Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive
Chapter 1
Seeing Our Way Clearly: Arm Yourselves
Key Verse: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
IN DESPERATE NEED OF CLARITY:
Page 4. What exactly are you perfectly clear on these days? How about your life? Why have things gone the way they have? Where was God in that? And do you know what you ought to do next, with a deep, settled confidence that it will work out? Neither do I. Oh, I’d love to wake each morning knowing exactly who I am and where God is taking me. Zeroed in on all my relationships, undaunted in my calling. It’s awesome when I do see. But for most of us, life seems more like driving along with a dirty windshield and then turning into the sun. I can sort of make out the shapes ahead, and I think the light is green.
??? – How does your life compare with the comments above? How is your “windshield” right now?
IN DESPERATE NEED OF CLARITY
Pages 4-5. Why is it that, as Tillich said, its only “here and there in the world and now and then in ourselves” we see any evidence of a new creation? Here and there, now and then. In other words… not much. When you stand them side by side, the description of the Christian life practically shouted in the New Testament compared with the actual life of most Christians, it’s…embarrassing. Paul sounds like a madman, and we look a little foolish, like children who’ve been held back a grade. Why is it that nearly every good thing, from taking the annual family vacation to planning a wedding to cultivating a relationship, takes so much work? It’s almost as if there’s something set against us.
??? -- What do you think causes the discrepancy between the “description” of the Christian life in the New Testament and the “actual” life of most Christians?
EYES TO SEE
Page 9. Has God abandoned us? Did we not pray enough? Is this just something we accept as “part of life,” suck it up, even though it breaks our hearts? After a while, the accumulation of event after event that we do not like and do not understand erodes our confidence that we are part of something grand and good, and reduces us to a survivalist mind-set. I know, I know—we’ve been told that we matter to God. And part of us truly believes it. But life has a way of chipping away at that conviction, undermining our settled beliefthat he means us well. I mean, if that’s true, then why didn’t he ___________? Fill in the blank. Heal your mom. Save your marriage. Get you married. Help you out more.
Either (a) we’re blowing it, or (b) God is holding out on us. Or some combination of both, which is where most people land. Think about it. Isn’t this where you land, with all the things that haven’t gone the way you’d hoped and wanted?
??? – How do you respond to Eldridge’s assessment of the question “Has God abandoned us?”
THE OFFER IS LIFE
Pages 10-11 The glory of God is man fully alive. (Saint Irenaeus)
When I first stumbled across this quote, my initial reaction was…You’re kidding me. Really? I mean, is this what you’ve been told? That the purpose of God—the very thing he’s staked his reputation on—is your coming fully alive? Huh. Well, that’s a different take on things. It made me wonder, What are God’s intentions toward me? What is it I’ve come to believer about that? Yes, we’ve been told any number of times that God does care, and there are some pretty glowing promises given to us in Scripture along those lines. But on the other hand, we have the days of our lives, and they have a way of casting a rather long shadow over our hearts when it comes to God’s intentions toward us in particular. I read the quote again, “The glory of God is man fully alive,” and something began to stir in me. Could it be?
I turned to the New Testament to have another look, read for myself what Jesus said he offers. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Wow. That’s different from saying, “I have come to forgive you. Period.” Forgiveness is awesome, but Jesus says here he came to give us life. Hmmm. Sounds like ol’ Irenaeus might be onto something. “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38). The more I looked, the more this whole theme of life jumped off the pages. I mean, it’s everywhere.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
“You have made known to me the path of life." (Ps. 16:11)
“In him was life, and that life was the light of men." (John 1:4)
“Come to me to have life." (John 5:40)
"Tell the people the full message of this new life." (Acts 5:20)
I began to get the feeling of a man who’s been robbed. I’m well aware that it’s life I need, and it’s life I’m looking for. But the offer has gotten “interpreted” by well-meaning people to say, “Oh well. Yes, of course…God intends life for you. But that is eternal life, meaning, because of the death of Jesus Christ you can go to heaven when you die.” And that’s true…in a way. But it’s like saying getting married means, “Because I’ve given you this ring, you will be taken care of in your retirement.” And in the meantime? Isn’t there a whole lot more to the relationship in the meantime?
??? -- How do we interpret these promises of life, in light of the actual living of our lives?
WE ARE AT WAR
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
Page 13 Have you ever wondered why Jesus married those two statements? Did you eve know he spoke them at the same time? I mean, He says them in one breath. And he has his reasons. By all means, God intends life for you. But right now that life is opposed. It doesn’t just roll in on a tray. There is a thief. He comes to steal and kill and destroy. In other words, yes, the offer is life, but you’re going to have to fight for it because there is an Enemy in your life with a different agenda.
There is something set against us.
We are at war.
??? – How do these comments by Eldridge strike you? Do you live as if this were the reality in your daily life? If not why? If, yes, then what impact does the reality make?
Page 13. How I’ve missed this for so long is a mystery to me. Maybe I’ve overlooked it; maybe I’ve chosen not to see. We are at war. I don’t like that fact any more than you do, but the sooner we come to terms with it, the better hope we have of making it through to the life we do want. This is not Eden. You probably figured that out. This is not Mayberry; … the world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, a bitter struggle unto the death. I’m sorry if I’m the one to break the news to you: you were born into a world at war, and you will live all your days in the midst of a great battle, involving all the forces of heaven and hell and played out here on earth?
Where did you think all this opposition was coming from?
??? – What are the implications for daily living of Eldridge’s comments here?
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
Page14. I daresay we’ve heard a bit about original sin, but not nearly enough about original glory, which comes before sin and is deeper to our nature. We were crowned with glory and honor. Why does a woman long to be beautiful? Why does a man hope to be found brave? Because we remember, if only faintly, that we were once more than we are now. The reason you doubt that there could be a glory to your life is because that glory has been the object of a long and brutal war.
???—What does it mean to you to have “original glory”? What is the lasting result of being made in God’s image, even if that image has been tarnished by sin?
Eldridge goes on to contend that WAR is the central theme of the Old Testament: War with Egypt, with the Canaanites (and all the other “ites”), war with Babylon—and on and on. He then makes this key statement: Page 15. Many people think the theme of ward ends with the Old Testament. Not at all. Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34). In fact, his birth involved another battle in heaven (See: Revelation 12:1-5, 7-8, 17)
The birth of Christ was an act of war, an invasion. The Enemy knew it and tried to kill him as a babe. (Matt. 2:13). No pale-faced altar boy, the whole life of Christ is marked by battle and confrontation. He kicks out demons with a stern command. He rebukes a fever, and it leaves Peter’s mother-in-law. He rebukes a storm, and it subsides. He confronts the Pharisees time and again to set God’s people free from legalism. In a loud voice he wakes Lazarus form the dead. He descends to hell, wrestles the keys of hell and death from Satan, and leads a train of captives free (Ephesians 4:8-9; Rev. 1:18). And when he returns, I might point out, Jesus will come mounted on a steed of war, with his robe dipped in blood, armed for battle (Rev. 19:11-15).
Page 16. War is not just one among many themes in the Bible. It is the backdrop for the whole Story, the context for everything else. God is at war. He is trampling out the vineyards where the grapes of wrath are stored. And what is he fighting for? Our freedom and restoration. The glory of man fully alive. In the meantime, Paul says, arm yourselves, and the first piece of equipment he urges us to don is the belt of truth (Eph. 6:10-18). We arm ourselves by getting a good, solid grip on our situation, by getting some clarity on the battle over our lives. God’s intentions toward us are life. Those intentions are opposed. Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes.
??? -- Do you agree or disagree that war is the “backdrop for the whole Story”? Why?
YOU MUST FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE
Page 17. Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days we will not understand life. We will misunderstand 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some awful things about God. That four-year-old girl being molested by her daddy—that is “God’s will”? That ugly divorce that tore your family apart—God wanted that to happen? And that plane crash that took the lives of so many—that was desired by God?
Page 18. Before He promised us life, Jesus warned that a thief would try to steal, kill and destroy it. How come we don’t think that the thief then actually steals, kills and destroys? You won’t understand your life, you won’t see clearly what has happened to you or how to live forward from here, unless you see it as a battle. A war against your heart. And you are going to need your whole heart for what’s coming next. I don’t mean what’s coming next in the story I’m telling. I mean what’s coming next in the life you’re living…..We don’t understand what’s happening around us or to us or to those we love, and we are practically clueless when it comes to the weight of our own lives and the glory that’s being …held back.
Some of you don’t see it yet. That’s all right. We have a whole book ahead of us. If it’s true that there is a great and fierce battle unfolding all around us—and against us—why isn’t the enemy more visible? And if there is a glory to my life, well, then, why don’t I see that? Why do I struggle so much, and where is that life God offers?
We don’t see clearly because we don’t see with the eyes of our heart.
??? -- What difference would it make in your life right now, if we believed what Eldridge wrote in these few paragraphs, and adjusted our perception and perspective accordingly?