Resurrecting St. Patrick – His Humility and Courage

Resurrecting St. Patrick – His Humility and Courage. (this post is in process and will be completed soon)

‘If I have done anything good for my God whom I love, I beseech Him to grant me that with these new believers and those in captivity I may pour out my blood for His name, even if my body should be denied burial, and be miserably torn limb from limb by dogs or fierce beasts, or that the birds of heaven should devour it… It is certain that we shall rise one day in the brightness of the sun – that is, the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer.” (Patrick, from his Confessions).

God’s Name Not Patrick’s Name. Patrick was content to be identified by God’s name and not his own. He was completely satisfied with being buried in an unmarked grave and food for the scavengers. Patrick was strikingly parallel to John the Baptist in many ways, but here is maybe the biggest way… Both Patrick and John were happy to be a voice in the wilderness and not a name in the lights. Neither were out to make a name for himself. In their humility, they accepted their mission to be a voice, not a name. They were content to be working undercover, hidden in Christ. Patrick and John were serving within what Dr. Ellen Davis called “the discipline of obscurity.”

“Learn to be unknown.” (Thomas A’ Kempis, Imitation of Christ). Patrick lived into a gospel truth… Christ-followers are living with a new identity. We have taken the name tag off our chest and replaced it with a cross necklace. We are hidden in Christ who Himself is inside the Father. We check our egos at the door every morning when we open the door into a new day. We are content to be anonymous for Jesus. We don’t seek to put our names up in lights, for we are happy to be a voice in the wilderness. We are satisfied to be hidden under the shadow of His wings. We do not want to be a celebrity that directs the attention of others to us. We are happiest when God’s name is glorified, not ours. We realize that to seek acclaim is to reduce the voice to a selfish noise. We know that when we embrace the glamor of fame or name recognition, then we are digging up the grave of self that was supposed to have been crucified on the Cross with Christ. We are content with our names being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, embraced by the Name above all names. We are most pleased when our voice echoes out to the world and speaks of the new Kingdom, calling out to others with the love of Christ.

The Servant Song

“A life not lived for others is not a life.”  (Mother Teresa of Calcutta). In loving others, we forget about ourselves on purpose. In a marriage, we help our spouse to discover what is most life-giving to him/her and we do what we can to make it happen. In our job, we do excellent work and give the credit to God and colleagues. In a friendship, we do what it takes to help that friend to flourish. In a community, we practice all those biblical one another’s… forgive each other, encourage and build up each other, honor and comfort one another, exhort and restore each other, harmonize and bear with each other, confess to one another, wash the feet and bear the burdens of each other. In daily life, our head is on a swivel and our antennae are up to notice and care for the “least of these.” (Matthew 25). In church, we use what spiritual gifts have been given to us to build up the Body and make it a place of worship joy and peace for everyone.

“Running on Empty.” (Jackson Browne). As a voice and not a name, we live into our weakness and rejoice in the gift of powerlessness. We recognize that God’s power comes into its own in our weakness. We happily accept God’s word when he said, “My power shows itself most effective when you are weak,” to which Paul responded, “Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weakness and infirmities, so that the strength of Christ Jesus may pitch a tent over me and dwell upon me. Now I take limitations in stride and with good cheer, taking pleasure in opposition, in bad breaks, in insults, in weaknesses, in perplexities, in distresses, and in all kinds of hardships. I just let Christ take over! For when I am weak in human strength, then am I truly powerful in divine strength. The weaker I get, the stronger I become.” The humble servant who is working undercover takes to heart wisdom like this…

1. “The Christian often tries to forget his weakness; God wants us to remember it, to feel it deeply.” Andrew Murray).
2. “God is attracted to weakness.” (Jim Cymbala).
3. “God’s power is secure in us only when it is linked to something that keeps us weak.” (Richard Bieber).
4. “I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency.” (Philippians 4:13, the Amplified Bible).
5. “God desires that we come to maturity by using our strengths to get us into significant trouble that exposes our weaknesses.” (Dan Allender).
6. “The weakness of the flesh in suffering provides a firm working-place for the surpassing power of the Spirit.”  (St. Maximus the Confessor).

Be like the buried seed that grows secretly and silently underground. “Truly, truly, what I am about to say is really important, so you’ve got to listen carefully. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it is buried and dies, it produces a harvest of much fruit. The person who loves his life will lose it, while the person who hates his life in the world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:23-25). Jesus told His followers about something that He thought was so important that He started off by saying the equivalent of… ‘Listen carefully now, I really need you to understand this. This is the utmost truth and is most assuredly true. Truly, truly!’ And then Jesus offers a mini-parable that has two intentions. First, He wanted to discuss the coming Passion, and that He will be like a kernel of wheat that gets buried in the ground and dies to the world. But, He says, the seed must in a sense die in order to bring new life into the world, a harvest bearing much fruit. The purpose of burying a seed is to produce a fruit-bearing plant, He says. And that’s what will happen after I am buried in the ground. The dead seed leads to resurrection life, says Jesus. And judging by His words after this parable, Jesus intends for His followers to do likewise. We must become a buried seed in the ground, hidden and obscure, if we want to bring resurrected life into this world, He is saying. Bury yourself so that you are dead to the world and its way of life, and you will bring new life into the world, starting with you! I intend for you to bear much fruit, says Jesus, but you must first bury your self and follow me. While we are buried underground, we are growing in our friendship with Jesus, growing deeper roots in Him, and preparing for fruitfulness. As Herbert Lockyer said, “As you await this moment of reaping, may you abound in hope as you contemplate the joy of harvest in the heavenly fields above.”  God seems to have a unique clock for each of us within the mystery of our growth, and each of us matures as He ultimately wills, in His timing, at His pace.  No matter where we are in the growth process deep in obscurity, we can embrace Peter’s final words in his second letter: “You must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18). While buried underground and working undercover, we certainly all need to keep growing up in Christ. But only God knows what that will look like in each believer as we will hopefully grow from a hidden seed in the ground to breaking ground, and then from stalk to the ear to the full kernel in time for the harvest. God in His mercy will make that happen in His time. “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong” (Ephesians 3:16-17).

“Daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises… I endured many persecutions, even to chains and to give up my freedom to the benefit of others. But I have cast myself into the hands of the almighty God who rules everywhere.” (Patrick, from his Confession).

“Fan into flame the spiritual gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God will never give you a spirit of fearful cowardice, but instead the Holy Spirit, who equips you with divine power, agape love, and a sensible mind.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. I praise God for what He has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?” (Psalm 56:3-4).

Fear: dread or alarm in facing danger; to be afraid or apprehensive; anxiety caused by belief in approaching danger or by a perceived threat; feeling frightened concerning one’s safety or a loved one’s well-being; unpleasant emotions due to the likelihood of something unwelcome or undesirable; trepidation over unexpected crisis.  

POWER (Greek, “dunamis”): divine energy that is efficient and productive; a supernatural power from God that fulfills a function according to His will; the spiritual energy that produces miraculous outcomes; the lifegiving force from God that provides a believer’s transformation; the Personal divine energy from the Trinity that brought about Christ’s conception and  resurrection; the supernatural power that produces and distributes the spiritual gifts to believers. Even though the Greek word dunamis is the root word for dynamite, God’s power isn’t necessarily limited to an overpowering explosiveness. Certainly there was a powerful explosion of light at Christ’s resurrection, or an explosion of wind at Pentecost, but just as often dunamis is also referring to the more quiet changes within each believer that transforms each of us from our old human nature into a new creature. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of God’s nature – His agape love, mercy and grace – often does not even draw attention to itself despite its powerful, life-changing effects. It’s important to note that God’s dunamis is most effective when working through our weakness, but not our fearfulness. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Our weakness is an invitation for God’s power to become most evident. But fearfulness seems to be a whole different matter. God can work with our weakness, but not with our timidity. A weak person can at least take one step, even though weak. And a weak person can even just stand there in God’s strength (Eph. 6:8-10) without taking a step. But a timid, cowardly person turns and flees, and how can God work with that? God can use a spirit of weakness, but it looks like His hands are tied when we are in fearful timidity. The Holy Spirit is our power source, our dunamis, while our unredeemed human nature is our source of impotence.

LOVE (Greek, “agape”): Agape love is the supreme of all the loves, and desires the highest good of someone else. Agape is “the highest level of love known to humanity,” (C. S. Lewis), and thus can only come from above with God as its source. The most virtuous person on the planet cannot manufacture agape love as if it’s merely a highly esteemed trait. We don’t have it in us. We aren’t born with the ability to show agape love. It is impossible for us to demonstrate agape love on our own, because it can only derive from God, and not from human nature. Agape love is the ultimate expression of God’s nature, the essence of His character (see Exodus 34). Agape love is not Eros, which is romantic love. It is not Phileo, which is brotherly love. It is not Storge, which is family love. Agape love is the divine love that can only come to us from the heart of God. Agape love is the love shared between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is truly the source of all these other loves, but it is only agape love that is poured into our hearts from the Holy Spirit, to those who believe in Christ. Agape love is an eternal virtue outlasting all the other virtues (1 Corinthians 13:8). Agape love is the primary fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) Agape love, the sacred love of God, is universal, it is a gift, it is highly active, it is sacrificial, and it is unconditional. Agape was translated into Latin as Caritas, and thus agape has long been translated as Charity. “Beloved friends, let us agape-love one another; because agape-love is from God. Everyone who agape-loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of Him. Those who refuse to agape-love don’t know the first thing about God, because God is agape-love – So you can’t know Him if you don’t agape-love” (1 John 4:7-8).

MIND (Greek, “sophronismos”): literally means a “saved mind;” translated as a sensible mind, a sound mind, with balanced judgment and prudence; a self-controlled mind that isn’t mastered by emotions; a reasonable, moderate mind with self-discipline; a sober mind that is well-balanced. One scholar describes the sound mind as “a mind with the sanity of saintliness.” What else could this be but the mind of Christ given to believers through the Holy Spirit? A sensible mind is able to properly use the divine energy and the supernatural love of the Spirit together as teammates. What happens when there is no love to go with the power? What happens when there is no power to go with the love? That won’t happen with the almighty God. The sensible mind, the mind of Christ, knows how to flesh out these inevitable character traits of God. Because when have we ever seen in the history of the world a person who perfectly blended power with love? Only the Person of Jesus. By acquiring the mind of Christ, we are able to grow in blending together the explosive power of God with the unconditional love of God. Only the mind of Christ is up to that task.

“Who could ever separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? No one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish His love toward us. Troubles, pressures and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecution, hunger, nakedness, dangers and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipresent love. Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and His demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything!”  (Romans 8:35-37, Passion Translation).

^“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great ‘dunamis’ power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…” (Ephesians 1:18-20).