Wilderness Wonderings

Wilderness Wonderings

New Testament

The Authority of the Kingdom

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When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Matthew 7:28-29

In 2018, my bride Sara and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to what has become one of our favorite places in the world – Italy. For this trip, that I secretly arranged for us and presented to her for Christmas 2017, I planned excursions around places and sites that carried personal significance to us both. I have personally always been fascinated with the history of the Roman Empire, as well as the religious significance of the Church in Rome. I’ve also held a passing interest in the Italian Renaissance of Florence, but nothing compared to Sara’s interest due to her passion for art and the masterpieces of Michelangelo Buonorotti.

As part of this trip, we got to explore the Flavian Ampitheatre (more commonly known as the Colosseum), the Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican Museums. We stood in awe of the magnificent paintings of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. I finally got to feast my eyes on one of my favorite paintings – Raphael’s School of Athens. But nothing in Rome compared to the tear-filled awe that we experienced when we stood before Michelangelo’s Pieta. The lifelike marble carving of the Virgin Mary cradling the crucified body of Jesus as only a mother could. The realism captured by Michelangelo as one viewed this sculpture was striking in that you felt as if you could reach out and touch the crucified body of our Lord. The taught muscle and soft skin harkened to the darkest day in the history of the world when mankind killed the Creator in the name of self-centered authoritarianism.

For me, the rest of St. Peter’s was dull by comparison, although still fascinating to witness. As our trip continued to Florence, we marveled at the magnificent architecture of San Giovanni’s Baptistry and the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, more commonly known as the Duomo. The site of the infamous Pazzi conspiracy that claimed the life of Giuliano de Medici and wounded his brother, Lorenzo “Il Magnifico” de Medici. As we explored the city, I stood in awe at the foot of a memorial to one of my own personal literary heroes, Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy, outside of the Basilica de Santa Croce. This relatively simply basilica (compared to the Duomo), is the final resting place of such famous names as Galileo Galilei, Enrico Fermi, Rossini, Niccolo Machiavelli, Giorgio Vasari, and Michelangelo Buonorotti. We toured this magnificent basilica during our second trip to Florence in September 2019 and we stood in awe in the presence of these great artists and famed men.

While in Florence, we toured the Accademia, home of Michelangelo’s famed sculpture, the David, carved from a neglected piece of marble that was left for scrap for decades. We toured the Ufizzi Museum where we observed Sandro Botticelli’s masterful works Primavera and Birth of Venus, and we stood in amazement at the beauty captured by this artist of his muse, Simonetta Vespucci. From the Piazza Michelangelo, we had the opportunity to witness the beautiful, breathtaking landscape view of Florence as it nestled along the flowing River Arno. Imagine with me the awe that we experienced and then multiply that by the factor of standing in the presence of the authority of Almighty God has He taught the truths of the Kingdom from a simple hillside.

The crowds were amazed at His teaching, not because of eloquent words, but because He taught with authority, unlike the teaching of the scribes. He was more than just a breath of fresh air. Here was a man who was different, who was teaching the Scriptures in way that the foremost experts were incapable of teaching. He was teaching the Scriptures in a way that made God and His Kingdom accessible to them like nothing they have ever heard before.

The word for “amazed” in this verse is a Greek word “ekplesso”, which means “to strike out or expel by a blow.” IT carries with it the connotation of a sudden sense of astonishment as opposed to a sense of fanciful wonder. It’s as if the Spirit of God Himself struck the hearts of the hearers in a way to open their eyes and ears to see and hear Himself in a new way. The word is also the same root word for “explosion”. In essence, God’s word exploded in their hearts anew.

When we truly recognize the authority of God as expressed in His word, the inevitable result is an explosion of realization that Jesus is truly someone different. He’s greater than the greatest experts of Biblical exegesis that have ever lived. His wisdom is higher and His grace runs deeper than anything we have ever experienced, or ever will apart from a relationship with Him. But we must be willing to open our hearts to the majesty that is His word that is backed by His divine authority.

Just as Michelangelo and Botticelli were considered the foremost masters of sculpture and painting of their day, Jesus is the Master of the Kingdom that we will all one day stand in awe and amazement at the authority that He wields from the Word. There is no painting, sculpture, or architectural wonder of this world that can compare to the majestic wonder of standing in the presence of Jesus as He open our hearts and minds to the truth of His word.

Charles Gabriel is credited with having written over 7000 hymns and songs over the course of his lifetime. One of the most prolific hymnist of his day, Gabriel grew up as a farmboy in Iowa. He learned to play music on a simple reed organ in his home as a child. As a young adult, he began teaching, writing, composing, and editing song collections for some of the leading gospel song publishers of the day.

One day he read a poem by E.O. Excell, that was published in 1905. The words of the poem struck him to his core as Excell portrayed the joy of observing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops like blood as he prayed on the night of His betrayal. Within moments, he penned a new hymn:

Verse 1:
I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene,
and wonder how he could love me,
a sinner, condemned unclean.

Verse 2:
For me it was in the garden
he prayed, “Not my will, but thine,”
He had no tears for his own griefs,
but sweat-drops of blood for mine.

Refrain:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
and my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful!
is my Savior’s love to me!”

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 371

How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that our God would step out of eternity to redeem His creation, because of His great love for us. How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that Jesus would come to teach us how to live in His Kingdom. How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that He stands on the authority of His word and can pierce even the hardest of hearts with His grace.

The Foundation of the Kingdom

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Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

Matthew 7:24-27

As a child growing up in southeast Louisiana, my family and I would often make a summer trip over to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico at Gulfport, MS. This vacation would typically occur during May, well before the height of hurricane season that would come in July and August. One of the joys of these beach excursions, which is by no means unique, was playing in the sand and building sand forts and castles.

Now I was no expert or artisan when it came to building my little sand castles. And this was long before the days of plastic molds and hyper-realistic displays of sand castle mastery. It was a simple time of fun and frivolity. Due to the nature of molding the sand to fit my own image, I would build my little castles closer to the edge of the water, because the wet sand would hold together better than the dry sand that would slip through my fingers so easily. Of course, by the end of the day, with the inevitable ebb and flow of the tides, the incoming waters would eventually wash away my masterpiece, leaving no trace of my creativity.

At the time, there was a small piece of historical nostalgia that always struck me. There was a little gift shop built out of a tugboat that had been washed up across the coastal road during Hurricane Camille in 1969. It was the result of a 24 foot storm surge that washed in over the entirety of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The gift shop was later destroyed by Category 4 Hurricane Katrina and developers have since demolished the rusting tugboat in 2008.

At the time, Hurricane Camille was only the third Category 5 hurricane to ever reach landfall in the continental US. Since then, only 2 other hurricanes have reached landfall as a Category 5 – Andrew in 1992, and Michael in 2018. Camille was also one of the most devastating storms on record resulting in 259 deaths and over $1.42 billion in damages (equivalent to $9.9 billion in 2019).

If there is one thing I learned growing up near the Gulf Coast, it is this: damaging storms are inevitable. They come and they go and they leave death and destruction in their wake. It is with this in mind that I recall that my father every year would pick up a hurricane tracking map from the local Cracker Barrel, which was nothing more than a convenience store at that time, before their rebranding as a Southern staple restaurant. He would meticulously track the storms across the Atlantic and the Caribbean and if the storm would make its way into the Gulf, the real preparations would begin.

Trash cans would be cleaned and filled with fresh water. Fresh batteries would be gathered and our hurricane oil lamp would be brought out to the kitchen table. Non-perishable foods would be stored and radios would be checked for functionality. Flashlights would be located and ensured they were conveniently accessible. With the approaching storm, we always knew to expect at least a couple of days being trapped on our hill due to rising waters at the creek below our home, and no electricity for at least a week. Being prepared for the storm made life a little more bearable without the usual comforts of modern technology that the storm would take away.

The storms of life are also inevitable and they will often leave immense destruction behind them. A job lost. A spouse becomes sick. A child runs away. A friend dies. Suffering is a part of life and a symptom of the corruption of creation wrought by the entrance of sin into the world. However, when we are prepared for the certainty of pain and the reality of suffering in the world, we can rest knowing that our lives can withstand the storm because we have built our lives on the rock of obedience to the Word of God and teachings of Jesus.

If you examine the construction of European castles, you will find a couple of different things. Castles that are built in low-lying areas, or even on beaches, are typically left in ruins. However, fortresses that are built on rocky cliffs, hills, and mountains have stood for centuries, unabated by the forces of nature and the attacks of enemies. In every case, the strength of the engineering of the foundation of these castles that has been credited with their longevity and survival.

This basic function of architecture is still employed in construction today. I have a friend and brother named Matt, who is a home builder. He once described the process of building a new home by starting with the foundation. Not only would his team lay out the concrete base, but they would dig deep into the bedrock of the ground and place pillars beneath the foundation in order to solidify the base and prevent against foundation damage from ground settling once the remainder of the house is built. Otherwise, foundation damage can lead to much bigger problems with the home, resulting in weakened physical integrity that could lead to diminished home value, elevated utility bills, and costly repairs later.

The foundation of the Christian life is more than simply a pronouncement of faith in Jesus as the Savior. The true and complete foundation is submission to His Lordship in our lives. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24) The rock of His Lordship is what makes Him our Messiah, the Christ. As the Son of God, He inherits the same authority as the Father. It is here that we can find shelter from the storm and the dangers of this life:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

Psalm 91:1-4

The Identity of the Kingdom

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Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Matthew 7:21-23

Much has been said and written about our current American political climate and the apparent divisiveness that has characterized our national discourse over the last 20 years. We have seen bitterness and anger manifest itself in unimaginable ways. From racial discord to gender inequities to identity politics, we have been witnessing and continue to witness the undermining of the rule of law in the name of emotional humanism that elevates individual preferences over the standards of reality.

God did not make a mistake when He created you. He created you with a design in mind that suits His purposes for His Kingdom to our good. He designed you with special care and knit you together in the womb to prepare you for what He has in store for you in terms of His goodness and grace. We argue this until Kingdom come but the fact remains that there are only two genders: male and female. And you were genetically designed to be one or the other. No amount of superficial surgical intervention can change the fact that your genetic makeup, the building blocks of who God designed you to be, is immutable. It cannot be changed. You will always have either XX chromosomes as a female or XY chromosomes as a male. Gender is defined biologically, not emotionally.

In the same manner, just because you identify yourself as a Christian does not necessarily mean that you really are. Just because you said a prayer and got your supposed “fire insurance” does not mean you have received a ticket to the gates of Heaven. And the spiritual “genetic” makeup of who you are is not defined by your emotional responses to the gospel message. The only identity transformation that is part of our human design is your spiritual identity, and it is defined by the absence or the presence of the Spirit of God living within you. And the evidence of the His presence and His transformation of your mind and heart is demonstrated to the extent of your obedience.

In our American system of government, we elect representatives through a representative democracy, where representatives that we pick and choose democratically create our laws, enforce our laws, and interpret our laws – all of which we are bound by social contract to obey by order of the Constitution. You can scream to the heavens that the elected official is “not my president” or “not my governor” or “not my representative” all you want. That doesn’t change the reality that the elected official in question still retains the title and the authority that is vested in them by our system of election.

And you can scream to the Heavens that Jesus is not Lord all you want, but eventually you will bend a knee to him and confess that He is indeed Lord:

So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:10-11

It is an inescapable truth. And you can live your life in this world as you choose, but when that time comes, it won’t be what you know or even who you know that saves you. It will come down to Who know you. And Jesus makes it clear that His knowledge of you is predicated on His Spirit living in you to perform the work of righteousness in this world. Miracles can be counterfeited. We can even speak Biblical truth to our hearts’ content. But if we don’t live our lives in a way that is characterized by His grace, then it is all in vain.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

I beg you to examine your heart and mind and always be re-examining yourselves. Measure your life against the standard of God’s Word. Let His word be the plumb line that determines how straight the path is that you are walking. Your citizenship in Heaven is purchased by His blood, but it is evidenced by your submission to His law.

The Fruit of the Kingdom

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Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Matthew 7:15-20

We’ve all heard the phrase “A wolf in sheep’s clothing.” If you’ve ever wondered the origin of that phrase, then here you have it. Contextually speaking, Jesus is referring to false prophets and teachers. These individuals who prey on the ignorant with what sounds like wisdom, but is in fact intentional deceit designed to satisfy their own appetites and lust for power. If you ever hear a preacher or teacher or anyone claiming to be a prophet or apostle, but their teaching is focused more on themselves, on individuals, and anything other than the Kingdom of God, then you can rest assured they are sowing bad seed that produces poisonous fruit. It will make you sick of yourself, distract you from His mission, and ultimately kill your joy.

When members of the Secret Service are taught how to recognize counterfeit money, they are not shown fake bills. They are made to study the real bills so that they can more readily recognize anything that doesn’t measure up to the standard of truth. In data science, there is a principle that we adhere to in order to ascertain if the data that we are analyzing is accurate – the principle of the source of truth. Anything that violates or doesn’t measure up to the source of truth is considered invalid analysis and thus requires re-examination. The same applies when recognizing false teaching.

What is the fruit of a true prophet/teacher that is humbly tuned to the word of God? There are certain hallmarks of Biblical teaching and Biblical interpretation that will ring true every time. There are in fact several factors that we must consider in terms of how to identify a false teacher, but I will sum them up by identifying what identifies the teaching of the true gospel.

First, and foremost, the true gospel acknowledges the Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father. He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) Anyone who adds themselves or another teacher to this truth is a liar and the truth is not in them. Any religious creed or principle that states you must follow a specific prophet or teacher or leader in addition to Jesus in order to be in the Kingdom is false and I urge you to run the opposite direction.

Secondly, any teaching that is contrary to God’s established canon of Scripture is not to be trusted. The canon of Scripture was closed no later than 100 AD, and there are more than 7000 original manuscripts that can attest to the authenticity of this claim. The Old Testament canon was widely accepted and established well before the 1st century AD. This is testified to by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (William Whiston, trans., Flavius Josephus against Apion, Vol. 1, in Josephus, Complete Works, Grand Rapids, Kregel, 1960, p. 8). The New Testament canon was well established and first officially recognized by the Council of Rome in AD 140, but this list of apostolic writings was considered closed by AD 332 and books that were originally considered canon but found to be written too late to be authoritative or were theologically out of line with apostolic teaching were discarded.

As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) While Paul was primarily referring to the Old Testament canon of his day, the apostle Peter considered Paul’s epistles and other apostolic writings to be equal to the Old Testament canon:

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:14-18

Finally, the teachings of the Kingdom produce Godly fruit that is easily recognizable in the heart of the believer. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Any teaching that produces fruit contrary to this is false.

In fact, just prior to this list of the Fruit of the Spirit, Paul describes those characteristics that stand out as the fruit of counterfeit teaching and a counterfeit life: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) If any teaching from the pulpit or from a Bible Study class or from any form of mentorship or “disciplining” produces this kind of fruit in your own heart or the heart of others, then it is incumbent upon us as believers to admonish and correct such teaching in the interest of the truth for the sake of the Kingdom.

The danger therein lies when we mix the fruit of the unrighteousness with the fruit of the Spirit, and produce a sort of “wolf in sheep’s clothing” theology that creates confusion and deception. For example, when we treat the name of Jesus like it is some sort of magical incantation by misinterpreting the scriptures that say “whatever you ask in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14), we are mixing sorcery into our prayers when Jesus’ words there was intended to beckon submission to the will of the Father, not bend the Father to our will. Another example would be the practice of venerating religious relics or props as having some sort of mystical power to heal or grant wishes. This is nothing more than a form of idolatry masquerading as devotion.

Personally, I invite challenges to anything that I teach. If I am wrong, then please, I humbly accept such correction. But be forewarned, that if you do choose to challenge what I do teach, come prepared with a Biblical substantiation for your point of view. This is the standard by which I seek to measure anything that I teach and it is the standard that I will hold you to if you choose to bring correction.

Hold fast to the principles of truth. Know the fruit of the teaching that you adhere to. Measure everything against the totality of Scripture within the established context of Scripture itself. Be on the alert of the wolf that prowls within the flock, seeking to divide and conquer. Examine yourself to ensure that you are not that wolf yourself.

The Gate of the Kingdom

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Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13-14
Monteriggioni, Italy

It’s no secret that one of my favorite places in the world is Tuscany, Italy. There is one town that is of particular interest to me – Monteriggioni. It is a very small town situated on a hilltop about 20 km northwest of Siena and an hour south of Florence, the home of one of Italy’s greatest poets, Dante Alighieri. Monteriggioni is known for its midieval fortress design with a wall that encloses the town and its high watchtowers. There is a singular road that encircles the town, and only a single road through a single gate that allows entrance. The commune and its majestic watchtowers were the inspiration of the circle of giants that protected the entrance to Hell in Dante’s masterful work “Inferno”, part of his Divine Comedy trilogy.

Monteriggioni is not a town that many people immediately think of when they consider their travels to Italy. The flashier fashion mecca of Milan, the historical center of the Roman Empire in Rome, the Grand Canal of Venice, and Renaissance muses of Florence all draw far more attention to the holiday traveller. Even Siena and Pisa draw more attention in the Tuscan region than this quiet little out of the way hilltop paradise that sits less than a mile from the main road. But those who visit often stand in awe of the the majestic beauty of its ancient walls and view of the quiet, serene Tuscan valley.

The entrance gate to Monteriggioni, also known as the Porta Franca, is quite narrow to enter. In fact, it is so narrow, that a motorized vehicle can barely fit through the entrance, so most automobiles are forbidden entrance and must park outside of the fortressed community. The only vehicles allowed inside of the town are official vehicles for emergency services. In medieval times, entrance to the town was only allowed with the permission of the city magistrate/authority. And I can’t think of a more beautiful illustration of what it means to enter the gates of the Kingdom through “the narrow gate.”

I’ve once heard it said that the fact that there is a “highway to Hell” and a “stairway to Heaven” says a lot about the population at the destination. What makes entrance into the Kingdom of God so difficult is not so much the path, but rather the choice and the requirements for entrance. You can see a narrow gate from a distance and recognize whether or not you can fit through it, and many once faced with this decision choose instead an easier, more comfortable doorway – a doorway that appeals to pride and self-sufficiency. The path to such a doorway is wide and smooth without a steep climb that requires effort.

But the path to the entrance to the Kingdom is narrow. It’s difficult and prone to stumbling. It’s a climb up a hill, on top of which stands a cross. The cross of the hill of Golgotha. The crucifixion cross of Christ, upon which is nailed my sin and yours. It is by that cross that God fulfills the promise to “destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever.” (1 Corinthians 1:19)

An allegory that I use for the cross is this illustration: it is the intersection of God’s judgement, from the heights of His holiness to the depths of our lowliness, with the crossbeam of His love, where His arms are forever stretched out waiting to embrace you. This picture of grace is not an easy one to accept because our human nature and humanistic philosophies require human effort, but with limited sacrifice. Humanism appeals to human pride by elevating mankind to the point of godhood.

One of the great champions of humanistic thought was Lorenzo de Medici, “Il Magnifico”. Lorenzo the Magnificent was known for his patronage of the arts and was widely credited for funding what is known today as the Italian Renaissance that spawned such masterful artists as Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michaelangelo Buonorotti. However, it was his pride that ultimately led to his own downfall. Hannah S. Bowers, historian and blogger, writes “Lorenzo used his charm and perceptive leadership to pursue his own desires. In the end, he was viewed by contemporaries as Plato’s ‘perfect man’.” It was these virtues that led to his lust for power and resulted in numerous attempts on his life and his own estrangement from faith in God. It was this humanistic philosophy that led to corruption within the church as numerous Popes, including two of the Medici clan, were guilty of corrupting the faith in the name of their own lust for power.

It was this corruption that led to the rise of Girolamo Savanorola, a fiery monk who sought to end the corruption within the church and within Florentine government and destroyed many priceless works of art that were funded by the blood money of the church and the Medici in his famed Bonfire of the Vanities. In the end it was his own lust for power driven by his own pride that led to his downfall and eventual execution in the Piazza Signoria.

However it was this corruption of the church and the mistakes of Savanorola that reached the ears and inspired the heart of a German monk named Martin Luther to seek reformation. It was not his heart to form a new Protestant religion, but rather to redeem the heart of the Catholic church. But the pope of the day allowed his own pride to prevent repentance and Luther refused to recant his message of judgement and grace that is available by faith, rather than indulgences at the will of the prideful, religious elite.

But the gate to the Kingdom is a simple, unassuming gate. It simply beckons you to enter, but it requires laying aside your pride and submitting to the authority of God. It requires taking a step of faith to climb the hill of Calvary and bowing at the foot of the cross. It requires leaving behind the easy path of the highway and taking the path that is difficult, the path of obedience. The path of faith. And it is not an unreasonable or blind faith.

Paul encourages us to “Not be conformed to the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Our discipline starts with our mind, transforming the way that we think of this world. Recognizing that our way has lead to our own destruction for too long and that it is time that we try a new way. A more difficult way, but a more rewarding way. An impossible path on our own, but a path that He will walk with us because in the end, He is the gate. He is the door. He Himself is the entrance to the Kingdom. He beckons you to lay aside your pride and your self-sufficiency and rest in Him. Today and forevermore.

The Rule of the Kingdom

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In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

The Golden Rule. I’ve personally never liked the term because for it to be the Golden Rule is would have to be the greatest of the commandments. And Jesus and the Law itself have boldly explained that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all heart and all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) However, Jesus elevated the second greatest commandment to be a natural outgrowth of the first “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) In effect, He was making this declaration: “Your love for God is demonstrated by your love for His greatest creation – people.”

Love, as defined by Matthew 22, is the Greek word agapao. Love is not a noun in that passage, but it is a verb. A word of action that demonstrates a deeper inner condition. The word “apagao” in the imperfect tense implies incompletion, or more appropriately a continuous act without end. The word in this tense is used 144 times in the New Testament over 110 verses. It is perhaps the most important word in all of Scripture because it defines the heart of God towards His creation and provides us with a lens through which to observe His actions towards us. He treats us with love, because He desires for us to love Him. He disciplines us in order to draw us back to Him. He seeks to withhold from us that which would make us distant from Him. And He loves us enough to give us a choice to love Him, yet not without making the consequences of such abandonment clear. This demonstration of His great love for us is His example of how we are to treat one another.

We speak the truth in love to one another, not to be a herald of judgement, but to be a beacon of grace, guidance, restoration, and love. We ought to expect the same from others around us. Yet all too often, we either speak judgement against one another, which is the antithesis of God’s desire for us. Judgement is born out of hatred, but accountability is born out of love. Judgement destroys hope; accountability provides restoration. And it’s very easy to blur the lines between the two – as both the one delivering discipline and the one receiving it. In both cases, it is because our vision is obscured by our own inner condition. That is why Jesus warns earlier to examine your own heart before seeking to provide discipline and extend accountability.

We speak of the Golden Rule more often in defensive terms, but the tone and tense of the commandment is active and on the offense, rather than defense. Most of the time when we hear anyone bring up the Golden Rule, it is to defend their own condition and plea for grace and mercy, or rather more appropriately ignorance. However, the Golden Rule is stated in such a way as to be proactive, rather than reactive. It’s imperative as opposed to submissive. The Rule doesn’t say “Do not treat others the same way you do not want them to treat you.” That’s passive and barely even reactive.

So how ought we to treat one another in love? What does that look like? We serve one another. We sacrifice for one another. We respect one another in spite of our differences. We recognize one another as one of God’s children, created in His image for His purposes. To treat one another as we want to be treated is to recognize our God-ordained design as His image bearers. Sometimes that means discipline, but more importantly that means grace.

When we abuse one another, are we treating each other the way that we want to be treated? How ridiculous a proposition! But every day we see it over and over again. Domestic violence continues to invade our homes. Human trafficking continues to rise in every corner of the globe. We treat one another as objects for our own gain, rather than as God’s children designed to be loved.

When we reduce humanity to nothing more than a batch of cells put together by mere random chance with no clear purpose, it is inevitable that we see not only ourselves as a god unto ourselves, but others as objects to be used to further our own agendas and animalistic desires. Evolution does not solve for the moral imperative to love. In fact, anyone who tells you that morality is ingrained in each of us without the need of God or creation, is borrowing capital from God Himself. Moral law directly implies that there is a law giver that defines that law. In order for a moral law to be universally applied, it must come from a law giver that stands outside of that universe. Whether we choose to accept that God is our moral law-giver or not, does not negate our responsibility to His law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law in American society. The same basic principle applies in the spiritual realm as well.

The greatest virtue that extends from love is humility. Humility recognizes our place before the throne of grace, whereas pride seeks to elevate our place to sit upon the throne that is not ours. James, the younger brother of Jesus, states “Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us’? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:5-7)

Humbly stand your ground in love for one another. Resist the temptation to stand in pride against one another. Submit your desires to God’s heart and let His Spirit transform you. When we learn what it means to humbly submit to Him in trust and love, then, and only then, will we ever truly understand how to love one another.

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