What Are Friends For?

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. -- Psalms 34:4

I often seek God for something.  I think it’s good to ask, seek, and knock, to look for God’s help when one is troubled.  But a lot of the time, when I’m praying, what I am seeking is not God.  Instead I want the relief or the deliverance.  I recognize that healing, wholeness, salvation, help, and liberty come through the Lord, and that’s good.  There comes a point when we can take another step:  He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).  All that we need isn’t just in Christ, it is Christ. 

I don’t always go to my friends to get help moving heavy objects.  Sometimes I go to help them.  Sometimes I am happy to simply sit down with them, drink coffee and tell stories or hear stories.   We sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.  Jesus, we say, is the Friend of sinners.  What kind of friend am I to the Lord?  Am I one who only shows up when I have a dead battery or an empty bank account?  I’ve had friends like that.  If you need help, you need help, though I’d rather not be that kind myself.       

If we’re not careful, sometimes we start thinking that the friendship and help can go only one way.  God doesn’t really need us.  He loves us in a paternalistic way, but there’s really nothing we can do for Him.  Lewis used the example of a child who asks for money from his father to buy the father a gift.  Every parent is touched by and appreciates that, but none of us think we’re ahead on the deal. 

Yet, at the same time, I think of the Lord crying out:  And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none (Ezekiel 22:30).  Eventually, a man, in fact, the Man was found, and He did stand in the gap for all.  It does not end there.  In Colossians 1:24, Paul speaks of his ministry this way:  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.    

We, too, are called to stand firm and be part of the shield wall the Apostle describes in Ephesians 6.  God gives us the power, the courage, the strength, and the determination to stand where He needs us.  We have all the weapons, all the tools, and all the protection we need in Him, but we are the ones who have to stand.  If we seek the Lord Himself, we will find our rest and our warfare, our liberty and our purpose, our deliverance and our destiny.  And if we seek Him, we will find Him.

Earth Moving

And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. -- Ezekiel 22:30

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. -- Mark 11:23

I am far from perfection, so it seems.  Yet, there is this:  that I have put my faith in Christ Jesus, identifying with Him in His death.  Whether I understand it or not, whether I can fully accept and appreciate it or not, I have been crucified with Christ.  My problem is that I see so much that I do wrong.  Possibly even more discouraging is what I might do in the future. 

If you have ever dealt with a habit you wanted to break, tried to diet, keep up an exercise regime, or break an addiction, you know what I mean.  It’s the future that ruins it because it is a lot easier to quit tomorrow or do right tomorrow than it is today.  To break out of an addiction, a person has to stop believing in tomorrow.  Yes, I know, Fleetwood Mac.  The truth is tomorrow is always tomorrow.  Today is the day of salvation. 

In order to live the crucified life, I have to live solely in the now.  I have to reject my old nature now, right this minute.  That’s all I have to do.  I don’t have to worry about tomorrow with its future trials and future failures because I can only fail or succeed in this moment.  Christ is in me and in control of my life only in this moment.  I am only going to overcome my bad temper or succumb to it in this moment.  It cannot happen any other time, because there is no other time. 

We talked yesterday about not yet being able to move mountains until we take care of ourselves and get our own hearts right.  We can't wait until tomorrow for that.  We get ourselves in alignment in Christ right now.  Just like eating too much carrot cake and ruining a diet, walking in the truth of who we are in Christ takes place right now.  Once we realize that, it changes everything.  Self-doubt is gone because self is gone.  We are connected to the Father just as Jesus was in the Incarnation.  The branch is connected to the Root through the Vine, but it is no less connected than the Vine.  It’s all one. 

The place I began to understand this was public speaking, of all things.  I was always a very shy person.  I was stricken with panic that someone would notice me.  I would hide when people came to visit our house.  My fear was that someone would notice me and make fun of me.  It wasn’t humility but self-consciousness.  I could not bear to be mocked or ridiculed.  Since I was, throughout grade school and high school, physically intimidating, I could control some of it by inflicting pain on my oppressors.  Some accused me of being a bully.  I guess it was true, but I don’t recall bullying anybody that left me alone.  It may not have taken much to set me off, but I never started anything. 

Being pulled up to the front of the class to race against another student doing arithmetic was no problem because I was facing the blackboard.  If I ever had to turn around and face the class, it was a different matter.  I never got over that.  Any time I had to get up in front of people, and, really, even talking one on one, I couldn’t face people without nearly debilitating panic.  I carefully avoided Speech in both high school and college, going so far as to take French to get the Fine Arts credits I needed.   

Imagine, then, how I felt when my pastor asked me to teach an adult Sunday School class.  He was a wise man.  The first couple of times were as painful for the class as they were for me, but I learned to leave my self somewhere else and stand up in the “role” for that forty-five minutes or an hour.  I ended up filling the role of “teacher” in five or six different churches under different pastors, occasionally speaking on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or Wednesday night.   Learning to step out of self and into Christ did more for me as a Christian than anything else I can think of.   

One of the things negative thoughts such as fear, dread, despair, shame, guilt, and regret do is show us where self is.  Like pride and lust, greed and envy, they mark the boundaries of self.  When we step away from and out of those negative emotions and desires, we step into Christ. 

I cannot move mountains.  Jesus doesn’t say that I can.  He says,  “… it will be done for him.”  My part is to believe today.  The question of when and how and even if our mountain will be moved is not ours to resolve. 

We see this mountain before us.  I fear for my children and grandchildren.  I am concerned about the direction the nation is going because I love my country (my government, not so much).  A part of me wants to turn back the clock and restore all the values we had when I was growing up.  Turning back time is not possible.  I’m not even sure that is a good idea.   I have a lot in common with my Amish neighbors, but never go full Amish. 

A lot of society is rotting and decaying.  I won’t call it gangrenous because it is already detached from Reality, already dead and withering, for that reason.  People are going to try desperately to save what is not worth saving and cannot be saved. 

We are not going to make that mistake.  We are going to put off self, put on Christ, and stand in faith to make up the breach and stand, like Aaron, between the living and dead.  The mountain is moving.  Don’t be surprised if the ground shakes. 

Stand By Me

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.  -- Revelation 21:8

That’s Jesus Himself talking.  None of it is really surprising, is it?  Maybe just a little – the cowardly, the fearful, those who lack courage, we get the same condemnation as the overtly wicked, the egregiously iniquitous.  That can’t be right.  I’m just cautious, a little circumspect.  There’s no sense in going around looking for trouble, no sense in being the nail that stands up and gets whacked extra hard. 

The fearful and the unbelieving, they are almost one and the same.  I am fearful because I am taking the wrong thing too seriously and not taking the right thing – the Right One seriously enough.  Why can I not say with the psalmist:  The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.  What can man do to me? Or, … in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?

Faith looks only at God.  Fear can’t look away from the circumstances.  I fear death and pain, loss and failure, humiliation and mockery – all because I cannot bring myself to trust, completely, who God is, what He has done, and what He has said.  This is the case despite having seen Him be faithful time after time after time, despite knowing that He went to the cross for my sake, despite hearing His solemn promise to never leave or forsake me. 

In the coming year there will be lots of opportunities for us to be fearful.  But that also means there will be lots of opportunities for us to trust in and lean upon the Lord and His truth and grace.  Fear not, God says.   Courage really has nothing to do with feelings.  We may feel like we want to turn back, run and hide.  We are not cowards because we feel like throwing down our weapons and taking to our heels, only if we act on those feelings.

We are going to need to stand fast in the next few years.  Sometimes we may feel foolish for following God, but in the end, our courage will make us more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.  If we break and run, it leaves our brothers and sisters more vulnerable.  The shield I bear is a crucial part of the wall, the barrier that checks the onslaughts of the enemy. 

Back in Ezekiel 22:30, God seems to be talking about that kind of situation.  The wall had breached.  A defender was needed but none could be found:   And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

A nation was broken up and sent into exile because no one had the courage to hold the line against evil and unrighteousness.  No one was willing to denounce the abominations and atrocities taking place.  No one fell on his knees and cried out to the Lord in agony over the sins of himself and his people. 

The battles that we face will not be fought and could not be won with machine guns, tanks, and bombs.  No, … the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.  In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;  … (Ephesians 6:11-16).

The shield of faith is not just for each individually.  The shield wall will protect us all so long as each one stands his or her ground and keeps facing the enemy.  Turn your back to the adversary, and you become vulnerable. 

Dark days may well lie ahead for us as a nation.  Certainly we will all face challenges of one sort or another in the next twelve months. 

Fear not.