Let It Be Said of Me

"There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, captain of the Italian Guard stationed there. He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer. One day about three o'clock in the afternoon he had a vision. An angel of God, as real as his next-door neighbor, came in and said, 'Cornelius.' Cornelius stared hard, wondering if he was seeing things. Then he said, 'What do you want, sir?' The angel said, 'Your prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God's attention...'" (Acts 10:1-4, The Message)

I mentioned in my previous blog that it seems that my home is the most difficult place for me to surrender my pride and my own desires and empty myself to be a servant in love. Reading Luke's description of Cornelius and the way God was paying attention to him is not only amazing but creates a longing in me. I sensed the Spirit speaking so clearly to me through these few verses. "He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer." What a remarkable thing to have said about you by anyone...but especially by God. As the angel points out to him, "Your prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God's attention."

My sense this morning is that if God was noticing these things, Cornelius' family and all who were around him noticed them too. These are the very things that I long to practice: 1) lead my family to live worshipfully before God, 2) serve those in need (love my neighbor), and 3) have a habit of prayer. Holy Spirit lead me and let this be said of me for Your sake and for those You love.

It is interesting that Peter has to surrender & empty himself (kenosis) of all his cultural and religious baggage in order for the Spirit to use him with Cornelius and his family. What if Peter had said NO? He certainly argued with God about all of this, but ultimately he responded in obedient love and went to see Cornelius. Cornelius had called together all of his family and close friends to hear God's message through Peter. Peter realized that God played no favorites through this experience and described all that God had done in Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection. As he described the forgiveness available in Jesus for those who believe, the whole gathering was filled with Holy Spirit. The Jews with Peter were amazed that these non-Jews had also received the Spirit.

Cornelius and those with him seemed to have already surrendered (kenosis) to God and to what He would speak through Peter that day. They were waiting not unlike the Jewish disciples had done in Acts 1, and the result was the same. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was a life-changing day for Cornelius and his household but also for Peter and the Jewish believers with him.

In response to God's great love and mercy, both Cornelius and Peter surrendered themselves to God and emptied themselves of everything. In this place of emptied surrender, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I long to follow their example today and every day as I strive (by the Spirit's power) to lead my family to live worshipfully before God, to serve those in need, and to have a habit of prayer.

Fire on my Head

Having waited in Jerusalem as Jesus instructed, Acts 2 begins with the Holy Spirit blowing onto the scene in a powerful and life-changing (also culture-changing) way. The followers of Jesus had responded to His instructions and His love by a surrendered, self-emptyied (kenosis) waiting. As empty vessels, the Holy Spirit filled them to overflowing in Acts 2, and as Jesus told them in Acts 1:8, they became bold witnesses.

One of the greatest joys of my life is to be the father of 2 young boys. The same morning I felt prompted to begin blogging was the same morning I felt prompted to study the book of Acts personally and with my family this summer. I sensed the best way to do this with the boys was to have them act out portions each evening. On the first evening we acted out Acts 1, and they really seemed to enjoy it.

We pretended we had a fire in the living room floor, which we sat around like we do when we're camping. My oldest is 6 years old right now, and we have been reading one of his picture Bibles together since not long after he was born. We acted out Acts 1 as Jesus spoke about the Kingdom and instructed them to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came. Then we stood together staring up into the sky as the disciples did, and the youngest got to play the part of the angels. It was at this point that my oldest immediately jumped into the story of Acts 2 when the Spirit falls. He's been through that segment enough times in the past that he began to describe to his younger brother (3 yrs old) what happened next. When he explained that they had "fire on their heads" when the Holy Spirit came, the 3 yr old immediately put his head down into our fake fire in the living room floor. He then got up and began running around the room yelling, "There's fire on my head! There's fire on my head!" It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. My wife laughed so hard she fell off the couch.

What a joy it is to see them loving God's Word. While reading and acting it out together daily is important, I recognize that how I live or don't live kenosis every day before them is just as strong a witness. I must admit that my home seems to be the most difficult place for me to surrender my pride, my rights, and my own desires and to empty myself to the point of really allowing the Spirit to love them through me. This is my desire Lord Jesus. I lay me down and ask You to fill me with Your Spirit. Teach me to love and to lead as You love and lead me.

Our Mysterious Partnership with God: A Life of Love

"...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." (Col 1:26-29)

Jesus Christ is the mystery hidden from ages past and Christ is indeed in us, the hope of glory. How do I realize this mystery more fully? How do I embody the "mind" of Christ in everything?

I mentioned in my previous post the way in which I see the Spirit empowering us as Jesus' followers. It is all related to living a life of love, and it is only possible if we learn to surrender and empty self (kenosis) in response to God's great love and mercy in Christ Jesus. It is a constantly repeated cycle in our lives as we journey with Jesus. This cycle draws us closer and deeper to Christ-likeness (maturity - "perfect in Christ"). 1) God acts in Christ through the Spirit and we choose whether we respond. This certainly happens when we first experience that grace, but it also happens daily and even in the moments of our lives. God is truly at work in our world (or maybe it's His world). The question is: will we respond? 2) Our response is always surrender (kenosis). This is the heart of what it means to worship God with our all, and it is a response to God's mercy (Rom 12:1-2). 3) The surrendered life is empty and can be filled by the Holy Spirit. We are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 4) Only empowered by the Spirit can we live the life Christ Jesus has called us to live - a life of love.

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Eph 5:1-2)

This is what I long to live. I have come to see that it is only possible through the Spirit because love is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). We are to keep in step with the Spirit in order to live this out (Gal 5:25), which necessarily means that we not be full of self (Gal 5:26). Herein lies the glorious and mysterious partnership we share with God: in response to God's love, we empty ourselves (kenosis) and are filled by the Spirit and empowered to live as Christ in the world. This is a life of love in response to love. We learn it as we practice it!

Living a life of love can therefore be synonymous with living a life of worship to God. For that matter, it is also synonymous to living a life of prayer. How are these things different? This is the life God has called us to: to love God with all and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt 22:37-40). This is what a life of worship or a life of prayer looks like. This emptying self in response to God's love and mercy, then, is key to our worship, our love, and our prayer. None of this was designed for us to live apart from one another. We were designed for this life of love/worship/prayer within community. Paul calls us to this surrendered life in response to God's mercy and clearly articulates that we are each to bring our bodies (plural) as "a living sacrifice" (singular) (Rom 12). In other words, we each individually choose to respond to God or not and those of us who surrender in worship to God do so as a singular, corporate, living offering to our worthy God.

Lord Jesus, I surrender to your great love and empty myself. Please take my pride, my titles, my achievements, my failures, my dreams, my fears...my everything. You have constantly, miraculously, overwhelmingly, passionately, extravagantly demonstrated this love over and over in my life. Thank you! Please take this offering and fill me with Your Spirit that I might love as You love. That I might love You well! That I might love my family with this same extravagance with which You love me. That I might love my neighbor, my friends, my fellow Jesus followers, the stranger, the poor, the world as You love them. I recognize that I have no capacity to love like this without the Spirit of Jesus alive (resurrected) in me! Please do this for Your sake - for Your glory! I love You my Lord, my God - Father, Son, and Spirit - always living in loving community together. Let it be! Let it be! Let it be!

The ACTS of the Holy Spirit

I'm studying the book of Acts right now in my devotional time. I have been struck by the humility demonstrated by Jesus' disciples in the early Church. There must have been a tremendous fear and confusion that came upon those present in Acts 1 when Jesus made it clear that He was not restoring the Kingdom to Israel at that time. What a whirlwind for these folks - they followed the Messiah only to see him executed. Then, He is resurrected and spends 40 more days with them teaching about the Kingdom. Their comments in Acts 1 make it clear they were still thinking an earthly kingdom. Now, to top it all off, Jesus leaves!

Jesus' instructions to his followers were simple. Wait. Stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Father's Promise - the Holy Spirit. The angels find them staring up into the clouds where Jesus had gone. The disciples must have been confused and afraid. I wonder how many times I have been guilty of being overwhelmed, confused, and afraid as if I were simply staring up into the clouds. I think this is how many of Jesus' followers spend our lives. These first disciples were consoled by the angels' message that Jesus would return in the same way He left.

So, Jesus' ragtag group of followers did as He instructed them - went back to Jerusalem and waited. What were they doing for 10 days in the Upper Room? They waited and prayed. Their actions after Pentecost make it clear that their lives were not their own anymore. They had humbly denied themselves and were willing to die for Christ's Kingdom.

It seems to have gone something like this. In response to God's great love for them in Christ (God always takes the initiative with us), they surrendered (denied self, emptied self). Upon surrendering (kenosis), they were filled with the Holy Spirit. With the empowerment of the Spirit, they were bold witnesses everywhere. In other words, having surrendered to God's love/mercy/grace they become Christ's ambassadors in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. This seems to be the summary of the book of Acts and is precisely what Jesus said would happen when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8).

Although this book is referred to as the Acts of the Apostles, it seems it is really about the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles as they lived out surrendered lives (kenosis) as Jesus' ambassadors. I long to live this boldly in obedient love. Lord Jesus, I have experienced Your love and mercy in life-changing ways. I surrender to You today and deny myself of all that is my agenda and all that I feel "entitled" to. Please fill me with Your Spirit that I might live with the "mind" of Christ in my home today and with everyone I see. I wait for You now - fill me for Your Kingdom and for Your Glory!

Getting Started: Kenosis

Journaling has always been an important component of my growth as a follower of Jesus, but it has been inconsistent lately. I woke up this morning with a conviction that I needed some fresh water in my journaling and sensed that blogging could be just that.

An important season of my story came in high school and early college as the Spirit was transforming me and teaching me about my identity in Christ. During that season, I had two close friends and a pastor confront me about my pride. Interestingly, they were not speaking of arrogance (as many would associate pride) but a constant inward bent in me toward myself. In a real sense, I erected an altar at that point and began a journey toward humility through the Spirit. At the prompting of one of my friends and mentors (also a pastor), I memorized Philippians 2:1-11, which has become my quest.

I discovered that my paralyzing insecurity was just another form of pride and that continuing to live that way was willingly choosing pride over humility. As James said it, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (4:6). As Paul describes it in Philippians 2:7, Jesus' attitude (or "mind") involved a constant "self-emptying" in order to be fully present to God in loving obedience (obedient love). This "emptying" of self or "making self nothing" that Paul is referring to was the uncommon Greek word "kenosis."

In the gospels, Jesus makes it clear that anyone who desires to be His follower (disciple) must "deny self" daily, take up the cross, and follow Him (Mt 16:24; Luke 9:23). Because Jesus said that denying self is the daily pursuit of His follower and Paul described this self-emptying (kenosis) as the way Jesus lived (and what Paul was emulating), then kenosis is my daily pursuit.

Although I have been on this journey of kenosis for half of my life, I sense that I am only just beginning. Spirit of Jesus, please continue to change me deeply that I might bear Your fruit in my home and in this world (Jn 15; Gal 5).