Humility Is the Missing Element.

There are two basic attitudes in life: arrogance and humility.  The former is self-centered {that’s just the nature of the beast}, the latter is Jesus-centered, Christ-consumed, you might say.  You and I approach life from one of these two perspectives every day.  We know which one the Scriptures enjoin.  In Psalm 138:6 David said, “Though the LORD is on high, He looks upon the lowly [‘the humble’], but the proud He knows from afar.”  See this?  There will never be closeness, camaraderie, companionship between the arrogant and Abba.  “Before her downfall a woman’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor” {Prov. 18:12}.

The missing element in the lives of so many of Abba’s post-modern Children is humility.  There’s an old saying, ‘Plan wisely, and hold the reins loosely.’  You know why?  Because God could change those plans at any given moment!  As long as we’ve got our plans all figured out, God withdraws His presence and therefore His power.  But the minute you cry out, “Have mercy on me, Lord; I need You desperately,” the minute you humble yourself He comes close, He draws near in your time of need.  What did James tell his hearers in 4:8?  “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”  This was a word used in the Original Testament for priests entering the Tabernacle and the Temple to offer sacrifices and to minister before the Lord; it means- ‘approach for worship.’  “This very moment, this very second, come near to the Holy One; and you will experience this deeply relational reality: He will most certainly come near to you!” {RRExp}.  Promise.

You want to make a fashion statement in the spiritual realm?  Here’s what ‘fashionable attire’ for a Follower of Jesus looks like.  “Therefore,” Paul wrote in Colossians 3:12, “as God’s chosen People, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  The Family of Faith upon whom grace will pour down like a River of Living Water is one which maintains a humble attitude before God and man, one which stays low and trusts in their Abba.  If you’re a leader, listen up.  Leaders who get this will never fail to find the Path of Life, as David said in Psalm 25:9, “He guides the humble in what it right and teaches them His way.”  The secret to receiving divine guidance is humility.

Didn’t Peter tell us in 1 Peter 5, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”?  Why?  Because “God makes war on the proud but gives grace to the humble,” v. 5.  I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the “humble” side of this equation, on the “grace” end of this stick and not the other!  Rather than scrambling for prominence and position— just like the world— humble Disciples will serve one another in love.  And that’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.  Just so we understand each other: the Greek word tapeinos means- ‘in the dust, never rising far from the ground.’  It describes the Child of God who follows her Lord down the path of humility— which, ironically, is the only path to promotion in the Kingdom of Grace.

James say’s in 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord….”  The result?  “And He will lift you up,” He will exalt you.  And why would we “humble” ourselves before the Lord?  Didn’t Jesus teach His Apprentices, that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” {Lk. 14:11}?  Indeed, He did.  “If you plan to build a tall house of virtues,” wrote the 4th century father Augustine, “you must first lay deep foundations of humility.”  A French archbishop {Francois Fenelon} from the 17th century said, “Nothing will make us so tender to the faults of others as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.”  It’s been said, “Life is ten percent what happens to you, and ninety percent how you choose to respond to it.”  This, my friends, comes down to one thing— attitude.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Resurrection Is the Point.

“Behold,” Jesus said, “I make all things new!” {Rev. 21:5}; “all things new,” not all new things.  Resurrection / restoration is the point.  The very reason those first and closest friends of Jesus focused on “miracles, healings, and the hopeful aspects of the Faith like the Ascension and the Resurrection” was simply that these are what demonstrate the mighty hand of God at work in the lives of men.  These things are the point.  A dead man is not much help to you and I; a dead God is an even worse proposition.  But real Life, that is Life Eternal, true Love, that is Love Eternal, shining Light, that is Light Eternal for the darkness of our present days, the power of Christ to restore our souls and redeem our lives… that’s an entirely different matter.

Here are three things we can take with us, three lessons we can learn and live, from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 I.  In Jesus’ Resurrection we have the solid assurance that our Savior-King conquered sin, death, and Satan.  The empty tomb is the resounding cry of victory over death!  We trust in a crucified Savior, but we serve and proclaim a risen King.  Paul in Romans 1:4 say’s it was Jesus of Nazareth “who through the Spirit of Holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His Resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord!”

II.  Through our faith in Jesus’ Resurrection we are guaranteed our own as co-heirs of His Kingdom {Rom. 8:16-17; 1 Jn. 3:1-3}.  Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit [He ‘bears witness’ ...Spirit to spirit, Soul to soul, Heart to heart.] that we are Abba’s Children.  Now if we are His Children, then we are also heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,” v. 17a.

III  Through moment-by-moment faith in Jesus’ Resurrection we are empowered by His Spirit to “live a new Life” {Rom. 6:4c}.  Over the years, we’ve seen— each and every one of us— life after life transformed from the shadow of sin and shame to become shining trophies of mercy and grace.  Every last Child of God is called to live as “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” {Rom. 8:37b}.  This power is due to one thing: the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus, the triumph of the Son of the Living God and Savior of all Mankind.

May we live and love in its Light!

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Born to Die ...and Rise Again.

“Every other person who ever came into this world came into it to live.”  Jesus “came into it to die.  ...The Scripture describes Him as ‘the Lamb slain,’ as it were, ‘from the beginning of the world’”— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

The Life of Christ fulfilled all righteousness and provided the ultimate example, One in whose footsteps we are to follow.  The Cross of Christ brought a forever forgiveness to every Son of Adam and Daughter of Eve— for every single sin, misstep, and mistake, every ounce of anger or arrogance to course through your soul, every slanderous word or shameful slight to ever cross your lips, every hurt or pain you’ve caused another or suffered yourself.  He paid a price no other could pay by dying a death no other could die!  The power of the Cross with its substitutionary death is a phenomenal truth— heart-healing, soul-freeing, redemption-realizing.  But apart from the Resurrection and the Eternal Life God so freely gives His Children, there is no hope for anything remotely resembling Life beyond the walls of this world.  The Resurrection of Christ gives us this Hope— the glorious Hope that Death is finally dead and the Grave is a conquered enemy!

Jesus in John 10:15b said, “I lay down My Life for the Sheep.  ...The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My Life— only to take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.  I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again...,” vv. 17-18b.  Though Jesus had to be born as Man in order to die, He also died in order to rise!  I’ve heard many, many messages through the years, beautiful, powerful messages that focus in on the Crucifixion and the Work accomplished there... but far, far fewer that focus in on the Resurrection.  And yet Resurrection, restoration, healing and wholeness, these are the point.  They were, in fact, the focal points of the early Church, the Body of Christ in its apostolic infancy.

For a perfect example of this, read the Gospel account recorded by Mark— cf. Mark 15:1-16:7.  It contains the teaching of the apostle Peter concerning the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Another fascinating account would be the Gospel of Luke.  I love how Luke frames the angels’ words to the women in ch. 24 of his Gospel.  He says, “in” the terror of “suddenly” finding “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning standing beside them” {v. 4}, “the women bowed down with their faces to the ground [Not an unusual response in Scripture when humans are confronted with a higher order of being.], but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the Living among the dead?’”  It’s a great question ...one Abba is still asking to this day, at this very moment, in this very place: “Why do you continue to look for Life in what can only bring you Death?  In people, in places, in things— idols and addictions— with the stench of death hovering over them?  Why, when I offer you in communion with the Risen Christ ‘Life— to the full’ {Jn. 10:10}?”  “He is not here; He has risen!,” vv. 5-6a.  The way this last phrase is constructed in the Greek Luke uses for his Gentile readers it means: ‘At a particular point in real Time, real Space, and real History, He was raised from the depths of darkness and Death!’  Amen!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, in his beautiful book The Life of Christ, said, “Christianity, unlike any other religion in the world, begins with catastrophe and defeat.  Sunshine religions and psychological inspirations collapse in calamity and wither in adversity.  But the Life of the Founder of Christianity, having begun with the cross, ends with the empty tomb and victory”  Victory, indeed— to resound for all Eternity.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Resurrection Is the Glory of the Gospel

Now, let me show in the rest of the Scriptures how powerful and profound this singular theme is: Peter in Acts 1:20-22, along with the other Apostles, the “women” who followed Jesus, His mother “Mary” and “His brothers” {vv. 13-14}, said of Judas Iscariot, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’  Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s Baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us.  For one of these must become a witness with us of His Resurrection.”  Matthias was to become a “witness of His Resurrection,” the astounding fact of the 1st century Faith.

In Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the majority of what he has to say— from vv. 24-35— is occupied by the Resurrection and Ascension.  Acts 4 tells us, “the priests and the captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.  They were greatly disturbed because the Apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the Resurrection of the Dead,” vv. 1-2.  It’s the same thing in v. 33, “with great power the Apostles continued to testify to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”

We can go on.  Paul in Athens testifying before Greek philosophers— Acts 17:18  and 32 {“Paul was preaching the Good News about Jesus and the Resurrection.”}; Paul speaking to Jewish theologians in Jerusalem— Acts 23:6 {“I stand on trial because of my hope in the Resurrection of the Dead.”} and 24:21.  We see the Apostle testifying in his own defense before King Herod Agrippa and the Roman Governor Festus in Acts 26:22-23, “I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.  I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim Light to His own People and to the Gentiles.”  Peter in 1 Peter 1:3-5 wrote: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In His great mercy he has given us new birth [Anagennao- lit., ‘we are born again:’] into a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in Heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the Last Time.”

In Romans 6:4 Paul say’s, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new Life,” a Resurrection Life …in Time.  This is for now, not later.  In v. 11 he says, “In the same way, count, consider, add up the facts and come to the conclusion, to this relational reality: that you are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, in light of this, do not let sin reign over you, don’t let it run amok, wreaking havoc in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” {RRExp}.  In Ephesians 2:4 he wrote, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions....  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” vv. 5a-6.

We believe Christ died for us, that’s true, as a Substitute on our behalf— 2 Corinthians 5:15-21.  But He was also raised for us {1 Cor. 15:12-22}; His Resurrection as much for us as His sacred Life and sacrificial Death.  Romans 5:17: “For if, by the trespass of the one man [the First Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and …the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man [the Second Adam], Jesus Christ.”’  Let me ask you a question.  Are you ‘reigning’ in your life, right now?  “Through the one Man, Jesus Christ”?  If not, why not?  We have been abundantly provided for in grace, we’ve been given the gift of a “righteousness” not our own to last beyond any Time we could conceive, we’ve been sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit and this same Spirit sealed in us as a down-payment on “God’s possession” and the guarantee of “our inheritance” as Sons {Eph. 1:13-14}.  We were meant and we were made to “reign” in this Life as preparation for the next.

Let this be the challenge lingering in our hearts and lives this Easter Son-Day: as Sons and Daughters of the Most High God, we were meant and we were made for so much more than we have known, so much more than we presently possess in our daily experience.  May the Light of Christ’s Resurrection lead us to these riches.  Amen.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing.

In Mark 10:23 Jesus and His Disciples watch this ‘prince’ of Judea walk away, head bowed low, downcast and dejected, back to his life of money and ease.  “Jesus looked around and said to His Disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich,” for those who are defined by their property, their wealth, their means, their money, “to enter the Kingdom of God!”

It says in v. 24, “The Disciples were amazed at His words.”  I want you to notice their astonishment, because this isn’t the last time it comes up or the last time it’s expressed.  The reason is Jesus had just taken their entire understanding of morality, of formal adherence to law and order, and the accepted agreement that this always resulted in wealth, in blessing, in the favor of God showering a man, and turned it upside down.  Thus, if a man had all the outer accoutrements, he must by necessity be a righteous man with one foot in the Kingdom of God.  The rabbinic argument of 1^st century Judaism, universally accepted, was that wealth was a sure sign of rightness with God and thus blessing from His hand.  Jesus takes this entire notion and turns it right-side up, whereas before it had been upside down.

“But Jesus said again [reinforcing His original point], ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God [‘How utterly and incredibly difficult for those bound to the idol of Mammon.’].  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle [Greek word here is ‘a sewing needle;’ it’s a proverb for the impossible.] than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.’”  A couple of points along this line.

 I.  Possessions have the ability to rivet our souls to the present world.  As Samuel Johnson was being shown a beautiful castle and its gorgeous grounds in the English countryside he said, “These are the things that make it difficult to die.”

II.  When our motivation is materialism, we begin to think of everything in terms of its price {and sometimes everyone}.  “Well, if I can afford it, and I’m not hurting anybody else, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.”  But you see, price and value are two different animals.  We live in a luxuriant culture that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!

There’s a true story from the early 20th century of a shepherd from the highlands of Scotland whose children were raised as simple, unsophisticated, believers in a simple, unsophisticated Savior.  The father was given a position in the nearest town with a salary and a much higher standard of living.  When introduced to ‘city-life’ and the culture of the kosmos, the children began to change radically and almost immediately… and not for the better.  His wife wrote a fascinating letter to the local paper, the last paragraph of which read: “Which is preferable for a child’s upbringing— a lack of worldliness, but with better manners and sincere and simple thoughts, or worldliness and its present day habit of knowing the price of everything and the true value of nothing?”  Mmhhhmmm, which indeed?

III  Jesus was saying that great wealth is often a great worry.  It ends up becoming two things to the Children of Men: [i] a true test of character— for every hundred men who can withstand adversity only one can withstand prosperity; and [ii] a very real responsibility: to use it and not abuse it.  Money is always judged by two criteria: how you get it; and how you use it.  The more money one has, the greater the responsibility resting upon them.  The real question is are you going to use it as if you’re its undisputed possessor— as if God has no claim to His Creatures— or as a steward of the Savior, a servant of the Master?

After Jesus lays down His point a second time, Mark say’s the Disciples “were even more amazed [‘amazed beyond measure, exceedingly astonished’] and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’  Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God,’” vv. 26-27.  In v. 27 we have Jesus stating the doctrine of grace in salvation in a nutshell: “If salvation depended on man’s effort or ingenuity, on man doing anything, it would be utterly impossible.  But salvation is the gift of God {offered in grace and received in faith} and all things are possible with Abba!”  The man who trusts in him self or his savings can never experience Eternal Life; the woman who trusts in the finished Work of Christ and the redeeming love of the Father can enter the fold freely and find all the pasture her heart desires.  This single thought is the foundation of the Christian Faith.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

It’s the Money or Your Life ...But You Can’t Have Both.

Consumerism and materialism are leaving us restless and resentful.  Yeah, you too.  Author Philip Yancey said, “Many people in societies advanced in technology go about their daily lives assuming God does not exist.  They stop short at the world that can be reduced and analyzed, their ears sealed against rumors of another world.  As Tolstoy said, ‘materialists mistake what limits life for life itself.’”

I think it’s enlightening in an Age seemingly unable to look beyond itself— either to learn from the past or live in light of Eternity— to read the final thoughts in Mark’s account of Jesus’ ‘come to Me meeting’ with the rich young ruler.  Peter say’s to Jesus in 10:28, “We have left everything to follow you!”  To which Jesus replies, “I tell you the Truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present Age ...and in the Age to Come, Eternal Life.  But many who are first [and believe they deserve to be] will be last, and the last [who believe they deserve to be also, will be] first,” vv. 29-31.

The cancer of consumerism is eating us alive.  So if consumerism has made you crazy and materialism left its angry mark, maybe it’s time to lift some of this burden and unload the unnecessary.  If you’ve got a car you don’t drive, a TV you don’t watch, a computer you don’t touch, or toys that take time, energy, and effort which could be put to better use elsewhere, somebody in the Body probably needs what you have.  If you don’t want to sell it, then give it away in grace.  Don’t let what you own in the end own you.  Because it will, if you don’t watch it.  If you don’t live with your eyes wide open, awake to the fact the world can take you out by your toys, they will do just that.  You may end up eliminating some things which are nice because you realize they’re unnecessary.  The truth is they may be standing like a silent wall between you and a deepening of your relationships, a strengthening of your marriage, an enhancement of your intimacy with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  And if so, they need to go.

What do we do?  We simplify, then simplify some more.  We clear away the clutter of all that is distracting us from desiring our King over all of Creation.  Soviet dissident and combatant of communism Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once wrote,

Do not pursue what is illusory.  All that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and is confiscated in the fell of night.  Live with the steady superiority over life.  Don’t be afraid of misfortune.  Do not yearn after happiness.  It is, after all, all the same.  The bitter doesn’t last forever.  And the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.  It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold.  And if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides, if your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk and your arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom… whom should you envy?

Whom indeed?  The haunting words of Henry Thoreau echo my belief in the Three Ds of the Cosmic System {distractions, deceptions, and destructions}: “Our life is frittered away by detail,” he wrote, “simplify, simplify.”  Amen.  May we begin this very moment, in the strength of the Spirit of God, to do this very thing.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

A Soul Surrendered.

When the Word of God says in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Bartimaeus “came near” to our Lord, it’s in a rather remarkable way.  Mark 10:50 records in vivid detail, that “casting aside his cloak [His outer garment, which illustrates both the haste in which he did this... and his willingness to cast all his temporal security aside.], he jumped up [or, ‘leaping up’],” he “came [running] to Jesus.”  The blind were considered cursed and literally kicked out in the street in 1^st century Palestine.  So, in dropping his cloak Bartimaeus is dropping all his security to follow Jesus.  Ohhhh the lessons we could learn from the blind and the damned.

In Luke 18:41 Jesus lays before this blind beggar the one simple question he’s been waiting so long to hear, “What do you want Me to do for you?”  He responds in faith with two magnificent phrases: “Lord [recognizing the Deity of Jesus], Rabboni [From Mk. 10:51, this is an Aramaic term of immense respect meaning- ‘my great Master.’], I want to see, to regain my sight [NAS]!”

This phrase shows us the final purpose of all that has come before, literally, “that I may recover my sight, that I might see once again.”  What this tells us is Bartimaeus had been able to see at one time; he’d not always been blind.  Imagine what it must be like to have sight one day— clear, unhindered vision, unimpeded eyesight— and then not have it the next.

In v. 42 Jesus say’s to him, “receive your sight, your faith [in Me, as the Anointed One of God] has healed you.”  “Healed” is actually from the Greek verb sozo: the word used of both physical healing and spiritual salvation {so, we have both Time and Eternity in view here}.  Both these things, healing and deliverance from sin, darkness, and death, came to Bartimaeus in the day he trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The perfect tense of sozo indicates both a permanent cure for his body and eternal security for his soul.

Notice what Bartimaeus did immediately upon regaining his sight.  He “began following Jesus, praising and glorifying God.  And when all the people saw it,” Luke say’s, “they also praised God,” v. 43.

The faith of this blind beggar, whom the crowd simply wanted to silence, caused everyone who witnessed the miracle of his salvation and recovery of his sight to rejoice in praise and glory to the God of Creation.  Jesus was Abba’s Man for the moment— in the right place at the right time— demonstrating the mercy of the Messiah to a lost and dying world.  As a result, Abba’s plan and purpose came to full execution because one Man, the God-Man, was yielded to the will of His Heavenly Father.  His was a soul surrendered.  The question we have to answer is, ‘Is ours the same?’

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously