Heart and Appearance in Ministry

Live from the Saltiest Lake of Cities, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology.. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.. Let’s begin with a prayer.

Show 35 Cornucopia 2018
June 26th, 2018

PRAYER

Alright, next week Father Christopher Gray of Salt Lakes Cathedral of the Madeline. We’re trying to work out where we can get Christopher on air for calls live but if we can’t, I think you will find our time together revelatory. So tune in next week.

Got a message after last week's show from one Aline, who presumably has been listening but tuned in to watch for the first time last week. She wrote:

“Why do you make yourself look so weird? You look better with no beard, no glasses, And with a short haircut. It’s more pleasant to watch with this look (I’ve described) I prefer to listen without watching.”

Understanding Diverse Appearances

Aline’s comments are so appreciated because without them I would wonder if our approach was effective. There are several responses to provide Aline, all of them purposeful, in my estimation.

First, admittedly, there are people out there like Aline who are turned off by my appearance. I get that. Like Aline, they relate to a clean-cut face without glasses, etc. That is fine. And guess what? There are a lot of clean-cut, well-groomed presenters out there who are delighted to speak to you. And they do.

But on the flip side of this is the fact, Aline, that some people will never sit and listen to those types. Are you able to understand this or do you really want everyone to conform to your tastes? Can you possibly imagine that the way I look, which is so distasteful to you, may be a look that some can trust or relate?

The Message Beyond Appearance

1 Corinthians 9:21
“To them that are without law, I became as without law . . . that I might gain them that are without law.”

I know who my audience is, Aline. I know to whom I am called to speak and reach. And this I do without apology. But it remains important to me personally to help YOU understand the value in such diversity – because it will be a blessing to you if you are able to overcome these biases and let the message override your prejudices.

See, how I look is just a prejudice for you. You have a standard for appearance and for whatever reason, you insist on filtering people through that standard. You are not alone in this, Aline. We all enter the adult arena bearing these prejudices.

But one of the best, perhaps the only way people can overcome such prejudices in life, is to be confronted with them, and to have to face them, engage with them, and learn firsthand that after a while, my appearance has very, very little to do with my message or heart for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can you see what I am trying to accomplish here? It is purposeful because what you see here, and how you respond to it all, reveals your heart and soul – not mine.

John the Baptist's Example

The disparity between “heart and message” and outward appearance was present in the life and ministry of John the Baptist.

Luke 7:24-27
And when the messengers of John were departed, Jesus began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

You see, John the Baptist was of the wilderness, wearing a leather girdle and camel hair, eating locusts and honey, and never, ever cutting his hair. This was the one God ordained to prepare the way of the coming of His Son. It was his message that was there to impress and move, not His appearance.

You see, as long as we are maintaining views like these toward me, we will maintain views toward every person in the world – based on color, gender, abilities and disabilities, weight, attractiveness, and the like. When Jesus overcame sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., the veil of the temple was rent in two and God now says that there is

Unity in Humanity

NO difference between male and female, bond and free, Jew and gentile . . . I would add . . . Black, yellow, white, brown, freckled and red – between fully abled and disabled – between male and female and whatever-ale, including the unshaved, uncut, open shirted, overweight and bespeckeled.

Hey, part of the way I make ends meet so I can do this ministry is through art. And we have added some recent works to the portfolio and we would LOVE for you to check it out. So go to DELSARTRE.com and check out our recent compilations. Click works, and there are several categories to choose from including portraits, nature and abstractions. We think this medium is unheard of in the art world and the originality of the materials and process make it an art form that has some intrinsic value. So check it out. Delsartre.com

Illustrating Jesus and Humanity

I’m going to go to the board for a few illustrations tonight. So join me. The first illustration to consider is really basic and simple but it speaks to the nature of Jesus.

Jesus in the Hierarchy of Existence

GOD

GOD

Jesus – 1st Timothy 3:16

Man

(ERASE) The Theory of Diminishing Portals into the Kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future.

5-9

New Jerusalem Above

• The Wide-Open Door – The Victory of Christ over Sin and Death – Total Reconciliation of Humankind to God. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
• The Slant toward God – those who have some desire to know and relate to God in some degree or another through actions.
• Receivers of Christ that live carnal lives where they rarely conform to His Will.
• Receivers of Christ that live outwardly good lives personally but fail to selflessly love others.
• Receivers of Christ who live in personal corruption but love others.
• Anyone who loves unconditionally in their life.
• Followers of Christ I – ? (perhaps those who love or would love consistently?)
• Followers of Christ II – ? (perhaps those who love or would love greatly?)
• Followers of Christ III – ? (perhaps those who love or would love all people, all the time even unto death?)

The Ongoing War

I want to tell you a story. It involves a war. A war for souls, for world domination, for thrones and empires and freedom and truth. It began thousands of years ago when a beautiful garden created by God for Man was invaded and overtaken by dark forces – forces aimed at destroying the garden, its inhabitants, and putting everything possible into bondage. Christians call this event the Fall, which describes the outcome but in reality, it was the first blood in a war between opposing forces –

Dark and light
Bondage and freedom
Disease and health
Death and life

This war waged for over a couple thousand years (and more) with the dark invaders influencing and overcoming all the offspring-products of those originally planted in that pristine garden. But very early in the history of the war God promised to send a victor, a King, a prince of peace who would wage the ultimate battle with the forces of dark and restore everything that once was.

The Ultimate Victory

When He came into the world it was not as His own might have believed. He was lowly (not proud) poor (not rich) and offered nothing really that the opposing world offered to all. From birth He was at war with the fallen world around Him – for us – for all who have, or who ever will, walk the face of this earth. And when the time came, He entered into a final battle with the opposing forces of darkness, ultimately taking the total victory and restoring all things back to their original state – spiritually.

Within a generation He returned and wrapped everything about that preceding age up once and for all –

The temple
The Law
Genealogy
The Old Jerusalem
Satan
Hell
And Spiritual death itself

He won this victory not by engaging with the enemy with common weapons of warfare – you know, with swords and bombs and guns. In fact, there was only one life lost in His war with the darkness of this World – His own. His victory over sin and death, Satan and hell, was won with genuine love and all of its characteristics – patience, kindness, hope,

Living in Christ's Victory

Longsuffering, self-effacement, generosity, selflessness, and an obedience to His Father who was God.

By these things He not only won every battle against the occupying forces, he won the whole war and had complete and total victory kicking the dark forces to the curb once and for all. Now listen – to live in His victory is to understand that only one war remains for all who are His – the war against “the self.”

To a follower of the Victorious King there are absolutely no other wars left on earth. None. None against –

• Other faiths
• Other lifestyles
• Other people and their choices
• Countries and cultures
• Objects or things
• Other opinions
• Crimes, offenses, insults, wrongs

He has had the victory. Followers of Him “who won the war once and for all” are FREE and totally LIBERATED from the traps of such engagements. We are dead to all enemies – all enemies – and refuse to take any enemy up, no matter how vile they may seem or even be to our person; instead we love as our King loved. Because unconditional love will win – it did before – and it continues to.

Total Love and Total Liberation

You see, in total love there is total liberation, which is what our King, Lord, and Savior came to bring. Anything less leads to bondage and imprisonment of some sort, and that is antithetical to who He is and what He did for the entire world. Whenever anyone chooses to go to war with anything external to themselves, they are choosing to ignore His total victory, and to live (in some semblance or another) to the dark operational forces that once reigned here on earth.

When people insist that Satan still roams the earth, they are allowing themselves to become prisoners to his overall original objectives – bondage. Even in a living memory of him there is bondage. If Christ has had the total and complete victory over all things and won the original status of earth back by love, then Satan must have been defeated, and therefore is not just wholly inept, but dead, and unable to stir up strife and division and evil in the hearts of Man. Again, all warfare (except one) is over. There cannot be ANY strife in the heart of a Christian toward another.

To keep ourselves or others “at war” with anything or anyone else in this world is to fail to understand the victory all people can have through Christ. To keep ourselves at war is to place ourselves in bondage, it is to engage ourselves in something lesser than the goal of the Christian, it is to spend some, most, or all of our life misguided rather than guided and liberated by Him.

In the film version of his book 1984, a point George Orwell made clear on the purpose of continual war in Oceania is said in the following words: “The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. The essential act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labor. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects.”

If Christ rules in your heart, the victory over Satan has been had and there is absolutely no reason for any type of war (but one) to continue in your heart.

Spiritual Warfare and the Christian

Where there is any kind of war it is obvious that there has not been a total victory.

1st John 5:4 says: ?“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

To be a Christian is to realize that there is no reason under the sun to hate, condemn, alienate, or fight against others or even things. That is not our call and that is not our kingdom. We overcome the world by our faith in Him not to succumb to the world by warring with perceived enemies that have already been put down by Him.

Paul makes it clear in 2nd Corinthians 10:3-5 when he says: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

So finally, what war remains? After making it clear that Christians do NOT war after the flesh, that our weapons are not carnal but are mighty.

Internal Christian Warfare

Through God pulling down strongholds, Paul continues on in 2nd Corinthians 10:3-5 and says:

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Herein we discover the only war that continues in the life of a Christian is the war within “the self,” within “the mind,” (which is to be renewed by the washing of the Word) and the thoughts, and heart and hands of the individual person. Paul reiterates the point that our warfare is NOT with things in this world in 2nd Timothy 2:4 when he adds:

“No man that warreth (the spiritual, inner warfare, I would add) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

This is the war, the battle, the confrontation every Christian faces – an internal warfare – and never one against the world, its inhabitants, its citizens or its conditions. In this there remains the highest level of freedom a person can experience in life, while at the same time learning to die to one’s tendencies toward bondage.

Freedom from Worldly Warfare

In essence, the only warfare a Christian is enslaved to in this life is the warfare to remain free from warfare – which occurs by “letting go, not engaging in.” Paul describes the inevitability of this relentless internal warfare at the end of 1st Corinthians 15 where he says:

1st Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Victory Over Internal Struggle

Anytime someone suggests that the victory has yet to be won, that there is a valid reason to engage in battle with this world – with the things in it, or the people on it, they are attempting to put Satan back in power, and the end result is always bondage.

Next Week – Father Christopher Gray of the Cathedral of the Madeline – here on HOTM!