Humility and the Word.

Even a casual reading of Scripture reveals a profound connection between humility and grace {Lk. 18:14; Jms. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5c}. But can we pause for just a moment to look at humility in relation to the Word. What’s our attitude toward the Word of God? It’s one of the critical questions.

Professor Dallas Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, describes how as a college student he found his way into the requisite practices of Life in the Spirit of Christ almost by accident. He describes his discovery like this.

In particular, I had learned that intensity is crucial for any progress in spiritual perception and understanding. To dribble a few verses or chapters of Scripture on oneself through the week, in church or out, will not reorder one’s mind and spirit— just as one drop of water every five minutes will not get you a shower, no matter how long you keep it up. You need a lot of water at once and for a sufficiently long time. Similarly for the written Word.

...Hence one cannot tack an effective, life-transforming practice of prayer and study onto ‘life as usual.’ Life as usual must go. It will be replaced by something far better.” {Some Italics Mine}

Scripture is the mind of Jesus Christ {1 Cor. 2:16b}, the voice of His Spirit speaking directly to our hearts. So, what’s your honest attitude toward the Word? Apathy, indifference, take it or leave it? To know our Father intimately we have to know His heart toward us. And His heart toward us is revealed in the Mission and Ministry of the Messiah! You want to know what Abba is like? Look in faith at the Son. Because we’ll never see the full image of the Father, we’ll never see God clearly— without distraction and distortion— unless we look through the lens of the Son. Jesus came to show us what Abba is really like: not the false images which abound, not the vanity of our own imaginings, not the cultic deity of pagan superstition, but the real, the only, the One true God.

You see, your theology is, in essence, your approach to God— your understanding of Abba. And if your theology is not setting you free, bringing you a greater sense of courage in Life, bravery in the Battle, then what good is it... in Time or Eternity? Maybe your theology is not as accurate as you think it is. The other option is that you don’t really believe what you’ve been taught, you don’t trust the teaching you’ve received. Which means, essentially, you haven’t really received it— in the Scriptural sense of the term. You with me here?

There’s a particular term used in the Greek of the NT, a very specifically chosen term from among the multitude of images available which picture what it means to receive in faith what God has given in grace. The word is hupakouo, an intensified form of the root verb akouo = ‘hear and understand.’ Hupakouo carries the ideas of ‘obedience to, of following fully, of embracing something or someone in complete surrender.’ After researching the nuances of this term over and over again in the early years of my ministry, here’s how I chose to define it. Hupakouo means = hear with the ear, comprehend with the mind, and obey with the will {Rom. 6:16 and 10:16; Phil. 2:12; 2 Thes. 1:8; of Jesus as the Source of Salvation in Heb. 5:9 and Abraham’s unyielding obedience in 11:8; and of the elements under Jesus’ authority in Mat. 8:27, Mk. 4:41, and Lk. 8:25}. Is this us?

If you will pull up on the ‘Interwebs’ the YouTube clip of Chinese Christians receiving their first Bibles, smuggled in under Communists’ noses no doubt, you will see the Sons and Daughters of the Great King weeping with joy, kissing the precious Book of Life and holding it to their foreheads in adoration. There’s all the imagery we need to test whether our love for the Living Word is evidenced by our passion for His Message ...or whether we’re ready to sell the Scriptures out the first time totalitarianism comes knocking on our door!

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

Humility and Empire.

What about the ‘faith’ {for what else could you call it?} we put in the political process? Historian Will Durant, in The Story of Civilization, wrote that “There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned and oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the Word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.” {Italics Mine}

Now... contrast the presence of Jesus so prominently on display in the lives of His earliest Disciples with our present day tendency to rely on effort and ingenuity, democratic will and political pressure, to ‘achieve’ our desires in the public sphere. Pretty stark contrast, wouldn’t you say? Instead of concentrating on the invisible, the eternal, and the spiritual, we worry about which politician can represent us best or which political party has our interests in mind. Let me clue you in on something here, just in case you haven’t figured it out: None of them.

What is Abba’s vision for governments and politics in the Messianic Age, these “last days” initiated by the Incarnation and brought to completion with the King’s Return {because in the end, His is the only one that matters}? On one occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees, “the Kingdom of God is within you” {Lk. 17:21b}; on another the apostle Paul said, “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” {Rom. 14:17}. Jesus paints a picture of a Kingdom far different from any man has imagined. The very essence of its rule, power, and authority is spiritual and divine. The intrigue and power-brokering of our politicians and their parties have no lasting effect whatsoever on its existence.

Now think about elections, at every level, in the US and consider whether Jesus wondered if Octavian or Tiberius, Claudius or Caligula, was ‘God’s man’ for the Empire. Do you think the Apostles and apprentices of the early Church worried about whether there was prayer in Roman schools? When you look to the Scriptures, you never see them saying, “Oh no, oh noooo, Nero is a murderer, an adulterer, and a homosexual, what in the world are we going to do?” They understood that the Kingdom of Grace is, in Jesus’ own words, “not of this world” {Jn. 18:36a}; therefore, all the kingdoms of this world with all their power, persuasion, even persecution, could not stop its advance. It will go on conquering unto Eternity.

And what is our role in the Story? Our role is to give our lives over to it, wholeheartedly, to labor in the Cause of our King and to pray again and again and again without hesitation, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” How? “On Earth,” exactly “as it is in Heaven.” Yes, Lord... let Your Kingdom come in the hearts of men and women, let Your freedom reign in the lives of Your own, let Your sovereign rule be seen in every word, every thought, every deed of every Disciple. In Your mighty name. Amen.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

A Kingdom of Humility.

The worst thing to ever happen to “the Faith,” as the earliest Followers of Jesus called their worship and their walk {Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5}, was when it became the ‘official religion’ of the Roman Empire… sanctioned by the sword and all that this implies. As one writer put it: when “Constantine claimed to convert to Christianity in the early 4th century the Christian faith had gone from being an unknown religion to a misunderstood religion, to a persecuted religion, to a tolerated religion, to a favored religion, to the official religion of the Roman Empire.”

So, you see what’s happening here? It’s a stroke of genius by the enemy, a masterful countermove. Can’t conquer it by persecution, can’t destroy it from within by falsehood and Gnostic fables? Give it green-light status in the Empire’s arena and seduce it with wealth and luxury, prestige and power. Ingenious, if you think about it. We moved from faith in the power of the Cross to faith in the power of the sword. And we’re still trusting in the sword {in military might} ...while the Word sits waiting. I mean, why concern yourself with the Resurrection when you’ve already ascended the imperial throne?

It’s a heady thing to finally have real, raw power in your hands, as any teenage boy with a Trans-Am will tell you. The lust for power and prestige in the eyes of the world, like the lust for money, is a dangerous deception— one deadly to the Kingdom Christ told Pilate was “not of this world” and which He instructed His Disciples did not operate like the kingdoms of this world.

In this Kingdom the only authority which counts is that exercised by the King, which supersedes all others. In this Kingdom, the only power that matters is the power of love: love for Abba with everything we are, love for others because of how He loves us, and love for our enemies because our Father is more merciful than we can ever imagine {Lk. 6:27-36}. And in a world overflowing with petty conflicts, quarrels, hatreds and grievances, He is infinitely forgiving. In this Kingdom, the only example to follow is the Master’s Way of Humility. In His Kingdom, illustrated by a Life revelatory of Abba’s love, the last are first, the servants are the leaders, those who sacrifice in the Cause— time, money, attention, affection, respect, compassion, mercy, tenderness— may lose some things in Time but will gain all things in Eternity.

“‘I tell you the Truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this Age and, in the Age to Come, Eternal Life’” {Lk. 18:29-30}. “Then He called the crowd to Him along with His Disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me [This is what a disciple, an apprentice to a master, does. He ‘comes after’ the master he’s chosen; he follows in his footsteps.], he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it’” {Mk. 8:34-35}.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

To Love and Be Loved In Return.

It is not true that ‘to know someone is to love them;’ sometimes to know someone is to run screaming in the other direction as fast as your feet will carry you! It is true, however, that ‘to love someone is to know them,’ know them like the back of your hand, like a part of your own heart, like a well-worn pair of boots that slip smoothly on your feet ...for how could it be possible to love someone in ignorance? It’s not. We must know what we give our love to, otherwise we’re not really loving what, or whom, we think we’re loving.

Ever had a conversation with a family member, a friend, even someone you deeply and romantically love, only to come away with the realization that those who are supposed to know you best …sometimes don’t know you at all? There is an incredible yearning in the human heart, a core desire driving away at us, to know and be known— our hearts full and joyous with knowledge of another, our souls complete in some way, whole in some way, because of the intimate knowledge another possesses. This, I believe, is a divine desire: an illustration of what Solomon meant when he said, “He has ...set Eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” {Eccl. 3:11b}.

I don’t think it’s a joyless resignation to say no matter how passionately we pursue this goal it will never be finally fulfilled in Time. In fact, in a fallen world full of fallen wills {Rom. 8:18-25}, it’s not even possible to have it fulfilled now. Not in the sense for which Abba intended it, not the way in which it will be when we stand before our King, our Hero, the Savior and Lover of our souls, and He peers into the very core of our being, past all the lies and hypocrisy, past all the posing and posturing, past all our jockeying for positions of prominence in His Kingdom, past the wounds, the weariness, the hurts and betrayals, past the long nights of loneliness and sunny days of short-lived bliss, past every moment we excluded Him from because ‘we had it all together’— locked down, buttoned up, retirement socked away, money in the mattress, another man or woman waiting in the wings to replace the one we’re with— past all the details and distractions which deceived us for decades on end, keeping us from laying our hearts in humility at his feet. Past all the rhetoric and straight to the reality of you …of me …of us.

Scripture paints for us this magnificent picture of a deeply relational reality to come in 1 Corinthians 13:12. The Apostle writes, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now [‘At this moment,’ in this day, in this Age] I know in part; then [in the Eternity to come] I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Mmmhhhhmm… that’s it. “I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” This what we’ve been searching for all our days. This is the fleeting shadow, the ever-elusive prey we’ve been trying to capture in every conversation, every fumbling attempt at friendship, every intimate encounter of our lives. This.

There is a moment in the Ages of Eternity when, “face to face” with the Lord of Glory, we will know Him as He has always known us. Try and grasp just for a moment the depth of intimacy and understanding being expressed here. A knowledge of God unlike anything you can possibly imagine in Time, and a ‘being known’ by God, by a kind and compassionate Presence, a strong and loving Other, a perfect and powerful Father. To “know fully, even as I am fully known.” And what we’ve looked for all our days, what we’ve longed for all our lives, hour after hour, hammering away at volume after volume of Scripture, theology, spirituality, ethics, the technicalities of Greek and Hebrew, devotional materials as rich as rainfall and doctrinal materials as dry as August dust, will finally be ours. A communion with our Creator beyond anything we can yet imagine, Eden come again, Paradise regained.

This is the world we were made for… this is the Life we were meant to live… this is our destiny, to be eternally surrendering ourselves to Perfection, endlessly submersing our wills in the Water of Life. This is who we’ll be and where we’ll be— forevermore. May you have a very, merry celebration of Jesus’ Incarnation.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

The Danger in Following Self-Appointed Saviors.

George Orwell once said, “Sooner or later, a false belief bumps up against a solid reality.” This from a writer who, beginning his career as a Socialist / Communist, understood very well the tyranny of those who are convinced they alone are right and thus, by default, everyone else must be wrong. And since wrong, these same ones must be corrected, herded, and directed by those who know better than they what’s good for them. The last thing “they” need is a taste of Freedom and of Life.

This reminds me of so many men and women I’ve known through the years within our particular ‘movement’ of Faith who were utterly convinced their ‘way’ of doing things— be it their theology, their attitude toward others who differed some way spiritually, or their very approach to teaching or worshiping or serving or praying— was the only way. There could be no other. “God cannot work in ways other than those of which I have personally approved.” It may not be overtly stated in terms this bold, but something very similar is going on beneath the surface of the soul when arrogance and self-centred ambition are having their way with us. So, think about this mindset for just a moment ...then get a nice, long, hearty laugh out of it.

How grateful we all must be that after two thousand years of getting it wrong, Abba has sent us a new set of saviors so we can finally ‘get it right.’ It would be hilarious, if not for the unbelievable arrogance it exemplifies. I think a healthy prayer might be, “O Lord, whatever You do in all our lives to break down the barriers between us and You ...save us from ourselves. {And while You’re at it, save us from our self-appointed saviors… please.} Amen.”

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

Grace Is the Attitude of Gratitude.

The Spirit of God inspired the apostle Paul to command the Lovers of Jesus to “rejoice always, pray continually,” and “give thanks in all circumstances,” saying, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” {NIV}. The Message has, “pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” Meaning with thankful hearts in all things, with attitudes of ceaseless gratitude for the wonder of the world He created, and for the beauty and majesty of Life in His Kingdom.

It has long been recognized by even casual observers of human life and conduct that those who choose to live with gratitude and express their appreciation find a joy and pleasure which much of the world seems to miss. These are some of the evidences of it.

“The root of joy is gratefulness.... It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful”— David Steindl-rast.

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder”— G.K. Chesterton.

“For each morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends”— Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Epictetus, the Greek slave turned Stoic philosopher, said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures” — playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder.

“The struggle ends when the gratitude begins”— Neale Donald Walsh.

There is an Estonian proverb which says, “Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.” As fully evidenced by post-modern America’s ‘entitlement mentality’ = regardless of how you play the Game… everybody gets a trophy!

“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart”— Henry Clay.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it”— William Arthur Ward.

“Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more— a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise”— George Herbert.

And one last embodiment of the spirit of thankfulness. “With arms outstretched I thank. With heart beating gratefully I love. With body in health I jump for joy. With spirit full I live”— Terri Guillemets. To the extent it is within my power, if I am at all able… this is how I choose to live.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org

Wise Entries In the Cultural Conversation

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat”— F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“The trouble about man is twofold: He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple”— Rebecca West. Lord have mercy, how truthfully simple this is. And how simply truthful!

“People worry about kids playing with guns or watching violent videos. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands, of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss”— English novelist and essayist Nick Hornby.

This one’s for all those ‘mountain-out-of-a-mole-hillers’ slithering in the reeds, otherwise known in our post-modern mess as drama kings and queens. Winston Churchill once said, “When a man cannot distinguish between small and great events, he is of no use.” We made a pact among us this Wednesday night, our small band of brave brothers and sisters, to kindly but genuinely reply the next time someone says something ridiculously stupid, wants to throw a hissy and make a major out of a minor: “Is this really the hill you want to die on?”

For those still refusing to acknowledge that they live in a much Larger Story than the socio-dramas {read ‘soap operas’} playing out at work, or at school, in their neighborhoods or deep in the nest of resentments swirling in their souls, I offer the words of Norman Cousins. “The tragedy of life is not death, but what we allow to die within us while we are yet still alive.”

And finally, I’ve saved perhaps the best for last. “The root of joy is gratefulness.... It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful”— David Steindl-rast. Amen and amen.

Ric Webb, Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community
hjcommunity.org