Headed to the Super Bowl

I was laying in bed last night after reading in Luke. And I read in Luke where Jesus tells his disciples that if they truly want to follow Him, they must hate their brothers, sisters, mom, dad, and even their own self..and unless they do that, they cannot be His disciple. And laying there I thought how difficult this statement is to live out. I mean, seriously, this is a really challenging set of verses. Now for me, looking back 2000 years to when Jesus said this.. its still a strong statement. Jesus calling His own disciples to pick up their cross daily and follow Him. My High School Bible teacher said "it'd be like Jesus saying to you, pick up your electric chair, lethal injection, noose, or guillotine and follow me!" Can you imagine a king, queen, or president saying that to their country? Imagine then how the disciples reacted when He told them the cost of following Him.

What God convicted me of though is how I count my intentions (while they might be good ones) as actual devotion to Him. Think of it this way, each year around the first week of September, 32 NFL Football teams start out with one goal. Win the Super Bowl. They've trained, they've prepared as best they know how, but...the interesting thing is, only 1 team stands come February as the World Champion. When the other 31 teams sit down to do their evaluations of their seasons and decide what went wrong, I can guarantee you that not one coach says, "Well, we intended to win, so we didn't do a bad job! We wanted it, and its the thought that counts! Let's just go home now." Ha-ha, can you say fail? Teams that don't evaluate why they fell short of their goal need to retool, maybe re-strategize their offseason workouts, or focus on defense more? (Ahem, TB Bucs)

Seems a bit ridiculous right? Since when do good intentions count for anything? See, as a human, looking out at other humans, I label people by what I see them do. I see a man kill someone, I label him as a murderer. But that man may sit in the room with a detective and say "I never meant for anything bad to happen! I didn't mean to kill that person!". And ya know? That murderer probably feels less responsible because, after all, he didn't intend for it to happen. What I was really convicted of was the fact that I do this. I label other people by what they DO, and I label myself by what I INTEND to do.

Exampe: I see a lonely guy in a bookstore, I feel like I should go share the gospel with him (good intention!) but then I walk over to another section hoping he'll leave by the time I muster enough man-courage to go back there and say something. (Failure to fulfill a good intention) But the funny thing is, when the Holy Spirit confronts me about it, I come back with..."Ah God, ya know? I really meant to go over there and say something to him, but he left before I could." Then I walk away actually feeling like a devoted Christian because my intentions are good?! (Bleh.)

As Christians, we can't label ourselves by our intentions. We've become pro's at masking our fear, embaressment, laziness, and pride all under the good intentions blanket, and I can't believe that God would be impressed in simply having good intentions. What God really wants from us is devotion. After all, look at what He gave on the cross! Paul describes himself as a slave to Christ. As a Christian, essentially you're telling God that because of what He's done for you, the greatest response you can have to the cross is to give your entire being to Him, to His service. We've got to fulfill the good intentions placed in us by the Holy Spirit! Intending on going to church isn't equal with actually going there. Intending on witnessing isn't witnessing. Planning on tithing isn't actually tithing. God calls us to die to self daily, He desires action. Jesus says, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments!" Intending on keeping them isn't the same thing. The Apostle John says the following in I John...

'' Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth.''

Good intentions never win a Super Bowl.

Jesus' Flashback

One of my favorite storytelling devices is a flashback. If you're a fan of LOST you can appreciate this even more. If you don't know what LOST is already, its a TV show that's basically about survivors of a plane crash on a remote island. As the survivors gradually get to know each other better, it becomes very apparent that each character is hiding a past. A past that greatly affects the choices they make in the present. The producers of LOST used flashbacks to show the survivor's lives before the crash and let the viewer see why a character made a particular choice on the island. Sometimes, it was out of hate, sometimes love, fear, or regret. Maybe you've experienced a flashback of your own. Jesus certainly did.

One of my favorite portions of Scripture is Jesus' own flashback, and it's found in Luke 10:17-20. To set the stage, Jesus had sent out 72 disciples to go minister to the Jews, to heal, and preach the gospel. They return, to put it bluntly, freaking out because of the authority they had over the demons and evil spirits in the villages.

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Ah! There it is! Jesus' own flashback, did you catch it? Imagine this. The returning servants run up to Jesus, "Lord! Even the demons listen and obey us when we speak to them in your name!" Jesus looks up at them and His all-knowing mind flashes back to a time before these 72 servants ever existed, before the earth was fully formed, before Christ took on human form, and Jesus reveals to those standing before Him, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Wow. Can you imagine the mental image that went through Jesus' mind at the moment? There He is, on His throne where He rightly belongs, and in an instant, the most sinful being in creation is thrown from the presence of God. A powerful flashback I think. Jesus goes on to tell His 72 servants that they should not necessarily rejoice that they have the authority to deal with evil spirits, but rather that their names are written in Heaven.

Jesus here is giving us a very real, and very powerful visual of God and how He deals with sin. Think about this, that the very instant sin (Satan) tried to enter into God's presence it was literally thrown away, like lightning, down to the earth. I mean, have you ever seen lightning strike? It is one of the most powerful natural processes, and is essentially the human equivalent for traveling as fast as possible. Ever heard someone say, 'Wow, he's as fast as lightning!' ? Now imagine the ferociousness, the violence, the power, and the sheer speed of lightning. That's how fast sin travels AWAY from God, its like lightning, which in human terms, is one of the fastest things we can comprehend. That's how fast we would be thrown away from God if we tried to enter into His glory by ourselves.

Jesus tells His disciples not to marvel and rejoice in the authority they have over demons because any authority we have, its all given to us by Jesus. We do nothing. This is why Jesus tells his disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven, and to rejoice in their salvation. Because we as humans don't even deserve THAT. God's gift of salvation is the most amazing work in all of eternity. How can we, being so perverted, distorted, and utterly evil, ever maintain a constant relationship with God? The Apostle John tells us that if we say we have no sin, we are lying to ourselves, and that the truth of God isn't in us. One of my biggest problems is not taking sin seriously. Maybe we need to revamp our view of how serious our sin is to God. After all, just look at what happens when sin enters His presence. Even as Christians, we still have sin, but the difference when we accept God's work on the cross is that now God's constant and continual Grace and Mercy wash us clean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until we are finally purged of sin when Jesus returns. Christ's blood from the cross not only protects us from being cast away like lightning, but allows us into the very presence of God.

"I cry to you O LORD; I say 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.'"

- Psalm 142:5