LifeLift

As individuals, Christ lives in us. As a group, He is us. The church is the body of Christ. Each of us has a unique role as either an equipper of the saints or as a minister.

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We often presume the “will of God” is something that’s hidden, something only few people can find. However, God reveals several things in Scripture which He clearly says are His will for each of us. As we seek His specific plan for our lives, it’s best to begin with the things He’s clearly said.

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In the same way that Jesus is the perfect expression of the Father, revealing Him completely, Jesus is also the perfect expression of the written Scripture. As we mirror His image, so also do we express the black and white of the printed page in living color.

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The Holy Spirit provides us with a greater focus on Jesus, power to witness on His behalf, and increased intimacy with the Lord.

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The Holy Spirit always reveals Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has come to us so that we might join Him in doing the same.

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The role of the Holy Spirit is an often misunderstood and frightening concept (because of how it is often misrepresented). Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to His Church so that she may experience His ongoing presence, accomplish His mission, and experience a greater intimacy with Him.

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We’re not only called to do the things Jesus did, we’re empowered to do them in the same manner He did them— full of love, power, and self control…

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A lot of people hide from each other... in friendships, at the office, in marriage... we tend to "keep something back," lest we be revealed for... well... something less that what we project that we are...

Maybe you don't do it, but I bet you know someone who does...

And that leads me into the subject of this week's talk.

Over the past two years one of my favorite verses has become 1 John 4:19-- "Perfect love drives out fear.”

Now, that word perfect doesn't mean "without flaw," it means, "living up to its full potential," that is, "over-exerting and overflowing to do the best that it can." In other words, it's mature.

Not flaky.

Not subject to the whims of our culture.

Not subject to mis-definition, blame-shifting, or pop-psych "hot words.”

It's solid. Stable. Secure. You can trust it and be confident in it.

John tells us that mature love— the love that reaches its full potential— dominates fear. It doesn’t incite fear or insecurity; it eliminates it. As such, real love makes people feel safe.

I reviewed several translations to see how they communicate the term “casts out.” Here are four ways translators describe what perfect love does.

Drives out fear (NIV).

Expels all fear (NLT).

Casts out fear (ESV).

Banishes fear (ISV).

In other words, this kind of love is strong.

Here’s how intensely it creates security: the same word used of “casts out” fear is the same verbiage used throughout the New Testament to describe how Jesus treated demons. When He bumped into them, they had no choice but to leave. He expelled them. He forced them to go. He eliminated them.

It’s a great analogy. Mature love, the God kind of love, does the exact same thing to condemnation, fear, and shame.

Perfect love drives fear away with this same passion. Fear has no choice but to leave when people are loved in this way.

They don't need to self-protect.

They don't need to feel ashamed...

They don't need to avoid or hide.

They know they are accepted.

One of the biggest issues with sin is that it distorts the image of glory we’ve been designed to carry.

(This is one of the life lessons I’ve learned the hard way, BTW— school of hard knocks.).

The greater issue is this: sin creates a distortion of our unique form, of the greatness we were given from the very beginning. Sin keeps us from seeing who we really are. Sin hinders wholeness, completion.

It holds us back from out destiny.

The word hamartia (the Greek word for "sin") actually means "without form." That is, the word sin doesn't mean "failure." Rather, actually means that we've walked away from our true identity, the blueprint we were given from the beginning of time.

BIG IDEA— >> If you get your identity right-- if you walk in your true design-- the morality takes care of itself. In fact, all of the other issues do, too.

So, when he writes about sin, Paul calls us to something greater than a do/don't mentality… he beckons us to elevate ourselves above the rules of right vs. wrong and walk in the beauty of who we were designed to be (Romans 15:15).

In ancient literature, the word meros ("form," the root of martia) is often used of blueprints— that is, designs for buildings. If the design isn’t solid, the final product is distorted from what was intended by the architect.

Paul reminds us that we have a perfect design. Sin isn’t just a moral issue, then; sin is a decision to walk away from our eternal design.

I love how, rather than appealing to a legalistic “do vs. don’t” mentality, Paul calls us to something greater... to shine as the people we really are.

That’s the subject of this talk…

The risen Jesus now lives in us, expressing Himself through each of us to the world.

Get this: you carry the image of your Creator. We know that. The Bible tells us everyone was created in God’s image. That’s why we see all human life as sacred.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Jesus is the image of God. If you want to know what God is like, well… you look at Jesus. He reveals God completely.

As odd as it sounds, though, the Bible insists over and over that you actually reveal what Jesus is like.

I know. Tough call. We know what we’re really like. Yet Scripture argues this: To encounter what Him and see what He is like, people only need to encounter you. That’s right. You.

You don’t need to go get reconnected to a source. You don’t need to get “re-filled.” You are full. And once you understand that, it makes all the difference in the world.

Listen in...

The difference between the old and the new is so radically different that no part of the first would make you possibly think it could become the second.

For virtually every day one summer I wore my day-camp shirt when I was a kid. It was from a church camp. Yellow with green words. And a green outline of a butterfly.

The shirt displayed the 2 Corinthians verse we just discussed on it, written in small print, on the front. The words NEW CREATION were highlighted to stand out, somehow signifying something about the butterfly.

Think about where butterflies come from— because this illustrates the point perfectly. A weary caterpillar makes its way to a branch, creates a cocoon, and hibernates. In time, although it seems that nothing has happened, the insect struggles and pushes its way through the hiding place…

A completely different creature emerges— something so incredibly better and qualitatively different that there’s no recognition between what existed before and what exists now. In fact, the discrepancy between the old and the new is so radically different that no part of the first would make you possibly think it could become the second.

One of the guys in a 12-step small group I attended last year told me this: “Somewhere I read that a caterpillar doesn’t just go into a cocoon and grow wings. Instead, everything about that caterpillar dissolves… into nothing. It goes away. It’s just goo that’s left. Then, miraculously, once it’s nothing, the Lord starts rebuilding it into the butterfly.”.

“It’s almost like the caterpillar has to lose it’s life— or what it thought was its life— in order to find it,” I said, recalling Jesus’ words from Matthew 10:39.

That is the Gospel. This is the life you’ve been given. It’s a totally new life, a resurrected life, an unrecognizable life which is void of any semblance from the past.

Yes, we’ve exchanged our old life for the life of Christ. We haven’t just traded the current version of ourselves for a clean version.

Why does it matter?

It matters b/c it makes all the difference in the world…