Knowing and Freedom

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

̶ Jesus, John 8:32

 

Much has been written about the above phrase from Jesus.  There’s a lot of study and thought to be done regarding that phrase, including exploring the verse previous to it. In that verse Jesus speaks to abiding in His Word, which in itself has significant ramifications for our spiritual journey. But the other night in my Men’s group, we focused primarily on verse 32, digging out some nuggets of gold none of us had thought of before.

 

The discussion started with the simple question: Why is it some people seem to be freer than others? 

 

It couldn’t be because God is playing favorites, because He is no respecter of persons (see Romans 2:11 and 3:21-26). So somehow the difference in freedom must be on the individual level, either in our understanding of what freedom really is or in our ability to grasp the depth of freedom we have in Christ.

 

A key to answering this question resides in the word ‘know’. The Greek word gnwsesqe is a derivative of ginwskw which, according to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, means “to be taking in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, understand, or to understand completely” (p. 346).  The actual Greek word in the text is what’s called a future middle indicative verb in the second person. All this technical stuff basically means that it is a command and can be translated “you will know.” It also connotes that this “knowing” is not instantaneous but is instead a process, or a continual growth in our journey of understanding.

 

Significance of a Word

Maybe I’m just a techno-weirdo-wonk, but I find this hugely illuminating and encouraging. Just what is knowledge? Does one just all of the sudden know something? You might know the final score of the game, but do you know the intricacies of what led up to that final score? No you don’t until you take time to dive into the detailed minutia of what resulted in that score. The more you understand the minutia the more you grasp the depth of that final score.

 

So it is with grasping the depth of the freedom we have in Jesus. Yes it is true that the final score of placing our faith in Jesus is an eternal destiny in Heaven rather than Hell, but there’s so much more to that final score. And I think that Jesus using the specific Greek work in verse 32 shows that He is telling us that knowing the deeper truths behind the final score will deepen our sense of freedom in Him. It will also deepen our identity in Him.

 

What is your picture of Jesus?

Often the image we have of Jesus is some radiant dude floating a foot above the ground zooming here and there healing people. So many paintings depict Jesus with some halo-thing encircling His head and people bowing to Him. In other words, we often see Jesus as nothing more than a dashboard icon with no feelings or connection with humanity.

 

But look at the picture from The Passion of the Christ. Yes, it is gruesome, but stop and think that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and came to sacrifice His life for our salvation. This is a staggering realization and is difficult for our finite minds to grasp, but this is exactly what that one word—know—is encouraging us to do: Intentionally take in this knowledge, turn this truth over and over in our minds, meditate on it; and the more we ponder and meditate on this truth, the more we will grasp the significance of Christ’s sacrifice for us. And the deeper our grasp of this the more complete will be our freedom and our identity in Christ.   

 

Even for a moment, let’s try to wrap our minds around the truth that the God with no beginning and no end came to earth in the flesh starting as a baby and living life among us, His creation. He didn’t come in clouds of glory, smoke or explosions, He came as a vulnerable infant born in humble fashion. He lived among us, healed us, and was ridiculed and eventually executed by us.

 

Freedom Awaits

Now think of all the times in our own lives where we have hurt or otherwise disregarded this God and His sacrifice for us and yet He continues holding onto us (John 10:27-30). Perhaps with this exercise we’ll begin our journey into the knowing even more deeply the significance of Christ’s sacrifice for us. As we do this our sense of freedom will grow while we further grasp that our identity and destiny are secured in Christ and we will no longer be enslaved by the chains of culture or how the world tries to define us. In other words, we will live even more freely in Christ.

Dream Journey Haiku

Dream Comes

Bask in the Presence,
             shadow of Your wings inspire;
                        lofty thoughts of mind.


                Dream Dust

  Clouds surround my soul
       as I sweep the broken shards.
               Shattered dreams and dust.


     



Dream Renewal

           Rising up again,
     prayers soaring above the clouds
refresh me anew!

  

Jesus and Doubt

I have often heard that doubt and faith cannot coexist in the same person.  Or if you call yourself a follower of Christ but still have doubts, then you’re really not a legitimate follower. I don’t agree with this.  While I know it takes faith to trust in Christ, I also know that we can grow in our faith and this growth is a journey that will take a lifetime. And how did Jesus handle doubt? Did He just reject people that didn’t have 100% faith? Absolutely not, just look at this record from Mark 9:14-27:

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?" 

Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." 

He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 

So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"

And he said, "From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" 

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Doubt and Jesus

This is a very interesting scene. Here’s a father getting frustrated with the disciples who are equally frustrated with the father. The source of their frustration is the lack of deliverance for the stricken child.  Jesus intervenes and gets the scoop of what’s happening.  He asks questions to find out the details and to discern the man’s story while assessing the condition of his heart. It then gets even tenser when the man says to Jesus, of all people, “If you can do anything…”

Jesus counters in the most interesting way, rather than becoming indignant at the man for doubting Him, He instead responds by saying, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Notice that Jesus doesn't lecture the father that he should believe with every ounce of fiber in his body. I think Jesus is instead saying to him that even an inkling of faith is a start.

Mustard anyone?

It reminds me of how Jesus speaks of faith like a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20). A mustard seed is tiny but it eventually explodes into a bush that even birds find shelter and rest in (see also Matthew 13:31-32). Faith, then, starts small and if nurtured properly will mature into something quite large.

We see this in operation in the father in our story. He responds to Jesus by saying, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” A very honest response from a very desperate father, one part of him trusts in Jesus, but another part in the depths of his soul still doubts. Have you ever been there? I sure have, and in some areas of my life I’m still there. Jesus recognizes this as the frailty of humanity and rather than rebuking the father for his honesty or ongoing lack of faith, He heals the father’s son instead. A stern religious person or cult leader would demand 100% faith, which, of course, would be impossible, which means the father would have to either lie to the Lord or walk away completely defeated. Thankfully, Jesus is real and understands our great dilemma: we have faith but also, at the same time, we fight doubt and even hopelessness.

Jesus is our loving God in action, meeting us where we’re at, as if lifting our sagging and trembling chin to look us loving in the eyes while whispering, “I understand, it’s okay, I’m with you now. Let’s walk together.” He takes time to understand the narrative of our lives and doesn't rush in with rash judgments about our background, lifestyle, or lack of faith.

Bridge of Faith

As we've seen in this record, faith is a starting point, not an ending point. Faith is something that starts small and over time, sometimes a lot of time, grows. Faith is the bridge from being destined to hell to suddenly being destined for Heaven. And it starts simply:

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

─Acts 16:31

So our faith is a bridge to salvation, but like any bridge, once you cross it, you have a vast terrain to travel on the other side of it. This vast terrain is moving deeper into the Kingdom of Christ. With each step deeper into this new land, our faith will be challenged, just like father in this record; but also with each step Jesus will be with us helping to mature and refine our faith as long as we don’t give up. And this journey will take the rest of our lives, so some of our doubts may linger on for years; and, frankly, that’s okay, Jesus is not in a hurry, so why are we?

So let’s stop beating ourselves and others up for having doubts. Instead, let’s acknowledge that doubts are real and that Jesus can step into the center of these doubts if we just invite Him into the narrative of our lives. 

Rivers of Living Water

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

̶ Jesus, John 7:37

“It sounds so simple. H20 - two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. This substance also known as water, is one of the most essential elements to health.”

̶ From the Importance of Water, Freedrinkingwater.com/water-education

  

Water, water everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

̶ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Without water we would die. In fact, while we can fast from food for long periods of time, death will overtake us in a matter of a few days if we have no water.  Two-thirds of our body weight is water and our brain is 95% water and our blood is 82%. Even mild dehydration will cause us to feel achy and our thinking will become fuzzy or cloudy.

And yet Jesus says that those believing in Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of their hearts. What does this mean? Even before this passage He was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well on the same topic:

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living waters.”

─Jesus, John 4:10

Obviously Jesus is speaking metaphorically; He is not literally saying that all of the sudden an Amazonian river is going to burst out of a person’s heart for ever more, drenching everything in that person’s path. And yet, that is exactly what He’s saying.

How do I mean? Let’s continue further in the first Scripture reference.

But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

̶ John 7:39

Free-flowing

The Bible clearly explains that Jesus is not talking of literal water, but is instead saying that the Holy Spirit in a person’s life will flow like a river.  When was the last time you visited a riverside? My youngest son and I did just that a few weeks ago by sitting on bench only ten feet from the banks of the Willamette River. The river just flowed. Birds floated on the top and rocks sank into its depths. It moved obstacles of tree debris and flowed around obstacles of bridge support pillars. But it just kept moving at its own pace and in its own strength. I couldn’t rush it, or stop it, or any way control it—it just flowed where it willed. It flowed with great grace and beauty, and equally great strength.

Is this what Jesus was referring to in regard to the living waters of the Holy Spirit’s flow in our lives?

Life and Water

Other aspects of water include life, for without water, we would die, plants would die, animals would die; in fact, all the life on the planet would die, including oceans drying up and mountains lying bare of snow.  No water would turn the earth into nothing but a large, whirling rock.

Could this also be what Jesus was referring to? Without the Holy Spirit our lives would be equally barren? Or thinking on a more global basis, without the Holy Spirit’s presence on earth, the barrenness of mankind would be its undoing. This is explored in the Book of Revelation—but that’s another blog. 

The Refreshing

Water also gives a refreshing and a thirst-quenching satisfaction. Ever water a wilting plant?  What happens? The plant perks up. What about drinking some water after a long bout of heated exertion, whether working in the yard in 90 degree August heat or running a 10K? The water refreshes a parched palette like nothing else can.

Is this what Jesus is referring to? I think Jesus is referring to all of these aspects. In the working of the Holy Spirit there’s beauty and power; there’s flee-flowing ease and the bringing down of barriers; there’s a lushness and zest for life; there’s satisfaction and refreshing. Jesus, our multifaceted Savior, is rendering a simple metaphor to explain the fathomless depth of the gift of Holy Spirit. But notice that He doesn’t explain the Holy Spirit as a tyrant or despot, but sometimes, due our failure to yield to the Holy Spirit, others perceive the Holy Spirit as just that because they see our failures. When we let our Self get in the way of the Holy Spirit and do things in our own power, we usually wind up being a poor witness.

Walking by the Spirit

But a heart fully yielded to the Holy Spirit will indeed resemble living waters and not tyranny.  This person will be a refreshing to other people, a salve to hurting souls, and will lead people to the harbor of deliverance, salvation in Jesus Christ. 

"One thing is needed..."

…said Jesus in Luke 10:42. Yes, I know, another familiar record; but are you really that familiar with it? Am I? By virtue of observing our culture, I think deep down none of us are really familiar with that record. We are willingly surrounded by noise, whether it’s TV, texting, social media, or plain old scattered thinking—it’s the white noise of our souls.  We always have it with us like theme music in the background of our lives.  Only this theme music isn’t heroic or inspiring; instead, it’s distracting and even debilitating. Let me explain.

 

Martha invited Jesus into her home that she shared with her sister Mary. The two sisters had very different reactions to Jesus; Mary sat at His feet and heard His word while Martha was distracted with being a fastidious hostess.

 

Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

 

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

 

While I realize this is a record of an actual event that occurred in the past, I remain convinced that all of Jesus’ teachings have applicability to any age or era.  This record is no different.   The risk in this record is like the over-arching risk of all history, we read it but don’t learn from it; therefore, it is more apt to be repeated rather than actually influencing a change in behavior.  Our charge is to instead internalize Jesus’ words and then apply the lessons Jesus is teaching.

 

What’s the Lesson

Here the lesson is really an illustration of a battle between doing vs. being; or noise vs. silence. In one corner we have doing, fussing around out of a sense of obligation. In the other corner, we have being with Jesus out of the sense of love and desire to learn.  Or for football fans, one sideline has noise, always needing to be seen doing something, because stillness to them means laziness. They are hard to coach because they don’t sit still long enough to listen and learn from the Master. Perhaps they are afraid to be still and listen for fear of hearing something they don’t want to hear or being forced to face a deeply entrenched fear. Sometimes, we keep ourselves busy as a strategy of avoidance: avoiding confronting the pain.

 

On the other side of the field is silence. While they do have times where they’re busy, they also know when it is time to be quiet, to sit at the feet of the Master and soak in His presence. They’re easy to coach because they’re always ready to listen and learn. To listen requires that they quiet their mind, that they sit still and know that God is God and will bathe them in His presence via the indwelling Holy Spirit.  They are unafraid of the silence and are willing to face with courage the truth the Master imparts to them.

 

Now back to Luke 10. Mary is silent. How do I know? Because she is sitting at Jesus’ feet. In the Bible days, this was a sign of great respect and was also the posture of the student soaking in the wisdom of the teacher.  What’s more, she “heard His word”; it is very hard to hear another person if your mouth is running or your mind is wandering far from the subject at hand.  Therefore, Mary is silent.

 

Practical Application

Our application of Mary’s example is to take time and just be with Jesus in prayer. How do we do this? Well, unfortunately, Americanized Christianity has an awful tendency of filling our prayer time with laundry lists of requests and things we want God to do. Our internal voice is continually chuntering on about inane stuff, so much so, that our internal noise completely drowns out anything God might be trying to say to us. We’ve lost what the ancients called contemplative prayer by sitting quietly; meaning we still our mind of all incoming distractions, and simply focus on what God may or may not be saying to us via His Holy Spirit. This is difficult to do, just try it!

 

A good beginning point is to focus on our breath going in and out. As we focus on our breathing, then the other distractions of the day will melt into vapor and we can then start listening to the “still small voice” within the depths of our soul. We need to be careful, however, not to confuse the nudging of the Holy Spirit with our own internal voice.

 

Why is this important? Well, since we can no longer physically sit at the feet of Jesus, we need to employ the next best method, and following Mary’s example, that would be sitting quietly and listening to the internal nudging of the Holy Spirit.

 

We can also employ this discipline by reading Scripture and letting it soak into the deep fibers of our soul. Rather than treating our reading as nothing more than a check box on a to-do list, why not instead read with the intention of letting God speak to us via the truths we are reading.

 

It Takes Discipline

Granted, these sound like trite techniques, and they can indeed become that. But to really begin grasping the deeper things of God, these can instead become disciplines; disciplines of silence, contemplation and Scripture reading. As we practice such disciplines with serious intention we will draw more deeply from the endless waters of God.
  

The Great Calm

 

A word of comfort to us, that, be the storm of trouble ever so loud, ever so strong, Jesus Christ can lay it with a word’s speaking.

─Matthew Henry

 

It’d been a busy day, but now, finally, they were leaving the multitude behind and sailing off in a small cadre of boats. They were heading to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to hopefully get a little quiet time with their Master and perhaps some sound sleep. But not even half way into their journey “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so it was already filling.” Jesus was, of all things, asleep on a pillow in the stern of the boat. 

 

This may be a familiar record to some; it’s from The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 4, verses 35-41 (it’s also found in Matthew and Luke). Apparently, even today, it is not unusual for the Sea of Galilee to all of the sudden have storms sweep over its surface due to its somewhat funky geography, it is 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by mountains that reach as high as 4,000 feet above sea level.  When warm air from the lake rises to meet the cold air from the mountains it can sometimes produce sudden windstorms.  Here is just such an occasion. The disciples, in our vernacular, are freaking out, while Jesus, however, is unmoved and blissfully sleeping. 

 

Look Again

Being too familiar with this record risks becoming jaded to it or blind to the reality of the situation. I’ve had the opportunity to white-water raft several times in my life. We go with a seasoned guide and always wear our life jackets. Still, there are times when hitting the rapids just right blasts a white wall of water right into my face and body. At the same time I am, of course, being soaked by cold water, being jostled by the turbulent river and smacking into my fellow raft mates as we all struggle to stay in the raft. And sometimes I fall out; that can be especially frightening. 

 

Through it all, the experience is exhilarating but at some points, terror does overtake the exhilaration, especially as the wall of water interrupts my ability to breathe or blinds my sight. The disciples in the boat were experiencing the same terror, but theirs wasn’t the kind of terror that would quickly dwindle as the rapid fell to their rear; their terror was a continual onslaught of strong winds and waves beating into their boat and into their faces. If a wall of water smacked into one of their faces as he was trying to breathe, he could very well begin choking. If the water hit his eyes hard enough he could be rendered momentarily blind, just long enough to flip over the edge of the boat into the raging sea, most likely to a watery grave.  This was no summertime raft trip down the Deschutes or Rogue rivers. This was literally life and death.

 

No wonder they were so fearful; I would be as well, and most likely so would you.

 

Finally they awoke Jesus.

 

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the winds ceased and there was a great calm (v. 39, emphasis added).

 

Mega

There’s more to the record, but you’ll just have to read it for yourself. As many times as I’ve read this record, I’ve never stopped to ponder the words: great calm.  The word “great” comes from the Greek where we get our word mega. Mega, obviously means “great”, but a thesaurus will provide such synonyms as “mammoth”, “jumbo”, or “super”. The word “calm” comes from an unfamiliar Greek word that can also mean “tranquility” or “stillness”.

 

Putting ourselves back into the shoes of the disciples, we will undoubtedly notice the deafening cacophony of howling winds and roiling seas; and quite possibly the screams of terrified men. We’ll also feel the biting spray blowing like tiny darts flung off the tops of curling waves while our clothes whip against our bodies in slapping stings, leaving angry welts.

 

Piercing through this din is the voice of Jesus; somehow I don’t think his voice was high and squeaky with fear, but was deep and resonating—authority emanating from every fiber of His being. Suddenly what was chaotic cacophony is instantly super tranquil. All that is heard is the heaving chests of breathless men.   

 

The juxtaposition astounds my imagination: chaos to calm, rage to tranquility, terror to peace, all in an instant, and all at the voice of Jesus.   

 

And as an exclamation point to this record, as soon as the boat finally makes land, they are immediately accosted by a violent man that is hopelessly tormented and untamable (see vv. 5:1-5). But when he encounters Jesus, his storms are equally calmed and he finishes the evening “sitting and clothed and in his right mind” (v. 15).

 

You see the similarities? The man went from raging insanity to being in his right mind; the storm went from chaos to calm. What is it that Jesus can do in the depths of our souls? It reminds of the lyrics from a song I can’t recall the name of that I think is from MercyMe; the line is something like this:

 

He calmed the raging sea/He can calm the rage in me.

 

Invitation is Yours

There’s no great formula for entering into this calm, or more aptly put, for having this calm enter into us. We simply invite Jesus into our heart as Savior and Lord. If you’ve already done that, then lift your burden, your rage, up to the Him in prayer. It need be no more difficult than crying out in sincerity, “Jesus, I’m scared because _________________, please help me!” Or “I’m so angry and hurt because__________________, please calm this anger!” He may touch you with an unmistakable warmth or with chills, but He will touch you and lead you “beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:2).

 

Again, if He calmed the power of nature’s fury and the power of demonic fury (the man suffering from insanity), then He can certainly calm the storms in our souls as well.

Jesus, Healing and Wholeness

They always stood in the distance; outcast and ostracized. Things were so bad that they only had each other for company and had to yell, “Unclean” anytime a “normal” person approached. Such was the life of a leper in the Israel of Jesus’ time. And yet, when Jesus actually came into their vicinity, their desperation urged them on toward Jesus:

 

Now it happened as He (Jesus) went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

 

So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

 

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

 

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19.)

 

These nine verses are packed with significant theological points about thankfulness, racism, salvation, humility, and other aspects as well. My focus for now, however, is the example of the engagement and inclusion of Jesus. He shows no favoritism or partiality (see Romans 2:11). These men are of differing nationalities but are all suffering from a highly contagious and lethal disease.   

 

Rather than avoid them, Jesus sought to bless them, to heal them, all of them. He didn’t quiz them on their politics or sexual practices or where they went to church. Instead, He heard their cries of anguish and responded with compassion.

 

This is the Jesus I read about and have fallen in love with. This is the Jesus I want my life to reflect. And while I know I have a long way to go to truly reflect this Jesus, He is patient with me and is patient with you as well.

 

So my question is who is your Jesus? Is He in a box of dogma, rules, and regulations; or is He truly alive as Scripture proclaims Him to be?