All This Time

All This Time:

You know they say friends help you move and great friends help you move bodies. Today people say that as a joke, but it’s based in biblical truth. That what Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea did. They were two prominent Jewish religious leaders who had a really tough time accepting that Jesus was the anticipated King, or Messiah, of Scripture. But when faced with the truth of Jesus’ miracles, leadership, steadfastness, love, integrity, and poise - EVEN while hanging on the Cross - they were absolutely convinced. Those two men went from caring more about their positions and social status in Jewish culture - to having the boldness to publicly claim Jesus’ body in front of everyone - including the Jewish leaders.

If the claims that Jesus made were unsupported lies and fantasy, then history would not have recorded droves of people from every walk of life - from Jewish religious leaders, lepers, prostitutes, a Roman Centurion, tax collectors, etc., - being blown away to the point of publicly becoming Jesus’ followers regardless of the consequences.

When Jesus is culturally acceptable it’s easy to call ourselves  Christians and claim to be His followers, or disciples. It’s a whole different thing to walk publicly as a Christian when there’s a good chance your front door will come crashing down, that your family will be taken away - never to be seen again, and that you’ll end up being tortured and killed.

In the 13th chapter of John’s gospel Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with His disciples and washes their feet. Then, in chapter 14, Jesus tells His disciples not to be troubled about His pending departure because “I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.” Then Philip says to Jesus, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” To this Jesus says, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip?”

Philip had spent three years in the presence of God; knowing all the prophecies, having seen all the miracles, all the healings, all the compassion, experienced rich fellowship, but it just wasn’t enough. Philip thought Jesus was great, but for for Philip Jesus was insufficient. Philip believed that seeing the Father would somehow be “enough.” Jesus knew that internal deception was the darkest of lies. Jesus’ response was quite simply, “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

The kind of faith that comes from with us always needs to be fed because it is incomplete, insufficient, and inadequate. In stark contrast, the kind of faith that comes from God never needs more, it never ask for additional evidence, because when it comes from God it is sufficient - it is more than "enough."

When Jesus said, "The one who has seen Me has seen the Father," he was not offering evidence against Trinitarianism (the understanding that God is three distinct divine persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - yet still one God). Instead Jesus is rebuking Philip’s (and our) flawed thought process.

It was Jesus’ way of revealing to Philip (and us) that Philip had no faith in God, which had originated in God - that Philip's inadequate faith was from Philip - not from God.

Jesus was not telling Philip that He (Jesus) and the Father are the same person. What Jesus was saying is that there is nothing the Father could show Philip - or that Philip could see in the Father - that would be any more convincing that the person, life, fellowship, and work of Jesus. Why? Because everything Jesus has ever done has always been in response to the Father’s will through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was saying that seeing is NOT believing, but rather that faith from God in God is the only kind of authentic faith.

Like Philip, many Christians today are content to subjectively define faith in Jesus as: going to church from time-to-time, maybe giving a few dollars here and there, volunteering, doing good deeds, reading the Bible (typically when we’re in crisis), and praying before we eat.

Like Philip we tell Jesus that He’s great, but secretly we desire for Him to show us something more - like the kind of amazing stuff He showed the disciples - because THEN we would have unshakable faith.

Jesus’ response to us is the same as it was to Philip - “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me?”

While there is only one true God - there are countless other gods we worship everyday: career, wealth, security, traditions, information, power, etc. In the same way, while there is only one real faith that comes from God - there is a false faith that we, like Philip, walk around with because we don’t know any better. Then Jesus tells us, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me?” Thanks be to God that He is gracious, merciful, and compassionate to us enough to make us aware of our own deception!

As people created by God in the image and likeness of God, we were created to be more than commuters - more than spectators - certainly more than consumers. Powerful sermons are motivating, wonderful, necessary, essential, and absolutely biblical - but that was NEVER God’s intent as the extent of the Christian experience. The Christian experience is meant to be one of intimate worship of God in and through serving one another inside & and outside the Body of Christ. Worship becomes service and service becomes worship - that’s what Jesus’ life on earth looked like.

If all you we're doing is commuting, spectating, and consuming - always wanting God to show us more in the hope that it will eventually be “enough,” then we are deceiving ourselves. If you have heard the gospel of Jesus preached then you have heard and seen the fullness of God. You don’t need more amazing experiences to store up in your Christian scrapbook - and you certainly don’t need more evidence or knowledge - what you need is God’s faith gift that comes by His grace.

When God blesses you with THAT gift then you never have to ask for anything else because you know and have the fullness of God.

When authentic faith comes from God then we, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, have no concern whatsoever about what other people think, our social status, our political acceptance, peer reviews, etc. When authentic faith comes we are willing to publicly claim the body of Christ and place Him in the tomb of our hearts - where He then becomes resurrected within us by the power of God for the eternal glory of His name.

Have you been with Jesus all this time and still find yourself craving something more? Then maybe today is the day you ask God for His gracious gift of faith that will be more than "enough."

"Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come before You."

-Psalm 102:1

Blessings,

-Kevin