Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (john 13:3-5)
humility and service are made possibly be deep security in knowing who you are. this is what it means to be a son of the Father who is a servant of Jesus Christ.
i am adopted, i have a giant inheritance, nothing can pull me from my Papa’s love, i share in the authority that He gave to Jesus, and one day when this bad afternoon of a life is over, it’ll be His house i’m going Home to.
because of that, i can bend low to wash feet. or cook a meal without taking credit for it, give a gift without being thanked. i can lay my life down in a million small ways for a tiny little person who doesn’t even know how much her demands dictate my days, and i can let someone else shine while i remain a nearly unnoticed wall flower. i can wear clothes that aren’t the least bit trendy even when it seems everyone else is sporting the latest, and i can hug an the homeless men who sleep behind my garage even if it makes me stinky or germy.
because he knows that he ultimately wins all things, he can give away the shirt on his back to a homeless friend or spend most of his disposable income on a special gathering for his friends. because she knows that she has authority over demons, she can march into degage every week and dive into the mess of the women’s lives there, without fear.
knowing that the Father has given all things into our hands because of Jesus, and that we are going to Him when this life is through... we abandon the upwardly-mobile course of career advancement and pretty houses in tidy neighborhoods, we choose to share meals with motley crews of colorful characters at weekly love feasts, we decide to have our church in a garage with those same people instead of going to the more polished service where we can relax and get fed, and we allow our weekly schedules to be influenced by one another’s needs and preferences, not just our own agendas.
for so long in my experience of Christian Ministry, we did all that sacrificial stuff without first “getting” the identity bit. perhaps you, like me, have been trained through past experience and teaching, to lay down your life, pick up your cross and so on... but you haven’t really known who you come from, nor the inheritance that is yours. but it is that identity and that inheritance that allow you to bend low in the only way that is truly Christ-like. humility born of security, mission that comes out of intimacy.
but as our 24-7 Prayer friend pete greig wrote in this gem of a book that tim and i are studying in our living room with some folks on tuesday nights this winter:
"it is only as we understand the reality of God's unshakeable love for us that discipline can flourish without becoming legalism and that we can serve Him sacrificially without striving for approval. This book, with its call to discipleship, is therefore potentially dangerous unless you come to terms with God's approval, acceptance, and kindness, come what may... before the arms of [spiritual] battle must come the arms of the Father's love. we are sons and daughters first and soldiers second."
this is part of what we’re learning around here these days, and part of what seems to be the work God’s given us to do, to impart it to others. it’s been spoken over us, prophesied, and pressed into... that we are sons. no longer slaves or orphans, but sons. we are praying that we would know whose we are and what we’ve been given. we are praying this anointing of sonship over one another and all the people God brings across our path in the prayer room, the love feast, and the boiler room living room.
so if you want to begin tteno “get it”, too...
- we’ve found ben pasley’s book Orphan Slave Son to be a useful one. read it.
- we invite you to consider a little personal retreat at the boiler room in this coming year dedicated to discovering your identity as a son.
- we would be delighted, privileged, honored to pray over you for that anointing of sonship.
- you might like to soak in the song “I Have Seen I Am” by Jonathan Helser. over and over again.
::brooke::