For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Discontent  seems to be the prevailing emotional tenor of our day.  A great many people (at least on television and in the social media) seem angry all the time.  They feel as if life has treated them badly. They feel as if they have been cheated and are looking for someone to blame. Something is missing that they can’t quite put their finger on but it leaves them restless and unfulfilled.

Back in the “80’s and 90’s , a major theme of psychology and counseling was the idea of self-actualization.  Broadly, that term referred to a process in which men and women would discover who they were and what life was about for them.  Their goal was to become all that they could be and, in doing so, to find fulfillment in life. Predictably, since this was a concept derived from the world, it was very self-focused and placed personal happiness as the highest priority in the life of any person.  Even if that self-actualization meant the abandonment of marriage and family and other commitments, that could be justified if those responsibilities were getting in the way of the individual’s pursuit of fulfillment.

God is not opposed to us becoming all that we can be.  He is not opposed to us feeling fulfilled in life.  He is not opposed to us seeking excellence or finding great contentment in what we do. The difference is that God is wise enough to know that true fulfillment is never found in a self-focused pursuit of happiness that rejects our responsibilities towards others.  Remember that the two greatest commandments are love God and love others. It was not love yourself above all.

I think Paul’s words in Ephesians gives us some insight into the reality of fulfillment. He begins by saying that we are God’s workmanship.  The word translated as workmanship carry’s with it the idea that you are God’s creative work.  He had a direct hand in determining who you are, how you are wired, and what talents and gifts you possess.  He even had a direct hand in determining your destiny. That thought echoes Psalm 139 where David declared that we are fearfully and wonderfully madebecause God created our inmost being and knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. Knitting suggests design and purpose. I have a daughter who knits. She never just starts knitting yarn randomly without any thought to form or function.  She always has the end in mind at the beginning.  That is how you are made – with God’s purposes for you in mind.

Paul goes on to say that we are created in Christ Jesus.  The purposes God has for every individual will never be fully realized outside of Christ. God’s intent was for every man and every woman to be redeemed through his Son.  The potential for God’s purposes lies dormant within every human until sparked by the Holy Spirit.  Because man is made in God’s image, humans can do amazing things in their own strength and intellect.  But the truth is, they could be even more amazing in Christ where the Holy Spirit takes the natural and upgrades it to supernatural.

In addition, God designed us to do good workswhich he has prepared in advance for us to do.  Good works are any endeavor that reflects the goodness of God, the intellect of God, the redemptive purposes of God, and that draws men closer to their creator.  Those things include achievements in science, the arts, education, business, agriculture, and government, as well as in building great churches and evangelistic ministries. We too often think of the Kingdom of Heaven as something that is expressed on earth only within the confines of church buildings.  But God wants us to disciple nations.  To do so, the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit must be expressed in every part of society.

Who knows better how to heal the body than the one who created it.  Who better to reveal scientific breakthroughs to eliminate cancer and a thousand other things that kill people prematurely every day. God loves to do miracles but he also loves to work through his people to bring breakthroughs in the natural realm for feeding the hungry, eliminating war, educating the impoverished, providing energy to third world nations, and so forth.  God has created us in Christ with those things in mind.  Our prayer is that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no sickness in heaven, no hunger, no war, no orphans, no dirty water, and so forth. That is God’s will and he wants his people to produce that environment of earth.  Of course, it will never be fully that way until Jesus returns, but we can make deep inroads in correcting the damage that sin and Satan have done on this earth before then.Those things, those opportunities, those good works have been prepared in advance for God’s people to engage in and discover.  They are all potentials waiting for us to embrace and produce by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  God has placed within his people the answers the world is crying out for.

And here is the kicker.  Men and women will never be all they can be until they find God’s purposes for them. Self-actualization only occurs through God-actualization.  Real fulfillment only comes when we run tin he lane God has assigned us.  We are each uniquely designed for his purposes and there will always be something missing until we are in concert with our design.

One of my favorite moves of all time is Chariots of Fire, which was the true story of two English Olympians of the 1920’s.  One was a Presbyterian minister who competed to bring glory to God.  The other was a man looking for self-actualization – fame, money, accomplishment.  The sister of the minister thought his track career was a distraction from his ministry and a total waste of time.  Finally, in frustration, she asked him why he ran. He said something like, “I run because God made me fast.  And when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”  That is self-actualization.  That is fulfillment. That is knowing your purpose for that particular season of your life.

When we find God’s design for our lives, we are running in our lane and will feel the pleasure of God.  The world is in desperate search of that feeling. Countless men and women have given up on finding that place and now use all kinds of things to medicate the emptiness.  Solomon said that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men.  He has placed heaven there and it is a longing for such a place that drives men.  What they don’t know, is that there is only one door to heaven and that is Jesus. Purpose, belonging, fulfillment, and feeling the pleasure of a Father is on the other side of that door.

Unfortunately, many believers do not yet know that truth either.  They are in Christ but still think their fulfillment is to be found in the things of the world rather than in the full embrace of God’s purposes for their lives. They are still trying to run in the lanes assigned to others rather than the one assigned to them before the foundation of the world. As the old T.V. sitcom says, “Father Knows Best.” When the world and the church discover that truth, whole nations will become disciples.

One of the most fascinating stories in all of scripture is the story of Jacob’s night at Bethel which he experienced when he was on the run from his brother Esau, whom he had swindled on several ocassions. We are told, “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven’” (Gen.28:10-17).

Two millennia later, John told us in his gospel, “When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.’ He then added, ‘I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”’ (Jn. 1:47-51).

Nathaniel was stunned that Jesus had known his thoughts. We can surmise that Nathaniel had been sitting under a tree meditating on the word of God – specifically this story and all the ways in which Jacob had defrauded his brother Esau. Jacob was an Israelite in whom there had been a great deal of deception so Jesus contrasted Nathaniel with Jacob. He then characterized himself as the ladder in Jacob’s dream.

In essence, the gospel of John reveals that Jacob’s dream was a prophetic picture of Jesus who would bridge the gap between heaven and earth. Not only that but, through him, the household of God would become a gateway to heaven. The idea of the church being a doorway to heaven is both encouraging and challenging. We know that ultimately Jesus is the way to heaven but the church presents him to the world. Jesus is the ladder that spans the gap but we open the door for others to know and experience Jesus. In that sense we can open the door or close the door to heaven by our representation of Jesus. That is both a privilege and a sobering responsibility.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being poor gatekeepers to the kingdom of heaven. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Mt.23:13). These “paragons of virtue” kept men from entering the kingdom because of their legalism and arrogance. They made “rule keeping” the cornerstone of their faith and piled on so many rules that everyone felt the impossibility of “being good enough” from the start. Many gave up before they even started and many felt the condemnation of the Pharisees who considered themselves righteous as they judged all others as those who would not truly make the cut. Pharisees would not even walk on the same side of the street as “sinners” so how could they ever lead a sinner to the kingdom and who would want to go with them anyway?

The Pharisees operated under the Law but some have done the same with the gospel of grace by turning the faith into a list of rules and expectations rather than a relationship based on our immense need for grace because none of us, by our own efforts, can make the cut. Many have felt judged and condemned by those in the church so that the gateway to heaven seemed cold and harsh rather than warm and inviting.

There is also a side to grace that is sometimes abused as well. Sometimes we make grace into a blanket policy that suggests that everyone and everything is acceptable in the kingdom of God and no one really goes to hell after all. God’s love is immense but so is his righteousness. Repentance is a prerequisite to entering the kingdom. If everyone gets in the door, there is no need for membership. The difference in legalism and grace is not the absence of standards under grace, but the basis for meeting those standards.

Under law, you must live up to kingdom standards by your own strength and efforts. Under grace, Jesus has lived up to those standards for us. We are credited with his efforts as long as we have faith in what he has done and a heart that wants to honor him with righteous living although we will have a number of miscues along the way. The kingdom offers salvation wherever we are in life, but calls us to something better, something cleaner, something healthier, and something greater than the world can offer. But it must be offered on the basis of love, grace and humility rather than with judgment and spiritual pride.

The truth is that each of us in a gatekeeper in the kingdom of God. In the eyes of those considering that gate, our lives and our attitudes reflect what is on the other side. If we are judgmental and arrogant, those outside the gate will expect to find a God on the other side who will make them cringe and crawl with fear. If we suggest that there is really no difference between the world inside and outside the gate, other than a “Get out of jail free” card, they will have the sense that nothing for them or their children will improve in this world so they may choose to look for another source of relief for their current pain.

As gatekeepers we must display the character of the kingdom. At the top is faith, hope, and love based on a relationship with a loving God whose grace and Spirit will make life significantly better on this side of heaven and that will make heaven a warm, inviting place for those in Christ rather than a frightening place of judgment and rejection. We are the house of God and the gate of heaven as Jacob put it. Let’s decide today to be amazing and inviting gate keepers for Jesus.

For most of the Jews, coning into the presence of Gold was a fearful thing that held the expectation of death. Undoubtedly, that expectation was established at Sinai when Jehovah descended on the mountain with smoke, fire, and thunder and declared that no one should touch the mountain lest they die. There were other echoes of that moment such as the moment that Nadab and Abihu offered strange and drunken fire in the tabernacle and fire from the Lord came out and consumed them. There was also the moment when Uzzah tried to steady the Ark of the Covenant when David was attempting to move it to Jerusalem and he was killed for his “irreverent act.” Even a man of God such as Isaiah cried out “Woe is me!” when he received a vision of God on his throne in Isaiah 6.

Many believers today still tend to keep their distance from God because of past sins or shameful moments in their lives that they feel disqualify them from coming joyfully into his presence. They still fear a lightening bolt from heaven or the consuming fire of God’s disapproval so they stay away, pray little, and sit in the back pew as anonymous worshippers who want to keep a low profile in the sanctuary as if God might not see them.

The Jews were fearful because they related to God on the basis of law-keeping and the curse of the law was severe judgment for misdeeds. Many Christians still think that God accepts them or rejects them on the basis of their ability to live a righteous life. And since we all fail daily to measure up to God’s righteousness, those of us who have not fully discovered God’s grace still live with fear and a sense that we cannot and should not come close. What we must grasp is how radically Jesus has changed the spiritual atmosphere for every believer.

The writer of Hebrews spoke of this change when he said, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast, to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded…the sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ But you have come to Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God: You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb.12:18-24).

The theme here is open access to heaven for every believer. He is not speaking of access after the funeral but now. The phrase is, “you have come.” In Christ, the presence of God is not a fearful experience but a glorious experience. The atmosphere is one of joy not terror. It is not a mountain that repels but a city that invites. It is not a place where you are a stranger but a city in which your name is written. An interesting detail is that the word “firstborn” in the phrase “church of the firstborn” is plural. It could be translated as “church of the firstborn ones”. That plural suggests that every believer has the status of a firstborn son with God, which in the Jewish culture would mean that you are absolutely the apple of your Father’s eye.

This has all been accomplished by the blood of Christ rather than by your own righteousness. The blood of Abel cried out for justice and vengeance but the blood of Christ cries out for grace. Under the Old Covenant, most men ran away from the presence of God. In Christ, we are invited to run to his presence. The writer of Hebrews made this clear when he said, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb.4:16). The presence that was once terrifying is now comforting, loving, peaceful, joyful, kind, and empowering.

Jesus has made all the difference because his sacrifice satisfied all the demands of holiness and justice and opened the the doors of heaven so that love and mercy could be poured out on earth. Knowing how much we are welcomed into the Father’s presence and how he sees each one of us in Christ is the key to every blessing in the Kingdom. As we begin to grasp his love for us, we cannot help but draw closer, pray with greater faith and expectation, and ignore the accusations and slander of the enemy. As we do that, our capacity to love others and extend grace to them multiplies. Once we grasp what Jesus had done for us, we are compelled to worship in our hearts and as we do we get to join thousand upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.

I love the picture the writer of Hebrews gave us in contrast to the fearful atmosphere of Sinai. I hope you will think about it today and, in doing so, draw closer to the Lord anticipating a very warm welcome.

I was watching a teaching by Bill Johnson the other day. It was a teaching I had heard by him before, but my spirit was stirred again. When you hear a teaching that is anointed by the Spirit, it speaks additional things to you that the teacher has not said. The word enters and then births other things in you, in addition to what the teacher has declared. At that point, the teaching becomes your truth…a truth possessed by you that was taught by the Holy Spirit. So, I want to credit Bill with the genesis of this truth but I want to share what has formed in my heart about it, in addition to some key thoughts that Bill presented.

In Genesis 28, Jacob was traveling cross-country by himself. He stopped in a certain place to bed down for the night. As he slept he dreamed. What he saw was a stairway or ladder resting on the earth and stretching into heaven. Angels were ascending and descending on that ladder. Above the ladder stood God, who pronounced a blessing and a promise over Jacob concerning the land of Israel and the Messiah who would bless all nations. When Jacob awoke, he thought, “Surely God was in this place and I was not aware of it…How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” (Gen.28:16-17). Jacob went on to name the location Bethel, which means house of God.

This must have been a vivid dream that not only made its way into his mind but into his very soul. It was the kind of dream that, when Jacob awoke, seemed as real as the sunrise. He recognized it as a revelation of God and it frightened him. What is interesting is that he declared the place to be the house of God and the gate of heaven. Gates not only mark boundaries and dividing lines, but also allow access back and forth across those lines. Jacob experienced an intersection of heaven and earth, the natural with the spiritual. He saw angels ascending to heaven as they completed assignments on earth and descending to earth as they received new assignments – most likely regarding God’s people since angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb.1:14). So the house of God is a gate that opens up and connects the natural with the spiritual realm.

In John 1, we are told that Jesus is the Word who put on flesh and “tabernacled among us.” Jesus came as both Messiah and the tabernacle where the presence of God resided and the gate of heaven. In John 1, Jesus tells Nathaniel, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (Jn.1:51). Since Jesus has ascended to heaven, we are told that now, as believers, we are the temple or the house of God. We are now the house and the gateway to heaven.

The house of God suggests that we carry the presence of God. Jacob said that God was in that place. The presence of God rested in the tabernacle or the temple. Certainly, Jesus carried the presence of God and so do we as his Spirit lives in us. Remember that the presence of God was manifested from the Holy of Holies. The temple contained courtyards and altars. Then there was the Holy place where the showbread, the candlestick, and the altar of incense stood. But the presence was in the Most Holy Place and manifested from there. The more dedicated, set apart, holy, and committed we are to God, the greater will his manifestation be in our lives.

But the part that is capturing my attention today is the gate of heaven. We are that gate which bridges both realities – the natural and the spiritual. We are the household and the temple of God. We are also the gate through which men can enter heaven and through which heaven may enter the earth. God has chosen us, his church, to be the primary way in which those two realities are connected.

When we preach the gospel, we open the gate so that those who indwelled the natural realm suddenly have access to the spiritual realm as well. As the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them, they become carriers of his presence and citizens of heaven. Through us, his church, heaven also finds its way into the natural realm through our prayers, our declarations, and our message of Jesus Christ. When Jesus told us to pray, “on earth as it is in heaven,” he invited us to pull heaven down and release its power and values onto the earth. When men are healed, heaven is released on earth. When women are set free from the demonic, heaven is released on earth. When mercy and love are released into lives where none existed before, heaven is released on earth. When prophetic words are declared, those things that were spoken in heaven are released on the earth.

God’s design is for us, as individuals and as a corporate body, to be the gate or the doorway through which men gain access to heaven and through which heaven gains access to earth. For us, that is a tremendous privilege and a tremendous responsibility. God had given that opportunity to the Jews as well who were the descendants of Jacob. Theirs was the covenant, the temple, the presence of God, and the promises. They were to be a light to the gentiles and a keeper of the gate. But Jesus proclaimed, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Mt.23:13).

Sometimes, we shut the gate, not necessarily through hypocrisy, but more often by inactivity – neither sharing the gospel, praying, declaring, healing, dispensing mercy, nor setting captives free. It is our activity that keeps angels on assignment. It is bold, audacious prayers that cause the gate to swing open wide rather than rusting on its hinges. I’m certain that God’s desire is for the gate of heaven to be a high traffic gate. We, not St. Peter, are primarily the gatekeepers. May we know our significance and keep the gate swinging in both directions as we fill heaven with the lost and earth with the things of heaven. Blessings in Him.

No matter how great the Christmas holidays, if we are sensitive to our hearts, most of us will still sense a longing for more. That feeling clearly arises when holidays have been disappointing or even hurtful but we typically chalk it up to unmet expectations, people letting us down, or losses we have experienced around this time of year. A dear friend of ours lost his wife Donya to cancer Christmas Eve morning and that feeling of loss, helplessness, and even anger at the injustice of death may be anchored to lights and Christmas carols for seasons to come.

But I believe there is more to it. For the season that was birthed out of the coming of a Savior, there is a special sense of “what ought to be in the world” – peace on earth and good will toward men. There is a sense that families should be gathered together surrounded by crackling fires, extravagant food, lighthearted laughter, and warm memories. When those things don’t appear we feel robbed. But even when they do, there still seems to be an emptiness or a longing lurking in our hearts when the last friend or family member drives away.

I believe that little prick of emptiness is a longing for heaven that God has placed in our hearts. Christmas, at its best, gives us a faint echo of the way things ought to be and the way things are in heaven. Joy to the world can only come from heaven. Our Father’s intention was that we would live in harmony, abundance, and joy. His intention was that people who loved one another would never be separated by death or distance. His intention was that people would live in safety and in communities where people felt at home, supported, and connected. The world, even at its best, falls short of heaven’s promise.

But there are moments around Christmas when we can sense the presence of heaven. Perhaps, we sense it in a warm hug given and held by people we love or a Christmas card reminding us of friends far away. Perhaps, we sense in it children’s laughter or the warm smiles of family and friends around the table as we share the fellowship of lovingly prepared food. Perhaps, we sense heaven’s peace in the quiet of a chilly night with Christmas lights in the distance or when we notice God’s stars in the sky for the first time in a long time. Perhaps, we even sense heaven in the excitement of packages being unwrapped and the surprises that emerge. All of that, speaks to me of heaven and the longing we have is to be home where every day feels like Christmas and the family is all together without the brokenness or bitterness of this world intruding on God’s plan.

If this Christmas left you a little empty or left a vague feeling of disappointment, you are not alone and you are not defective. Ultimately, it is the Father calling you home and the promise that your hunger for love, laughter, and security will some day be satisfied for all those who are in Jesus – the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Everlasting Father (Isa.9:6). When Christmas falls short it is not God letting us down. It is the sin that violates every intention of God that gets in the way, but when Christmas blesses in even the smallest ways that is a gift from heaven, purchased by the blood of the Lamb, calling us home. Pay attention to the blessings rather than the disappointments for each blessing is a touch from Jesus.