A Tribute To Tommy Tyson (Pt. 1)

A CHRIST- FILLED UNIVERSE

I can still hear Tommy Tyson’s gravelly but glorious voice say to the pastors and their wives in Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University:

“WE BELIEVE NOT IN JUST AN EMPTY TOMB, BUT WE BELIEVE

IN A CHRIST-FILLED UNIVERSE.”

In Ephesians 1: 23 it says of Christ,

“…who fills all in all.”

And again in Ephesians 4:10,

“He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the

heavens, that he might fill all things.”

I have never looked at life or the universe quite the same since that day at ORU. I note with you that Jesus Christ  FILLS ALL THINGS – ALL IN ALL. There really is no barren or empty wilderness on earth or a void in some cosmic black hole. And when the infinite fills the finite, no matter how incomprehensible this may seem, He always fills it to overflowing. That is why your and my cup run over when Jesus anoints our heads with the oil of the Holy Spirit. We are then never running on half or three fourths full, but always on OVERFLOW.

I want to add that lots of folks believe that Jesus rose from the dead and exited the tomb, but they have never grasped the reality that He fills their world, their homes, their businesses and their bedrooms. That is why Christians must and can live to an audience of One wherever they are. It is untrue to simply tell our children that Jesus is watching them, giving them the idea that God has His  binoculars fixed on them from Heaven’s balcony. No, no, but rather wherever we go and whatever we do, we go with and do it in the immediate presence of Jesus Christ.

So much for that crazy theology that I received as a kid when I was told by well meaning religious folks that I would not want to be doing this or that when Jesus came. That was really a pagan notion, for what they forgot to tell me was that Jesus is already fully here on an everywhere basis.

Nothing is ever done in secret! All of life is a holy worship service to God. There is always “One Holy Spectator,” and that is an infinitely more powerful reality than a trillion human eyes looking at us. Wherever we are, we are cohabiting with Christ, and only honesty and purity makes us fit for the presence of Heaven’s Holy One. So much for the foolish and self-deceived dualism:

“LOOKING LIKE A SAINT IN CHURCH AND LIVING LIKE A

DEVIL IN THE WORLD.”

Whether we know it or not, whether we are alone or with others, all of life is either a holy or unholy pose for a single or group photo snapped by the ever present and watchful eyes of Jesus Christ. Those photos are stored in the album of His omniscience.

MINISTERING THE WHOLE CHRIST TO THE WHOLE MAN

Then Tommy Tyson said:

“WE DON’T MINISTER SALVE TO SORES, BUT WE MINISTER JESUS

TO PEOPLE, THE WHOLE CHRIST TO THE WHOLE MAN.”

And again Tommy said:

“GOD DOES NOT FIRST OF ALL GIVE US HEALING MINISTRIES, BUT HE

GIVE US JESUS IN WHOM THERE IS HEALING.”

And then Tommy brought it all into focus:

“WE ARE CO-LABORERS IN MINISTERING THE LIFE OF JESUS TO OTHERS. 

    –WITH A SICK PERSON IT IS CALLED HEALING!
    –WITH A LOST PERSON IT IS CALLED SALVATION!
    –WITH A GROWING PERSON IT IS CALLED NURTURE!
    –WITH THOSE WHO ENJOY IT, IT IS CALLED FELLOWSHIP!”

At which point I can still hear Tommy’s robust belly laughter and joy as well as see and feel Tommy’s magnetic face and personality. If he wasn’t laughing, which was seldom, he always put a smile on your face because of the triumphant smile on his. The thousands of ministers and wives there in Mabee Center were indeed enjoying the fellowship of the Holy Spirit which oozed out of every pore of Tommy’s body.

But the point he was making is that Jesus is healing, salvation, and nurture. Jesus is everything we need. Which is why Paul states in Philippians 4:19,

“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in

glory in Christ Jesus.” 

Everything we need is “In Christ.”  We not only are to draw people to Christ, but we are to minister the whole Christ to the those people. It is all in Him! So we read in II Corinthians 1:30,

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and

righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”

It reminds me when I first discovered that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with the living Christ. It is ultimately not about “Salvation” but about the “Savior.” It is ultimately not about “Healing” but about the “Healer.” It is ultimately not about “Nurture” but about the “Nurturer.” Which is exactly what Mother Teresa meant when she was asked what she was able to give to the sick and dying in the squalor of the caste system of India. She said:

“WE GIVE THEM JESUS.”

In other words:

“THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NEVER DEFINED FIRST OF ALL BY THE

BLESSINGS BUT BY THE DIVINE BLESSER; NOT FIRST OF

ALL BY THE GIFTS BUT BY THE DIVINE GIVER.”

When I first began to date dear Ruthie, I drove deep into the country to her farm to court her. Then as time went along, I was invited to her house for supper. Though Harry and Jenny her parents had a multitude of 13 kids and little in the way of earthly stuff, each time I fellowshipped around that table it felt and  appeared more like the wedding supper of the Lamb in Heaven. In a way, her parents reminded me of Uncle Henry and Aunt Em on a windblown farmstead on the prairie of Kansas. But each time I was there, I was literally bathed in spiritual opulence, as they ministered so strongly Jesus to me in His incomprehensible love and goodness. I could hardly wait to be invited back for supper. Oh by the way, the food was awesome and mostly farm grown. 

MINISTERING GOD’S LOVE IN JESUS

Tommy Tyson came on very strong when he said:

“DON’T GO TO THE SICK, THE IMPAIRED OR WHOEVER AND SAY,

‘POOR PITIFUL THING, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME.’”

I couldn’t agree more! Ministry in the Body of Christ is so very much needed as Tommy put it:
    –John, I know that you are hurting!
    –But God is still on the throne! (Revelation 1:2)
    –God’s grace is still sufficient for you! (II Corinthians 12:9-10)
    –Nothing can separate us from God’s love! (Romans 8:38-39)
    –Let’s obey the Word of God together! (James 5:13-16)

We must let God’s people know above all else that they belong to Jesus! The Song of Solomon 2:16 assures us,

“I am my beloved’s and He is mine.”

Deuteronomy 33:27 comforts us with these words,

“The eternal God is Thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”  

Said Tommy, “Say to the hurting child of God, ‘Underneath all of this sickness, all of these hospital bills, under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield, underneath it all, let your whole weight down on Jesus who loves you with a perfect love.’ We will be surprised at how healing comes to a person when he knows that he is loved by God, and when he can let his whole weight down on Jesus.”

This is Bob speaking now, and I have all too often seen and heard people in the name of Jesus put the sick under condemnation by playing Sherlock Holmes and trying to find the sin-and-guilt clues for the sickness in people’s lives. They put God’s people under judgment and then before they leave, they sing, “Rise and be healed in the name of Jesus.” Of course the sick person cannot rise at the moment, plus now on top of the sickness he has just been stabbed! He has not been ministered to, but has been the victim of a knife assault by hyper-charismatic bullies. We all know how we feel about wife-beaters, but we should be no less repulsed at the sick-people attackers.

Then Tommy Tyson taught something so healing from the Word of God. He said:

“CHRISTIANITY IS REALLY A TWO PART QUESTION – WILL YOU ACCEPT

JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR (John 1:12), AND WILL YOU

ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE ACCEPTED

BY HIM?” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

Tommy explained how he used to think that the Gospel was only a one-part question, namely, will you accept Christ. That is eternally important, but there is more to the question, and that is, “Will you dare to believe, being the kind of person you are, full of mixed motives; with a lot of failures and few successes; with a lot of undiscipline and very little discipline; with a lot of contradiction and very little consistency – knowing yourself to be what you are, will you accept the fact that you are accepted by God in His beloved Son Jesus Christ?”

Then Tommy asked, “How do we know that as believers we are fully accepted by God?” Because the ascension of Christ proved our acceptance by God! How? Tommy went on to explain that when Jesus ascended into the Heavenlies, He took our humanity with Him, lock, stock and barrel. And when the Father accepted Him, received Him, He accepted and received you and me and all those who accept the beloved Son of God as their Savior and Lord. John 1:14 tells us,

“And the Word was made flesh.”

Asked Tommy, “Whose flesh? All us Pentecostals?No! Well then, Methodists, Catholics and one Baptist? No! The flesh of all mankind, north, south, east, west, learned, ignorant, rich, poor, the flesh of every man!”

We must reinforce and not weaken the truth of Romans 8:1,4-

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ,

to them who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

You see,  when we minister Jesus (His love for and acceptance of people) good things happen. The sick or troubled person will not have to be defensive. He will be free to walk with Jesus not only, but walk back with Him, back of the symptom to whatever root area there may be. The cry of the free person is Psalm 139:23-24,

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see

if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

But there are those who don’t minister Jesus’ love, and when they come into the room of the sick one, the temperature in the room drops to below freezing. They are spiritually and psychologically dangerous if not deadly. If the patient is not armed with the antifreeze of God’s compassion, his spirit will be frostbitten, and there can be no inner or outer healing in the presence of such uncompassionate frostbiters.

ALL CHRISTIAN MINISTRY – FOLLOWING JESUS

Tommy then made a most liberating and empowering truth very clear to us when he said:

“IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS TO PEOPLE, WE MUST KNOW THAT

WE ARE NEVER OUT THERE ALONE.”

In fact he said:

“MINISTERING JESUS TO PEOPLE ISN’T OUR IDEA, FOR WE HAVE

SIMPLY BEEN INVITED ALONG BY THE LORD HIMSELF.”

Powerfully put, he said:

“IT IS GOD’S MINISTRY.  HE IS ASKING US TO JOIN HIM, AND

WE ARE NOT ASKING HIM TO JOIN US.”

I had never quite seen those beautiful truths in the words of Jesus when He tell us over and over again as in Mark 8:34,

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take

up his cross and follow me.”

Then Tommy reminded us of something that we could all relate to. How often have we heard someone say or said it ourselves, “The Lord laid so and so on my heart.” That’s right, whether it is salvation, comfort, healing or deliverance. Jesus lays people on our hearts and guides us to them, even as the Holy Spirit laid the woman at the well on Jesus’ heart and guided Jesus to her. Remember the words of Jesus in John 4:4,

“And He had to pass through Samaria.”

Then Tommy reminded us of this glorious principle:

“JESUS NEVER LAYS ANYONE ON OUR HEARTS BUT

THAT HE GOES BEFORE US.”

Said Tommy, “Every person to whom Jesus leads us, He precedes us. You and I are never sent by Jesus cold turkey. He never sends us to any person or any person to us that He hasn’t already worked with prior to that person’s encounter with us.” I hope you and I know that, and that we thank God for that in all that we do and wherever we go. We can proceed in confidence only upon that basis.

Then Tommy made this revealing and somewhat startling statement:

“JESUS CHRIST EVEN PRECEDED HIMSELF ON EARTH.”

Then he reminded us of Jesus words to Nathanael in John 1:47-48,

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite

in whom there is no guile.’”

“Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered and said

to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the

fig tree, I saw you.”

The point being that even as Jesus had been with Nathanael before He met him in the flesh, so He will have been with the Nathanaels in our lives before we meet them in the flesh!  Jesus will have been with them, and reveal things to us that make it seem like we were with those Nathanaels before we met them. It will cause them to say, “How in the world did you know that about me, have you been spying on me?” Don’t you dare take credit for that, for we all know that it is Jesus, not us! Don’t be like those people of whom it can sadly be said:

“THEY DESIRE KNOWLEDGE NOT THAT THEY MAY KNOW,

BUT THAT THEY MAY BE KNOWN.”

If that is true of us, God will drop us like a hot potato and will stop using us in His ministry. For then we are like those fleshy and flashy religious front liners in the ministry of deliverance:

“THEY DESIRE TO BE ON FIRE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT TO

MAKE IT HOT FOR THE ENEMY, BUT ONLY THAT

THEY MAY SHINE FOR THEMSELVES.”

CONCLUSION TO PART 1

Let us close this first part of our “Tribute to Tommy Tyson” with his words:

“SICKNESS OF WHATEVER KIND DOES NOT MAKE YOU A SECOND

CLASS CITIZEN IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”  

Then he reminded us that we all are a little sick. We will not be completely whole until we are completely like Jesus (Romans 8:29 – wholly conformed to the image of God’s Son). Then I conclude with this liberating and hopeful truth from the lips of this spell-binding evangelist Tommy Tyson:

“WE HAVE BEEN HEALED, WE ARE BEING HEALED, WE SHALL BE

HEALED, AND EACH TIME WE ARE HEALED, IT IS A 

‘SNEAK PREVIEW INTO GLORY.’”

A TRIBUTE TO TOMMY TYSON PART 2 COMING IN THE NEAR FUTURE