Ruling & Reigning Training

A look at THE HARNESS OF THE LORD

by

Bill Britton

On a dirt road in the middle of a wide field stood a beautiful carriage, something on the order of a stagecoach but all edged in gold and with beautiful carvings. It was pulled by six large chestnut horses: two in the lead, two in the middle and two in the rear. But they were not moving, they were not pulling the carriage, and I wondered why. Then I saw the driver underneath the carriage on the ground on his back just behind the last two horses’ heels working on something between the front wheels on the carriage. I thought, “My, he is in a dangerous place; for if one of those horses kicked or stepped back, they could kill him, or if they decided to go forward, or got frightened somehow, they would pull the carriage right over him.” But he didn’t seem afraid for he knew that those horses were disciplined and would not move till he told them to move. The horses were not stamping their feet nor acting restless, and though there were bells on their feet, the bells were not tinkling. There were pom-poms on their harness over their heads but the pom-poms were not moving. They were simply standing still and quiet waiting for the voice of the Master.

As I watched the harnessed horses I noticed two young colts coming out of the open field and they approached the carriage and seemed to say to the horses: “Come and play with us, we have many fine games, we will race with you, come catch us.” And with that the colts kicked up their heels flicked their tails and raced across the open field. But when they looked back and saw the horses were not following they were puzzled. They knew nothing of the harnesses and could not understand why the horses did not want to play. So they called to them: “Why do you not race with us? Are you tired? Are you too weak? Do you not have strength to run? You are much too solemn, you need more joy in life.” But the horses answered not a word nor did they stamp their feet or toss their heads. But they stood, quiet and still, waiting for the voice of the Master.

Again the colts called to them: “Why do you stand so in the hot sun? Come over here in the shade of this nice tree. See how green the grass is? You must be hungry, come and feed with us, it is so green and so good. You look thirsty, come drink of one of our many streams of cool clear water.” But the horses answered them not so much as a glance but stood still waiting for the command to go forward with the King.

And then the scene changed and I saw lariat nooses fall around the necks of the two colts and they were led off to the Master’s corral for training and discipline. How sad they were as the lovely green fields disappeared and they were put into the confinement of the corral with its brown dirt and high fence. The colts ran from fence to fence seeking freedom but found that they were confined to this place of training. And then the Trainer began to work on them with His whip and His bridle. What a death for those who had been all their lives accustomed to such a freedom! They could not understand the reason for this torture, this terrible discipline. What crime had they done to deserve this? Little did they know of the responsibility that was to be theirs when they had submitted to the discipline, learned to perfectly obey the Master and finished their training. All they knew was that this processing was the most horrible thing they had ever known.

One of the colts rebelled under the training and said, “This is not for me. I like my freedom, my green hills, and my flowing streams of fresh water. I will not take any more of this confinement, this terrible training.” So he found a way out jumped the fence and ran happily back to the meadows of grass. I was astonished that the Master let him go and went not after him. But He devoted His attention to the remaining colt. This colt though he had the same opportunity to escape decided to submit his own will and learn the ways of the Master. The training got harder than ever but he was rapidly learning more and more how to obey the slightest wish of the Master and to respond to even the quietness of His voice. And I saw that had there been no training, no testing, there would have been neither submission nor rebellion from either of the colts. For in the field they did not have the choice to rebel or submit, they were sinless in their innocence. But when brought to the place of testing and training and discipline, then was made manifest the obedience of one and the rebellion of the other. And though it seemed safer not to come to the place of discipline because of the risk of being found rebellious, yet I saw that without this there could be no sharing of His glory, no Sonship.

Finally this period of training was over. Was he now rewarded with his freedom and sent back to the fields? Oh no. But a greater confinement than ever now took place as a harness dropped about his shoulders. Now he found there was not even the freedom to run about the small corral for in the harness he could only move where and when his Master spoke. And unless the Master spoke he stood still.

The scene changed and I saw the other colt standing on the side of a hill nibbling at some grass. Then across the fields, down the road came the King’s carriage drawn by six horses. With amazement he saw that in the lead, on the right side, was his brother colt now made strong and mature on the good corn in the Master’s stable. He saw the lovely pom-poms shaking in the wind, noticed the glittering gold-bordered harness about his brother, heard the beautiful tinkling of the bells on his feet-and envy came into his heart. Thus he complained to himself: “Why has my brother been so honored, and I am neglected? They have not put bells on MY feet nor pom-poms on MY head. The Master has not given ME the wonderful responsibility of pulling His carriage, has not put about ME the gold harness. Why have they chosen my brother instead of me?” And by the Spirit the answer came back to me as I watched: “Because one submitted to the will and discipline of the Master and one rebelled, thus has one been chosen and the other set aside.”

Then I saw a great drought sweep across the countryside and the green grass became dead, dry, brown and brittle. The little streams of water dried up, stopped flowing, and there was only a small muddy puddle here and there. I saw the little colt (I was amazed that it never seemed to grow or mature) as he ran here and there across the fields looking for fresh streams and green pastures finding none. Still he ran, seemingly in circles, always looking for something to feed his famished spirit. But there was a famine in the land and the rich green pastures and flowing streams of yesterday were not to be had. And one day the colt stood on the hillside on weak and wobbly legs wondering where to go next to find food and how to get strength to go. It seemed like there was no use, for good food and flowing streams were a thing of the past and all the efforts to find more only taxed his waning strength. Suddenly he saw the King’s carriage coming down the road pulled by six great horses, and he saw his brother, fat and strong, muscles rippling, sleek and beautiful with much grooming. His heart was amazed and perplexed, and he cried out, “My brother where do you find the food to keep you strong and fat in these days of famine? I have run everywhere in my freedom, searching for food, and I find none. Where do you in your awful confinement find food in this time of drought? Tell me, please, for I must know!” Then the answer came back from a voice filled with victory and praise: “In my Master’s House there is a secret place in the confining limitations of His stables where He feeds me by His own hand and His granaries never run empty and His well never runs dry.” With this the Lord made me to know that in the day when people are weak and famished in their spirits, in the time of spiritual famine, that those who have lost their own wills and have come into the secret place of the most High into the utter confinement of His perfect will shall have plenty of the corn of Heaven and a never ending flow of fresh streams of revelation by His Spirit. Thus the vision ended.

Vindication

After last week’s humbling start, I wrote a longer, more detailed set of notes, printed them, posted them to the “teaching” category in this blog, put on a coat and tie, and set up the classroom.  Three people showed up—a 200% increase.  At this pace we will max the room in two more weeks.

I’m reminded of a time when I was in the 7^th grade—they called it Junior High School in those days.  (I keep telling you I’m old.)  The school was Hampden Du Bose Academy located on the sprawling old Laughlin Estate in Zellwood, Florida.  In those days, it was a Christian-oriented, 7-12, co-ed, boarding school with a summer program.  One Saturday they loaded the entire lot of us on busses and drove us to Tampa, to a boat yard where a young minister was to speak.  We all stood.  There was no platform.  The public address system was the pits.   It threatened rain.

The young minister stood in a brown trench coat and began to preach his heart out.  It was very good, even for those of us whose cradle was the underside of a pew.  The young man’s name was Billy Graham.

Over the years, I remember the crusades in ever-larger venues; I volunteered at one of them.  I remember the Inaugural invocations for George H.W. Bush, a Republican, and for William Jefferson Clinton, a Democrat.  I remember men and women of power and position, many of whom despised all things Christian, standing up to pay homage to a modern day prophet, to a man of unshakable integrity, and a man who never forgot Paul’s command to the Romans “not to think of [oneself] more highly than [one] ought to think.”[1]  But most of all I remember 1953 and a young preacher in a brown trench coat who stood on the tarmac amid yachts undergoing repair and poured out words of life to a few dozen souls.

Humm, a 200% increase in one week.  Yo, Paul, what was that you just said?

Tags: Billy Graham

Ruling & Reigning Training

Part I

Royal Obstetrics

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6 

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: Gal 2:20 

1)  Our Dual Problem: Sins and Sin[1]

     a) Sins (Romans 1:1-5:11) are the stuff I do that misses the mark God has set for me. (I miss a lot!)

{ham-ar-tan’-o} properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), that is, (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin.

For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; … Rom 3:25 

These sins are known, and can be listed.  Paul gives us a partial list:

Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, fighting, jealousy, anger, rivalry, divisions, heresy, envying, murder, drunkenness, reveling, and things like these; of which I tell you beforehand, as I also said before, that the ones practicing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 (LIT) 

At this point we will just remind ourselves that when sin came in it found expression in an act of disobedience to God (Rom. 5.19). Now we must remember that whenever this occurs the thing that immediately follows is guilt. Sin enters as disobedience, to create first of all a separation between God and man whereby man is put away from God. God can no longer have fellowship with him, for there is something now which hinders, and it is that which is known throughout Scripture as ’sin’. Thus it is first of all God who says, “They are all under sin ” (Rom. 3. 9). Then, secondly, that sin in man, which henceforth constitutes a barrier to his fellowship with God, gives rise in him to a sense of guilt —of estrangement from God. Here it is man himself who, with the help of his awakened conscience, says, ” I have sinned ” (Luke 15. 18). Nor is this all, for sin also provides Satan with his ground of accusation before God, while our sense of guilt gives him his ground of accusation in our hearts ; so that, thirdly, it is ‘the accuser of the brethren’ (Rev. 12. 10) who now says, ‘You have sinned’.

To redeem us, therefore, and to bring us back to the purpose of God, the Lord Jesus had to do something about these three questions of sin and of guilt and of Satan’s charge against us. Our sins had first to be dealt with, and this was effected by the precious Blood of Christ. Our guilt has to be dealt with and our guilty conscience set at rest by showing us the value of that Blood. And finally, the attack of the enemy has to be met and his accusations answered. In the Scriptures the Blood of Christ is shown to operate effectually in these three ways, Godward, manward and Satanward.

THE BLOOD IS PRIMARILY FOR GOD  (Godword)

The Blood is for atonement and has to do first with our standing before God. We need forgiveness for the sins we have committed, lest we come under judgment; and they are forgiven, not because God overlooks what we have done but because He sees the Blood. The Blood is therefore not primarily for us but for God. If I want to understand the value of the Blood I must accept God’s valuation of it, and if I do not know something of the value set upon the Blood by God I shall never know what its value is for me. It is only as the estimate that God puts upon the Blood of Christ is made known to me by His Holy Spirit that I come into the good of it myself and find how precious indeed the Blood is to me. But the first aspect of it is Godward. Throughout the Old and New Testaments the word ‘blood’ is used in connection with the idea of atonement, I think over a hundred times, and throughout it is something for God.

It is God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, which demands that a sinless life should be given for man. There is life in the Blood, and that Blood has to be poured out for me, for my sins. God is the One who requires it to be so. God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to satisfy His own righteousness, and it is He who says: ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you. ‘The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God.

I Have Sinned  (Manword)

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. Eph 4:28 RSV²

First, stop that!  (Let the thief no longer steal)

Second, find the root and kill it.  (…let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.)

2 Downloaded from the Oxford Text Archive and used with permission.

Yesterday was the first class of the Ruling and Reigning Training series that I have been working on for nearly a month.  Our congregation has two worship services with a combined Sunday school time between.  Charlotte and I attend the early service (the better to get a restaurant seat after).  I arrived with my outlines neatly printed, set up the classroom, and then went to the worship service.  Senior Pastor, Lee Ponder taught on humility, that spirit of deference or submission-not proud, haughty, or arrogant.  I took the homily to heart, humility not being my long suit.  Directly after that teaching, I went to my new classroom where exactly one smiling face eagerly awaited my wisdom.  No one else showed up.  I handed him an outline, and taught for an hour as though addressing a sellout crowd at Mile High Stadium, (now INVESCO Field at Mile High). 

During the earliest days of the Church, Peter and Philip “went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”[1] This took humility in itself-the Jews had no relations with the Samaritans-but the real act of humility happened later, after the revival broke out in Samaria.  “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, ‘Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.’”[2]  God did not tell him he would meet one of the most influential men in Ethiopia, or that through his testimony, an enduring church would be established there, He just said to leave the revival and go out into the desert.  And Philip had the humility to do just that.

I have no idea where my class will lead, but I trust I will have the humility to teach just one if that’s who comes.  Who knows where that one person will take my teaching?

[1] Acts 8:5

[2] Acts 8:26

Ah, the politically active, but historically challenged rise again.  Today, a large number of protesters took to the streets dressed, more or less, like the participants in the Boston Tea Party of 1773.  They are protesting the staggering amounts of money the federal government is proposing to spend in an effort to repair the nation’s economy. In effect, they are protesting how their elected officials spent the taxes they collect.  OK guys, if you don’t like the way the federal, state, and local governments spent your tax dollars, by all means, protest.  Make noise, carry banners, involve your children.  Please, just choose a historically accurate theme. 

The Boston Tea party was not a protest over how duly elected governments spend tax money.  It was about taxes imposed by a government that the colonists did not choose; taxes that favored the British East India Company over American business.  (See two excellent articles in Wikipedia and the Huffington Post.)

Consider the position of Greg Budell, a radio talk show host, who thinks the protests could have the same impact as when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a Montgomery bus during segregation in 1955. “If one woman could change the world by refusing to move to the back of the bus, we ought to be able to change it by saying we are not going to let our government throw us under the bus, and our children and our grandchildren,” he said.  The rhetoric is fuzzy, but memorable-good protest stuff.  It lacks, however, the one essential ingredient of any well-formed argument.  It lacks a counterproposal.  I’m not that wild about creating a debt for my great-grandchildren that contains more zeros than most of them can count, but I have no alternative to propose.

Typical among those that do have a proposal is Deborah Mourray, 56, a business administrator from the Detroit suburb of Troy. “I’m really opposed to spending the way out of our problem,” she said “How I run my home is I don’t spend more money so my situation improves. Save and conserve.”  The problem is that she assumes the only difference between her household budget and the economy of a major nation is a matter of scale. To the ignorant (notice I didn’t say stupid), the world is a simple place with simple answers to its simple problems.  The cure for ignorance is education (there is no cure for stupidity).  If you have an educated, workable solution to the current financial crisis–one that does not cost more than the Second World War, please let me know.  I’ll be right there with you.  If not, just promise me you’ll leave the Boston Tea Party out of it.

Tags: Add new tag, boston tea paarty, crisis, protest

Ruling & Reigning Training

Part I

Royal Obstetrics

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6 

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: Gal 2:20 

1)  Our Dual Problem: Sins and Sin[1]

     a) Sins (Romans 1:1-5:11) are the stuff I do that misses the mark God has set for me. (I miss a lot!)

 {ham-ar-tan’-o} properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), that is, (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin.

 For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; … Rom 3:25 

These sins are known, and can be listed.  Paul gives us a partial list:

Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, fighting, jealousy, anger, rivalry, divisions, heresy, envying, murder, drunkenness, reveling, and things like these; of which I tell you beforehand, as I also said before, that the ones practicing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 (LIT) 

      b) Sin (Romans 5:12-8:39) is a principal working in me; the legacy of Adam, not a choice I make.

 2)  God’s Dual Remedy: The Blood and The Cross

     a)  Jesus’ blood justifies me-covers the sin I have committed. The Blood disposes of our sins.

     b)  The cross symbolizes our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  The Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin.

 …being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation…

{hil-as-tay’-ree-on} an atoning victim, or specifically the lid of the Ark of Covenant:  mercy seat, propitiation.

…through faith in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; Rom 3:23-25 

The kid came to me today, hiding behind Witherspoon’s skirts.  (Now there’s an image-Witherspoon in a skirt.  Do they make them that big?)  He, (the kid) has bought the scuttlebutt about big white cats coming to destroy the planet.  Bought it hook, line, and sinker.  Wants to drag my engineering staff away from their work to build an unworkable “planetary defense system” mostly from recycled antique military surplus.  Well, he can’t have them.  OK, one, maybe.  If I don’t give them somebody that can add two and two, I’ll have Witherspoon nagging me about “security.”  It may be his job (security, not nagging) but he takes it a bit too seriously.  Seriously. Feline space pirates?  Be…serious.

Several years ago, I was driving in Panama City, Panama when a Venezuelan man ran a stop sign and broadsided me.  As traffic accidents go, it wasn’t serious; I probably would have pushed it so far onto the dusty shelves of memory that I’d need reminding to even remember the incident except for one twist to the story.  The evening of the accident, the investigating officer knocked on my door.  He said that because both parties in the incident were foreigners, his report would dictate the outcome, and there would be little recourse for either of us.  He shifted from one foot to the other suggesting that he was still undecided who was at fault.  I was raised in developing nations; his intent was not even thinly veiled.  I gave the officer 50 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition.  The next morning he filed a report saying that the accident was entirely the Venezuelan’s fault, the judge agreed, the case was closed.  Never mind that the report was the exact truth, the officer solicited a bribe and would have filed a report placing all the blame on me had I ignored him.  I have never truly laid the matter to rest.  The only bright spot for me is that the ammunition I gave him was pre-WWII with corrosive primers.  50 rounds, if they fired at all, would damage his weapon unless he knew how to clean up after that stuff.  So, there!

I have learned to appreciate a great many things about the United States by wandering around other nations.  Perhaps foremost of these is our concept of the rule of law.  We’re hardly perfect.  Our legal system, from the officer on the street, through the offices of the various attorneys, to the judges of the hierarchy of courts, is made up of humans with every frailty common to the species.  Somehow, we manage to administer the rule of law with more integrity and greater compassion than most nations.  It only makes our public failures appear more egregious.

When I first read of the allegations against the then-sitting Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, I sensed, at the very least, a tempest in a teapot designed to unseat the popular 40-year Republican veteran.  Today, the Associated Press reported that the failures of the judicial system in the Stevens case were so great that various officers of the court are facing prosecution.  On the one hand, it grieves me deeply to read about police beatings, or prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence, or judges taking bribes.  On the other hand, I’m happy to see such incidents make the headlines.  In most countries, such things are so common as to hardly rate a footnote in the press.  In some countries, publicly reporting such misconduct could cost you your freedom, or your life.

Someday I may completely lay aside the minor trauma of my minor injustice; I cannot imagine the demons Senator Stevens must be fighting.  The system ultimately worked, which brings to mind the old cliché, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.”  The good Senator is exonerated, but does not get his seat back.

Posts like this are supposed to end with a witty quip.  In this case, none comes to mind.  Sorry.

Tags: rule of law

What a strange position for a life-long conservative Republican!  This is now the third time I find myself defending Barack Obama, a Democrat for whom I did not vote.

An article by Toby Harnden, US Editor for telegraph.co.uk talking about President Obama’s meeting with Queen Elizabeth II elicited the following comment.  As usual, such comments are signed only by a first name, and that often fictitious. This one is signed, “Bill.”

“Barack Hussein Obama is such an embarrassment to our country, I cannot stomach the sight of him, nor understand why Gordon Brown slobbers over him so. George Bush, though mistaken on some issues, was genuine, resolute and enamored of his country and the principles on which it was founded - characteristics completely lacking in this Kenyan impostor who achieved power through deceit, thuggery and slick self-promotion. I believe it will not be long before the vast majority of Americans and Brits alike rue the day he ever came on the scene.”

Bill reminds me of my 3-year-old great-grandson.  The child does not like the way I drive.  I’m going too fast, I’m driving too slowly, I should turn the other way, I should roll the window down (or up).  Even my wife, who has earned the right to criticize my driving, chooses a less critical path.  Generally, I would defend even a 3-year-old’s right to an opinion-any opinion.  It’s when the opinion is based in profound ignorance and vigorously stated, coupled with a general disrespect of the office (Grandpa or President) that I start to lose it.

I’m reminded of a story about one of the first African-American officers in the U.S. military.  A white NCO passed him on the street without saluting.  The young officer removed his blouse (jacket if you are a civilian), hung it on a fencepost and said, “If you can’t respect me, at least respect the uniform.”  The NCO saluted the draped fencepost, and then saluted the officer as smartly as he knew how.  Only history can separate the man from the office. 

Phrases like “Kenyan imposter” have no place in civilized communication, written or spoken.  I would bet the farm that Bill has not one shred of evidence that Obama “achieved power through deceit {and} thuggery,” and is willfully ignorant that all politicians are elected through self-promotion.  Been there, done that. 

Obama hasn’t been in office long enough to know where all the bathrooms are, let alone do anything to raise such ire.  He certainly has handled the firestorm better than I would have, and I don’t make such admissions lightly.

A few minutes ago, the 3-year-old told me I needed new tires-this from one that would not know a new tire from a ring of bologna.  Bill, if that’s the peer group with which you would like to be identified, say on.

Tags: Obama