Too much of the Church's message is about sin.

History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is is thought to be essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin:  with wrong-doing or wrong-being and its effects.  Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally.  -- Dallas Willard, 'The Divine Conspiracy'

The Gospel is not primarily about rescue from sin. It is a rescue from death:

• Rescued from deadness of heart [spirit/will],
• Rescued from deadness of disconnection,
• Rescued from deadness of disorientation,
• Rescued from deadly and demeaning desires that are less than us.

The Gospel is about a life-giving-life:

• A life-giving heart,
• A life-giving connection with God and others,
• A life-giving re-orientation around the Incarnate Life himself
• A new set of life-giving desires.

Jesus' primary offer is not forgiveness of sins [although he does forgive our sins]. Rather, his offer is a great restoration: returning to us the things that Death has stolen from us.

Book recommendations

There are two books that I received as Christmas gifts that I want to recommend to you:

The first is The C.S. Lewis Bible.  [I never go after Bibles being marketed around a particular personality or demographic, but this one was worth it.]  This version, the NRSV, prized for its accuracy, is sprinkled throughout with quotes and snippets from a wide variety of Lewis' writings.  The editors must have spent months, if not years, culling through his work and painstakingly pairing various insights from C.S. Lewis' work with their appropriate counterparts throughout Scripture. 

For example, pared with a passage from I Timothy, there is a quote from C.S. Lewis' "Letter to Miss Breckenridge, April, 1951" which reads:

I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves.  Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.

Or, another nugget, paired with a passage in I Peter:

At present, we are on the outside of the world [the coming fully-restored Kingdom], the wrong side of the door.  We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure.  We cannot mingle with the splendors we see.  But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that is will not always be so.  -- from The Weight of Glory

The other book I can recommend to you is, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus - How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Spangler and Tverberg.  What if the Jewishness of Jesus could help us who live on the edge of 2011 make sense of some of the things Jesus did and said? For example:

Do you know why Jesus came as a rabbi and not a shepherd or Essene or or Zealot?
 
Do you know why you smell good, like freshly annointed royalty?

Do you know that Jesus was not the first to use parables as transformational story-telling?

Do you know why Jesus' invitation, "Follow me" wasn't all that surprising for the role he took on in the Jewish culture of the time?

These two books should prove helpful for the hungry apprentice of the master Teacher.

Christmas is the gift of a restored heart.

If you rescue the heart, you rescue the person.

"For God is not merely mending,
not simply restoring a status quo.
Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity.” - C.S. Lewis

“I will give you a new heart…”
– Ezekiel 36:26

Therefore, Christ’s work, of necessity, must deal with the heart, the “inside of the cup.” As Dallas Willard rightly states:

“If we would walk with him, we must walk with him at that interior level [the level of the heart].… He saves us by realistic restoration of our heart to God and then by dwelling there with his Father through the distinctively divine Spirit. The heart thus renovated and inhabited is the only real hope of humanity on earth.”

Notice that salvation is a rescuing of the heart, for when you rescue the heart you rescue the person.


Christianity is not about moral behavior.

Parents often get their young families to go 'back to church' in order to give their children a proper moral upbringing.  Adults often look to Christianity to provide a higher moral compass.  But Jesus never intended that to be the thrust of the new way of life he was offering. 

To be clear, the new-hearted love he was offering does, in fact, produce a responsible, moral person who cares about how their actions affects others; but this was not of primary importance.  As N.T. Wright suggests:

Christians from quite early in the church's life have allowed themselves to see this [way of Jesus] as a new rule book, as though his intention was simply to offer a new code of morality ...  Jesus' contemporaries already had a standard of morality to rival any and to outstrip most."  [from The Challenge of Jesus, N.T. Wright]

If morality was the central point of Christianity, Jesus would have simply re-instituted the moral code the Jews already had in place.  Thankfully, Jesus' righteousness [goodness] surpassed the moral code of the day by being rooted in God's faithfullness, and his capacity to produce his righteousness within us.  The same faithful goodness Jesus possessed is now rooted within your new heart.

IDENTITY REFORMATION -- A new Facebook Page for finding authors/bloggers you like

IDENTITY REFORMATION - Living our new identity is a new Facebook Page I created to showcase authors/bloggers/publishers who support the good and noble heart message. Here you will find resources and content from people like:

Current Contributors:
Jim Robbins, Gary Barkalow,
Kevin Miles, Joel Brueseke,
Bob Regnerus, Matt Gillogly,
Andrew Farley.

[More may be added.]

Go  to IDENTITY REFORMATION.

You owe God nothing. Really.

Have you ever spent time with Christians who still feel like they owe God something?  What you'll feel is a sense of pressure.  You'll pick up on phrases like:

"We really need to get more serious about God."

"Lord, I just want to more faithfully serve you.  I really should volunteer at that homeless shelter."

"After all God's done, I need to step it up and do my part."

Are all these activities noble and worthy of our effort?  Yes.  But the motivation is misguided. This is not a contract.

We owe God nothing.  [Wasn't that the point of the Gospel?]  It's because we owe God nothing that we're glad to give, glad to serve. 

Reciprocity and the Gospel cannot co-exist:  Why?  Because reciprocity says, "You've done something for me, now I'm obligated to do something for you.  [I owe you.]"  Reciprocity works like this:

•    My co-worker unexpectedly bought me a Christmas gift: Now I have to get her one.  [Dang]


•    My friend helped me pack for the move:  Now I owe him a favor.


•    You paid for lunch last time:  So it's my turn.

The Gospel doesn't work like this. Rather, God says,

"I've lifted the burden of obligation from your shoulders.  You wouldn't have been able to bear it anyways; and you weren't meant to.  Your part is to receive."

Receivers who understand this are naturally grateful and make the best givers.  We give because the pressure's off.  This relationship is founded on God's faithfulness:  Not ours.  It always has been.
 

Podcast: "Dialing in Your Calling" - Jim Robbins

"DIALING IN YOUR CALLING:"  Here's a glimpse into the process I've used over the last 10 years to hone my sense of calling. [13 minutes]

You can also read my post, "Dialing in Your Calling" here.

[Podcast theme music written and performed by Jim Robbins - Expressive Music Scores.]

Dialing in your calling

For me, it has been important to narrow my sense of calling as much as I can.  Truth be told, there will always been an unfinished sense of mystery to our calling, an inability to pin it down with 100% clarity.

Having said that, here's a bit of my thought-process:

Rather than saying, "I'm a teacher," or "I help people gain a better understanding of what the Bible says about them," or "I talk about the heart," I get even more specific:

"I like to challenge assumptions that impair and wound a Christian."  Or,

"I expose beliefs that shame and diminish Christians."

When I dial-in my calling more specifically like the above, it answers a couple of questions:

1.  Who am I trying to reach, or who are the people that most need what I bring?

2.  What, specifically, am I bringing or doing?  ["challenging assumptions that impair and wound," or "exposing beliefs that shame and diminish."]

There are even key verbs in those statements that resonate with me:  "challenge,"  and "expose."  And, as I look back over the last 15+ years, I've always challenged destructive "assumptions."

I can bring this calling to any context I'm in - whether paid or not, at home or with others.  That's the beauty of it. 

How would you dial in your calling?

What does it mean that you were born a noble?

You were born a noble.  Your heart is both "good" and "noble."  So what does it mean that you are 'noble?'

1.  You come from a powerful blood line.

2.  You will come into an inheritance.

3.  Your family name speaks for you.

4.  An authority has been bestowed upon you, pricely because of that blood line and family name.

5.  You are more than you think you are.

See video:  "A KINGDOM OF NOBLES"

The fruit of the Spirit isn't something you must beg for.

Just like the armor of God being an already inward reality and powersource for the Christian [rather than something you don't yet have and need to put on], so is the 'fruit of the Spirit.' 

Don't we typically ask God for more love, more patience for so-and-so, more self-control to keep us from sin?  We ask as if it hasn't already been given. 

If the Spirit of God is not only happy to dwell in your heart; but has, in fact, re-created and equipped it with his own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, might a better pray be: 

"Lord release the kindness that is already there in my heart."  Or,

"Father, nourish and help me live from the patience you've already placed in my new heart."

What do you think?

The armor of God is not something you wear.

We tend to think of the armor of God as something you put on, external pieces of battle gear that you wear on the outside to protect the life inside:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In this passage, even the words "put on," take up," and "take" could imply protecting yourself with something you lack or don't yet have, and therefore must "put on."

But what if the armor and its protection extends from the inside - out, rather than outside - in?  Wouldn't that make sense, given the reality of our new and noble heart?

So what does that look like?

1. You already have the Truth moving within you, having permanently given his heart and mind  to you.


2. You've already been transfigured into the righteous radiance of Christ's own goodness.


3. You're already poised to bring the restoring shalom ["peace"] of Christ to others around you.


4. Jesus has already given you the settled and faithful confidence he has in the Father.


5. You've been rescued and renewed by the saving life of God.


6. The mind and heart of Christ, voicing his affection for you and counseling your heart, dwells within you richly.

 We can certainly "put on" or practice or rehearse the armor of God, remembering what we've already been given.  But the armor is an internal powerhouse:  The power and protection move from the inside - out.

Conviction is different than accusation.

God is not nearly as interested in pointing out our sin as we think he is.  Of course he may occassionaly have to redirect us or expose something unhealthy.

However, there is a difference between accusation and conviction. Accusation assumes the Christian’s very heart is still misguided and corrupted by bad motives. Accusation is a destructive posture that proceeds from Old Covenant thinking: “You’re sinning because you really are that kind of person.”

The opposite of accusation is conviction. Conviction is exposure without condemnation: “Yes, I know you did that, but I am not ashamed of you or disappointed in you.  You will always be my delight.”

God’s convicting work is now embedded within a wholly new set of assumptions about us. God assumes there is a new vitality and purity about us, because he gave us his own goodness-of-heart by disabling our corrupt and former nature [heart] and replacing what was diseased with the very goodness of Jesus.  We now live with hearts fully-alive, knowing that goodness is now our first nature.

Therefore, whenever God convicts, he exposes something that prevents us from experiencing the thrill of our new regal goodness.

Pulling heaven down to earth

Here's a description of Heaven from Maria Shriver [Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife] from her children's book called, What's Heaven:

[Heaven] is somewhere you believe in ...It's a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk to other people who are there....If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go to heaven...And [Grandma] is watching over us from up there..."

Note the following:  'Soft clouds.'  Entry into heaven conditional upon your own goodness.  A place 'up there.'

Now here's another picture of heaven from N.T. Wright:

'God's kingdom' in the preaching of Jesus refers not to a postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God's sovereign rule coming 'on earth as it is in heaven.' ...Heaven, in the Bible, is not a future destiny but the other, hidden, dimension of our ordinary life - God's dimension, if you like. 

-- from Surprised by Hope

That's not to say that we won't enjoy what is typically called, "Paradise" upon our bodily death.  We will.  What's more, it is conditioned upon the gift of God's goodness dwelling in the new hearts he gives to those who receive friendship with him. 

What differences do you note between the typical expression of heaven represented by Maria Shriver's position, and N.T. Wright's description?  Which view brings you more hope today?

Let's stop locating 'heaven' 'up there, in the stars;' but instead, breath it in through our nostrils, sense it when the wind blows, and feel a presence brush over our skin during a great conversation.  For the kingdom is that "other, hidden, dimension of our ordinary life."  Now.

The veil flutters in the wind now.  Remember, it was torn in two.

What would Uncle Screwtape say about you?

C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, pulls back the curtain on another world, or more accurately, a concealed dimension of the world we now inhabit.  He gives us the eyes to see the invisible world that many would dismiss as the stuff of fairytales. However, in our Story, the darkness is real.  As I tell my children, "What you don't see is often more real than what you do see."

Uncle Screwtape, the elder and seasoned devil, is giving counsel to his young nephew, Wormwood, on how best to assault his 'patient' [ i.e. human victim].  Many of you have read this account.

But here's what I'm wondering: if you were young Wormwood's victim, how would Uncle Screwtape counsel young Wormwood to approach you?

Let's say Uncle Screwtape had a dossier - a briefing paper -  on you, which he shares with his young protege, complete with details about you, including where his young apprentice should exercise caution in approaching you.  Why should he fear you?  What would that dossier say?   [After all, he's been watching you for years; for you are his assignment.]

For example, the dossier might say: 

"Use caution when approaching Mr. Noble, for he has an uncanny ability to sniff out any shaming devices you might use against him.  Therefore, you will have to be more subtle and persistent if you are to unravel his confidence in his new identity."

Or,

"You will have to devote yourself to long-suffering as you vex and harass Ms. Noble, because she understands that you are after her beauty, and she is more than capable of deflecting the malicious barbs you might whisper in her ear.  Wear her down over time so that through sustained erosion, she will no longer believe she's lovely or loveable."

What unique strengths of heart, what confidence of identity do you possess that would thwart Uncle Screwtape's and his young apprentice's intentions for you?  What is so noble and firm within you that causes them to fear you, or at least re-evaluate their plan of attack towards you?

The old hymn got it wrong.

The old hymn got it wrong:

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.

~ Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Because Christ has rescued your heart:

• Your heart is no longer prone to wander.


• God the Father doesn't wear 'Jesus glasses'.


• Your sin is no longer you.


• You do love God with all heart.


• There is no difference between the purity of Jesus' heart and yours now.

Jobs are 'access points' not callings

Jobs and positions are only access points, not callings, to the people or places that God knows need our glory. ~ Gary Barkalow, It's Your Call - What Are You Doing Here?

Jobs [access points] are but one of many ways we bring our calling [our glory, the effect of our life on others] to the world.

Here's how I think of it:  Limiting the effect of your life [your calling] to any one job is like trying to funnel Lake Superior into an eye dropper. 

Gary's teaching on calling is far more helpful than personality tests and spiritual gifts inventories alone could ever be.  His book answers the questions the tests cannot, and gives you the missing clues to living from your hearts deepest desires.

How can you feel 'wretched' and good at the same time?

How can the apostle Paul call himself a "wretched man" -- overcome by sin; yet also see himself as a new creation, claiming that he's really not "controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit?"  Which is it, Paul?

Doesn't he seem to be forgetting his own God-given goodness, his new and noble nature, when he calls himself "wretched?" 

John Lynch, co-author of True Faced and Bo's Cafe, has a fresh and more helpful way of looking at "wretchedness:" 

“Wretched”:  Miserable, because of the pain in my regenerate heart of wanting to do what’s right but overcome with my [natural] inability to pull it off.  Only the regenerate mind can grieve over unrighteousness. 

This kind of wretchedness doesn't dismiss the radically-pure nature God has given us: 

Rather, it means, “Wretched through the exertion of hard labor.”  In other words, "I’m so tired of trying to make this work!”

It's the wretchedness of a man who has exhausted himself by trying to live a super-natural life with grossly inadequate, depleted natural reserves:  a man trying to live apart from his new heart and the Spirit's work there.



Podcast - CALLING AS A JOURNEY - author Gary Barkalow joins Jim

PODCAST:  'CALLING AS A JOURNEY' - part 7 of 7 in the Calling Series with Gary Barkalow, author of It's Your Call - What Are You Doing Here?.  Jim and Gary talk about the nature of calling as a journey that unfolds with increasing clarity.

This podcast will be really helpful for those who look at someone else's life and assume, "I should be where they are. What's wrong with me? Is God holding out on me?" 

Listen to the entire seven-part series on Calling:  'THE GLORY OF YOUR LIFE.'

Parenting with the good and noble heart

You can grow up under 'Christian' parents, in a household devoted to Scripture and faithful church attendance, and still develop a debilitating sense of shame.  As a child, your motives and actions will be nitpicked with the sharp stick of displeasure.  Your motives and behavior will be picked apart with forensic and relentless scrutiny by your parents.  You'll conclude that you are not nor ever will be fully-pleasing to somebody -- your family or to God. 

And the parent does this because they believe it is an act of love.

I don't doubt these Christian parents deeply love their children.  I've had to take a close look at my own approach to my children.  We simply have been given a wrong set of assumptions about our kids [and our own] hearts. 

So here's a better set of assumptions you can have about your children who know Christ:

1.  They do not have a rebellious nature any longer.

2.  They are not setting out to make your life difficult:  There's always something going on underneath the "bad behavior."  Is it fear?  Hurt?  Exhaustion?  Do they feel harassed by constant nitpicking?

3.  They need to know Jesus has made their hearts genuinely good.

4.  They need to know that their heart matters more than their behavior.

5.  They need to know that your primary focus is not on their sin or misbehavior:  This is not a fault-finding expedition. Even if their actions need to be exposed because they are dangerous or violate relationship, our highest intent is to draw out the power and resources of their new hearts.  Not every mistake or fault needs to be pointed out.

You can move towards your children with these assumptions because you have a good and noble heart.  You already want to love them in this new way. 

Deep tissue healing

Medical students will tell you that in a deep wound two kinds of tissue must heal:  the connective tissue beneath the surface and the outer, protective layer of skin. 
- Philip Yancey, What Good is God?

Let's use the idea of deep tissue vs. surface healing as a metaphor for healing the whole person:  What is 'deep below the surface' must heal if the person is to become well.  The layers below the surface must be knit together in wholeness. 

The heart [deep core of a person's identity] must be made well if the person is to recover from the Fall.  For too long, the Church has focused on getting the outer layer to look good, to behave well; as if apparent health on the surface was necessarily indicative of the reality on the inside.  [We all know that appearances can be faked.]

The new paradigm for spiritual [and therefore mental, physical, social] wholeness is this:  heal the heart [the reality below the surface] and you begin healing the whole person.  Health radiates from the Christ-follower's new heart [deep core] outwards.  The focus for God is not on proper outward appearances -- the surface layers:  Rather, His goal is the well-being and restoration of the heart/spirit deeper within; and the subsequent nourishing and release of the life-giving resources of that new heart.

This has already occured in the Christ-follower.  The sickly and sin-ravaged heart has been replaced.  A transplant took place when you said 'yes' to Jesus:  the Son dies to give his heart to the wounded and dying.  The wounded one receives the Son's heart so that he can live well.