“When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” (2 Samuel 6:13-15)

If we are to truly know our place, then we must honor the Lord and do as Christ did. We need to acknowledge the ministry of those already in appointment by the Lord. We must submit to their ministries, and do the proper observances. We must also wait upon the Lord, for his timing and his public announcement of our ministries.

A-shishi, blessings to you. Your writing inspires me. Your life and love of God and man forces me to do and be more. As Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “A great painting, or symphony, or play, doesn’t diminish us, but enlarges us, and we, too, want to make our own cry of affirmation to the power of creation behind the universe. This surge of creativity has nothing to do with competition, or degree of talent. When I hear a superb pianist, I can’t wait to get to my own piano, and I play about as well now as I did when I was ten. A great novel, rather than discouraging me, simply makes me want to write. This response on the part of any artist is the need to make incarnate the new awareness we have been granted through the genius of someone else.”

the servant king. the lion and the lamb. it is interesting that we keep these both in perspective. it seems at times Jesus would totally refute people’s accusations of him and yet during the crucifixion time he let people ridicule him and accuse him falsely.

the point shown in the life of Jesus was that it was all for the glory of God.that seems to be the common theme, whether we are pawns or kings. whichever would bring more glory to God. as Christ took on our accusations, misery, and pain, he continued as pawn so that he might be seated at the right hand of the father as king. I think that’s in hebrews.

I thought about going into the extremes of taking one side greater than the other, but the common mediator, or denominator is that God be glorified whether by my ruling, or by my death. I can trust his heart.

“Safe? Of course he isn’t safe… but he’s good.” – Chronicles of Narnia

“We need to stand before our enchanted mirror of con­science and faith and see what we need to change so that we do NOT reflect ourselves but the image of Christ. We need to beg the Lord to give us the strength to change. We need daily brokenness, proactively brought about by meditation on the Word, and reflection on our character, so that our surrendered life is lived EXACTLY as Christ lived. Sadly, too many of us realize the hard path to follow and slow down (lukewarm) or turn away (hypocrite or apostate).”

This is my heart in writing about Jesus. I am wanting to set the stage for us to look in the mirror of Christ and his Kingdom. There is a necessity in our day for people who are animating Christ.

I know as I write about Jesus, it is as much for me as it is for the reader. I want to die to myself as I look at this blazing image of Christ…

Thanks for the comment

“Kings or pawns” Napoleon said in the “Count of Monte Cristo.” But this is not the case for even kings are set in place and rule for a time because the Lord sees it fit to be so. We are kings AND we are pawns. The TRUE king realizes that his leadership is by God, therefore remaining humble at all times, obedient to his master.

In “First Knight,” this exchange happens between Arthur and Malagant. “The strong rule the weak! That’s how YOUR God made the world.” “He makes us strong only for a while, so we can help each other.” “My God makes me strong so I can live my life!”

We are to use our position and power, given to us by the Lord to make others better than ourselves. We are to constantly strive to replace us, to find someone better to do the work that the Lord has called us to do. We see the lives others live and we work unceasingly to make it better. We do NOT say that “My God makes me strong so I can live my life,” for there is only one TRUE God, and “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We are not the potter, nor the forger. We are the clay molded, the haematite transformed through the crushing, purifying, and purging of life.

I read you Ashish. I relate to your thoughts, your reflection on propositional truth (and some believers say that there is none), and I see that we are living short of this future. I see that we are at times kings, but submitted to none, neither man nor God. We are pawns but pawns of our own desires, desire for wealth, position, and adoration. We live to please instead of living to serve. We are not godly kings but kings without God.

We need to stand before our enchanted mirror of conscience and faith and see what we need to change so that we do NOT reflect ourselves but the image of Christ. We need to beg the Lord to give us the strength to change. We need daily brokenness, proactively brought about by meditation on the Word, and reflection on our character, so that our surrendered life is lived EXACTLY as Christ lived. Sadly, too many of us realize the hard path to follow and slow down (lukewarm) or turn away (hypocrite or apostate).

I pray that we truly beg the Lord to be more like Him no matter the personal cost. We live in a dying world who need us to die to ourselves.

I thought that machinations and schemings were inherently evil as in “A crafty scheme or cunning design for the accomplishment of a sinister end.” (schemings synonym) Anyway, good thought and I wish we could still push the envelope of ecclesiology and eschatology together. Miss you buddy. Keep trying to get dysbarism on the Word. Love it!

Give me a ring on my cell when you get the chance. D.

It’s good to read your voice again. I would like to get more of your thoughts on imagination in relation to ministry. There are traditional methods for presenting the gospel. Those are the methods that are most familiar to us. How can we pursue new ways to connect the gospel to new people?

I think we ought to equip and permit parishioners to express their faith in creative ways, using both what’s familiar and what’s unexpected.

What have you learned about Vancouver that might help you in this endeavor?

Pastor Michael

@stevemurray That’s so true how that works. We are a product of all the chapters of our lives as well as the transformative work of Christ. Love it

I understand where you’re coming from. On reading this post further I realize that protest could be thought of in a rebellious, subversive light. I do think I should clarify protest.

Protest, in my opinion, is what we humans do in life to exist. When we think, we protest a reality that seeks to assert itself in our minds. When we say something, we speak into a reality that is already headed in some direction, but we change that by what we say. When we do something, we move the current reality we find ourselves.

When I use the word protest I am thinking of the overarching idea that fundamentally as humans we are both responding to the past and protesting the future.

When I spoke of peace I tried to focus it on the individual rather than the situation. When our responses and protests are correct we find ourselves in a state of peace; while we find ourselves in chaos if our responses and protests are wrong. Peace has everything to do with what’s going on inside of you the individual and I believe chaos does as well.

I think I understand what you mean by chaos/disturbance working in a given environment to eventually create change/peace. I would agree…

I think at some point, I’d like to write of peace and chaos from a social, group-based perspective. That would be fun

I am finding in myself an interesting paradox in concordance with what you say about response and protest, specifically protest.

As we strive for something, or purpose as you would say, we most oft believe to be striving for something noble. It is hardly heard that one is striving to be the worst possible person. However, in my protest towards reaching whatever perceived noble goal, I am in essence failing to protest.

For example, if I were to strive for humility (or if humility was my purpose). My quest, is in itself self-defeating. For, how can one be humble while claiming humility?

In “response” to your analogy of chaos and peace. I also have to ask if chaos cannot be a good thing? If my response and protest are correct, then you say it leads to peace. But what if proper response and protest lead to chaos?

For if I am in a current state of being, doing, and relating. To protest, is in essence to rebel against the current state. To throw my being into chaos. If the current state has yet more to protest, I would say there must be a healthy dose of chaos, in order to protest against the current state. For the state that we are striving to change simply does not enter into peace. It must first be disturbed in order to be changed.

Just thoughts.

When meaning, purpose, and other things are in agreement with each other, there’s peace. Together I can move with a sense of purpose, meaning.

I hope that made sense. I was thinking out loud. Good writing as always

These men measured their blessedness by a different standard. Western society generally measures blessedness by material gains with a bottom line in black ink. We look for success in Gross Domestic Product. A material culture shouts, “We are what we produce!”

What made Jesus happy? Our living in him makes him very happy! (John 15) His prosperity is found in what we receive from him and give to others. Notice, it is both receiving and giving, not one without the other. If we come to Christ destitute and empty, what makes us think we have anything to offer anyone else apart from Christ? We must receive (passive) from Christ his love and service so that we may in turn serve and love others (active).

What made Paul happy? “If you’ve got any encouragement from Christ, comfort from love, communion with the Spirit, or affection or mercy, then complete my joy and be like-minded, have the same love being united in spirit and having purpose.” (Philippians 2.1, 2) Paul’s measure of prosperity comes from what the people receive from Christ to give to one another. Notice also, he didn’t lay out a grand methodology or plan for Christian love and action. These come naturally as we both live in Christ and come in contact with others (Gal 5.16ff)

What made John happy? Everything that he witnessed from Christ, he wished to share with others so that his joy would be complete. (1 John 1.1-4)

I say, as citizens of God’s kingdom, this too should be our standard of prosperity and success: That we are remaining in Christ and benefiting from God’s promises through Christ (mercy, forgiveness, identity in Christ, power of the Spirit, etc.) and that we are sharing what we have received–both in word and in deed–with those around us, both in and out of the church.

Interesting: Security speaks of control, stability, order, predictability. Freedom speaks of the lack of such things. Yet both can be found in following Christ.

I think people become Pharisaical and self-righteous when they feel they’re losing control. They take matters into their own hands. They try to earn merit in God’s eyes by justifying themselves with the principles of the God’s law. When that law exposes cracks and flaws in their character and integrity, they run to defend their own innocence the only way they know how–justification by law.

They have yet to learn how to receive, how to rest, how to live in God’s grace, how to live in Christ. They still need to know what it means that man’s best efforts are as filthy rags, and that only God can justify. No matter how blessed and prosperous they become by practicing the principles of the law, they are only ever acceptable to God by the kindness and grace he offers through Christ.

“Those who have been forgiven much, love much.” I’m convinced that the closer you get to God, the more apparent and horrific your sins become. That’s the nature of God’s holiness. But the more apparent they become, the more necessary is Christ’s mercy. Though we needed God’s forgiveness the whole time, the moment we become aware of it is the moment we can show more patience and love toward others.

If we truly believe that vengeance is God’s, it would radically change how we responded to the injustices of the world that we encounter. I believe that as Christians, we have a greater responsiblity than to care for our lives, our earthly possessions…all these things pass away. If we live with an eternal mindset, it radically changes how we live our lives. If we truly loved our neighbors, loved our enemies, returned good for evil, and did even half of what Jesus commands us in Matthew 5-7 and throughout the Gospels, Christianity would turn the world upside down. A Christianity that lived out the kingdom of God would be a sign and a wonder, a peculiar illustration of how God works in society.

…my two cents

The issue is, are we not compelled now to make Christ our Servant into Christ our Master? Are we not to build on that foundation that Christ has laid out for us? Though we can only build with Christ’s help, build we must if we wish to mature to resemble him.

Question: Do we as a nation not have the right to defend ourselves? Answer: Whose nation are you a citizen of? Honestly, we have the right to anything we want. We have free license to do whatever we want. But do we really wish to live as slaves to sin? To self? Even to self preservation? As Jesus said, “I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.” (Luke 12.4) Fearing for our lives enslaves us to our lives to the denial of Christ.

Question: Are we not justified when we call for war? Answer: We are justified, but war is still condemned. We are not justified for demanding violence. We who demand violence are justified by something completely different–the violence caused to Christ, that is the shedding of his blood.

As Christians, we must also beware of twisting and squeezing theology out of passages of Scripture that are obscure, that are less than explicit. For example, just because Jesus said it was enough when his disciples showed him that they’ve got two swords, that does not imply that Jesus is condoning war (Lk 22.38). God said somewhere else, much more explicitly, that the peacemakers are blessed and that vengeance is his (and he shall repay).

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”–Jesus, Luke 9.23

Here’s a thought in response to what you said… “The truth is, I probably won’t have to choose the way of non-violence today. I won’t have to stare death in the face. I won’t face persecution.”

I think we may face persecution in other ways. When I stand up for someone who doesn’t have a voice in society, when I preach a gospel that is not nationalistic in nature, when I am willing to forgive my wrong-doer…

Though we may not face the hardships and persecutions of our Christian brothers and sisters in oppressive nations, I would argue that we must have this perspective in mind. I think we need to make this our ministerial motivation. Just because our context does not require it, does not mean we ignore the foundational kingdom ethics set by Christ…

And perhaps it is just as much the fault of the church as a whole, as it is it’s leaders. I would argue that what a preacher preaches or a teacher teaches is a reflection of the community they address; a byproduct of the culture they have arisen from.

And maybe it has been so ignored because it hasn’t been “needed”. This ethic is not very applicable to the common person living in the West (applicable to the missionary or victim of an extraordinary event i.e. a church shooting). To most in the West, this can be applied only from a distance. And though that shouldn’t justify the neglect of the teaching, it certainly provides a context for it.

The truth is, I probably won’t have to choose the way of non-violence today. I won’t have to stare death in the face. I won’t face persecution.

The early church wasn’t allowed to ignore this ethic. They faced the reality of death, poverty, persecution, etc almost on a daily basis. They had to make a decision.

And though we are not forced into recognizing our ethics on the topic, we shouldn’t ignore the issue. Though it may not be practical, it is. If we strive to see this new ethic within the church, our motivation must not be ourselves. Otherwise we will not see the need for the ethic and it will continue to be neglected.

Our motivation must be for those in the world who are suffering violence, oppression, poverty, persecution… not just the Christian missionary, but the human. This means that Western Christianity needs an extreme makeover. We need to force ourselves to challenge our own theology, because circumstance isn’t challenging it. And we don’t challenge to argue or to be idealistic; but to stand up for those who could benefit from our help.

I enjoy how your thoughts read like poetry.

I’m excited to see where God takes you in life! It’s going to be amazing.

I really see you as a successful pastor only because you are not seeking prestige, power, positions, titles or a sense of fulfilment by finding your calling or identity. (Being in Bible College for a short time I’ve seen people do what I just mentioned) But you are motivated by denying yourself and picking up the cross.

You did not choose to become a pastor or leader to be served and make a name for yourself but rather to serve and give yourself out, which is a fragrance at God’s altar.

You can relate to people who are outside the Bible college clique or “elite” group of bible college folks. Well, get the idea? Don’t ever lose that. Too many pastors are unable to relate to “outsiders” or anyone who deviates from their mold. Dont ever do that! Christ was able to speak into, relate and go fellowship with ALL kinds of people and show them the way to God. That starts from the heart and from knowing the richness of His grace and mercy.

We all need it. You reflection was eye-opening. It was very refreshing because it was entirely Christ-centered. Sorry if this was long. But be encouraged and I’m happy for what God is doing in your life.

It’s quite true. If I intend to reach a broader audience I should work on how I present my thoughts. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your thoughts…

thank you so much for your encouragement. I love how you put it… we don’t need Jesus illustrations, but Jesus animations. He needs to be a part of who we are, not just what we do, say, or think. It has to be a part of who we are from the inside.

Thank you for taking the time… I really appreciate it,
Ashish Joy