Tag Archives: resurrection

Christmas Reflection: The Divine Embrace

December 20th, 2022 | Dr. Charlie Self

Faithful Christians and thoughtful spiritual seekers are rightly in awe of the truth of the Incarnation: in Jesus of Nazareth, God forever becomes human. This is what billions celebrate each year: the Savior of the world comes to us in the innocence and vulnerability of a baby.

Jesus Christ was born…to die. His human growth, adult work as a carpenter, and Messianic public ministry all matter as he unveils the divine life of a human being and the human life of God. Jesus’s words and works – forgiving, delivering, healing and reconciling – all serve as models of life in God’s kingdom. But the most important act in this this drama is found in the Passion: Jesus voluntarily submitting himself to injustice, unspeakable agony, and a cruel death by crucifixion. This pathway had – and still has – a purpose: our salvation. In the hours of agony on Good Friday, our Lord represented all of humankind and was our mediator, our representative as he took on all our sins and sorrows, sufferings and unanswered questions. And death did not have the final word as we celebrate the Lord’s bodily resurrection on Easter morning!

The Bible offers four portraits of our Lord.

For Matthew, Jesus is forever our Immanuel – the With-Us-God (Matthew 1:22-23). And in his resurrection on Easter, we see our future on display: body and spirit transformed and assurance of our eternity in God’s presence (Matthew 28). Jesus comes with a new revelation of God’s presence, authority, and teaching, declaring God’s kingdom and demonstrating God’s grace (Matthew 5-7 and 8-9)

For Mark, Jesus is the Sovereign who demonstrates his authority through humility, and his power through serving (Mark 10:45). Everything the Lord asks of his followers he has done as a human being! Even though his followers are slow to grasp all of this, he patiently loves them and calls them to service.

For Luke, Jesus is the Savior of all humankind: Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, women and men, and everyone from every culture, ethnicity, and race that humbly calls on him for mercy (Luke 1-2; 7, 18-19, 24). Women are welcomed alongside men in Jesus’s inner circle (Luke 8).

For John, The One who is the Eternal Word made flesh (God becoming a human being in the womb of Mary), offers all who believe eternal and overflowing life (John 3:16; 10:10). The key that unlocks this is active believing – authentic trust in who he is and in what he has done through the cross and resurrection (John 20:31).

May our Christmas be filled with gratitude for grace, hope rooted in holy love, and love flowing from the fact that we love God because he first loved us.

A Special Update and Invitation from Dr Charlie Self

April 18th, 2022 | Dr. Charlie Self

Dear friends and readers,
It has been too long since I have posted. We have been in several transitions with family (two new grandbabies – Yay!) and work (I am advising, authoring two books, speaking and teaching and looking for more opportunities since leaving Made to Flourish as of November 1, 2021), so my focus has been on several arenas other than my own website.

In the coming weeks, my co-authors and I will publish a new book: Life in 5-D that will transform how the church and thoughtful people see Christian discipleship and personal wholeness. This work is rooted in the Discipleship Dynamics Assessment ™ that is gaining momentum among leaders and organizations (see the site here: www.discipleshipdynamics.com). The pandemic and accelerating cultural changes are demanding a reimagining of discipleship and mission for the local church, Christian ministries and thoughtful followers of Jesus. We covet your prayers as the editing and layout are completed.

The second book, Thoughtful, will be published later this year and represents twenty years of observation and reflection, research and writing. In this book, I present a four-step pathway from reaction to response as we navigate life, social issues, and living peaceably with deep differences in a contentious culture.

I am preparing TED-style talks based on both books and I believe these works will help bridge many divides as well as call people to a flourishing life found in Christ.

Here is my invitation: Will you consider doing three things that will help our mission?

– First, will you pray for us? This is not a cliché – it is the fuel of all effective work for our Lord.

– Second, will you please share your thoughts on issues you desire me to cover in in future blogs and books? I do not want to be answering questions no one is asking! You can email me directly at drcharlieself1959@icloud.com.

– And third, will you consider a gift that will help all this happen? Please note the “support” button on the website. We need patrons that believe in this mission of flourishing and thoughtfulness. Your gifts are tax-deductible and will help us serve many organizations and leaders that lack funds for contracts.

Our current cultural conflicts center around three issues: 1) A lack of reverence before the Almighty and the crafting of idols to suit our pleasures, with erotic passions displacing unselfish love. 2) Deliberate perversion what it means to be humans made in God’s image and created male and female. We will address this dehumanizing vision head-on in future posts. 3) A crisis of knowledge as people refuse to debate issues with civility, banning or canceling those that diverge from their preferred narratives.

Thank you, thoughtful friends for caring deeply and working decisively for the common good. Easter is the reason I am hope-filled and I trust you will find peace and renewal as you ponder the victory of the resurrection of Jesus.

Celebrating the With-Us-God: Divine Humility and Human Hope

December 22nd, 2021 | Dr. Charlie Self

Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who is proclaimed by the faithful as the Prince of Peace and Savior of the World. The hopes of Israel are embodied in an heir of David who will be King and bring deliverance, healing, and restoration (See Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2). We are familiar with the humility of Mary and Joseph, the humble setting of the birth, shepherds receiving angelic visitations, and, eventually, Magi coming to worship a toddler Jesus in his home. May we nourish these thoughts forever.

But there is something even deeper about Christmas that can be lost in the familiar festivities. Christmas is the great moment of divine humility: The eternal Son, “God of very God, Light from Light, begotten, not made…” (from the 4^th century Nicene Creed) assumes human nature and enters our history. Michael Card expressed this profound truth so well: “Behold the mystery fantastic and wild; a Mother made by her own Child.” The Eternal steps into time. The Infinite assumes finitude. The Holy One becomes forever human. This is why Matthew 1:22-23 declares that Jesus is Immanuel, which translated literally, means, the “With-Us-God.”

Jewish scholars were stunned by Jesus. On one hand, he was hailed as the Son of David, the Messiah coming to liberate God’s people. Yet Jesus chose a path of healing over violence, deliverance over despotism, inclusion of outsiders over catering to the elites. Jesus’ humility, powerful teaching, and miracles won him many followers. But Jesus was more than an expected King: he declared himself one with the Father and assumed divine attributes reserved only for the One True God: forgiving sin, receiving worship, and declaring his understanding of Scripture the final and full word. For the Jews, this was blasphemy and the unity of the Father and Son was impossible, for God is One. And this oneness is absolute, with no room for rivals.

As Christianity spreads beyond Judaism and welcomes converts from Greek and Roman philosophies and religions, the idea that Ultimate Truth could assume human nature was deemed illogical and impossible. After all, the soul was trapped in the material body and that which is perfect could never be contained in flesh. This dualism would later infect Christian thinking, with unfortunate consequences. Popular religion in Rome had a place for many gods, but Christians refused to bow to any other lords or gods other than the Eternal God revealed in Jesus, who is Lord and the Christ. So Greek dualism and Roman polytheism were rejected in favor of the adoration of the Father, the Son (Jesus of Nazareth) and Holy Spirit.

Let’s come back to divine humility. In Jesus, God is forever one of us! What an affirmation of being human! Jesus’ experience was just as ours, though without the sin that ruined our first parents and continues subverting our lives. Jesus developed from a child to an adult, faced all our temptations, experienced our emotions, knew physical fatigue and limitations, and enjoyed life with friends and family. His crucifixion was excruciating. On the Cross he carried our sins and sorrows, sufferings and unanswered questions. His bodily resurrection on Easter offers a preview of the eternity for all believers: our future includes embodied work and play, community and worship. Jesus is forever one of us. If we could somehow have Scotty (of Star Trek fame) beam us to heaven, we would be able to touch Jesus, for even as the glorified Lord, he is one of us.

This Christmas, let’s allow divine humility to heal us from inferiority or inadequacy arising from our past and the abuses and rejections we remember so well. We are worth God forever becoming human. We are worth the painful and unjust death of the Cross. We have a vision of our future on Easter. With God’s help and the support of many around us, we can walk in confidence and hope, for we have welcomed Immanuel into our lives.

We Need New Hearts

August 18th, 2020 | Dr. Charlie Self

We need new hearts.
Even if we righted every historic wrong, established the fairest pathways of opportunity, reformed every institution…we would still be incomplete in our pursuit of justice without one more change: a transformation of the human heart that is only possible with divine love. Yes to systemic change…and a concomitant yes to reconciliation with God and each other arising from the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. This more than a feeling…it is a metamorphosis of thinking, affections, and the will.

Lord, cleanse my heart of every hidden evil, all prejudice, and the selfishness lurking, waiting to take over in my vulnerable moments.

Lord, cleanse your church of apathy and fear, her sins of commission and omission, and help us reveal your love in how we love one another and all among us.

Lord, heal our land. Help us repent deeply, reconcile fully, and renew sustainably.

Lord, you resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. May your presence overcome polarizations. May your power overcome weaknesses. May your Passion be our pathway as we serve one another. Amen.

People of Faith in a Confused World

October 21st, 2019 | Dr. Charlie Self

Friends, whether you are a devout Christian or a skeptic, inoculated to religious language or open to supernatural experiences, the importance of understanding faith is vital as we navigate our lives in a hostile and indifference world.

Four facets of faith are vital for our walk with the Lord and effective service and witness in our world where everything seems up for grabs:

We are people of “the faith” – the Event of Jesus Christ: his incarnation, sinless life, atoning crucifixion, burial, glorious bodily resurrection, ascension to the right hand of the Father, and Return in glory (I Corinthians 15; Romans 1:2-4, 16-17; I Timothy 3:16; Jude 3). Unlike most religious systems, our Christian life is built on God’s own activity in history, with the Cross and Resurrection as the defining events and definitive foundation. We must defend this truth amidst all the skepticism, historic revisionism, and basic doubt about the truthfulness of anything!
We are people with “saving faith.” We can be assured by the Holy Spirit that we are God’s children with a secure eternity (Romans 8)! How completely different this is from all other religions, with their emphasis on human effort. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2).
We are people with “growing faith.” This faith can move mountains when we trust God (NOT trusting our faith level!). Faith grows as we obey the Lord – and his first and foundational command is love (Galatians 5:6).
And, we are people open to the manifestation gift of extraordinary faith (I Corinthians 12). This is often linked with other gifts and is part of God’s sovereign activity as we seek to edify the Body and evangelize the world.

As we navigate the turbulent waters of a world in need, may the Lord strengthen all facets of faith, from solid apologetics concerning the Bible and truth, to deep assurance, to compelling obedience, and openness to the miraculous.