Chapter 2

THE REAL SECRET OF LIFE

The greatest event which has ever happened on this planet took place in a smelly stable in the rear yard of a nondescript inn of a peasant village in an occupied territory. It was so important that it changed the calendar. It was as if time stood still and then started over again in a new creation. Even those who fly in the face of abundant evidence, and deny that it ever happened, cannot date a check, complete a contract, or write a letter without giving the lie to their arrogant assumption.

The arrival of Jesus was the signal that God is with us. That baby was Emmanuel! Man would never again have to go it alone. The rescue mission had made it. The bread had arrived for the starving prisoners. The water of life was here for the glassy-eyed captives. As the news spread abroad, hope was revived, life became meaningful, and direction was given to those who were lost and frightened.

It was like a blood tranfusion for a dying patient. The world was sick-sick unto death. But the Great Physician took its pulse and prescribed faith, and the color came back into the pallid cheeks of society, and mankind rallied. It was the great transformation wrought by the Man from outside, and it accomplished what force of arms and marching soldiers had never been able to effect. He took no life but gave His own. The only blood He shed was that from His own veins. The world marveled and wondered and was altered!

"I am come!" These are the words of Jesus, over and over, as He defined His mission, made possible by the great divestiture, the emptying, the forfeiture of glory. The reasons for His coming are interwoven by the spun-gold thread of selflessness. And He has never changed. Just as He once came to the world of man He now comes to each man in the world who invites Him into his heart. Then He came by incarnation, now He comes by identification. Then He dwelled in His flesh, now He dwells in yours.

The whole point of this book is that each of you can enter into a transcendent personal sharing with the very Author of life so that while the outward man perishes, the inward man will actually experience daily renewal. This will enable you to put the whole scope of your being or existence into sharper focus so you will see the afflictions in the flesh are momentary and transitory. They contribute to your preparation for a "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

The one who is in Christ, and in whom Christ is, is still in the flesh while upon earth. He will grow older and become wrinkled. He will require the services of his dentist and physician. He will know the physical discomfort which others know because he is still in a corruptible body, that is, one which is subject to decay and decomposition. But the body is a tent in which he dwells, and the tent has to be dismantled or taken down so he can move out of it in preparation for taking possession of his "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

It is necessary to say this because there is a good deal of fuzzy thinking being spread about in our generation to the effect that the true disciple of Jesus need never experience pain, endure cancer or any other suffering in the flesh. The result is that one who has a heart attack or becomes par-alyzed may feel that it is a symptom of faithlessness, a punishment for sin or a result of demon possession. In fact it may have no direct relationship to any of these but is rather proof that we reside in a world where sickness and infirmity dwell.

Christians are not immune to germs. They may be beset by infection as certainly their neighbors are. That this is true and is a condition of earthlife is confirmed by the fact that all those who preach immunity and offer to drive away disease for an offering, end up in hospitals, grow old and die, without exception. It is true that the Christian, because of the harmony of his life with nature and with nature's God, will avoid many of the diseases to which the profligate are subjected, but in times of epidemic the saints die as do the sinners.

THE UNBREAKABLE APPOINTMENT
It is appointed unto man once to die. Man did not make the appointment and cannot break it. He must keep it whether he is ready or not. The Christian no longer fears death. He recognizes it for what it is, a bus stop where he changes vehicles and boards one which leads to glory. A bus station is not the most comfortable place upon earth and one does not choose to linger there any longer than is necessary. But it is a welcome spot to the weary traveler bound for home, because he is inwardly buoyed up by his expectancy of joy. It is only those who have no certain destination and who are wanderers and vagabonds who are restless and upset.

Death does not make it possible to secure eternal life, for that is the present possession of the child of God. Death frees him from the limitations and inhibitions posed by the flesh and makes possible the enjoyment of that life on a higher and nobler plane. One reason we have the letters constituting the new covenant scriptures is to inform us and assure us that we have eternal life now (I John 5:13). "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." This clearly divides the rational beings upon earth into two categories-those who have life and those who do not! The difference is based upon having Christ or not having Him.

Eternal life is not so much as extension of existence as it is enjoyment of involvement. It's blessing lies in a quality of life rather than a quantity. It is not years upon a calendar but the satisfaction of a yearning in a calling. The possessor of eternal life may live more in one day than one without it would live in a month. Indeed, the latter cannot be said to live at all.

Certainly the most important thing for the earth-dwellers is to have Jesus. To receive Him is to be born of God. It is to be granted the right to become sons of God. This is affinned by John 1:12,13. Just as one is brought into an utterly new state when he is born of the flesh so he is brought into a wholly new state when he is born of God. Old things pass away; all things become new. To become a son of God is to be made free from all the claims of the flesh and the carnal nature.

The complete surrender to Christ leaves nothing that is not under His control. There is not an area of life outside of His jurisdiction. His flag waves over the entire territory of the heart. Paul writes to former fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, and admits the depth of their unrighteousness, but affirms that they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). One does not need to continue in blindness. He can see. He does not need to perish. A beautiful, blessed and beatific life can be his by God's grace. What He cannot do God will do for him.

It is at this point we need to consider the revolutionary aspect of the life inspired by the divine nature. Unfortunately, a great many things have arisen which obscure that phase or water down and weaken it until there is nothing startlingly different about the way the average Christian lives. He is just "holding on until death of the body comes." We have been taught to think that attending religious services, giving money to worthy causes, and living decently in the community is really accomplishing the purpose of God in life. There is nothing wrong with any of these unless they are allowed to become substitutes for hfe itself. Then they become artificial and shallow performances.

We have all seen individuals who "attend church," to use a common but unwarranted expression, purely out of a sense of duty or obligation. They bring no joy to it and receive no joy from it. Indeed they would rather be somewhere else and grumble because they cannot be. Often the churches have to promote attendance by purely carnal means such as rival contests, prizes and awards. A record attendance under such conditions has no relation to spirituality. Going for the "body count" is a superficial evasion of life in the Spirit.

The secret of real life lies not in keeping or possessing it but in losing it. After Simon Peter had openly testified that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the matter was out in the open, Jesus began to tell the disciples that He would go to Jerusalem where He would suffer many indignities at the hands of the religious hierarchy and be killed and raised again the third day. When Peter recoiled at the very thought of this, Jesus told them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" ( Matthew 16:24).

To show that this radical approach was the divinely-ordained way to meaningful existence He added, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." One does not find his life by giving money, time or talent, to good and worthy enterprises, but by giving life. We tend to think of denying self in terms of giving up things as an overweight or obese person refuses candy or cake in the interest of weight reduction. He barters his desire for sweets for the satisfaction of a trimmer figure.

But Jesus is not talking of cutting down on things. He does not mean what we generally mean by the terms self-denial, temperance or moderation. All of that is good but it may be done for selfish reasons or for vanity. It is selfhood which must be denied. One must renounce all that he was, all that he is, all that he ever hoped to be, and become a new person, a part of a new humanity, by the creation of God.

The new role is one in which the one in Christ Jesus starts giving himself away. The cross which he takes up is not sickness, financial, loss, pain or physical suffering. The cross was an instrument of death, and the daily cross is not the daily lot of toil, but the daily dying by giving away self for others. As long as we think of the cross as consisting of trials, frustrations and depleting financial interests we will have a negative view. We will fret and complain. But giving yourself away when you have eternal life is the road to adventure. One of the cleverest ways of evading the cross is to substitute things for it.

THE GAMBLERS
It is in this light we must understand the implications of being in Christ. We are free to love and serve others and to do good unto all men, even our enemies. All of the great adventurers in history have been those who laid their lives on the line, not for gain, but in almost reckless abandon. They were not mercenaries but mercy-showers. They did not serve for compensation but for compassion. There is an element of risk in adventure as is evidenced by the word "venture" itself. It is interesting, in this connection, that the early Christians were referred to as "The Gamblers" by the pagans. When great plagues swept across the ancient cities, leaving a multitude dying in their homes, on the streets, and in the marketplaces, the heathen fled in sheer panic. But the Christians moved in and calmly brought cold water to feverish lips, nursing the sick and dying, and often dying by the side of those to whom they ministered.

The appeal of gambling to the masses lies in the risk involved. It is remarkable how that element has been removed from the Christian hfe in our generation. Instead, Christians are often regarded as smug, placid, contented individuals whose greatest risk is that of a heart attack while playing volleyball or pitching horseshoes at the annual "church picnic." It is the very lack of living dangerously which turns young people off. They see no real gain being made against the enemy by sitting in air-conditioned rest homes (called churches ) and recounting victories won two thousand years ago.

In the days of the Roman Empire which had developed the most formidable military machine on the face of the earth it was the Christians who were dubbed the "militants." It is not an accident that the treatise which immediately follows the records detailing the facts about the penetration of the human spectrum by Jesus is called Acts. The facts generate acts. In our day they often merely furnish sermon outlines.

A study of the chronicles of the Acts is very revealing. Words like power, praise and prayer abound. The activism of the disciples of Jesus is portrayed by the use of the word "went" in such segments as Acts 5. The Jerusalem saints who were scattered by unrestrained violence went everywhere preaching the word. Philip went down to Samaria. Peter and John came down to the same place. The angel of the Lord told Philip to "Arise and go toward the south." The next sentence says, "And he arose and went." The queen's financial secretary from Ethiopia came up out of the water of baptism and went on his way rejoicing. The command "Arise and go" is found over and over. There was a hustle and bustle of preparation and performance. The faith prompted pulsation and the marching orders were obeyed with alacrity and precision.

The bold proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus by two men was enough to frighten the sectarian city fathers in Jerusalem into throwing the preachers into the town jail and holding them overnight without a trial. When two others arrived in Thessalonica the street loungers and Skid Row crowd organized a mob, assaulted a private house and formed a crowd at city hall yelling that those who had turned the world upside down had arrived. To be a disciple of Jesus was to be on the cutting edge of life and in the middle of the excitement.

The word radical means "root" and the true radical is one who gets to the root of a condition. This word has been misused and abused until it now describes one who has joined the wrecking crew and who is seeking to take the existing order apart. The word "radish" signifies a root vegetable. Radical surgery is that which removes all of the tissue essential to clear up or clean out a malignancy. Christians were, in the truest sense, getting to the very foundation of the human problem which is sin!

The Christian today in our part of the world is seldom in danger of being killed for the faith. He does not need to fear the stake, the rack or torture-chamber. The world has grown more sophisticated and this is reflected in the practice of the art of persecution. There are some things that are more precious than the beating of the physical heart or the inhalation of air into the lungs. When these things are denied many may actually prefer death of the body. To be branded a religious fanatic, to be shunned as a Jesus-freak, to be ridiculed as a "holy Joe"-these are things which often hurt more than stones which can only bruise the flesh.

It is because of the subtle form of suffering to which one is frequently subjected that he often compensates by trying to appear less consecrated than he really is. Few like to be thought of as saints and fewer still like to be branded as such. The concealment of deep convictions at school, at the office, or on the athletic field is "the way of life" for many. Actually it is "the way of death," because convictions which are not shared are like plants which are not watered. They wither and die. To refuse to engage in an activity because one is a Christian, and to let it be known that this is the reason for not indulging, may bring sneers at the moment even while it engenders respect in the heart of the one who sneers. In any event it lends strength to the character of the one who refuses to sell out for cheap praise and who stands tall because of unshaken resolution.

It is my purpose to analyze with you some of the things Jesus said and did while He was here in a body like ours. That He was regarded as a dangerous radical no one can doubt who really "bones up" on the story. It causes a lot of people in our day to feel uncomfortable and resentful to even use the word "radical" in connection with Jesus. But that is because they are mistaken about two things. They do not understand the real meaning of radical, and they do not understand the meaning of the real Jesus. They are upset by political and social radicals who will do anything to secure notice in the newspapers or to perform in the glare of television cameras. In a very important sense Jesus may have been the only true radical who ever made the scene on earth.

He was not in the spotlight. He was the light spot in a darkened world. Men did not focus a light upon Jesus, but He focused His life upon them and the glare caused them to duck for cover. "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." It is sometimes embarrassing to have someone turn the lights on suddenly, and it is sometimes embarrassing to remember that Jesus is listening to what you say and watching what you do. You cannot hide from Jesus.

The only way you can really learn about Jesus is by studying the Bible, especially that part of it comprising the new testament scriptures. As one of the writers put it, these writings were to inform us "of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." The Holy Spirit guided and supervised the writers and they gave us the authentic divinely authorized "print out" which is now available unto all. If you ignore the Bible you will be ignorant about Jesus. I invite you to search the words of the Spirit and embrace the spirit of those words. If you do this your load will be lighter and depression will disappear. The reward is not fiction or fantasy. It is not "walking on air" but walking as an heir. Something rich is awaiting you! There is a deposit to your account if you will come in and identify yourself with Him. The "great breakthrough" occurs when you become serious about the word of God.

Someone has written as follows: "There is a copy of the American Constitution so delicately shaded in the copperplate type that it brings out in relief, as the observer stands off a little distance, the familiar features of George Washington, the founder of the American Republic, the man who made that great charter of liberty a national and enduring fact. From one point of view it is a chapter of political history; from another it is a portrait of the father of his country. So, while the Bible gives us the most ancient record of history, the most sublime poetry, the most lofty system of morals, the most vivid portraitures of human character, and the most extraordinary system of spiritual truth, yet, back of all and above all it sheds upon us 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' "

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