LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

                Pretty much every American recognizes the statement above. It was become a rally cry for any number of causes; often causes at odds with each other. There is great truth at the heart of this statement. Unfortunately, it has been so distorted that that truth has been lost.

                At the heart of this statement is the truth that all people are created equal. Ironically, when this statement was adopted, there was a large segment of people who were excluded, primarily blacks and Native Americans. The foundation for this statement comes right from the Bible. In Genesis 1 it states that all people are created in the image of God. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) There are two essential truths here. First, we have been created by God. Second, we have been created by God to reflect His image in the world. This applies to all people.

                Because we were created by God in His image, we have certain “unalienable” rights; life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. If we examine each of these rights, we can see how they have been distorted and how God intended for them to be exercised.

                Everyone has the right to life. If seems clear and obvious, yet it isn’t honored. Just yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe vs. Wade, the case that allowed for legal abortion. Since that monumental ruling, millions of babies have been denied the right to life. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who believe that when a person gets to a certain advanced age and they can no longer take care of themselves, that we should end their life.

                In contrast to this, Jesus offers a different path. In John 10:10 Jesus states, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. The life that Jesus offers is more than just physical life, it is life eternal. The life that Jesus offers cannot be taken away from a person. Because of eternal life, a person can live a full life in the here and now, without fear of the future.

                Everyone has the right to liberty. For most people today, that means that they can do whatever they want to do. Liberty is seen as the elimination of restraints. That kind of living is appealing to many, but in the end, it leads not to true freedom but to bondage. As Paul says, Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16 (NIV) A life lived without restraint ultimately leads to bondage.

                Jesus offers genuine freedom. He offers freedom for condemnation. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1 (NIV) He offers freedom from the power of sin. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18 (NIV) He offers the freedom to be who God created us to be, to live out our purpose to glorify God and to experience His love, grace, and mercy.

                Everyone has the right to pursue happiness. This is one right that I think many people misread. It does not guarantee happiness. It guarantees the right to seek happiness. In our society today we are obsessed with seeking happiness. Anything that makes me happy becomes valid, whether others see it or not. My happiness trumps everything else. But the pursuit of happiness is an insatiable hunger that only grows the more we feed it.

                Jesus offers us genuine happiness. He calls it joy, and it is not bound by our circumstances. True joy is found in relationship with Jesus. He made that clear as He prepared His disciples for His death on the cross.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:5-11 (NIV)

                God has created us with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life: not just physical life, but eternal life through Jesus Christ. Liberty: not the freedom to do whatever we want to do, but the freedom to be who God created us to be. Happiness: not the temporary happiness we find in our world today, but a genuine happiness that wells up from within us because we are in a secure relationship with our Creator.

 

THE GOD OF RESTRAINT

 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)

                In preparation for preaching a series in the Gospel of John, I have begun to reread Philip Yancey’s book, “The Jesus I Never Knew.” In one of the chapters, Yancey explores the temptations of Jesus. He makes the point that Jesus demonstrated unprecedented restraint when He was tempted. Satan offered Jesus a short-cut to His end goal, but Jesus refused. Satan offered Jesus the means to influence the world through miracle, mystery, and authority. Jesus could have had it all, if only He would give in, but he refused.

                One of the things that struck me as I was reflecting upon the temptations is that Jesus showed even greater restraint in allowing Satan to tempt Him at all. Jesus could have easily banished Satan. He could have rebuked him in a way that would have sent Satan running for his life. Instead, Jesus endured the temptations on our behalf.

                Throughout Jesus’ life, He continually refused to give in to the temptation to use miracle, mystery, and authority to accomplish His purpose. He did miracles, but refused to leverage them. He inspired and amazed people, but refused to allow them to make Him their king. He spoke with authority like no one else, yet He did not use his authority to subdue His enemies. Jesus continued to show heroic restraint time and time again. The question then is, why?

                Jesus could have overwhelmed the world with His power and glory. But instead, He chose to love the world in a way that would transform people’s lives. In God’s sovereignty, He created humanity as free moral beings. He gave us the power of choice. In fact, He gave the power of the ultimate choice, to love God or not to love God. God has restrained His power not because He is powerless, but because He had a higher goal in mind. He wanted those created in His image to turn to Him of their own free will. Because the very essence of God is love, He valued the love of those He created above their submission.

                C.S. Lewis and others make the point that love is real and genuine only when it is freely given. Love that is coerced or forced is not love at all. Without the freedom to choose we become simply preprogrammed robots. God created a world filled with creatures that simply obey their basic instincts; in a way, they act as they were programmed to act. But He set one part of His creation apart, He created one being in His own image; humanity. In creating us in His image, He gave to us the freedom to choose our course.

                Many people in Jesus’ day wanted Him to use His power and authority to overthrow Rome and restore the nation of Israel. But Jesus refused. Many today want Jesus to use His power and authority to overthrow evil or whatever they see as evil, but still He refuses. He has chosen to restrain His power in order to win the hearts of people, not just their submission. There is a day coming when everyone will stand in His presence. On that day, every knee will bow and ever tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Some will do that with joy and delight. Many will do it out of fear. But until that day, Jesus restrains His power that whosoever will may come to Him in genuine faith.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

 

THE UNDERVALUED VIRTUE

 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:8 (NIV)

                In his book “Good to Great” Jim Collins describes what he calls Level 5 leaders. A Level 5 leader is someone who “blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.” Jesus was the ultimate Level 5 leader. He totally refined the idea of being humble, and turned it from being demeaning to being a virtue.

                As followers of Jesus was have been called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. That means, in part, that we are to embody humility. Paul tells us that humility is essential for living a life worthy of our calling in Christ. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:1-2 (NIV)

                Peter reminds us that God takes very seriously our attitude in life. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5:5-6 (NIV)

            It seems clear that humility is the expected course for followers of Jesus, yet when we look around at the church today that doesn’t seem to be the case. We have bought into the success paradigm of the world. Rather than valuing humility, we have lauded to go getters, the entrepreneurs, the outwardly successful. Some of these people have been genuine Level 5 leaders. Unfortunately, many of them have not been Level 5 leaders. They have lost their perspective, bought into the celebrity mentality, and lost their way. This hasn’t just happened on the big stage. It is happening in small and medium sized churches as well. Pastors and lay leaders have set up their own little kingdoms.

            Especially in our volatile environment in which we live today, we need to aggressively move back in the direction of genuine humility. Genuine humility is voluntary, not imposed. No one likes to be humbled by others. That is just a way of demeaning and subjugating another person. That is not what the Bible calls us to. Genuine humility is voluntarily setting aside our rights and privileges for the good of others. Ironically, genuine humility is a position of power, not weakness. Jesus humbled himself, but he was anything but powerless. A truly humble person demonstrates strength and power that stand in opposition to the power of the world.

            I like what C.S. Lewis said about humility. A truly humble person does not think less of themselves. They think of themselves less. The key to genuine humility is getting our eyes off of ourselves and looking outward. First, we need to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on God. When we begin to understand the grace of God in our lives, it should lead to humility. We have not deserved what we have received from God. In fact, what we deserve is His wrath. But instead, He has showered us with His love, mercy, and grace. As Isaiah says, all of our righteousness is worthless compared to the glory of God. There is nothing we can boast of before God. We are completely in God’s debt.

            When we realize our standing before God, it should change the way we interact with others. Instead of feeling superior to others, we can see them as in need of God’s grace, in the same way that we are. We can see them as fellow travelers who need our help along the way. When we are truly humble, we can become the conduit of God’s grace in other people’s lives. Arrogance builds a wall between us and others. Humility builds a bridge.

            In the Roman world into which Jesus stepped, humility was seen as the plight of slaves. Arrogance and power ruled the day. Not much has changed. As we scan the landscape of our world today, arrogance and power seem to be winning the day. But Jesus came to change all that. He turned humility into a virtue to be desired and strived after. If we want to change our world today, we need to embrace the humility of Christ and live it out in our world.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)

 

 

A WORK IN PROCESS

 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

                For many years the painting by Rembrandt was known as “The Night Watch”, although its original title was “The Shooting Company of Capt. Frans Banning Cocq”. Over the years the painting had become obscured by dirt and dust. In 1946, the curators of the museum that houses this masterpiece decided it was time to clean the painting. What they discovered startled them. This was not a night scene at all, but a daylight scene. Because of the accumulation of dirt over time, the painting had been darkened to the point where it obscured its original glory.

                The story of “The Night Watch” is our story. We were created by God in His image. We were created to reflect His glory into the world. But over time, sin has darkened and obscured the image of God. No longer do we reflect God’s glory into the world. Instead, we present the exact opposite image. Instead of being light, we have become darkness.  

                Jesus came into the world to cleanse us from our accumulated sin and to restore the image of God within us. Like the curators of the museum, Jesus carefully strips away layer upon layer of spiritual dirt to reveal the Artist’s original. He knows exactly what we should look like, and he is patiently working on us to bring us in line with God’s original design.

                Paul states in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s workmanship. That word can also be translated masterpiece. I love that image. We are God’s masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus to demonstrate God’s glory in our world. Every great masterpiece points back to the artist. In part, “The Night Watch” is a masterpiece not only because of its artistic value, but because it was created by Rembrandt. We are masterpieces not because of our talents or skills, but because we were created by God in His image. “The Night Watch” is just paint on a canvas, but it reflects the skill and insight of the artist. Our lives are the raw materials through which God demonstrates His awesome power and glory.

                Through what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are in the process of being renewed and restored. We have moved from the dominion of darkness into the dominion of light, God’s light. This is reflected in the way we live our lives. Everyday we have the chance to move one step closer to being the masterpiece God created us to be. As we actively respond to God’s grace by bringing our life in line with God’s will, we reflect His glory into the world. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

                The difference between us and “The Night Watch” is that the painting is passive while we have been called to be active. We play a part in the transformation process by being obedient to God’s commands. As Paul puts it, we are to live lives worthy of our calling. Or as he says in Ephesians 2:10, we are to do the good works that God has designed for us to do. Each strep we take in that direction moves us closer to the end goal; to be completely restored to the image of God.

                If we are honest, we don’t often see ourselves as a masterpiece. At best, we see ourselves as generic copies; and often those are copies, not of God’s glory, but of the prevailing images of the world around us. When we place our faith in Jesus, a radical transformation begins. We become new creations in Him. The old, sinful image is removed and replaced by a new, righteous image. No longer are we slaves to sin, but we have been set free to be who God originally created us to be. We have been set free to be God’s masterpieces in the world. The question is, will we embrace being God’s masterpiece?

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)