It’s In There!

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (II Cor 3:18).

When you looked in the mirror this morning, what did you see?  Or better yet, who did you see?  If you are a believer, you saw the glory of the Lord.  I can guarantee it and I was not even there beside you.  But I am not the only one to make that assessment.  The Apostle Paul did as well.  In the context of Paul’s line of reasoning in II Corinthians chapter 3 comparing the old and new covenants, Paul says in his conclusion, “Unlike the children of Israel, who symbolically have a veil over their face when the old covenant is read, you, believer in Jesus, have had the veil removed in Christ.  And on top of that, when you look in the mirror with your unveiled face you actually are looking at some representation of the glory of the Lord right there in your own face because the Lord, the Spirit, is living inside you.”

Do you remember that old Prego spaghetti sauce commercial from the 1980’s?  A dad and son are appalled to find the lady of the house abandoning her homemade spaghetti sauce recipe and heating up sauce out of a jar.  They take turns quizzing the cook,

“What about the garlic?”
“It’s in there!”
“What about the oregano and onion?”
“It’s in there!”
“What about the special herbs and spices?”
“It’s in there!”

The commercial ends with the tag line, “Prego Spaghetti Sauce; it’s in there!”  If you are too young to remember, it was a big hit.

I thought of that commercial as I was reading over II Corinthians 3:18.  When you look in the mirror, do you wish you saw a person diligent in their work?  “It’s in there!”  Do you wish you saw a person who is loyal to their friends, even to their own hurt?  “It’s in there!”  Do you wish you saw someone who is patient with their toddlers, teenagers, or aging parents?  “It’s in there!”  Do you believe it?

Does this mean we are always at the top of our game or bordering on perfection?  No.  The same verse that highlights our view of God’s glory in our own faces also teaches that our increasing display of God’s glory is a transformational process.  It is an ongoing journey.  But the raw ingredients required for change are already “in there”.  By virtue of the provisions of the New Covenant, the new nature, the new heart, the new identity, the new disposition, the new power, the new everything needed to display God’s glory is in you.  “It’s in there!”

 

Despising the Shame

“Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).

Today we see the cross as a beautiful symbol of our Christian faith.  We wear it on necklaces, celebrate it in iconic art, and give it a prominent place in our church sanctuaries.  And this is as it should be.  The cross is a beautiful symbol of our rescue by Jesus, friend of sinners.

In Jesus’ day, however, the cross was anything but beautiful.  It was a symbol of death, and a vulgar death at that.  It was the epitome of shame.  A naked man being put to death on a stick of wood.  Oh the pain!  Oh the shame!

How did Jesus respond?  He “despised the shame.”  He rejected the shame.  He refused the shame.  He endured the shame for the “joy set before Him” of accomplishing the salvation of the world.  What Satan, Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers, and the Jewish leaders meant for shame, God turned into our good through Jesus’ obedience even to death on a cross.

Now, after the cross and the triumph of the resurrection, Satan still seeks to shame Christ’s children.  He holds a mirror up to our sin and reminds us of our moral failure.  His world system, at nearly every turn, mocks our belief as intellectually foolish and naive.  If Satan can’t have us, he seeks the next best thing, taking us out of service over our shame.

How should we respond?  By going to the accounting ledger, God’s Word, and believing what is written there about our sin; not only nailed to a cross and forgiven, but it’s power destroyed.  By recognizing our mockers not as our enemies, but prisoners of the Enemy, and staying grounded in the truth of God’s Word.  Don’t succumb to the shame.  Don’t believe the Accuser.  Despise the shame and press on to the reward.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16).

The Thrill of Discovery – Epilogue

As a follow up to Josh and William’s comments on our last post, let me add this:  When I was in early elementary school, I dreamed of growing up to become an explorer like Christopher Columbus.  By about the fifth grade, I learned that the whole world had already been “discovered” so I changed my “what do you want to be when you grow up” to professional baseball player.  (That dream died as well when I didn’t go out for the high school team.)

The irony in my path to a career is that, in time, I did become exactly what my first dreams desired; an intrepid explorer.  My interest in geology and geophysics was never in identifying rocks and minerals or unraveling the geologic history of the earth or deriving partial differential equations.  My interest was always in the search for buried treasure.  And my working years have been spent in the hunt for underground deposits of oil and natural gas; literally buried treasure.

My exploration bent has colored my spiritual journey as well.  I have characterized my spiritual journey as “The Thrill of Discovery.”  And I am always interested in how people discover Jesus.  This is why I subscribe to the “all of the above” approach to evangelism.

We are told today to forgo western style rational arguments for Christianity because our society lacks a basic belief in absolute truth to use as a starting point.  Yet many nonbelievers are coming to faith hearing an apologist answer what turns out to be their last objection to Christianity.  We are told that randomly distributing Bibles and tracts is too old school.  Yet Gideons International and the Bible League are flooded with testimonies of seekers coming to Christ through the reading of a provided Bible.  We are told to abandon preaching because young people no longer want to be “talked at”.  Yet the “preaching of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved.”

What I am getting at is this.  Let’s not limit the means for getting the gospel message out.  Let’s not limit the giftedness of our fellow believers to spread the Word.  Let’s allow the church universal to use an “all of the above” approach and celebrate together, just as the angels in heaven do, every life that discovers Jesus.

The Thrill of Discovery

(11 of 11 in a series)

Hanging on my office wall is an advertisement torn from a geophysical magazine several years ago.  The page size print shows a little girl at the beach holding tightly to her brother’s foot as he digs deep in the sand looking for buried treasure.  The picture of determination on the little girl’s face is priceless.  The caption reads, “If it’s there, we’ll find it.”

The reason this photo has followed me from office to office, job to job is because it captures, in visual form, the essence of the job of a geophysicist.  We use our training, skills, and keen eye for observation to look for buried treasure.  The “buried treasure” that geophysicists seek can take many forms:  oil, natural gas, water, minerals, fault lines in the earth and much more.  The thrill of discovery when our efforts find success is a powerful motivator for the working geophysicist.

A similar thrill of discovery is available to us in the spiritual world as well.  It is a discovery that has been made all over the world, throughout all cultures, by people of every race, for almost 2000 years.  Even by Mrs. Burgess.

When my wife, Rhonda, was a child, Mrs. Burgess was her next door neighbor.  Their two houses shared a driveway that forked and went to their respective homes.  Mrs. Burgess was always complaining about cars in the driveway and various assorted neighborhood challenges.  In short, Mrs. Burgess was a grump.

During her college years, Rhonda went to visit Mrs. Burgess at her retirement home in Northern Indiana.  When Mrs. Burgess recognized her guest she spoke warmly of Rhonda’s family being her neighbor and thanked Rhonda for her kindness as a child.  Rhonda had to double check the nameplate as this was not the Mrs. Burgess she had grown up with.  To paraphrase her elderly friend, Mrs. Burgess told Rhonda that she had become a believer in Jesus Christ.  She had accepted his offer of forgiveness and had a completely new outlook on life.  She now lived for others.  Her life had been transformed.  She had experienced the truth that sets us free.

In our era of celebrity, we get caught up in the comings and goings, thoughts and opinions of the rich and famous.  It drives our news and social media.  Mrs. Burgess’ story reminds us that in the quiet background, far from the media frontlines, thousands of people every day are experiencing the power of a changed life; experiencing the truth that sets us free.  This freedom, this transformation, this new life in Christ is available to all people, in all places, and for all time.  And most of all, it is being offered to you right now.  Won’t you join us?

True Freedom

(10 of 11 in a series)

When we hear the word freedom, we often think in terms of politics.  As part of a democracy, we are a free people.  Or we equate freedom with a suspension of the rules.  Teenagers are keen on gaining their freedom by having the house rules lifted as they get older.  Or we think in terms of morality, wishing we could act any way we please free from the ethics of our society, or religion, or peers.  Can this be true freedom?

The Bible teaches that true freedom does not equal autonomy.  Complete freedom in terms of total autonomy from any master, motivation, or influence is not an option for us in the human race as much as we like to think it is.  We are all servants of something or someone.  As Bob Dylan sang, “You can serve the devil or you can serve the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.”

In our natural state, we are servants of our sin nature.  Just as cows eat grass because it is part of their nature, we commit acts of selfishness and harm because it is part of our sin nature.  No one had to teach us how to lie to smooth out a problem and stay out of trouble.  It is part of our nature.  No one has to teach a child to jump into the pool just after being told it is time to get out for adult swim.  It is in our nature.

That all changes, however, when we embrace the Christian message and become followers of Jesus Christ.  We are no longer servants of our sin nature but take on a new nature and a new master, Jesus Christ.  Let’s face it.  Our own selfish nature is our worst enemy.  And true freedom, the freedom offered by Jesus Christ when we embrace His message, is the power to live above our old nature.  We have literally been set free from ourselves.  True freedom is the power to love, to cherish, to protect, and to live in ways that are altruistic and morally beautiful.