You’d Better Get Used to Being Human!

If you’re like me, and infested with a fallen human nature, that probably sounds negative and uninspiring at first, doesn’t it?

There is simply something about being human that we have been taught to disrespect, dishonor and not appreciate, regardless of Jesus and the scriptures (Psalm 8, Heb 1). Kermit the frog came close when he sung “It’s not easy being green!” Its not always easy being human! Plus, the rotten experiences we have had and are having in this flesh don’t seem to match up with the logic of wanting to remain human forever. After all, isn’t Christianity really about getting out of these human bodies and into a spiritual non-human body?

Where did you and I inherit poison like that? Christianity is absolutely NOT about not being human?! Just the opposite!

It’s about being truly human forever! It’s amazing to me how much I have missed this truth and, as a result, missed much more of the Kingdom here on earth NOW that the Father makes available in His Son Jesus and delights for me to share in with you!

I just had the wonderful opportunity of proclaiming this Good News at a local congregation of Grace Communion International in Baltimore, MD.! It is called New Life Fellowship, and I think you would love visiting there if you ever got the chance! They are alive and well in Jesus AND learning to celebrate their humanity NOW! “Wowsa” and “Good gravy!” Go Baltimore! They invited me up for International Day where we celebrated the fact that all of us will be human forever, and that all of the distinct expressions, colors, races, and general ethnic cultures and foods we love to eat will still exist in the resurrection!

Check out this set of verses in the Scriptures in The Message version of the Bible: Luke 2:27-52, Luke 24:36-48, listen to the message here (soon!), and claim this wonderful truth in Jesus:

Jesus was born as, lived in, died as, and was resurrected and ascended to His Father as the Jewish God/Man that originally came on the scene!

Notice in Luke 24 how he keeps exclaiming that it is Him, Jesus, Who has Resurrected and is the Resurrection? “Look at MY hands and my feet!”, he exclaims! “Ghosts do not have muscle and bone as I have!” He remarks! “Do you have some of my favorite food, fish? Give me some! I want to gobble it up and eat it to show you how human I still am in my FOREVER resurrection…AND HOW HUMAN YOU WILL BE IN YOUR FOREVER RESURRECTION WITH ME WHEN HEAVEN COMES TO EARTH!” (Rev 21:1-4)

Do you see what Jesus is doing in His own permanently human body? (Acts 1:1-11)

He is validating YOUR culture! Your Distinct Expression! Your Music! Your Favorite Dance! Your Favorite Food! Your Nationality! Your color of Eyes! Your DIFFERENTLY shaped ears, nose, mouth and body shape!! (Ha-Ha! I can hear many of you groaning as you debate the fact that maybe your current weight and looks are REALLY acceptable to God and may not change as much as you currently desire IN YOUR SINFUL PERCEPTIONS OF YOURSELF!!!Ha-Ha! I’m with you in that struggle!)

Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to literally and exactly describe how you will look in the resurrection!

I’m lost about the old vs. the young thing, too! Neither am I trying to give more answers than raise questions. I’m not! I am trying to be faithful to the Gospel – Jesus – and the Jewish and human HIM he took seriously AND resurrected! So much so that in His human self he keeps saying, “It is me!” and they (his disciples) recognized HIM as himself!

Sure your body will be raised incorruptible, and YES, everything that is not truly human in you and is broken in your body will be fixed and made right! BUT, what is “right?” I don’t think a large nose, ears, or belly are necessarily wrong or broken in every case, do you?! Don’t we even say as fallen humans that “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”? And don’t we REALLY know that and mean it when we say it? Ha-Ha! Where does that come from if not from the Triune God in Whom we are all created and sustained in our distinction and union, and Who loves us UNCONDITIONALLY?

Imagine eating something that tastes as delicious as YOUR favorite dessert, candy, chocolate snacks or wine forever; with a vitalized tongue that tastes even more of the sweet goodness?! And think of the weight you won’t gain or have to lose, regardless!! Ha-Ha! Heaven!! This is the way we are supposed to be reading the scriptures in the Light of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:41-43).

So enjoy the foretaste, literally!

The Baltimore congregation and I did as we feasted on those many international dishes! Boy do I look forward to “eating to bursting” WITHOUT BURSTING in my forever resurrected and incorruptible human being! Good Gravy – for REAL! Thank you Jesus – I, for one, LOVE IT!!

~ by Timothy Brassell

Celebrating Jesus’ Ascension

Jesus’ ascension is just as important as his birth, his cross, or his resurrection.

That’s why we ought to celebrate Ascension Sunday just as we would Christmas, Good Friday, or Easter. It might be hard to get our family and friends to exchange presents, or our offices to throw a party, but at least we can talk about it and celebrate it at church! I hope your church celebrated yesterday and if not, maybe you’ll think about celebrating next year. Why?

Because Jesus’ ascension is the ultimate fulfillment of the Father’s plan for humanity.

From the foundation of the world the Father planned to adopt humanity into his life as his children (Eph. 1:5.) In order for this to happen  the Son became one of us as the man Jesus. That’s Christmas. Then he crucified our sinful humanity in his crucifixion so that our sin would no longer blind us to the Father’s love. That’s Good Friday. Then Jesus resurrected our humanity in his resurrection so that we could live forever in the life of the Trinity. That’s Easter.

If Easter Sunday is where we stop telling the story then we know that humanity has been transformed in Jesus but we don’t know our ultimate destiny. Our ultimate destiny is to live forever in the Trinity as adopted children of the Father in Jesus. When Jesus ascended into heaven he took humanity with him and finished the Father’s plan to bring us to himself and seat us at his right hand as his beloved children. As the Scripture says:

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus ~ Ephesians 2:6

That’s something to celebrate! Our Daddy created us to live with him, in his Son, through their Spirit, forever. Now, in the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Father’s purpose in creating us has been accomplished. Jesus has scooped humanity up into his life with the Father and seated us in himself at our Father’s right hand.

~ Jonathan Stepp

Imagine God’s Desire, Again!

The Father’s desire is for you – and in Jesus he has you!

This good news is the very heart of what God is speaking into our souls in Jesus, through their Spirit. Therefore we cannot think or talk about it too much! This audio will help you keep growing in your understanding of how the desires of your heart are flowing from the life of the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and the creative way in which the Father is pursuing his relationship with you.

Imagine God’s Desire, Again! by Tim Brassell

Imagine God’s Desire

The Father’s desire is for you – and in Jesus he has you!

This 15 min. audio will help you understand more clearly how the desires of your heart are flowing from the life of the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and the creative way in which the Father is pursuing his relationship with you.

Imagine God’s Desire by Tim Brassell

What God Thinks . . .

…Is far more important than what you think, or what I think!

This would seem to go without saying considering that God, in most people’s minds, is supposed to be the best and greatest at everything, including thinking! But this is not where many of us necessarily start. On p.195 of his book The Secret Message of Jesus, author Brian McLaren points out how C.S. Lewis was struck one day about this subject. He quotes Lewis out of Lewis’ essay entitled “The Weight of Glory” on pp. 38-39:

I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed how we think of Him is of no importance except insofar as it is related to how He thinks of us.

So how does God the Father, Son and Spirit think of us?What does the Triune God think of you? What does this One God in Three Persons think regarding your Neighbor? What does God the Trinity think of the World?

Here are three great quotes for your consideration.

One from scripture. One from a great 20^th century Christ-centered theologian. And one from another great Christ-centered theologian lay member who attends with my local Church and works at Golden Corral.

“Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me. “This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed – not a single detail missed – and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole.” – Jesus, the fullness of God in the flesh, John 6:37-39, The Message.

“On the basis of the eternal will of God we have to think of every human being, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is Brother and God is Father; and we have to deal with him on this assumption. If the other person knows that already, then we have to strengthen him in that knowledge. If he does not know it yet, or no longer knows it, our business is to transmit this knowledge to him. On the basis of the knowledge of the humanity of God no other attitude to any kind of fellow man is possible. It is identical with the practical acknowledgement of his human rights and his human dignity. To deny it to him would be for us to renounce having Jesus Christ as Brother and God as Father.” Karl Barth, The Humanity of God, p. 53. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.

“I will believe in the one [Jesus] that believes in me.” - Calvin Simon (in an e-mail to me on 4.16.09.)

~ by Timothy Brassell

He Descended into Hell

If you want some truly awful theology mixed in with some great theology that’s included by accident, a good place to start would be the 1998 film WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, starring Robin Williams.

Williams’ character (Chris) dies and goes to heaven, where everything he imagines becomes reality (which happens to be C.S. Lewis’ vision of hell in THE GREAT DIVORCE.  Go figure).  The strange thing is that God is conspicuously absent.  Inquiring about this, Chris is informed: “I guess God is still up there somewhere, wondering why we can’t hear him telling us how much he loves us.”

Meanwhile, Chris’s wife (Marie), distraught over her husband’s death, kills herself and goes to hell.  Apparently this is fine with with God and the rest of heaven’s blissed-out population.  But Chris does what love does: He mounts a rescue mission.  He escapes heaven and illegally immigrates into hell, braving its terrors to find his beloved and bring her home.

The theistic ‘god’ of the film is pathetic and useless.

He’s a perfect illustration of why I rejected theism and became a hardcore Trinitarian instead.

The only place in this film where we see the passion of the Trinity is in Chris.  Being without her is not an option.  Nothing will stop him from finding her.  Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no hell deep enough.  This is love, and it is beautiful. This is a Good Friday movie.

Today our Beloved shows us how far he has gone to find us.

We were dead in our transgressions, so he entered into death to find us, to be there with us in our agony and darkness, and to set us free.  It’s the simplest and best love story there is.

~ by John Stonecypher

—————————————–

No matter where you go

I will find you

If it takes a thousand years

(LAST OF THE MOHICANS soundtrack)

You Are His

You belong to the Father! He has made you his child through his Son Jesus Christ.

Do you believe it? If you do – even a little bit – it is because Jesus is sharing his belief with you. This 15 min. audio post will help you believe even more deeply in the truth of your Adoption:

You are His – By Tim Brassell

Gospel Pleasure & Pain

If the Gospel is supposed be Good News, why is it bringing me so much pain and suffering?

I was reminded of this legitimate question after preaching the Gospel of our Adoption for about the 1000th time at my congregation this past weekend. I was approached by an exuberant 92 year old member who was excited, AGAIN, by the proclamation that He’s always been included in Jesus’ relationship with His Father. By exuberant, I mean that he still jumps and kicks his feet up in the air a little when he is enthusiastic about things he is experiencing, especially his adoption! No joke! I wanna grow up to be just like him! Ha-Ha!

As he approached, I hugged him as usual and asked him a question: “Are you still hearing Jesus’ Good News, and understanding and embracing it?!” He gave me an enthusiastic “Yes!” And then he gave me a more sobering response…

“…and I didn’t realize how dumb and stupid I was until I started hearing it!”

Immediately I, and the other members standing next to me, went into roaring laughter at his honesty! I could sense that not only were we proud to see a man in His nineties still experiencing the pleasure and pain of repentance – the pleasure and pain that comes along with changing his mind and embracing the Good News of our Adoption – but we were also laughing at how much he was telling the truth about each of our lives, too!

Perhaps you are experiencing this pleasure and pain too!

Let’s face it. The Good News of our Adoption is certainly a pleasurable thing, I mean, who doesn’t want to experience pleasure and assurance in some way? (Ps. 16.11) And who doesn’t want to be accepted and included by others? (Rom. 5.10-11) But the Gospel also brings pain doesn’t it? I mean, who wants to be exposed as a liar? As one who thought they could change the character of the Father with their sinful faith, only to find out that God doesn’t change at all and it is His Son’s faith in us shared wholly by grace that is important? (Gal. 2.20) Who wants to think they have “repented” and shifted the Father’s “negative attitude” toward them, only to find out that repentance and a calling to embrace the Gospel is the gift of God without repentance, and the Father has always thought positively about them? (Rom. 11.29) OUCH! And on and on the pain goes!

These kinds of “ouches” become twice as strong when we realize that not only have WE believed and experienced untruth about the Father and ourselves, we have shared these untruths STRONGLY with others. In a judgmental, self-righteous, and criticizing way not worthy of the Gospel! Double OUCH!

But just as we tend to think of the pleasure as a gift, so is the pain! Imagine the pathetic existence of not being able to able to feel pain – anywhere, anyhow! No built in warning system to keep you from further injury! No tingle when your body was burning! No sharp pain when your ankle was being twisted! No protection! No feeling! No pain! Yikes!

Thankfully, the Gospel of our Adoption brings both! The opportunity to participate in the Gospel Pleasure that Jesus has with His Father, and shares with us as a human being. (Matt. 3:17) And, the opportunity to share in Jesus’ Gospel Pain so we might be protected from further sin injury and experience EVEN MORE of His Gospel Pleasure FOREVERMORE! (Heb. 12.3-12)

~ by Timothy Brassell

The Father’s Plan

Did God really create humanity so he could adopt us as his children? After all, the word “adoption” only appears a few times in the New Testament.

This is a question I’ve received more than once in the last couple of years, and a question I also wondered about when I first started thinking of the gospel in terms of Ephesians 1:5, which says:  The Father predestined us to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ.

It does seem that the NT spends a lot more time talking about sin, atonement, our behavior, and our belief, than it does about the idea of adoption.

Then, one day, it hit me: how many times does my Father have to tell me what the plan is before I’ll believe it? In other words, why do I find it hard to believe that adoption was the plan just because that word is only used a couple of times in the NT? If the Father’s Spirit says “adoption is the Father’s plan” – as he does in Eph. 1:5 – then that’s the plan, whether the Spirit says it once or a thousand times.

Here’s an analogy:

Suppose you came to visit me in Nashville and after church I said “Meet me at Demos’ for lunch at 1:30″ and then I spent 5 minutes giving you detailed directions on how to get downtown to the restaurant. I show up at 1:30 but you don’t show up, so I call your cell and you say “oh, well, you only said ‘let’s eat at Demos’ one time, but you spent five minutes telling me about the streets in downtown Nashville, so I’ve just been driving around downtown”.

That is definitely missing the forest for the trees isn’t it?!

It’s true that the NT spends a lot of time talking about how the plan of adoption was accomplished: how the Son became human as the man Jesus, how he crucified our sinful nature in his cross, how he raised us up to his Father’s right hand in his ascension, and how his Spirit is helping us come to believe the truth that we are adopted in Christ as children of the Father.

But just because the Spirit only tells us a couple of times what the plan was doesn’t mean that the details of the plan are more important than the plan itself. The end, the destiny, the purpose of human existence – that we have been adopted in Christ as children of the Father – is the most important fact we can know about ourselves and our Dad in heaven.

Don’t miss the forest for the trees! How we are adopted in Christ is important but it’s not as important as the fact that we are adopted.

~ by Jonathan Stepp