Prodigal Medic....

I was thinking at church last night. One of the pastors was talking and
made some good points. Got me thinking… Let me share.

We in our Western North American culture seem to think that Jesus is
just our personal savior. I mean, that's what we hear all the time. "A
personal relationship with Jesus…" Think of the ways even when we don't
make the direct statement, we imply that in so many other ways. "Jesus
is all we need…" But again, it's a we statement. And anyways, who the
heck is "we"?

[This is where I need to insert the disclaimer that I know a lot of you
are getting worried and thinking that maybe Tim, who is always so calm,
cool and collected might have actually flipped his lid. Please just give
me the space to air this thought. It'll all make sense soon.]

I mean, I'm listening to Robbie Seay Band and was listening to David
Crowder last night and to the pastor at church and all these songs and
the pastor were talking about the concept of "all creation." Bradley,
the pastor, was talking about Revelation 7 I think, maybe 9, where the
"huge multitude of every tribe, nation, language…" gathered before the
throne of the Lamb. And all of a sudden Jesus became less of a personal
savior. (Please see disclaimer.) He became the savior of ALL CREATION.
Bradley was also speaking from a passage in Isaiah. It's the part where
that the angel quotes to the little shepards on the hillside, "For unto
you a child is born…" Ever read the context of that quote? Neither had
I! It comes in Isaiah 9: 4-6. All of us are somewhat familiar I would
think with Isaiah 9:6. "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is
given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace." Verses 4 and 5 are "For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you
have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their
shoulder, the rod of their oppression, Ever warrior's boot used in
battle, and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire." Let's look at this all in context, and then
I'll try to make some more sense of my thoughts for you.

4For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulder, the rod of their oppression,
5Every warrior's boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Wow! Not like the part I only hear at Christmas! Much more gory and
violent than I though. Much more about oppression and war and the things
that go along with it. I had the image in my mind about the garments
rolled in blood being fuel for the fire of those in war burning things
to stay warm in 55 gallon barrels. This is obviously talking about a
dangerous, dirty, pain-filled world. And that's when it all began to change.

This passage is in too many ways not personal to me. I live in a huge
house in a one of the richest communities in one of the richest
countries in the world. And I know that you all come from similar
places, but this is where I am at in my heart, so don't trip and think
I'm condemning anything, its just me thinking about a lot.

But I don't know war. I don't know oppression from our government. I
don't know a lot of the discomfort the world knows. But Jesus is coming
to save the world from all of that. Part of Isaiah 9:7 talks about how
"…He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and
upholding with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever."
So logic might seem that if he has to come to establish that kingdom,
then it doesn't exist now, right?

So Jesus comes to save the world, not just me. But I know Jesus as my
personal savior, and in many ways, that's all that I know him as! Does
that mean then that I have been looking at an incomplete Jesus? I want
to know the complete Jesus. I want to know the same Jesus that saves and
truly brings hope to the rest of the world, the world broken and
oppressed and in need of this saving Jesus. It made me realize that once
again, I have been neutered in my faith and that the radical message of
the Good News is just yesterday's news in my heart. I want to regain the
passion and the day-to-day or even better, breath-to-breath awareness of
the Lord that I have had at times when I have been in intentional
faith-based community with other believers. And in that way, I know that
Jesus is intensely personal to me. He meets me where I am. But what
about the street kid I met at In-N-Out (a great burger place native to
CA for those that aren't from here) after church? How can I enter into
his world in one night? Can I bring to him that same hope and that Good
News on a freezing night when his stomach is empty and other cars speed
away at his very approach? Can I take that news that is old in my heart
that in some ways has become so personal that it insulates me from the
world around me and instead energizes my soul again to get out of my car
and spend some time with a homeless stranger?

My prayer for us all today is that those deep things that I thought
about today would be the food for your thoughts and hearts. In this
season where it seems that our society focuses on self-gratification and
the increase in the GNP and consumer spending that Jesus came to
bring….oh wait…I mean for the radical deep love that this great Lamb
came to bring us, let us take that love to all those that we meet. And
let us take extra effort to see the oppressed around us as folk's not
all that different from us, but folks that we might even learn more
about our own brokenness and grace and our own Savior. Let's find ways
to live Jesus here on earth, maybe one heart a day that is outside of
the Body, someone who doesn't go to church, or whoever, but to not be
afraid but to realize that the Beginning, this whole Christmas deal,
really was the beginning of the end and that we should live with the End
in mind!

And when that end comes, I truly count it all joy to know that I will be
eternally with Jesus as my personal savior, but yours as well, and that
together we will worship forever!!!!