Tag: Jesus

The Secret To The Secret

Jason ZahariadesLeave a comment

“In every possible situation I’ve learned the hidden secret of being full and hungry, of having plenty and going without, and it’s this: I have strength for everything in the one who gives me power.” Philippians 4:12-13

In my last post, I mentioned how Paul’s secret to learning contentment was relying on Jesus to strengthen him.

For many years, I clung to the promise of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Actually, I clung to my version of the promise.

There’s a scene in the original Avengers movie where Iron Man is battling Thor. During the battle, Thor strikes Iron Man with a bolt of lightning. The suit’s AI then informs Tony Stark that the suit was now charged to 400% capacity, allowing him to attack with far greater power than the suit’s design.

That’s how I viewed Philippians 4:13’s promise. “Lord, zap me so I can do something beyond my means, something I’m not designed or prepared to actually do.”

Lord, give me strength to forgive that person who has hurt me.

Lord, empower me to stop over-eating.

Lord, help me to be content with what I have.

Lord, restrain me from saying the wrong thing.

Lord, stop me from being impatient when I drive.

I think you get my drift. My prayer was that God would overload me with his power and grace so I could supernaturally operate at 400% capacity and instantaneously do things in the moment I naturally was not prepared to do.

Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes God wonderfully answers those prayers and infuses us with such grace that we’re stunned at what we’re able to accomplish in the moment. Those situations are amazing!

But that is not the moment-by-moment life in God’s kingdom that Jesus invites us to enter or that Paul is describing in Philippians 4:13. Just a sampling from Paul’s letters makes this clear:

“Train yourself to be godly.” 1Timothy 4:7

“I discipline my body and bring it under complete control.” 1Corinthians 9:27

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.” Romans 12:2

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9

Paul’s experience of kingdom life as Jesus’ apprentice was one of moment-by-moment interaction and cooperation with Jesus, learning from him how to actually be like him, from the inside-out. By doing so, we are strengthened by Christ to become like him and thus have the ability to “do all things in Christ”.

Then the things that used to be beyond our means and for which we prayed God to zap us in the moment so we could supernaturally do, have over time become within our means to naturally do. Through daily interaction and practice with Jesus, we have trained with him and have been strengthened by him to now be like him and to think and act like him in all circumstances.

Or to put it another way, Paul learned to embrace Jesus’ lifestyle to learn how to grow into Jesus’ life — to grow into Jesus’ knowledge, faith, character, power and action — within Paul’s own life. In this way, Paul could say:

“I am, however, alive — but it isn’t me any longer, it’s the Messiah who lives in me. And the life I do still live in the flesh, I live within the faithfulness of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

That’s the secret to the secret. 

All Who Have This Hope

Jason ZahariadesLeave a comment

“Look at the remarkable love the father has given us—that we should be called God’s children! That indeed is what we are. That’s why the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. Beloved ones, we are now, already, God’s children; it hasn’t yet been revealed what we are going to be. We know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him make themselves pure, just as he is pure.” 1John 3:1-3

This was the passage I was reading this morning. God’s love is so tremendous that he has embraced and adopted us as his children! This is amazing, startling, almost scandalous, and worthy of all the adoration and worship our eternal lives can generate.

Earlier this week, I was watching a video about the Euclid telescope. This is a space telescope with a 600-megapixel camera that was developed by the European Space Agency. As part of a six-year mission, it has taken images of three small regions of our sky. The image at the top of this post is of one of the areas. And each of those points of light in that image is a galaxy! With only one scan of each region, the Euclid telescope has already spotted 26 million galaxies, of which the farthest is 10.5 billion light years away! The vastness of this universe is mind-boggling!

God easily and joyfully created this immense universe. He now fills and plays within it so that every component and event is within his direct knowledge and control. This God loves us with an even greater immensity, making us his children who will ceaselessly enjoy him and his creation! There aren’t words to express how astounding this is!

But now look at verse 2. We are currently God’s children. But it hasn’t yet been revealed what we are going to be. Wait! What? There’s more? As incredible as it is that God makes us his children, something far grander and more magnificent is awaiting us. All we know is that when Jesus is revealed, we shall be like him. Why? Because we shall see him as he is. We will gaze face to face upon his loving and glorious presence and know him in the deepest, unbridled, unhindered way. And it will transform us into his likeness. We shall be like him!

In light of this inconceivable hope and future, St John states, “All who have this hope in him make themselves pure, just as he is pure.” In other words, since our hope is that we shall be like him in the future, God’s children start learning in the present how to be like him. It all circles back to Jesus’ Gospel, his good news. Jesus invites us to become his apprentices, learning from him how to be like him as if he were living our lives in our place. In this context, we make ourselves pure by learning from him how he is pure. 

Here’s the hint that unlocked my understanding of apprenticeship to Jesus. We can have Jesus’ life – his faith, knowledge, character, and power – only by embracing Jesus’ lifestyle. In a nutshell, that’s what it means to be his apprentice. We learn to 1) know God, his world, and his activity in his world, 2) adopt Jesus’ confident, unhurried and unworried posture toward life, and 3) implement the various practices that shaped his life in God, all under the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit and within a community of other apprentices learning and practicing together. 

I know, that was a mouthful. But this is the Gospel! And it’s completely doable! Jesus’ true apprentices have been doing it successfully for two thousand years and it’s still possible in our world and lives. It’s our hope in the present and prepares us for our hope of the future.

Dallas Willard was fond of saying, “We are ceaseless spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” That’s just another way of saying what St John is saying. When I stop and think about our future as God’s eternal children fully formed into the Jesus’ likeness and ready to reign with him in God’s universe, I think about another Dallas Willard quote, “The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with Himself included in that community as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.”

As I imagine the future, I picture myself and my loved ones who have followed Jesus together as part of this vast community of love with Jesus at the center. We’re gazing upon the billions of galaxies in God’s universe spread out before us, filled with joyful thrill and anticipation. An expectant silence falls upon all of us. Then Jesus says, “Let’s go!” And the real adventure begins!

A 1000 Miles

Jason ZahariadesLeave a comment

Sometimes the process of spiritual formation can be discouraging. One can spend years intentionally following Jesus through spiritual exercises, suffering, and moment-by-moment attention to seeking his kingdom. And yet, despite our best intentions, our selfishness, desires, and rebellion cause us to fail. It is easy to ask why in the world am I even doing this when it seems nothing is changing?

I was encouraged through a podcast with John Mark Comer called Practicing the Way. (Thanks, Mark, for sharing this podcast with me.) In episode 2, he said that in his own journey of spiritual transformation into Christ’ likeness, he’s a 1000 miles away from where he wants to be but he’s also a 1000 miles away from where he used to be. That exactly captures how I feel after intentionally apprenticing myself to Jesus for 25 years. Spiritual formation is a “slow-drip” process that takes decades.

Failure is part of apprenticeship to Jesus. And we will fail again and again. And our failures will hurt the people we love. Thank God for his forgiveness and the forgiveness of those around us.

I am also reminded that no one drifts or defaults into Christ’s likeness. That is why Jesus came. Left on our own, we will drift toward further corruption and destruction. Jesus’ gospel, his good news, is to invite us to enter an interactive life in God‘s ongoing activity through apprenticeship to him. So giving up isn’t an option. As Dallas Willard used to discuss, while the cost of discipleship is high, the cost of non-discipleship is far greater.

So we get up and keep walking the long obedience in the same direction with Jesus. I’m encouraged by what God has done in my life over the past 25 years. And I remain hopeful that he will complete this work so I may love and serve him for the billions upon billions of years that remain before me in his incredible and grand universe.

Fr Patrick, Fr Stephen, & Personal Salvation

Jason Zahariades5 Comments

Last night during our inquirers’ class, Fr Patrick spoke about faith’s role in salvation. (Once again, it was a great teaching, especially as he talked about Orthodoxy’s ability to synchronize properly the essential subjective and objective dimensions of faith.) At one point Fr Patrick began speaking about the Protestant emphasis on “accepting Jesus as your personal Savior.” 

In our modern world, “personal” translates into “private.” Scripturally, a private existence is no existence at all. It is self-delusion and self-destruction. There is no such thing as a private salvation or a private savior. Both are oxymorons. True life as God intended, and therefore true salvation into that life, is relational. It is communal. That’s what the Greek word koinonia means — communion, participation.

So Fr Patrick offered a better question that has been echoing in my mind since last night, “Have you accepted Jesus as our common Savior?” As the Body of Christ, we hold Jesus in common as our Savior. Together we are his Body. Together, we commune with him. Together, we participate in him. Together we unite ourselves to him and to each other. Thus, together, we are being saved in him.

So with this resonating in me, I was thrilled to read Fr Stephen’s latest post entitled, “The Orthodox Church and Personal Salvation.” In the post he shares some thoughts regarding a Franklin Graham article and then includes a short article that he wrote on personal salvation. The entire article is definitely worth reading. But his included earlier article is awesome and supports what we discussed during last night’s class. Here’s the majority of the article:

“Thus there is always something of a hesitancy when someone asks (in newspeak), “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?” If only we would, it would be truly significant. But in our modern street-wise theology, Christ as personal savior becomes synonymous with Christ as private savior, and as such is no savior at all. For no one and nothing can save the false existence we have created in the privacy of our modern existence. We were not created for such an existence.

“In the story of Genesis – the first appearance of the phrase, “It is not good,” is applied to man – in an existence that is private. “It is not good for man to be alone.” We do not exist in the goodness which God has created for us when we exist alone. The most remote hermit of the Christian desert does not live alone, but lives radically for others and to God. Of all men he is the least alone. No one would take on the radical ascesis of the desert for themselves alone: it is an act of radical love.

“And thus the personal God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, determined that salvation for humanity could only take place as we lived fully and truly into the existence for which we were and are created: the Church. In the Church we do not exist as mere individuals but as members of the Body of Christ. My life is the life of Christ. What happens to me is essential to what happens to all the members of the Body and what happens to the members of the Body is essential for what happens to me. Their life is my life.

“Thus when we approach the cup of Christ’s Body and Blood, we never approach it for our private good but as members of the Body. We are thus enjoined to be in love and charity with our neighbor and to forgive the sins of all – otherwise the cup is not for our salvation but our destruction.”

And then comes the climactic moment of the article:

“The salvation into which we are Baptized is a new life – no longer defined by the mere existence of myself as an individual – but rather by the radical freedom of love within the Body of Christ. To accept Christ as our “personal” savior, thus can be translated into its traditional Orthodox form: “Do you unite yourself to Christ?” And this question is more fully expounded when we understand that the Christ to whom we unite ourself is a many-membered body.”

For me, Fr Stephen’s article drives home two facts: First, Jesus is our common Savior with and through whom we commune together. And second, the Orthodox Church has faithfully preserved and practiced this truth through the ages by its Holy Tradition.

Read “The Orthodox Church and Personal Salvation”

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