Mutal Exclusivity

Mutual exclusivity is when one thing excludes something else or two things cannot occur at the same time. An example is tossing a coin once, which can result in either heads or tails, but not both. You can’t look and sneeze at the same time. It has been proven that if you focus on keeping your eyes open, it will keep you from sneezing. You can’t focus on yourself and others at the same time.

Jesus had a lot to say about mutual exclusivity in the kingdom and life with Him. Can you recognize what is mutually exclusive in each of these statements of Jesus?

 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24)

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

“The last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16)

“He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt. 23:11-12)

Jesus said that our money and his money, our life and his life, being first and last, servant and master are mutually exclusive. We cannot live for ourselves and live for God. Jesus wants all of us, not a part, or a day or an hour, but all of us. With Jesus it is all or nothing. In His relationship with the Father it was all or nothing. Jesus said He was one with the Father, and He calls us into that oneness with Him and the Father. He said when you have seen me, you have seen the Father. The world is looking for the Father in us. As the world rapidly degenerates into greed, selfishness, sin and idolatry, we will have to make a decision. Are we going to live for ourselves or for God? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, we are going to have to take a stand no matter what the cost.

I am on a journey to the heart of the Father and invite you on this journey. I do not know where it will take me or what the cost will be, but it is a journey that I am compelled to take by the Spirit. This unexplainable appetite for more of God calls me to lay down more of myself and my desires and to pull away and spend more time with Him. I don’t believe it is only happening to me. I believe God is calling to Himself a people from all over the world who are willing to lay everything down in their pursuit of Him and are willing to stand up and declare His name no matter what the cost.

Please respond if you are on this journey, and let us together walk into the future God has for us.

Andy Clark

avclark@juno.com

Perspective

1 Kings 17:1

“And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab,"As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word." NKJV

I read this portion in my daily Bible reading several weeks ago, and it has been rattling around in my spirit ever since. Elijah declares to King Ahab, one of the most wicked kings of Israel who hated him, “there is not going to be any dew of rain around here until I say so.”  The authority of this statement comes from some key words that grabbed my attention in the first part of the verse, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand.” Elijah repeats this statement again in I Kings 18:15 during the third year of the drought. During this time Elijah has been living off of ravens and a poor widow. He owns nothing but the coat on his back. His authority to speak and act comes from where he stands, and that is before the very throne of God.

In John chapter 19, Jesus has been beaten and is brought before Pilate and the mob of people calling for his crucifixion. Pilate, who finds no fault in Him, says to Jesus, “Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Standing there beaten almost beyond recognition, every cell in his body screaming in pain, stripped of all dignity, the world turned against him, Jesus replies with steady voice of authority, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” In the face of humiliation, suffering, and death, Jesus knows where He stands.

Our identity, self-worth and perspective of life and the world around us is so influenced by the media, our friends, job, position, possessions, and family that we fail to see things as God sees them and walk in the authority that God has given us. Ephesians 2:4-6 says, “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy…. raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:21 says this place where we are seated with Christ is “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

Our connection is not to the earth but to God. The Word defines who we are, how we are to live, and where we stand. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

Where do you stand?

Andy Clark

How Big is Your Jesus?

John 14:12-17

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

This is an amazing promise. “Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it.” It is hard to wrap our mind around this promise. But it is so important that Jesus repeats it twice for emphasis. Two verses later Jesus makes a second promise. “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth.” The promise of the Helper is given to us to enable us to do greater works than Jesus did. Jesus had said earlier that He had to return to the Father so that He could send the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of truth who enables us to ask in accordance with God’s will, so that anything we ask in His name, He will do for us.

Sandwiched between these two incredible promises, Jesus says “If you love me, keep my commandments.” There is the matter of obedience connected to these two promises. In John 15:7, Jesus says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Jesus himself in His ministry repeatedly emphasized that He only spoke what the Father told Him to speak and did what the Father told Him to do. It was out of relationship and obedience to the Father that Jesus did what He did. If Jesus, the Son of God was totally dependent upon the Father through obedience and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, how much more are we dependent upon Him, if we are going to do what He did and even greater works than He did.

I love this testimony Peter gives about Jesus’ ministry in Acts 10:35. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”  Jesus did not start an organization, church or ministry. He had no earthly position or possessions. His only aspiration in life was to obey and glorify the Father.

How big is your Jesus? If we are to ask for anything in His name, our vision of Jesus must be enlarged to the point that He is bigger than anything in our lives and in this world. He has to become bigger than our circumstances, our programs and our plans. John the Baptist upon encountering Jesus said, He must increase and I must decrease. Just as Jesus’ life totally revolved around the Father, so must our life totally revolve around Jesus. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. He becomes our very existence and the air that we breathe. His Spirit becomes the dominant person in our lives.

As you spend time with Him and in His Word, may Jesus become bigger to you than anyone or anything in your life.

Andy Clark

Wholehearted Obedience

As I was reading my daily Bible reading from the New Living Translation, I came upon a portion of Scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 30 that the Spirit quickened to me. In the proceeding chapters God had laid out the blessings and curses that would come on Israel depending on their wholehearted obedience to His covenant with them.

In Deuteronomy 30 God promised them in verse four that if they wholeheartedly obeyed Him that HE WOULD FIND THEM no matter where they were. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” Wholehearted obedience gets God’s attention! God is not looking for perfect people but people whose heart is wholly after Him and will respond to the prompting of His Holy Spirit. He is looking for people, who will lay everything down for Him, His will, and His kingdom. No matter where you are or what you are going through, when you put your full focus on Him and are willing to do anything He asks you, He will find you.

The second thing I saw in verse six that God will do for those who wholeheartedly obey Him is that “the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”  In Ezekiel 11:19 God says that He will take away our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh. The circumcised heart enables you to love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Life can make our heart stony. We are exposed to so much in the media and are often so hurt by people and circumstances that we lose our heart of compassion. Wholehearted obedience enables you to love.

The third result of wholehearted obedience is in verse nine. “The Lord your God will make you successful in everything you do.” James says, “he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25 How does the law bring liberty? Wholehearted obedience to God’s word and the Spirit sets us free from having to figure things out and manipulate things to our advantage. When I lived in Haiti, we were surrounded by constant, desperate need. Whom do we help and how much? I knew missionaries who became hard hearted because of the constant need and others who left the field because of the overwhelming need. God told me not to try to figure out whom to help but to simply respond to the nudge of the Spirit. Wholehearted obedience will release you into Godly success.

The last thing I saw as a result of wholehearted obedience was in the last part of verse nine. “The Lord will delight in being good to you.” You don’t have to beg God for things. God loves to give His children good gifts. He wants to surprise you in creative, unexpected ways. God is madly in love with you. Quit trying to figure things out and manipulate things your way. Abandon yourself to serving God and others despite the circumstances and peoples’ response, and see what God will do for you. Wholehearted obedience will cause God to be D-E-L-I-G-H-T-E-D in you.

Andy Clark

Measure of Christian Maturity

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” NKJV

In this portion the Apostle Paul writes about moving from childhood to maturity in our speech, understanding, and thought. This transition is purposeful. We don’t mature naturally over time any more than a child growing big makes him more mature. It takes willful, intentional decisions with the discipline to carry them out. He says we have to “put away childish things.” This is a process from seeing dimly and knowing in part to seeing Christ face to face and knowing Him as He knows us. It is a life-long process that we must pursue with our whole being.

The measure of maturity is faith, hope, and love. The Apostle says, “now abide these three.” These are the three pillars of the Christian life that we should constantly be developing which produce eternal results. This is a progressive work that the Holy Spirit wants to do in us. Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Unveiled faces mean that we have to be transparent before God, if this maturity process is going to happen.

Maturity in faith comes through the Word because “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Maturity in love is a development of our character. I Corinthians chapter 13 clearly demonstrates that anything that is done that does not spring from love has no value. Love is manifested in obedience. Jesus said in John 14:21,“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” The manifestation of love is in the fruit of the Spirit. Maturity in hope is demonstrated in ministry because hope exalts God and His kingdom. 1 Corinthians 9:10 says, “For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope , and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.”

Maturity requires that we grow in all three areas: faith, hope and love. Some people may exude love but have no faith or hope, and so produce little. Others may have great faith and hope resulting in great ministry, but their life is bankrupt of love. We often measure ourselves and others by our strongest area, when, in fact, our level of maturity is as great as our weakest area. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things….And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Andy Clark