Terms Of Engagement

One of the things I often contemplate from the Gospel accounts is how many people rejected the truth that Christ spoke into their life.  There was God on earth, walking around, sharing Himself with them and pouring His wisdom into their life, but they walked away from it because it wasn't what they were looking for or because it didn't fit their perception of God.  Quite frankly, more often than not, Jesus simply didn't meet people's expectations of Him.  Not because of a lack of substance on His part, but because of a lack of understanding on theirs.

We are often guilty of this ourselves.  We like to listen to God's truth, as long as it makes sense to us.  As long as it makes us feel better about ourselves.  As long as it fits within our perceptions of what God should be like.  As long as Jesus meets our expectations.  But when God begins to deal with our heart, when He refuses us the things we ask of Him, when He hands us a mirror instead, we'd much rather walk away and find someone or something else to fulfill our expectations.  Someone who won't point out the flaws in us that separate us from God or mute His voice.  Something that will temporarily soothe our longing hearts.  I wonder how many people have asked God to reveal Himself to them, only to find consternation, frustration, and bewilderment when He does.

The only way we can approach God, is on His terms.  The problem is, too many of us want God on our terms.  We want to enter into His presence, but we want to bring all our stuff with us when we come.  And that's not going to work, because as we grow closer to Him, our hands must become emptier and emptier.  Our heart must become purer and purer, which means that we must allow Him to sift our hearts and regularly examine our motives, intentions, and perceptions.  And honestly, it is excruciating work allowing God to deal with you-- to face your own ugliness, to confess it, and surrender it to God.  Scripture says that God is a consuming fire, which means that as we grow nearer to Him, everything that cannot stand in His presence is burned away (Heb 12:29).  Everything that is false and fleshly and selfish and ignorant and foolish and sinful and immature.  It all has to go.

That is what Paul is talking about when he tells us to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who is at work in you..." (Phil 2:12,13).  He instructs us to have the same attitude as Christ "Who emptied Himself and took the form of a slave...[humbling] Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (v. 5-8).   Even Jesus could not follow God on His own terms (John 5:30; 8:28; 12:49).  The cross was the Father's terms and the incarnate Christ submitted to them (Matt 26:42).  Jesus as the Son of Man, asked if it were possible to make the cup pass from Him, but we see His nature as the Son of Man surrendering and becoming aligned with His nature as the Son of God when Jesus says, "Not my will but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42).  So it is with us, as we surrender our nature as the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to become aligned with our nature as sons and daughters of the Most High God, Whose image we were created to bear.  To bear His image, we must do it on His terms.

There are several accounts in the Gospels of people who clearly want to follow Jesus, but they want to do so on their own terms.  A teacher of the law tells Jesus, "I will follow You wherever you go," and Jesus' response to him is basically, "You want to follow Me to a destination, but I have no destination because I AM the destination" (Matt 8:27).  Another person wants to follow Jesus, but asks that Jesus wait for him to first bury his dead father, and Jesus' response to him is basically, "You can follow Me or you can bury your father, but you can't do both...let the dead bury their own dead" (Matt 8:22). Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of night to learn more about following Jesus and Jesus baffles him with His response:  You cannot follow Me unless you are born again (John 3:1-7).   The rich young ruler thought that following Jesus was a matter of task-- "all these [commandments] I have kept from my youth" (Luke 18:21).  But when Jesus pointed out to him that it was less a matter of task and more a matter of his greedy heart, the rich young ruler "went away grieving; for he owned much property" (Matt 19:19-22).

There is a deeper, significant spiritual lesson behind each of these individual accounts, but for all intents and purposes they all exhibit the same human tendency to seek commitment on our own terms.  They also all exhibit the same consistent characteristic of Christ to first address the issues of our heart.  Instance after instance, we see Jesus frustrating those who attempt to follow Him on their own terms, rather than His.  We see people bringing their assumptions with them about Who He is and what He is like, only to come face to face with Someone else.  And also, the disturbing fact that Jesus lets them walk away.  What we must understand is that Jesus lets them walk away because unless we surrender and allow Him to address the issues in our heart, any effort on our part to be in relationship with Him is futile.  Because to be in relationship with Christ, is to surrender your heart to Him.  Those are His terms and they are non-negotiable.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:12-14)

So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and I do nothing on my own initiative, but speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He Who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." (John 8:28,29)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. (Ezek 36:26,27)

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart. (Jer 24:7)

It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Cor 3:3)