Encountering Jesus??

My friend Rob Sperti invited me to accompany him last week to an undergraduate class he was teaching entitled, “Strategies of Effective Evangelism and Discipleship”.  As the instructor for this course Rob had asked his students to read a book written by John Stott titled Basic Christianity.  The conversation spurred by this book quickly headed in a direction discussing the difference between a faith evidenced in works and a faith that only believes. 

Questions began to arise for whether faith or works would be the key for an entrance into heaven.  This conversation gets somewhat sticky for many American Christians.  We want to stray from saying that you must produce works to have acceptable faith, but we want to stray from the thought that a belief without action is a true belief.  For a moment I wrestled with the balance between these things, yet I was feeling pulled to a deeper issue.  These words seemed to flow on the page as an indictment against myself:

The American Christian has given the world a definition of Christ that is steeped in a religious dogma rather then an introduction to the literal nature and character of the man Jesus Christ.

What I mean by that is that often we talk about things we have to do to get to heaven rather then a place that God is calling us to.  Instead of the church communicating the beautiful intimacy that is offered, we communicate a type of person we must be or a list of rules we must follow.  The fact that I was debating a duty toward action spoke to an issue of a religious legalism, not an issue of my eternal security.   When I (we) begin to trivialize my (our) response to Christ in an almost “How much can I get away with and still make it to heaven” mindset, there is a deep issue that needs to be addressed.

The issue is this: Have I not experienced an encountered with Jesus?   Once you experience an encounter with Jesus your entire life changes.  The mindset changes from, “how much can I get away with and still make it to heaven?” to, “how much of myself can I give up to experience intimacy with Jesus everyday?”  In that place there are less issues with sin because its not a focus on sin, but a focus on dwelling in the presence of and intimacy with God on earth.  

Knowing that I have on several occasions experienced an encounter with Jesus, my issue was one of spiritual nostalgia.  I had very favorable memories of an encounter of the past, but was not experiencing the intimacy of that encounter in my present circumstances.  My salvation and response to salvation needed to be defined by a list of dos and don’ts, which is religion.  Spiritual nostalgia is not good enough. 

Look at Eli, in chapter three of first Samuel for example.  This passage clearly states that encounters with God were not presently happening, but clearly Eli had experienced God because he was able to recognize and direct Samuel in his personal encounter with the voice of God.  Eli was a corrupt man, and was not encountering God.  God had to remove him from the office of priest because God was looking for a prophet for a nation and Samuel, a young man, was the only one encountering God’s voice.

 Now back to the question that started all of this:  What is the response of our belief (faith)?  Is work necessary? ETC…  Here is my thought: When we REALLY encounter God a natural response is to act.  A real encounter like the one in Isaiah chapter six is what I am talking about.  The question is no longer must I act to prove my faith in Jesus, but if I am not acting am I encountering Jesus?

Just a thought.   



AWARENESS OF THE ANSWER

I spent the greater part of last week on the couch after having all four of my wisdom teeth removed. When I thought it was bad enough, I then experienced a complication that caused some of the most excruciating pain of my life. I remember specifically on New Years Eve, laying in misery on the couch with a throbbing head for several hours without any relief. There seemed to be nothing that would break the pain. My prescribed painkillers couldn’t touch it, and we tried everything else we could think of: heat, ice, and even Orajel to try and numb the pain. After having a near mental breakdown due to hours of constant, extreme pain, I found the emergency number from the doctor’s office and gave it a call. I began to ask the doctor his opinion on my situation. After hearing no words of hope from the doctor, I felt hopeless. He had told me that there was nothing I could do except try to be comfortable until the wound had healed.

I then walked downstairs and asked my family to breathe a prayer over me. In tears and complete desperation we asked God to break the pain because we had no other options. Immediately I felt a relief from the pain that had left me in bed for the past few days, and was able to fall asleep for the remainder of the night. The next morning I began to think about how God wants us to approach him in desperation and hopeless situations. At that moment in my life I had no other hope, and I had exhausted all other options. I was desperate, not even the doctor had any answers for me. What took the pain away? I truly believe it was my faith that Jesus could handle the circumstance. We surrendered the situation to him in complete desperation.

Lets look at Mark 5:
25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

In this story we see the woman who had exhausted all other options. At that moment, in her desperation she touched Jesus and was healed. I truly believe that when we cry out to Jesus in our desperation, our prayers WILL be answered. But, what about all the desperate people who have prayed and their petitions were not met??

This is probably one of the stickiest questions that people have about prayer, and I don’t know that I have it figured out, but let me tell you what I do know. I do know that we should always pray the will of the Father (if you question that, check out where Jesus taught his disciples to pray). Far be it for us, the created, to question the will and plans of the creator.  This does not mean that my previous statement about coming to God in desperation and receiving an answer is not true, it is only giving it context. I still believe that when we pray, our prayers will be answered, but I don't think we always know or like the answer that is given. What if you are praying for healing for your friend who is suffering of cancer, and that person never finds healing and passes away? Does that mean that God did not hear your prayer, or that God is no longer in control? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  We simply cannot always fully understand the will of God. However, because He is sovereign, we can have unwavering faith that he hears and answers our prayers, even if it is in a way we do not understand, were not expecting, or do not like. No prayer ever goes unanswered, but many times the answer goes unnoticed.

I remember being in desperate need of money at one point in my life. In complete desperation I asked God to provide while I was driving home from work, and exactly three minutes later I received a phone call about a temporary job. This job would provide for the need that I had, plus some. Would I have rather had the infamous, surprise check in the mail? Probably. But in that moment, I had to be aware of the movement of God in answering my prayer or I would have missed His provision.

I challenge you to open your eyes to find the answers to your unanswered prayer, even if they come in a way you do not expect or necessarily like.