We Are At War: Man on a Mission Part 2

"For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost,"--Jesus from Luke 19:10 (NIV 1984).

A large majority of the Church is not accustomed to attributing words such as fierce, wild, and warrior to the name and reputation of Jesus. It is much more comfortable with meek, mild-mannered, nice, and humble. These terms tend to stand in stark contrast to the others like a ketchup stain on a white shirt. One of our fears in ministry is the assumption that we prefer one set of personality traits to Jesus over what has been long preserved in the traditions of the church. If we want to attempt to fully understand Jesus and learn to trust him, he must be taken in as a whole. He is all of the above and a whole lot more. A further look into his mission will shed more light on the man.

Simply stated, this is a search and rescue mission. "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). One of my all time favorite films is Saving Private Ryan. It is a story set in the Second World War of several army rangers handpicked to save a single paratrooper dropped deep into enemy territory. It is a mythic representation to what Jesus is out to accomplish. Jesus must go deep into enemy territory on a rescue mission of epic proportions. On the surface, the mission hardly seems worth the risk. However, it will prove to be his greatest accomplishment. The likes of which would require the guts of a Navy Seal.

What is Jesus really after? Notice the verse says "what was lost." We tend to use this verse to refer to lost souls without the hope of Jesus by saying "the lost". There is no problem using it in that way, however, the implication is not limited to the salvation of persons. Jesus is offering restoration of the whole person, namely the Image of God. He is not trying to scrap the project, nor is he just simply wanting to salvage what is left. His business is in restoration of what was lost. Jesus is after the whole person, transform them by restoring his glorious image and likeness, making them new.

This will not be easy. In fact, it will require even more than a warrior's heart. It is not a "lust for blood" that drives Jesus, it is his passionate love for us that compels him to stage his invasion of the world. Jesus is not looking for "subjects" to obey him (obedience has it's place, but that is not all Jesus calls us to). He is looking for lovers, or intimate allies who will join him on his mission to retake the world. This is why Jesus seems to be so shy when it comes to demonstrating his power. Love cannot be forced. It must be chosen. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NIV 1984). He fights for us, because he loves us.

Winning over our hearts will require even more than service, it means he will have to die. Philippians 2:8 says of Jesus, "being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" This is a passionate move of love on the deepest level!

The heart is tenderized and we are awakened to the beauty this man emanates. When we see Jesus as all of what he was meant to be as a warrior, as lover, everything comes into focus. He lives as both, not to confuse and distort one way over another. Rather, they complement in him a need to both love those in need and at the same time take a stand against evil. In a world at war, Jesus is the fierce warrior come down from heaven to face the stench of the enemy and give his life to save his beautiful beloved bride, the church. We live in a captivating love story set in the middle of an awful war. It is in Jesus, who inspires our love and confidence, we place our hope.

"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5: 25-27)

**Disclaimer**
I know there are men who are uncomfortable with the understanding of Jesus as intimate lover for obvious reasons. This is part of the great distortion of the evil one and a message like this can dissuade rather than invite confidence in Jesus. It must be understood, that it is the church who is the bride of Christ and not us individually, men or women for that matter. In keeping with the Scriptures, the love Christ has for the church can only be likened to that of a husband and wife. It is the deepest knowledge of love that we can understand in this world. Individually, we love Christ intimately, not in a sexual sense, but more like a Son and his Father, or better a band of brothers on a shared mission of dangerous proportions. It was Jesus who chose twelve men who followed him and loved him. There were several women, as well. They looked up to him and enjoyed his personality and companionship, none of which was sexual in nature. Take Jesus in as much as you are comfortable with. Like any relationship, it takes time. With every encounter with the words and personality of Jesus, you will learn to trust him more and more.

We Are So Far From Home

Just shortly after God created Adam, the scriptures tell us about Eden. It was the garden He planted for his firstborn son of all humanity. It would be his home, a place of shelter, rest, and protection.

As Eldredge points out in his book Wild At Heart, he is placed, not created, in the garden. This is why men long for adventure and to be out in the wild. It is where we come alive and find a lot of the things we long for.

However, the wild is no place to lay your head. It's not the place to drop your guard. God saw this and found it necessary to create for him a home. Eden was made for man. It was the place for him to find refuge and sanctuary.

A friend of mine recently shared with me something he discovered—the garden of Eden was God's original design for a temple or place of worship. It was the one place in the world where God chose to commune with His son. There, God and Adam enjoyed complete openness and freedom as it was meant to be shared between Father and son. In the garden the man would find rest, comfort, food, and fellowship.

Now, imagine the most beautiful natural places on earth. You're close to what Eden was meant to be. We long for Edenistic experiences. Think about where you would choose to go on vacations. It's these places where we find rest from our work, comfort from our stress, and the people we spend it with would be the one(s) who matter most to us.

Adam's story only begins with Eden. Eve is created as Adam's ezer kenegdo (more about what that means later), and the enemy of God is lurking in their midst. Adam is tempted and he fell from grace. The gift of Eden is lost. The openness Adam once enjoyed has become altogether different. He is naked and doesn't like it.

Adam resorts to hiding in an attempt to avoid exposure. Everything feels different from what it once was. Fellowship with the heavenly Father is broken. The vulnerability feels more like a weakness than a strength, and trust is replaced with suspicion.

Eldredge points out that something in Adam's heart shifts. It's why there is this awkwardness that seems to exist between us and God. We dodge, run, and hide from Him because His gaze pierces us and we can't stand the feeling.

Adam's expulsion from the garden is a picture of what has already happened between him and God. The wilderness becomes his home, far away from all the provisions of the garden, including the tree of life. Eden has been surrendered and the loss has been costly.

We've been trying to get back ever since. We live in the wild now. It seems the more we try to get back to the home that was intended for us, the further away it becomes.

Being so far from home, we've tried to recreate Eden. We've pitched our tent here and turned it into a castle. The wild is so dangerous and the more we learn from it, the more we try to guard ourselves from it.

We've learned a whole lot, too. In the wilderness, there is pain, grief, loneliness, rejection, despair, along with a whole host of really bad dilemmas. It's why we abuse drugs and other substances, drink too much alcohol, look at pornography, and commit adulterous affairs. It's why some of us become religious, looking for the ritual without offering our hearts fully to Jesus. We become lethargic watching too much television and playing too many video games. We get greedy, self-righteous, and work way too much. We become perfectionists, power-hungry, or procrastinators.

These are just some of the ways we try to recreate Eden without facing the truth that we have lost it. These "edens" we've built in a world taken over by sin and rebellion are nothing more than elaborate fig leaves to hide under. They are pitiful, messy, and cheap counterfeits leaving within our hearts something to be desired.

We were made for more.

We are a long way from Eden, but here is the good news. There is more. The work of Jesus accomplished through His death, resurrection, and ascension was to help us find our way back to the tree of life. Jesus said it, "If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will save it." (Luke 9:24 CEV)

The saved life is our life offered up to Jesus for His purposes. The destroyed life is the life that refuses vulnerability, refuses to be exposed under the careful gaze of the Lamb who was slain. The life that refuses to surrender his "eden" for the eternal home that awaits those the Father draws unto himself (John 6:44).

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."--Revelation 22:14 & 15 (CEV).

What Is Rally Point? Part II

The message of Rally Point is not a new one, but is a forgotten one. It has been buried for centuries by the Age of Enlightenment, along with the Victorian Era where men were taught to compromise their beliefs for the sake of civility and were convinced to put aside his wildness for the sake of Christ. As a result, a man's passion for life was lost. Under the Age of Enlightenment, empirical and scientific evidence became the basis for truth, replacing narrative as a means of understanding. The Laboratory became more important than the storyteller. The results were devastating as men became sweet, nice, and for the most part, bored.


The hope we have, however, is that Jesus came, and He came with a mission in mind. He said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10 NIV) Did you get that? He did not say "seek and save the lost," even though that's how we usually interpret it. Rather he said, "what was lost". The question then becomes, "what exactly was lost?" We're taught in scriptures that mankind was created in the image of God, both male and female. What does that mean? Well, we have the physical differences and we see how that plays into procreation. Then, there are the mental differences where guys and gals think differently. There are definitely the emotional differences. What about when it comes to the soul? Could there be differences between the genders when it comes to the soul and the heart? Why do we understand the male and female image of God to be limited only to the physical, mental, and emotional, but not the spiritual? For some sad reason, we're too quiet when it comes to this, dangerously quiet. That is why you see fewer and fewer men at church, and almost no young men.


I believe God meant something special when he created a man. (He also meant something else special when he created a woman, but we won't discuss that here quite yet.) In order for us to understand this in practical ways, we need to see what men desire from life. A good place for us to start is with the movies men love. Let's take, for instance, Gladiator, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and Lord of the Rings to name a few. Why do men almost universally gravitate to these types of films? Why do women, while they may watch one of these movies, almost universally prefer to watch movies such as Chocolat, Sense and Sensibility, and Shall We Dance? The genders have their preferences because men bear God's image as a man, and women bear God's image as a woman. We're not just talking entertainment, but these movies really stir a longing within us; something wakes up. It's that ache, or longing we need to get in touch with.


Now back to the movies for men. What do these types of movies tend to have in common? The first is battle. We get excited when we see something blown up or when the bad guy gets killed. It's not enough to put him prison, we want him gone. The second similarity is adventure. Men love adventure! Give guys a free weekend and some spending money and what are they going to do? You guessed it, adventure; rock climbing, hunting, hiking, white water rafting or anything that involves risk. Finally, more times than not, there is a beauty involved in the movies we love. A beautiful young woman in need of a rescue where her hero will come, deliver her, and take her to some secret rendezvous. The reason we watch these movies is because we want these things. We want these things because God wants these things. God's a fighter. "The Lord is a warrior, The Lord is His name."(Exodus 15:3 NIV) He loves adventure. "He makes the clouds His chariots and rides on the wings of the wind."(Psalm 104:3 NIV) He loves a beauty. "I belong to my lover, and His desire is for me."(Song of Solomon 7:10 NIV) These are the desires of our hearts because they are the way a man bears the image of God...and these desires are key to understanding the soul of a man.


A Battle. An Adventure. A Beauty. This is our glory as men, and nothing in this world could be more opposed. Our enemy will stop at nothing to inhibit the restoration of God's image here on earth, because he fears it. That makes our mission that much more dangerous.


I welcome your comments on this post as well as others. Next time, you may look forward to hearing in greater detail the mission we've been called to.