The Great Either-Or
- Joe Palmisano
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
THEME: Avoiding the "tweener zone"
We heard from Pastor Dan this week about holiness, as he taught from Revelation, and particularly from Jesus’ letter to the church in Laodicea. Jesus, through the pen of the Apostle John, was angry with the church because it was “lukewarm,” neither passionate nor cold. As Pastor Dan spoke, I thought of how many live in that timid tweener zone, working hard to be religious, yet not wanting to be exposed to the sacrifice and discomfort that surrendering to Christ may bring.
As I thought more about this, it occurred to me that everything we are in Christ is directly proportional to how we perceive our God, or our faith in who He is. Faith is the bond that attaches and affects our holiness, generosity, boldness, love, and identity in Him. When our faith in Jesus becomes a burning fire, an either-or, an absolute, we can no longer live in that lukewarmness that Jesus hates.
In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself in various forms, including a cloud and a pillar of fire. Then, in the New Testament, God became man and revealed Himself by invading our time and space. Jesus is the exact representation of God, and no fuller expression of Him. As Paul wrote, “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-14 NIV). We are to be ‘very bold’ in the full view of God, through Christ.
N.T. Wright put it this way, “How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that fire has become flesh, that life itself has become life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that, or it means nothing. It is either the most devastating disclosure of the world's deepest reality, or it is a sham, a nonsense, a bit of deceitful playacting. Most of us, unable to cope with saying either of those things, condemn ourselves to live in the shallow world in between.”
God walked into our world and invaded time and space from eternity. Christianity means either that 100%, or it means nothing. Our human minds and our selfish souls have so much trouble with these two absolutes. Both our minds and prideful souls realize the implications of this decision. Deep down, we all know there is a God, and that is fine. He can stay where he is and handle the big, universe stuff, while I focus on my life. That makes me one of faith, little f. However, if Jesus is really God…Whoa, now what? Hmmmm, I can accept that fact, but place Him in a box, trying to ignore what He wants for my life…for a time. However, the truth is that once we accept Jesus as God, the one who created the universe and me, the cascade of change will begin.
With Christ, it is either-or, so faith that is lukewarm is really no faith at all.
Hebrews, Chapter 11, presents the Hall of Faith, including heroes of our faith throughout the ages. Were they different from us in character, or in how they were built? Did they have an extra gene that gave them powers we lack? If you think about it, the answer is no. So, what was it that allowed Daniel, Noah, Moses, Abraham, and others to do such powerful things? FAITH! The either-or faith that causes radical change and makes it impossible not to obey. It is a faith that ascends from the rational to the personal, and then to the foundational. This is the faith that allowed Moses to leave the Pharaoh’s palace and become a slave, and Abraham to pack and leave his home when God said, “Get out!” It is a faith born from love; with the knowledge that God is indeed God. It is faith in Him, and not my agenda for Him.
I read somewhere a few weeks ago that our faith is “an unshakable confidence that God, Himself, is better than anything the world can give us or that death can take away.”
We speak holiness, brotherhood, worship, generosity, and service, and aren’t all these byproducts of the depth of the faith we have in who God is?
It is a big either-or.
SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11:1-3 (NIV)
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
PRAYER:
My God, it still boggles my mind whenever I think of you leaving Heaven and your eternal love bond of the Trinity, to walk among us, serve us, and die for us. You love us so much that you felt we were worth your own pain, sacrifice, and abandonment and punishment for sins you had nothing to do with. Jesus, you are God, the creator of us all, and you became us to save us and show us who you are. How can I live in the lukewarm middle, after I know that truth? Lord, I am here, I am yours, send me. Amen