Let's put some sin back in the gospel

Ever wonder why up to 90 percent of those who make decisions for Christ end up falling away from the faith, dropping out of church or rejecting the Lord altogether?

I recently visited a church in another city that served up Jesus as a remedy to all life’s problems. The service was geared for seekers, and portrayed Jesus as the best thing since peanut butter. But there was very little mention of sin, God’s justice, or, heaven forbid, any talk about hell. About the closest thing to any of that was when the word “immoral” squeaked out of the pastor’s lips. Ouch, how convicting!

But the point of this service was not to convict people of sin. It was to make people feel comfortable about Jesus. Ironically, a thorough understanding of the consequences of sin, and the reality of hell, will get us comfortable with Jesus real quick. If the law of God convinces me that I am a sinner, I will gladly leap at the offer for Jesus to die on my behalf. Suddenly, I have tremendous reason to need Him. Furthermore, I will love Him all the more for setting me free from the law’s consequences.

Unfortunately, in today's world of seeker sensitivity, the church seems to have forgotten the critical role that God's law plays in effecting true conversions. If this is true for the lost, how much more so does it apply to those of us seeking deeper communion with the Lord's heart? Let's take a look.

:: converting the soul ::

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. …” (Psalm 19:7)

The law was made to convict us. And the kindness of God then enters to lead us to repentance. You’ve got to have both. The law doesn't save us, but it serves as a school master, pointing us to the Lord.

Now, I am not a hellfire preacher; I don’t make it a habit to criticize church services, and normally I wouldn’t have a problem with the way things were done at the aforementioned service. But it points to a larger epidemic. See, this was specifically an evangelism service, geared toward saving souls. In the midst of it all, a very big point was missed.

I have found that the church today loves to depict Jesus as the solution, without ever adequately discussing the problem. Sure, we talk about the problems of addiction, sorrow, poverty and disease – and we love to rightly point out that the Lord can bring victory over these things in our lives. But the dire problem of mortal sin and damnation rarely get addressed.

As an example, consider a man with an incurable disease, who is not aware he is sick. I can bring him the antidote, but unless he is convinced that he is sick, why should he take the medicine? It would be ridiculous to drink medicine if he thinks he is completely healthy. But the scenario gets more ridiculous. Suppose I tell the man he should take the medicine simply because it tastes good. Because it will give him fulfillment he never realized was possible. Because he has a “medicine-shaped hole” in his heart that is just longing for this particular potion.

Well, he might actually taste a little of the stuff, but his motivation for taking it probably just won’t be strong enough to down the whole bottle.

But now, suppose I first tell the man that he is afflicted with a terminal illness. This particular disease is vicious, and in just a short while … that’s right … he will be dead.

By the way, I also mention that I happen to have the antidote – only if he is interested, of course.

Suddenly, the tables turn. The man recognizes his need, lunges for the bottle, and his heart is truly grateful for having found the cure. He gulps down the entire dosage in just one swallow, and goes to share the good news with his friends.

:: jesus loves you ::

The law of God is quick to point out our sickness. It highlights our need. But if we try to pass off Jesus onto people, without first illustrating this, they will, at best, accept Him for shallow, selfish reasons. Perhaps never really reaching a saving faith.

If we want souls to get saved, we have to stop giving lip service to trite statements like “Jesus loves you.” It’s true, but not a very Biblical approach. It is impossible to gauge the fullness of God’s love for us without first understanding the grave severity and consequences of our own sin. Jesus said that those who have been forgiven much will love much (Luke 7:47). But if we never understand where we have broken God’s laws, we never have reason to turn to Him for His mercy and loving kindness.

People think they are generally good. They think that no matter what, they will get into heaven because God is good. In our evangelism, it is therefore important that we walk people, at least to some degree, through the law, to show how they fall short. When people see that they have clearly broken more than half of the 10 commandments ­– at least in their heart, which is equal to an outward commission – then lights begin to turn on. It gets personal. It gets real.

People must see where they have transgressed before they can ever truly repent. Otherwise, they may “accept” Jesus, but they cannot truly value His sacrifice or know what they are signing up for. John Wesley actually instructed pastors to preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace! That sounds extreme, but why did he do this? Simple. If we do not understand how severely we have broken the laws of God – and are not gripped with dire conviction for it – then we will never, in a million years, understand the grace of God. We must come to grips with our need for the cross.

:: consumer christianity ::

A lot of people will turn to Jesus as an answer to their immediate problems – or just to try something new. But these spontaneous decisions mean little once the going gets tough. When they are persecuted or criticized for their faith, these “poor soil” converts simply drop the cross and move onto something else. They never understood the value of the blood of Jesus to begin with, because their hearts were never pierced with personal conviction to the point of true repentance.

I do not suggest we solicit fear-based responses and coerce followers with legalism. And in fact, there are quite a few churches that preach a salvation message to the choir every Sunday, without anyone getting fed beyond a basic, rudimentary understanding of how to keep your rear end out of the brimstone. That’s not what I’m shooting for.

What I mean is this: Let’s do away with the four-minute altar calls. Let’s show people that they are lawbreakers: murderers if they have hated, adulterers if they have lusted, liars if they have lied, and every one of them an idolater. Convince them that, in God’s eyes, they really are not “good” people. Don’t condemn them, but show them that they stand condemned already by their own actions. They are sinners in the hands of a good and just God. And because He is good and just, he will not allow lawbreakers into His heaven.

When people are convinced of this truth, then they are primed and ready for a savior. The need is clear: they see the sickness. This kind of preaching is not very popular today. And granted, without the anointing, it can veer toward harassment. Yet, without God’s law to illustrate how sinful I am, I cannot recognize my need for salvation. If a man is truly convicted of his sin and makes an honest conversion, you will not have to chase him down for time consuming follow-up work. Yes, he needs to be taught and discipled, but if he is born of the Spirit, the Lord will keep him and set him on course.

Furthermore, let’s sit with these people and weep for an hour, making sure they are delivered. How do you pass over from death to life in four minutes? That is consumer Christianity. Coming to Christ is not a simple transaction like writing a check. In the old days, revivalists preached repentance. And every conversion was a matter of hours of snot and tears and travail and birth pangs.

In the church today, I believe we have a crisis of false conversions and shallow Christianity, because we have sold Jesus as a source of fulfillment, blessing and a better life. It is true that He brings us these things. But without understanding the utter depravity of our sinful nature and our absolute need of mercy before a just and holy God, we can never appreciate the extent of His love and sacrifice for us. We choose Jesus not just for a better ride here on earth. Inevitably, trials will come, the going will get tough, and our cross will get heavy – will we then toss Him aside like last year’s fashion wear? Freedom from sin and hell is the bottom line that should silence all our complaining and petty reasons for throwing in the towel.

These principles extend well beyond conversion. Remember, the goal of our studies is to attain a deeper experience of God’s love in our lives. We each have untapped depths that must be exposed to the light. But only those of us who come to a full recognition of the darkness of our hearts can expect to enter the deeper levels of divine intimacy we desire.

The path of intimacy is a path of purgation and refining flames. It is truly a narrow pathway that few will traverse.

We can slap one another on the back and reminisce with grace parties all day long, but without the cleansing lamp of God searching out the back alleys of our souls, we can never fathom the extent to which grace reached in its nail scarred hands and pulled us out of the flames.

**This week’s article was heavily inspired by Ray Comfort’s “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.”

Living Flame of Ancient Wisdom

St. John of the Cross once wrote, “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

We have recently discussed how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – and furthermore, how the love of God is truly the fulfillment of wisdom. On that note, let us again remember the goal of our studies – the goal of any pursuit of truth, for that matter – which is to draw us closer to the Lord. Wisdom is a pathway that leads to life, and when we hold to its path, the ultimate fruit will be greater divine intimacy.

Wisdom is more than an accumulation of facts and knowledge. It transcends learning and the intellect. It is the living substance of God that must captivate our hearts.

:: sophia ::

The book of Proverbs tells us that wisdom was present from before the world began, when the heavens were set in place and the horizon was marked out on the face of the deep. Wisdom was there “when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I (Wisdom) was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence” (Prov. 8:29-30) Wisdom is found “rejoicing” in this passage, which literally means “playing” before God. Wisdom is not so sober that it loses its joy and childlike wonder. Proverbs also states that wisdom was “given birth,” but never that it was “created.”

There are, of course, countless benefits and promises toward those who seek and pursue wisdom, not least among them the following:

“For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord” (Prov. 8:35) In fact, attaining wisdom is one of the chief ways of receiving special benefit from God. Consider Solomon’s wealth and riches. It is also a means of avoiding much unnecessary suffering.

We should remember that Wisdom is a person. Wisdom is an extension of God Himself. Or better yet, God Herself! Whoa! We better explain that one.

Wisdom, or “sophia” in the Greek, is always a “she” or a “her” in scripture. There are all sorts of bizzaro beliefs and conjecturing around this fact. But where new age has stolen this understanding and perverted it, it is critical that the church reclaim the truth. Wisdom is not a separate being outside of the Godhead. Not an angel or a goddess. The church has erred in regard to this throughout history, believing on one extreme that Sophia speaks of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and on the other extreme, that scripture only allegorizes wisdom’s personification as a tangible “being.”

But the Spirit of Wisdom is no less than the very Spirit of God. Or to put it more clearly, an element of the sevenfold spirit of God listed in Isaiah 11:1-3:

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. …”

You may remember that we touched on this sevenfold aspect of God’s Spirit last week (also mentioned in Zechariah and Revelation), as we discussed the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. It may also help you to understand the following verse:

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.” (Prov. 9:1-2)

Truly, God Himself must build our spiritual house, and the fullness of Him alone is our foundation. Furthermore, without the depths of wisdom, we will never encounter the meatier things of the word, nor the intoxicating wine of His presence. It is wisdom to embrace both the strong meat (the word) and the strong wine (the Spirit).

As for the gender thing, we should not get hung up on that. But it is important to understand that God is neither male nor female. It takes man and woman together to reflect God’s image, as we see in Genesis 1:26-27:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Furthermore, we should remember that we reflect God’s image, not the other way around. Nevertheless, I believe that most specifically within the Godhead, the Holy Spirit reflects those more feminine qualities of God’s nature. His sensitivity. His nurture. I do not want to sound chauvinistic, but Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Helper. This in no way diminishes his raw power and dominance, but God’s presence is a thing of beauty and romance.

:: resting in us ::

Our relationship with Holy Spirit, in this regard, requires a special sensitivity and emotive response which we do not always directly associate with Jesus and the Father. There is a most holy tenderness and nearness that we experience with Holy Spirit (He dwells within our very being!) that is unique and sacrosanct. Could this deep sensitivity be the very reason we are most cautioned beyond all else against blaspheming the Holy Spirit? (Mark 3:28-29)

The Holy Spirit seeks a place to rest, and in this way, we become the very resting place, the very temple, of God. As we just read in Isaiah, “the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him,” and “Wisdom reposes (rests) in the heart of the discerning …” (Prov. 14:33)

It is the very seal of the Holy Spirit upon us and within us that makes us so beautiful to the Bridegroom. The depths of the Holy Spirit within us cry out to the depths of Jesus. It is His presence within us that literally draws God to us and us to God. Deep calls out to deep.

Wisdom not only seeks to rest within us, but the Spirit of Wisdom also brings rests to our own souls. The yoke of the Lord is light, it is not burdensome. We also read that the anointing, the manifestation of His presence, is the very thing that breaks a heavy yoke. As Christians, we are always living a paradox between working diligently and living lives of rest. There are always two pitfalls to this path: strife and complacency, either of which we can fall into.

But the narrow path is usually to align ourselves in a place of rest and submission, so that the Spirit of God can work mightily from within us. Otherwise, we are prone to Saulish labors, sacrificing for God inappropriately with sinful motives. Or like Uzzah, we try to reach out our own hand to uphold the glory of God. But God cannot be upheld by an arm of flesh. We must learn to operate out of stillness and cultivate the interior life. This takes wisdom. To cease from our own labors – even and especially religious ones – so that God can begin to perform His.

:: garden works ::

This does not mean we are called to slumber, but it does mean we are not called to toil. Toil – striving labor by the sweat of our brow – is a result of the fall of man and its subsequent curse. But the blood of Christ has freed us from that curse, and He is calling us back into a lifestyle of “garden works,” which elicit peace, joy and creativity. The life of faith is one which turns from the toiling anxieties and worries of the world. The world always fends for itself, yet we cheerfully surrender self to God. This, of course, is the wisdom of God which is foolishness to the world.

Wisdom cannot be earned or learned, but it must be pursued. We must learn to embrace wisdom and ask for it, for “if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). God only allows man to diligently seek a thing, when it is somehow an extension of Himself, because God alone is worthy of pursuit and adoration. This is why we are permitted to “follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy” (1 Cor. 14:1). The gifts can be pursued because they are simply expressions of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, so we can desire to prophesy. We can seek gifts of healing because Jesus is the Healer. He is healing itself. These are extensions of His nature.

The same is true of wisdom. Jesus is Truth. The fullness of wisdom rests within Him. He is “Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). Therefore, our pursuit of wisdom is tantamount to our pursuit of God Himself. God cannot be separated from true wisdom.

:: god revealed ::

True wisdom is not an esoteric intellectualism. It is not theology or philosophy. Neither is it a gnostic form of “saving” wisdom that rejects the work of the cross. Simply stated, wisdom is revelation. It is God revealed to us. And how can we love God more, unless He is displayed to us in a greater way?

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Eph. 1:17).

If wisdom represents the mind of God, then it is ever speaking about the heart of God. Wisdom always leads to intimacy. But if we depart from its paths, that desire for intimacy will be skewed. Consider Solomon, the wisest man on the face of the earth. At his end, wisdom had already awakened great desire within him. Yet when he directed it toward his hundreds of wives and concubines, and not toward the Lord, he was led astray to idolatry.

Nevertheless, we cannot underestimate the glory that was afforded under Solomon’s reign. God revealed Himself quite openly and tangibly. When Solomon dedicated the temple, the heavy “kabod” weight of God’s glory – His tangible presence – rested so strongly on the priests that they were unable to stand to minister. With Moses, this same glory was so intense that it caused his face to become luminous. The only way to reach beyond ourselves and our own human limitations is to tap into this heavy weight of glory, this manifest presence of God that literally drops us to our knees. Like the great Welsh revivalist Evan Roberts, our prayer should be “Bend us, Lord!”

Wisdom involves the mind and precepts of the Lord, but it also encompasses and directs us to the very tangible substance of God’s manifest presence. Let us abide in that place of intimate union which is so intense that the very substance of God drips from our pores. Is it natural to desire such supernatural manifestation? Quite so. We were created for it.

Embracing the holy terror

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Last week, we discussed how true love for God can only be birthed in our lives by encountering His love for us. As we pursue deeper intimacy with the Lord, the guiding compass will always be the divine love He first showers on us. Only the passion of His cross can inspire us to carry our own. To think we can actually give something back to God that He did not first produce within us is not only arrogant, it smacks of a slavery mentality.

When a slave learns to love his master, he is no longer a slave, but something else. He has progressed perhaps to a bondservant (a willing slave – a “love slave”), or even a friend. In fact, our goal is to move beyond slavery into an understanding of our sonship in the Lord. Romans 8: 14-16 says:

“…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

There is a high calling in Christ to move beyond fear-based service, to which the law itself is limited to effect. Of course, there is a very valid type of ministry that aims to produce the fear of God in men. The fear of God is truly the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), and without the conviction of sin, there can be no repentance. In fact, this is a very common trait in the ministry of an evangelist, and Proverbs 11:30 says “he who wins souls is wise.”

We never abandon the fear of the Lord, but we must grow into a maturity that produces the love of God. Fear of punishment will produce an immediate response, but only the love of God will produce a sustained relationship. As we stated in earlier lessons, the love of God is not divorced from purity. But righteous living cannot take hold in the depths of our heart without us being enraptured by the goodness and beauty of the Lord.

When we taste His beauty, our hearts become undone, and we cannot help but to serve Him in righteousness. Only the inspiration of His unconditional love for us will draw us beyond fear and into bridal love.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

Many people cannot seem to embrace the paradox of the fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord. This is why many seek to water down the definition of fear as being “reverent awe” or simply “respect” for God. But John, the love apostle, who is called the disciple whom Jesus loved, was so terrified when He encountered the King of Glory in Revelation 1 that he fell to the ground as though he was dead!

Mankind is actually built with a normal, healthy capacity to fear that must be satisfied. This is why we turn to extreme sports and horror movies and roller coasters. Most people who shun the concept of the fear of the Lord are actually in bondage already to the fear of man. The fear of man is a “snare” the scriptures say, and to fear man is much more oppressive than to fear God. David said, “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” (2 Sam. 24, 1 Chron. 21).

God is truly a holy terror, but also the kind you can delight in. When we “understand” the fear the Lord (Prov. 2:5), we actually want to tremble in His presence. It is not an irrational panic attack. We desire to shake in our boots, because it is the immensity of His love that frightens us. It is not a slavish fear. We are terrified by his beauty. And we know that even His judgments are sent merely to drive away every hindrance to intimacy.

The fear of the Lord is simply a tutor to draw us into a deeper communion with Him. This is obvious when one considers the many blessings attached to the fear of the Lord. For one, He “confides in those who fear Him” (Psalm 25:14). The angel of the Lord also encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them (Psalm 34:7). Or how about this – “those who fear Him lack nothing” (Psalm 34:9).

To fear the Lord is simply to agree with love, and to literally hate evil. Consider these blessings:

“The fear of the Lord adds length of life, but the years of the wicked are cut short” (Prov. 10:27).

“Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life” (Prov. 22:4).

To fear God is not masochistic. It is actually to choose life and liberty and blessing. We also find, along the way, that our fear is overtaken by passion and an intoxicating hunger for more of His presence. Fear somehow is transfigured into pleasure, and we begin to “delight in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:3). I tell you that this pleasure is more addictive than crack rock.

I have come to the point in my life where I actually want to encounter angels that seize me with fear. I literally want to see the Lord like Moses did, even if it scorches my face off. During such encounters, we regret ever saying such words, because of the sudden grip of holy fear in that instant. But nevertheless, there is an addicting hunger – a passion – that drives us closer to this all-consuming God, even to our own hurt. We are compelled to reach in and touch a level of glory that will knowingly cause us to die.
Let us continue to press into this love that overcomes fear. This dangerous love that flirts with death to self and compels us toward a greater resurrection. Above all, let us fix our eyes on Christ, so the example of His own passion is reproduced in us.

Mature Love

Last week we began discussing the necessary inseparability of love and righteousness. We also discussed the “doing” of love, which is needed if we ever want true depth in our relationship with God, and not merely a Hallmark card sentimentality of talk. Again, love and righteousness (right living) are the sure expressions of true faith:

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10, emphasis mine).

Right living is a litmus test of true faith in Christ. But our “law abiding” comes only as a byproduct of holy love, not as a means of attaining it. As we draw close to the heart of God, we have a burning desire to put away every sin, every hindrance that spoils the expression of intimacy between us and our Lover. We suddenly want to chase away even the “little” sins and wrong motives that corrupt the fruit of that communion.

In Song of Solomon 2:15, the Lover says to me, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes / that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”

As children, we learn the discipline of the Lord concerning sin, as a father disciplines a son. We can never fully exhaust the Father heart of God toward us as sons. But I believe that the Bridegroom Lover aspect of God reaches dimensions even beyond the loving, patriarchal expression of the Father. In Jewish tradition, a young man was not even allowed to read the Song of Solomon until he was about 12 years old – the age of maturity. This Song was also considered the holiest book of the Old Testament. There is a mature expression of love that is reserved for those who have trained their senses to distinguish between good and evil. It is this place of divine intimacy where we truly realize that even minor sin is tantamount to spiritual adultery with the Lord.

God is not wringing his hands over the actuality of our sin. God always looks on the heart, and not the outer form. The reasons for God’s judgments are rarely tied to the outward manifestation of our actions. They are primarily tied to the corrupt state of our hearts that produces such sin. A good tree never bears bad fruit. The very reason for His judgments is that He wants to remove every hindrance to love. Clean hands and pure hearts are inextricably connected. We must learn to “put on” love. Mature love.

God is fiercely jealous for his bride. As we mature in love, we begin to take the perspective that sin is only the product of a heart that has already been seduced away from the Lover of its soul. A heart that has forgotten the ecstasies of His presence – the pleasures of His right hand. Holiness is not about exterior action and legality. It is about a heart fully devoted to the loving kindness of God. Holiness has nothing to do with legalism, and everything to do with love.

During the deepest visitations I have ever had with the Lord, one thing always tends to stand out above everything else: His eyes. Just as the apostle John said, his eyes are truly a flame of fire. The eyes of the Lord are deep, purging and penetrating. As you are sitting with Him, you know He sees right through the very core of you. Nothing is hidden. There are no little foxes. You are completely vulnerable and your inner heart of hearts is always revealed in that gaze. And at the same time, I am overtaken by passion in that place, to my utmost limit. I am undone.

As much as we want to gaze into those eyes, it is so intense that we can only take a little of it at a time. The first time I saw the Lord face to face in a vision, I was overwhelmed and told him, “I understand why Peter said, ‘Turn away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.’” I was unable to stand in that level of glory. Immediately, the vision was over. Otherwise, I may have died.
The Lord’s love and beauty is so severe, that we hardly have the capacity to handle it. Mike Bickle compares it to trying to plug a million volts of power through a five-volt fuse. Our capacity to experience the love of God is so limited, that his beauty and awe actually strikes fear and paralysis into us! God is not frightening because He is evil. It is actually the intensity of His beauty that makes him so terrible! His goodness is so extreme that it wrecks us.

So how do we increase our ability to experience this higher love? Know this: It does not come through the law. Living right and obeying God will not produce love, but love will always produce obedience. Love is a gift, not a paycheck that is earned. And all good and perfect gifts come from the Father above:

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. …” (Rom. 11:35-36).

Love comes from God; He is the channel, and love is ultimately given so we can return it back to Him. To know God is to love him. Our first step toward love is to set our gaze on Him. It is by first considering His love for me, that I am empowered to then love God in return. It is by looking at Him that our eye becomes full of light, and thus our entire body becomes full of light. And we look at Him with the eyes of faith. This is why worship is so critical, as is the act of waiting in His presence. We spend time with Him, in order to see Him and know Him better.

“The Faith and the hope and the Love are all in the waiting,” said T.S. Eliot.

I must pull aside and look into those eyes of fire, and consider His passion for me, broken open on the cross. The first step toward love is to contemplate His love for me. When I consider the advances of my Lover, my heart is captured and I, too, am broken open.

Love and righteousness

As we stated in January, our goal for the year should be to move into a deeper communion with the Lord. Life really is as simple as loving God first and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It would be great if that was the only scripture we needed, but God had to give us 1,600 pages of them. Why?

Simply stated, we have to be instructed as to what a life of love looks like. We could talk about intimacy with God until we are blue in the face, yet deceive ourselves without having the practical steps of obedience that it should produce in our lives.

This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

Obedience to God's law is a necessary fruit of true love, but it is obviously not the only fruit of love. There are those fruits of a transformed character that most define the intentionality of holy love. They far outweigh the jot and tittle of the written law:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

These are the things that mark Christian maturity. We have all read this passage numerous times, but we must move beyond just talking about love and into the very "doing" of love. If we say that we love God, but disobey Him, we are not walking in truth.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence (1 John 3:18-19).

But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him (1 John 2:5).

In Christ, God's love toward us is perfect and unconditional. We cannot earn more or less of it. But our responsive love toward God – what I give back to Him – is still being perfected. I can love God more tomorrow than I do today. Until I throw actions and truth behind my love for God, my heart will not be set at rest in His presence. We grow in both our ability to love God and our capacity to experience His love toward us. The first response of any true love I have toward God will always be repentance, and that means simply to turn toward Him. I will want to begin gazing at my Lover. Since sin inhibits my ability to experience and drink in the love of God, I will naturally want to put away all blocks to love.

Many of us have difficulty soaking in contemplative prayer because there are sin issues we are avoiding in our lives. Our hunger to taste the rich presence of God is being stifled by our own actions, and this inhibits our prophetic interactions and divine encounters.

Repentance merely enables us to taste more of what God has freely poured out toward us. If fear is always the under-girding motivation for our repentance, we will quickly enter the performance cycle of trying to work for God's love. It is only the kindness of God that can truly bring repentance. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but the love of God is the fulfillment of wisdom.

There is no place along the way where love departs from right living. Love is inextricably tied to righteousness (right living). One cannot say "I have love," and another say "I have righteousness." This is, as the apostle James points out, as foolish as someone saying "I have faith," while another says "I have deeds." Just as faith is always demonstrated by our works, so is love is always demonstrated by outward action. The two cannot be separated.

However, the work, the deed, is always the outer form ­– the shell, the shadow – of an inner transformation. And God looks on the heart.

God is love. But we must recognize that this holy love is a far deeper, purging flame than any "human" love can ever touch. It is of a higher substance. God is Love, but He is also the Truth. He is a refining fire. His love is a piercing love that requires a death and rebirth of the senses. It is a very dangerous kind of love. His love must always supersede our love of fellow man, but it must necessarily result in love for our fellow man.

This living flame of love is so untouchable, so unquenchable, that it is virtually impossible for us to ever draw near without being consumed. This is why it is ultimately necessary that God Himself becomes our righteousness. We are incapable of reaching that place of purity and perfection which He requires of our own accord. And so Christ must positionally become our "right living" so that we can freely enter the love of God.

God's demand for righteousness never diminishes, but it must necessarily be preceded and married to intimacy:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you (Psalm 89:14).

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion (Hosea 2:19).

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you (Hosea 10:12).

We are told by the Apostle Paul to put on the breastplate of love and righteousness, as part of the full armor of God. In this, we see that it takes both to truly cover our hearts. But love is not a formula or a pattern of living life. It is not a system of law. Good works are a fruit of love, but they can never conjure it up. We are told "do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires" (Song of Solomon 2:7). There is a very real element of "desire" that must present for true love to be birthed. Not law. Not works. Desire.

Love must be brought to the point of conception. But this is not some haphazard desire that is confused with the lower states of the soul or its lusts. Love's fullness is laying down our lives for God and for our fellow man. Holy love births sacrifice.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16).

Righteousness has nothing to do with legalism. There are two ditches to the road we walk as Christians, and we can fall into either of them. One is legalism, and the other is lawlessness. Both are actually demonic strongholds. To the lawless, all truth seems oppressive. It helps, therefore, to understand that there are "greater" issues of law and "lesser" issues of law. Jesus spoke about this. The apostle John tells us there are sins that lead to death and others that do not. Murder, for instance, is more weighty and consequential than speeding.

I could fulfill the law to the jot and tittle just like a Pharisee and never even taste the kingdom of God. I could major on the minor matters of law and worry over unclean foods and holy days and how to shave the hair on my neck. And in doing so, I could utterly neglect the weightier matters of law. What good is circumcision of the flesh, once the heart has been circumcized? Often, those who place undue attention on minor matters of law neglect the weightier issues of righteousness.
Why is the Old Testament law imperfect? Jesus clearly told us that it was impossible to become righteous through obedience to the law. In fact, he said that our righteousness had to exceed that of the Pharisees – the most straight-laced guys in the world. But the law is not just imperfect because of its failure to affect righteousness. The law is imperfect because it is unable to affect love in the human heart. God doesn't care about how well we wash our hands or whether we eat pig. He cares about whether or not our heart is full of selfish ambition, envy, dissension and overindulgence.

The entire law and the prophets only point to God Himself. Once we have God, we can mature from the place of trying to perform for Him in a ritualistic manner. We are afforded a measure of freedom. Gal. 5:13-21 says:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If we are still bearing these fruits of the sinful nature, we should move onto maturity and not keep seeking approval from God on a ritualistic performance basis. Has a minor matter of law birthed dissension in your midst? The heart that loves is no longer in need of being instructed on these basic matters of "repenting from dead works." To bear the fruits of the sinful nature is a sure sign of one who is seeking righteousness from the law, instead of Christ.

The way we live right is to fall in love with Jesus.