As the stay at home orders lightened up across the United Kingdom, a journalist interviewed teenagers and young adults asking them, “What has the COVID-19 pandemic made you realize?” One young adult male responded, “There are so many revolutions to lead.” Now this caught my attention. When those across the world think about the word revolution, it revolves around people overthrowing governments. For those of us who live in the United States, a revolution is the reason we are a country.
When I heard this term revolution, it did not take me back to 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed because that signaled freedom for a few, but not all, in America. The time my mind traveled back to Wednesday, August 28, 1963. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and articulated a dream. A dream not of riches or fame. Not a speech to stir the pot of American civilization, but a speech that painted the picture of a better and brighter future for all mankind.
Now you might ask, why would I be thinking of Dr. King when I heard the word “revolution”? The answer is that revolutions are not merely a change of government, but it is the uprising of a new way of life and the passing of an old life. America and the world would never be the same after that Wednesday at the steps of the Lincoln memorial. Dr. King inaugurated a new way of life for all humanity. It hasn’t been perfect since that speech and this new way of life that Dr. King painted the picture of did not come in an instant. Rather, little by little, the world that Dr. King articulated has taken shape. The future that Dr. King described is not fully here, and honestly. I do not think it will ever arrive completely. Because what Dr. King stood for was not an event, not a law, but a way of life. True revolutions are not events, but they continue to live in the hearts and minds of people from generation to generation. These are the reasons that I thought of Dr. King when I heard revolution.
What Dr. King stood for was only one aspect of a much larger revolution. Dr. King was the product of a revolution. Dr. King believed in a revolution that began 2000 plus years ago around. 30 A.D. when man got up out of a tomb in Israel. What Jesus offers is not some shallow religion. What Jesus offers is a new reality while we are currently in the old one. True revolutions are not events, but realities which invade our current reality, challenging it, pushing the boundaries until the new reality over takes the current one.
What date does America claim as it’s Independence Day? July 4 1776, on that date, Britain was not even aware yet that America was a country and no one but the people in that room did either. Independence day is the day that the British colonist gave themselves a name, organized themselves and declared war on their own country.
These colonists believed they would defeat Britain at that moment in 1776, but there was still a war to be fought. I promise you that when bullets were flying, those colonists did not feel free. Against all odds, they believed in the future reality of America. Even during the war against Britain. Each solider fighting for America was already living the American reality.
What if I told you that even as the bullets of life are flying at you, you can at the same time experience a reality where you are an overcomer?
2,000 years ago, when Jesus walked out of His grave was He was not just making a statement that He is king of kings, but Jesus was the first to enter this new life.
Colossians 1:13-14 “He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Sin is one of the most misused words in the entire Bible. When post people talk about sin, they are talking about something you do wrong. However, when the Bible talks about sin, it is much more complex than something you do. Sin is a power, a force that desires to destroy every human being.
This does not remove our personal responsibility for our actions, but it gives hope that we can overcome sin and not be deceived. When we separate ourselves from sin, we find life. The only issue is that sin does not come with red skin and horns. Sin looks satisfying. Sin tries to whisper in our ear that a life where we live on our own terms will be better than living under God’s rule. However, this promise of complete freedom is to lead us into a prison. The freedom and satisfaction that sin promises to bring feels good for a while, but when it’s too late, it corners us into a life of captivity.
Let’s start where we first see sin in the story of scripture.
Genesis 3:1-8 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
This is one of the most fascinating conversations in the Bible because this is the first and only time a human speaks directly to Satan until Jesus speaks with him in the desert. Therefore, if this is the only time that Satan speaks to humans in the entire Hebrew Bible, this is a very important passage of scripture. Because this will show the tactic and the scheme of sin for the rest of the story.
First thing that ever comes out of Satan’s mouth is, “Did God really say that you could not eat from any tree in the garden?” Then at first we think Eve remembered what God says because she says, “Actually, God did not say that.” We are like yay go Eve good job, and then she keeps talking. She says that God commanded us not to eat or touch from the tree in the middle of the garden. Then we are like, “Oh No.” Some of you are thinking, “No, I’m not. Eve is right.” Actually, there are two things wrong with Eve’s statement. First there are two trees in the Garden. The tree they didn’t bother to eat from is called the Tree of Life, which is also in the middle of the garden. Which would have given Adam and Eve eternal life, which is why they were kicked out of the Garden. So Eve lost sight of the gift God gave her with that tree and then Eve added a rule to what God said. God said nothing about touching it. He just said don’t eat it. I mean, it is probably a good idea not to touch it, but that is not what God said.
Why this is important is because so many times in our lives we mix up what God says with what the world says. We add extra rules and regulations onto this relationship with God and we make it so complex. Why we like rules and regulations so much in our religion is because if we do most of the work, then the religion is still about us. Eve made the issue more about her and, therefore, Satan could take advantage of her and lead her and Adam to eat the fruit.
Now it’s easy to say, “How stupid are Adam and Eve?” But, let’s take a moment and evaluate our own lives. How many times have we boosted our ego or social status at the expense of using or abusing someone else? How many times have we done something that gave us short-term satisfaction that cost us long-term health or life? Sin promises everything now and hopes you’ll not look ahead at how that is going to cost you down the road. How eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil brought death to Adam and Eve was getting them to be singular focused. Eve did not even mention the Tree of Life, because her eyes were on the immediate, not the ultimate plan that God had for their life. Eve forgot she was already a perfect image of God. She could not get any more like God than she already was. Sin promises god like status when we are already representatives of the creator of the universe. We rule the earth on God Almighty’s behalf.
However, most of us spend everyday trying to achieve a more godlike status. Whether that’s through our job, family, talents, wealth, or whatever you can think of. However, the only thing that can truly deliver on giving us life is God alone!
God did not give up on humanity after we willingly tried to live life on our own terms. When we tried to become God, He gave us hope. God never curses the humans. Humanity is still His blessed representatives to all creation. God did not even curse the earth or our work first. God first cursed Satan and gave us the ultimate hope of another tree of life.
Genesis 3: 14-15 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
God proclaims in this verse that a human will defeat Satan once for all. That one human will exterminate Sin. However, this human will have a price to pay. This human champion has already come and His name is Jesus. Sin represents the life most of us live today. We live in a world where the individual is a deity. All most people are concerned about is how they are going to achieve a godlike status among humanity. Most people spend their entire lives trying to ascend above everyone else, no matter the cost. Then where does it get them? Some get to the so called top and they realize that the top is lonely, they realize that the top isn’t all that great. That you can achieve a godlike status and still be empty inside, which explains these superstars overdosing, committing suicide or having serious mental health issues.
Each and everyday we all choose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil at some point, but luckily for us the Tree of Life is accessible to us. Not is a literal physical sense, but Jesus is the Tree of Life. Jesus is not just offering us a life that extends forever, but Jesus is offering us a life that is radically different from the one most of us experience on this earth. The life Jesus is offering is full of joy, full of love, and full of purpose. Why I call this new life Jesus is welcoming us into a revolution is because it opposes the way of life that currently exists on the earth.
Rather than a life that revolves around us, now our lives are bigger than us. Our lives are interconnected to all creation. When we join the revolution that Jesus leads, we fight for those on the fringes of society; we fight for peace, we fight for love, we fight for justice.
Philippians 2:3-10 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
The revolution Jesus started 2,000 years ago does not take on governments, or institutions, but it opposes the evil that lives in all creation. So opposing Amazon because they aren’t Christians is not what being a part of this revolution is all about. It is about being humble and serving others and, through our example, each and every day. This is how the Jesus Revolution will change the world.
A NEW REALITY IS AVAILABLE
We live in a world where the individual is a deity. All most people are concerned about is how they are going to achieve a godlike status among humanity. Most people spend their entire lives trying to ascend above everyone else, no matter the cost. Then where does it get them? Some get to the so called top and they realize that the top is lonely, they realize that the top isn’t all that great. That you can achieve a godlike status and still be empty inside, which explains these superstars overdosing, committing suicide or having serious mental health issues.
What if life is about more than you? What if the life you are living is an old reality and there is a new reality awaiting to be tapped into? Many of us are living an off brand of the human experience. Listen to this episode to see how you can open up the new reality awaiting all humanity.
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