Bill Johnson - A Presence Culture
What I did about probably two or three years ago now was to try to identify: what are the Cornerstones of thought for us that shape our life? What are the things that are the most significant pillars of truth? To be pillars would be like the legs of the chair. It holds you up. There’s four legs that hold you in place. And there’s so much of our life that is held in context by truth. And so, I’ve been trying to identify those four. So, that’s what I’m gonna do, right now. I’m gonna talk to you the rest of the time about these four. Here’s the deal: we’ve got four things. The four things are: the goodness of God, that’s the Cornerstone of all theology: second would be that nothing is impossible: third is that everything was purchased at Calvary: and, four, every person is significant. So, these four themes provide kind of the boundaries of thought in which we get to experiment and flourish in what to see and to taste, what this, what this kingdom looks like.
So, the goodness of God. In Psalms 27:13, the Psalmist said this: «I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living». Okay, think through the verse with me. «I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living». That tells us a number of things. Number one, it tells us that despair only rises in the absence of an awareness of God’s goodness. Lack of understanding, heartfelt understanding, to the goodness of God actually gives place to despair. Our faith only explores what is revealed to us in that realm called the goodness of God. Your faith will only explore where you know he’s good.
Revelation of goodness is the invitation to explore with faith. Because that’s when we uncover things that many just walk right past. There’s so much of this life we’ve been assigned to that believers have just resolved to be faithful in church attendance, which I believe in, and be a good moral person, witness occasionally to a neighbor, but there’s no sense of shaping the course of because there’s not a confidence that God has actually summoned us to make a difference in that course of history. And, the backbone of this mission is the goodness of God. It is the fact that he is a father that is good. Good father. So, he says: «I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living». That’s kind of the Old Testament version of, «All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose».
In other words, because I believe, I know that I’m going to see the goodness of the Lord displayed in the land of the living. So, here’s the deal: the goodness of the Lord, when we live with that burning conviction, a realization that there is a realm of exploration that we owe him, that we owe ourselves, into his goodness, and the expected behavior from heaven for every believe that sees his goodness is to learn to dream big. Free choice. We’ve been made free moral agents. We have been given a free will. And, historically, humanity has been known for the free will of eating the forbidden fruit. But the day is coming when free will is going to be known that we dream God-sized dreams, that we partnered and co-labored with the Lord, not dreams independent of God, but dreams that exist because of God, dreams that become the offspring of our fellowship with God, that he summons us to dream things that are extraordinary.
Now, this is kind of a intimidating role because there’s, you know, let’s face it, there’s no idea we can come up with that he hasn’t thought of first. You know, he can do everything we do better. He can preach better, he can sing better, he can write music better, he can write books. He’s pretty good at writing books. He is the word, so he is a book. He does everything better. And yet, his delight is in co-laboring with those made in his image. So, he made us in his image. So, this means, then, that we have a privilege and a responsibility to reflect his nature by our capacity to and the Bible says, «Hope deferred makes the heart sick».
So, that tells us, then, that disappointment and a bad theology, I’ll add to it, those two things kill the dreams in people. Disappointment. Not knowing how to walk through disappointment, loss, confusion, those kinds of issues that come up in all, every one of our lives. The goodness of the Lord must be revealed through a people that have partnered with him to now, closing statements on this one simple point. In the gospel of John is the number-one book on revealing why Jesus came. All the gospels demonstrate it, but John actually identified the purpose of Jesus' coming much more clearly, I think, than all the rest of the New Testament combined. Just, it’s probably wrong, but that’s my thoughts. He emphasized chapter after chapter that Jesus came to reveal the father, that he came to reveal the father.
So, everything that Jesus did, from destroying the works of evil one to being sacrificed in our place, his resurrection, his establishment of the kingdom, all these things were merely efforts to represent the father well. So, the mandate was to reveal the father. In displaying the goodness of God, we have been summoned by the Lord to reveal who he is through the pursuit of the gospel of John, once again, revealing God is the father, four times in three chapters, Jesus teaching his disciples says: (as quoted) in that day, you will ask anything. Up until now, you’ve not asked anything of the father in my name. But in that day, you will ask. And anything you ask for will be done. Four times in three chapters.
So, here’s my point is where as in the past free will was revealed by partaking of a forbidden fruit. There’s a day coming where there’s going to be a generation that has learned to dream big and represent the heart of God in fulfilling his purposes in the earth. He is ready to partner with anyone with a God-sized dream. The last thing we need is self-centered Christians that are using principles of scripture to get their way. That’s not this. This is the partnership with Jesus where he says, «If you abide in me».
So, there’s that presence-based culture. «If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, then, you can ask whatever you want and it’ll be done». So, when we ask and nothing gets done, we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong. Because he said: if you abide in me, a presence-based lifestyle, and my word abides in you, you have free reign to dream big. The goodness of God must be seen in the size of the dreams of his people. So, I pray that over you, that God would increase in every one of our lives that capacity for dreaming outside of what’s expected of us, outside of what’s become normal, even in a miracle environment: that God would expend all of us to see and to think clearly in this dream realm.
The second one is that nothing’s impossible. Because nothing is impossible, I’m required to take risks. If I really believe, if it’s more than just a concept, just arguing that miracles exist today, but becomes a conviction that affects my lifestyle, it’s going to be evident in the fact that I take risks. I step outside of what is accepted. I step outside of what’s politically correct or spiritually correct and take risks to see what, in fact, the Lord will do. Some of the people around here just make me nervous. I mean, some of the risks that some of you take are just crazy. Just crazy things that happen. But all it is is people just trying to explore: I wonder if God would honor this act of faith.
And a miracle takes place right on a street corner of our city, where some extraordinary miracle, somebody gets out of a wheelchair, or somebody’s healed in the mall from a gunshot wound two people that I know of in the mall never spoke a word in their life, mute. They were prayed for on two separate occasions and the Lord loosed their tongue and they were able to speak, and gave them the ability to speak. Where did it happen? It happened because somebody took risks in a shopping mall. The whole point is is that if I truly believe that God is the God of the impossible and I’ve been summoned to that lifestyle, then I must follow with risk. If I don’t, then I’m just, I’m a theorist. I just think in terms of concepts, but not working into reality.
The reality is when people partnered in their dream and they realized that burning conviction that there’s nothing impossible with God, then, suddenly, there’s the compelled need to take risk. Interestingly, this thing of impossibility is a God realm. We know that all of creation is finite. Everything is limited. Everything that exists, except for God himself, is finite. It’s limited, has restrictions, and so, God, in his own autobiography, describes himself in this way: nothing is impossible with God. That’s his autobiography. Nothing’s impossible. And then, he did the most unique thing. There’s only one part of his creation that was made in his image. And he wanted to give that finite being, that’s you, that’s me, that finite creature access to the God realm.
So, he said: nothing’s impossible for those who believe. So, suddenly, those who are finite steps into a co-laboring role with God to express the fact that no impossibility can stand before a believing people. It is in your DNA, when you were born again, it was instantly in your DNA to invade, to attack, to pursue impossibilities, to see them bow before the name of Jesus, it’s in your DNA. How do we know? Because you have the same DNA as Jesus. That’s how you get born again. When a kernel of corn falls into the ground, it dies. It grows an ear of corn. Every kernel of corn on that ear has the same DNA as the one when Jesus died and rose again, you became born again with the same spirit that raised him from the dead. You have the same appetite for the impossible he has. The problem is you and I sometimes get infected by disappointment and bad theology. So, we gotta throw off the junk and get back to who God made us and that’s a people with an appetite to see impossibilities bend their knees to the name Jesus.
The third area is the cross and Calvary, what was accomplished at Calvary. Ephesians 1:3 says that he has blessed us. So, this tells me this, that on Calvary, when Jesus died, he bought something. He made a purchase that included everything. And he bought it for me and he put it in my account with my name on it. So, just think of it in this way: now, he’s a hundred percent God, never stopped being God. Eternally God. But he took on flesh and referred to himself as «The Son of Man» almost every occasion. And, as a man, he reinherited everything he gave up to become a man.
Now, that’s significant. Because, as God, he already has everything. Everything belongs to him. He’s God. But when he left that role, in a sense, or that place, to become a man, still God, so don’t misunderstand me, he forfeited all of that to become a man and then he reinherits everything as our elder brother because, then, we get included so, when the scripture says, Jesus says, «The father’s given everything to me,» John 16, «And I give everything to you,» he’s describing the fact that in our account is literally a record of everything that we own. And we own everything he owns. Now, you understand it’s possible to starve to death with a million dollars in the bank? You have to make withdrawals. And there’s a lot of people walking around boasting in what belongs to them, but they don’t display any of it. It’s not the theory I’m interested in. I want to see the display. We’re born again. It’s all in my account. Everything is mine.
Christian life is learning how to make withdrawals so that I can demonstrate in a practical way: all right, this cancer all right, this broken relationship, we’ll pray for restoration. Whatever it might be is that we look at the broken things of life with intentionality and with purpose to bring the redemptive touch of Jesus. I saw a quote of Kris' on Instagram, I think it was this morning or sometime, that if you don’t have a redemptive answer, you don’t have an answer. Something to that effect. If you don’t have a redemptive answer. If there’s not a redemptive solution to a broken situation, then you don’t have this answer. Because he is the great redeemer. So, this looks, then, at Calvary and it says: all right, Jesus already thought of everything.
Now, what’s the behavior? If I truly believe he took care of everything and provided an answer before there was a problem, remember the scripture talks about Jesus dying? Being crucified before the foundations of the earth. If I believe that’s the kind of God he is, then I owe him trust, absolute trust, when things are confusing and things look bad. Why? Because I know in my heart of hearts it’s already settled. He’s already faced this thing on my behalf and he has the answer in place, in position. I owe him not responding in fear, not throwing accusations, not running and hiding, but instead standing before him with as much trust as I can muster because I’m confident in his goodness that his purposes will be accomplished in my life. He thought of everything on Calvary. It’s covered. Because of Calvary, I owe him trust in things that I don’t understand and cannot explain.
And then, finally, the last one, the last one is this issue my approach is this, is that every individual was made in the image of God. So, I owe every person respect simply because they were made in God’s image. So, I owe them honor. They can believe in Christ, they can be atheist in nature. It doesn’t matter what they can be opposed to me, they can be for me. It doesn’t matter. I owe every person a measure of respect, number one, because they were made in the image of God. But, number two, because every person has been gifted by God. God has actually given graces, gifts to every person alive. The Bible teaches that it rains on the just and the unjust. Rain in a agricultural culture is blessing. Rain is blessing. It’s not floods. It’s the rain that a agricultural community thrives on.
So, when it says it rains on the just and the unjust, it’s basically saying God treats both sides of the family, pre-family and already family, the same. As he pours out blessing, he woos them with his nature. He woos them with his offering, revealing who he is in this is important, because, in serving people well, in loving people well, I have to see the value that God puts in that individual. How many of you have read a scripture a thousand times, or a hundred times, or whatever, and then you read it again and you go, «Oh, never saw that»? That was kind of my approach to John 13. So, let me read this. If you have your Bibles there, open it 'cause we’ll need it just a couple minutes with in John 13, verse 3, he says: «Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands».
Okay, stop, right there. That’s what I just talked to you about, about the inheritance. He gave up everything to become a man. Now, Jesus knows that everything’s been returned to him. Now, this says: «Jesus, knowing». So, what it’s doing, this passage is actually setting us up for an amazing transition. He’s describing what Jesus is conscious of before he washes the disciples' feet. So, there’s a couple things on his mind. These two things are the two, perhaps, greatest Revelations of Jesus' own personal significance.
All right, let me back up. I can always tell when people do not understand their significance because they’re filled with self-promotion. Whatever you obtain through self-promotion, you have to self-promotion is very, very much like lust and greed. Because it’s pursuing something that’s either out of God’s will or out of his time. And it’s trying to bring into now something that we’re not ready for. And self-promotion is actually usurping God’s authority, directing attention to ourself. People that fight for the applause of men usually don’t know who they are: they’re fighting for identity. I’m not opposed to the applause. We’re all encouraged by it, the celebration that we give to one another. God himself does it to his own. He says: «Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the master».
He is one who applauds. He celebrates. Jesus says to the centurion: «Never have I seen such great faith, not even in all of Israel. My own covenant people have not seen this». What is he doing? He’s celebrating. He’s applauding. He’s honoring. It’s a biblical mandate. I believe in this. But when we demand it for ourselves, it only reveals a we don’t know who we are. Because when people know who they are, their response is different. When significance is discovered, no position is too low. I’ve seen through the years, in all these years of working with people, there are some people that will not serve in certain capacities because their position is too high.
You know, they don’t know who so, let’s look at this passage again. Verse 3: «Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to». So, here’s the two themes that are on his mind before he puts the towel over his arm. He’s aware everything is his, so he has unlimited access to resource. Number two, he’s aware that he’s about to go home. He’s about to return to be with the father. So, here’s extreme significance in his own thinking. Says that he had come from God and was going to God.
Verse 4: «Rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded after that, he poured water into a basin». And he washed his own disciples' feet. What’s the point? Is when you know who you are, serving is an opportunity to enable others. All authority is to, anyone in authority, they have to, we have to use the authority to bring safety and protection to people and to enable people. So, when Jesus uses his position of authority, he’s about to return to the father, to bend low and to wash the disciples' feet, he was enabling them, empowering them to become what the father had destined them to be. The way I put it often for us here is to rule with a heart of a servant and serve with the heart of a king.
Rule with the heart of a servant. Be responsible. Give that safety, that protection. Defend. Defend the people who cannot defend themselves. Be a justice person in the sense that you wanna see those who can’t defend themselves, they can’t speak for themselves, the unborn, the poor often have no voice in a culture in society. That’s where we defend. That’s where we rise up and we use authority to bring safety. But then, we bend low to serve with the heart of a king.
What does that mean? It means that I’m going to serve you because I believe that you’re significant. But I’m going to do it, knowing that I have access to unlimited resources to enable you to become all you’re intended to become. These are the four Cornerstones of thought that shape so much of how we live, how we think, how we move. It’s the goodness of God that’s seen in dreams. It’s that nothing’s impossible. We take risks. It’s that we are convinced of the completeness of the cross. Because of that, I’ve gotta trust him when things aren’t looking good. And then, finally: because I believe in my significance, in your significance, I have to serve well. I have to serve him.