Radical Transformation ...

If you knew the end from the beginning, you wouldn’t choose it any other way.  This assertion will be verified in heaven (look me up, if it turns out I was wrong 😊).  But because we don’t know: it feels much more like a rollercoaster doing 90mph and its just certain there is some track missing up ahead.  Roller coasters at high speed are dangerous enough when guided by the flimsy track we all realize was built by a team earning minimum wage dying to get home for the weekend.  But if track is actually missing, if the ride itself is frankly incomplete: then the ride is not only dangerous, it is certain death.  And nobody here is looking for that outcome.  After all we signed up for this, we bought tickets, we chose to be here, wait in line, do whatever it takes to ride.  If you told me however, that the “surprise” of this ride, was missing track, I would tell you – thanks, but no thanks.  That kind of “radical” is just way out of my league.  And yet here I sit waiting in line, really close to my turn to ride.

The basic problem with transformation of any kind, is that the future me, is just not going to look anything like the current me.  No, I am not talking about physical body alteration of any kind.  I am talking generally about what it means to have character or personality “one” today – and through a series of events I cannot predict, anticipate, or sometimes even understand – finding myself down the road with personality “two” instead of who I am today.  The promise of God, is that what He will remake me into, will be something I would love to be.  But what is that?  He offers no road map.  He does not set any time limits on all this.  It could take minutes, or it could take decades.  Perhaps the timing is something I directly influence.  He does not even tell me what “I” will look like in that future model.  I have no idea what features, strengths, or weaknesses I will have.  It may even be possible weaknesses will have left my vocabulary.  God tells me He will put His love inside of me.  Just like He does for literally everyone else.  So while some of the outcomes are known, the parts that make me unique from everybody else are not known.  Will I still be able to play the violin (goes the old joke)?

And more to the point, will the parts of me I lose in this process, be parts of me I will miss in the future?  That is kind of the most burning question that crosses my mind when I ponder transformation of any kind, let alone radical transformation.  I am kind of fond of some of who I am today.  Even if those parts are perhaps not the best things for me, or anybody else really.  Then comes the scariest part of all.  When you read scriptures about radical transformation, it tends to use language like “having to die” to achieve it.  I foresee the missing track right there on this roller coaster.  “Death” words are never very comforting for any mortal.  Even if they only refer to my personality or character, they are still very frightening.  And for a marketing campaign, this is probably the worst one I have ever heard.  Who cares if it is truth in advertising, it is not a truth most of us want to hear.  You start telling me that the end of the rainbow lies behind the death-door number one, and I start wondering if there is a door number two, or three to choose from.  That’s just human nature.  And it is human nature God intends to redefine in me, even if some sort of death is required to do it.

So my first response is … you first.  Ego crazed, selfish creature that I am, choosing to be blind to the infinite glory God is offering – and in this state, I demand He does it first – to prove that it works.  You would think a Santa Clause version of God who doles out rewards and punishments (emphasis on punishments) would just strike me down in my arrogance.  But our God is NOT any version of Santa Clause.  He is a saving God.  And instead of debating with me, He leads me to scriptures to show me where He ALREADY has gone first.  Talk about missing tracks on the Roller Coaster.  Matthew chronicles how real radical transformation begins, not just ours, but our God’s.  He writes of experiences the author of Life should have never known.  But to save us our God did way more than He would ever ask of any of us, in order to see what future me could see.

Matthew picks up in chapter 27 in verse 45 saying … “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. [verse 46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  There will be pain in our transformation.  Pain brought on by sin, and its consequences, and the choices others continue to make while bound to sin like the strongest cocaine addiction the world has ever known.  How do I know radical transformation is not a recipe for a pain-free-life – look what sin did to God.  Jesus sits atop a Roman cross, and for three hours He writhes in agony, nearly deprived of all His blood.  The Creator is to experience death first.  The Author of life is to experience its ultimate opposite, in order to save us.  And for those three hours, nature refuses to look upon what is happening.  An eery darkness covers the land.  This is no normal thunderstorm, no normal cloudy day.  This is a thick blackness like the plague that once covered Egypt.

The Romans assigned to this detatchment must light torches to see; when usually the sun is high in the sky.  No stars can be seen.  No moon.  No Sun.  No reflections of light anywhere but from the torches the soldiers must light in order to see.  And humanity is now terrified.  Radical Transformation is anything but predictable.  How could anyone have prepared for this?  But what Jesus says reveals a pain infinitely greater than the pain His body suffers from.  He has never known a millisecond without absolute unity with His Father.  It is the light of the Father, that has sustained Jesus throughout this ministerial tour through torture-ville.  It is that harmony, that unity, that keeps Him submitting to God, deferring His own will, in order to show us what we need to do.  Jesus is to be our living example.  But now, near the moments of His death, He can feel no Father God.  He is now truly alone.  He is now experiencing what separation from the Father feels like.  And folks – that is the very definition of HELL.  Hell is NOT about the flames.  Hell is not even about the eternal consequences.  Hell is the infinite torture of being separated from the source of all life and love even if only for a moment.  To endure that separation, is to endure HELL, and Jesus has been dealing with it for a while now.

I am sure in His darkness, Jesus must be asking Himself, what good can come from this?  Is it possible that having carried the weight of the sins of this world upon Him, He will forever be stained with it?  If so, might He ever have to endure separation from His Father?  Jesus is walking through the doors of Hell, with zero exit strategy.  Even after He is resurrected, He might still be stained, and forever driven from the presence of His Father.  Our sin could easily be that great.  Mine alone perhaps that great.  Talk about death wording.  Jesus is going to die.  But perhaps Jesus will endure a fate worse than death.  And from this side of the cross, He cannot see past it.  The risk is real.  The risk is overwhelming.  And so He cries out in agony, to mark this extreme pain.

Matthew continues in verse 47 saying … “Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. [verse 48] And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. [verse 49] The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.”  The priests have fled the darkness back to Jerusalem.  Only the soldiers, the curious, and the faithful remain here.  Those listening misunderstand Him, how typical.  They prepare a pain dulling sponge for Him, to see if Elijah will come to save Him.  Another sign that could not happen, perhaps no matter how bad Elijah wanted it to.  For Elijah, Moses, Enoch, and any other human translated into heaven, must now sit in silence witnessing the price of God’s love for us.  There was no adequate road map for any of this.  When Father and Son, plan all of this out in heaven 4000+ years ago, it is different knowing it will come, than being now in the middle of it, unable to see past the fog of our sins, to know if redemption is even still possible.

We complain about what might be required of us during a radical transformation.  But we have endured nothing next to our God, who did go first.  We may even lose the life we have in this world of sin, but like the theif on the cross, we will surely see our loving God in the next one when it comes.  What Jesus did was risk both lives.  The human one on the cross.  The divine one from being stained with our great sins.  It might have been planned.  But it was here, and unexpected.  All radical transformations are unexpected.  If we knew about them.  We would defer them.  They happen to us, in spite of us.  And Jesus will die with those in attendance still not understanding what He was doing for them.  Those onlookers meant no sympathy with the vinegar to dull the pain.  They meant to extend His life by dulling the pain long enough to see if Elijah would descend out of the darkness all around them.  Radical Transformation often happens to us alone.  When comfort does not come from those around us.  It is just between us and our God.  Here Jesus must endure it, even without the comfort of His Father God.

Matthew continues in verse 50 saying … “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [verse 51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”  The agony is too great.  The separation too intense.  Jesus cries out in a blood-chilling cry of a heart physically rending in His own chest.  And He dies.  No escape.  No alternative pathway for our salvation.  He does what must be done.  His death not only before our own, but in place of our own.  Our transformation will now be possible because Jesus did what He must do to save us.  Even if He does not know it yet.  His sleep begins.  He knows nothing for now. 

But radical transformation is not just meant for people.  It can and just did happen to a belief system.  The most holy place was where the mercy seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant.  This most holy chamber was hidden in the Temple at Jerusalem behind a 20ft curtain insolated with three different kinds of heavy materials & colors sown together, and embroidered with gold angels throughout.  The curtain weighed several hundred pounds and took many men to hang it.  It was not intended to be moved offering only a slight possible opening at the center base where a man could pass from one chamber to the other once a year.  To look upon the most holy artifacts, was to see the presence of God, and be struck dead from the intensity of our sin, and purity of His love by contrast.  No Jew ever dared to do it.  They knew the consequences.  They tied bells on the hem of the High Priest, and a rope around his ankles, when he entered this sanctum only once per year, in case the bells went silent and he died, they pulled him out by that rope, never daring to look in. 

And now on the day of atonement, with hundreds of worshippers packing the Temple site, and the high priest making ready to go in – the curtain is torn by an unseen angelic hand from top to bottom.  It falls away revealing not only a small passageway, but the entire Most Holy place sanctum, Ark of the Covenant and all.  The mercy seat is empty; the One who normally occupies it just gave up His Ghost over on Calvary at that moment.  The entire crowd stares in to the most Holy place in terror and amazement.  They are all still alive.  And their faith has just undergone a radical transformation.  No longer will Jerusalem be its center.  No longer will any Temple building be where God is found.  He will be found with each of us who seek Him, where we happen to be.  And the cornerstone of the faith, Jesus Christ, who was cast aside by the priests charged with building the base of believers, will become the very foundation of the new faith that emerges from the Old faith that has met its fulfillment at the cross, on the Day of Atonement.  It is also the year of Jubiliee, all the slaves are to be set free.  A symbolic representation of what Jesus will do for us if redemption worked.  The timing of everything is perfect.

But this is not just a silent event.  At the death of her Maker, the earth trembles as you would expect it to, when the Creator God is put to death.  The earthquake is felt here and hundreds of miles away.  It tears rocks into pebbles.  It rips great holes in the earth, though preserving Jerusalem, and the cross site where He has laid down His life.  But there is purpose in this quake.  It tears deep into the earth, to reveal graves that have been covered over by ages of shifting sands and sediments.  Matthew continues in verse 52 saying … “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, [verse 53] And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”  The graves of many sleeping saints were exposed by the quake.  When Jesus would come forth, they would arise as well, a first fruits offering for what was to come.  In addition to the sightings of Jesus after His own resurrection, would be sightings and encounters of saints long asleep in the earth, who would come forth and testify in full body form about their risen Lord.

Radical Transformation, that follows death.  Radical Transformation none can deny, and none would oppose.  Those sleeping saints were not disembodied spirits wandering the halls of a heaven forced to see their loved ones continue on in their absence in a world of sin.  They were instead asleep as scriptures describe, knowing nothing, not the passage of time, not the decay of their bodies, nor the conditions that occurred after their sleep began.  Until now.  They arose in full body form, not as spirits.  They emerged from death, as we all will also emerge from death.  Radically transformed into new creations, even if that process began before our sleep did.  Future them, is radically better than past versions of them.  Their characters are not burdened with the addiction to sin, but are completely free of it.  They are made pure by our Savior, and are now able to ascend with Him when He ascends into heaven.  But whether their influence was witnessed for three days, or for forty days, it was undeniable, profound, and radically different than what ANYBODY expected, including them.

The reaction to all of this by those who least believed, and were most responsible for the cruelty of all of this was the admission believers seem so reluctant to admit.  Matthew continues in verse 54 saying … “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”  You will note these pagan men made no reference to pagan deities.  They proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, the Jewish version of who the Messiah would be.  This statement affirms the Jewish version of who God is, and does nothing to support any kind of previous pagan belief.  And it comes from the most cruel, military men, who are bound by orders to witness all of it.  But then, Radical Transformation was meant to occur in the Roman soul, as easily as it occurs in the Hebrew one.  It does not matter who you are now, who you can be is so infinitely better.  You do not need to worry.  Even if death comes, so what.  Death comes to us all.  But real change to so few.  Real change, from real love, makes real life so much better.  Future you will never dispute this.  But to encounter future you, you must be willing to let current you, go.  It might sound radical, but some missing track is just what this ride was supposed to have.

 

Ignoring Truth Because of its Package ...

What if Jesus was black.  Would you refuse to hear His words because His ethnicity was not what you expected; or perhaps pay new found attention to them because of this new discovery.  Whether we like to admit it or not, we do sometimes pay more attention to the package than the Truth of the message they are trying to convey.  So take race out of it for a minute.  What if Jesus was fat.  Not just pleasantly plump, or carrying a bit of a mid-section, but full on fluffy.  Do the words of a fat man carry less weight with you?  But likely that was not the case, more likely He looked like a Jewish concentration camp victim.  He spent 40 days after all in the wilderness without food or water.  His body would have emaciated from good health to the worst case of bulimia or anorexia you can possibly imagine, and this presentation of His, was after all a form of self-mutilation.  He chose not to eat or drink, nobody forced Him (other than obedience to the will of God).

Anyone who does that to Himself, can they possibly be trusted?  Do you trust people with a mustache, or without one?  Do you trust people with a beard, maybe even a long beard?  Jesus was a Nazarene and like His cousin John could have elected to take a Nazarite vow by lifestyle, so His hair would have been long, very long, perhaps mangy, with a long beard having never been touched by a razor.  30 years of uninterrupted hair growth, is not just missing the barber for too long, it is never having met a barber ever.  His hair would have made Him look more a like Sikh or militant Arab than a modern-day hippy.  Do you trust any of “those people” to relay truth, or just to continue an agenda they have, that ultimately impacts us the wrong way.  So if Jesus looked more like John is He more trustworthy or less?  And oh my goodness His clothes.  He only had one lousy garment, a homespun of cotton / wool combination.  Picture rough cotton (not the fine Egyptian stuff) that had simple hems, and wrapped around Him without buttons, zippers, or pockets.  And it would have been constantly dirty, at least, covered by the dirt of others He was constantly hugging and coming in close contact with.  His robe would have carried their germs, or how could it not, He was always so close to lepers and filthy people.  People bathed in the stench of their own poverty, deformity, and disease.

Can you trust a dirty person, or person dirty in appearance?  What if Jesus was a heavy sweat-er, or had heavy perspiration.  He lived in the desert areas, the ultra-dry areas.  Apart from baptizing in the Jordan and walking near the Sea of Galilee it’s not like they had Jacuzzi’s just sitting around waiting for them.  They were generally walking is dry dusty air with little water to ever cool them.  They probably smelled.  There was a reason why folks needed to wash their feet before they ate a good meal.  They did not want the foot odor smell to overpower the smell of fresh bread or oil.  But the remainder of them were likely unbathed.  Could you trust a Jesus who smelled like the homeless people that occasionally wander into the back of your churches?  If Jesus did not smell pretty, would you throw Him out?

This sack of meat we inhabit is prone to all kinds of issues that detract from the pretty we might otherwise be.  But then there is the acid test of acceptance.  Familiarity.  Knowing the messenger, perhaps for some great length of time.  The closer you are to them, perhaps the harder it is to accept what truth they might have to offer.  They carry the baggage of their families.  One brother of theirs does some goofy thing, and anyone from that family is tagged with the stain of it on their reputation.  Even if not directly, it does influence the thinking.  Jesus had a ton of baggage where it came to family.  His mother Mary, claimed virginity at His birth, but let’s be real, who was buying that story?  Every girl ever caught getting pregnant ahead of marriage has some cock-and-bull story about how that accidentally occurred.  No one is too keen about owning up to responsibility.  Perhaps Mary just had a wild imagination about her situation.  At least you give her credit for sticking to a crazy excuse like that one.  But who would believe it?

While Jesus may have been perfect from birth, His earthly parents were not.  They were human.  They worked, played, loved, and made mistakes.  Jesus had brothers and sisters, who too were less than stellar.  Perhaps making mistakes, finding themselves in situations they would have otherwise wanted to avoid.  And the towns people knew it.  They were not ignorant of every mistake or sin, in the house of the carpenter Joseph, his crazy bride Mary, and their expanding family of sons and daughters who followed Jesus.  So then, could you believe your own brother, sister, mother, father, or son or daughter, if they brought you the word of the Lord?  Or, would you judge them based on all the mistakes you know they have been a part of, and write them off as goodie-two-shoes.  Could you accept a person from your own family with a message from God, or is it easier to accept the same message from a pastor you hardly know?  It makes you think.  The words are no different.

But Jesus did not only come to bring His ministry to people who did not know Him.  He came to bring it to those who knew Him best.  You would think that would be a cake-walk.  It wasn’t.  You would think His friends and family would specifically remember what Jesus was like for all of His life.  Always kind.  Always loving.  Always helping out without being asked.  Always patient.  And never seeming to get caught doing anything naughty, because He had no time for naughty things, only for things that showed love to others.  That was Him.  That was His whole life.  Anyone who spent any time with Him should have quickly remembered these facts.  They were facts about Him, that never varied.  But my how memory fades when the words asking for Love appear from the pulpit.

Matthew continues his chronical to the Hebrews of the life of Jesus in chapter thirteen of his gospel picking up in verse 53 following the parables with a story of going home saying … “And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. [verse 54] And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? [verse 55] Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? [verse 56] And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?”  Jesus had brothers.  Jesus had sisters.  Jesus had that mother Mary with that crazy story she still maintained and nobody else believed.  Jesus’ earthly dad was a carpenter, not a rabbi, or a member of the Sanhedrin.

So how on earth does Jesus begin teaching Truth from the pulpit of the Temples and Synagogues with such authority and power.  He does not teach Love in the third person, He teaches it as if He were there.  Because He was.  It blew the audience’s minds.  The Son of God in their synagogues?  But they knew this Guy.  This was the carpenter’s Son, nothing more, how on earth could He have had the training needed to be a Rabbi and preach the way He was.  This was the moment.  For them, for us.  This was the moment when Truth knocked on the doors of their hearts.  They had only to listen, and accept.  So do you.  You know the truth of Matthews Gospel and you know the Truth who it talks about.  Don’t cast it aside because the text is old, in an old book, written by old men.  Don’t cast it aside because the author is fat like me, old like me, with bad vision like me, who does not smell very good like me.  Matthew was not perfect, but he did follow Jesus.  It does not matter what me or Matthew look like, we are only window dressing.  The Jesus we point too is the real deal.  This is the moment for you to decide.  Will you seek Jesus, or turn away?

Matthew continues the chronicle of their response in verse 57 saying … “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. [verse 58] And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”  Aaarrgh!!  They were offended in him.  They disregarded their memories, clinged to the packaging, focused on the faults of His family, and closed their ears to the Truth.  And only very little miracles followed their unbelief.  How will it be for you?  Will you listen to your friends, or fellow students, or teachers, or parents; none of whom have ever really come to know Jesus for themselves, siding with them for peer pressure not to believe?  Will you embrace the mantra of the world to please self and deny the Jesus who loves you and bids you to learn to love others?  Jesus is real.  He has always been real.  He is more real than I am.  He is far more important than I will ever be.  Throw me away completely, but cling to Jesus and I will rejoice in it.

The Truth has always been real.  Sometimes He speaks through the cutest 2-year-old toddler you can imagine saying the most profound thing that will ever be uttered – I love you.  Sometimes you catch a glimmer of Him as an outstretched hand offers the homeless from their means they can scarcely afford to give, but give anyway, and do it in secret where nobody else knows.  Sometimes you cannot explain how He did for you what He did for you – perhaps granting you miraculous escapes from car collisions that totaled your car, or confounding doctors with test results that should have showed disease and now do not.  Or perhaps it is far more personal for you.  Perhaps you have allowed Jesus to take some sin from you, that you have struggled with your entire life.  And you cannot explain how He did it, but you no longer crave that thing that was sure to destroy you.  Now you abhor it.  Jesus is real.  Forget all the packaging.  Ignore the genre of music, find the Truth in the lyrics, or not at all.  Ignore the physical appearance of the pastor; but listen closely to his words.  Don’t let the pretty impress you, or the ugly detract from His Truth.

Open your mind during your TV shows, or listen more closely in the movies you watch, and see a need for Jesus you might have otherwise missed.  The packaging is irrelevant, but the Truth behind it, means everything and is everything.  God uses broken tools.  He does not wait for perfect ones.  But He still offers us a glimpse of His love, even in the state we find ourselves in.  Even when we smell.  Even when we are bathed in the stench of defeat.  He is still there.  He is still looking to heal us, and remove from us that which would destroy us.  Let us never take offense in that, or in Jesus.  Let us find our worth in Jesus, our price in Jesus.  Let us invite Jesus in, and give Him all of who we are, even the smelly parts, or the ugly parts, or the unpleasant parts.  This is that moment, for you.  Don’t let it slip away, done ever let it slip away.

 

To Discern Truth from Error ...

Peter is aware of his impending death.  He knows it will be coming soon, and so his first and only priority is to put the early church into remembrance of the truth and power of the Gospel.  In our prior study we note how Peter relays once again his own eye witness testimony of the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ.  Peter recalls hearing the voice of God the Father stating plainly for James, John, and himself in the holy mount that Jesus was his only son, in whom the Father was well pleased.  Scripture pointed unerringly to the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies in Jesus Christ.  And lastly, Peter adds to all of these arguments the sure word of prophecy, which when inspired by God has only one target, only one fulfillment, that which is in Jesus Christ.  These things taken together are meant to be a proof, a surety of the gospel message.  This is not meant to validate Peter for his own sake, but to put the early church in remembrance that the transforming love of Jesus Christ impacts the life in the here and now.  The power of the Gospel is found in the removing our sins, not in allowing us to linger in them.  Forgiveness is not the ultimate goal.  It is a step on the path to reform, to re-creation, to a different nature that is not bound in the slavery of self-love, but made free to love others.

This is the key distinction about the Gospel message that Peter wishes for the early church to keep front and center in their thoughts … the love of Christ is transformative.  Through our daily submission of our will and our desires to Jesus Christ, He remakes the core of “who” we are into someone else.  The changes in our desires, lead us to behave differently.  Because we “want” different things, we begin to act in concert with our “new” desires, and find ourselves loving others as a natural state of being, instead of a forced one.  This transformation is the “evidence” of God being alive within us, and of our having “accepted” the Gospel message of hope against hope.  That I could be saved from who I am, is nearly beyond my comprehension.  That I could no longer even “want” to sin, is nearly beyond my greatest hope.  That this process is something Jesus Christ does for me, with only my consent to it, is a gift beyond my wildest dreams.  My deepest fear becomes allowing my arrogance or my pride or my stubborn will to interfere with it, or to fall from it.  Peter too, worried about the influence of self, in the process of salvation.  He knew that when any potential spiritual leader allowed “self” to enter the thinking of salvation, the entire process would be perverted.

So Peter begins in the last few verses of chapter one of his second letter to the church outlining counsel meant to keep believers from this error, as he begins in verse 20 saying … “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”  The great temptation of those who study scripture is to believe that “they alone” have discovered some truth that no-one else is aware of.  It then becomes “their burden” to preach and relay this message to others, as ONLY they can.  But this is nothing more than a submission to pride.  The intent of God in the revelations contained throughout ALL scripture, was to communicate with His people, with ALL of His people.  God does not purposefully cloud the meaning of scripture in order that only one reader “gets it”.  If He needed to speak to only one person, He would do so.  What the inspired text of God is intended for, is a revelation of Himself to ALL the people who might pick up that text and read.  That is not to say there is only one truth in a given passage or story.  But that is to say, that any real truth, will be discernable by more than one reader.

In our day, there are many who argue that scripture is not complete as we know it.  They argue that there are more volumes of works that “should” be a part of our Bibles; things like the gospel of Judas, or of Mary Magdalene.  Some of these additional works may disagree with the bulk of the Bible as it exists today.  Some may be entirely counterfeit.  It is hard to know if the book of Enoch should be included in our canon, as Jesus appears to make reference to it in one of his talks.  Yet for a book of Enoch to have endured, it would have had to be carried and transcribed by Noah through the flood – or perhaps re-written by Moses much later through prophetic revelation.  The intent of all this study about the completeness of the scripture is to cause doubt about what is written within it.  If the Bible is not complete, perhaps it is not accurate either.  But this misses the point Peter is here trying to make.  The Bible is not about limited understandings unique to a single person.  It is about general communications with enough information and truth so that any and every reader can know about the one and only true God, and His Son Jesus Christ, and their united desire to save mankind from himself and the evil that lies within him from loving himself.

If our God did not allow us to see enough of Himself in scripture, then none of us could ever make a truly informed decision of whether we wanted His love or not.  If scripture is inaccurate or incomplete then we do not have enough truth to make a real decision, and the entire plan of salvation becomes moot.  To think that Jesus Christ would come to this world, live and die for us, loving us to the maximum amount possible, showing what the true definition of loving others means; only then to have the record of Himself and His Father be distorted by omission or in-accuracy is senseless.  We may not have a record of every single event that has transpired throughout the history of God attempting to save mankind.  But we certainly have more than enough to see His Truth and make a decision based upon what we have read and experienced in our own lives.  The point of trusting God is doing so despite what we may lack in our lives.  To know we will be saved by Christ, in spite of the fact that we have been completely unable to save ourselves, takes trust.  Scripture provides enough information for us to make this choice, but it still remains a choice for us to make.

Peter is here telling the early church not to worry about some obscure text is some mountain cave, that only one person ever sees.  Instead the church should be able to rely on scriptures that are already in wide circulation, that are NOT intended to be hidden and used for private gain, but intended to be shared widely so that all might gain from them.  He continues in verse 21 … “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”  Peter reminds everyone that the Holy Spirit has been alive and working towards our salvation since long ago.  It is not just since the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit has been working in concert to save us.  He has been inspiring men to write down truth long before, and since, the days of Peter.  He will continue to inspire until the work is completed.  He acts as a mechanism in the transformation of men from our base selves to the holy versions we were intended to be.  He interacts with our will.  He transforms our prayers so that they might present before a perfect God better than our feeble words and selfish intentions would otherwise display.

Peter in this passage is not just affirming the truth of scripture past.  He is also affirming the mechanism for prophecy that is current in his own day.  John’s revelations of Jesus Christ are inspired and relayed to him through the mechanism of the Holy Spirit.  Peter’s own foreknowledge of his impending death is relayed to him through the Holy Spirit.  The purpose behind this knowledge was not to scare or frighten, but as revealed in this letter, it was to focus his priorities with the time he has left on the most important thing in his life … reaching the early church with the truth.  Peter is here affirming once again that any true prophecy, or prophet is moved by the Holy Spirit.

But Peter was equally aware that for every truth, Satan must introduce a counterfeit.  He continues his thoughts in chapter two of his first letter beginning in verse one saying … “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”  Here is where the danger and perversion of introducing “self” into the process of salvation reaps its harvest.  The damnable heresies introduced by false teachers fall into a single line of thinking … a denial of the transformation the Lord is responsible for.  Instead these false teachers begin to teach concepts like “balance”, and “doing your best”, and “just say no to sin”.  Any concept that teaches us that “we” have some measure of “control” in the process of our salvation denies that the Lord does all the work for us.  In so doing, we take away from God, the work He is supposed to perform, and put that burden on our own failing shoulders, with results that should have been predictable.

The swift destruction that follows is certain and completely predictable, though when it comes, it always seems to surprise its victims.  As we embrace the evil of self-love, we cause pain, destruction, and death to ourselves, to those who love us, to those who encounter us.  We send out ripples of pain that travel uninterrupted through our lives and those we encounter.  It is unavoidable when self-love is embraced.  When we rely upon self in any way for our own salvation and transformation we fail.  There is no “balance” in our salvation and re-creation, it is entirely a one-way street.  The work of saving us is done by Jesus Christ and He alone.  We do nothing but get out of His way.  We allow Him to save us, and trust that He will save us.  When we attempt to take the reins and fix some “slight” problem in ourselves by force of will, or self-denial, we only delay the transformation that would otherwise completely eliminate even the desire for that thing.  It is the introduction of self into our process of salvation that is the common denominator in false teachers who arise in the church.

It is the subtle doctrine of Satan they introduce into the heart of Christianity itself … to rely upon our common sense, and will to decide our salvation and fate.  To introduce the idea that “we” have some measure of control which we must exert, and then wait for God to make up the difference, is the heresy that acts against a real transformative experience that would have us living salvation instead of theorizing about it.  The introduction of self into our thinking about salvation, quickly begins to infect our ideas about worship as well.  The “worship service” becomes something we intend to provide “us” a blessing.  We tailor the music, format, and content to “feed us”.  We intend to reap emotional highs, and good feelings from our worship services.  In so doing we completely forget that true worship is offering service “to others”.  We forget that we most resemble our God when we are “loving others”, or meeting their needs, or getting out of our confining buildings and confining wardrobes of finery, in order to REALLY minister to someone in need, often in dirty places, that are not so attractive as church pews, in air-conditioned buildings, only once a week for a few hours.

Inserting “self” into Christianity denies us our real focus of reaching others, ministering to their needs ahead of our own, sacrificing what we have because the needs of someone else means more to US than we do.  Inserting “self” into Christianity denies us our ideas of family.  We restrict our notions of family to those who relate by blood, or marital contract.  After this the line is drawn in the sand, all others become strangers.  If we removed the notion of self from salvation, we would see that each and every other life is as precious, beautiful and meaningful as our own.  Our notions of family would extend freely to those in the church pews beside us, but would grow within us, until the homeless person becomes so important to us, that we can pass them by no longer.  This is what it means to be transformed to love others like Christ loved others.  Can you imagine Jesus passing by the homeless man, simply because he is mentally ill, and homeless?  No the Lord of Love does not pass by those in need, He meets their needs, offering healing, and hope.  As His representatives, can we do any less?  It is the introduction of the perversion of “self” into our salvation that would allow us to remain apathetic.

Peter continues in verse 2 … “And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. [verse 3] And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”  When once the notion of self is embraced, a degenerative addiction is the unavoidable path it must travel.  It begins with the idea that we alone understand the scripture.  It ends with indulging ourselves to the point where we would think nothing of taking offerings from other believers and expending them on ourselves.  I can drive the Rolls Royce, and live in my mansion here on earth, because I have figured out how to profit from running a “ministry”.  But the destruction to my soul from embracing self-love is guaranteed, and it will not linger long.  I will indulge myself in what I consume, how I live, and my choices will impact and degrade my health.  I will make enemies as my need to please me, exceeds my desire to see anything of value come to you.  My enemies will rejoice when I fall, and take pleasure in my destruction.  They will judge me rightly that I am no real servant of the Most High, but instead through the introduction of self into my salvation, I am become a servant of filthy lucre, and the father of lies behind it.  This is the fate of those who would deny the Lord purchases their salvation for them.

Peter concludes these ideas of false teachers beginning in verse 4 … “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; [verse 5] And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; [verse 6] And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; [verse 7] And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: [verse 8] (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) [verse 9] The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”.

The destiny of those who would save themselves is enumerated above.  When once trust was broken with God in heaven, when the angels decided to trust themselves and their own common sense above the word of the Most High, they embarked upon a path of self-destruction and self-addiction and were cast out of heaven above.  The “hell” of separation from God was to be their continued fate, cut off from the source of all love.  When the old world had reached its zenith in embracing self-love, only Noah would be willing to be saved.  When Sodom and Gomorrah had reached their zenith in self-love, only Lot would continue to be grieved at the level of their corruption, and would be willing to be saved.  Even his wife would turn back to the evil that had captured her heart and lose her life becoming a pillar of salt.  Only those who would trust in God instead of themselves would be saved.  Those who refused to trust in God would not be spared.

The essential issue that was founded in the conflict in heaven has not lost any urgency here on earth even 4,000+ years later in the time of Peter, or 6,000+ years in our own day.  Do we rely upon self?  Do we trust in ourselves, and in our will, and in our common sense?  Or do we trust in God, despite what we “know”, or what we “see”, or what we “believe” to be true?  The destiny of false prophets of old, was to be the same as false teachers who were already entering the early Christian church.  When once the ideas of “self” are introduced into the process of salvation, they pervert it until it consumes them in evil.  The power of the gospel is found in the absence of self.  The power of transformative love of Jesus Christ, is that re-creates in us “new” desires to love others instead of loving ourselves.  It is this transformation that carries weight and meaning in our day to day lives, not in some distant future one.  This is what Peter would have the early church remember.  This is what he would spend what little time left he had on planet earth worried about accomplishing.  Peter had the foreknowledge of the ending of his life, and it was in these passage he chose to spend his time and energies.

To discern truth from error was important to Peter.  To keep the church engaged in the transformation that Jesus Christ brings was the most important thing in his mind, and with his time left.  Might we take his example and begin to understand why it meant so much to him?  And the counsel of Peter was far from over …

 

The Origin of Truth (witness number sixteen) ...

When we choose to remain blind to the truth, the truth we will never see.  In our last account of the sermon of Christ to those in the treasury of the temple, Jesus had revealed Himself as the origin of light.  Those who submit their lives to His light will be made able to see.  But those who shut their eyes, or turn away from the Light, will find only darkness.  It is hard to find truth in the dark.  So it was that the Pharisees who had chosen to reject Christ as the Messiah, and discard the witness to His divinity, had chosen to walk away from the Light, and away from the truth.  The scriptures themselves are not the source of Light, they are a vehicle to reveal God, who alone is the source of Light and Truth.  The Pharisees had put their trust in their own wisdom, and in their own ideas about the interpretation of scripture.  But instead of leading them to the true Messiah, they used scriptural interpretation to vaunt up pride, and boost self-sufficiency.  They did not see their need.  But Christ did.  He knew the painful consequences they would face, from choosing to remain in darkness while opportunity was right in front of them, still offering them a way to the Light.

And so in verse 21 of John’s gospel account in chapter eight, Jesus warns His prideful accusers … “Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”  Christ would be returning the side of His Father, God.  The perfection of Christ would allow Him to return into the perfection of the source of all love, without regret, or fear, or the revealing of evil within Himself.  The Pharisees who were present would be unable to do this.  Not simply because they were mortal and would sleep until a final resurrection, but because even when returned to life, the evil within them would still be in control of “who” they were.  They would die in their sins.  Seeking after another Messiah who would not come, as only one would ever exist; the Pharisees looked in the mirror for truth and salvation and would never find it there.  Only by looking to the light would they finally see.  Only by putting their own ideas of wisdom and scriptural interpretation on the altar of humility, would they finally allow themselves to embrace the truth of the Messiah, and the vehicle to their salvation.  As we follow Christ, we are changed by Him.  We are made pure, we do not simply evolve that way.  Nor do we find perfection by the strength of our will, our knowledge, or our beliefs and intentions.  We find perfection or the complete removal of evil from within us, by submission to Christ, and in no other way.

The Pharisees though, missed the warning of remaining in sin, because they had rejected the only source that could externally change them, and remove the sin from them.  Again they focused on the idea that Christ would somehow elude them to a place they could not follow.  A perplexing concept.  And so in verse 22 they ponder to each other … “Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.”  The only place Christ could conceivably escape them was in the grave, for that was the one place none of them would dare to venture to find Him.  Perhaps even more perplexing was the idea that they would want to find Him at all.  At present, they would have been all too happy to be rid of Him completely.  If Christ had decided to move to China, they would have been happy to pack His bags and send Him on His way.

But Christ was not done focusing on origins, in verse 23 He answers … “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. [verse 24] I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”  First, in the history of mankind, not a single soul has ever reached perfection through their own strength.  The mechanism for salvation has always, and will always be, a full submission to God.  This was a secret Enoch had discovered.  To be human, is to be born into a condition our first parents embraced for us, a native propensity to serve self, the very nature of evil itself.  It is naturally a part of who we are.  Therefore, salvation must come from outside of ourselves.  Perfection must come from a source not within us, but external to us.  We must be made perfect; we will not achieve it any other way.  Christ states to His errant religious leaders, that only a belief in Him, and His longing to save them, will ever see them saved from themselves.  This is not a threat.  This is not a punishment.  This is a statement of fact, and an offer of love.  Even now, He longs to see them saved.  Even now, the very ones intent on killing Him, are the ones He is reaching out to.  He is warning them of the natural results of the choices they are making.  But His warning is not full of condemnation, and absent all hope, it is still a chance to change, a chance to turn away from self, and turn towards the source of all salvation.

The offer of Christ to the Pharisees, and the warning of us dying in our sins, is no less relevant today.  It is NOT the wish of Christ or His Father that any of us should perish.  But He cannot compel us to choose Him, or to choose to love.  He can offer to remake us, but we must accept that offer if we are to see ourselves remade.  Our belief in the truth of the written word is NOT enough to save us, any more than it was for the Pharisees who stood before Him still attempting to accuse Him and using the Word to do it.  The scriptures were no less true then, than they are now.  But their minds were clouded by their pride and their arrogance in their interpretations of the written word.  And they chose to reject Christ, while still clinging to the written word that pointed unmistakably right at Christ.  We are at no less risk.  There is a reason why there are hundreds of different Christian denominations and interpretations of the same written words.  It is because we have allowed ourselves to believe only our own ideas of the Bible are the right ones, to the exclusion of all others.  We build walls between ourselves based on the differences we see in the same written words.  And so in the process, we forget, that ALL the words point us back to Christ, not deeper into the book.  Christ is the central point of scripture, not just more scripture.  And for both the Pharisees and us, we must let go our ideas of truth, and find truth were it lives, above us, from the source of truth, Christ alone.  Only then can the written words reveal the truth, and what we will find in them is only more about Christ.

In verse 25 the Pharisees challenge Jesus to ask “who” does He think He is, as they say … “Then said they unto him, Who art thou? …”  What makes you think you can do for us, what you point out, that we have been unable to do for ourselves?  Verse 25 continues … “… And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. [verse 26] I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.”  Here Christ reminds them, that He has not changed His position on “who” he is.  He is the same Messiah He has always been.  But far more important than that, He is speaking the truth to those who are listening, the same truth He learned from the side of His Father who is from above.  Here again, Christ is revealing the mind and will and motives of His Father, the God of the universe.  He is revealing to those who will listen, the precious truth of salvation, the precious origin and offer of redemption.  All they need do is believe; all we need do, is the same.  Believe in Christ, and not in ourselves; believe in His ability and desire to remake us, and not in our own strength or abilities.  Here again is the united vision of the Godhead to save us from ourselves.

But John notes in verse 27, as it was evident to him, that the Pharisees had no idea Christ was talking about His Father God.  They refused to accept this idea, so to them they must have assumed, Christ had learned His ideas of truth from the side of His earthly father, who was obviously not present.  So to insure they do not keep with this misconception Christ makes a prophecy regarding His near future, in verse 28 He continues … “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. [verse 29] And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”  Christ predicts for all to hear, that soon He will be crucified.  The term “lifted up” had that special significance.  What is more, the precious truths of redemption that flow from Him are in perfect concert with the will of the Father.  Christ is not alone, His Father is with Him, and His Father delights in the actions Christ takes.

Think of it.  The healings Christ has done, even the one on Sabbath that caused such disdain among the leaders, was an action that “pleased” God the Father.  The redemption of Mary Magdalene caught in the very act of adultery, but spared, and freed from the bondage of sin was an act that “pleased” the Father.  The feeding of the hungry, the provisions made at the wedding feast in Cana, the selection of the disciples, even of Judas himself, were all actions that “pleased” the Father.  It is not the mercy and love of Christ alone in the Godhead; it is shared equally with the Father.  Their actions are in harmony.  They are one in purpose, and one in love for us.  We are not loved by Christ, and merely tolerated by His Father.  We are actively loved by God the Father, He may even think of us as His grandbabies (as Christ is our Creator).  The actions to redeem us, and bring us home, are not just the work of Christ in isolation, they are the work of God, all three parts.  It is both Father AND Son who are pleased at the ideas of saving us from the pain and death that evil brings.  The Holy Spirit acts as the mechanism to achieve that transformation as we let Him in.  Here in this simple verse of scripture recorded by John, is a revelation of WHO GOD IS.  Here is a revelation about the mind and heart of God, both Father and Son.  This is the God we serve, the one who delights in our salvation, both physical and spiritual.

The passion of divinity flashed through Him, and His words carry fire into the hearts of His listeners.  They have seen His patience with His accusers.  Now they see that the love He bears, is shared by His Father, to the point that He would sacrifice Himself to take on their punishment and save them eternally from the pain of evil.  These are words such as they have never heard.  This is hope.  This is a reason to live.  This is something more than they have ever been offered by any man, as man could not make this offer.  Only God could.  And so in verse 30 John records the response of the great many who were in attendance … “As he spake these words, many believed on him.”  His sermon was now bearing immediate fruit.  His passion, His love, His consistent reach to save, had persuaded them.  And salvation was to be had, right there, and right then.  It was not a future promise His listeners were to cash in, it was a promise in the here and now.  They would leave that place changed by an encounter with God.  A personal encounter as if He spoke only to them.  This is a hallmark of truth.  Truth has an effect.

Now Jesus, as He ALWAYS does, acknowledges and accepts those who have only seconds ago, decided to believe in Him.  He says in verse 31 … “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;”  We do not have to follow Christ in person, then or now to be considered His disciples.  It is enough that we allow Him to save us just where we are, and in the condition we are in.  Our transformation starts as soon as we let it.  No need to wait.  No need to be home in heaven to get started changing, we start right here and right now.  We simply follow His words.  We simple hear Him, and let Him transform us.  We come to Christ FIRST, it is only then that our transformation into His true disciples can begin.  The Pharisees had an extensive knowledge of the word, but lacked Christ, so their knowledge did not transform them, or illuminate their vision of truth.  Had they come to Christ, their knowledge would have been deepened and they would have seen truth more clearly.  It is after we come to Christ, that the words He would then utter become relevant to us.

Christ then says in verse 32 … “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Christ is the truth.  Not the Old Testament, or the New Testament, or the Law given on Mt Sinai, or the great Revelation enumerated by John and expounded on by the Prophets – ONLY Christ is “the” Truth.  Through Christ, can all those scriptures finally be understood properly, without Him they are sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals.  For it is only Christ that can “make us” free.  The Law and the Prophets do NOT make us free.  The Bible does not “make us” free from sin, or our slavery to serve self.  The written word does not have the power to transform, only to reveal us for who we really are.  But Christ, the origin of truth, the shared source of truth with His Father God, CAN actually MAKE US free.  It is a work only He can do, and only as we let Him.  It was not the interpretation of the Pharisees of the written words that would liberate them from their pride, but it could be Christ if they let Him.  It will not be our doctrinal differences that define our denominations that will “make us” any more free than were those Pharisees in the days of Christ.  It is Christ alone that can “make us” free.  Our freedom is not some sort of hidden discovery, or achievable work ethic, or something we can earn for ourselves.  It is something that happens TO us, that is done BY Christ, FOR us.  We are “made” free, and find freedom from sin in no other way.  This is the central tenant of the gospel and the entire point of the Bible.  This is the definition of our Salvation, and first truth Christ reveals to His new followers.

Come to Christ, find truth in Him, and be made free.  But the freedom Christ was offering from slavery to self was not something his accusers would choose to comprehend.  They interpreted His words to be related to physical slavery of the poor to the rich, or the weak to the powerful.  Since they were not bound to the superstitions of the idolatrous nations around them, and wealthy enough never to have tasted the servitude of debtors, or even the enslavement of Rome itself; they looked to their heritage as a mark of their freedom.  They responded in verse 33 … “They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?”  Their pride was revealed again.  They took their ancestry as a sign of their spiritual prowess, and their apparent lack of bondage to other men at the moment, as plain reasons they did not need to be “made” free.  How dangerously like us.  We look to our “Christianity” and our study of the word, and decide we are better than those around us, and do not need to “made” free from anything including our sin.  We will simply stop sinning, when we choose to, or when we get around to it, or at some distant point in our future after we have had a little fun.

But Christ was not talking about being bound to another man, or governmental power, He was talking about our slavery to sin.  So in verse 34 He answers … “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”  There it is in a nutshell.  The nature of evil is addiction we are unable to control.  When once embraced, evil takes us over, and we are NOT free to remove it from ourselves.  Adam and Eve created in perfection were unable to rid themselves of it.  Lucifer who spent eons in the perfection of eternity was unable to rid himself from it, when once he chose to forsake the wisdom of God, and trust instead to himself.  Evil is degenerative.  Evil is addictive.  Evil removes control from self, and makes self the only God worth serving.  It results in an empty meaningless existence that offers nothing but pain, and death.  Only death can stop the degeneration,  unless redemption halts the process.  To commit sin, is evidence, that control is ALREADY gone.  This is why Truth must “make us” free.

Christ continued in verse 35 … “And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. [verse 36] If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”  Here Christ makes an analogy their culture could understand.  A slave or servant was not the same kind of family member or friend as the Son was.  Servants were not always welcome in the home.  But family was.  Here is Christ saying, let me free you from your servitude to sin.  Let me make you over again, and remove from you, what you cannot remove from yourself.  When the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  We do not trade the slavery to self, for slavery to Christ.  When once the slavery of evil is removed, we are then free to love others.  To love others is our choice, not our requirement, it becomes natural to us, instead of foreign to us.  We become in harmony with the law of God, instead of constantly rebelling against it.  Our choice to love, literally liberates us from the need for laws of restriction.  Our freedom to do rightly, and to love fully, make us fit citizens of a perfect culture and government where the need for laws regarding limits to the service of self, are simply a thing of the past.  Evil requires restriction, love does not.  It is this kind of freedom ONLY the Son can offer us.

Christ is the origin of truth.  He is the origin of Light.  In His Light we can finally see His Truth.  When we see, and we embrace, we find He is next the origin of even something more …