Session 3: Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics]

His Teaching: The Parables of Jesus

Subversive Radio Podcast

Why did Jesus primarily speak in Parables or stories? Why didn't he just speak plainly to everyone? What were these stories all about? Why did these stories resonate so powerfully with so many?

In this podcast we examine the Parables of Jesus.

Click the link to listen in!

BETTER THAN

In the book of Hebrews, we see a recurring theme about how everything concerning Jesus is “better than” what has come before.

As it says in Hebrews 7:19:

“…(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”

And what is that “better hope”? It’s Jesus. And Jesus has also “become the guarantor of a better covenant” [Heb. 7:22] which is “established on better promises” [Heb. 8:6], and is purified “with better sacrifices.” [Heb. 9:23]

His New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant because it’s unconditional and everlasting. His promises are better because they are all “yes and amen” in Christ. [2 Cor. 1:20] His sacrifices are better because he “desires mercy, not sacrifice” [Matt. 9:13]

Because of this, we who have entered into this New Covenant can more easily “suffer along with those in prison and joyfully accept the confiscation of our property, because [we] know that we [have] better and lasting possessions.” [Heb. 10:34]

Our treasure is in heaven, where our hearts are also, and we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness rather than material gain or earthly prosperity. [See Matt. 6]

We are also “longing for a better country” [Heb. 11:6] and “an even better resurrection.” [Heb. 11:35]

These are accessible only through Jesus. He enables us to enter the Kingdom of God here and now, not just on the day we die. He guarantees a better resurrection which is eternal and sure.

The Old Covenant, which is now “obsolete” [Heb. 8:13] has been fulfilled because “…Jesus [is] the mediator of a new covenant” and His blood “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” [Heb. 12:24]

Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground for vengeance on his brother Cain who killed him, but the blood of Jesus cries out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” and that mercy and grace and love are so much better than mere justice.

Yes, in all ways, Jesus is “Better Than” what has come before. Jesus gives us a better hope, a better covenant, better promises, better sacrifices, better possessions, a better country, a better resurrection and a better word – “love” – than anyone or anything else could ever give us.

What could be better than Jesus?

Nothing!

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” [Ps. 63:3]

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READ THE REST OF THIS SERIES:

Greater Than

Less Than

Equal To

BONUS: 
Hebrews in a nutshell: 
Jesus is greater than the prophets (Hebrews 1:1–4). Jesus is greater than the angels (Hebrews 1:5–2:17). Jesus is greater than the priests (Hebrews 2:18–3:2). Jesus is greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:3–4:13). Jesus is greater than Melchizedek (Hebrews 4:14–7:28). Jesus is greater than the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:1–9:28). Jesus is greater than the Law (Hebrews 10:1–39). We must therefore remain faithful to Jesus (Hebrews 11:1–13:25).

*Thanks to Chuck McKnight for compiling this list.

Session 2: Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics] - His Message

Session 2 of "Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics]" examines the message of Jesus. What was his main point? What did he talk about more than anything else? What is is that Jesus himself says was the reason that he had come?

Listen in to find out. 

Session 1: Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics]

Why was Jesus so hard on the religious class and so friendly towards the outcasts and the sinners?

Why is the Christian church so different?

How could Jesus have such an impact on our world with only 3 years of ministry?

Who was Jesus? What was he all about?

Join us for our first session of Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics].

Early Christians and War by Ron Sider

"The extant historical data make two things perfectly clear. First, as early as 173, there were at least a few Christians in the Roman army. By the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, their numbers were growing substantially, although we lack the data to say how many there were. And second, every single extant pre-Constantinian document by Christian authors that discusses the topic of whether Christians dare ever kill or join the army says no. Shean and Iosif have not produced any evidence to the contrary. As a result, their effort to show that only a few "rigorist" teachers in the pre-Constantinian church were opposed to all killing is based on speculation, not historical data."

 - Ron Sider​

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE>

The Cyprian Influence

For most of his life, Cyprian was a distinguished and wealthy pagan who lived in a luxurious villa which sprawled across much of the hillside of Carthage where he was born, in the late 3rd century.

Born Thascius Cyprianus, he later took the name Caecilius in memory of the man who introduced him to the Christian faith. Due to his great wealth and influence in the pagan community, Cyprian was ordained as a deacon in the Christian church soon after his baptism and in very short order he was named as Bishop of Carthage, to the protest of many of the faithful in that region.

In spite of the very vocal opposition to Cyprian's fast track to Bishop-hood, which continued to plague him throughout his tenure in that office, his talents as a pagan orator and teacher of rhetoric, along with his great wealth, afforded him great influence within the 3rd century Christian church.

ON THE RUN
Early in his career as Bishop of Carthage, Cyprian was ordered to offer sacrifices to the Emperor or face persecution. He fled to a secluded village and maintained contact with the Church via an appointed contact. As more persecution came upon the members of his church, many others fled as well. However, Cyprian felt very strongly that the Church should not welcome back those Christians who escaped the sword by running away, as he had done. Instead he argued that they should be treated as unbelievers and not be welcomed back into fellowship.

Of course, when he eventually returned from hiding to resume his public office, he wrote a compelling letter explaining why his escape into seclusion was for the strengthening of the Church and that he should, therefore, be allowed to continue as Bishop of Carthage. None of the other Bishops opposed his return to his diocese and he was allowed to continue as if nothing had transpired.

RE-WRITING THE NEW TESTAMENT
Cyprian's greatest influence on the Church was introducing the concepts of priest, temples, rituals, altars and sacrifices to the faith. Until his writings, the Christian church had operated under the New Testament system, largely influenced by Jesus and his Apostles, which held firmly to the notion that the temple, the priesthood and the sacrifice were fulfilled in Christ at His Crucifixion and further that His Followers were also the temple of God, the royal priesthood and that their sacrifice was expressed in the way they lived their lives each day.

Because of Cyprian's skill as an orator and his prominence as a Bishop in Carthage, his pagan ideas of worship were given serious acceptance within the larger Body of Christ. In his writings Cyprian argued for a return to Old Testament Jewish practices which closely mirrored the concepts he had grown up with in a paganized culture.

Sadly, the Christian faith adopted Cyprian's ideas of spiritual covering, the special clergy caste, the importance of ritual and the need for a temple and sacrificial system of worship within one generation, effectively undoing the revolutionary concepts of Church found in the New Testament.

THE CHURCH JESUS BUILT
Inspired by Jesus, the Apostles established a community of believers; a church, based on the revolutionary concept of People-as-Temple and a corporate body which depended not upon a special clergy class, but upon the Holy Spirit Himself.

"...the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." - Jesus (John 14:26)

Under this radical new concept, the Church was built upon the foundation of Christ as our ultimate priest and sacrice and temple so that each of His followers could also become a temple of the living God, a daily sacrifice and a priest of God.

No one was more vocal about this concept of a living temple of God than Paul the Apostle who wrote prolifically on the subject in nearly every single epistle.

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Cor 3:16

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." 1 Cor 6:19

"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 2 Cor 6:16

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." - Eph 2:19-22

THE TESTIMONY OF PETER
Peter himself was also very clear on the concept of a living temple made up of people who were also the new priesthood and the daily sacrifice.

In his first epistle he clearly outlined this very concept to those early Christians:

"As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:4-5

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." - 1 Peter 2:9-10

THE CYPRIAN SWITCH
Sadly, in the third century, Cyprian came on the scene and unraveled the tightly woven tapestry spun by Jesus and taught by His Apostles in the New Testament by someone who clearly did not fully understand the genius of this design.

Jesus himself spoke clearly on this subject when asked by the woman at the well about the location and method of proper worship to God. His response was that the temple in Jerusalem was no longer the "special" place to find God. Instead, one could find and worship God wherever they stood, as long as God's Spirit was within him or her.

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." - Jesus (in John 4:23-24)

The very fact that the early followers of Jesus did not adopt a system of priesthood, or continue to offer daily sacrifices in a special temple bears witness to the fact that, as evidenced in the Apostolic writings, there was a new temple, priesthood and sacrifice now, and they were it.

Under Christ, the priesthood was now more than just one man overseeing a congregation of several hundred people, the priest was now every single one of those people. It was an exponential multiplication of priests who were also temples of God's Holy Spirit where a daily sacrifice of will and self took place.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
- Romans 12:1

"Then (Jesus) said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." - Luke 9:23-24

JUST IMAGINE
When Cyprian used his influence to undermine the New Testament and introduced his own ideas about temple, priest and sacrifice, he effectively introduced a virus into the Church which continues to pervade our concepts of worship and church to this very day and hour.

But, what if we could return to the ideas of the New Testament? What if we could learn to live as if God's Holy Spirit lives within every single follower of Jesus? What if we could begin to think of ourselves as priests of God who daily offer themselves as living sacrifices so that Christ could live through us?

What if?

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I Won The Lottery!

Why do people dream of winning the lottery?

Obviously, it’s because they dream of a life without worry and stress.

We all want that, don’t we?

Of course, most of us believe that if we had millions – or even billions – of dollars in our bank account, we’d have nothing to worry about. We’d be set for life.

But, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we already have that assurance from Jesus.

Jesus tells us that our daily bread is secure and He has our today – and our tomorrow – under complete control.

In Matthew 6, Jesus confidently informs His disciples that if they will change their perspective to align with the Kingdom of God, they can enjoy the peaceful, stress-free sort of life they’ve always dreamed of:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" [Matthew 6:25-26] 

So, according to Jesus we already have all we need for our life today. Our Heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask and He has already taken care of everything in advance.

Jesus also tells us that we do not need to worry about tomorrow. Why? Because God has everything - absolutely everything - under complete and perfect control:

"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." [Matthew 6:31-34 ]

Of course, if God is in control that means that you and I are not.

Here is where most of us really struggle, honestly. 

We want to enjoy a life without worry, but we also want to be in control of our lives. Somehow we think we are in control, but we’re not. Control is an illusion. Only God is in control, and if we rest in the reality of His unending love for us, we can let go of that steering wheel with joy knowing that He knows what He’s doing.

Without trust, our lives are filled with anxiety and strife. But if we can let go of everything and trust that God is good, that He really loves us, and that He really only wants what’s best for us, then trusting Him is the only response that makes sense.

Are you in Christ, Jesus today? Then celebrate your great fortune! You’ve just won the most incredible lottery of all time. You’re rich in all the things that matter – and many more things that don’t.

You have no cause to worry about anything, because God has your whole life in His capable hands. You don’t need to have concern about what tomorrow holds, because you know who holds tomorrow.

The truth is, worldly riches don’t really bring us peace, or comfort, or joy. Just a glance at the news or the tabloids will confirm this for you. No, peace, comfort, joy and life are only found at their source. Jesus is our peace. He is our comfort. He is our joy. He is our life.

You and I are already over our heads, swimming in the deepest depths of an ocean of blessings found only in the unsearchable riches of Christ. There is no greater treasure than that.

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." [Philippians 4:11-13 ]

Some people are so poor, all they have is money. You and I have been adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God, who created the Universe and owns all things. This same God has invited us to call him "Abba" or "Poppa" and He assures us that it is His good pleasure to give to us the Kingdom. 

Celebrate!

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NOT A RESOLUTION

I'm not someone who makes New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, or eat healthy, or what have you. It's my understanding that those who do almost never follow through with their plans anyway. So, I've never felt the need to follow that trend.

But the other day my dear brother in Christ, Dan Notti, asked me to help him keep a few promises he's made to himself this year. After reading his list I was inspired to create one of my own.

Based on what I was already hearing the Lord whisper to me over the last several weeks, I wrote down these goals:

• To abide in Christ more and more.
• To let love be my dominant response to others.
• To spend more quality time with my wife, Wendy.
• To spiritually mentor my sons.
• To write at least one book and possibly a second book before year's end.

The calling to abide in Christ more and more stems from a simple realization that I need more of Jesus in my life. Everything else I might desire flows out of this.

If I hope to love more in the year ahead, it will only happen to the degree that I allow Jesus to live and breathe in me on a daily basis.

My attention to my wife's needs, and to my son's spiritual development will only emerge if I am connected to Christ and abiding in Him.

Writing my books might not seem to be necessarily dependent upon my experience of Jesus, but I would certainly prefer to be led by His Spirit as I write these books so that what He wants to be communicated is what I publish.

So, please don't call this a New Year's Resolution. It's nothing of the sort. It's simply my decision to lean more into Jesus today and to continually do so until I see Him face to face.

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The New Jerusalem Has Already Come Down

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” [Rev. 21:1-3]


John kicks off this chapter by declaring that the New Jerusalem – which is the Bride of Christ – has come down from heaven in fulfillment of the promise that “The dwelling place of God” would be “with man” and that God “will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” [Rev. 21:3]

I know that many are tempted to read this passage – and certainly this entire epistle of John – as if it were entirely futuristic. But there are some problems with that, I think. Especially when it comes to the New Covenant, which the prophet Jeremiah foreshadowed and Jesus proclaimed as being inaugurated on the night before his crucifixion at the final Passover supper with his disciples.

“This cup is the New Covenant in my blood,” Jesus said. That New Covenant is simply this:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [Hebrews 8:10]

Keep in mind, the old city of Jerusalem which existed at the time of Christ, and before John wrote Revelation, was destroyed in AD 70. Its destruction was the “End of the Age” and when it was destroyed, so was the Old Covenant system.

Out of the ashes of that temporal city arose the new spiritual Jerusalem, and with the destruction of that Old Covenant Temple there was constructed a new, living Temple of the New Covenant, which is the Church.

Later in the chapter, John says:

“Then came one of the seven angels who…spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God…” [Rev. 21:9-11]

The Church is the Bride of Christ, and as John tells us in Revelation, the New Jerusalem has already come down from Heaven [by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit] and now grows to cover the entire earth.

Then John goes on to say:

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And they city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and her gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” [Rev. 21:22-27]

Within the Church – or the New Jerusalem – there is no temple other than Jesus Himself. He abides within us, and we abide within Him. We are the living Temple of the Holy Spirit where Christ lives, and Christ is the living Temple where all of us “live and move and have our being.”

Christ is our light, and because of this, we are the light of the world.

"You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” – Jesus [Matt. 5:14]

The Bride of Christ is here now. We are the Incarnation of Christ in the world now. He is our Head, and we are His Body.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” [Rev. 21:3]

Has God not made His dwelling among men? Isn't this what Jesus, and Stephen, and the other Apostles proclaimed over and over again?

The New Jerusalem has already been planted like a seed on the earth. Now it continues to grow daily, and the Lord is adding to Her number daily, as His Kingdom advances and His rule and reign expands.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” [Isaiah 9:6-7]


[Image Credit: Moebius]

INSTANT REPLAY

I love when I see something brand new in a passage of Scripture that I've never noticed before.

Recently, while reading the final chapter of the Gospel of John, I saw an incredible parallel of the life of Peter playing out before me.

First, John does Peter a great honor by closing out his Gospel with this touching portrait of Jesus' tender heart towards the formerly-boisterous disciple in his hour of humiliation.

Peter decides to go fishing. A handful of other disciples go with him. They fish all night and catch nothing, much as they had done on the day that Jesus called Peter to become a follower three years earlier.

Jesus stands on the shore, but they don't realize it's him yet. He calls out and asks if they caught anything and when they say, "No", he tells them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat and they haul in a huge catch of fish - again, just as they had done on that day when Jesus called Peter to "Follow Me!"

That's when they realize it's Jesus. Peter then steps out of the boat. Just like he did that night in the storm when Jesus called him out on the waves and he sunk like a stone after looking away from Jesus.

When Peter gets to shore, Jesus already has fish, and bread, cooking on a fire. "Go and bring some of the fish you just caught," Jesus tells him. Much as Jesus did when he fed the multitudes saying, "bring your loaves and fishes to me" right before multiplying their small portions to feed not only the thousands around them, but with leftover to feed the rest of the disciples, too.

Once everyone else arrives from the boat and they sit around the fire, Jesus takes bread, and fish, and begins breaking them into pieces and passing them around to everyone. Just like he did that day when he fed the thousands, and just like he did that night in the upper room saying, "Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you."

Surely they noticed the repeating of these actions. Certainly, Peter did.

Around the fire, Jesus asks, "Do you Agape [Perfectly love] me, more than all the rest?", much as the girl around the fire asked Peter, "Weren't you with this Jesus of Nazareth?" that night when Peter betrayed him.

Peter is only able to answer, "I Phileo [Brotherly love] you."

Jesus says, "Feed my lambs", much in the same way as he had told Peter and the other disciples when they wanted to send the multitudes away, "No, you give them something to eat."

How could Peter feed all of Jesus' followers? He had only just pulled in a catch of 153 fish, which was a lot for his family, but not enough for all of those who were following Jesus. However, Peter certainly realized that the 3 loaves and two fish were more than enough for thousands that day, and his 153 fish would be more than enough for the hundreds of thousands who would soon gather around Jerusalem and beyond, because Jesus would make it enough, as He always did.

A second time Jesus asks, "Do you Agape me?" and Peter says, "I Phileo you, Lord" and Jesus again responds, "Feed my sheep."

The third question grieves Peter, because it pointed to his three denials of Christ that night, but here Jesus changes his question: "Do you Phileo me, Peter?" and then Peter says, "You know all things, Lord. You know that I love you like a brother."

"Then feed my sheep," Jesus says.

And then he adds, "Follow me," which is exactly what he said to Peter that first day when he called him to become a disciple after the miraculous catch of fish nearly sank his father's boat.

There, in the space of about an hour, Jesus put Peter through an instant replay of their last 3 years together; from Peter's first calling, to the miraculous feeding of the multitudes, through that night before the crucifixion and the last Passover supper they ate together, to Peter's embarrassing denial of Jesus a few hours later around the fire.

Like all of us, Peter got distracted by what another disciple was doing. "What about him?" Peter asks, pointing to John. "What is that to you?" Jesus responds. "Follow me!"

And with that Peter's spiritual resurrection was complete. He remembered who he used to be. He remembered who was in Christ, now that Jesus had restored their friendship. He understood that his primary focus was his own obedience to Jesus' commands to follow, and to feed His sheep, without worrying about what anyone else was doing, or not doing.

I love this chapter. I'm so grateful to the Apostle John for including it there at the end of his Gospel, to remind us that Jesus understands our weakness, and that if the best we can say is "I love you like a brother", it's a good enough place to begin our journey with Him.

EQUAL TO

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." [Hebrews 1:3]

We've looked at how Jesus was "Greater Than" Moses, and the Temple, and Solomon, and everything else. We've looked at how Jesus was "Less Than" the Father, and the Angels, and became a servant to all. But now, we want to explore the equality that Jesus has with the Father.

It's one of the great mysteries of the New Testament, actually. How could Jesus be "the exact representation" of God and still say "the Father is greater than me"?

Part of this involves the self-limiting nature of Jesus in His incarnation. Jesus was "in very nature God" but decided to lay all of that aside to become one of us. This is when He became "less than" the Father, and even the Angels. In fact, this is why the Incarnation is such a miracle. The creator became the created. The unlimited willingly limited Himself. The One who lives forever took on mortality and tasted death.

Why? Because He would rather die than to live without us. So, He laid aside His Glory, and took off His great power like a robe, and humbled Himself to become a tiny embryo nestled in the womb of a poor girl in Palestine.

His identity never changed, however. He was still God, but He had taken on flesh, and thereby had wrapped Himself in a single location in space and time. This is when He became "Emmanuel" which means "God with us". This is when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." [John 1:14]

As Paul reminds us:

"[Jesus] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing..." [Phil. 2:6-7]

And the Apostle John writes:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [John 1:1]

So, Jesus is "Equal To" the Father in every way, and yet at the same time is "Less Than" the Father [in a different sense] and still "Greater Than" everything - and everyone - else in all Creation.

Meditating on these three characteristics of Jesus only makes us love Him more and fall to our knees as we begin to realize the "unsearchable riches of Christ" are even more astounding than we ever imagined.

"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." - Jesus [John 14:9]

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LESS THAN

In my previous post I shared how Jesus was "Greater Than" Moses, the Temple, the Law, the Prophets, the Sabbath, and everything else.

But the New Testament also tells us that Jesus is "Less Than" the Father, or at least that the Father is greater than Jesus.

"You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." - Jesus [John 14:28]
We also know that Jesus was "made a little lower than the angels" [see Hebrews 2:9] and that He "made Himself nothing, taking on the nature of a servant" [see Philippians 2:6-7] which emphasizes that, while here in human form, Jesus lowered Himself.

This astounding act of humility and weakness emphasizes what Paul the Apostle refers to as "The Power of Weakness", where God's "power is made perfect in weakness" when we lay aside our own ability and abandon confidence in ourselves - trusting instead in the "power of Christ" which is released when we - like Christ - humble ourselves, empty ourselves, and rely completely on the Father for everything. [See 2 Cor. 12:9-10]

Just like Jesus, did, by the way.

Jesus affirms that he never did anything under his own power, and that he never taught anything other than what the Father told him to say:

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24);

“For I do not speak of myself, but from the Father who sent me and commanded me what I should say and what I should speak...Therefore, whatever I speak is just as the Father tells me to speak." (John 12:49-50)

“Then Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you; the Son can do nothing of himself, but only does what he sees the Father do. For whatever things he [the Father] does, these are also likewise done by the Son.” (John 5:19)

“Of my own self, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear; and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me.” (John 5:30)

“But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I only do exactly as the Father has instructed me to do.” (John 14:31)

Jesus was our role model - our blueprint if you will - for how to live a Kingdom life. Jesus was able to turn the other cheek, pray for His enemies, love those who were persecuting Him, and everything else simply because He had totally abandoned Himself to the Father in every way. 

This is exactly how we are called to live the Kingdom life. 

Jesus compels us to deny ourselves - our own ways of thinking and acting - and to die daily by taking up our cross and following Him [and His example] to put His words into practice.

How can we possibly do this? By abiding in Christ so that Christ can abide in us. [See John 15]

Jesus became "less than" to show us how we can live as citizens of the Kingdom today.

This means we have no more excuses when it comes to putting His words into practice. He has shown us the way, and the way is to let go of ourselves and trust completely in Him for everything.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - Jesus [John 15:5]

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NOTE: Read more in my book, "The Power of Weakness" HERE>

GREATER THAN

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus refers to something that is "greater than" the Sabbath, the Temple, Jonah, and Solomon.

What was it?

When the Pharisees asked why Jesus and His disciples broke the Sabbath, Jesus replied:

"I tell you that something greater than the temple is here." - MATT. 12:6

And then he goes on to say that he is "Lord of the Sabbath", which means that Jesus is greater than the Sabbath, as well.

Later, when the Pharisees ask him for a sign, Jesus says:

"The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here."- MATT. 12:41

Then, Jesus tells them this:

"The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. " - MATT. 12:42

What is greater than Solomon, or the Temple, or Jonah, or the Sabbath? It's Jesus, the promised Messiah.

Moses prophesied that the Lord would send a prophet after he was gone. He further warned that those who did not listen would be cut off from the people of Israel. Both Stephen, and Peter reminded everyone of this in their sermons recorded in the book of Acts.

When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, he appears with Moses - who represents the Law of the Old Covenant - and with Elijah - who represents the Prophets. Peter mistakenly wants to honor all three of them equally, and then the Father removes Moses and Elijah [the Law and the Prophets] and says:

"This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well-pleased. Listen to Him!"

And when the disciples look up, only Jesus remains.

Jesus is greater than Moses. 

The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to say:

"Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses" [Heb. 3:3]

He is greater than the Old Covenant Law. Jesus is greater than the Prophets. Jesus is greater than David, and Solomon, and the Temple, and Jonah, and everyone else.

There is nothing, and no one, greater than Jesus. Listen to Him. Obey Him. Follow Him.

"He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all." - JOHN 3:30-31

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GUEST POST: "Priests Don't Make War" by Steven Kline, Jr.

I think all of us have read some portion of scripture and wondered why it was in the Bible. It’s usually those passages that seem boring and/or repetitive. Tell someone you are reading through the book of Numbers and you will get some strange looks because it has a lot of those passages thought to be repetitive and boring.

The first four chapters of Numbers detail the census that Moses took of the nation of Israel. It’s easy to skip over this passage of scripture because it seems really boring. What could a numbering of the people wandering around the desert possibly have to do with us? It seems to recount the same information with different numbers thrown in for the different tribes. To the modern reader it seems like the cut and paste function was used by Moses. But, of course, that wasn’t the case. And, because creating a written document was very costly in those days, to have so much repetitive information must serve some purpose.

So, what can we learn from the first four chapters of Numbers?

In Numbers 1, God speaks to Moses in the tabernacle of meeting and tells Moses: 

“Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies.” (Numbers 1:2-3) 

So Moses is to count the men of Israel by their families and households. But, he is not to count all the men. God instructs Moses to count “whoever is able to go out to war” and “number them by their armies.” This is important because, while these phrases are repeated many times in the first two chapters of Numbers, the phrases are left out Numbers 3 and 4.

After giving the order to take a census, God appoints a man from each tribe to help Moses with the task. (Numbers 1:4-16) A careful reading of this list of men and tribes reveals that something is missing. The tribe of Levi was left out of this list, indicating that Moses was not going to take a census of this tribe along with all the other tribes of Israel. Why is that?

Having organized his help, Moses does at the Lord commanded him. (Numbers 1:17-19) From verses 20-46 we read Moses numbering of the people. Each tribe, except Levi, is listed with the number counted by Moses. The report is very formulaic. In each report, Moses counted “whoever was able to go out to war.” (Numbers 1:20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42) Finally, verse 44 summarizes that Moses counted “whoever was able to go out to war in Israel.”

So, Moses counted all who could to war in Israel. He counted the men that could war from all the tribes except one – the Levites. The rest of the chapter tells us why God had Moses leave the Levites out of the census.

“The Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe. For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying, ‘Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor shall you take their census among the sons of Israel. But you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall camp around the tabernacle. So when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But the layman who comes near shall be put to death.’” (Numbers 1:47-51)

According to God’s instructions, Moses did not count the Levites in the census because instead of being men able to go out to war the Levites were to be over the tabernacle and all its furnishings. The Levites were to set it up and to take it down. They were to care for everything inside the tabernacle. The tabernacle represented God’s presence and dwelling place in the earth. So, instead of being able to go out to war, the Levites were to minister and mediate God’s presence amongst the people of the nation of Israel.

Note that Numbers 1:52 draws a distinction between all the men of Israel and the Levites. The Levites were to encamp around the tabernacle, but “the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to the armies.” 

The Levites would camp around the tabernacle. But, the rest of Israel would camp in their own camps, by their own standards, according to their armies. Again, the men of Israel were men who were identified as men who could go out to war while the Levites were identified as those men that mediated the presence of God. Numbers 1:53 says: 

“But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of testimony, so that there will be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.” 

The Levites were to minister God’s presence, not to bring God’s wrath, so that God’s wrath would not fall, not on all the other peoples in the Ancient Near East, but on the sons of Israel.

In Numbers 2, we are told how the people of Israel were to camp. Numbers 2:1-2 says: 

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ‘The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance.’” 

While the Levites would camp around the tabernacle, the other tribes would only camp around the tabernacle “at a distance.” They would camp by their “own” standard and by the banners of “their fathers’” households.

The rest of Numbers 2 details how the tribes of Israel camped around the tabernacle at a distance. And with the recounting of how each tribe camped, there are two key phrases repeated:

·         “according to their armies” – 2:3, 9, 10, 16, 18, 24, 25, 32

·         “his army was numbered,” with “his” referring not to God but to the sons of Jacob – 2:4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30

So, the children of Israel camped according to the standards of their fathers’ houses and their armies, and they were numbered according to these armies. “The Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Numbers 2:33)

Numbers 3 and 4 recount the census of the Levites and delineate the duties of the Levites. The Levites were God’s and not numbered among the sons of Israel.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle…Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine.” (Numbers 3:5-8,12)

The Levites were given completely to ministering at the tabernacle, to ministering God’s presence among the people. And, in this ministering of God’s presence, they would guard the people of Israel. 

We see the importance God places on the ministry of the Levites because their tasks and duties are spelled out in detail over two chapters while the rest of tribes were merely numbered as men able to go out to war.

The distinction of the Levites from the rest of Israel is important because today all of God’s people are priests. 1 Peter 2:9-10 says:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 

Revelation 1:6 says that Christ loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, making us priests to God. Other passages in the New Testament make it clear that all God’s people are priests. And, there are a number of passages towards the end of Isaiah that prophesy that God’s people will one day be priests.

Today, all of God’s people are priests. These people are God’s possession. The Lord says these people are His, just like He did of the Levites in Numbers. 

Because God’s people are all priests today, God’s people are not numbered among those able to go out to war. Rather, God’s people proclaim the excellencies of Him who called out us out of darkness into the His marvelous light. 

God’s people do not do violence but minister the very presence of Christ, proclaiming the mystery of the gospel and the power of the cross. God’s people proclaim a suffering servant, Jesus Christ, that defeated fear and death through His own death. God’s people perform the ministry of reconciliation, which is not brought about through war and violence but by loving their enemies. 

This is why the weapons of God’s people are spiritual and not carnal.

by Steven Kline, Jr.

Steve Kline is a follower of Jesus. His passion is to seek Christ in all of the scriptures and share that revelation with others. Steve is married to Samatha (since September 2012) and the father of Trey (he's 15). When his first wife, Dawn, went to be with the Lord in March 2012 after a six-year battle with cancer, Steve had a direct encounter with the Lord. Also, he is one of  the fourth-generation owners of his family's publishing company where he is an economist.