The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Chapter 2: The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Welcome once again to this Blog on A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God (Click on the Links on the Side Panel to find the Previous Blogs)
In order to understand the Lesson  in this Chapter and learn for it, we need to probe and understand two things:

1. What does it mean to deny self and take up the cross and follow Jesus?
2. What doe it mean to wrestle: with the Lord (and with our enemies)?

Armed with the proper perspective of what these two disciplines entail, we would begin to really understanding  about "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing." Without this background, we would be at a loss. Let's begin with some questions.  

• How is it possible to possess nothing and yet be blessed, in a world that is consumed by materialism, where our every waking moments appear to be preoccupied with the pursuit and acquisition of things; where we are so consumer-oriented; where our identity is entirely wrapped up in: What we do? What we own? Where we live? Who our friends are? What we drive? etc.
• What does it mean? 
• What are the Scriptural foundations for it? 
• What are the benefits and blessings of it?
• What is the secret?  How does one do it?
• What, or who are illustrations of it?
• How is it facilitated?
• What are impediments to it?
• Is it something that happens instantly, or is it a process?
• Is everyone called to this, or just for an elite few?
• Is it meant to be taken literally, or is it a figurative expression? 
• Is it a paradox?  Is it a a hyperbole?
• Does it have to do with one's orientation and priority?

Scriptures: (Relevant Scriptures and related ideas, concepts and principles)

• Loving God vs. Loving the world (1Jn 2:15-17)
• Do not be conformed to this world - "Don't let it presses you into its mold" (Rom 12:2)
• Seek the things that are above (Col 3:1ff)
• Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt 6:33)
• Discipleship - denying self, taking up one's cross and following Jesus (Lu 14:27)

Read & Meditate on the following Scriptures: (Journal and be ready to share in the Comments. Share your best ideas and what was most helpful to you.)

• Gen 22:1-19; Heb 11:17-19
• Php 3:7-11
• Lu 22:39-46; Matt 26:36-46

Questions for Reflection on the Life of Abraham Relative to the Sacrificing of Isaac: 

•  As you read the story of Abraham, how easy, or how difficult do think it was for him to make the decisions he did, concerning the sacrificing of Isaac? (Note the time in his life when this was happening.)
• Are sacrifices ever easy?
• Were there struggles? If yes, what do you think we're some of them? (We are of like passion - 2Cor 10:13)
• Abraham's struggles are not specifically mentioned.  From meditating on the story and other examples of wrestling with the Lord (and other struggles, in general), what do you thing were some of Abraham's agonies of the soul?
• How does what he went through relates to and illustrate the path of "cross bearing"? 

 Additional Questions and Meditation, looking at two issues:

1. What does it mean to be a disciple? particularly "taking up one's cross and follow Jesus".
2. What is the theology of wrestling with God or on a broader level, what does "wrestling" pay in the life of the "saint"?

 Denying one's self and taking up one's cross and following Jesus

• What does it mean to deny self and take up one's cross and follow Jesus?
• Does the Lord still require this of us or this was only for the early disciples?

Wrestling with The Lord:

Who are some of the people who wrestled with God and what was the outcome?  Here are some of the best examples: 

1. Abraham – Gen 22:1-19
2. Jacob – Gen 32:22-32
3. Jesus – Lu 22:39-46
4. Paul – 2Cor 12:7-10
5. Epaphras- Col 4:12-13

As you read and meditate on each of the above, note who was wrestling, what was at stake and what were the end results. These would be good lessons for us. As we go through difficult times, we should remember that the Lord is with us and for us, not against us.

Here are some Questions for you to help you process the above:

• What was their spiritual state: obedience/disobedience and commitment/non-commitment?
• What was at stake?
• What did they do?
• What did it cost?
• What were the results? 

  The Saint (true believers) does not only wrestle with the Lord, but we wrestle with our enemies:

1. The flesh (Rom 7:21-25)
2. The Devil  (Eph 6:10-20; 2Cor 10:3-6)

It is helpful to remember that all wrestling or struggles are not the same, but that they often point towards similar ends. Submission = character development – particular crucifying the flesh.

• Struggling with sin and struggling with the Lord are not the same.
• The Lord wrestles with us not to overpower us, but to empower us.

When wrestling, the potentials for injuries is ever present. When we wrestle with the Lord, the injuries are not scars as much as they are stars. They are badges for having wrestled with God and prevailed as Jacob did. How does one wrestle with the omnipotent God and prevail?

Benefits & Blessings of Wrestling: 

When we wrestle with Him:

• We hear His voice
• We see His face
• We learn His will - We learn its not always about us.
•  He provides for us.
• He changes us – He defines and refines us - Character, destiny
• He renews His promises, expands them or makes new ones.

 ·         When we wrestle with the Adversary, we do it in His strength with the accoutrements that He provides.

Some Lessons from the Life of Abraham:

• To pursue God, we need to possess both hunger and humility. 
• Faith does not make things easy, but it does make them more believable and bearable.
• Abraham is the picture and pattern of a surrendered life. Cf. Gen 22:1-19
• Abraham is living proof that God will often test us in the areas of our deepest affection (Gen 22:2).
• The problem was not so much with the boy as it was with Abraham. Hence, the test was not for Isaac but for Abraham. Isaac was not the problem, but was the source of the solution. The problem was in Abraham’s heart.
• You yourself have been placed on the altar. You have denied yourself and have taken up your cross and are following.
• Wrestling with the world, the flesh and the devil and have overcome.  Wrestling with God and have been overcome. This is victory. Victory over self, sin, Satan and the system of this world.
• Abraham is the paragon of the pursuit of God.  He followed him, not knowing where he was going. (Heb 11:17)
• You can forsake God and following after things and still not having anything. or you can forsake self and  the world to follow God and you will get the world thrown in. He has given us all we need for life and godliness (2Pet 1:3). C.S. Lewis — "Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither."
• When we substitute the gift for the giver, the temporal for the eternal and the physical for the spiritual it is always a bad bargain.
• Victory through surrender. The cross is an instrument of death. What we surrender from is the enemy, not who we surrender to.
• Some things must be faced and done alone. Others may support and encourage, but the intentionality, the initiative and the intensity must be yours. Cannot be done by proxy. Cannot be delegated (What are some of these things?)
• What do you have to renounce or surrender to be free?
• To give up things for Christ is to lose nothing.
• The Cross of Christ brought redemption. Our cross brings submission and sanctification, which prepares us for service here and the hereafter.
• When the “tyrant” self is on the cross, we can no longer be tyrannized by things. Things will lose their grip on us.
• Does God reign supremely in your Heart? Is there something that has taken the place of God there? What does God need to remove from the shrine of your heart that He may reign there supremely?
• You cannot enjoy intimacy with God if there is someone or something else between you and God. He will not tolerate it and we should not entertain the thought of it.
• What might God do with you and for you because of the depth of your obedience to Him?
• Abraham was given the highest title that heaven can confer on any mortal: “The Friend of God.” Not quite the same as “a friend”. This title is the ensign of intimacy.
• Abraham was willing to give his only son. What else could he have withheld from God? Abraham was never more like God that at this juncture of his life. God did thousands of years later what He stopped Abraham from doing. He gave His only son, the Son whom He loved. If He did that unreservedly, what could He possibly withhold from you? (Rom 8:32).
• If you chose to follow God (or Jesus) you will be tested soon enough. Cf. Jesus out of the water of His baptism into the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11); the disciples after the day of Pentecost, were persecuted (Acts 3-5). Paul after he accepted Jesus as the Messiah was immediately persecuted in Damascus. The persecutor became the persecuted almost in an instance (Acts 9). Are you ready for it?
• Intimacy and adversity are often inextricably bound up in each other.
• God dwelling in our hearts without rivals is the essence and beginning of revival.
• Discipleship is not exclusively a New Testament concept or requirement. It is and always has been and always will be the divine standard. It is not an option. We don’t get extra points for being a disciple. We have been called to be disciples. If we are not disciples, the question is, “have we really been called? (Matt 7: 21-24)). The will of the Father is unconditional discipleship (Lu 14:25-35, esp. vs. 26, 27, 33). He does not give us fire insurance”. He calls us to die so that we night have life, eternal life, which is the best fire insurance there is and more than that.
• “Hold things lightly, so that the Lord does not have to pry them out of your hands. That is less painful.” ~ Corrie ten Boom
• Hold God closely, but hold things loosely.  
• This is the secret of "Blessedness of Possessing Nothing!"

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Following Hard After God

Chapter 1: Following Hard After God

I trust by now you have decided to join us on this amazing and worthwhile pilgrimage and have gotten your book "The Pursuit of God" [click on the Link to download a copy], your Bible, a copy of a Notebook to journal; your writing paraphernalia and a comfortable quiet place. It is not too late to start and/or invite others to join us. Consider the time and effort you are spending on this as an invest that will yield spiritual and eternal dividends, not only in your own personal life, but in the lives of those around you, your sphere of influence, even those who are part of this group. We are here to contribute, to stimulate and to edify each other.Let's do this for His glory and our good!

For the next couple of weeks, we want to focus on Chapter One: Following Hard After God. It would be fine to just read the chapter of the book, but I want to challenge you to get into the Book of Books. It is wonderful reading Tozer, but is it is beyond wonderful to read the Bible. I know, some are asking right now, then "Why read Tozer?" The way I see it, is that we need to read the Bible and it must be our primary Source or Text, but reading others help and inspire us to read the Bible more carefully and accurately. Particularly, when what is written is written after careful and accurate interpretation [as Tozer does]. We are not arguing for not reading the Bible. We are arguing for reading the Bible and other books.We read others for information and inspiration; we read the Bible for transformation!

Having said all of that, I want to encourage you and prime the pump for our meditation and discussion by suggesting that we read and meditate on the following Scriptures: May the words of my keyboard and the meditation of our hearts be worthy and pleasing to Him! (Ps 19:14)

• Psalm 42
• Psalm 63
• Philippians 3:7-14  

 Tozer makes a convincing case for "following hard after God. Since you are involved in this project, I don't have to convince you of the need of such pursuit, or the resultant benefits. However, I want to give you some ideas and handles to help you to process and journal the Chapter and the Scriptures, more effective. As you reflect and journal on the suggested Scriptures (Please remember, these are just representative samples, feel free to add, or recommend others. I will consider them and include them in the revisions of this post.)

I want to make a case for "Intimacy with the Almighty" and to assist you to get what the author means by, "following hard after God."  I also want to give you a framework and some ideas on the trajectory of this post.

The word translated "follow hard after" is the Hebrew word "DABAK". The ESV, NIV and NASB translate it as "cling to."  The KJV, NKJV and many other translations capture the idea as "following hard after".  Tozer used the KJV. The root idea of the word has the nuances of "cling, cleave, stick with; or adhere to", but figuratively (which is probably the better nuance here) has the idea of "to catch by pursuing close and hard", hence Tozer titles his book, "The Pursuit of God". I trust this helps you with the concept. It not a lame, anemic, half-hearted, lethargic, indifferent or ambivalent following after God. It is one of "vigorous, or hot pursuit." It is a pursuit to catch up with Him for relationship, fellowship and friendship. Is this you desire after God? [I trust you will all learn to do a proper word studies, We all know that there is no direct equivalent for every word from one language to another. When we study the Bible, we must try to capture the mindset of the original authors. I know that we believe that every word (in the original language) is inspired and that when an author uses one word over another, he had a specific purpose in mind and is not just using another synonym or being stylistically creative.]

In Ps 63:8, we must pay close attention to the relationship of the first part of the verse, to the last part. Inherent in the sentence is the idea that "if we follow hard after Him and cling to Him, He will hold on to and uphold us." "Right hand" is the position and place of power. 

Enough of all this rambling! Here is the help, or guide that I promised above: [Hopefully you will personally get much out of this study; not only intellectually, but experientially.  I am sure you will get an abundance of ideas and benefit. As you share, please don't share everything; but share you best ideas and what has benefited you the most.] 

As you read the Psalms and Philippians, consider that . . .

God desires and delights in intimacy with his creatures /children. He designed us for it. He gave us the capacity and ability for it. We were created and endowed with these faculties for intimacy with God and with others. This is one of the primary purposes for being created in His image. Intimacy must be a priority that is executed for the right reason, with the right motives and passion.  

• What is the motive for intimacy?

•   What are the means of intimacy?

•  What are viable and valuable methods (strategies) of pursuing intimacy?

•  What would be some of the similarities between maturity and intimacy, relative to time? Does time automatically translate into maturity or intimacy? What influence do variables such as intentionality and strategy have on them (intimacy & maturity)?

•  Since time and information also do not automatically translate into intimacy, what would it take to transform information into intimacy? 

Starting with Ps 42 & Ps 63 and drawing from the rest of the OT ponder the following questions:

• What is the language (words, phrases and imageries) of intimacy with God in the OT? Cf. Ps 42:1-2

• Who are examples of intimacy with God in the OT? e. g., Moses

• How did they cultivate, demonstrate and sustain intimacy?

Starting with Phil 3:7-14, and drawing from the rest of the NT.

•  What is the language (words, phrases and imageries) of intimacy with God in the NT? E. g., "know him"

• Who are example of intimacy with God in the NT? e. g., Paul

• How did they cultivate, demonstrate and sustain this intimacy? 

Other Questions:

• Did intimacy with God make the saints in the Bible (OT & NT) "perfect" or "above reproach"?
  

• Give examples of their frailty, flaws and foibles.

•    What does it take to develop or cultivate intimacy with God?

•  What are some of the challenges one might have to overcome to develop intimacy with God in our culture? 

•  Which, personally, is the greatest challenge for you?  

•  What role might adversity play in the cultivation of intimacy? Cf.  Ps 42:9-11 &  Ps 63:9-10

•  What are your favorite sources or resources of materials that facilitate intimacy? 

•  What are your favorite quotes and ideas from the first chapter of "The Pursuit of God ".  Why are they favorites?

The prayers of A. W. Tozer at the end of each chapter are very scriptural, appropriate and inspiring. They have been among the most loved parts of the book. The disciples of today, still need to cry out, "Lord, teach us to pray!“ Meditate on the prayer at the end of Chapter One.

 Would you feel comfortable enough to make it your own prayer for few days and see what the results may be? Comment on your thoughts and experience on, or about this exercise.

 
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