Robert E Rasmussen.com

This is the third post in which I seek to illustrate how the “gospel fractal” works in our lives on various levels. Check back on pride and debt for previous thoughts.

Disagreeing with my wife about whether or not to take a ministry trip.

Simply stated, I heard about a conference in another state that really sounds interesting. I can fit it in my schedule, but my wife thinks I’ve been pushing it too hard. She speaks out of love for me, and some wisdom too. But I know she has need for more of my time and attention, so that is in the background. But could a conference about God be out of His will?

So many good decisions come down to sorting out our priorities. In this instance, I am blessed to have a godly wife who has no higher interest than living for Christ and helping me do the same. We can each experience the pattern of surrender and sacrifice simultaneously, and bring our perspectives together. There is a good chance we will come to the same conclusion, but if not, one of us will submit to the other. So the gospel cycle is at work on two levels. One, should I go to the conference or not. Two, and more important, am I dying to live the gospel in my marriage.

Battle over whether to make time for morning prayer.

Now we come to a gospel cycle that transpires in a matter of minutes. My goal is to spend time every morning to reconnect with God. I love doing this, but sometimes my schedule fights against it, or my mind is active with a list of things to do and does not want to slow down for prayer and reflection on God’s Word.

Like virtually every gospel cycle, this one begins with the question of surrender. Will I take my overactive mind, my distractibility, my “to do” list into the garden of Gethsemane and surrender it to God? When I do, I often find Jesus waiting there to take me through the rest of the way. He shows me something I can sacrifice for Him. I abide with Him for awhile, letting His peace calm the worries of the day. And a bit of His glory appears in my heart – maybe through an insight from the Word that encourages me, or maybe from the joy that I have remembered my family members in prayer.

Tempted by seductive profile pictures on Twitter

My final example happens in a split second. I’m at my computer connecting with people (ministry partners of course!) on social media. I’m following people who share a similar vision and out of nowhere there is a profile picture of “SandraXXXfun” who clearly is not a #Jesus-follower. It may disappoint you to know that I am tempted to take a closer look at Sandra.

Enter the gospel rescue team! You see, I have pre-decided that when this occasion arises, I will not click on that link. I have already decided that Sandra and Buffy and the guys that actually put her on Twitter belong at a place in my heart called Golgotha. They are already crucified and buried, not to rise again. The resurrection in this momentary episode is my victory of obedience. I scroll down and click on “BibleTweets.” (or not!)

And if my pre-decision lets me down? Then the gospel cycle looks like confession and re-surrender – hopefully right away and not after a day or week of gawking at the likes of Sandra.

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Paying off credit card debt.

While my struggle against pride hums in the background, and my efforts to love my parents visits me month by month, there is also this matter of mounting personal debt. How did we come to owe so much on these two credit cards? Yes, we are theoretically committed to paying them off every month, but things happened, needs arose, an opportunity for a special family event came along and we felt we could not let it pass. But now God has convicted us. We must get tough and eliminate all our credit card debt.

I surrender! First thing is to cut up one of the credit cards. Next is to stop using the other one. Then I put up a paper sign in my office showing the debt, and each payment I make to reduce it. I’m encouraged by the progress. I feel more responsible, and in control. After a few months, I’ll be out of debt and can start building up an emergency fund. I will have money to share with others. Joy! (This really happened by the way.)

Working through a misunderstanding with a colleague.

How could this have happened? My teammate thinks I’m a flake! Despite my best intentions, I let him down. I didn’t handle a tense situation very skillfully. I did not make provision for his goals. I failed to intervene when the discussion was going sour. I blew it. Or not. Maybe he saw fault where there was none – took offense wrongly. Either way, we have a misunderstanding and our relationship is tense until we can clear it up. Perhaps this has gone on for days or weeks.

It’s no fun, but I know I need to take the first step and apologize – and mean it. Gethsemane asks me to surrender my pride, and Golgotha calls for humble words. I must ask my colleague for forgiveness, even if he does not say he too is sorry for contributing to the problem. Christ’s new life arises in me in our restored relationship. But even deeper than that, Christ has been displayed in the fact of my obedience, whether the outcome is satisfying or not.

Decision about a purchase.

Meanwhile, there is an item I would really like to own. Maybe it’s a book or a tool. Maybe I’d like to splurge and get my wife a new sofa for our living room. Our commitment to paying off credit cards rules out the sofa for now, but what about a smaller purchase?

The gospel cycle helps me with the decision. Remembering that Jesus accompanies me on this journey, I bring the desired purchase into my relationship with Him. In a sense, I bring the book or the tool into Gethsemane and tell Jesus I would like to have it. I try to hear His voice, and bring myself to the posture of “nevertheless” – wanting nothing other than His will. At that point, I am ready to go ahead and make the purchase, or to sacrifice my desire and go without it. Either way, I have a measure of joy because I submitted the decision to God and obeyed.

To be continued…

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Illustration of the “gospel fractal” on various levels.

Let’s take a snapshot of a disciple’s life to illustrate how the gospel cycle is at work all the time on various levels. As you see these examples which range from extended to instantaneous, you will better understand the fractal nature of the gospel, i.e. the same pattern multiplied over and over in differing scales. I will use my own life as an example. I will try not to belabor the four aspects of the cycle, so I will trust you to think of how surrender, sacrifice, abiding, and manifestation are at work in each example. Remember, all of these may be happening in one person at the same time!

Life-long struggle against pride.

Let’s start with the big picture. I am wired to watch out for myself, think about myself, and gratify myself. I am offended when overlooked, jealous when under-recognized, defensive when accused. When the communion elements come around and the pastor encourages us to confess our sins, the first sin which comes into my mind is my pride. I’m even proud of the paragraph I just wrote!

Obviously God’s desire that I grow in humility is constantly calling me to a place of surrender. This takes the form of confession of my pride and repeatedly putting to death my egotism (without becoming self-loathing, for I am valuable to God as one made in His image). The abiding in Christ takes the form of contentment and resting in who God has made me. I don’t have to compete or win. I am accepted for who I am. When I, by faith, stay in that place of rest, I experience joy deep in my heart. I can love others, and minister to them out of genuine heart. That is Jesus being manifest in me. Resurrection now! (But then there is tomorrow….the struggle will still be there.)

Extended illness of an aging parent.

At the same time one of my parents may be in a stage of declining health which has already lasted for several years and may go on for several more. Maybe dementia has set in and my parent is no longer able to be the kind, responsive person he or she would normally be. There are difficult decision to make about levels of care, dwindling financial resources, sibling responsibilities, and efficiency of caregivers. Maybe a diagnosis is made which requires difficult end-of-life decisions.

This example shows several ways the gospel calls me to honor my parents by loving them through this difficult stage of their lives. My selfish longing might be to avoid the hassles and leave it to others to worry about. Or I might be inclined to take care of the decisions and finances but do so without being kind to my parents. So my sacrifice is that of love. I take time to visit them, pray with them, manage the funds and pay their bills. Mixed in with all of this is my grief in seeing them struggle with declining health, loss of independence, and disorientation. They don’t have their home anymore, or their special belongings. Many of their friends have died. This is sad. But the love of Jesus comes through me and my siblings as we visit and call our parents.

To be continued….

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The infinite multiplication of the gospel cycle could be called a “gospel fractal.”

A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop (from FractalFoundation.org). Search the internet for images of fractals and you will see the beautiful designs created by repetition of the same pattern.

Fractals are prolific in the natural world which God created. Some of the fractal images reveal repeated patterns in, for example, the structure of leaves, vegetables and fruit. Take a look from the heavens and you will see fractals in cloud formations, and rivers carved in hillsides by rain. Observe the fractals in underwater coral and plant life. All of these and many more show the repeated pattern of growth set in place by God. See my former post called The Gospel Fractal here.

How amazing to see that the gospel cycle forms fractals in our spiritual life as disciples. It resembles a fractal in that its simple four-segment pattern repeats without limit throughout all of our earthly life. (Who knows what part it might play in our eternal life with God!) The gospel fractal is scalable, meaning that the same pattern is present in very tiny segments of time – such as a decision or a glance – all the way up to those lasting years. In fact, I believe the pattern extends to multi-generational families, organizations, even nations, and extending over eras. These gospel fractals are transpiring in each of our lives, on various levels small and great, simultaneously.

In each and every case, we are drawn into closer fellowship with God, who established the pattern, who empowers their development by His Spirit, and who garners an abundance of glory for the Son throughout the whole world in every generation! Do we not see the genius and motivation of God in this? As the variegated fractals of the gospel burst out from disciples of every age, gender, language and nation, and in every era, Jesus receives increasing glory while we are conformed to His glorious image! Praise be to the wondrous God of the gospel!

Equipped with this understanding of the gospel cycle, we now will carry it with us into real life to see specifically how God matures us, from newborn babies to mature disciples who can survive in any terrain.

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One of our deepest desires is to draw nearer to God in prayer. We often do not know how to pray in a way that pleases God. Nothing could be more in line with the will of God than the seminal work of Christ in the gospel cycle. Therefore, the gospel cycle provides a pattern by which the disciple can gain confidence in prayer. Wherever we find ourselves in the gospel process, we can align our prayers with God’s purpose in that stage. This helps us know how to pray in His will both for ourselves and for others we love. It even helps us know how to pray for those we don’t know, or find it hard to love!

How do we know what to pray at the different way-points along the Jesus way? The best place to begin is with the prayers of Jesus as He fulfilled His mission.

Prayers of surrender. In His surrender in Gethsemane, Jesus labored in prayer literally for hours, repeatedly wrestling with the Father until He could honestly pray, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:36). It is bold to say but nonetheless true: Every work which God wants to do in your life must begin with your surrender. It is always His will for you to surrender to Him, no matter what the need or problem is. Surrender always opens the gospel cycle, and without it the further unfolding of the pattern will be inhibited. As you intercede for others, you will be surprised at how frequently the true need in their situation is to surrender in a new and deeper way to God. You cannot make another person surrender to God’s will, but you can fervently ask the Spirit of God to do that work in the one you care about.

Prayers of sacrifice.   Jesus must not have ceased praying as He endured Golgotha! We have just a few specific prayers recorded from what must have been a continual calling out to the Father for strength. The essence of Jesus’ prayers helps us in praying through seasons when life demands extreme sacrifices.”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” (Matt. 27:46b). In a sense this is one prayer that only Jesus could pray, for His sin-bearing demanded temporary separation from holy God (2 Cor. 5:21. Yet in a lesser way, we may experience darkness of soul that makes this kind of prayer appropriate.

Jesus also prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). In praying for ourselves and others, as we proceed through days of great sacrifice, it is always in the will of God for us to plead for grace toward others. Even where the offender does know what he is doing, our calling is to extend grace.

The core of praying in times of sacrifice is encapsulated in Jesus’ prayer, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” (Luke 23:46). When God has asked you to give up something or someone dear, your ultimate prayer is to fully entrust all that you are to Him. This essence of true sacrifice is the most demanding, yet most liberating posture possible to any disciple.

Prayers of abiding.   Your seasons in the tomb may be devoid of prayer. Grief, delay, sadness, and confusion may make it impossible to pray. Others for whom you pray may be unable to pray for themselves such that your intercession is a great way to come alongside them. It is important that you not pressure another to pray when in fact God may have drawn them into a season of quietly abiding.

Burial-like seasons may afford you extended times of solitude and silence in which you need not make any effort to express your thoughts to God. In such times, prayer consists of waiting, listening, and even wondering.

Prayers of abiding may follow after times of pruning. God may have cleared away extraneous attachments in order to produce more fruit (Jn. 15:1-3). As a result, extended times when you are aware of abiding in Christ can produce prayers of hope. You may pray for fruitfulness to come, not only as you emerge from seasons in the tomb but even for the sweet fruit of mourning. This fruit is the kind offered by the woman who anointed Jesus with fragrant oil the night before His death (Mk. 14:3-9). He was pleased with her sensitivity to His impending death and burial.

Prayers of manifestation.   To put it mildly, Jesus was oriented to action after His resurrection. He told the women, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me”(Matt. 28:10). That was not a prayer to God, but it shows that Jesus intended to show His disciples that He was alive. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” (Matt. 28:19a). Jesus wants to be known and seen!

Whatever surrender, sacrifice and burial have demanded now becomes the substance for resurrection prayer. Pray for the joy of Christ to emerge out from the sadness and loss. Pray for the healing of Christ to replenish that which was ill. Pray for the power of Christ to dispel weakness, fear, and doubt. In essence, pray for Jesus to show up in the situation in the miraculous way that only He can.

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