Erhalten Sie Zugang zu diesem und mehr als 300000 Büchern ab EUR 5,99 monatlich.
- Herausgeber: IVP
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
We live in a world of options, where we might do this or that if we feel like it. But for followers of Jesus, certain things are not optional, but necessary. Bishop Claude Alexander unpacks the Gospels' statements of what Jesus said he must do. He must be about his Father's business. He must go through Samaria. He must go to Jerusalem. Life in God is less about what you could do, and more about what you must do. Contrary to the life of the optional, accidental, and haphazard, the believer is called to live with a sense of divine necessity. No maybes about it.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 122
Das E-Book (TTS) können Sie hören im Abo „Legimi Premium” in Legimi-Apps auf:
Ähnliche
Contents
Introduction
A Life of the Necessary
There’s something about birthdays that end in five or zero that causes us to be more definitive about life. At one of my own recent significant milestones, my life came into the sharpest focus I’d ever experienced. It became clear that I possibly had more years behind me than ahead of me. With that came the liberating realization that I was as grown as anybody else. The only difference between me and someone older was that he or she may have fewer years left than I did. I knew what I would tolerate and what I wouldn’t, what I could stand and what I couldn’t, and I didn’t have to feel bad about it. It became clear to me for whom I existed and for what I existed and the direction toward which I was called. Whoever and whatever couldn’t deal with that was not my problem. I was comfortable with who God had called me to be and what God had called me to do.
Maturity shouldn’t be equated with age, because age is not a sign of maturity. However, maturity in life brings clarity, certainty, and definition. This is also the case with Christian maturity. Maturity in Christ should result in greater clarity, certainty, and definition. Maturity is about growth, and growth in Christ should produce a clearer understanding of Christ, his claims on our life, and the direction in which he is leading us. It should create a greater certainty about who he is, who we are in him, what we can depend on and expect from him, and the reality of what he has promised and revealed. We should possess a greater definitiveness concerning the life we have with him: its nature, its requirements, its aims and benefits. The more mature we are in Christ, the clearer we should be about him and all aspects of our life with him.
One of the things that becomes increasingly clear to me is that the life to which the Christian is called is a life of necessity. God calls the Christian to live with a sense of the necessary, the obliged, and the required. The person who lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ is the one who seeks to live within the will of God and under the voice of God. We show maturity in this life when we view the lines God draws and the directions God gives as essential, imperative, indispensable, and requisite.
However, this view of life is a challenge to the immature Christian. The immature Christian views life in God and with God the way the world views life—from the standpoint of options. In other words, God’s claim on our life is one of the many options we can choose. To the secular humanist and the immature Christian, much of life is random, accidental, and haphazard. The will and way of God are seen as peripheral, not essential. The world says we can negotiate with God. We can strike a compromise with God. We can delay and even deny the call and claims of God on us and for us. The dictates of God are a matter of what we might do and not what we must do. They are possibilities, not necessities.
The immature Christian, like the world, operates from “mightness” as it relates to God, God’s will, and God’s way. On the contrary, the mature Christian comes to understand that life in God and with God is less about what we could do and more about what we must do. Freedom in Christ does not make God’s desire of us and for us optional. Freedom in Christ disentangles us so we are able to respond to that which is necessary for us from God and in God.
God is calling for Christians to grow up in him and realize that he calls us to a life of the necessary. He calls us to realize the “mustness” of our life with him.
As we read about the life of Jesus, we get a sense of “mustness.” Throughout the Gospels we hear Jesus say, “I must.” We read of Jesus, “He must.” We hear Jesus tell his disciples or his audience, “You must.” Kingdom living—living under the rule and reign of God—is living with a sense of “must,” not “might,” in relation to God. Often we focus on the “I am” statements of Jesus; seldom do we focus on the “I must” statements. I believe that if we focus on the “I must” statements, we will come to understand necessary Christianity.
1
I Must Focus
THE NECESSITY OF FOCUS
The Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”
And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:40-52)
The text before us is familiar. It is the one story we have of Jesus’ childhood. The account is bracketed by a description of Jesus. Luke 2:40 reads, “The Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Here Luke speaks about the ever-evolving human character of Jesus. He describes the aspects of maturity in a human sense in terms of life with God in the world.
It is a progressive life. Jesus grew and increased. These two words provide a layered understanding of Christian growth and maturity. While the word for grew speaks specifically to physical growth, the word for increased is more layered. It means to beat forward and to lengthen out by hammering, as a metalsmith forges metal. It refers to growth as a result of being stretched and shaped by applied pressure, with some pain being experienced. The word grew speaks to enlargement, while the word increased speaks to a process of expansion.
There are many who pray for increase (anointing, God-opportunities, prosperity) but who don’t understand that they are asking to be stretched and lengthened in a way that requires pressure and may involve pain. To illustrate, there was a period in my teenage years when I experienced extraordinary physiological growth, gaining five inches of height in a matter of weeks. Those weeks and the period immediately following were some of the most painful weeks of my life. It hurt to walk. It hurt to sit. It even hurt to have anything placed on my knees. I was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, an inflammation of the bone at the growth plate about two inches below the kneecap, where the tendon attaches the thigh to the leg. The thigh muscles pull the tendon on the bone whenever the leg is bent or straightened. The tendon rubs against the bone and creates the inflammation. The growth spurt included and produced growth pain. The process of increase included the friction inherent in stretching. Praying for increase includes praying to be stretched and to experience friction. If we can’t take the stretching, friction, and inflammation, we shouldn’t pray for increase.
Jesus grew and increased. He was made strong in spirit. His life in the Spirit strengthened him. He acquired wisdom. God’s grace, delight, and pleasure governed his life. He increased in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and with men. Christian maturity entails continued strengthening in the Spirit and by the Spirit, growth in wisdom and in grace.
Within the bracket statements concerning Jesus’ maturity, we have the story of Jesus in the temple. Luke tells us that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had gone to Jerusalem to attend the feast of the Passover. Jesus was twelve years of age. He was one year from his bar mitzvah, when he would be recognized as a son of the covenant. He would be recognized as fully responsible to God and for his life with God. At the end of the Passover, Joseph and Mary head home, each of them assuming Jesus is with the other. However, Jesus has lingered in Jerusalem. After a day of journeying, Joseph and Mary discover that Jesus is missing. They search for him. After three days they find Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem talking with the teachers of the law. Mary asks him, “Why have you done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Jesus responds, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
When Mary informs Jesus that she and Joseph have anxiously and frantically searched for him, Jesus responds by asking them why they have searched for him. His absence from them should not have resulted in his being lost to them. They should have known where to look. He raises the question of their having to search for him based on their not knowing what he must be about. “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” They lost sight of something important. Jesus says, “I must be about My Father’s business.” If they had known he must be about his Father’s business, they would have known where to find him.
THE NECESSITY OF OUR EXISTENCE
Jesus kept in sight that which Mary and Joseph lost sight of. At the age of twelve he had a focus that he maintained. The mature Christian life is one that realizes the necessity of focus and of keeping focus. It is the life that avoids the pull of distraction and forgetfulness. In his statement, Jesus brings things back into focus for Mary and Joseph.
When Jesus says, “I must be about My Father’s business,” he reveals a consciousness about himself and a divine self-disclosure. He says, “I must be . . .” He does not say, “I might be.” He says, “I must be.” There is an awareness of the necessity of his being. It is a matter of must and not might. His being is not arbitrary or accidental. It is neither happenstance nor coincidence. His life is necessary. It is necessary that he be. It is necessary that he exist. It is necessary that he live.
To say “I must be” is to say: I must keep the necessity of my existence in focus.
The mature believer in Christ views his or her life from the standpoint of necessity. We understand that we are because it is necessary that we are. Our life is not optional or elective. Our life is necessary. Our life is essential. It is compulsory. There is an indispensable aspect to our being. We are here because it is necessary that we be here.
By reminding Mary of the necessity of his being, Jesus reminded Mary of her survival. The reason she escaped stoning for being pregnant before marriage was because Jesus must be. The reason they spent time in Egypt during the terror of Herod was because Jesus must be.
The necessity of our being helps explain the survival of our family line. The reason circumstances that could have destroyed our family line prior to our birth did not occur is because we must be. The reason our family story reads the way it does, and the reason certain events occurred, is because we must be. The reason certain sacrifices were made is because we must be. The reason certain threats were circumvented is because we must be. The reason certain attacks were short-circuited is because we must be. The reason the weapon formed against us did not prosper is because we must be.
You are here because you must be here. You exist because your existence is necessary for this time in the history of the world.
INTENTIONALITY OF LIFE
Jesus says, “I must be about.” Jesus raises the issue of the “aboutness” of his life. His being is about something. There is an intention to his being. He’s not here just to be here. There is a reason, a purpose, and an intention to his being.
To say “I must be about” is to say: I must keep the intentionality of my life in focus.
There is something about Jesus that causes Jesus to be. If we want to understand his being, we have to understand the intention behind, underneath, and within his being. His life is about something. It’s not about nothing. There is rhyme and reason to his life. There is direction and aim to his life. There is a purpose toward which his life is drawn and lived. He must be about.
