? Michael Spencer discussing one of the most uncomfortable (and therefore most avoided) sayings of Jesus. I have a mind to collect such uncomfortable sayings all on one blogpost. It would be a long post, though. The cumulative impact might be rather surprising. I have no desire to set up some kind of dichotomy between the comforting Jesus and the discomforting Jesus, but such a dichotomy is implicit in our avoidance of this category of teaching, always scanning the Scriptures for "comfort" verses. Are we missing something?

Getting back to Michael's post, check this out:

What’s challenging about so much of Luke 14 is how it seems to contradict so many things we take for granted as normal and moral, especially family.

A new landowner assumes he should go see what he’s bought. A farmer buys five oxen- a major purchase- and wants to examine them. A newlywed wants his honeymoon. (Deuteronomy 24:5 gave him a year at home!)

All of these become examples of excuse makers who are more interested in the normal routines of life than the Kingdom of God that is coming.

I would put myself- and all of you- squarely in the group Jesus is describing, by the way. If you think you aren’t an excuse maker who would rather inspect his oxen than enter the Kingdom, you’re not going to see the intent of Jesus.

In the parable where these examples are found (14:15-24), the man giving the banquet (God working through Jesus) must literally drag and force people to come to the banquet. (“Compel them to come.”) Eventually his house is filled with the crippled, the blind, the lame and the assumed uninvited and unwelcome.

As Michael says, Jesus is often "purposely provocative." That's a pretty acute phrasing there. Very true. Like all the true prophets of old, I guess. We are more "of" this world than we like to admit, so the Scriptures, when we hear them clearly, often bring us up short, reveal us to be hiding in the bushes with fig leaves covering our embarrassing parts, and on those fig leaves are scrawled all the comfort verses of the Bible.

I put it this way over at Mount Jesus, apropos of another possible disturbing utterance of the Savior of the world:

if these opening words of Jesus [in the sermon on the mount] are not a little shocking to us, a little disturbing, making us shift in our seat a little (our comfortable seat in the grass with Jesus), if these beatitudes ripple over us like refreshing water instead of piercing us like the arrows of God, then perhaps we are not understanding them after all. That's my take. I want to be pierced by the Word (Heb 4:12), not just comforted. These words of Jesus have sharp points and fly faster than light.

Someday I'm going to need much comfort, I'm sure, and perhaps all that I say here will seem then like utter nonsense. But this is where I'm at right now. The Word is "two-edged," somebody said. Perhaps one edge is for piercing, and the other for healing.

Anyway, I think one of the most uncomfortable concepts of the Bible is that we who believe are "sent" for the purpose of the Gospel. We sing songs about being in the arms of Jesus, having our worry and fear subside as we remember that Jesus loves us, etc. All good. We get together and talk about our needs. When do we get together and talk about our mission? I'm just wondering. I'm sure we've all got cattle to look after, family matters to attend to, even a close relative's funeral to go to . . . then we can talk about following Jesus.

But our very discomforting Savior has another idea.

The Piercing and Discerning Word

I've been thinking about a passage in Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians:

For Christ's love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: if One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.

From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him like that. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [HCSB]

I realize I haven't had much to say lately here at In the Clearing. I've kind of lost my blogging mojo, if you know what I mean. But this passage of Scripture has been doing a number on me lately, piercing and discerning, so what I think I'm going to do in a few upcoming posts is kind of journal my way through these words. More next time.

Simon says . . .

1 Peter 3:15.

I just wanted to say . . .

. . . watch . . . pray . . . listen . . . obey.

John 17

For a while now I've focused each morning on Jesus' prayer for his disciples on his last night with them ("the night he was betrayed"), found in John 17. I have to admit that however many times I've read this prayer in the past, it never reached me. It never opened my eyes or stirred my heart. I think that probably by the time I reached this chapter I was racing ahead to the events of the crucifixion and resurrection. In any case, I raced past these words, as if they were somehow not meant for me, or of little importance.

Well, that's changed, thank God. This prayer is both inspiring me and convicting me. And amazing me! Really, I've been meditating on it and journaling my thoughts almost verse by verse for some time now, and I can't seem to get past it. Look at our Lord's vision for his disciples, for the lives they would lead after he left them. Check out what he prays for on their behalf, because in praying for his disciples he is praying for you and me (if you, like me, count yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ).

Paul says Christ is interceding for us even now (Rom 8:34). Maybe John 17 gives us some insight into the kind of prayer he is praying on our behalf. I would say more, but I am more or less overwhelmed! (Imagine that, me, at a loss for words!) I will give you just one example of how utterly mind-blowing Jesus is here. He says of his disciples (and by inference of all disciples for all time, including you and me):

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. [John 17:16]

I'll say no more. If that doesn't mess with your head, nothing will.

Trouble, Trial, and Tribulation: A Brief Sampling of the Scriptures

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

James 1:2-4

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 1:6-7

In this [the imperishable inheritance] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.