Philip Yancey: Intimacy vs. Distance

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Mark 10:51

“The Gospels show that Jesus quickly established intimacy with the people He met. Whether talking with a woman at a well, a religious leader in a garden, or a fisherman by a lake, He cut instantly to the heart of the matter, and after a few brief lines of conversation these people revealed to Jesus their innermost secrets. People of His day tended to keep rabbis and “holy men” at a respectful distance, but Jesus drew out something else, a hunger so deep that people crowded around Him just
to touch His clothes.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 89.

I did not realize that in turning my attention to Colorado authors while stateside this month how much I would come face to face with the generosity of Jesus. I thank God, Richard Foster, and Philip Yancey for this.

Today I see Jesus “quickly established intimacy” and “cut instantly to the heart of the matter” in His interactions with people. What can we learn from this? Many things.

It seems that related to generosity, Jesus always had the person right in front of Him and their needs and well-being His highest priority. He reveals this with statements like, “What do you want me to do for you?”

He came to serve. He did it with love. And as I look closely, He did it with multiple people a day that we might describe as interruptions. They did not have a proverbial appointment with Him. They called out for help.

They pressed through a crowd to find them. It teaches me to be accessible to people and attentive to their needs, and it drives me to be intentional in conversations and to move toward and not away from people. God help me. God help us.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

“This quality of restraint in Jesus — one could almost call it a divine shyness — took me by surprise. I realized, as I absorbed the story of Jesus in the Gospels, that I had expected from Him the same qualities I had met in the fundamentalist church of my childhood. There, I often felt the victim of emotional pressures. Doctrine was dished out in a “Believe and don’t ask questions!” style. Wielding the power of miracle, mystery, and authority, the church left no place for doubt. I also learned manipulative techniques for “soul-winning,” some of which involved misrepresenting myself to the person I was talking to. Yet now I am unable to find any of these qualities in the life of Jesus.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 80.

Amazing how our church traditions shape our view of Jesus. This relates to generosity because if we present Him as full of grace and truth, people can experience the generosity of God incarnate.

If we present Him as full of truth without the grace, we get the harsh heritage Yancey spoke about. If we present Him as full of grace without the truth, we undermine who He is and what He came to accomplish.

Neither of those option appear generous. But if people get the whole picture, they get divine shyness. A God who wants to know them and love them and yet will not force them to take hold of the life that is truly life.

Father in heaven, help us present Jesus as full of grace and truth so people can see and decide to follow. We will do our part to represent you as full of grace and truth. By your Spirit open their eyes to see. Amen.

The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Matthew 13:10-17

“I would have marveled at Jesus’ parables, a form that became His trademark. Writers ever since have admired His skill in communicating profound truth through such everyday stories. A scolding woman wears down the patience of a judge. A king plunges into an ill-planned war. A group of children quarrel in the street. A man is mugged and left for dead by robbers. A single woman who loses a penny acts as if she has lost everything. There are no fanciful creatures and sinuous plots in Jesus’ parables; He simply describes the life around Him.

The parables served Jesus’ purposes perfectly. Everyone likes a good story, and Jesus’ knack for storytelling held the interest of a mostly illiterate society of farmers and fishermen. Since stories are easier to remember than concepts or outlines, the parables also helped preserve His message: years later, as people reflected on what Jesus had taught, His parables came to mind in vivid detail. It is one thing to talk in abstract terms about the infinite, boundless love of God. It is quite another to tell of a man who lays down His life for friends, or of a heartsick father who scans the horizon every night for some sign of a wayward son.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 95.

This post reflects a lesson I am learning in my life and leadership, in my teaching and training around the world. I can share lofty ideas and construct complex solutions but if I do not include practical illustrations that reflect the initiative local works must take, I am just wasting my time.

For example, if I share the biblical stories of Nehemiah collaborating with Ezra to unite the people with prayer, lead them in confession, and chart a new course with standards and by affixing their seals the impact can get lost in antiquity.

But when I share how television evangelists corruptly stole church funds for themselves and tell how Billy Graham convened pastors and professions follow the same biblical pattern they not only founded ECFA in USA, they rebuilt the trust of Americans.

I continue sharing that today 2,800+ ECFA-accredited members have $32 billion flow through them to kingdom work, and people get excited. They want a peer accountability group like ECFA in their country. From there, I say what Jesus said at the end of the Good Samaritan parable, “go and do likewise.”

What’s my point today related to generosity? Tell good stories. My aim relates to telling people how they can write a new story for their country by giving themselves to rebuilding their people like Nehemiah and Ezra did. What good stories can you tell?

And the irony of the story I told you links to the prophecy Jesus quotes from Isaiah. If people are not willing to listen keenly and discern the aim of a good story, they lose. But those who pay attention, get more than they every dreamed. They get the keys to unleashing the kingdom.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Matthew 11:25-26

“Oddly, as I look back on Jesus’ time from the present perspective, it is the very ordinariness of the disciples that gives me hope. Jesus does not seem to choose His followers on the basis of native talent or perfectibility or potential for greatness. When He lived on earth he surrounded Himself with ordinary people who misunderstood Him, failed to exercise much spiritual power, and sometimes behaved like churlish schoolchildren. Three followers in particular (the brothers James and John, and Peter) Jesus singled out for his strongest reprimands — yet two of these would become the most prominent leaders of the early Christians.

I cannot avoid the impression that Jesus prefers working with unpromising recruits. Once, after He had sent out seventy disciples on a training mission, Jesus rejoiced at the successes they reported back. No passage in the Gospels shows Him more exuberant. “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes,Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” From such a ragtag band Jesus founded a church that has not stopped growing in nineteen centuries.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 99-100.

At GTP we say we look for FAT people to serve with us: faithful, available, and teachable. Often these people appear as ordinary people – young, inexperienced, yet committed – and yet we find that God does extraordinary things through them.

Many are unpromising and maybe the last people you might expect to serve in world-changing roles. They have limited education. Like the companions of Paul, not many come from noble birth. And we don’t find them through search organizations.

We find them along the way as we serve like Paul and Silas found Timothy. Jesus met the 12 along the way. He prayed and God confirmed their choosing. One did not work out, of course. We find similiar percentages hold true.

This relates to generosity, because, in the words of Yancey, it gives us all hope that God can use us if he can use a ragtag group of ordinary and unpromising people. Know any such people you can encourage today? Do it (only after looking in the mirror).

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

“Living on a planet of free will and rebellion, Jesus often must have felt “not at home.” At such times He went aside and prayed, as if to breathe pure air from a life-support system that would give him the strength to continue living on a polluted planet. Yet He did not always get formulaic answers to His prayers. Luke reports that He prayed all night before choosing the twelve disciples—even so, the group included a traitor. In Gethsemane He prayed at first that the cup of suffering be taken from Him, but of course it was not. That scene in the garden shows a man desperately “not at home,” yet resisting all temptations toward supernatural rescue.

For me, one scene in the Gospels brings together the “at home” and “not at home” nature of Jesus. A storm blew up on the Sea of Galilee, nearly capsizing the boat in which Jesus lay sleeping. He stood up and yelled into the wind and spray, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples shrank back in terror. What kind of person could shout to the weather as if correcting an unruly child? The display of power in the midst of a storm helped convince the disciples that Jesus was unlike any other man.

Yet it also hints at the depths of incarnation. “God is vulnerable,” said the philosopher Jacques Maritain. Jesus had, after all, fallen asleep from sheer fatigue. Moreover, the Son of God was, but for this one instance of miracle, one of its victims: the Creator of rain clouds was rained on, the Maker of stars got hot and sweaty under the Palestine sun. Jesus subjected himself to natural laws even when, at some level, they went against His desires (“If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”). He would live, and die, by the rules of earth.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 90-91. I am enjoying this modern classic book. I hope you are too.

Generous living, giving, serving, and loving is hard. We live on a planet like Jesus where a lot of the time, things do not go as we expect. Fear of the what ifs can limit or even hinder our generosity.

What if I lose my job? What if that deal falls through? What if I get sick and cannot work? What if? What if? What if? I cannot rebuke the wind and waves when they toss me about. I have to hold on for dear life.

Having spent the last five days by Bear Creek, praying earnestly and vulnerably on three walks a day, I am thankful for prayer as the life-support system modeled by Jesus and available to each of us.

Jesus could not have done God’s will without prayer. We cannot make the contributions in life that God wants us to make without prayer. Let us “at home” and “not at home” with Jesus, fearlessly relying on our good Father.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34

“Jesus did not say, “All men will know you are my disciples . . . if you just pass laws, suppress immorality, and restore decency to family and government,” but rather “ . . . if you love one another.” He made that statement the night before His death, a night when human power, represented by the might of Rome and the full force of Jewish religious authorities, collided head-on with God’s power. All His life, Jesus had been involved in a form of “culture wars” against a rigid religious establishment and a pagan empire, yet He responded by giving His life for those who opposed Him. On the cross, He forgave them. He had come, above all, to demonstrate love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son . . .”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 247.

Let’s lean into the generous forgiveness and love of Jesus in the culture wars He navigated.

The rigid religious establishment used oral and written laws to legislated morality. They missed the Messiah when He was right in front of them. They focused on preserving their power over the people instead serving them.

To these people, always trying to trick and attack Him, Jesus carefully pointed the way to life.

The pagan empire did the same thing, only they used immorality, brutal force, and fear as their weapons. Worship the gods and the emperor, or else. They demonstrated blatant exploitation and domination over all others.

And to these people, Jesus did not condemn them for their sinfulness but died to set them free from it.

So what does all this mean for you and me? We see Jesus give His life in love and forgiveness for those who opposed Him. He wants us to give our lives in love and forgiveness for those who oppose us.

I am learning that sometimes the attacks come from the people with the same uniforms (religious establishment).

And sometimes the attacks come from those who serve as minions to the spiritual forces of evil at work in the world (wearing the opposite proverbial uniforms).

As I follow Jesus I see Him not fear getting “taken out” by one side or the other in the culture wars.

I see Him giving Himself in love and forgiveness and allowing Himself to be “taken out.” I see saints and martyrs through church history do the same thing. His life and their lives have not been wasted but

I ask myself today. Am I willing to give my life and forgive like Jesus did? What hold me back?

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27

“As Elton Trueblood has observed, all the major symbols that Jesus used had a severe, even offensive quality: the yoke of burden, the cup of suffering, the towel of servanthood, and finally the cross of execution. “Count the cost,” Jesus said, giving fair warning to any who dared follow Him.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 96.

Today the giving from Jesus takes shape as a fair warning. Following Him will be hard. It will cost us everything and the gain will far outweigh the sacrifice, but that won’t make it any easier.

Today I needed this post to restore my passion to persevere.

While walking my son’s dogs by Bear Creek my prayer has been for renewed strength. I’ve prayed for healing from a cough I brought home from the last trip and deliverance from evil.

I feel the spiritual forces of evil trying to attack me and GTP.

But then whilst walking yesterday while crossing a bridge over the water, I had two bucks dart across my path. They posed for the header photo. In the Bible they represent piety, vulnerability, and safety in God’s care.

That filled me with peace as though God was giving me a blessing in those aras.

Today’s post aims to encourage everyone to press on. Jesus gave us fair warning of the yoke, the cup, the towel, and the cross we would bear. He will also help us do it. Press on people.

Not giving up may be the most generous thing we can model for those around us.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die. John 12:32-33

“The more I get to know Jesus, the more impressed I am by what Ivan Karamazov called “the miracle of restraint.” The miracles Satan suggested, the signs and wonders the Pharisees demanded, the final proofs I yearn for — these would offer no serious obstacle to an omnipotent God.

More amazing is His refusal to perform and to overwhelm. God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him. All this Jesus must have known as he faced down the tempter in the desert, focusing His mighty power on the energy of restraint.

I believe God insists on such restraint because no pyrotechnic displays of omnipotence will achieve the response He desires. Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason he created us.

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” Jesus said. In case we miss the point John adds,“He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.” God’s nature is self-giving; He bases His appeal on sacrificial love.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 78.

The name of this post seemed fitting the day after America enjoyed holiday pyrotechnic displays. Ironically, that’s not how God shows His great love to us. He does it through the power of restraint.

Notice this statement. “God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him.”

Too many of my people celebrate independence with pride and pyrotechnics and live as though God does not exist. Yet, notice the love and the lesson for us as we aim to live generously and make God known.

We too get to exhibit restraint. We can’t force anyone to obey God. We get to show the world that the God we cannot see is real by how we live and love fueled by His sacrificial love for us.

We might know what people need but the power of restraint teaches us to love everyone, serve the receptive, trust God to bring forth fruits, and give thanks we get to be conduits of mercy and grace.

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter. Matthew 26:40

“Jesus never tried to hide His loneliness and His dependence on other people. He chose His disciples not as servants but as friends. He shared moments of joy and grief with them, and asked for them in times of need. They became His family, His substitute mother and brothers and sisters. They gave up everything for Him, as He had given up everything for them. He loved them, plain and simple.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 99.

Today is a big day in USA. It’s called Independence Day. It marks the day America became free of the tyranny of the British about 250 years ago.

To be American, however, has become equated with independence, having everything life can offer, and pursuing a dream that may well be exactly the opposite of God’s design for us.

What if today we give thanks for those who sacrificed everything for our freedom and, in turn, exhibit sacrificial generosity toward others to spark revival in this nation?

Depending on God and others may be un-American, but it sure reflects the example of Jesus. Imagine Him asking each of us to watch and pray for an hour today with Him!

Try it. Thanks my focus on my dog walks today.

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:52

“Unlike most men I know, Jesus also loved to praise other people. When he worked a miracle, he often deflected credit back on the recipient: “Your faith has healed you.” He called Nathanael “a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” Of John the Baptist, he said there was none greater born of women. Volatile Peter he renamed “the Rock.” When a cringing woman offered him an extravagant act of devotion, Jesus defended her against critics and said the story of her generosity would be told forever.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 88-89.

“Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Matthew 26:13

It’s super cool to ponder that Jesus loves stories of our humble faith and our generous sacrifices so much that He makes sure they get told and retold.

Our role on this round ball is to stir deep faith in people like Jesus did. We get to model the way like John the Baptist who also acted like Jesus. He too deflected credit.

Ponder that today. I will ponder with you on this path by the river. Also, what comes to my mind is that coupled with encouragement and deflecting credit, Jesus said, “Go!” to the blind man he healed.

He celebrates our faith and generosity. He wants us to deflect credit while living out our faith in a way that inspires others and brings God glory. What does that look like for you today?