students of jesus

What happens when a Bible verse becomes a cliché--when it takes on a life apart from the setting the Spirit intended? If a passage becomes widely known and quoted it’s easy to miss the revelation the Spirit intended. Because it’s familiar we think we know what it means: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth -or- no rest for the wicked --or this week’s meditation, the streets of heaven are paved gold. Actually, this last example reads a bit differently: The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21)

Revelation 21 shows us what life is like when God lives among men. Some people call it “heaven.” I think Jesus called it “The Kingdom of God.” Some people think heaven is reserved for another day. I think Jesus told us “the kingdom of God is breaking in.” What if he wants to live among us now? I’d like to suggest three possibilities of what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate when we hear that the streets of heaven are paved with gold.

Heaven has abundance. The present value of gold comes from scarcity. The economies of this age are, in part, built on what we do not have--and because we do not have something society sets the price high. But in God’s presence there is always enough. There's no scarcity in his presence. Imagine--how would we live today if there was always enough?

Heaven has its values in order. When God lives among men we would value gold no more than we care for asphalt. In our age the source of wealth is possessing what others value. In his kingdom the source of wealth is him! Imagine--how would we live today if the values of this world were beneath our feet?

Heaven values beauty. In God’s presence Main Street shines with the radiance of transparent gold. God is not only holy, God loves beauty. And he makes all things new: try to imagine your Main Street shining like gold.

This week, I invite you to turn your thoughts toward how your world would change today if “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

In his 89-year lifetime E. Stanley Jones published 28 books. Baltimore-born and Asbury College educated, the man gave his life to the King and his Kingdom. Jones was a confidant to Franklin D. Roosevelt and friend to Mahatma Gandhi. He wrote a biography of Gandhi that inspired a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. to adopt the means of non-violent protest as a change agent. That’s a pretty good legacy.

Just before his death in 1973, E. Stanley Jones published The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, which proved to be his summary of life in Christ and how to live for the Kingdom. I found this book while I was still a college student--it charged me with a passion for the King and his Kingdom and ruined me for anything else.

“I’ve been shedding labels all my life,” he told a group of students in 1969. “I hope to shed them all except one: ‘he was a Christian in the making.’” Page after page of The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person rings with wisdom and challenge. It’s the kind of book that should take a month to read and a lifetime to apply.

In an age when many believers have been inoculated against the Gospel of the Kingdom, Jones caught the virus like a man overcome with AIDS. The echoes of his voice have now died away. Few in our day have even heard the name E. Stanley Jones, and fewer still have been exposed to his contagion for Jesus. In my opinion every serious student of Jesus should catch the same Kingdom fever that consumed E. Stanley Jones. The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person will infect you for life.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

I’m not interested in Romans today, I’m interested in peace with God. Monday’s are for meditation--to suggest a course for the coming week, something to consider for more than a passing moment. And lately I’ve been thinking about peace.

On the night before he was betrayed, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” When the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples he began with the simple greeting, “Peace be with you.” In the Apostle Paul’s definition of the Kingdom of God peace is one third of the equation. Peace is a part of every greeting Paul gave. Peace is evidence of the Spirit’s maturing work in our lives. Peace is promised to guard our hearts and minds. Peace is the birthright of every child of God. And yet . . .

How many believers live in peace? How many of us experience the peace that passes understanding? What portion of the body of Christ is known for peace? Or to ask the question in the negative, why is peace not the sign of a follower of Jesus?

It’s an important question. Some suggest a legal answer--the peace we have with God is positional: since we are reconciled with God through the sacrifice of Jesus, peace is part of our new standing with God. I suppose legal answers serve some purpose--but I see too many Christians who are decidedly not at peace. They are confused or even angry with God, worried about their lives, unable to live at peace in their families and in constant conflict with the affairs of life. These believers are my friends, and I can see they are not at peace.

I’d like to suggest a question capable of changing our lives: “Jesus, you’ve promised peace but my life is not at rest. How can I walk in what you have promised?”

Perhaps some of you know an answer. Many of us are waiting to discover your secret.

I received an email a few days ago from a student unfortunate enough to take a college class from me last spring. My young friend has apparently had a difficult summer and wrote to me looking for some direction. Here’s the letter:

Hey Ray,

I've been struggling with something lately and I was wondering if maybe you could help (I need some insight).

I've definitely noticed this summer how in this life, money is everything (so says the world). If you don’t have it, you aren't worth anything and you can’t do very much without it. I think this has got me down, I am kinda questioning my worth as a person. 

I know there’s a verse that says to 'store up riches in heaven'. But I don’t know what these riches are and how to 'store them up.’ I know that I my soul is worth the price of Christ dying on the cross but I don't feel worth anything.

I just don’t know what things are of actual worth in life (heavenly worth).

Here’s my response (even now, as I read it a few days later, I realize there is so much more to be said):
I trust your summer hasn’t been a total struggle, but I definitely hear you when you say that money really runs the show these days. It can be depressing. I took a day to think about how to answer you. Here’s my first try. If you have any questions or thoughts, please write back and let me know.

When Jesus said “store up riches in heaven” he was contrasting temporary things with permanent things. Yes, he was talking about heaven-after-you-die, but he was also trying to reveal that the permanent things are all around us here and now. The kingdom of God places great value on these permanent things. They are the kind of things that do not wear out and cannot be stolen from you. You can begin to “invest” in them now, and your investment goes with you wherever to go.

So what are these permanent things, and how do we store up these treasures? Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by talking about the kind of people who are fortunate in God’s eyes. That is, the kingdom of God values the poor, the meek, the merciful, and the peacemakers. If you want to store up treasures in heaven, you can find them among the poor. You can find them by showing mercy to others. You can become rich in God’s kingdom by becoming the kind of person who makes peace. Every act of mercy and kindness (especially to those who cannot “repay” you) is like making a deposit in the kingdom of God. Remember: Jesus told us that the kingdom is breaking into the here and now--it’s not just about heaven after you die.

Another way to store up these kingdom treasures is to see who you really are--a child of God! Worldly people draw their identity from their stuff: the label on their clothes, the cars they drive, the houses they build. Did you know that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses the phrase ‘your Father in heaven” more than a dozen times? People who do not know their Father work hard to develop their own image. Children of God receive the family likeness that comes from God. It’s not about about working to become godly, it’s more like growing up and realizing that your Father is capable of providing everything you need: love, security, identity, food, clothing, and a home. I’m sure you’ve seen people who crave love and security: they’ll do anything to feel accepted--spend money, offer their bodies, pretend to be someone who they are not. Part of storing up treasures in heaven is to embrace the family identity, because you will receive the family inheritance.

Finally, investing in God’s kingdom is like any other kind of investing. In the everyday world we invest in things with our time, energy or money. It may not sound spiritual, but we invest in the Kingdom of God the same way: with our time, energy, and money. Do we give ourselves to the Kingdom of God? Jesus said it is the best investment: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

There are a thousand practical applications to this stuff. Each life lived before God can fulfill the charge “store up treasures in heaven” and still look like a unique life. God doesn’t make cookie cutter children. I encourage you to take some quiet time and think through what your life could look like in the kingdom of God.

Finally, I’m happy talk more, if this note spurs any questions or ideas.

Grace to you, and peace,

R
How would you have responded? What would you tell someone about “storing up treasure in heaven?” I look forward to your comments.

So Easter’s over: what more is there to say?  Plenty, actually.  Jesus considered one topic so important he stuck around for another 40 days to continue teaching. 

Acts 1:3 reveals that the subject most important to Jesus during that time was the Kingdom of God. This should not surprise us. Before Jesus began his ministry, John the Baptist declared that the Kingdom of God was close at hand. In his earthly ministry Jesus himself preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now, with just a few days remaining with his friends, the Kingdom of God is still his passion.

Some people think the emphasis of the book of Acts is on evangelism.  On the contrary, Acts is a Kingdom-of-God book from start to finish: Jesus stays with the disciples to further instruct them about God’s Kingdom.  By the time we reach the end of the book we discover the Apostle Paul receiving visitors and proclaiming the same message Jesus declared:

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 28: 30 - 31)

Believe me, when a New Testament book opens and closes with the same theme, it’s important!

Have you ever had to give last-minute instructions? Like Jesus or the Apostle Paul: what would be your last words? What important words could you leave with your best friends? They both chose to remind their friends about the message announced in the Old Testament and inaugurated in the New: the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

If the words “Kingdom of God” seem awkward when they appear after the word “gospel” perhaps it’s because in our day we have shortened the gospel to mean exclusively redemption from sin and going to heaven. The rediscovery of the gospel of the Kingdom, along with Jesus’ commission to “make disciples and teach them to obey” stand as the greatest need in the North American church today.

Here’s a meditation for Monday and beyond: what will you do with your time in the forty days after the resurrection? Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God. Perhaps he still wants us to embrace his teaching.