Chapter Ten--The Jesus Focus
Chapter Ten
The Jesus Focus
fo·cus: a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity
The bottom line: at street level, big kingdom living is Jesus-focused living.
I thought it was a pretty hokey name for a ministry, but the concept behind the name grew on me. It was called “Jesus Focus Ministry.” There is a way in which this name says it all. This is what we have been called to. By God’s grace we have been rescued from me-focused living. Sin has given all of us a tendency to live in a way that is dictated by little more than earth-bound treasures and anxiety-bound needs. But grace calls us to live in a new and better way, a way that is focused on the person, the work, and the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace punctures our self-contained little kingdoms and places us in the spaciousness of God’s big kingdom. The big kingdom is the big kingdom because it has Jesus as the focus, Jesus at the center. When Jesus is no longer the focus and no longer at the center, the big kingdom splinters into a million little solitary kingdoms under the rulership of self. Big kingdom living is Jesus-focused living. But what exactly does this mean?
This is the question we have been considering in the last two chapters, but I want to hone our definition even more. My concern here is that we Christians tend to talk in a coded, quasi-biblical language that can cloud understanding as much as benefit it. I was once speaking at a retreat on the topic of the life of faith. I started out by asking the group to define faith for me. The first respondent said, “It means to believe.” So, I said, “What does it mean to believe?” Someone called out, “It means to trust.” So, I asked, “What does it mean to trust?” And the answer came back, “It means to have faith.” Do you see what happened here? Coded biblical language was used to define coded biblical language. The terms were all familiar because they were constantly in use, not because they were well understood. In fact, as our discussion went further and deeper, it became clear that few in the room had a precise, functional definition of faith. Yet the apostle Paul said, “The just shall live by faith.” What could be more basic to a believer than to understand the true nature of biblical faith?
So, I want to focus our definition of big kingdom, Christ-centered living even more. Big kingdom living is living with the purpose, character, call, grace, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as the central motivation and hope for everything you think, desire, do, and say. It is by living this way that you will once again experience the transcendence for which you were created and be freed from your bondage to you. And living this way will result in a life of meaning and purpose, where you really do make a difference wherever God places you.
Jesus-Focused Living: A Model
There is a passage in the Old Testament that defines big kingdom, Christ-centered living more clearly than almost any other. Yes, it is possible to find a Christ-centered passage in the Old Testament, since Jesus is the Lord of the Old Testament as well as the New. This passage is found in the middle of God’s final instructions to Israel as they were getting ready to cross the Jordan River into the land of promise. Whenever I read this portion of God’s Word it feels like the kind of conversation parents would have with their child as they drop her off for her first year of college. Just before they drive away, they try to download into her brain a summary of all the important instructions and values that they have tried to inculcate into her over the last eighteen years. It is a whole-life biblical worldview, with all the necessary theology, ethics, and apologetics summarized in under five minutes! This passage is just that content rich.
And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky. Deuteronomy 10:12—22
The Big Question
This passage begins with a great question, as good of a question as anyone who is committed to big kingdom living could ever ask: “What does God ask of you?” The issue here is not doing a bunch of new and different things, but responding to the things God has already placed in your life in a very new way. Consider a few examples. What does God ask of you as a husband or wife? What does God ask of you as a parent? What does God ask of you as a friend or neighbor? What does God ask of you as a member of the body of Christ? What does God ask of you as a citizen of your community, city, state, and nation? What does God ask of you as a worker or an employer? What does God ask of you as an inhabitant of the physical planet earth? What does God ask of you in regard to your possessions and finances? The way you answer these questions will powerfully shape the way you live your life.
Let’s consider Deuteronomy’s threefold answer to this vital question, captured by three profound words—fear, act, love.
Fear. What is this “fear of the Lord” about anyway? In our comfortable, meet-my-needs, God’s-my-best-buddy form of Christianity, this is a very timely call. Fear of the Lord means that I carry around with me such a deep awareness, awe, and reverence for the power, holiness, wisdom, and grace of God that I would not think of doing anything other than living for his glory. Fearing the Lord means that this worshipful awe is the single and unchallenged motivator of everything I think, desire, say, and do.
What does it mean to live a Christ-centered existence? It means that the fear of the Lord, more than fear of anything else, sets the agenda for our actions, reactions, and responses. This is the essence of big kingdom living.
The kingdom of self is driven by all kinds of other fears: fear of man, fear of discomfort or difficulty, fear of failure, fear of not getting my own way, etc. The principle here is that if God doesn’t own the fear of our hearts, he will not own our lives. You and I are always living to avoid what we dread. If we dread displeasing God more than anything else, because our hearts have been captured by a deep, worshipful and loving awe of him, we will live in new ways.
Act. Big kingdom, Christ-centered living is not just about an attitude of heart, but about a way of living as well. Living a God-centered life has not been left in a cloud of mystery for us. God has given us his Word as a functional guide for our everyday living. We do not need to be confused about what it means to be a God-centered neighbor, parent, spouse, friend, worker, or citizen. We do not need to fret over what it means to handle our possessions, finances, grief, anger, opportunities, and responsibilities in a godly way. We do not need to be confused about what we are to do with our thoughts, what should control our desires, or where we should place our hopes. God has precisely revealed his will for our daily living in his Word. Our principal job in life is not to uncover mystery. Our principal job is to obey what has already been revealed. Our job as we awake each morning is not to figure out how we would like to respond to what is on our plate. The commands, directives, and principles of God’s Word are meant to guide us in how we live to serve him.
Love. The fundamental difference between big kingdom and little kingdom living is what has captured the love of our hearts. Remember, as Christ said during his earthly ministry, the kingdom of God is not a location. You couldn’t say, “Honey, let’s get up tomorrow morning and go visit the kingdom of God for the day.” No, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” Both the big and little kingdoms are kingdoms of the heart. The big kingdom is shaped by a deeply thankful love for God, and the little kingdom is shaped by a love of self. When my true spiritual condition reveals that I, in fact, love me more than anything else, I will always shrink the size
of my care and concern, sacrifice and discipline, and hopes and dreams to the size of my own life. If I love God more than anything else, I will be pulled way beyond the borders of my own wants and needs to the spaciousness of God’s kingdom, where redemption and restoration of all things is the order of the day, every day. Big kingdom and little kingdom living are all about who or what owns your love.
When you are jealous of a fellow worker, what owns your love? When you are arguing with your wife, what owns your love? When you’ll do anything to get someone’s acceptance, who owns your love? When you are depressed because your plans have been thwarted, who owns your love? When you are numbing yourself with too much computer or too much television, who owns your love? When you give out of your own need, who owns your love? When you decide not to takes sides, but to be a peacemaker, who owns your love? When you resist vengeance and give mercy, who owns your love?
The Thing to Remember
In this model of Christ-centered living, the big question (What does God ask of me?) is followed by an important reminder: Big kingdom living is always propelled by remembering the Lord. Shockingly, he is the one thing that we sinners all tend to forget. Our thoughts can be so dominated by the necessary tasks of the day, by the difficulties we face, or by the people around us, that we lose our consciousness of the Lord of Glory who has drawn us into his transcendent purposes for the universe. Or our day can be kidnapped by anxious cravings and all the “what ifs” that worry is able to generate. Big kingdom living really does start with remembering the King. This isn’t some mystical spiritual exercise for the super spiritual. It is street-level worship. It is loving God more than the projects on my PDA. It is caring more about his glory than about my schedule. It is caring that his grace is spread and his fame is known more than I care about the next sale, the next promotion, an immaculate house, or a fun lunch with my friends. Ask yourself, when you start your day, what fills the eyes of your heart? What “unseen” thing draws and motivates you? Do you see God? Are you drawn toward him? Do you desire that your day be his day? Do you recognize his grace, power, and sovereignty in your life?
Let’s return to Deuteronomy 10. Verse 14 in the English Standard Version begins with the word, “Behold,” which is just a formal way of saying, “Look!” Here is what the author is calling to your attention about the Lord.
Everything in heaven and earth belongs to him. This really is his world. I should never ever live as if it belongs to me.
You are who you are and what you are because of his grace. (Verse 15, ESV: “The Lord set his heart in love on your fathers.”)
Your Lord is the most powerful Ruler of rulers. (Verse 17, ESV: “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God.”)
He is the Lord of justice, love, and mercy. (Verses 18—19: “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.”)
What would a lifestyle of “seeing” the Lord look like? It would mean that everything that I have or could ever touch or experience did not belong to me for my use, but to the Lord for his use. It would mean walking through life not discontent because of all the things I don’t have, but living with a deeply felt gratitude for all the things that I have but do not deserve. It would mean living with hope and courage, not because I have established my own base of power, but because I rest in the power of my Lord and the guaranteed success of everything he has promised. And it means that I will commit myself to more than personal survival, contentment, and happiness. No, like him, I will be committed to a life of justice, love, and mercy. I will not allow the size of my care and concern to atrophy to the size of my own life.
Remembering the Lord is an important discipline of big kingdom, Christ-centered living.
The Call
The big question and the reminder of Deuteronomy 10 are followed by a call to an attitude of heart. This is the bottom line. Remember, the war between the little kingdom and the big kingdom is essentially a war for the heart. The fear and love that rules your heart will shape your life. Isn’t it encouraging that the bright promise of the work of Jesus is a new heart? Because Christ lived, died, and rose again, there is heart-transforming grace available to you. So, it makes perfect sense that this passage which calls us to forsake our little kingdom intentions would call us to a lifestyle-shaping condition of the heart.
The final question: what is the focus of your life’s energies and intentions?