Smyrnan Wealth

To the Church in Smyrna

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death."

Revelation 2:8-11

The most shocking verse in this section to me is this:

"I know your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich!"

When was the last time you looked at "your afflictions and your poverty" and said to yourself, "my spiritual wallet is full because of these." "To God, i am rich in this moment of affliction." It's totally like God to look at the poor and afflicted and see them as wealthy. It's totally unlike us to see ourselves in the same way, the way God sees us. 

I'm completely on board with us when we look to God for healing, wholeness, completion, redemption, etc. in any of our situations. But often times, when what we are looking for in our circumstances doesn't happen the way we want or change the way we want, we think we have become "spiritually poor." Or that something's wrong. Or we go as far as thinking that God Himself must be wrong!

But fortunately we have the promise of the "crown of life." I don't necessarily see this as something that is only received when we "get to heaven." I believe that we can wear this crown of life on this side of heaven by persevering through our afflictions that we have now. And by seeing that we become wealthy (crown-wearers if you will) by persevering through the things that seemingly kill us, give us death.

Our first look at Jesus in this passage is one that shows us that He is the one who died and came to life again. If we are to follow Him, we will follow Him all the way to and through death and (back) into life. I once heard a preacher say "You can't have a resurrection without a death." And again, I'm not saying this is a literal death, these are the things that kill little parts of us, greeds, lusts, idolatry, all sorts of evil desires (Colossians 3:5-11). And lastly this is not punishment by any means. If anything it is reward because now we have the opporutnity to see His love in a way that we become zealous and repent (Rev 3:19 ESV). 

We all have at least one story where we can look back and say "I'm glad I went through that really bad thing, because now I'm better for it." What Jesus longs for us to see is that in our moment of affliction we can have a "living hope" (I Peter 1:3) through the things we see as affliction. 

Are you willing to see your afflictions and poverty as a means to your truest wealth?

The Ephesian Slump

Revelation 2:1-7 should be read before reading this post and can be found HERE.

" To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." -Revelation 2:7

I played organized baseball for 11 years of my life and only once have i ever really suffered "a slump." I remember doing all of the right things that a dedicated baseball player should do while they were in a slump:

*I hated the fact that i was in a slump.
*I took extra batting practice.
*I consulted my coaches and asked them for their advice.
*I made adjustments to my batting stance.

I basically did everything a coach could ask for, except for one thing: I still wasn't hitting the ball!

That was until one day i was about to go up to the plate and bat but i was abruptly stopped by my 6' 5" coach grabbing my shirt right under my throat, staring me in the eyes, and firmly saying "Quit overthinking. See the ball - hit the ball."

He scared the slump right out of me. I went 4 for 5 that day and hit nearly .600 the rest of the season (which for those of you who don't know, is really good). I finally focused on the right thing to do rather than not doing all the things i shouldn't do.

I feel as though the Christians in Ephesus were in a similar slump but probably didn't realize it. They hated the right things. They probably didn't do the wrong things. They did do all the right things that would be asked of them. But the main objective still wasn't being completed! And that objective: love.

They were already praised for enduring harships, so in verse 7, "To him who overcomes" is probably directed at those who are to overcome their own need to be right about what to say and who to "not tolerate" and why to have the reasons you do about anything (how to spend money, who to vote for, what music to like, how and when to baptize, and all the other hot-buttons). Very few people fall in love and ask about what rules to follow and what not to do; they simply act out what's inside them!

Jesus seems to be calling the church in Ephesus, and us, back to acting like we have just fallen in love.

With Him.

With people.

With the creation around us.

Maybe if we spent more time being madly in love, and acting on it, people would respect our opinions on all the hot-buttons more. (Or maybe not!) But the overcomers overcome the need to be right about all the negative things in society and fall in love again. And somehow this grants us access to a Tree of Life in God's paradise.

May we find each other at the Tree eating deeply because we were focused on how to do the right things rather than focused on how to not do the wrong things.

Shortings

"I can't get no satisfaction." -Rolling Stones, Satisfaction

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." -Proverbs 13:12

Over the past several months i shut down blogging for a bunch of reasons that i'm sure i would make sound very poetic if i explained them on here. But one of the reasons, to be perfectly honest, is that i didn't push myself or i didn't set any goals worth achieving.

I'm also very dissatisfied with my writing and blogging as a result.

And yet i also have learned a lot over the summer, particularly from receiving a concussion. How i got my concussion isn't necessary to this blog post, but i suffered it on July 6th. Since then i've had moderate symptoms almost every day. The last week and a half have finally brought relief, but before that i often suffered from headaches, "sea legs," dizziness, light headedness, fatigue, and a sudden onset of a severe lack of focus that would come about at any moment. My recovery has meant the world to me though, not just from the symptoms but through them.

The two months of almost constant symptoms and my constant attention to not pushing myself reminded me that satisfaction never comes quickly. And if it does, then it probably didn't.

Even in the Rolling Stones day, they couldn't "get no satisfaction" from "the guy on the radio" or "the guy on the T.V." because of the quick solutions they offered through "useless information" and squeaky clean clothes. I wonder how the world of the internet and cell phones would affect this song today? Either way, "a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" according to Proverbs.

The problem is we've been satiated by too many shortings. Think about it. How many times do we skip the long and hard work for the thing that comes easily? We settle for fast food when a Thanksgiving dinner is right before us... if we would just long after it long enough.

Technology and simple solutions aren't evil, they simply aren't solutions to our longings. And ever since an angel with a flaming sword was set to guard the Tree of Life at the end of Genesis 3 we have not had access to it. Or have we?

If a longing fulfilled is a tree of life, then maybe a longing fulfilled is one of the few passwords allowing us entrance to this precious fruit. But my guess is that the sentinel in the Garden can see it in our eyes when we want to eat of it too soon. I would even wage a guess that we somehow back ourselves into the garden without knowing it on this one. And the sentinel need not ask us the password when we approach correctly.

Dig deep in your heart for what it truly longs for, and live for those things. Take the daily risks and work hard. Trust in the long haul over the quick fix.

The Coming Flood, Part 2

The passage we worked with last post, and will work with for a few more is this from Luke 6:46-49:

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”


The first sentence in this passage says a lot that we may very well overlook if we don't pause on it.


"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"

For the most part we use the word "Lord" and without realizing it we confuse it for Savior. I don't mean this to sound harsh, but most of the time when people get talking about the Lord and all that He has done and will do, it's typically in the context of Him saving us and providing for us. Granted, Jesus is Savior, and He provides for sure. But calling Him Lord is not so much about what He does but who He is to us, in relation to us. In authority over us. Or i could put it this way...

Calling Jesus Lord isn't so much about what He does but about what we do.

And calling Him Lord means we do what He says. Otherwise one could say we are like a man who builds a house on sand and... well, you know that one by now!

For most of us reading this, calling Him Lord has become synonymous with calling Him Savior, calling Him Jesus or even just plain ol' God. But i want you to evaluate your heart on this matter, and not just in getting the nomenclature correct.

There are some areas, if you will, of my heart that are quick to call Jesus Lord. Most of these areas are as a result of trials in my life i've been given and have overcome (physical illnesses, being single for a long time, divorce in the family, etc.) but all of these areas took time to dig deep and have a solid foundation of one thing: doing what i know Jesus would have me do.

However, there are other areas of my heart where i am not quick to do what Jesus says, and these areas are doomed to experience the storm. I've not dug deep, i continue to use cheap resources, find quick ways out, just get by, trust simply in forgiveness rather than build upon forgiveness with long-term sustained obedience. These areas are often areas that i have fear, doubt, wounds from the past, temptations and greed in. But notice this: all of those areas can also become areas where i can call Jesus "Lord." There's potential laden in all of them. So now it is up to me.

Will you call Jesus "Lord" and reflect to Him a life that shows it to be true?

The Coming Flood, Part 1

Here is the passage from Luke i referred to in the last post. It is Luke 6:46-49


“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”


I will be breaking this down into several themes over the next couple posts, but for today i want to look at the flood that came upon the houses. Notice that the flood comes first to the one who built the house well, not the one who didn't. We as Christians often think in a default manner that judgment first comes to "those sinners over there." But here we see that Jesus first points judgment at those that have built well. Even if this didn't happen chronologically it happened first in Jesus' telling of it. In I Peter 4:17 it says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God." The Lord brings the flood, judgment and, yes, even sufferings (if you read on in I Peter 4) not to harm the children of God but to exalt them! "He who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:14. What is more humble than hearing the word of God, and then obeying that word? 


If you humble yourself and do what God says, most likely you will have some sort of suffering come your way. This is to test the quality of the materials you are using to build your house. ("If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work." I Corinthians 3:12-13) 


If you are suffering, it is time to humble yourself even more. For your exaltation will bring others to knowing God in such a way that they will see how to build their lives on the Rock Himself. No one really wants to suffer, but i believe the mature see that in times of suffering that there is opportunity to see A) what their house is really built on in a certain area of their life and 2) where the Gospel of the Kingdom is really effective in reaching the hearts of others.


Think about it in terms of this really simple example: if i'm in line for lunch and it looks like it's going to be five minutes longer than normal, what is my reaction? Do i complain and moan and make things more miserable for others? If so, the storm has come and revealed that no work of God in the area of my patience has stood. In the area of patience i have built with wood, hay, and straw.


Next, we will talk about this idea of the different areas of our souls going through floods in more detail.

This is My Home

I picked up a brick for at least the fiftieth time. It was the end of a long day, and i was doing something charitable for those who suffered from the worst hurricane in U.S. history, but i couldn't help but not feel like my efforts were being a little wasted. I was picking up bricks from the destruction of a gateway that led to a gigantic ocean side house that withstood Hurricane Katrina and all of her rage. Meanwhile i knew that there were millions suffering from leveled (or even missing) homes, and here i am cleaning up a really rich man's driveway decoration that told everyone around him his (high) economic status.

The owner would come by every now and then and humbly thank us for doing something so mundane. He had a wheelbarrow and was working pretty hard himself but often seemed distracted. This often led me to believe he was lazy. I soon found out i was horribly, incredibly wrong.

As the man smoked a cigarette and called his golden retriever to him i detected a tear in his eye that escaped the shadow of his shaggy sun-bleached hair. A couple of us started asking some of the typical questions, "How long have you lived here?" "What was the hurricane like for you?"

He began to tell us how the only thing he had left was his dog and his FEMA trailor. I asked him "Well, what about your house over there?" as i pointed to the three story mansion. He gave a half hearted chuckle and said, "Oh, sir. That's not my house, this... THIS is my house."

What he pointed to was nothing. Literally, flat ground that revealed a couple cynder blocks, broken bricks and a barely recognizable foundation. The bricks we were picking up weren't to the driveway of the mansion, but of the walls of a small one story house that got swallowed up by the ocean.

I've never felt so shallow in my whole life. I walked away in shame and refused to even make eye contact with the man as i did my best to pick up even pebble sized portions of brick in honor of this man. And his dog.

I did overhear him say one more thing though before we left.

"This is my home. A lot of people are moving north, fleeing to the hills, looking for a new place to live. But Pass Christian is my home whether i have a house or not."

This man's circumstances did not deter his perseverance. My next blog (i'm attempting to blog on Sunday evenings now, but will be gone next Sunday because of Spring break, so the next one will be in two Sundays) i will go into the passage in Luke where one house stands against the flood and one house falls and what that means for us going forward. But until then, know that there are a few things we must place deep in our hearts for this coming season:

*perseverance can only be found in trying times
*there are no accidents, just opportunities
*no matter what structures stand or fail, know where your true home is

What's The Expression on God's Face

If God walked into the room where you are sitting right now, what would the expression on His face be?

Would He be upset with you? Indifferent? Angry?

We typically believe the first thing God would do is lecture us about is His constant displeasure with us. Why is this?

Somewhere along the way we have elevated the concept of and the consequences of our sin above the characteristics of God Himself. We know and trust His anger, judgment and wrath above the idea that "God is love."

I'm not pleading ignorance of His judgement, i'm stating that along the way we have magnified this facet of God's love (yes, His love) over His love itself. For "God is love." (I John 4:8, 16)

When i ask the students i interact with the "expression on His face" question, i rarely ever get the one i've come to know as the true answer. This one is the one where in Luke 15 the father, the God-figure, cuts his son's repentance speech short to honor him as a cherished member of the family after seeing him come over the horizon from "a long way off." This is moments after Jesus colorfully portrayed him as a sinner worthy of the worst of Jewish punishments.This is moments before the son was going to request to be a slave instead of being considered a son.  The father runs and gushes and kisses and clothes and gives jewelry and throws a feast large enough for the entire village because he was in his son's presence.

On to first impressions.

In Genesis 3 we have the first act of rebellion against God, and God's first opportunity to show us that scowl we think we always see on His face in response to our sin. After Adam and Eve both eat of the forbidden fruit, what would you guess God says?

Well, He says, "Where are you?"

What type of person (or God in this case) says something like "Where are you?" (God didn't misplace Adam!) One student responded to this question with, "I would ask 'Where are you?' if i missed someone."

Wow! What if our Gospel to people who don't believe in God became more like that?

"God misses you."

"Plan A for Plan B" or "I'm the Vending Machine"

(Let me begin by stating this before i begin: the views i reflect on this blog post are not necessarily those expressed by my fellow staff members from either The Shippensburg First Church of God or the CCO [the Coalition for Christian Outreach] nor of either organization as a whole. But even my restating of this hopefully compels you to read on with the understanding of just how important this is to me, and how important i think this is to those who have ever or is currently involved in the life of the Shippensburg community.)

This is not a post about whether it's right or wrong for Shippensburg University to have a vending machine on it that dispenses the Plan B pill. This is a post about why it is Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, of all places that somehow managed to make national headlines because of a vending machine and its moral implications behind it. This is a post proposing a Plan A for Plan B.

The vending machine is a perfect analogy to represent the larger yet hidden story of all that is going on here, and in most of western civilization. A vending machine allows you to turn your back to the rest of the world, pay a small price in a private moment, and receive a momentary and hollow solution to your problems whether it's a possible pregnancy or a case of the munchies or feeding a caffeine fix. When someone pens up their anger and then types a coded status on Facebook or Twitter "expressing" themselves, they've just used a vending machine. When i text someone i should call, or call someone i should visit, i've used a vending machine again. When i say i'm ok and i'm not ok: vending machine. I turn my back on the world, make a tiny (yet too small of a) sacrifice and find a quick solution that does not fix a thing.

I'm thankful for a university that does employ people to help counsel people on all sorts of matters: academic, professional, health, physical, mental, and spiritual. And in fact, i think Shippensburg does it very well, all things considered. And yet this vending machine in the health center can't console a teenage girl who has made a choice she regrets and makes another choice she may regret as a result. It would be great to know that counseling would be offered as you engage the vending machine and not in a different corner of the campus from the vending machine. This is not to blame the university though. This is a reflection of the society, the system in which we live.

The system is one of fear. We don't want to admit we need help, that we hurt, yes, we ache with all sorts of burdens we've carried into desperate situations. And since we are all scared, and all ashamed, it's even easier to seek a vending machine for help. The vending machine is stoic (won't make fun of you) yet responds with exactly what you want it to respond with rather than what it should respond with: timely advice, hope, and ironically in this case, a plan.


Unfortunately we, as the body of Christ, have become all too good at pointing the finger in blame rather than towards a hopeful future. We quickly echo Adam in blaming someone else ("kids these days" or the government), or blaming what we've been given (i.e. a pluralistic society with lacking morals). Instead, shouldn't we be like the father in the Prodigal Son story, searching the horizon for those with aches and pains and debauched lives looking for a place to call home and providing them with family? Shouldn't we be the ones that echo our favorite of verses in Jeremiah 29:11 that says "I know the plans i have for you, plans with hope and with a future, and with prospering"? But even worse than not being the solution for a prodigal culture, i fear we are at the source of this vending machine culture.

I Peter 4:17 says, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God..." In Romans 5 it talks about how sin and death came through one man, Adam, and how righteousness and justification came through one man, Christ. You see, Scripture points to the "family of God," whether it was Adam years and years ago, Christ 2000 years ago, or the church now, it is the family of God that is the means through which the world receives its nourishment. "Can a spring bring both freshwater and saltwater?" begs James... no. And this is why God's judgment begins with the family of God, because God understands that the proposed solution for the world will happen through His children, not in spite of them nor will it be administered after their existence. However, if we take the curious case of the vending machine and do not take our own temperature and see what if anything is a result of us, then we will not notice our own need for a new plan to offer to the world. If we take the thermometer and put it in our own mouth we will see that it reads vending machine. We have mastered a vending machine version of the Gospel, and it's taking on flesh in the facets of our society.

You see, when we offer a gospel, "the good news," in a form where one can simply whisper a prayer, be forgiven of all misdeeds, and wait to one day fly away to heaven, we offer a gospel where you place a couple quarters in a machine and slowly watch the vending machine vend a high sugar high calorie sweet piece of candy devoid of relationship, devoid of care. We offer a solution that's quick to obtain, quick to receive, and easily discarded with after we receive its momentary benefits. (We offer eternal life, but is it really eternal if it doesn't come with lasting results on this side of heaven?) When really the good news is a Thanksgiving dinner in contrast to a mere Snickers bar.

The good news is that God came and is here and continues to chase after us all. He forgives and He offers hope on this side of heaven as well as a home in the other side. And not only that, but He recruits you and i to take part in the cosmic solution to all the world's deficiencies, aches, pains, homelessness, hurt and suffering. You become His superheroes, infused with His very Spirit. We become X-Men of a sort where are human bodies are infused with a supernatural call and ability. And one day, all of this work will usher in the fullness of God's joy and His ways and His healing as heaven comes and fully collides with earth shattering away all of its pain.

The problem is, when we offer a vending machine version of the gospel, we live a vending machine sort of life. We refuse to take risks. We don't value hope and "long-suffering" (the true translation of the word "patience" in the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5). We become very comfortable and even demand ease.

The worse problem is this: we offer a vending machine gospel and even if people don't believe it they live it out. And what do you get? A society where you can turn away from relationship and turn to a faceless, helpless machine for your hope... and receive it in pill form.

If we really want to make a difference in our society, we will throw away our vending machines in our every day lives and commit to providing an every day Thanksgiving dinner mentality to those who desperately need spiritual food, spiritual family and spiritual recreation (my family is the best at playing games on Thanksgiving evenings).

In the midst of the mocking and shocking headlines there is good news in all of this. Very good news.

Shippensburg has the ability to be a city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the world. How?

Do you need more proof? Is Tosh.0, Leno and Saturday Night Live not enough proof? What about CNN and all of the evening news shows and all of the news websites? A couple of my friends and i believe in Shippensburg. We've started families, joined churches, established businesses, bought homes, and invited others to join us. We pray and live for its well being (the exact prescription explained in the beginning of Jeremiah 29). And over this past winter break a few of us even began whispering, wondering and, especially looking in hindsight, prophesying that Shippensburg would have the anointing to be a light to the whole world.

But it's not New York City or L.A.? Right. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is when Philip (great name) invites Nathanael to come to see Jesus of Nazareth and Nathanael responds with "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" and Philip responds with "Come and see!"

The thing that changed Nazareth from a place of "Can anything good come from there?" to a place renown for being the hometown to the whole creation's Savior was a move of God witnessed by a man committed to sharing the news about it. The good news.

Listen, i've been there. I've had my doubts about Shippensburg. I've smelled the farms, i've stepped in buggy exhaust, i've seen people dancing drunk and naked outside at 6 in the morning (on Easter morning mind you). I've doubted it's importance. I've bemoaned the fact that i overheard my tenth graders i was student teaching at the time in a nearby school district were making plans to go to Shippensburg for the parties that weekend. My tenth graders.

I've also lived the vending machine life in many ways. Choosing laziness, video games, and personal ease over responsibility, being a good friend or attending the church or community function.

However, the only thing holding back Shippensburg from "light to the world" status is a group of people committed to not blaming the other person or the society, to not offering a vending machine version of the Gospel, and rather committed to discovering the full potential of the life afforded us while we are on this side of heaven and living it out.

There are several churches in the area that i know are viewing the good news in this way and are sharing. I go to one of them, and i'm excited about that. I know a bunch of great families committed to being a community of good news. Will you search for what the good news really is and not settle for anything that sounds too cheap and easy? Will you provide hope rather than pointing a finger anywhere other than at yourself? Will you confess that you've led a vending machine life too long already and you're willing to turn and be a Thanksgiving meal for others? Will you point to Shippensburg and say "Come and see!" while being busy making it a place worthy of such an invitation.

I hope you will.

The Good Confession

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time." I Timothy 6:12-15

Isn't this interesting that there's this little teaser to what the "good confession" is? Now before you go through your Bible or search Biblegateway for what the conversation between Pilate and Jesus is like, i want you to think about what your mind already tells you the "good confession" is.

If you are like me, you just LOVE frosted brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts.

But you also probably thought of a confession like, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior."

Well, ok then, let's put this, and whatever other instant reactions you had, to the test. Here's the passage in Matthew 27 Pilate asks Him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus responds with, "Yes, it is as you say."

But in John 18 we get even more of this conversation. Stunning.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

Here's an attempt at summarizing this "good confession":

1) Jesus states that His Kingdom is not of this world.

What if our good confession included yet went beyond Jesus being Lord and Savior but admitting that "what rules over me is not the ways of the world. My ruler is not money, my job, my grades, sex, drugs, obsessions, addictions, NOTHING rules over me except Jesus Himself and all His ways of living life."

B) Jesus is truth.

Around the Christmas season i love reminding myself of this passage because Jesus says, "For this reason I was born... to testify to the truth." Which earlier in the book of John Jesus called Himself "the Truth" (14:6). What's even more amazing is that Pilate asks, "What is Truth" right before dismissing it/Him to His death. What if part of our good confession included standing by what is Truth at all costs.

III) Jesus is speaking.

"Everyone on the side of truth (an earlier part of our "good confession") listens to me." Jesus could have said "listened" but didn't. What if part of our good confession included to constantly gain an ear for His voice in our lives. Through His Spirit inside of us, through others speaking into our lives, through Scriptures, through praying, and through listening.

Perhaps we should reconsider what it means to confess our faith to something more expansive than just WHO Jesus is but also to WHAT He is, what He is like, and having nothing else maintain rule over us.