Loneliness and Reconciliation: Paul’s Gospel of Presence

``Because Jesus isn't just dying. He's dying in your place. He's dying in my place. He's carrying it all. He's going through the death that we will never have to experience so that we will never know a moment that God isn't standing by our side. When Paul stands alone, when he sees the desertion of his friends, when he sees the painful abuse that he suffers at their hands, when he's shivering at night in his cell waiting for a coat to come. He says, my comfort, my real strength is that because of Jesus, I am never alone, and God strengthened me. Amen. [00:54:47] (66 seconds)  #JesusTookMyPlace

Jesus was also arrested. Jesus was also abandoned. Jesus was also betrayed. Jesus was also abused. Jesus also stood alone. He faced death by himself. Only Jesus cannot say, and God was standing with me. What Jesus said was, why have you abandoned me too, father? Jesus goes through what Paul goes through, only he goes through it to a degree that no human being will ever go through it because he goes through it without the presence of God. [00:54:06] (39 seconds)  #JesusBoreLoneliness

And now what does Paul say? He says, here's the gospel. When I was alone, God was with me. God was with me. Right? I was standing in the presence of God. I was standing in the strength and power of God. God was at my side. The same God that I couldn't even approach. The same God whose presence was so overwhelming it would do me in is standing now at my side, comforting me, caring for me, getting me through. How is that possible? Because Jesus endured utter loneliness. [00:53:06] (60 seconds)  #GodWithTheLonely

Paul says, he has chosen the operating system that says, I will pour myself out. He said, I've been poured out like a libation. I've been poured out like a like a drink offering. I will expand myself. And this is the irony. The more he pours himself out, the more he expands himself, the larger he becomes. The more aware he becomes of the needs and the concerns and the sensitivities of others. The more I pour myself out, the more confident I become, the more whole I become. [00:47:14] (39 seconds)  #PourOutToGrow

I don't know about you, but in my life, I have often functioned as if intimacy and vulnerability and openness will make us more lonely. That people see the real me, that people know how needy I am, that people are aware of my fears and my failures and my insecurities, then they'll reject me and leave me alone. What Paul does is to show us that vulnerability isn't the cause of loneliness, it's its cure. [00:30:53] (35 seconds)  #VulnerabilityHeals

It's not just good news. It's not just good news that there's a god who exists or good news that's generally you can believe in God or even that God is favorable towards you. But the good news he's preaching is the good news of the reversal of sin. And therefore, the reversal of all of the divisions and separations of sin. See, sin is not just a list of, oh, you did you shouldn't have done that. Right? Sin is not just an individual act. Sin is a condition of living separateness. [00:50:02] (36 seconds)  #GospelReversesDivision

I lose the enlargement of soul that enables me to comprehend somebody else's perspective and point of view, other people, other needs, other concerns than my own. And I become filled with sort of the self pity in this in this defensiveness that's always thinking, nobody understands me, nobody hits me, everything is against me, and I become harder and smaller and lonelier and lonelier. [00:46:40] (34 seconds)  #GrowBeyondSelf

You can either get into a situation and say, now how do I how do I best use these people and their resources to meet my needs and to serve my needs and to help me move forward? Or I can be looking at those same situations and say, now, how do I give my life? How do I give my resources? How do I how do I how do I give myself in order to serve you? In other words, your life for me or my life for you. It's two completely different operating systems. [00:44:22] (32 seconds)  #ChooseToGive