I don't know if you are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers," but I recently finished reading it and found a lot of what he had to say fairly remarkable.
One particular illustration he used involved a table displaying the 75 or so richest people of all of human history. Some group of researchers somewhere has taken the time to painstakingly convert the historical fortunes of various wealthy figures their contemporary equivilencies in U.S. dollars (how American). The list includes hilarious juxtapositions such as "Bill Gates" followed by "Cleopatra" followed by "King Louis VX of France."
Next to each of these billionaires' names is a brief description of how they acquired their ludicrous wealth. For instance John D. Rockefeller: Owner of Standard Oil.
After perusing this list for a few minutes I came across something absolutely staggering. Number three on the list is a man, whose name you might be familiar with from the movie "Titanic" : John Jacob Astor. He was apparently worth the equivalent of 175 ish BILLION contemporary U.S. dollars from the fortune he made through fir trading and real estate. That's this many--175,000,000,000--dollars.
That alone is amazing, but consider this. 3 generations of his decendents are also included on the list of the 75 wealthiest people of all time. The reason for their wealth?
Inheritance!
Simply by being born
without having to do anything noteworthy or difficult
without having to "make it"
or "land the right job"
or marry rich
they were handed a fortune that only about 70 other people in all of human history can properly imagine.
As a fairness-minded person this amazed me. I'm used to thinking that its always the people that work the hardest that make the big bucks or end up with the most success, but here are people who did absolutely nothing and yet made a killing!
It doesn't seem fair.
But then I thought about Jesus.
I thought about Ephesians 1:13-21 which reads, "And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of thruth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a desposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of His glory. For this reason, ever since I heard aobut your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..."
Do you know--and I mean know, not just believe or have an idea in your head but really know in a deep down way that permeates your being and refreshes your identity--that simply through hearing and believing the Gospel, that the grace of God has positioned you with Christ to be a coheir with Jesus in all of the promises of the Kingdom of God?
Do you know that through Christ's accomplishment on the cross you have been given the immense privilege of being born into a family legacy in which you have an inheritance beyond what anyone, even J.J. Astor, could EVER imagine!
I think it is one of the deep desires of the Lord's heart that we know in the depths of our soul the truth of Ephesians 1. That the knowledge of it permeates us so deeply and covers us so completely that it changes the way we live!
Cause think about it: according to these verses, Christ has called us to a hope of the things to come...the inheritance of the saints in all of the glory of God which has been guaranteed to us by the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, we were created and destined for heaven!
We were made for perfection: for perfect, unbroken relationships!
To give and receive, perfect, unfailing love!
If you KNOW that you're created for God's BEST it makes it very difficult to settle for ANYTHING less!
I think that's God's heart, here. He's not giving Paul this message to share simply so that everyone can be assured that they will one day go to heaven. He's letting the church know her true identity so that she can take authority over sin and reign in life as a living reflection of the freedom and glory that are her's in Christ Jesus!
Part of that inheritance is POWER. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
That same power that conquered sin and death is WILDLY ALIVE INSIDE OF YOU IF YOU ARE ALIVE IN JESUS!
And if you know that, I mean REALLY KNOW that, it frees you up to take authority over the things that have oppressed you, trapped you, scarred you, and hindered you from charging boldly after the fullness of all that God has for you! That includes every addiction, sin, bad habit, past wound, emotional scarring, pain from abuse, failure, or false identity. Jesus is strong enough to rescue us from all of that.
The complete rescue of Jesus is part of your inheritance in the saints.
Do you know it?
><>
William
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
KOINUNIA Defined
Hey guys!
Welcome to the first installment of my wild thoughts jettisoned haphazardly into the abyss of the internet: crazy amazing stuff, huh?
I figured it makes some good clean sense to let you know first off why I created this blog. Some of you may know that for a period of about 3 years I sent out weekly encouragement emails which were really long and filed in an email list that was hard to maintain. I'm headed to seminary at Regent College in the fall and felt this would be a good forum to share with you what the Lord is doing in my life as I journey towards Him in a radically new environment.
This page is about Jesus!
It's about His glory.
Its for His renown.
Its about inspiring whoever reads it to contend selflessly for the cause of Christ in the world wherever you are.
Its about brokenness and weakness of the flesh, filled up with the life restoring power of Jesus to change the world.
Its about sharing together in the ongoing journey of knowing Jesus as we bring our joys, our sufferings, our triumphs, and our failures before the one who is forever worthy of our praise,
believing that He is strong enough to enter into the depths of our deepest weakness and awaken a resilient and eternal hope forged from the fabric of His unfailing love!
The word KOINUNIA is an English equivalent of a Greek word that comes out of Philippians 1. In verses 3-6, Paul writes, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
The Greek from which the word "partnership" is translated is KOINUNIA. It doesn't have a direct English equivalent...cause that would be too easy, right? What it means is essentially an indescribably deep bond such as what fellow soldiers in an army in heavy combat share or what unites the members of a sports team contending for Olympic glory. Its those bonds put together and its FAR more.
KOINUNIA describes the bond shared by the followers of Jesus who contend together for the things of the Kingdom of God in this Earth. Its a bond among people who share conversations about the things most essential to thier being, the stuff that lies closest to their hearts.
If you love Jesus, you have KOINUNIA with those like-minded brothers and sisters who suffer with you for the glory of His name!
You share KOINUNIA with the people you call immediately to share your joy when the Lord answers a prayer request you've cried out for together!
You share KOINUNIA with those with whom you share your brokenness and struggles, with those who know the ugly side of you and have chosen to love you still because they were loved first by our Savior.
KOINUNIA is what Jesus desires for all His children to share with one another here on Earth. In John 17, when Jesus is praying in the Garde of Gethsemene, we get one of the best, most straight-forward glimpses into His heart that I think the Bible gives us. In verses 20 - 23 as Jesus prays for those who will believe in His name, He says, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Jesus is looking forward to the coming empowerment of His church with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the gift that will complete the mystery of the Gospel Paul writes about in Colossians: Christ in us, the hope of glory!
Jesus desires for us to share an intimate friendship with Him.
He furthermore desires for us to share such intimacy with others as we contend alongside for the Gospel in the world.
The overflow of the love that we share as brothers and sisters in Christ will show the world that the gospel is full of power, that its Jesus is strong enough to take broken lives and put them back together again, and He's strong enough to take a bunch of ragtag misfits and transform them into world changers for the Kingdom.
KOINUNIA is the relational currency of the Kingdom of God.
Let's share it with one another as we journey together towards knowing and loving our Savior with more and more of our hearts and lives.
><>
William
Welcome to the first installment of my wild thoughts jettisoned haphazardly into the abyss of the internet: crazy amazing stuff, huh?
I figured it makes some good clean sense to let you know first off why I created this blog. Some of you may know that for a period of about 3 years I sent out weekly encouragement emails which were really long and filed in an email list that was hard to maintain. I'm headed to seminary at Regent College in the fall and felt this would be a good forum to share with you what the Lord is doing in my life as I journey towards Him in a radically new environment.
This page is about Jesus!
It's about His glory.
Its for His renown.
Its about inspiring whoever reads it to contend selflessly for the cause of Christ in the world wherever you are.
Its about brokenness and weakness of the flesh, filled up with the life restoring power of Jesus to change the world.
Its about sharing together in the ongoing journey of knowing Jesus as we bring our joys, our sufferings, our triumphs, and our failures before the one who is forever worthy of our praise,
believing that He is strong enough to enter into the depths of our deepest weakness and awaken a resilient and eternal hope forged from the fabric of His unfailing love!
The word KOINUNIA is an English equivalent of a Greek word that comes out of Philippians 1. In verses 3-6, Paul writes, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
The Greek from which the word "partnership" is translated is KOINUNIA. It doesn't have a direct English equivalent...cause that would be too easy, right? What it means is essentially an indescribably deep bond such as what fellow soldiers in an army in heavy combat share or what unites the members of a sports team contending for Olympic glory. Its those bonds put together and its FAR more.
KOINUNIA describes the bond shared by the followers of Jesus who contend together for the things of the Kingdom of God in this Earth. Its a bond among people who share conversations about the things most essential to thier being, the stuff that lies closest to their hearts.
If you love Jesus, you have KOINUNIA with those like-minded brothers and sisters who suffer with you for the glory of His name!
You share KOINUNIA with the people you call immediately to share your joy when the Lord answers a prayer request you've cried out for together!
You share KOINUNIA with those with whom you share your brokenness and struggles, with those who know the ugly side of you and have chosen to love you still because they were loved first by our Savior.
KOINUNIA is what Jesus desires for all His children to share with one another here on Earth. In John 17, when Jesus is praying in the Garde of Gethsemene, we get one of the best, most straight-forward glimpses into His heart that I think the Bible gives us. In verses 20 - 23 as Jesus prays for those who will believe in His name, He says, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Jesus is looking forward to the coming empowerment of His church with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the gift that will complete the mystery of the Gospel Paul writes about in Colossians: Christ in us, the hope of glory!
Jesus desires for us to share an intimate friendship with Him.
He furthermore desires for us to share such intimacy with others as we contend alongside for the Gospel in the world.
The overflow of the love that we share as brothers and sisters in Christ will show the world that the gospel is full of power, that its Jesus is strong enough to take broken lives and put them back together again, and He's strong enough to take a bunch of ragtag misfits and transform them into world changers for the Kingdom.
KOINUNIA is the relational currency of the Kingdom of God.
Let's share it with one another as we journey together towards knowing and loving our Savior with more and more of our hearts and lives.
><>
William
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