This title will mean so many things to so many of our friends and acquaintances.

Jesus said: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” – John 10:10

Our boss, friend, and brother came all the way to the other side of the world to visit us this last week. Okay, I’ll confess he visited a lot of people. That conversation coupled with a few recent incidents has been in my mind a lot since. A topic that arose very forcefully was what a “life giving” philosophy was all about and some considerations about the opposite.

In the kingdom of God over history things have been steadily changing. Times spawn new times. Old things spawn new things different from themselves. The core of the covenants remain the same, but other things clearly do change.

Jesus represented a BIG change. He came and died for all men. He called his era a new wineskin and in Mark 2:22 warned about the dangers of trying to keep using the old wineskins:

“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins”- Mark 2:22

I’m going to take quite a leap of opinion here, but the wineskin analogy really could go further than we realize.

Wine is fermented grape juice, and in the time of Christ it was produced, in mass, annually. Every year brought new wine and new wineskins. Of course the coming of the Messiah is the greatest of all new wineskins. I just think maybe it wasn’t the only one. In fact this very point has caused division and strife countless times in the history of Christianity.

So the title, “new life”. What’s that all about?

Many readers will tie it to one thing, others will maybe tie it to something else… at minimum a Christian would connect it to John 10:10 and verses like it referring to the “new life” Jesus brings. Whatever the connection, “new life” is clearly the opposite of “old life”. Life giving is the opposite of life draining. Keep in mind the wineskins. Things have changed in the kingdom time and again. Usually not smoothly. Whether you were Martin Luther, or Martin Luther King, you would face people who want things to stay just as they were. Yep good Christians wanted to keep things just as they were when Rosa Parks got on that bus. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it was just a few either. The whims of a few aren’t that powerful.

In 1611 another big wineskin came. The King James bible was completed. After burning Tyndale the monarchy decided to publish a good portion of his work in the 1611 King James Bible. Why do I call that a big wineskin and not even mention the 1380 Wycliffe, 1534 Tyndale, 1539 Great Bible, 1557 Geneva, or the 1582 Rheims bibles? Well cause they were “little”. To this day there is a portion of Christendom that hold the 1611 KJV to be the only true English translation and continue to ferment their wine in that wineskin. Does it ever burst? You betcha!

I mention the ancient KJV because it is a real life caricature of a reality that has caused the body of Christ to suffer both actually and figuratively. With every generation comes a new wineskin. If you keep putting your wine in old wineskins then you’re living an “old life” and not a “new life”. That being said…

The “life giving” philosophy is a new wineskin. I think it is a “big” one. One that will serve us well. From here I can’t see where it will need to give way to yet another, and maybe one day I’ll be an old geezer scolding some “youngun” for not taking my wineskin seriously. I sure hope not.

So I’m sure if you’ve read this far you want to know what “life giving” means to Christianity. Well I’m happy to tell you what I think it should mean. It should mean the end of trying to control God’s servants and the beginning of trying to serve them. It should bring a new awareness of “the first being last and the last being first”. It should empower normal, flaw filled sinners to reach the world in ways not seen since Jesus sent out his followers 2 by 2. It means that no flesh and blood will put their foot in the door of evangelism, missions, or ministry without being put to shame for such an arrogant self appointment. It should mean that when Jesus says to a person “Come, follow me” the “life giving” church says “we stand with you, for better or worse.” It may even mean that Jesus is coming back soon…

Whatever it really means I believe it is evident in Jesus’ example 2000 years ago. His disciples were clearly plain old humans but in a very short time Jesus was sending them all over, unattended, to tell the world about Him (Mark 6:7). How funny that so many “new” things that come down the church’s path are actually old things that are finally accepted as true. This is likely one of those things.

Life giving New Lifers are here to stay. Still human. Still messing up a good portion of the time. I just hope this thing spreads. I hope it penetrates the dying Churches and organizations of America and the world. When it does it may well help the few laborers rescue some souls from hell.

Ambiguous
of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify.

A continuation of the whisper post.

Is it not true that Christianity is a navigation of faith through completely uncertain waters? We can speak certainly about very few things. The fact that God wins, Jesus is Lord, and the devil loses is fairly concrete, but the finer points are blurry.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that we now “see in a mirror dimly”. Some versions include “see now through a mirror obscurely”, or “see a blurred image in a mirror”. When I was picturing the concept I didn’t think of glass or a mirror at all. I’ve very little experience with blurry or dim mirrors. What I pictured was my younger days trying to catch blue crabs off of different docks in Maryland. The waters of the Chesapeake are not as clear as they used to be, or so I hear. I’ve never known them in my lifetime to be clear. In fact when I’m pulling up my line or scooping along the bank I have to strain and often guess at what is there. Sometimes I get a rock, sometimes nothing at all. It was REALLY hard to see.

That was the scenario I imagine when I read the Pauline passage. Dark, almost completely opaque water. It is possible to discern things, sometimes if I could get the bait just a few inches from the surface I could be nearly certain that my dinner was hanging on from behind. It would even bring a bit of excitement when he seemed especially large. I would think “look at that monster!” Sometimes I was right, but not always. A swift scoop and sometimes the dinky thing would slip right through the net. In my many years and many hours of crabbing I never did quite KNOW what was hanging on the line. In fact a little swarm of minnows could sometimes feel, and look, just like a crab through that murky water.

The Christian life is a bit like that. As I mentioned in the previous post, God is a gentle whisper. God “IS” … always has been, always will be. He doesn’t need to make noise, He doesn’t have to put on a show. Shows & noise are for counterfeit gods, they are for the mistresses of the adulterous people (Matt 16:14) seeking a sign. Sometimes, they are for human beings that God has stamped with His approval. Ah, but that was the last post. Lets move on…

If God were to yell & scream His will He would make us all slaves just by the sound of His voice. That is NOT His plan. He takes no joy in slavery. He takes joy in willful, chosen, obedience. (Isa. 1:18-20)

“you pray to prosper and succeed but your flesh is something I just can’t feed…”. Those are some words of a very powerful song by Keith Green called “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice”. The words are tremendous and if they were not presented in such a catchy song they would likely have gotten Keith beaten up and thrown out of any room he shared them in. I dare you to digest the lyrics: lyrics.

I can only hope at this point that you’re convinced of what I have said so far. Here is where I explain that Ambiguity is a necessary part of the Christian’s walk. Absolutely NECESSARY!

As I just mentioned. The sound of God’s voice would make any human His slave. Pharaoh, when he came against Moses, became God’s slave very quickly. So much so that during the latter plagues the bible reads “and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Pharaoh actually believed himself to be a deity. Yet flesh is so weak that the 10 plagues would have likely stopped at #6 if God had not done something a bit unusual. In Exodus Chapter 9, after the Plague of Boils verse 12 says “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”

So what does that mean for us? It means that God MUST be a whisper. In 1 Kings 19 that mighty man of God, Elijah, who saw chariots of fire and watched his water soaked offering licked up by fire from heaven experienced God… as a gentle whisper.

God’s ultimate joy comes when we fragile little wisps of mist hear his gentle whisper and obey. If He spoke much more loudly we would be utterly destroyed. As Isaiah puts it in 6:5 ” “Woe to me! I am ruined”.

So this week lets approach the throne in awe of the gentle whisper. Listen for it carefully, and obey. Turn down the volume, retreat from anything that would loudly cry out for your attention, and seek the whisper that is the Ancient of Days! Not the wind, not the earthquake, not even the fire… Lord whisper in my ear!

1 Kings 19
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

My daughter has recently been declaring that “God is not a man.” She does it fairly randomly, just about any time the word God comes up. In our house His name comes up quite often.

Just last night we shared a meal with a new friend who was so clearly after God’s own heart. At some point in the conversation my daughter announced quite boldly, “God is not a man!” How profound.

God made us in His image, but it does not mean we are Him. So many religions and cults have hooked into this human desire and tempted the ego by claiming that very thing. That God is just like us… what a lie!

Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I have been so incredibly convicted lately that I cannot treat God like some man. He doesn’t make mistakes, I can’t hide anything from Him, and He NEVER FAILS. It dawned on me in the last few months that I disappoint God in so many ways because of my lack of reverence. I ask Him to perform for me: “God, just give me a sign.” I try to manipulate Him: “show me Your wonders, then I will do anything you want.”

If God were a man, I could coerce Him with gifts. If I say out loud in front of a few people “just let me win the lottery and I’ll give it all away, I’ll help the poor and the sick.” Perhaps I can get Him to give up some of that loot.

The LORD is in the whisper! … WOW. When I try to determine what would please God I realize He has made it clear. From Old Testament to New the bible could not have been written without the word “faith”. Without which it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God (Hebrews 11:6). So if faith is so crucial what then is our duty? … Am I going to tell you anything you haven’t already heard before?

When was the last time you apologized in prayer to the LORD who is in the whisper for wanting Him to be the earthquake? When was the last time God gave you a glimpse of Himself and you said to Him, “My LORD, I am so sorry that my faith was so weak that you had to give me a glimpse.” Have you? I realize I’ve crossed a line. Some of you would even say I’m wrong. What’s wrong, after-all, with God showing us things? … I believe it destroys a portion of the only gift we can give God, FAITH. Because of that, I know for sure, that God will take much care and only show His wonders when faith will be increased instead of decreased. Remember faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) So once you see… faith becomes moot. I know how this goes, if you already decided I was wrong no amount of scripture is going to convince you is it? Well I must try…

Matthew 12:39
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

My hope for you, and me, is that we will please God. I believe that Jesus told the truth when He said “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing” (John 14:12).

Our new friend told a story about a street person that asked her, “What do I do in the middle of the night when the gods grab me by the throat and start choking me?” She said; “Say the name of Jesus.” That person soon came back and thanked her for her advice. Proclaiming, “it worked!” She says, she has never been choked by a demon. She has never seen a manifestation beyond the face of the person in torment. Yet when she tells the demons to leave, they just leave.

I say to anyone in her boat, REJOICE! God is greatly pleased with your great faith!!! He knows your heart, He knows your faith, and He knows you don’t need any signs and wonders…”blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” John 20:29.

I’m sorry my Lord & my God for all of the times my faith has been so weak that you gave me a glimpse of You to keep me encouraged. I pray that one day my faith would be such that seeing your hand write on my wall would be no different than seeing the sun rise in the morning. You are the One True and Living God. As the sun rises in the sky I stand in awe of Your wonders!