Scripture text: Luke 2:1-20
With all of the thoughts being offered as to what Christmas should, or shouldn’t, mean to the world, have you ever wondered just what it might have meant to God?
From an article in Perspectives, "Is this the birth of the most wanted child in the world or the most unwanted child in the world; was this the birth of the most unexpected child; the most dangerous child; the most needed child in the world." --Perspectives,
November 1995, 24
Non Christians, and I dare say especially atheists, would probably agree with all of the negatives, while Christians would claim the positives. But perhaps Jesus was all of these things for the people of earth. From God’s perspective, though, I believe that this was the birth of the most promised and glorious child in all the world – the culmination of promises given throughout the ages! Just think of all the prophesy that surrounds this day:
Isaiah 7:14-16 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel…..”
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…..”
Daniel 7:13-14 “..I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was let into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power, all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him…”
Daniel 9:25-26 “From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty two ‘sevens…”
Micah 2:13 (The prophet is speaking of deliverance) – “One who breaks open the way will go up before them…”
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Malachi 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me, Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come….”
Luke 1:30-33 - Gabriel’s message to Mary
For over 700 years, God had been promising the people that Messiah was on the way – and He didn’t tell them just once, but over and over. Now, while God is timeless, and we like to think that He is devoid of all emotion, this great plan had been in place since before creation, and I don’t see how the Lord could possibly have been taking the culmination of this phase of His plan calmly. This radical departure from everything that humanity had known, or at least had thought about their God, was about to turn the world upside down. The sacrifices that were made by people of nearly every nation would soon loose their importance. The purpose of all the Laws that everyone knew were required in this life would soon be completely changed. The “arms length” relationship between the masses and God would soon become an everlasting embrace.
How could our Lord God Almighty not give a hardy “Yes!”?
Oh, He knew that the next phase would involve living intimately with the people, that Jesus would be teaching things that would be so very hard to accept and that many would not accept, that God Messiah would have to live 30 years in the flesh, experiencing all of the struggles and pains and temptations that humanity did, and that the next phase would cause such agony for them both that it would be nearly unbearable.
But for now, this entry of God into the physical world could be nothing short of absolute joy! We hear that joy in the words of the angel – “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people .. a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
God with us – Immanuel! The plan had been set in motion and there was nothing that could stop it. God had been anticipating this day for millennia, and the prophet Jeremiah may have very well have been speaking of this when he related Yahweh’s words (29:11-14)“’I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.”
God has a glorious plan, and it has to give Him great joy to see us “call upon Him”, to “come to Him”, “to pray to Him”, “to seek Him” and “to find Him”.” We can no longer say with any truth or certainty that God doesn’t understand us, or our situation, or our life, or our temptations, because He has lived them – every single one of them.
Harry R. Boer writes “The Point of Christmas, is that the simplest soul [is told] that God understands him. It tells us that God identifies with our problems, sorrows, hopes, frustrations, joys. God knows them not because God made us, not because God is all-knowing, but because God became a simple soul. God became a human being. God who is the ever-blest second Person of the Trinity, became a person.
--The Reformed Journal, December 1975, 2.
God has given us a gift that is unlike any other. He has given Himself, and we can do nothing to prove our worth of that gift – we can only accept it. And that is what will give our Lord the greatest joy this Christmas season – to see our wide eyed amazement when we discover the blessings that come in receiving His Good Work!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
“God’s Will”
Text: Hebrews 10:5-14
There are still many people today who believe in the personal and physical sacrifice that is so pronounced in Judaism. You’ve heard them all - “We have to earn our place in heaven”, “We have to say prayers and offer sacrifice to become freed from the effects of our sin.”, “We have to please God before we will ever receive His benefits.”, “If we are good enough, God will accept us.”
The truth of the matter is that we can never do enough to earn our way into God’s heart, we can never pray enough or sacrifice enough to overcome the condemnation of our sin, if we have to convince God that we love Him as much as He loves us, it will never happen, and we can never ever be good enough, on our own, to enter into glory.
God’s grace and God’s overpowering mercy is the only way that any of this will ever come to be.
Read Hebrews 10:5-8
God’s Will, not ours. God’s Way, not the world’s.
Martin Thornton, in his book Spiritual Direction (Boston: Cowley, 1984), searches for a new vocabulary to describe the dynamics of how God operates in our spiritual lives. He suggests a three-fold pattern: God the Provider, God the Lover and God the Disturber. We like the first two. It's the third that we run from. (From Homeletics OnLine.)
Isn’t that true? We want to see our Lord as one who gives and gives and gives some more, and loves us in spite of what we do. We want Him to be loving, compassionate, all forgiving. We want Him to be the one who makes everything around us right! We do not want him to be the one who changes us, who makes us uncomfortable in our current situation, who waits for us to lay down our will and lean completely on His!
We want the Lord to make everything right in us, without requiring too many radical changes in our lives!
But the writer of Hebrews tells us that it is only God’s Will that can make us Holy – His Will!
Read Hebrews 10:9-10
Even Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. I don’t know about you, but this has been an issue of some consternation for me. Jesus had to do God’s will, but if He was God, why wasn’t it His will, too? Have you ever wondered about that?
The truth is that in becoming fully human - a being held in this mortal flesh - Jesus had to constantly return to the Father to know that He was on the right track. Why else would He need to sneak away for private prayer? Why else would He constantly seek His Father’s Will? Jesus, as a complete human being, even though He was also fully God, needed to seek God’s Will for His life, just as much as we do!
Obedience to God's will does not mean everything will go smoothly, that the wind will always be at our backs and that the journey will be easy. Jesus told his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake, even though he knew the wind would be working against them. Despite the wind's contrariness, they struggled on because they knew they were doing his will.
--Shawn Craig in Between Sundays, cited in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.
It was Jesus’ Will, because it was, first and foremost, God’s Will. Every Sunday morning, and more often, I hope, each of us prays “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.!”
I have never heard, and I have never seen, a single version of that prayer that includes “But from time to time, I will need to exert my will for my life!”
The old ways of sacrifice and self control and self achievement of God’s grace has come to an decisive end, and has been replaced by simply accepting God’s great gift to each of us, and in response to that gift, by seeking and following God’s will for our lives.
Read Hebrews 10:11-14
God’s Will was that He would offer the one and complete sacrifice that would break the hold that sin has on all of humanity. “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
It isn’t those who are holy who have been made perfect – did you notice that? It is those who are being made holy who have already been made prefect! John Wesley used the words “going on to perfection”, and maybe he should have said “the perfect in Christ are going on to holiness”! Of course, it isn't our human life that becomes perfect - it is our spiritual life that receives His perfection. So, it seems that it all comes down to one question – have you accepted the one who offers you perfection?
Human efforts have been set aside because they are ineffective and wholly insufficient, and the only sacrifice that is effective and sufficient is the one that God Himself made on our behalf.
Isn’t it incredible that holiness actually comes from perfection? And that perfection comes perfectly to those in Christ Jesus? Not by our means but by God’s alone.
And that holiness began on that first Christmas so many years ago when perfection itself came to earth in the form of a bloody, noisy baby, mothered by an unwed teenage girl, in the humblest of all settings – a smelly, dirty cave that was home to a bunch of sheep and goats. Heaven’s perfection, right in the midst of our imperfection. God’s will taking precedence over human standards and desires. A small piece of heaven beginning the process of redeeming earthly life.
How could salvation not be God’s Will? And yet, there are those who steadfastly refuse to accept the gift. Oh, they like the earthly trappings and decorations of Christmas, they like the parties and gift giving, they may even reach out, as sanitarily as they can, to help someone in need, but they feel that they have no need for the One that this day is all about.
Holiness, come to bring perfection to all who will accept. Have you accepted the Infant gift that God has offered to all? Are you going on to holy perfection? It is God’s Will, you know! Why fight it?
There are still many people today who believe in the personal and physical sacrifice that is so pronounced in Judaism. You’ve heard them all - “We have to earn our place in heaven”, “We have to say prayers and offer sacrifice to become freed from the effects of our sin.”, “We have to please God before we will ever receive His benefits.”, “If we are good enough, God will accept us.”
The truth of the matter is that we can never do enough to earn our way into God’s heart, we can never pray enough or sacrifice enough to overcome the condemnation of our sin, if we have to convince God that we love Him as much as He loves us, it will never happen, and we can never ever be good enough, on our own, to enter into glory.
God’s grace and God’s overpowering mercy is the only way that any of this will ever come to be.
Read Hebrews 10:5-8
God’s Will, not ours. God’s Way, not the world’s.
Martin Thornton, in his book Spiritual Direction (Boston: Cowley, 1984), searches for a new vocabulary to describe the dynamics of how God operates in our spiritual lives. He suggests a three-fold pattern: God the Provider, God the Lover and God the Disturber. We like the first two. It's the third that we run from. (From Homeletics OnLine.)
Isn’t that true? We want to see our Lord as one who gives and gives and gives some more, and loves us in spite of what we do. We want Him to be loving, compassionate, all forgiving. We want Him to be the one who makes everything around us right! We do not want him to be the one who changes us, who makes us uncomfortable in our current situation, who waits for us to lay down our will and lean completely on His!
We want the Lord to make everything right in us, without requiring too many radical changes in our lives!
But the writer of Hebrews tells us that it is only God’s Will that can make us Holy – His Will!
Read Hebrews 10:9-10
Even Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. I don’t know about you, but this has been an issue of some consternation for me. Jesus had to do God’s will, but if He was God, why wasn’t it His will, too? Have you ever wondered about that?
The truth is that in becoming fully human - a being held in this mortal flesh - Jesus had to constantly return to the Father to know that He was on the right track. Why else would He need to sneak away for private prayer? Why else would He constantly seek His Father’s Will? Jesus, as a complete human being, even though He was also fully God, needed to seek God’s Will for His life, just as much as we do!
Obedience to God's will does not mean everything will go smoothly, that the wind will always be at our backs and that the journey will be easy. Jesus told his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake, even though he knew the wind would be working against them. Despite the wind's contrariness, they struggled on because they knew they were doing his will.
--Shawn Craig in Between Sundays, cited in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.
It was Jesus’ Will, because it was, first and foremost, God’s Will. Every Sunday morning, and more often, I hope, each of us prays “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.!”
I have never heard, and I have never seen, a single version of that prayer that includes “But from time to time, I will need to exert my will for my life!”
The old ways of sacrifice and self control and self achievement of God’s grace has come to an decisive end, and has been replaced by simply accepting God’s great gift to each of us, and in response to that gift, by seeking and following God’s will for our lives.
Read Hebrews 10:11-14
God’s Will was that He would offer the one and complete sacrifice that would break the hold that sin has on all of humanity. “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
It isn’t those who are holy who have been made perfect – did you notice that? It is those who are being made holy who have already been made prefect! John Wesley used the words “going on to perfection”, and maybe he should have said “the perfect in Christ are going on to holiness”! Of course, it isn't our human life that becomes perfect - it is our spiritual life that receives His perfection. So, it seems that it all comes down to one question – have you accepted the one who offers you perfection?
Human efforts have been set aside because they are ineffective and wholly insufficient, and the only sacrifice that is effective and sufficient is the one that God Himself made on our behalf.
Isn’t it incredible that holiness actually comes from perfection? And that perfection comes perfectly to those in Christ Jesus? Not by our means but by God’s alone.
And that holiness began on that first Christmas so many years ago when perfection itself came to earth in the form of a bloody, noisy baby, mothered by an unwed teenage girl, in the humblest of all settings – a smelly, dirty cave that was home to a bunch of sheep and goats. Heaven’s perfection, right in the midst of our imperfection. God’s will taking precedence over human standards and desires. A small piece of heaven beginning the process of redeeming earthly life.
How could salvation not be God’s Will? And yet, there are those who steadfastly refuse to accept the gift. Oh, they like the earthly trappings and decorations of Christmas, they like the parties and gift giving, they may even reach out, as sanitarily as they can, to help someone in need, but they feel that they have no need for the One that this day is all about.
Holiness, come to bring perfection to all who will accept. Have you accepted the Infant gift that God has offered to all? Are you going on to holy perfection? It is God’s Will, you know! Why fight it?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
“The Good Work Has Begun!”
Scripture Text Philippians 1:3-11
Theologian Matthew Fox tells the story of a Catholic Sister in Chicago who worked with women in prison. She told the women she had funds which could either get them a good lawyer to review their cases and possibly get them out sooner; or she could bring in a welder to teach them welding so they could have a skill when they were released; or she could get a dancer and a painter to come teach them to dance and paint.
Ninety-five percent chose the dancer or painter. Why? Because they said it would be the first time in their lives they would have a chance to express themselves. The oppressed and imprisoned and dispossessed need more than money or food or freedom. They also need creativity and self-expression.
--from a tape on “Art, Spirituality and Social Justice” as quoted in Nena Bryans,
Full Circle: A Proposal to the Church for an Arts Ministry
(San Carlos, CA: Schuyler Institute for Worship and the Arts, 1988),30-31.
Isn’t that interesting? Of the 3 options, this is the last one that I thought they would choose. A legal advisor to get their sentence reduced, or possibly even overturned? Isn’t freedom the most tempting of the 3? But what about job training? Many people who are in prison are either unemployed at the time of their arrest, or else will never be able to return to their old jobs when they are released. Isn’t a marketable skill important in the rehabilitation process? But I would never have seen the arts as a desirable choice! It would seem that goodness and worth actually goes beyond human definition – it goes to a value that rises up above the things of earth.
Read Philippians 1:3-6
Good works aren’t defined by the human experience. Paul is telling us that it is the work of Christ that characterizes the best that is in us, and that it isn’t even ourselves who have conceptualized these “good works”. All good things are of God, and created by God, and begun by God, and none of it is of us – we are simply the messenger, the delivery service, if you will, for the good works of the LORD God Almighty.
It’s also interesting that Paul says “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel”. Paul - that arrogant young man who had been appalled by the blasphemy that he saw in those first followers of Jesus. Paul - a staunch believer that Jews were good and every one else was worthless,. And this same Paul was now proclaiming joy in being partnered with both of these groups. His arrogance and self centeredness was gone. It was no longer about him – it was now about Jesus Christ! The church of today could learn a lot from this simple verse.
Read Philippians 1:7-8
And he isn’t simply working alongside the others in ministry – there is a genuine affection for his brothers and sisters. How did this huge change come to be? It was the “good work” of Jesus Christ that had filled him, and now was busting out all over! For Paul, it didn’t even matter if he was in prison, or being beaten, or making tents, or reaching out to the lost and hurting, or traveling some dusty road, or sharing his story about discovering Christ in his life
For him, it is all about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. All too often, the Church of today gets lost in the innuendos and minutiae of denominational differences. We can’t work with the Catholics because they put too much emphasis on Mary. We can’t work with the Southern Baptists because they don’t give any value to women. We can’t work with the Presbyterians because they think that God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is to be condemned to hell. We can’t work with the Episcopalians because they ordained a gay bishop. Now in all honesty, I don’t see a lot of this attitude here, but believe me, it permeates the Church.
But what ever happened to Jesus? Have we, sometime during the last 2,000 years, drawn and quartered the Lord, with each of us taking a little bit of Him for our selves, claiming that we have gotten the best part? The denominational church of the 21st century has, somehow, moved humanity to the first position and Jesus to the 2nd. So much for the “good work” (singular!) that God has begun in us!
When will we begin to give God the credit for the things that we are able to do?
When will we give the headship of the church back to Christ?
When will we begin to long, and pray, for a unified church “with all the affection of Christ Jesus”?
Read Philippians 1:9-11
“That our love (our goodness – our good works) may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
The good work that Christ has begun in each of us can only grow and blossom as we become more and more attuned to the workings of Christ. We study God’s word. We pray, not only for situations and people, but for ministry and personal direction. We strive to understand His ways. We give ourselves over to the leading and indwelling of His Spirit. And it is all with a joy filled heart and spirit – never out of obligation.
And even as we readily admit that our love of Christ is imperfect, that our understanding of His Ways and desires for us is insufficient, that even on our good days we miss His best; regardless of where we are, that “good work” has begun. And the whole deal began 2,000 years ago, in the womb of a teenage virgin. It began within one of us and has spread to all of us! And whether we are in one of our best days, or stumbling through a very dark day, Christ’s goodness can still shine through us if we let it.
During this Christmas season, will the best of Christ shine through each of us? Will we give the glory and praise of our lives to God? Will the “good work” that the Lord has begun in us be wasted, or will we “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It’s our choice. Which will it be? Will you choose a benefit of earth, or will you express yourself for Jesus?
Theologian Matthew Fox tells the story of a Catholic Sister in Chicago who worked with women in prison. She told the women she had funds which could either get them a good lawyer to review their cases and possibly get them out sooner; or she could bring in a welder to teach them welding so they could have a skill when they were released; or she could get a dancer and a painter to come teach them to dance and paint.
Ninety-five percent chose the dancer or painter. Why? Because they said it would be the first time in their lives they would have a chance to express themselves. The oppressed and imprisoned and dispossessed need more than money or food or freedom. They also need creativity and self-expression.
--from a tape on “Art, Spirituality and Social Justice” as quoted in Nena Bryans,
Full Circle: A Proposal to the Church for an Arts Ministry
(San Carlos, CA: Schuyler Institute for Worship and the Arts, 1988),30-31.
Isn’t that interesting? Of the 3 options, this is the last one that I thought they would choose. A legal advisor to get their sentence reduced, or possibly even overturned? Isn’t freedom the most tempting of the 3? But what about job training? Many people who are in prison are either unemployed at the time of their arrest, or else will never be able to return to their old jobs when they are released. Isn’t a marketable skill important in the rehabilitation process? But I would never have seen the arts as a desirable choice! It would seem that goodness and worth actually goes beyond human definition – it goes to a value that rises up above the things of earth.
Read Philippians 1:3-6
Good works aren’t defined by the human experience. Paul is telling us that it is the work of Christ that characterizes the best that is in us, and that it isn’t even ourselves who have conceptualized these “good works”. All good things are of God, and created by God, and begun by God, and none of it is of us – we are simply the messenger, the delivery service, if you will, for the good works of the LORD God Almighty.
It’s also interesting that Paul says “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel”. Paul - that arrogant young man who had been appalled by the blasphemy that he saw in those first followers of Jesus. Paul - a staunch believer that Jews were good and every one else was worthless,. And this same Paul was now proclaiming joy in being partnered with both of these groups. His arrogance and self centeredness was gone. It was no longer about him – it was now about Jesus Christ! The church of today could learn a lot from this simple verse.
Read Philippians 1:7-8
And he isn’t simply working alongside the others in ministry – there is a genuine affection for his brothers and sisters. How did this huge change come to be? It was the “good work” of Jesus Christ that had filled him, and now was busting out all over! For Paul, it didn’t even matter if he was in prison, or being beaten, or making tents, or reaching out to the lost and hurting, or traveling some dusty road, or sharing his story about discovering Christ in his life
For him, it is all about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. All too often, the Church of today gets lost in the innuendos and minutiae of denominational differences. We can’t work with the Catholics because they put too much emphasis on Mary. We can’t work with the Southern Baptists because they don’t give any value to women. We can’t work with the Presbyterians because they think that God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is to be condemned to hell. We can’t work with the Episcopalians because they ordained a gay bishop. Now in all honesty, I don’t see a lot of this attitude here, but believe me, it permeates the Church.
But what ever happened to Jesus? Have we, sometime during the last 2,000 years, drawn and quartered the Lord, with each of us taking a little bit of Him for our selves, claiming that we have gotten the best part? The denominational church of the 21st century has, somehow, moved humanity to the first position and Jesus to the 2nd. So much for the “good work” (singular!) that God has begun in us!
When will we begin to give God the credit for the things that we are able to do?
When will we give the headship of the church back to Christ?
When will we begin to long, and pray, for a unified church “with all the affection of Christ Jesus”?
Read Philippians 1:9-11
“That our love (our goodness – our good works) may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
The good work that Christ has begun in each of us can only grow and blossom as we become more and more attuned to the workings of Christ. We study God’s word. We pray, not only for situations and people, but for ministry and personal direction. We strive to understand His ways. We give ourselves over to the leading and indwelling of His Spirit. And it is all with a joy filled heart and spirit – never out of obligation.
And even as we readily admit that our love of Christ is imperfect, that our understanding of His Ways and desires for us is insufficient, that even on our good days we miss His best; regardless of where we are, that “good work” has begun. And the whole deal began 2,000 years ago, in the womb of a teenage virgin. It began within one of us and has spread to all of us! And whether we are in one of our best days, or stumbling through a very dark day, Christ’s goodness can still shine through us if we let it.
During this Christmas season, will the best of Christ shine through each of us? Will we give the glory and praise of our lives to God? Will the “good work” that the Lord has begun in us be wasted, or will we “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It’s our choice. Which will it be? Will you choose a benefit of earth, or will you express yourself for Jesus?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
“Deliverance & Wholeness – Finally!”
Scripture text: Isaiah 27:1-13
In his discussion of the book of Job, Thomas Long discusses the two biblical monsters of chaos – Behemoth and Leviathan. They both were seen by the ancients as powerful signs of destruction and the ultimate of disorder. For the Hebrews of Isaiah’s time, these two beings were to be feared, almost as apocalyptic symbols.
But God, in Job, the Psalms and Isaiah, doesn’t seem to be taken back at all by these two beasts. In Job (40:15), the Lord says that He created this monster Behemoth, and in Psalm 104:26, we read that God is watching Leviathan frolicking in the sea! For God, they poise no more of a problem than a domesticated pet might. If we ever had any doubt that God is truly in control, here is encouragement that He is.
Long writes:
The images here are so incredible we resist them. We are witnessing [here, though,] the claim that the alternative to our moral scheme of order and disorder is not chaos. It is not even a new and divine scheme of order and disorder. It is rather a vision of only order, of everything — even that which we are now forced to call evil — gathered into the hand of a just God. It is a vision that comes to us from outside the plane of human time, and yet one which serves to give radical hope in the present.
—Thomas G. Long, “Job: Second Thoughts in the land of Uz,” 1988 Theology. Originally published in Theology Today 45 (1988): 5-20. Reprinted with permission.
That’s what Jesus is about –a radical hope, existing in the middle of our chaotic lives, for all who seek peace in Him, not only for His Day of glory that is on its way, but even more so in our day of struggle.
Read Isaiah 27:1-6
The sea has always been a symbol of chaos – from the creation in Genesis to the maritime interests of today. The oceans are vast and uncontrollable – just ask any sailor who has had to endure a storm at sea.
During my Navy days, when we were returning from a Mediterranean cruise, we went through a hurricane. Our ship had 2 inclinometers – devices which show the extent of the rolls that the ship is taking. One of the inclinometers was located on the bridge, and the other amidships just forward of the mess decks. The ship was designed to take 80 degree rolls and still right itself, but you never wanted to actually be on board when it did! One day, as I was passing the lower inclinometer, I stopped to watch for a moment – to see just how far we were rolling. One roll went 35 degrees, the next a little more, and the third went to 45 degrees. Now at 45 degrees, you have two choices – you can either walk on the deck, or you can walk on the bulkheads (the walls) – either one will serve you just as well! And in case you were wondering, the ship did right itself! But trust me – those 2-3 days of storm were, for me, the epitome of chaos!
The sea and everything in it seems to do what it wants, but Isaiah is telling us that even the vastness and power of water comes under the authority of God’s mighty hand. And He is offering peace to all who would oppose His control – to all who sin. And He wants us to have confidence in this assurance. We are to rejoice in the safe place – the sanctuary - that He has created for us, for He is the one who is keeping it safe and secure. God entrusts that task to no one other than Himself.
And does He fear anything? Hardly! “If only there were dangers confronting me!” The opposition that evil can muster up against Him is less potent than that which thorns and brambles could present! Hardly enough to even waste His breath on! But even the opposition is offered the chance for peace with God. “Let them make peace with me.” Give up the fight, and come to me – you can’t win, but in me, you will find victory!
And along with the chosen people of God, anyone who will turn away from the evil that controls them will also “bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.”
Read Isaiah 27:7-11
Those who the LORD has chosen, but who still take a stand against the eternal God will not be destroyed – at least not yet, but they will be chastised, and severely at that. The metaphors that are listed here are very descriptive.
- “.. He drives her out as on a day the east wind blows.” – This would be a hot blast that comes at them from the desert, a reminder of the wilderness and desolation. It is a promise of exile.
- The altar stones, Asherah poles and incense altars are those symbols of pagan gods that had taken the people far away from Yahweh. Their reliance on these devices had corrupted their worship and had created an insurmountable barrier between Israel and God. They had to be destroyed.
- The fortified city, as well as the tree, may very well represent Israel herself. Once proud, once strong, once more wealthy than nearly any other nation, she would be laid lower than low. Once tall, pointing the way toward heaven, bearing fruit and giving shade and comfort to many, would be stripped bare for fodder, the branches would wither and die and would have no earthly use except to feed the fires.
- There would be no understanding by the people, and no compassion or favor from their God.
But even in the depravity that awaited them, the prophet also offers a word of hope.
Read Isaiah 12-13
A trumpet will sound, calling all of God’s people home from their exile and slavery. Finally! An end to oppression, an end to separation, an end to abject poverty, an end to hopelessness!
Can’t you just hear the shouts ringing out throughout the nation – “We’re going HOME!” But this homecoming won’t just be any old gala, and it wouldn’t be only the restoration of Israel to the glory of God. It is to be the Day of the LORD’s coming, too. “Those who were perishing .., and those who were exiled ... will come to worship the LORD” on His Holy Mountain.” And He will meet us there.
On August 28, 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, DC. It told the story of the exile and slavery that has oppressed a people for hundreds of years. It told of the glimmers of hope that this people had seen over the years, but had never quite grasped, never quite enjoyed. It tells of the impatience of the people, as they eagerly wait to go home again, and even in that anxiety, it tells of the hope that must continue to be present in their lives.
He said “You have been the veterans of creative suffering.” But he also said “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair” I think Dr. King was telling the people to never loose hope, that the dream will come to fruition.
He ended his speech with those now famous words that he quoted from a spiritual
“Free at Last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
He ended his message of hope in the present tense – there is hope and we ARE free. Dr. King knew that the oppression and hatred and “creative suffering” that they all had felt, that it wasn’t over and done with, that it hadn’t stopped, that it was still being forced on the people, but nonetheless, he is free, and no one and no thing could take that away from him – not bigotry, not racism, and not even James Earl Ray.
That is a message that Christians in our country need to learn and live – that in Jesus Christ, there is a glorious hope, and in Him, we are free at last! Yes, there is still persecution toward the church; yes, there is still a worldly distrust of the gospel of Jesus Christ; yes, there is still a battle being waged against the Hope of Christ, but there is hope and we are free, and no one can take that freedom - that salvation in Jesus Christ - away from us! It is promised – “In that day, a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing .. and those who were exiled .. will come and worship the LORD on the mountain.”
Deliverance and wholeness – now, not later. The promise is for today. Yes, we aren’t completely home yet, but we’ve begun the journey, and soon, that glorious trumpet will sound, and we will know for certain that His people have arrived!
Now that’s a reason to rejoice and give thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Day 2009.
In his discussion of the book of Job, Thomas Long discusses the two biblical monsters of chaos – Behemoth and Leviathan. They both were seen by the ancients as powerful signs of destruction and the ultimate of disorder. For the Hebrews of Isaiah’s time, these two beings were to be feared, almost as apocalyptic symbols.
But God, in Job, the Psalms and Isaiah, doesn’t seem to be taken back at all by these two beasts. In Job (40:15), the Lord says that He created this monster Behemoth, and in Psalm 104:26, we read that God is watching Leviathan frolicking in the sea! For God, they poise no more of a problem than a domesticated pet might. If we ever had any doubt that God is truly in control, here is encouragement that He is.
Long writes:
The images here are so incredible we resist them. We are witnessing [here, though,] the claim that the alternative to our moral scheme of order and disorder is not chaos. It is not even a new and divine scheme of order and disorder. It is rather a vision of only order, of everything — even that which we are now forced to call evil — gathered into the hand of a just God. It is a vision that comes to us from outside the plane of human time, and yet one which serves to give radical hope in the present.
—Thomas G. Long, “Job: Second Thoughts in the land of Uz,” 1988 Theology. Originally published in Theology Today 45 (1988): 5-20. Reprinted with permission.
That’s what Jesus is about –a radical hope, existing in the middle of our chaotic lives, for all who seek peace in Him, not only for His Day of glory that is on its way, but even more so in our day of struggle.
Read Isaiah 27:1-6
The sea has always been a symbol of chaos – from the creation in Genesis to the maritime interests of today. The oceans are vast and uncontrollable – just ask any sailor who has had to endure a storm at sea.
During my Navy days, when we were returning from a Mediterranean cruise, we went through a hurricane. Our ship had 2 inclinometers – devices which show the extent of the rolls that the ship is taking. One of the inclinometers was located on the bridge, and the other amidships just forward of the mess decks. The ship was designed to take 80 degree rolls and still right itself, but you never wanted to actually be on board when it did! One day, as I was passing the lower inclinometer, I stopped to watch for a moment – to see just how far we were rolling. One roll went 35 degrees, the next a little more, and the third went to 45 degrees. Now at 45 degrees, you have two choices – you can either walk on the deck, or you can walk on the bulkheads (the walls) – either one will serve you just as well! And in case you were wondering, the ship did right itself! But trust me – those 2-3 days of storm were, for me, the epitome of chaos!
The sea and everything in it seems to do what it wants, but Isaiah is telling us that even the vastness and power of water comes under the authority of God’s mighty hand. And He is offering peace to all who would oppose His control – to all who sin. And He wants us to have confidence in this assurance. We are to rejoice in the safe place – the sanctuary - that He has created for us, for He is the one who is keeping it safe and secure. God entrusts that task to no one other than Himself.
And does He fear anything? Hardly! “If only there were dangers confronting me!” The opposition that evil can muster up against Him is less potent than that which thorns and brambles could present! Hardly enough to even waste His breath on! But even the opposition is offered the chance for peace with God. “Let them make peace with me.” Give up the fight, and come to me – you can’t win, but in me, you will find victory!
And along with the chosen people of God, anyone who will turn away from the evil that controls them will also “bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.”
Read Isaiah 27:7-11
Those who the LORD has chosen, but who still take a stand against the eternal God will not be destroyed – at least not yet, but they will be chastised, and severely at that. The metaphors that are listed here are very descriptive.
- “.. He drives her out as on a day the east wind blows.” – This would be a hot blast that comes at them from the desert, a reminder of the wilderness and desolation. It is a promise of exile.
- The altar stones, Asherah poles and incense altars are those symbols of pagan gods that had taken the people far away from Yahweh. Their reliance on these devices had corrupted their worship and had created an insurmountable barrier between Israel and God. They had to be destroyed.
- The fortified city, as well as the tree, may very well represent Israel herself. Once proud, once strong, once more wealthy than nearly any other nation, she would be laid lower than low. Once tall, pointing the way toward heaven, bearing fruit and giving shade and comfort to many, would be stripped bare for fodder, the branches would wither and die and would have no earthly use except to feed the fires.
- There would be no understanding by the people, and no compassion or favor from their God.
But even in the depravity that awaited them, the prophet also offers a word of hope.
Read Isaiah 12-13
A trumpet will sound, calling all of God’s people home from their exile and slavery. Finally! An end to oppression, an end to separation, an end to abject poverty, an end to hopelessness!
Can’t you just hear the shouts ringing out throughout the nation – “We’re going HOME!” But this homecoming won’t just be any old gala, and it wouldn’t be only the restoration of Israel to the glory of God. It is to be the Day of the LORD’s coming, too. “Those who were perishing .., and those who were exiled ... will come to worship the LORD” on His Holy Mountain.” And He will meet us there.
On August 28, 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington, DC. It told the story of the exile and slavery that has oppressed a people for hundreds of years. It told of the glimmers of hope that this people had seen over the years, but had never quite grasped, never quite enjoyed. It tells of the impatience of the people, as they eagerly wait to go home again, and even in that anxiety, it tells of the hope that must continue to be present in their lives.
He said “You have been the veterans of creative suffering.” But he also said “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair” I think Dr. King was telling the people to never loose hope, that the dream will come to fruition.
He ended his speech with those now famous words that he quoted from a spiritual
“Free at Last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
He ended his message of hope in the present tense – there is hope and we ARE free. Dr. King knew that the oppression and hatred and “creative suffering” that they all had felt, that it wasn’t over and done with, that it hadn’t stopped, that it was still being forced on the people, but nonetheless, he is free, and no one and no thing could take that away from him – not bigotry, not racism, and not even James Earl Ray.
That is a message that Christians in our country need to learn and live – that in Jesus Christ, there is a glorious hope, and in Him, we are free at last! Yes, there is still persecution toward the church; yes, there is still a worldly distrust of the gospel of Jesus Christ; yes, there is still a battle being waged against the Hope of Christ, but there is hope and we are free, and no one can take that freedom - that salvation in Jesus Christ - away from us! It is promised – “In that day, a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing .. and those who were exiled .. will come and worship the LORD on the mountain.”
Deliverance and wholeness – now, not later. The promise is for today. Yes, we aren’t completely home yet, but we’ve begun the journey, and soon, that glorious trumpet will sound, and we will know for certain that His people have arrived!
Now that’s a reason to rejoice and give thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Day 2009.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
“Are We Birthing Spirit Or Just Wind?”
Scripture Text Isaiah 26:16-21
J. Walter Cross,[a UMC pastor and writer,] tells of flying a kite with his son Jay in southern Florida during some windy weather. The wind was strong, and the kite grew smaller and smaller as it tugged against the string. The harder [the wind] blew, the higher [the kite] rose. Then there was a sickening snap! The string had broken. The kite was free, but it was no longer soaring higher. It was tumbling, falling crazily to dash itself against the ground or become tangled in the trees. What kept the kite airborne was [not the freedom of the wind, but] the restraint of the string. When that was lost, the kite was unable to fly. We are never freed until we are restrained by something that pulls us higher and higher. It is not the absence of restraints that makes us free [to soar].
There is no freedom in life until one belongs to God. Every other form of it is an illusion. We find the freedom to achieve the greatest desires of our lives only when we live in that relationship. When Christ binds us to himself, then we are free.
J. Walter Cross, Bradenton, Florida, 23 January 1994.
Are we freed to blow randomly with the wind, or restrained to freedom in the Spirit?
Read Isaiah 26:16-18
The freedom of the wind to blow anywhere it seems to want to, as the prophet notes, has nothing to do with salvation. Actually freedom itself has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is not the freedom to do whatever we wish, it is the power, given by God, to be freed to do what HE would have us do. It is, as Pastor Cross writes, is about a restraint, a stability that pulls us higher and higher.
Isaiah uses the metaphor of birth to reveal this difference. While the interpretation and understanding of these verses can vary all over the place, I will offer one of my own. I would like you to think of the pain that is described as being our life in this world. If we remain focused on the struggles and trials of life, if we try, in vain, to make something worthwhile of it, we will gain nothing. Think of the birthing process as our efforts to achieve and accomplish in this life. We have experienced God, we have an opportunity to be an active and faithful part of God’s plan, but because of our failure to focus on the blessings of eternity instead of the limitations of the world, we give birth to “wind” – uncontrollable bursts of empty air - instead of the Substance of God. And by letting our focus remain in this life, salvation has not been brought to anyone’s attention – the only thing that will be given are empty, hollow promises, and the people of the world remain in death and condemnation instead of being born to newness of life.
No birth, no life, no hope - only hot air!
That’s one of the problems that I see in liberal leaning theology. It focuses first on societal ills and social justice issues, and only puts matters of faith in second place. It uses social change to influence faith, instead of allowing faith to remain constant, and through our faith bringing about changes in society. Was Jesus a social reformer? Absolutely, but he established that change through a greater understanding of God’s will for our lives. He did not use social ills to change the faith.
Read Isaiah 26:19-20
The prophet tells us that we don’t have to remain in death – even while we’re “blowing in the wind” - we can still gain the stability of the Holy Spirit and begin to live a real life! But he says that we have to wake up first!
Psalm 104:29-30 “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Even our deathly dust can be revitalized when we turn back to the Spirit!
Can you imagine the joy that will come to those who once were dead but now know life through the security of God’s Spirit? Well, don’t hesitate with your answer - of course we do, because we are them!
The dead of earth will know true life again, but that life in eternity will come in the Lord’s time, not the earth’s. And, like Habakkuk, we have to wait for God’s plan of salvation to play out in our lives. That may be the hardest part – to know that a visible, certain, and uncompromising renewal is coming for us, but that we haven’t got a clue as to when the Renewer will arrive.
Verse 20 is almost reminiscent of the Passover story, isn’t it? “Go .. into your rooms and shut the doors .. hide yourselves .. until his wrath passes”. Remember that the people could hear the spirit of death all around them in that dark night of Egypt, and they had to trust that the blood of the sacrificial lamb that they had placed on the doors of their “rooms” would be sufficient to save them from the horrible fate that was enveloping others. (Exodus 12:21-30)
Do we trust in the Blood of Christ? Do we believe that his Blood is sufficient to save us from the dust of death?
Read Isaiah 26:21
Those who live to the world will die, and those who die to the world will be saved!
[Pope John Paul II] took the opportunity to put Bob Dylan right when the two headlined a [benefit] together in 1997 in Bologna. Dylan met the pope on stage during a Catholic youth event before playing three of his best-known songs. After the two men had shaken hands and exchanged a few words, the pope stepped up to the microphone and took the singer to the theological cleaners.
“You say the answer is blowing in the wind, my friend”, [the pope] observed. “So it is. But it is not the wind that blows things away, [that comes from] the wind that is the breath and life of the Holy Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come!'”
Clearly enjoying the thunderous applause that greeted these words, the pope continued in a style that would not have disgraced any TV evangelist: “You ask me, how many roads must a man walk down before he becomes a man? I answer: One! There is only one road for man, and it is the road of Jesus Christ, who said I am the Way and the Life.”
Unsurprisingly, Dylan was not seen to be taking notes for revised lyrics to his song.
--Ship of Fools Magazine Online, September 29, 1997.
There is one God, one Savior, one Spirit, and he is not of this world. Will we be the ones to bring another person to that “birth in new life”, or will we simply birth a lot of empty wind? Will we be the ones who carry and share the “good news” of salvation with a dying world, or will we simply shrug our shoulders and assume that the dust is a final sentence? Will we confidently proclaim that the Blood of Christ and the Spirit of Life are enough for our salvation, or will we set out to “fix it”, and make it better, more palatable, and politically correct?
God doesn’t need our help – he only needs our faithful response.
God doesn’t want our demise – he wants to give us hope and a future.
God doesn’t want us to remain as dust – he wants us to wake up and shout for joy!
No more than that, and definitely no less!!
J. Walter Cross,[a UMC pastor and writer,] tells of flying a kite with his son Jay in southern Florida during some windy weather. The wind was strong, and the kite grew smaller and smaller as it tugged against the string. The harder [the wind] blew, the higher [the kite] rose. Then there was a sickening snap! The string had broken. The kite was free, but it was no longer soaring higher. It was tumbling, falling crazily to dash itself against the ground or become tangled in the trees. What kept the kite airborne was [not the freedom of the wind, but] the restraint of the string. When that was lost, the kite was unable to fly. We are never freed until we are restrained by something that pulls us higher and higher. It is not the absence of restraints that makes us free [to soar].
There is no freedom in life until one belongs to God. Every other form of it is an illusion. We find the freedom to achieve the greatest desires of our lives only when we live in that relationship. When Christ binds us to himself, then we are free.
J. Walter Cross, Bradenton, Florida, 23 January 1994.
Are we freed to blow randomly with the wind, or restrained to freedom in the Spirit?
Read Isaiah 26:16-18
The freedom of the wind to blow anywhere it seems to want to, as the prophet notes, has nothing to do with salvation. Actually freedom itself has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is not the freedom to do whatever we wish, it is the power, given by God, to be freed to do what HE would have us do. It is, as Pastor Cross writes, is about a restraint, a stability that pulls us higher and higher.
Isaiah uses the metaphor of birth to reveal this difference. While the interpretation and understanding of these verses can vary all over the place, I will offer one of my own. I would like you to think of the pain that is described as being our life in this world. If we remain focused on the struggles and trials of life, if we try, in vain, to make something worthwhile of it, we will gain nothing. Think of the birthing process as our efforts to achieve and accomplish in this life. We have experienced God, we have an opportunity to be an active and faithful part of God’s plan, but because of our failure to focus on the blessings of eternity instead of the limitations of the world, we give birth to “wind” – uncontrollable bursts of empty air - instead of the Substance of God. And by letting our focus remain in this life, salvation has not been brought to anyone’s attention – the only thing that will be given are empty, hollow promises, and the people of the world remain in death and condemnation instead of being born to newness of life.
No birth, no life, no hope - only hot air!
That’s one of the problems that I see in liberal leaning theology. It focuses first on societal ills and social justice issues, and only puts matters of faith in second place. It uses social change to influence faith, instead of allowing faith to remain constant, and through our faith bringing about changes in society. Was Jesus a social reformer? Absolutely, but he established that change through a greater understanding of God’s will for our lives. He did not use social ills to change the faith.
Read Isaiah 26:19-20
The prophet tells us that we don’t have to remain in death – even while we’re “blowing in the wind” - we can still gain the stability of the Holy Spirit and begin to live a real life! But he says that we have to wake up first!
Psalm 104:29-30 “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Even our deathly dust can be revitalized when we turn back to the Spirit!
Can you imagine the joy that will come to those who once were dead but now know life through the security of God’s Spirit? Well, don’t hesitate with your answer - of course we do, because we are them!
The dead of earth will know true life again, but that life in eternity will come in the Lord’s time, not the earth’s. And, like Habakkuk, we have to wait for God’s plan of salvation to play out in our lives. That may be the hardest part – to know that a visible, certain, and uncompromising renewal is coming for us, but that we haven’t got a clue as to when the Renewer will arrive.
Verse 20 is almost reminiscent of the Passover story, isn’t it? “Go .. into your rooms and shut the doors .. hide yourselves .. until his wrath passes”. Remember that the people could hear the spirit of death all around them in that dark night of Egypt, and they had to trust that the blood of the sacrificial lamb that they had placed on the doors of their “rooms” would be sufficient to save them from the horrible fate that was enveloping others. (Exodus 12:21-30)
Do we trust in the Blood of Christ? Do we believe that his Blood is sufficient to save us from the dust of death?
Read Isaiah 26:21
Those who live to the world will die, and those who die to the world will be saved!
[Pope John Paul II] took the opportunity to put Bob Dylan right when the two headlined a [benefit] together in 1997 in Bologna. Dylan met the pope on stage during a Catholic youth event before playing three of his best-known songs. After the two men had shaken hands and exchanged a few words, the pope stepped up to the microphone and took the singer to the theological cleaners.
“You say the answer is blowing in the wind, my friend”, [the pope] observed. “So it is. But it is not the wind that blows things away, [that comes from] the wind that is the breath and life of the Holy Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come!'”
Clearly enjoying the thunderous applause that greeted these words, the pope continued in a style that would not have disgraced any TV evangelist: “You ask me, how many roads must a man walk down before he becomes a man? I answer: One! There is only one road for man, and it is the road of Jesus Christ, who said I am the Way and the Life.”
Unsurprisingly, Dylan was not seen to be taking notes for revised lyrics to his song.
--Ship of Fools Magazine Online, September 29, 1997.
There is one God, one Savior, one Spirit, and he is not of this world. Will we be the ones to bring another person to that “birth in new life”, or will we simply birth a lot of empty wind? Will we be the ones who carry and share the “good news” of salvation with a dying world, or will we simply shrug our shoulders and assume that the dust is a final sentence? Will we confidently proclaim that the Blood of Christ and the Spirit of Life are enough for our salvation, or will we set out to “fix it”, and make it better, more palatable, and politically correct?
God doesn’t need our help – he only needs our faithful response.
God doesn’t want our demise – he wants to give us hope and a future.
God doesn’t want us to remain as dust – he wants us to wake up and shout for joy!
No more than that, and definitely no less!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
“Trust Works Both Ways”
Scripture Text: Isaiah 26:2-4, 10-15
As you all know, we have two cats – Rusty and Robo. They are good cats, and as cats go, are pretty sociable. At night, especially during colder weather, they both vie for treasured spots on the bed. Treasured for them, I might add, because it usually means that Diane and I wind up cramped for space of our own! We can’t roll over without getting hissed at, and we can’t stretch out our legs without kicking at least one of them.
And as nice as these two furry creatures are, and as much as we both enjoy their attentiveness, there is at least one moment when you simply can’t trust them – and that is when we sit down to have a meal and watch a TV show in our family room. Do not – I repeat – DO NOT trust that either one of them will leave your food alone if you need to get up for a few moments! And sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the room – I don’t know how many times I’ve had a furry little paw sneak up over the edge of the TV tray and reach for my plate, even while I’m still sitting there!
Trust, in this life at least, is something that must be earned through experience, and those two cats still have a long way to go!!
But what about trust in God? Does the Lord have to earn our trust, or should we instinctively give it to Him? I might offer that, experientially, people do not spontaneously give trust, but I will say that while God already deserves our trust, we all must discover that truth for ourselves.
Read Isaiah 26:2-4
And when we finally come to the conclusion that God is deserving of our trust, we also uncover the fact that He has already been giving His trust to us. We don’t deserve it, we haven’t earned it, and we continue to give God all kinds of reasons to withdraw that trust, but He never has and never will. He has given it, and will never take it back.
And verse 3 also tells us that we will gain a peace in Christ because of His trust. I don’t think that I need to remind you, though, that this peace does not mean that life will automatically be wonderful! A life in Christ is still filled with all kinds of trials and troubles and pains, but it is His peace that sees us through those times.
Buell Kazee, a writer, musician and preacher in the early 20th century, tells us that “Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then can you still trust God?”
--Buell Kazee, Faith Is the Victory (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
Kazee had lived through the Depression in the rural South, and he knew what “nothing” was. When there is nothing left to sustain you, when the world has given you up for loss, when even your faith seems to be teetering on the verge of total collapse, do you still trust God? Isaiah tells us that He will still trust us, but do we still trust Him?
When others seems to be doing very well in the world without God, and when, in faith, we are struggling to make ends meet, do we still trust? That seems to be a real test, doesn’t it?
Read Isaiah 26:10-11
Even the people of this world who want nothing to do with God can still experience His grace and mercy for a while, but it will not last forever. In Jesus’ words, “They have received their reward in full (Matthew 6:2-4).
God gives His trust to all, but how many are willing to return that trust? All too often, we want God to earn our trust before we give it! We want Him to be obvious in His blessings, obvious in His grace, obvious in His trust, but unfortunately, that isn’t how the Lord works! And actually, He works in just the opposite way – trust in Him first, and then His blessings and grace and trust in us will be revealed!
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God!“
We need to stop demanding those things that we have decided are important from our Lord, and start giving Him our best. We need to be “still” in voice, and “loud” in faith! We need to trust that God is generous and will give all good things to those who believe. We need to believe that God is gracious and loving, and that His greatest desire is for us to have a relationship with Him. We need to know that He is God, and we need to know that we aren’t!
A prayer by Theodore Parker Ferris, rector of Trinity Church in Boston for thirty years, was found penciled on the back of an in-flight beverage list from American Airlines: “Lord Jesus, I would like to be able to do myself the things I help others to do. I can give them confidence that I myself do not have, and I can quiet their anxiety but not my own.
What do I lack? Or is it the way I am made? I want to be free to move from place to place without fear, and I want to face the thing to be done without panic. You did it, and you made it possible for others to do it. You didn't count on drugs. You trusted your Father. You didn't turn away from life, nor did you seek pain or death. You met each as it came.
I would like to do the same, but by myself I can't. I like to think that you can be with me and in me, and with your help I can do better. Amen.”
Now there is a prayer that we all should be praying! We need to trust God enough to know that He trusts us even more. We need to see His hand that rests over us, as well as that same hand that comes against the evil of the world. We need to recognize the ways that He works in and through us, we need to know that “He is with us and in us and with His help, that we can do better" – in faith, in trust, in life.
Read Isaiah 26:12-15
And we have to acknowledge that in everything that we may accomplish, that it is really God who has enabled it to happen. The prophet reminds us that while others have had authority over our lives from time to time, that their power can never be permanent – it rises up, and then it is taken away, it becomes strong and then withers to nothing. During Isaiah’s ministry, he would see the power of the Assyrians rise up and defeat the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and he knew that in another hundred years or so, that the Southern Kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians and that the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be completely destroyed. And he also knew that the power that Assyria and Babylon held would never last, but that God’s would. When you are facing conquest and annihilation, and can still love God, that’s trust! When we can still look to God when everything that we have ever valued is being taken away, when we can trust that God is still in charge, even though the evil in this world seems to be on a never ending rampage, when we can still have a hope for a glorious eternity, even while we see nothing but futility and failure in our own lives, that is the level of faith that God wants for us.
Abraham Heschel writes: “God does not need those who praise him when in a state of euphoria. He needs those who are in love with him when in distress.... This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into a song. To know the monster's rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face; to go through hell [on earth] and to continue to trust in the goodness of God - this is the challenge and the way.”
(Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth [New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973], 300-301)
Trust with God works both ways. Heschel tells us to “trust in the goodness of God”, and I will add that we should do this because God trusts in the potential for goodness that is in each of us! He loves us, and He rains down His blessings upon us, and in return, we are to give Him the glory.
God trusts that we will give Him our best, and we trust that He will give us His. God’s trust never fails. Will ours be that solid?
As you all know, we have two cats – Rusty and Robo. They are good cats, and as cats go, are pretty sociable. At night, especially during colder weather, they both vie for treasured spots on the bed. Treasured for them, I might add, because it usually means that Diane and I wind up cramped for space of our own! We can’t roll over without getting hissed at, and we can’t stretch out our legs without kicking at least one of them.
And as nice as these two furry creatures are, and as much as we both enjoy their attentiveness, there is at least one moment when you simply can’t trust them – and that is when we sit down to have a meal and watch a TV show in our family room. Do not – I repeat – DO NOT trust that either one of them will leave your food alone if you need to get up for a few moments! And sometimes, you don’t even have to leave the room – I don’t know how many times I’ve had a furry little paw sneak up over the edge of the TV tray and reach for my plate, even while I’m still sitting there!
Trust, in this life at least, is something that must be earned through experience, and those two cats still have a long way to go!!
But what about trust in God? Does the Lord have to earn our trust, or should we instinctively give it to Him? I might offer that, experientially, people do not spontaneously give trust, but I will say that while God already deserves our trust, we all must discover that truth for ourselves.
Read Isaiah 26:2-4
And when we finally come to the conclusion that God is deserving of our trust, we also uncover the fact that He has already been giving His trust to us. We don’t deserve it, we haven’t earned it, and we continue to give God all kinds of reasons to withdraw that trust, but He never has and never will. He has given it, and will never take it back.
And verse 3 also tells us that we will gain a peace in Christ because of His trust. I don’t think that I need to remind you, though, that this peace does not mean that life will automatically be wonderful! A life in Christ is still filled with all kinds of trials and troubles and pains, but it is His peace that sees us through those times.
Buell Kazee, a writer, musician and preacher in the early 20th century, tells us that “Faith is not trusting God to get something; faith is trusting God when there seems to be nothing left. When everything is gone with no hope of restoration and when there is nothing on which to base your faith; then can you still trust God?”
--Buell Kazee, Faith Is the Victory (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 149.
Kazee had lived through the Depression in the rural South, and he knew what “nothing” was. When there is nothing left to sustain you, when the world has given you up for loss, when even your faith seems to be teetering on the verge of total collapse, do you still trust God? Isaiah tells us that He will still trust us, but do we still trust Him?
When others seems to be doing very well in the world without God, and when, in faith, we are struggling to make ends meet, do we still trust? That seems to be a real test, doesn’t it?
Read Isaiah 26:10-11
Even the people of this world who want nothing to do with God can still experience His grace and mercy for a while, but it will not last forever. In Jesus’ words, “They have received their reward in full (Matthew 6:2-4).
God gives His trust to all, but how many are willing to return that trust? All too often, we want God to earn our trust before we give it! We want Him to be obvious in His blessings, obvious in His grace, obvious in His trust, but unfortunately, that isn’t how the Lord works! And actually, He works in just the opposite way – trust in Him first, and then His blessings and grace and trust in us will be revealed!
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God!“
We need to stop demanding those things that we have decided are important from our Lord, and start giving Him our best. We need to be “still” in voice, and “loud” in faith! We need to trust that God is generous and will give all good things to those who believe. We need to believe that God is gracious and loving, and that His greatest desire is for us to have a relationship with Him. We need to know that He is God, and we need to know that we aren’t!
A prayer by Theodore Parker Ferris, rector of Trinity Church in Boston for thirty years, was found penciled on the back of an in-flight beverage list from American Airlines: “Lord Jesus, I would like to be able to do myself the things I help others to do. I can give them confidence that I myself do not have, and I can quiet their anxiety but not my own.
What do I lack? Or is it the way I am made? I want to be free to move from place to place without fear, and I want to face the thing to be done without panic. You did it, and you made it possible for others to do it. You didn't count on drugs. You trusted your Father. You didn't turn away from life, nor did you seek pain or death. You met each as it came.
I would like to do the same, but by myself I can't. I like to think that you can be with me and in me, and with your help I can do better. Amen.”
Now there is a prayer that we all should be praying! We need to trust God enough to know that He trusts us even more. We need to see His hand that rests over us, as well as that same hand that comes against the evil of the world. We need to recognize the ways that He works in and through us, we need to know that “He is with us and in us and with His help, that we can do better" – in faith, in trust, in life.
Read Isaiah 26:12-15
And we have to acknowledge that in everything that we may accomplish, that it is really God who has enabled it to happen. The prophet reminds us that while others have had authority over our lives from time to time, that their power can never be permanent – it rises up, and then it is taken away, it becomes strong and then withers to nothing. During Isaiah’s ministry, he would see the power of the Assyrians rise up and defeat the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and he knew that in another hundred years or so, that the Southern Kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians and that the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be completely destroyed. And he also knew that the power that Assyria and Babylon held would never last, but that God’s would. When you are facing conquest and annihilation, and can still love God, that’s trust! When we can still look to God when everything that we have ever valued is being taken away, when we can trust that God is still in charge, even though the evil in this world seems to be on a never ending rampage, when we can still have a hope for a glorious eternity, even while we see nothing but futility and failure in our own lives, that is the level of faith that God wants for us.
Abraham Heschel writes: “God does not need those who praise him when in a state of euphoria. He needs those who are in love with him when in distress.... This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into a song. To know the monster's rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face; to go through hell [on earth] and to continue to trust in the goodness of God - this is the challenge and the way.”
(Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth [New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973], 300-301)
Trust with God works both ways. Heschel tells us to “trust in the goodness of God”, and I will add that we should do this because God trusts in the potential for goodness that is in each of us! He loves us, and He rains down His blessings upon us, and in return, we are to give Him the glory.
God trusts that we will give Him our best, and we trust that He will give us His. God’s trust never fails. Will ours be that solid?
Sunday, November 1, 2009
“Surrounded By Salvation!”
Scripture Text: Isaiah 25:10-26:2
In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.
The church has always been surrounded by those who wish to destroy it. Christ experienced that. The disciples experienced it. Paul both did it and suffered under it. And throughout the ages, Christians of all walks and all ages have known it. Why? Because the church, if it is to stand beside Jesus Christ, must also be standing with oppressed people, in spite of the number and strength of the oppressors, wherever they may be found. And while we do, Christ stands with us.
Read Isaiah 25:10
Moab is both a nation to the east of Israel and Judah, as well as a representation of those nations and peoples who stand in opposition to them.
Some history regarding Moab:
- Moab was the eldest son of Lot’s oldest daughter, who, as you may remember, had gotten him drunk and had sex with him after their escape from Sodom. ( Genesis 19:30-38) They then migrated to an already populated area and settled in. Moab’s descendents apparently became the dominate family, and the nation was renamed for him.
- Moab was the last area that the Israelites crossed before they entered the Promised Land, and this is where Moses died and was buried. (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
- The nation constantly harassed Israel through raiding parties and limited invasions.
- Moab would also fall to the advances of Assyria, but when that nation was conquered, Moab regained her identity.
Israel and Moab had a long history, over 800 years, of animosity, and Isaiah was playing on that difficult relationship to represent all who had caused problems for the Hebrews.
The mountain that is referred to in verse 10 is “Mount Zion” – the holy city of God, as well as the faithful who live there. The hand that rests on them is a hand of protection and blessing, but the other hand will be one of judgment against all who have opposed His faithful. Verse 10 - “They will be trampled under [foot] as straw is trampled down in the manure.” I don’t know how many here have ever worked in a barn, but straw that has been used as bedding, walked on and thoroughly messed up with urine and feces, is simply removed and taken out to the fields as fertilizer for other corps. In and of itself, the straw is now useless and can never be reclaimed.
“In that day of the Lord”, all who have opposed and oppressed God’s people will be worth just as much as straw in manure!
Read Isaiah 25:11-12
And no matter how much the wicked of this world will try to rescue themselves from the manure of their own making, no matter how hard they try to stay afloat, how skilled and clever they may be, how much pride and success they may have had in the past, they will fail. Hallelujah!
“Their high and fortified walls will be laid low”. Their strength, their security, their prestige, their authority will no longer exist – it had been raised up from the earth, and it will be taken back down to the earth.
The faithfulness of the Lord will not fail His people. He will triumph, and so will His.
Read Isaiah 26:1-2
As strong as the walls are that protect the worldly around us, they will fail. As scorned as the walls of the church may be, as much as they are mocked, the strength and security and prestige and authority of Jesus Christ will reign long after the power of the world ceases to exist. And that is a promise from god Himself.
“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” (26:2)
I might rephrase this to say “Open the doors of the church, that all who seek the righteousness of Christ may enter, that all who seek His power, His blessing, His glory, His wisdom, His faith, may find it within.”
May it be so with us!
We finish this message with the rest of Arch Bishop Romero’s story:
The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.
The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of Sacramental discipleship. He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.
--Christopher C. Walker, “Connecting With the Spirit of Christ, Evangelism for a Secular age” (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1988), 104. (From Homiletics On-line
Jesus Christ was faithful to the Father and to us, even to the point of death. As we receive these sacramental elements today, we remember not only Christ’s faithful service to us, but also the faithful examples of those who have lived, and served and died in their life with Christ.
May it be so with us.
In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.
The church has always been surrounded by those who wish to destroy it. Christ experienced that. The disciples experienced it. Paul both did it and suffered under it. And throughout the ages, Christians of all walks and all ages have known it. Why? Because the church, if it is to stand beside Jesus Christ, must also be standing with oppressed people, in spite of the number and strength of the oppressors, wherever they may be found. And while we do, Christ stands with us.
Read Isaiah 25:10
Moab is both a nation to the east of Israel and Judah, as well as a representation of those nations and peoples who stand in opposition to them.
Some history regarding Moab:
- Moab was the eldest son of Lot’s oldest daughter, who, as you may remember, had gotten him drunk and had sex with him after their escape from Sodom. ( Genesis 19:30-38) They then migrated to an already populated area and settled in. Moab’s descendents apparently became the dominate family, and the nation was renamed for him.
- Moab was the last area that the Israelites crossed before they entered the Promised Land, and this is where Moses died and was buried. (Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
- The nation constantly harassed Israel through raiding parties and limited invasions.
- Moab would also fall to the advances of Assyria, but when that nation was conquered, Moab regained her identity.
Israel and Moab had a long history, over 800 years, of animosity, and Isaiah was playing on that difficult relationship to represent all who had caused problems for the Hebrews.
The mountain that is referred to in verse 10 is “Mount Zion” – the holy city of God, as well as the faithful who live there. The hand that rests on them is a hand of protection and blessing, but the other hand will be one of judgment against all who have opposed His faithful. Verse 10 - “They will be trampled under [foot] as straw is trampled down in the manure.” I don’t know how many here have ever worked in a barn, but straw that has been used as bedding, walked on and thoroughly messed up with urine and feces, is simply removed and taken out to the fields as fertilizer for other corps. In and of itself, the straw is now useless and can never be reclaimed.
“In that day of the Lord”, all who have opposed and oppressed God’s people will be worth just as much as straw in manure!
Read Isaiah 25:11-12
And no matter how much the wicked of this world will try to rescue themselves from the manure of their own making, no matter how hard they try to stay afloat, how skilled and clever they may be, how much pride and success they may have had in the past, they will fail. Hallelujah!
“Their high and fortified walls will be laid low”. Their strength, their security, their prestige, their authority will no longer exist – it had been raised up from the earth, and it will be taken back down to the earth.
The faithfulness of the Lord will not fail His people. He will triumph, and so will His.
Read Isaiah 26:1-2
As strong as the walls are that protect the worldly around us, they will fail. As scorned as the walls of the church may be, as much as they are mocked, the strength and security and prestige and authority of Jesus Christ will reign long after the power of the world ceases to exist. And that is a promise from god Himself.
“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” (26:2)
I might rephrase this to say “Open the doors of the church, that all who seek the righteousness of Christ may enter, that all who seek His power, His blessing, His glory, His wisdom, His faith, may find it within.”
May it be so with us!
We finish this message with the rest of Arch Bishop Romero’s story:
The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.
The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of Sacramental discipleship. He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.
--Christopher C. Walker, “Connecting With the Spirit of Christ, Evangelism for a Secular age” (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1988), 104. (From Homiletics On-line
Jesus Christ was faithful to the Father and to us, even to the point of death. As we receive these sacramental elements today, we remember not only Christ’s faithful service to us, but also the faithful examples of those who have lived, and served and died in their life with Christ.
May it be so with us.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
“Feasting in the Presence of Our Enemies”
Scripture Text: Isaiah 25:6-9
As I read through the text for today, the passage that leapt into my mind is the 23rd Psalm. Let’s say it together.
Read Psalm 23
For me, the key line in this poem of praise is this – “I shall not want”. Jehovah-Jireh – “the Lord provides”. He provides for all of our needs, and when we receive His generosity, we are completely satisfied. But we need to remember that He satisfies needs in a way that is very different from the gratification that comes from the world. And having said that, I will also say that we need both God’s gifts and those of humanity. And by that I mean that many times, God gives through the lives of His people. Amen? In our Tuesday morning Bible Study, we’ve been reading through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, and we have just begun chapter 15.
Read Romans 15:1-2
As we read and discussed these verses, in particular the issues of bearing each others burdens and building each other up, we talked about the needs of our brothers and sisters in this congregation. We know that many in our church will be alone during the holidays. We know that some are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. We know that while holidays are generally seen as times for celebration, that there are many folks who really have to stretch to find a reason to be happy, let alone to be celebratory! And the question came up – How can we help them to “bear their weaknesses”?
A plan has begun to reveal itself, and great anticipation is also beginning to build. It seems that there is going to be a dinner and fellowship for all who will be alone for Thanksgiving, and while I can’t tell you much more today, I hope to be able to provide some details next week. Let it suffice to say that you will not be alone for this Thanksgiving! And we’ll just have to see where this takes us and even what may develop beyond this!
Read Isaiah 25:6
I don’t know if we will be providing the “finest of aged wines”, but the Lord will be preparing a feast of the best food. But isn’t that the way that God always works? He not only includes us in the working of His plans, but He seems to inspire and enable us to do the very things that He desires to have done but can’t even begin to do on our own! He could very easily do it through His own miraculous touch, but He wants us to be a part of His work.
Have you experienced this before? You have known that God wants you to do something that is nearly impossible, or at least beyond your own ability, and as soon as you take that first step in faith toward that “unattainable” goal, everything begins to fall into place? Finances start to take shape, people begin to get on board, resources that were previously unknown start to accumulate, needed facilities are suddenly available, and so on.
And you begin to understand the word that says “Nothing is impossible for God.” – that God invariably, provides a feast for us every time we show that we trust Him.
But to go back to our Psalm for a moment, what’s this about “feasting in the presence of our enemies”? Our enemies, especially in this context, are those who would much rather see us starve than receive the best of meats - the world doesn’t want us to find peace and hope for our life. The Lord wants us to feast; it’s the world that wants us to struggle. The Lord wants us to rejoice; it’s the world that wants us to suffer. The Lord wants us to have clarity of vision and fullness of life; the world would prefer that we were blind, totally dependent on them for guidance.
In the middle of our adversity, no matter what form it may take, God is there to help us through it. And even more than that, He doesn’t stop at “just barely enough” - His greatest desire is to bring unbridled joy into our barren lives, to give us a feast of the finest foods when we would be satisfied with a single hamburger.
Read Isaiah 25:7-8a
A shroud is the cover that goes over a dead body. And it is in His banquet that life and trust are restored, that vision is made perfect again, disease and crippling injuries are healed, and spiritual blindness becomes a thing of the past. The shroud that covers us and makes us fearful and holds us down and keeps us in the dark and tells us that all hope is gone won’t just be removed – it will be destroyed, never to enfold us again! Not just an incredible feast for today, but a vision of the future that is filled with God’s goodness and hope!
Read Isaiah 25:8b
The tears that He will wipe away come from our failed life in this world. Remember the story in Luke about the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears?
Read Luke 7:36-38, 44-48
Our sins are just as plentiful as this woman’s were, but how many tears have we shed? Have we become too comfortable with God’s forgiving and generous nature? Has sin become so commonplace in our lives that it’s no longer given a place of contempt in either society or the church? How grateful are we for God’s personal sacrifice on our behalf? If we are grateful, why aren’t we shedding tears of shame, as well as ones of gratitude?
But if we have no tears, how will we ever experience God’s mercy gently wiping them away? We just might miss out on one of heaven’s greatest gifts! And if there is no shame, how can there be any repentance, and without our turning away from sin, how will the Lord be able to remove our disgrace.
Read Isaiah 25:9
The joy of those who dine at His glorious banquet will be overwhelming. Now I don’t know if our plans for a special church Thanksgiving feast will be quite that glorious, but I imagine that it will be pretty good! And this last verse for today will be the theme verse for that dinner. How ever it comes about, it will come because of God’s Grace and Will; because we will trust in His great gifts, many just might be spared from the solitary loneliness of a holiday; and it will be a day of rejoicing for us because it will also be a day of rejoicing for the Lord.
Feasting in the presence of our enemies – maybe we should invite those who have snickered over our predicaments, or who may have even caused our trials in the past so they, too, can see what our all powerful and all mighty God can really do. We’ll have to pray about that won’t we?
“Surely, this is our God.” What a glorious God! Praises to His majesty!
As I read through the text for today, the passage that leapt into my mind is the 23rd Psalm. Let’s say it together.
Read Psalm 23
For me, the key line in this poem of praise is this – “I shall not want”. Jehovah-Jireh – “the Lord provides”. He provides for all of our needs, and when we receive His generosity, we are completely satisfied. But we need to remember that He satisfies needs in a way that is very different from the gratification that comes from the world. And having said that, I will also say that we need both God’s gifts and those of humanity. And by that I mean that many times, God gives through the lives of His people. Amen? In our Tuesday morning Bible Study, we’ve been reading through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, and we have just begun chapter 15.
Read Romans 15:1-2
As we read and discussed these verses, in particular the issues of bearing each others burdens and building each other up, we talked about the needs of our brothers and sisters in this congregation. We know that many in our church will be alone during the holidays. We know that some are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. We know that while holidays are generally seen as times for celebration, that there are many folks who really have to stretch to find a reason to be happy, let alone to be celebratory! And the question came up – How can we help them to “bear their weaknesses”?
A plan has begun to reveal itself, and great anticipation is also beginning to build. It seems that there is going to be a dinner and fellowship for all who will be alone for Thanksgiving, and while I can’t tell you much more today, I hope to be able to provide some details next week. Let it suffice to say that you will not be alone for this Thanksgiving! And we’ll just have to see where this takes us and even what may develop beyond this!
Read Isaiah 25:6
I don’t know if we will be providing the “finest of aged wines”, but the Lord will be preparing a feast of the best food. But isn’t that the way that God always works? He not only includes us in the working of His plans, but He seems to inspire and enable us to do the very things that He desires to have done but can’t even begin to do on our own! He could very easily do it through His own miraculous touch, but He wants us to be a part of His work.
Have you experienced this before? You have known that God wants you to do something that is nearly impossible, or at least beyond your own ability, and as soon as you take that first step in faith toward that “unattainable” goal, everything begins to fall into place? Finances start to take shape, people begin to get on board, resources that were previously unknown start to accumulate, needed facilities are suddenly available, and so on.
And you begin to understand the word that says “Nothing is impossible for God.” – that God invariably, provides a feast for us every time we show that we trust Him.
But to go back to our Psalm for a moment, what’s this about “feasting in the presence of our enemies”? Our enemies, especially in this context, are those who would much rather see us starve than receive the best of meats - the world doesn’t want us to find peace and hope for our life. The Lord wants us to feast; it’s the world that wants us to struggle. The Lord wants us to rejoice; it’s the world that wants us to suffer. The Lord wants us to have clarity of vision and fullness of life; the world would prefer that we were blind, totally dependent on them for guidance.
In the middle of our adversity, no matter what form it may take, God is there to help us through it. And even more than that, He doesn’t stop at “just barely enough” - His greatest desire is to bring unbridled joy into our barren lives, to give us a feast of the finest foods when we would be satisfied with a single hamburger.
Read Isaiah 25:7-8a
A shroud is the cover that goes over a dead body. And it is in His banquet that life and trust are restored, that vision is made perfect again, disease and crippling injuries are healed, and spiritual blindness becomes a thing of the past. The shroud that covers us and makes us fearful and holds us down and keeps us in the dark and tells us that all hope is gone won’t just be removed – it will be destroyed, never to enfold us again! Not just an incredible feast for today, but a vision of the future that is filled with God’s goodness and hope!
Read Isaiah 25:8b
The tears that He will wipe away come from our failed life in this world. Remember the story in Luke about the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears?
Read Luke 7:36-38, 44-48
Our sins are just as plentiful as this woman’s were, but how many tears have we shed? Have we become too comfortable with God’s forgiving and generous nature? Has sin become so commonplace in our lives that it’s no longer given a place of contempt in either society or the church? How grateful are we for God’s personal sacrifice on our behalf? If we are grateful, why aren’t we shedding tears of shame, as well as ones of gratitude?
But if we have no tears, how will we ever experience God’s mercy gently wiping them away? We just might miss out on one of heaven’s greatest gifts! And if there is no shame, how can there be any repentance, and without our turning away from sin, how will the Lord be able to remove our disgrace.
Read Isaiah 25:9
The joy of those who dine at His glorious banquet will be overwhelming. Now I don’t know if our plans for a special church Thanksgiving feast will be quite that glorious, but I imagine that it will be pretty good! And this last verse for today will be the theme verse for that dinner. How ever it comes about, it will come because of God’s Grace and Will; because we will trust in His great gifts, many just might be spared from the solitary loneliness of a holiday; and it will be a day of rejoicing for us because it will also be a day of rejoicing for the Lord.
Feasting in the presence of our enemies – maybe we should invite those who have snickered over our predicaments, or who may have even caused our trials in the past so they, too, can see what our all powerful and all mighty God can really do. We’ll have to pray about that won’t we?
“Surely, this is our God.” What a glorious God! Praises to His majesty!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Cup of Christ
Scripture text – Mark 10:35-45
Christine Oscar, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, tells this story of her four-year-old niece, Alisha:
One day while babysitting, I fixed the [children] their favorite lunch of burritos and apple juice. As I left the room, I heard four-year-old Alisha begin to celebrate communion with her lunch items. She seemed to have memorized the words of institution quite well, except when it came to the cup. She was heard to say, “And Jesus took the cup, and he blessed it, and he gave God thanks for it, and he said, 'Fill it with Folgers and wake 'em up!'”
-Parables, 10 (July 1990) 8, as reported in Homiletics Online.
I guess that from time to time, we all could use some Folgers in our communion!
Read Mark 10:35-39a
And it seems that the disciples could have used some Folgers 2,000 years ago. In this passage, as in the Matthew equivalent, His small band of followers didn’t quite get what He was saying. “Can you drink the same cup that I will drink?” And the brothers answered, and all too quickly I might add, “Yes, we can!” Now, we have to admire their eagerness to follow Christ’s example – “wherever you go, Lord, we will go; whatever you do, we will do; we’re with you all the way, Lord – you can always count on us!”
How many Christians today have this same attitude? Probably more than we think! And I would also guess that they are, for the most part, fairly new to the faith. Anyone who has walked Christ’s path for any length of time will already know that this is a nearly impossible claim to make with any certainty! Just as soon as we think we are up and running as a believer, we stumble over some huge spiritual obstacle and fall flat on our face. Are we truly able to drink from the same cup that Jesus drinks from? The truth is that we can, but only with His help!
Jesus’ cup can be a rather bitter cup if we let it. Consider Paul’s life, before and after he met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. Before that meeting, what was his life like? It was really something to watch! He was a rising star!
Read Philippians 3:4-6
Paul had a firm grasp on life, and he was on a down hill pull! But then he decided to go to Damascus to ferret out some more of those “Jesus people” and bring them to justice. And how did his encounter with the Risen Christ change his life? Completely!
Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-30
Talk about drinking from Christ’s cup! And this is the same man, who in his letter to the church in Rome, would write “We .. rejoice in our suffering.” (Romans 5:3-5) He would come to see the glories of his former life as worthless and the suffering in his new life as glory and a reason to rejoice.
Can we ever grow to have that kind of faith? Absolutely. But it requires a complete change in our attitudes, our priorities, our focus, our entire life. We have to understand that the insults and attacks and disbelief that will be directed at us are not for us. Remember Jesus’ words to Paul on the road – “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) It is Jesus who is bearing the brunt of the disbelief in the world, and it is He who is being tormented. Our place is simply as an intermediary – the messenger who is carrying the messages both ways.
And we all will drink from His cup, but the heavenly honors that we may think we deserve may not be what we will receive.
Read Mark 10:39b-44
Why? Because the glory and honors and rewards of heaven are determined in a totally different manner than those of earth, and the exercise of authority on earth is totally different than that in heaven.
- If you want to be great, you must be a servant to those around you. Note that Jesus doesn’t say that we’re to be a servant first! It’s a servant always!
- If we want to be first in His Kingdom, we must be a slave of all in this one. In the world, slaves come in dead last - they have no rights, no honors, no rewards, and they have only one purpose, and that is to do whatever their master decides that they must do.
Is there any wonder that people of this earth are skeptical about becoming a Christian? This entire approach to faith doesn’t make any sense to them, because they try to understand Jesus in worldly terms!
As an example, I understand that the Quakers sometimes allowed one symbol to be displayed in their barren meeting-halls. It was the picture of an ox between an altar and a plow. And underneath were the words: “Prepared for either.” Sacrifice or service. David thought of himself as a servant of God, and no more; Mary thought of herself as a servant of God, and no more; Paul thought of himself as a servant of Christ, and no more. What was in it for them all? Nothing but betrayals, abuse, suffering, death, and, oh yes, the joy of serving the Lord. (Homiletics Online)
Read Mark 10:45
Jesus thought of himself as a servant of God, and no more, and that defines His Cup. Our servanthood to God becomes evident and real through our servanthood to those in need, to those who are lonely, to those who are hungry, to the destitute, the emotionally wounded, the spiritually lost, and to the least of this world. These are the ones who need our servanthood the most, and they are also the ones who will never be able to repay our service to them. These are the ones who Jesus came for, and they are the ones who Jesus is sending us to. And the mere fact that we have extended the hand of Christ to a hurting world should bring us an incredibly joyful sense that the cup of Jesus Christ that has been held in our hand has just been filled to overflowing.
Jimmy Dean, country-music star, co-wrote a song about celebrating life's little blessings called “Drinking From My Saucer”. The key verse is this one:
So, Lord, help me not to gripe
'Bout the tough rows that I've hoed,
I'm drinking from my saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
(From Homiletics Online)
But our cup can never overflow with Christ’s blessings until we empty our cup of all of our own agenda. James and John had their own plans for eternity – they wanted the glories and honors of earth to be given to them in heaven. They both would soon come to understand, as all of Jesus’ followers would, that earthly standards – both the good and the bad – must stay in earth, and that the rewards of heaven will always be in heaven. Paul’s words “Rejoice in our suffering” don’t mean that we should be happy when we suffer – just that while we are suffering in Jesus’ name, we can rejoice that the glory of heaven is getting a little closer with every step we take. We need to empty our cups of earthly desires, so that God can refill them with His!
The cup of Christ – is it too bitter to swallow for you, or is the taste perfect? For Paul, while he once saw it as a poison, would soon begin to swallow it in great gulps. Can’t each of us do the same?
Christine Oscar, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, tells this story of her four-year-old niece, Alisha:
One day while babysitting, I fixed the [children] their favorite lunch of burritos and apple juice. As I left the room, I heard four-year-old Alisha begin to celebrate communion with her lunch items. She seemed to have memorized the words of institution quite well, except when it came to the cup. She was heard to say, “And Jesus took the cup, and he blessed it, and he gave God thanks for it, and he said, 'Fill it with Folgers and wake 'em up!'”
-Parables, 10 (July 1990) 8, as reported in Homiletics Online.
I guess that from time to time, we all could use some Folgers in our communion!
Read Mark 10:35-39a
And it seems that the disciples could have used some Folgers 2,000 years ago. In this passage, as in the Matthew equivalent, His small band of followers didn’t quite get what He was saying. “Can you drink the same cup that I will drink?” And the brothers answered, and all too quickly I might add, “Yes, we can!” Now, we have to admire their eagerness to follow Christ’s example – “wherever you go, Lord, we will go; whatever you do, we will do; we’re with you all the way, Lord – you can always count on us!”
How many Christians today have this same attitude? Probably more than we think! And I would also guess that they are, for the most part, fairly new to the faith. Anyone who has walked Christ’s path for any length of time will already know that this is a nearly impossible claim to make with any certainty! Just as soon as we think we are up and running as a believer, we stumble over some huge spiritual obstacle and fall flat on our face. Are we truly able to drink from the same cup that Jesus drinks from? The truth is that we can, but only with His help!
Jesus’ cup can be a rather bitter cup if we let it. Consider Paul’s life, before and after he met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. Before that meeting, what was his life like? It was really something to watch! He was a rising star!
Read Philippians 3:4-6
Paul had a firm grasp on life, and he was on a down hill pull! But then he decided to go to Damascus to ferret out some more of those “Jesus people” and bring them to justice. And how did his encounter with the Risen Christ change his life? Completely!
Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-30
Talk about drinking from Christ’s cup! And this is the same man, who in his letter to the church in Rome, would write “We .. rejoice in our suffering.” (Romans 5:3-5) He would come to see the glories of his former life as worthless and the suffering in his new life as glory and a reason to rejoice.
Can we ever grow to have that kind of faith? Absolutely. But it requires a complete change in our attitudes, our priorities, our focus, our entire life. We have to understand that the insults and attacks and disbelief that will be directed at us are not for us. Remember Jesus’ words to Paul on the road – “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) It is Jesus who is bearing the brunt of the disbelief in the world, and it is He who is being tormented. Our place is simply as an intermediary – the messenger who is carrying the messages both ways.
And we all will drink from His cup, but the heavenly honors that we may think we deserve may not be what we will receive.
Read Mark 10:39b-44
Why? Because the glory and honors and rewards of heaven are determined in a totally different manner than those of earth, and the exercise of authority on earth is totally different than that in heaven.
- If you want to be great, you must be a servant to those around you. Note that Jesus doesn’t say that we’re to be a servant first! It’s a servant always!
- If we want to be first in His Kingdom, we must be a slave of all in this one. In the world, slaves come in dead last - they have no rights, no honors, no rewards, and they have only one purpose, and that is to do whatever their master decides that they must do.
Is there any wonder that people of this earth are skeptical about becoming a Christian? This entire approach to faith doesn’t make any sense to them, because they try to understand Jesus in worldly terms!
As an example, I understand that the Quakers sometimes allowed one symbol to be displayed in their barren meeting-halls. It was the picture of an ox between an altar and a plow. And underneath were the words: “Prepared for either.” Sacrifice or service. David thought of himself as a servant of God, and no more; Mary thought of herself as a servant of God, and no more; Paul thought of himself as a servant of Christ, and no more. What was in it for them all? Nothing but betrayals, abuse, suffering, death, and, oh yes, the joy of serving the Lord. (Homiletics Online)
Read Mark 10:45
Jesus thought of himself as a servant of God, and no more, and that defines His Cup. Our servanthood to God becomes evident and real through our servanthood to those in need, to those who are lonely, to those who are hungry, to the destitute, the emotionally wounded, the spiritually lost, and to the least of this world. These are the ones who need our servanthood the most, and they are also the ones who will never be able to repay our service to them. These are the ones who Jesus came for, and they are the ones who Jesus is sending us to. And the mere fact that we have extended the hand of Christ to a hurting world should bring us an incredibly joyful sense that the cup of Jesus Christ that has been held in our hand has just been filled to overflowing.
Jimmy Dean, country-music star, co-wrote a song about celebrating life's little blessings called “Drinking From My Saucer”. The key verse is this one:
So, Lord, help me not to gripe
'Bout the tough rows that I've hoed,
I'm drinking from my saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
(From Homiletics Online)
But our cup can never overflow with Christ’s blessings until we empty our cup of all of our own agenda. James and John had their own plans for eternity – they wanted the glories and honors of earth to be given to them in heaven. They both would soon come to understand, as all of Jesus’ followers would, that earthly standards – both the good and the bad – must stay in earth, and that the rewards of heaven will always be in heaven. Paul’s words “Rejoice in our suffering” don’t mean that we should be happy when we suffer – just that while we are suffering in Jesus’ name, we can rejoice that the glory of heaven is getting a little closer with every step we take. We need to empty our cups of earthly desires, so that God can refill them with His!
The cup of Christ – is it too bitter to swallow for you, or is the taste perfect? For Paul, while he once saw it as a poison, would soon begin to swallow it in great gulps. Can’t each of us do the same?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
"Are Any in Need of Healing?"
Scripture text: James 5:13-16
My Course of Study class this week [seminary classes required by the United Methodist Church for Local Pastors] was focused on the Reformation, and in our studies, we considered the issue of righteousness which seemed to have such a great impact on Martin Luther’s life. One verse is Romans 1:17 and the other passage is related, and is from Romans 3:10-11 .
Luther was concerned with these words in the 1st chapter that seemed to imply that we can attain the status of righteousness, and that we need righteousness. But chapter 3 tells us that we need to be righteous but can never become righteous, and if that’s the case, how can we ever get to heaven?
The issue of indulgences - the paying of pentenances to shorten the time required in purgatory - bothered Luther considerably, and this very issue is what lead him to the Wittenburg University door where he posted his "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences", which we know as the 95 Theses. We can’t buy righteousness, we can’t gain righteousness, but we need righteousness to come into the presence of God. See his dilemma?
Over the years, Luther came to the realization that while we can’t create our own righteousness, we can receive the righteousness of God as His holy and generous gift through faith, which, incidently, is also His gift to us. And in faithful righteousness, all things are possible. And this leads us to our reading for today.
Read James 5:13-16
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” In faithful righteousness, all things are possible! In faithful righteousness, our prayers will be powerful and effective – our petitions, our offerings, our needs can all be met in the righteousness that can only come through faith in Jesus Christ.
Is anyone in trouble? Is anyone sick? Is anyone struggling in their sinful ways or suffering in loneliness or loss? Is anyone being abused or abased by the sin of others?
Is anyone in need of healing?
James wants us to know that prayer offered in faith will bring health to the sick, relief to the troubled, forgiveness to the sinner, restoration to the lost and lonely, and renewed strength to the abused.
Every prayer, offered in faithful righteousness, will be powerful and will be effective.
Today, we offer each and every person here an opportunity to come forward in faith and God-given righteousness for anointing and prayers for whatever may be burdening you, and for whatever may be causing you pain. Come with a friend, or come by yourself. Come on behalf of another, or come for yourself. Come for some huge struggle, or come for an irritation. But regardless, come.
“Call the elders of the church to pray over you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord.” And in the context that the elders are the faithful and righteous children of God, that’s exactly what we will do today. I may be saying the words, I and one or two others may be the ones who lay hands on you, but all of the faithful who are here today will be joining in prayer for you and with you.
(We then held a healing service, with many congregants coming forward - some for their own issues, many for the burdens that haunt their friends and family)
My Course of Study class this week [seminary classes required by the United Methodist Church for Local Pastors] was focused on the Reformation, and in our studies, we considered the issue of righteousness which seemed to have such a great impact on Martin Luther’s life. One verse is Romans 1:17 and the other passage is related, and is from Romans 3:10-11 .
Luther was concerned with these words in the 1st chapter that seemed to imply that we can attain the status of righteousness, and that we need righteousness. But chapter 3 tells us that we need to be righteous but can never become righteous, and if that’s the case, how can we ever get to heaven?
The issue of indulgences - the paying of pentenances to shorten the time required in purgatory - bothered Luther considerably, and this very issue is what lead him to the Wittenburg University door where he posted his "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences", which we know as the 95 Theses. We can’t buy righteousness, we can’t gain righteousness, but we need righteousness to come into the presence of God. See his dilemma?
Over the years, Luther came to the realization that while we can’t create our own righteousness, we can receive the righteousness of God as His holy and generous gift through faith, which, incidently, is also His gift to us. And in faithful righteousness, all things are possible. And this leads us to our reading for today.
Read James 5:13-16
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” In faithful righteousness, all things are possible! In faithful righteousness, our prayers will be powerful and effective – our petitions, our offerings, our needs can all be met in the righteousness that can only come through faith in Jesus Christ.
Is anyone in trouble? Is anyone sick? Is anyone struggling in their sinful ways or suffering in loneliness or loss? Is anyone being abused or abased by the sin of others?
Is anyone in need of healing?
James wants us to know that prayer offered in faith will bring health to the sick, relief to the troubled, forgiveness to the sinner, restoration to the lost and lonely, and renewed strength to the abused.
Every prayer, offered in faithful righteousness, will be powerful and will be effective.
Today, we offer each and every person here an opportunity to come forward in faith and God-given righteousness for anointing and prayers for whatever may be burdening you, and for whatever may be causing you pain. Come with a friend, or come by yourself. Come on behalf of another, or come for yourself. Come for some huge struggle, or come for an irritation. But regardless, come.
“Call the elders of the church to pray over you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord.” And in the context that the elders are the faithful and righteous children of God, that’s exactly what we will do today. I may be saying the words, I and one or two others may be the ones who lay hands on you, but all of the faithful who are here today will be joining in prayer for you and with you.
(We then held a healing service, with many congregants coming forward - some for their own issues, many for the burdens that haunt their friends and family)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"Are Any Suffering"
Scripture Text: James 5:7-11
The issue of suffering seems to permeate the scriptures.
What could God’s plan possibly be that it so much pain is involved in following Him? Interesting question! We know that the Christ was constantly under attack – from the moment that He was baptized and went into the desert to be tormented by Satan, until He breathed His last on Calvary. His message was of healing and salvation, but those who opposed His Way only wanted to get Him out of the way, even by death if necessary. And yet, through it all, He remained focused on His task, and never gave up. And that mind-set must be ours, too – we can never give up, no matter what may come our way!
If we are to believe Romans 5:3, we discover that “we also rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;” It is through our suffering for Christ that we are able to persevere, that we might never give up.
Read James 5:7-9
James uses the word “patience”, but it amounts to the same thing.
Why is patience so important when we are discussing what God will do, and what He won’t do? Don’t we have Jesus’ word on this subject - “And I will do whatever you ask in my name”? (John 14:13-14) Why not just ask Him to take away the pain and suffering, and have done with it? But it doesn’t seem to work that way, does it?
Maybe the point that many biblical writers, including James, are making is that whatever we have asked for in His Name (and that’s an important distinction – in His Name!) will come, but not on our schedule!
- Psalm 27:13-14 tells us to be confident in the LORD, and to wait for Him to act.
- Isaiah 8:17 says that we will wait for the LORD, even though it may appear that He has turned His back on us!
- The books of Job and Habakkuk are about trusting and waiting until the time for the LORD to act arrives.
- Romans 8:23-24 encourage us to wait expectantly and eagerly for the LORD’s Day of Hope to come.
- And isn’t Revelation about waiting, even in great tribulation, for the LORD’s judgment?
But it isn’t human nature to be content in waiting! We want it our way, and we want it now! Can’t you just imagine Christians taking to the street chanting:
“What do we want?” “SALVATION!”
“When do we want it?” “NOW!”
That would make for an interesting demonstration of faith, wouldn’t it?
In one of Charlie Chaplin's great silent films, he plays a prisoner being transported to jail, but his boat has been shipwrecked. At the film's beginning, Chaplin is sitting on a beach looking at the clasp around his leg attaching him to a ball and chain. The whole film shows him relating to this ball and chain and attempting to escape its weight.
First, he thinks to humor it. “When its guard is down, I will dash away.”[, he thinks] So he makes little jokes to accomplish this purpose. He then walks the length of the chain and falls into the sand.
Scratching his head, wondering what to do next, he decides that he can outsmart it. He gets up and, nonchalantly, tries to walk away -- and again falls into the sand. Now, he becomes more thoughtful. His next strategy is one of reason. I know. I will talk to it! I will reason with it! But, as I’m sure you know, the result is no different, and down he goes again into the sand.
Now at the end of his patience, he pretends the ball and chain are not there. He kicks sand over it, and for a while it looks as if his problem has vanished. Thinking he has solved his dilemma, he strides to the end of the chain. And you know what happens.
At this point, understanding finally dawns. Like a light turning on in Chaplin's head, he realizes that he cannot solve the problem alone. If he is going to gain his freedom, it has to come from the outside. In the last scene, he is seen looking upward in hope of a rescue.
Even though we may think that we can reduce, or even eliminate the burdens of our lives, the truth is that, most of the time, we can’t. Some think that psychiatrists are the answer, but they’re not. Others turn to drugs to blur the pain, but it only causes more pain. Some will use distractions – work, family, busyness, perversions – in the hope that they will be able to overcome the effects of their suffering. The truth is, though, that these things merely keep our lives too busy to think about our burdens, but “burying them in the sand” fools no one except us!
Our only hope is to follow Charlie Chapman’s example, and turn our hearts and thoughts to heaven. We need to quit thinking that we can “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps”, and look to the Lord for our rescue. Sometime He relieves our pain, and sometimes He simply gives us the courage and wisdom and peace to endure it. Either way, our only Hope is in the Lord.
If I can take an analogy from my previous life in engineering, consider Newton’s First Law of Motion – “In the absence of a net external force, a body either is at rest or moves with constant velocity.” We may know this as “A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
To put this in the context of our reading today, “whatever is going on will continue to happen until something that is able to change it is allowed to come into the picture.”
Read James 5:10-11
Suffering abounds! Israel suffered in both captivity and in freedom. Jesus suffered in ministry and in life, on behalf of each of us. The apostles suffered in the name of Jesus. Even Paul, the great persecutor of the church, eventually had to suffer for Christ. The history of the early church seemed to see very little except suffering. And the church, even today, continues to be oppressed, and it suffers nearly as much as the first Christians did.
And who did Jesus seem to spend the most time with? Those who both needed and wanted His touch. He spent more time among the beggars than with the rulers, with the sick rather than the healthy, the women and children than the conquerors, the prostitutes and lepers and tax collectors and all of the other sinners, than the holy people
And just as Jesus was with the people of the ages - Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua & Caleb, Job, Esther, Naomi & Ruth, The 12, His Church that has been persecuted throughout the centuries - He is also with His oppressed, suffering, lonely, set upon, and demeaned people of 2009, and He is the only one who can help us with our less than satisfactory life.
Are you suffering? Do you know of someone else who is struggling with a particular torment? Assure them that their Christ loves them, and is with them, and invite them to come with you next week for a time of healing during worship.
The issue of suffering seems to permeate the scriptures.
What could God’s plan possibly be that it so much pain is involved in following Him? Interesting question! We know that the Christ was constantly under attack – from the moment that He was baptized and went into the desert to be tormented by Satan, until He breathed His last on Calvary. His message was of healing and salvation, but those who opposed His Way only wanted to get Him out of the way, even by death if necessary. And yet, through it all, He remained focused on His task, and never gave up. And that mind-set must be ours, too – we can never give up, no matter what may come our way!
If we are to believe Romans 5:3, we discover that “we also rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;” It is through our suffering for Christ that we are able to persevere, that we might never give up.
Read James 5:7-9
James uses the word “patience”, but it amounts to the same thing.
Why is patience so important when we are discussing what God will do, and what He won’t do? Don’t we have Jesus’ word on this subject - “And I will do whatever you ask in my name”? (John 14:13-14) Why not just ask Him to take away the pain and suffering, and have done with it? But it doesn’t seem to work that way, does it?
Maybe the point that many biblical writers, including James, are making is that whatever we have asked for in His Name (and that’s an important distinction – in His Name!) will come, but not on our schedule!
- Psalm 27:13-14 tells us to be confident in the LORD, and to wait for Him to act.
- Isaiah 8:17 says that we will wait for the LORD, even though it may appear that He has turned His back on us!
- The books of Job and Habakkuk are about trusting and waiting until the time for the LORD to act arrives.
- Romans 8:23-24 encourage us to wait expectantly and eagerly for the LORD’s Day of Hope to come.
- And isn’t Revelation about waiting, even in great tribulation, for the LORD’s judgment?
But it isn’t human nature to be content in waiting! We want it our way, and we want it now! Can’t you just imagine Christians taking to the street chanting:
“What do we want?” “SALVATION!”
“When do we want it?” “NOW!”
That would make for an interesting demonstration of faith, wouldn’t it?
In one of Charlie Chaplin's great silent films, he plays a prisoner being transported to jail, but his boat has been shipwrecked. At the film's beginning, Chaplin is sitting on a beach looking at the clasp around his leg attaching him to a ball and chain. The whole film shows him relating to this ball and chain and attempting to escape its weight.
First, he thinks to humor it. “When its guard is down, I will dash away.”[, he thinks] So he makes little jokes to accomplish this purpose. He then walks the length of the chain and falls into the sand.
Scratching his head, wondering what to do next, he decides that he can outsmart it. He gets up and, nonchalantly, tries to walk away -- and again falls into the sand. Now, he becomes more thoughtful. His next strategy is one of reason. I know. I will talk to it! I will reason with it! But, as I’m sure you know, the result is no different, and down he goes again into the sand.
Now at the end of his patience, he pretends the ball and chain are not there. He kicks sand over it, and for a while it looks as if his problem has vanished. Thinking he has solved his dilemma, he strides to the end of the chain. And you know what happens.
At this point, understanding finally dawns. Like a light turning on in Chaplin's head, he realizes that he cannot solve the problem alone. If he is going to gain his freedom, it has to come from the outside. In the last scene, he is seen looking upward in hope of a rescue.
Even though we may think that we can reduce, or even eliminate the burdens of our lives, the truth is that, most of the time, we can’t. Some think that psychiatrists are the answer, but they’re not. Others turn to drugs to blur the pain, but it only causes more pain. Some will use distractions – work, family, busyness, perversions – in the hope that they will be able to overcome the effects of their suffering. The truth is, though, that these things merely keep our lives too busy to think about our burdens, but “burying them in the sand” fools no one except us!
Our only hope is to follow Charlie Chapman’s example, and turn our hearts and thoughts to heaven. We need to quit thinking that we can “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps”, and look to the Lord for our rescue. Sometime He relieves our pain, and sometimes He simply gives us the courage and wisdom and peace to endure it. Either way, our only Hope is in the Lord.
If I can take an analogy from my previous life in engineering, consider Newton’s First Law of Motion – “In the absence of a net external force, a body either is at rest or moves with constant velocity.” We may know this as “A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
To put this in the context of our reading today, “whatever is going on will continue to happen until something that is able to change it is allowed to come into the picture.”
Read James 5:10-11
Suffering abounds! Israel suffered in both captivity and in freedom. Jesus suffered in ministry and in life, on behalf of each of us. The apostles suffered in the name of Jesus. Even Paul, the great persecutor of the church, eventually had to suffer for Christ. The history of the early church seemed to see very little except suffering. And the church, even today, continues to be oppressed, and it suffers nearly as much as the first Christians did.
And who did Jesus seem to spend the most time with? Those who both needed and wanted His touch. He spent more time among the beggars than with the rulers, with the sick rather than the healthy, the women and children than the conquerors, the prostitutes and lepers and tax collectors and all of the other sinners, than the holy people
And just as Jesus was with the people of the ages - Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua & Caleb, Job, Esther, Naomi & Ruth, The 12, His Church that has been persecuted throughout the centuries - He is also with His oppressed, suffering, lonely, set upon, and demeaned people of 2009, and He is the only one who can help us with our less than satisfactory life.
Are you suffering? Do you know of someone else who is struggling with a particular torment? Assure them that their Christ loves them, and is with them, and invite them to come with you next week for a time of healing during worship.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
"Are Any Fearing Submission?"
Scripture text: James 4:1-12
Some inspiring bumper stickers that have been spotted by other motorists:
- The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
- Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
- Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.
- It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you!
- If you don't like the news, go out and make some that’s better!
- We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
When I was growing up, I don’t remember very many bumper stickers, but we did have an equivalent – Burma Share signs. Some favorites:
- Statistics prove – Near and far – That folks who – Drive like crazy – are!
- Many a forest – Used to stand – Where a – Lighted match – Got out of hand!
- Passing cars – When you can’t see – May get you – A glimpse – Of eternity!
- Twinkle, twinkle – One eyed car – We all wonder – WHERE – You are!
My brothers and I, and even our folks, watched for them whenever we were out for a ride. As do some the bumper stickers of today, the Burma Shave signs had a certain degree of wisdom about them that was offered in a light hearted way.
The problem is, though, that we seldom take the advice seriously! Acceptance of someone else’s wisdom just doesn’t seem to be in some folk’s nature! And the same is true of scripture! How many times have you read a particular passage and thought “I know who THIS was written for!” And it’s never your name that comes to mind!
Let’s see what the Word has to say to us today!
Read James 4:1-3
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Over and over, the Word tells us that the gifts that the LORD blesses us with are not for our benefit, but rather for us to use in blessing others. During our retreat last week at Sky Lake, we took a long hard look at the gifts that God has given to each of us, and how we are being called to use them. I don’t think anyone discovered that the gifts are to be used for our own benefit.
So what are our motives? Are we willing to give all to God? The Glory? The Honors? The words of adoration? Or do we tend to keep some of it, or even most of it, for ourselves? The truth is that the purest motive is to give the gift away to others, and whatever is returned to us, we give to God. We keep nothing!
But “surrender” – that point of total submission to another authority - is seldom a part of our vocabulary. It’s almost un-American! But we need to understand that when we submerge ourselves in worldly ways, we are doing just that – surrendering – but not to God; we’re surrendering to the world!
Read James 4:4-6
“Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?”
Jesus Himself told us that we can not serve two masters – that we can love only one, and will hate the other! (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).
When we choose to embrace the glories of earth, when we choose to accept the standards that the world creates, when we allow the world to tell us what is right and what is wrong, it is then we have already decided that God’s word is insufficient, is less than perfect, and that it is not for us.
Have you ever thought about personal pride? Will Willimon, in his book “Sinning Like a Christian” writes about the seven deadly sins. And he says that Pride is the worst one of all. He writes that it is usually pride that is the initiator of most of the other sins! It is our smugness, our arrogance, our self importance that leads us away from God.
After all, wasn’t that Lucifer’s problem? Thinking that he is just as good as God is! Submission to the world leads us no where except toward disaster!
“Train approaching – Whistle squealing – Pause! – Avoid that – Rundown feeling!”
Burma Shave sign, circa 1951
More good advice from Burma Shave – to avoid being run over by the world, we need to pause and consider the grace that God has so generously and freely offered to us all! Amen? We want to have a sense of control over our life, even if we have to surrender control to the standards that others have twisted out of shape! So if we are so willing to give up control to the world, why is it so difficult to give that same control over to God? Personally, I think that it’s because of both pride and fear – “pride” in our own ability to make decisions, and “fear” that God won’t do it to our liking!
Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the UN put it this way:
"Placing ourselves squarely in the hands of God is difficult because it is so hard for us to give up control of our choices. And we know that submitting to God's will can be a hard and perilous thing! But without our willing submission to him and a ready conference with his will through prayer and meditation, all of our choices fall at last to dust."
-Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 82.
Without complete submission to God, everything that we do will be reduced to little more than the dirt that we walk on today.
- We may think that we can win on our own,
- we may think that the world will be around forever,
- we may think that the world’s ways make a lot more sense than God’s do,
but that kind of thinking can only result in abject failure!
A number of seminary students were serious basketball players, but there was no gymnasium on campus, so they played basketball in a nearby public school. The janitor, an old man with white hair, would wait patiently until the seminarians had finished playing. Invariably, he sat there reading his Bible.
One day, Bernie (one of the students) went up to him and asked, “What are you reading?”
The man did not simply reply, “The Bible.” Instead he answered, “The book of Revelation.”
With some surprise, Bernie said, “The book of Revelation? Do you understand it?”
“Oh, yes,” the man assured him. “I understand it.”
“You understand the book of Revelation! What does it mean?”
“It means,” said the old janitor quietly, “that Jesus is gonna win.”
—Source unknown. Submitted by Wesley Taylor, Tualatin United Methodist Church, Tualatin, Oregon.
And in a nutshell, that’s exactly what Revelation says!
Read James 4:7-10
“Jesus is gonna win!” Do you believe that?
So why not put our hopes, our dreams, our life, our future in the Hands of the winner instead of the loser’s?
Why not give Him the driver’s seat of our life?
Why not trust His instructions and directions?
Do we really believe in God or not? Submit to one master or the other – we can’t have both!
Some inspiring bumper stickers that have been spotted by other motorists:
- The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
- Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
- Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.
- It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you!
- If you don't like the news, go out and make some that’s better!
- We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
When I was growing up, I don’t remember very many bumper stickers, but we did have an equivalent – Burma Share signs. Some favorites:
- Statistics prove – Near and far – That folks who – Drive like crazy – are!
- Many a forest – Used to stand – Where a – Lighted match – Got out of hand!
- Passing cars – When you can’t see – May get you – A glimpse – Of eternity!
- Twinkle, twinkle – One eyed car – We all wonder – WHERE – You are!
My brothers and I, and even our folks, watched for them whenever we were out for a ride. As do some the bumper stickers of today, the Burma Shave signs had a certain degree of wisdom about them that was offered in a light hearted way.
The problem is, though, that we seldom take the advice seriously! Acceptance of someone else’s wisdom just doesn’t seem to be in some folk’s nature! And the same is true of scripture! How many times have you read a particular passage and thought “I know who THIS was written for!” And it’s never your name that comes to mind!
Let’s see what the Word has to say to us today!
Read James 4:1-3
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Over and over, the Word tells us that the gifts that the LORD blesses us with are not for our benefit, but rather for us to use in blessing others. During our retreat last week at Sky Lake, we took a long hard look at the gifts that God has given to each of us, and how we are being called to use them. I don’t think anyone discovered that the gifts are to be used for our own benefit.
So what are our motives? Are we willing to give all to God? The Glory? The Honors? The words of adoration? Or do we tend to keep some of it, or even most of it, for ourselves? The truth is that the purest motive is to give the gift away to others, and whatever is returned to us, we give to God. We keep nothing!
But “surrender” – that point of total submission to another authority - is seldom a part of our vocabulary. It’s almost un-American! But we need to understand that when we submerge ourselves in worldly ways, we are doing just that – surrendering – but not to God; we’re surrendering to the world!
Read James 4:4-6
“Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?”
Jesus Himself told us that we can not serve two masters – that we can love only one, and will hate the other! (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).
When we choose to embrace the glories of earth, when we choose to accept the standards that the world creates, when we allow the world to tell us what is right and what is wrong, it is then we have already decided that God’s word is insufficient, is less than perfect, and that it is not for us.
Have you ever thought about personal pride? Will Willimon, in his book “Sinning Like a Christian” writes about the seven deadly sins. And he says that Pride is the worst one of all. He writes that it is usually pride that is the initiator of most of the other sins! It is our smugness, our arrogance, our self importance that leads us away from God.
After all, wasn’t that Lucifer’s problem? Thinking that he is just as good as God is! Submission to the world leads us no where except toward disaster!
“Train approaching – Whistle squealing – Pause! – Avoid that – Rundown feeling!”
Burma Shave sign, circa 1951
More good advice from Burma Shave – to avoid being run over by the world, we need to pause and consider the grace that God has so generously and freely offered to us all! Amen? We want to have a sense of control over our life, even if we have to surrender control to the standards that others have twisted out of shape! So if we are so willing to give up control to the world, why is it so difficult to give that same control over to God? Personally, I think that it’s because of both pride and fear – “pride” in our own ability to make decisions, and “fear” that God won’t do it to our liking!
Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the UN put it this way:
"Placing ourselves squarely in the hands of God is difficult because it is so hard for us to give up control of our choices. And we know that submitting to God's will can be a hard and perilous thing! But without our willing submission to him and a ready conference with his will through prayer and meditation, all of our choices fall at last to dust."
-Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 82.
Without complete submission to God, everything that we do will be reduced to little more than the dirt that we walk on today.
- We may think that we can win on our own,
- we may think that the world will be around forever,
- we may think that the world’s ways make a lot more sense than God’s do,
but that kind of thinking can only result in abject failure!
A number of seminary students were serious basketball players, but there was no gymnasium on campus, so they played basketball in a nearby public school. The janitor, an old man with white hair, would wait patiently until the seminarians had finished playing. Invariably, he sat there reading his Bible.
One day, Bernie (one of the students) went up to him and asked, “What are you reading?”
The man did not simply reply, “The Bible.” Instead he answered, “The book of Revelation.”
With some surprise, Bernie said, “The book of Revelation? Do you understand it?”
“Oh, yes,” the man assured him. “I understand it.”
“You understand the book of Revelation! What does it mean?”
“It means,” said the old janitor quietly, “that Jesus is gonna win.”
—Source unknown. Submitted by Wesley Taylor, Tualatin United Methodist Church, Tualatin, Oregon.
And in a nutshell, that’s exactly what Revelation says!
Read James 4:7-10
“Jesus is gonna win!” Do you believe that?
So why not put our hopes, our dreams, our life, our future in the Hands of the winner instead of the loser’s?
Why not give Him the driver’s seat of our life?
Why not trust His instructions and directions?
Do we really believe in God or not? Submit to one master or the other – we can’t have both!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
“Are Any Being Discriminated Against?”
Scripture Text: James 2:1-13
--Nancy Eastridge, Texas, quoted in Upper Room, February 17, 1996, writes:
I laughed when I saw the parrot making a great fuss about getting from its perch to the ground. It seemed to be struggling so hard and so much in vain. Funny bird, I said. Come on! Why don't you just fly? Then the owner told me that the wings of parrots are clipped to keep them from flying away.
I watched the parrot struggle--swinging from one foot, turning itself upside down, hanging on with its beak, and finally falling and lying dazed on the ground.
Now there was no laughter in me, for the parrot had become a symbol. It was like all those people who appear to be free in our world, but who have had their wings clipped--by poverty, by lack of education, by discrimination, by insensitive persons. And we tend to stand on the sidelines and say, Strange people! Why don't they act the way the rest of us do? But as we say this, we show that we are unaware of the pain and despair in those who, like the parrot, appear to be free but cannot fly.
It seems that the definition of “normal” is always written by someone who has claimed the right to make the distinction, and not necessarily by someone who should have that responsibility. In our present day society, “Normal” has taken on a shroud of arrogance that has consistently been used to exclude, marginalize, beat down, and humiliate those who, for some reason or another, don’t quite meet the norm of society.
Our son Chris has struggled with learning disabilities all his life, but has found ways to compensate and work around those things that challenged him. He is 34 years old now, has a job and his own apartment, does his own grocery shopping and cooking, and in nearly every way, is independent. But his greatest problem is not within him – it is with the labels that others have placed upon him!
When he was in high school, there were a number of the “normal” kids who used to tease and pick on him. We never heard about it until years later, and then only from his younger brother. He had been labeled by the boys as “not normal”, and they took advantage of him.
When we were applying for SSD benefits, for the third time (Social Security never makes it easy!), the judge asked a court recognized “expert” to be present during the hearing. After asking Chris a couple of questions, the judge turned to the expert and asked him if he thought that Chris fit the definition of “handicapped”, and the answer was, unhesitatingly, “yes”. When Chris and his paralegal came out of the court room (Diane and I weren’t allowed to go in), we were told that the judge had ruled in Chris’ favor. But Chris looked a little puzzled, and questioningly said “They said that I am handicapped!” As far as he was concerned, he was as normal as everyone else, and he is! Discrimination, favoritism, elitism, prejudice, bigotry, bias, or whatever word you wish to use, whether intentional or unintentional, can never, ever, be acceptable behavior.
Read James 2:1-4
James is addressing these thoughts to believers, not to unbelievers! Those in the church were, apparently, engaged in very secular behavior by honoring people for their social status, and by default, dishonoring others for the same reason! How many politicians and other public figures, how many people in the organizations that we belong to, stand for office because they know that their position will gain them honors that most other people will never be accorded? In James’ letter, even though he is targeting honors for the wealthy, the concluding thought in these 4 verses could be written about any form of favoritism. If I may restate his words, “If you grant honors to anyone because of their position, or their appearance, or their social status, or their wealth, you are not only discriminating against those who you have not honored, but you are being nothing less than a judge of humanity, and your actions are nothing short of evil!”
James seems to be taking this issue rather seriously, don’t you think? But is it in line with what Jesus had said about these human judgments? I would offer 3 passages that might reveal Jesus’ thoughts:
Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6:37-38 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
John 7:24 “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
It’s very important for Christians to understand these teachings about discriminate judgmentalism. We are not to do it. Period! A Christian’s first obligation to others is to treat them all the same! And when it comes to our own prestige, we never seek the honor and the glory. Never! Let those outside the Church scramble for the best seat in the house – we should be happy with whatever seat our LORD chooses for us.
Read James 2:5-7
If Christ has chosen the poor to receive the kingdom, who are we to deny them anything in this life?
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This seems to be pretty clear, too! God has always had a totally different approach to life than the people of the world have. Jesus told us that it isn’t the prominent and prestigious who should be rewarded – they have already had plenty of recognition. Heavenly rewards will go to those who have been oppressed and repressed, and never rewarded.
And James makes the further point that the very ones who the world is honoring are also the same ones who are taking advantage of us! They don’t deserve our honor!
Read James 2:8-11
Not only are discrimination and favoritism inappropriate actions, they are sins, and James points out that if we commit one sin, we have committed them all. Sin is not individualistic. It’s collective. There are no little sins, and there are no justifiable sins. They are just sins!
Read James 2:12-13
And the world continues to discriminate against those who they don’t agree with, with those who are different than they are, with those who are unable to contribute to the benefit of the elite, with those who can not defend themselves.
And Christians continue to both judge and to be judged – and all if it, unfairly. Persecution of the church is on the rise, and more and more Christians are starting to retaliate instead of “turning the other cheek”. And our retaliation includes both violent acts, as well as rhetoric. And it is all judgmental.
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”! That’s what the Luke 6 passage was talking about. Judgment and condemnation will only bring us our own brand of judgment and condemnation, but forgiveness and generosity and mercy and love of others will be rewarded in kind.
Are any being discriminated against? Absolutely! Every day! Both Christians and non Christians alike! But it is the responsibility of every disciple of Christ to fight this brand of oppression and hatred with compassion and generosity and especially forgiveness. There are none who are not worthy to hear Christ’s message of hope and new life. There are none who should not be welcomed into the Body of Christ. There are none who we shouldn’t hold in a higher regard than our own. There are none who don’t deserve our mercy.
“Mercy triumphs over judgment!” That’s James last word on the matter, and that must be our last word, too. No matter what is done to us, no matter what others may think about us or say about us, we must rise about their “gutter”. “Mercy triumphs over [discrimination].” “Mercy triumphs over [hatred].” “Mercy triumphs over [favoritism].” “The Mercy of Jesus Christ triumphs over [the world].”
Take the lower seat in life, and grant the higher place to everyone else. After all, that’s what Jesus did!
--Nancy Eastridge, Texas, quoted in Upper Room, February 17, 1996, writes:
I laughed when I saw the parrot making a great fuss about getting from its perch to the ground. It seemed to be struggling so hard and so much in vain. Funny bird, I said. Come on! Why don't you just fly? Then the owner told me that the wings of parrots are clipped to keep them from flying away.
I watched the parrot struggle--swinging from one foot, turning itself upside down, hanging on with its beak, and finally falling and lying dazed on the ground.
Now there was no laughter in me, for the parrot had become a symbol. It was like all those people who appear to be free in our world, but who have had their wings clipped--by poverty, by lack of education, by discrimination, by insensitive persons. And we tend to stand on the sidelines and say, Strange people! Why don't they act the way the rest of us do? But as we say this, we show that we are unaware of the pain and despair in those who, like the parrot, appear to be free but cannot fly.
It seems that the definition of “normal” is always written by someone who has claimed the right to make the distinction, and not necessarily by someone who should have that responsibility. In our present day society, “Normal” has taken on a shroud of arrogance that has consistently been used to exclude, marginalize, beat down, and humiliate those who, for some reason or another, don’t quite meet the norm of society.
Our son Chris has struggled with learning disabilities all his life, but has found ways to compensate and work around those things that challenged him. He is 34 years old now, has a job and his own apartment, does his own grocery shopping and cooking, and in nearly every way, is independent. But his greatest problem is not within him – it is with the labels that others have placed upon him!
When he was in high school, there were a number of the “normal” kids who used to tease and pick on him. We never heard about it until years later, and then only from his younger brother. He had been labeled by the boys as “not normal”, and they took advantage of him.
When we were applying for SSD benefits, for the third time (Social Security never makes it easy!), the judge asked a court recognized “expert” to be present during the hearing. After asking Chris a couple of questions, the judge turned to the expert and asked him if he thought that Chris fit the definition of “handicapped”, and the answer was, unhesitatingly, “yes”. When Chris and his paralegal came out of the court room (Diane and I weren’t allowed to go in), we were told that the judge had ruled in Chris’ favor. But Chris looked a little puzzled, and questioningly said “They said that I am handicapped!” As far as he was concerned, he was as normal as everyone else, and he is! Discrimination, favoritism, elitism, prejudice, bigotry, bias, or whatever word you wish to use, whether intentional or unintentional, can never, ever, be acceptable behavior.
Read James 2:1-4
James is addressing these thoughts to believers, not to unbelievers! Those in the church were, apparently, engaged in very secular behavior by honoring people for their social status, and by default, dishonoring others for the same reason! How many politicians and other public figures, how many people in the organizations that we belong to, stand for office because they know that their position will gain them honors that most other people will never be accorded? In James’ letter, even though he is targeting honors for the wealthy, the concluding thought in these 4 verses could be written about any form of favoritism. If I may restate his words, “If you grant honors to anyone because of their position, or their appearance, or their social status, or their wealth, you are not only discriminating against those who you have not honored, but you are being nothing less than a judge of humanity, and your actions are nothing short of evil!”
James seems to be taking this issue rather seriously, don’t you think? But is it in line with what Jesus had said about these human judgments? I would offer 3 passages that might reveal Jesus’ thoughts:
Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6:37-38 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
John 7:24 “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
It’s very important for Christians to understand these teachings about discriminate judgmentalism. We are not to do it. Period! A Christian’s first obligation to others is to treat them all the same! And when it comes to our own prestige, we never seek the honor and the glory. Never! Let those outside the Church scramble for the best seat in the house – we should be happy with whatever seat our LORD chooses for us.
Read James 2:5-7
If Christ has chosen the poor to receive the kingdom, who are we to deny them anything in this life?
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This seems to be pretty clear, too! God has always had a totally different approach to life than the people of the world have. Jesus told us that it isn’t the prominent and prestigious who should be rewarded – they have already had plenty of recognition. Heavenly rewards will go to those who have been oppressed and repressed, and never rewarded.
And James makes the further point that the very ones who the world is honoring are also the same ones who are taking advantage of us! They don’t deserve our honor!
Read James 2:8-11
Not only are discrimination and favoritism inappropriate actions, they are sins, and James points out that if we commit one sin, we have committed them all. Sin is not individualistic. It’s collective. There are no little sins, and there are no justifiable sins. They are just sins!
Read James 2:12-13
And the world continues to discriminate against those who they don’t agree with, with those who are different than they are, with those who are unable to contribute to the benefit of the elite, with those who can not defend themselves.
And Christians continue to both judge and to be judged – and all if it, unfairly. Persecution of the church is on the rise, and more and more Christians are starting to retaliate instead of “turning the other cheek”. And our retaliation includes both violent acts, as well as rhetoric. And it is all judgmental.
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”! That’s what the Luke 6 passage was talking about. Judgment and condemnation will only bring us our own brand of judgment and condemnation, but forgiveness and generosity and mercy and love of others will be rewarded in kind.
Are any being discriminated against? Absolutely! Every day! Both Christians and non Christians alike! But it is the responsibility of every disciple of Christ to fight this brand of oppression and hatred with compassion and generosity and especially forgiveness. There are none who are not worthy to hear Christ’s message of hope and new life. There are none who should not be welcomed into the Body of Christ. There are none who we shouldn’t hold in a higher regard than our own. There are none who don’t deserve our mercy.
“Mercy triumphs over judgment!” That’s James last word on the matter, and that must be our last word, too. No matter what is done to us, no matter what others may think about us or say about us, we must rise about their “gutter”. “Mercy triumphs over [discrimination].” “Mercy triumphs over [hatred].” “Mercy triumphs over [favoritism].” “The Mercy of Jesus Christ triumphs over [the world].”
Take the lower seat in life, and grant the higher place to everyone else. After all, that’s what Jesus did!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
"Are Any Being Tempted?"
Scripture text: James 1:2-18
This week, we begin a series that is focused on the Christian life. Now before you think that it’s all about the glory that we will experience as followers of Jesus, I have to ask you if that is all that anyone has seen so far in your walk? And if anyone can say that their Christian Walk has brought them nothing but happiness and a pleasant life, I think we need to have a chat.
Our life in Christ is not about receiving glory in this realm – it’s about preparing for glory that comes in the next!
God Himself had anything but an easy life when He walked among us. The world didn’t want to hear what He had to say then, and they still don’t want to hear what He has to say today. To be a follower of Jesus Christ means that we are to go where He would go, to do what He would do, to love and care for those who He loves and cares for, and to teach God’s Word to all who will stand still long enough to hear!
In these next 5 weeks, we will look at some of the difficulties that Christians have always come up against, and continue to do so, even today. This week we look at “Temptation”.
Temptation is one of the primary weapons in Satan’s arsenal to lure us away from God. Remember Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness. (Matthew 4, Luke 4) The devil tried to use hunger to confuse Christ; he tried to use human pride to pervert Christ’s heart; and he offered earthly power and authority to Christ, if He would only worship the Source of all Evil.
Temptation is Satan’s means to pervert the truth of scripture by making subtle changes to the message – changes that bring about a whole different meaning and an entirely different direction for our lives. Temptations are the lies that Satan offers as an alternative to God’s truth.
Trials and suffering and pain are forms of temptation – Satan wants us to believe that if God really cared for us, that He would never allow us to suffer. And if He cares so little for us, why should we follow Him?
Read James 1:2-8
The truth is that God cares immensely for us, and James tells us that we should approach our trials in joy! In Romans 5:3b-5, Paul offers a similar thought: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
And in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus tells us “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
We are loved so completely and intensely that God has poured out Himself into our hearts! And through our persevering, our growing in trust and patience for God, we discover that there is, truly, nothing – not anything - that we need that is lacking. Now there’s a reason for rejoicing! There may be things that we want, or even things that we think we need but don’t have, but that’s our problem, not God’s!
And James warns us that when we ask, we also must believe that God will give. If we doubt that He will, or especially when we doubt that He can, why should we expect the Lord to respond? He says that those who doubt, or who just aren’t sure, are “double minded and unstable”. We think that He might give, but probably won’t! Christ wants us to be “single minded”, with our focus being completely on Him and His grace and his Promise.
Read James 1:9-12
“The one who is in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position.” James’ entire approach in this passage seems to be paradoxical – it’s an apparent contradiction. Our trials should make us happy; if we are poor, we have an exalted position; if we are rich, we rejoice in our low position.
The contradiction, of course, comes from the world’s understanding of what is good and right, compared to what is bad and wrong. God’s standards, though, are totally different. Trials are the proof that we are Christ’s and that Satan is against us. Wealth is the opportunity to become a greater servant. Poverty is the evidence of Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This is explained even further when James talks about the effect of the rising sun, with its scorching heat having a destructive effect on plant life. And in this He is offering an analogy of the effect of Christ’s presence on the beautiful things of earth. The world’s beauty is fleeting, it can not last, and on that day when Christ reappears, the riches of this world, the beauty of creation, the things that the world values so highly, will all be taken away. The only beauty that will ever be lasting is that which is in God.
Read James 1:13-16
Those who stand firm in their commitment to Christ, and never yield to the temptations of worldly desires, will know the blessing of eternity. But there will still be those who claim that in God’s self-centeredness, He is the One who is testing our faith with these fleeting and worthless desires, and because of His lack of true compassion for us, we have no reason to give our allegiance to Him.
We are reminded, though, that God can never be tempted, and that He will never tempt us. He knows how difficult it is to be His disciple, and He would never make it even more difficult. It is the evil in the world that tries to lure us away from the Divine through “desire”. “after desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” God hates sin and he hates death, and would never do anything that would cause us to move further away from Him.
Just as in the wilderness, Satan is always the Tempter, and those of Christ will always be the tempted.
Read James 1:17-18
Desire for the “things” of the world can only lead to death, but the goodness of God can only carry us into glorious life. From God comes rebirth, and only through Him can we receive eternal life. Earthly plants, earthly beauty, earthly life, and even earthly trials – none of these can withstand the goodness and glory of the LORD. The final thought in our passage for today tells us that the newness, the rebirth that comes from faith in Jesus Christ comes in the truth of God, so that we might be the best offering (James calls it the “firstfruits”) of all that was created.
Temptation will always be directed at the people of Christ – after all, there is no reason to tempt those who have already turned away from the Lord. And our strength to resist those temptations and trials come from Christ and the Spirit that He sends to all who will believe. But if we try to withstand Satan’s onslaught all by ourselves, we will fail miserably, but in Christ, all things are possible.
Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Do you really expect to be treated better than Christ was treated? If we are walking in His path, if we are following His example, if we are rejecting the hollowness of the world, then we will be treated exactly as Christ was treated. Some will listen, some will respond, but most will not. And instead of honoring those who carry His message of salvation, the servants of Christ will be hounded, and tormented, and tempted in all kinds of ways to desert the only true friend we will ever be able to count on!
But it’s a choice that we all have to make – will you claim a fairly easy, but temporary and severely limited life in this world, or persecution for that same limited time but glory for eternity? Make your choice today, make your decision while there is still time.
This week, we begin a series that is focused on the Christian life. Now before you think that it’s all about the glory that we will experience as followers of Jesus, I have to ask you if that is all that anyone has seen so far in your walk? And if anyone can say that their Christian Walk has brought them nothing but happiness and a pleasant life, I think we need to have a chat.
Our life in Christ is not about receiving glory in this realm – it’s about preparing for glory that comes in the next!
God Himself had anything but an easy life when He walked among us. The world didn’t want to hear what He had to say then, and they still don’t want to hear what He has to say today. To be a follower of Jesus Christ means that we are to go where He would go, to do what He would do, to love and care for those who He loves and cares for, and to teach God’s Word to all who will stand still long enough to hear!
In these next 5 weeks, we will look at some of the difficulties that Christians have always come up against, and continue to do so, even today. This week we look at “Temptation”.
Temptation is one of the primary weapons in Satan’s arsenal to lure us away from God. Remember Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness. (Matthew 4, Luke 4) The devil tried to use hunger to confuse Christ; he tried to use human pride to pervert Christ’s heart; and he offered earthly power and authority to Christ, if He would only worship the Source of all Evil.
Temptation is Satan’s means to pervert the truth of scripture by making subtle changes to the message – changes that bring about a whole different meaning and an entirely different direction for our lives. Temptations are the lies that Satan offers as an alternative to God’s truth.
Trials and suffering and pain are forms of temptation – Satan wants us to believe that if God really cared for us, that He would never allow us to suffer. And if He cares so little for us, why should we follow Him?
Read James 1:2-8
The truth is that God cares immensely for us, and James tells us that we should approach our trials in joy! In Romans 5:3b-5, Paul offers a similar thought: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
And in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus tells us “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
We are loved so completely and intensely that God has poured out Himself into our hearts! And through our persevering, our growing in trust and patience for God, we discover that there is, truly, nothing – not anything - that we need that is lacking. Now there’s a reason for rejoicing! There may be things that we want, or even things that we think we need but don’t have, but that’s our problem, not God’s!
And James warns us that when we ask, we also must believe that God will give. If we doubt that He will, or especially when we doubt that He can, why should we expect the Lord to respond? He says that those who doubt, or who just aren’t sure, are “double minded and unstable”. We think that He might give, but probably won’t! Christ wants us to be “single minded”, with our focus being completely on Him and His grace and his Promise.
Read James 1:9-12
“The one who is in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position.” James’ entire approach in this passage seems to be paradoxical – it’s an apparent contradiction. Our trials should make us happy; if we are poor, we have an exalted position; if we are rich, we rejoice in our low position.
The contradiction, of course, comes from the world’s understanding of what is good and right, compared to what is bad and wrong. God’s standards, though, are totally different. Trials are the proof that we are Christ’s and that Satan is against us. Wealth is the opportunity to become a greater servant. Poverty is the evidence of Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This is explained even further when James talks about the effect of the rising sun, with its scorching heat having a destructive effect on plant life. And in this He is offering an analogy of the effect of Christ’s presence on the beautiful things of earth. The world’s beauty is fleeting, it can not last, and on that day when Christ reappears, the riches of this world, the beauty of creation, the things that the world values so highly, will all be taken away. The only beauty that will ever be lasting is that which is in God.
Read James 1:13-16
Those who stand firm in their commitment to Christ, and never yield to the temptations of worldly desires, will know the blessing of eternity. But there will still be those who claim that in God’s self-centeredness, He is the One who is testing our faith with these fleeting and worthless desires, and because of His lack of true compassion for us, we have no reason to give our allegiance to Him.
We are reminded, though, that God can never be tempted, and that He will never tempt us. He knows how difficult it is to be His disciple, and He would never make it even more difficult. It is the evil in the world that tries to lure us away from the Divine through “desire”. “after desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” God hates sin and he hates death, and would never do anything that would cause us to move further away from Him.
Just as in the wilderness, Satan is always the Tempter, and those of Christ will always be the tempted.
Read James 1:17-18
Desire for the “things” of the world can only lead to death, but the goodness of God can only carry us into glorious life. From God comes rebirth, and only through Him can we receive eternal life. Earthly plants, earthly beauty, earthly life, and even earthly trials – none of these can withstand the goodness and glory of the LORD. The final thought in our passage for today tells us that the newness, the rebirth that comes from faith in Jesus Christ comes in the truth of God, so that we might be the best offering (James calls it the “firstfruits”) of all that was created.
Temptation will always be directed at the people of Christ – after all, there is no reason to tempt those who have already turned away from the Lord. And our strength to resist those temptations and trials come from Christ and the Spirit that He sends to all who will believe. But if we try to withstand Satan’s onslaught all by ourselves, we will fail miserably, but in Christ, all things are possible.
Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Do you really expect to be treated better than Christ was treated? If we are walking in His path, if we are following His example, if we are rejecting the hollowness of the world, then we will be treated exactly as Christ was treated. Some will listen, some will respond, but most will not. And instead of honoring those who carry His message of salvation, the servants of Christ will be hounded, and tormented, and tempted in all kinds of ways to desert the only true friend we will ever be able to count on!
But it’s a choice that we all have to make – will you claim a fairly easy, but temporary and severely limited life in this world, or persecution for that same limited time but glory for eternity? Make your choice today, make your decision while there is still time.
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