Scripture: 1 John 2:18-27
Last week, we began a series based in 1 John, looking at the difference between the light of heaven and the darkness that we experience in the world. Coming to understand this difference is a test in faith – it’s the difference between whether we are truly a disciple of Jesus Christ or not. Is our faith Christ-centered, or is it seen simply as an social opportunity; is our faith centered in the work of Jesus Christ, or is it in the works that we do; is our faith a matter of tradition and routine, or is it a means to pay honor to the Living Lord?
Read 1 John 2:18-23
Christian author, lecturer and missionary Elisabeth Eliot wrote:
How does it feel to be, as Paul said, like stars in a dark world (Philippians 2:14-18 )? In that same sense, a Christian might well pray,” Lord, make me a star”.
--Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp for My Feet (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Vine Books, 1985), 109.
Elisabeth, I believe, is telling us that with all the darkness that surrounds us, why should we withdraw from it? Wouldn’t it be better to be a point of light that shines with true direction for ages to come? There are enough people who are promoting the darkness and nowhere near enough to dispel it with a spiritual light.
John is telling us the same thing. To tie this section together, the disciple is telling us two things: first, that antichrist is not only coming, but has already arrived; and second, that antichrist spreads nothing but lies – that the truth can never be in him.
So what is this about many antichrists already being here? Isn’t there only 1 antichrist? John would have us know that there are many lesser beings who oppose the teaching of Jesus Christ, but that in the end, Satan – the main antichrist, the primary “opposer of Christ” – will appear to carry out his destructive work. And these “junior” antichrists – who are they? They are those who may have once been part of the church, but have separated themselves from the Body and are now spreading a false gospel.
Now, we have to be careful that we don’t begin to pronounce judgment on those people! Condemnation isn’t our job – that’s Christ’s responsibility, and he will carry it out in the final days! But we are to be discerning in those things that are being taught. John would have us know that the “antichrists” are those who deny that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One of God. It isn’t just those who teach falsehood – but those who deny Christ.
But the question still remains - how do we know the difference between Christ’s truth and the worldly lie? That is still an issue that must be addressed, even though it may not be a condemnable offense. And the answer is that Scripture is our only reference for the difference between the divine and the worldly.
Why do people make it so difficult? We hatch all kinds of complex schemes and explanations as to how we are to walk in the world, when actually, all we have to do is open up our Bible and read it! We go to great lengths to justify our actions and thoughts, while all the time, scripture is available to us with no justification necessary.
The only requirement on our part is to commit to study and examination. We make it so difficult for ourselves that those “antichrists” must be having one great laugh at our expense!
John continues with his letter to tell us that we – the Church – have an “anointing from the Holy One”, and in that, we have been given the truth. Remember from last week, when we talked about how the Light of Christ reveals the truth for our life? How it makes very plain the difference between truth and lie? It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that gives us that full and correct vision, and allows us to recognize the difference. But what if we deny the vision, ignore the Spirit in our decision making?
We must remember that God doesn’t force anything on us, and the accepting or rejecting of his truth is still an option. Satan’s lies are powerful and very convincing, and if we aren’t careful, any one of us can be deceived so very easily. In Galatians 5:25-26, Paul tells that if we live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit. It takes some practice and effort, but if we fall out of step, that’s when we get into trouble, and the “antichrists” can begin to sound pretty convincing in those times. And that is when the “darkness” can win another round.
Read 1 John 2:24-27
“See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” Once again, we are reminded that God does not force his word into our lives. We have the responsibility to remain faithful! Discernment comes to the fore once again. We don’t get to rewrite scripture, we don’t get to reinterpret the word of God to our way of thinking, we don’t get to make updates to the eternal word in order to make it conform to the societal norms of 2012! “What we have heard from the beginning” is how we are to live throughout our life.
But have you ever wondered just who we have heard those truths from? From our neighbors and friends? From our parents? From many different teachers in the church – both good and bad? We need to be very careful about this one. I don’t believe that John was referring to human teachers. I think he meant the teaching that comes from the Holy Spirit. In verse 20, we read “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” The anointing that brings us to know the truth is of the Holy Spirit. The problem is that Satan can make his voice sound a lot like the Spirit’s, and we need to be able to tell the difference! How? By staying close to the Lord in both word and deed.
You see, it’s the Light of Christ that lets us know. But it’s also been said that:
Those wishing to come out of the dark may have to take their hands off their eyes.
- Homiletics On Line
It would seem that we have the power to ensure that our own spiritual blindness is effective in keeping us away from the truth! Why anyone would want to, I have no idea, but I am convinced that many do! There are days when the darkness is so pervasive, and life is so unbearable, that all we want to do is to hide in the depth of “nothingness” to just get away from the reality of life. Unfortunately, that is no solution, and the truth can only be put on hold for so long. Eventually, the heavenly light will penetrate the deepest darkness that could ever envelope our soul, and it will finally show us the way out.
That’s the power of the Holy Spirit at work in faith. When we try to stay in that which “we have heard from the beginning”, when we make every effort to stay in the truth of Christ, the Spirit will always win over the darkness.
But there is such a lot of darkness out there, and there is so little light! Even the light of Christ doesn’t let us see very far – is the dark that overpowering that even the Spirit of God can’t penetrate it very far?
As the story goes:
Late one evening, a father asked his son to go to the barn for some tools. The boy begged his father not to send him, admitting he was deathly afraid of the dark. His father put a lantern into his hand. “How far can you see, son?” “As far as the mulberry tree,” he replied. “Then go to the mulberry tree.”
When the boy arrived there, his father asked, “Now, how far can you see?” “I can see to the currant bush,” said the boy.
When the boy arrived at the currant bush, his father asked again: “How far can you see from there?” This time it was the henhouse. Next it was the fence, and finally the barn. And so the boy, step by step, was able to complete his journey.
- Homiletics OnLine
Faith leads us through the darkness, one step at a time, one day at a time, until we finally arrive at our destination. If we truly have faith, do we need to see all the way to eternity? Do we have to fear that the light we carry will fail us and the darkness will overpower us? The truth is that neither faith, nor light, nor hope, nor Spirit, will ever fail us. They will lead us in truth through the deepest and darkest of days.
Michael Card put out a song a few years ago with the name “That’s What Faith Must Be”. The chorus shares these words with us:
To hear with my heart
To see with my soul
To be guided by a hand I cannot hold
To trust in a way that I cannot see
That's what faith must be
Not one word of this says that we have to do it on our own, or that we can do it in our own way! The only thing we need to do is to listen to the Spirit, and follow him as we are lead through the darkness that surrounds this life.
“That’s what faith must be”, and no matter how dark the world may be, it cannot beat back the Light of Christ. Remember the “4 t’s” of all relationships – time, talking, touching, and trust? Don’t talk to the world – talk to the One who not only has all the truth, but is all of the truth. And the vastness of the dark will shrink down to a size that even we can handle.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
“Celebrate the Light!”
Scripture: 1 John 1:1 – 2:2
In one of our sessions at my seminary class this week (on the Reformation), our professor asked us to respond to, basically, this question: “How do you know what God wants you to know?” As you may guess, this inspired some silence for a few minutes! So I will ask you the same question – “How do you know what God wants you to know?” Think about it.
The question that was poised to us was in the context of the incredible conflicts and bloody wars that ensued during the reforming centuries. Everyone seemed to know that their relationship with God was the correct one, and that anyone who disagreed with them, regardless of how minor the difference may have been, didn’t deserve to live! And they then set out to see that they didn’t! It was not one of Christianity’s more glorious periods!
How do we know what God wants us to know?
Read 1 John 1:1-4
At the time that this letter was written, the church had been in existence for 50 years or so. It had experienced some good times, as well as some not so good times. It had received some great teaching, and some not so great. It had grown in faith, but it had also suffered and struggled in false faith.
John knew that the people needed a refresher course in what it meant to be a Christian, whether they were in a time of blessing or one of persecution, and so he writes in verse 3 - “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” John didn’t try to express his relationship with Christ in great theological terms, or with high sounding phrases, or in grand expository. He simply told the people what he knew for certain, because he had seen it, or heard it.
When we offer a witness to others, it should never be given in a way that is confusing or questionable. When we come to see the truth in a particular way, simply tell the story the way it happened, without embellishment.
John goes on to say that the church is in fellowship with both the Father and the Son. We can’t have one if we don’t have both. In John 8:19, Jesus told his disciples “If you knew me, you would know the Father also.”, and in John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.” Therefore, John is telling the people that it must also be true that if we are in that fellowship, we are also in fellowship with each other. And when he relates this, he says that his joy is complete.
“How do we know what God wants us to know?”
It is through our fellowship with God and the Church. And it is in that fellowship that truth will be revealed and we will come to know what we need to know at that time. And that was one of the major road blocks in the 16th century. Faith was being defined by the church. The people would be told how and what and why, and that everyone must believe the same and be the same. And as the reformation began to take hold, the reformers didn’t seem to be much different. This was the great failing of the church during the reformation – there was no universal fellowship.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit doesn’t work that way.
Read 1 John 1:5-7
It’s all about the Light.
John Wesley wrote:
When I was young, I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
--John Wesley
The Light of God, in our fellowship with him, is all there is. And the Light shines on each of us in a unique way. We are gifted in different ways; we are used in different ways; we share the grace of Jesus Christ in different ways; we serve in different ways – the only commonality that we seem to have is, first, in the fellowship, and second, in the means of our salvation. The light of Christ reveals our uniqueness within his Body, and it shows us the glory that is in the Blood.
John uses the analogy of light and dark to teach the church about good and evil, about truth and lie. Let me offer a personal example for just a moment. Years ago, when Diane and I were first married, we had a cat named Tiger. Tiger was a hunter extraordinaire, and loved to go outdoors, especially at night. She had a way into the house through a loose window screen, and early one morning, she came in and jumped up on the bed. I was barely awake, and reached down to pet her. I thought that I was petting her foot, until she got up and moved, leaving her “foot” behind. I lifted the object up into the early morning light to find out what it was, just as Diane woke up. She asked “What are you doing?” And I replied, as the light revealed the truth of Tiger’s “foot” – “Tiger just brought us a gift.” It was a dead mouse.
In the darkness, I couldn’t tell the difference between my petting something that was good versus something that was dead. It was only in the light of the new day that the truth was revealed. And it was then that Diane, in no uncertain terms, made me get up out of bed and throw the “deadness” outside.
God reveals his truth to us when we turn to him, when we give our lives to him, when we become one through our fellowship in him, and it is then that the Godly Light can reveal the truth for our lives.
Read 1 John 1:8 – 2:2
John gets down to the bottom line – our sinful ways can only exist when the light of truth is not on us. He tells us that no one is without sin, and that we are only deceiving our self if we think otherwise. But when we turn to Christ, his light will reveal the sin that is in us, and then the reality of it all comes out. When we allow God to rid us of our “deadness”, he takes it away, and throws it out into the darkness where it belongs. It cannot exist in the light.
So how do we come to that moment when God’s light can finally shine on our lives to reveal the things he wants us to know?
Studies and surveys have revealed that relationships require four ingredients: Time, Touching, Talking, and Trust.
- Homiletics On Line -
And this is true of not only human relationships, but also that with the Divine.
Time – we need to be intentional in making time for those who are important in our lives, and not as a shallow or token gesture. It needs to be real and substantial.
Touching – Whether it is physical or spiritual touching, it is the most obvious way to show another that we truly care. When I was on my first Kairos (a prison ministry) weekend, we were doing a listening exercise, and when the one who was telling the story (a Hispanic) came to a particularly tragic point in a story regarding his mother, the other man (a white man) reached out and touched his arm and said “Oh no!”. Touching is not something you do in prison! When the exercise was complete, I asked the man how he felt when the other reached out and touched him. He said “I felt as though he understood.” Touching is OK!
Talking – communication lets each person in the relationship know exactly what is going on – in both the good sense and the bad. But it must always be a two way street.
Trust – is the glue that binds every relationship together. It is not only the basis for our life together, but it draws us ever closer to each other and gives us the desire to be closer.
In our relationship with Christ,
Do we truly trust that the Blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to wash us clean?
Do we honestly and frankly share our lives with the Almighty?
Do we reach out to God to experience that Holy Arm around our shoulders in times of struggle, and the Holy Hand on our arm when we need direction and comfort, and the Holy Presence in our life when we are seeking strength and truth?
Do we give God our best time, and not just the leftovers?
When we do these things, we walk in the light and we leave the darkness far behind; when we do, we fellowship in the glory that surrounds our revealed relationship; when we do, we rejoice in the understanding that God is all about the good in and for our lives, and that nothing else can matter.
In the Light of glory, we can rejoice in the knowledge that God is with us, and that our fellowship with him will only get better. We need to celebrate the Light that brings us into his truth, every day of our lives.
In one of our sessions at my seminary class this week (on the Reformation), our professor asked us to respond to, basically, this question: “How do you know what God wants you to know?” As you may guess, this inspired some silence for a few minutes! So I will ask you the same question – “How do you know what God wants you to know?” Think about it.
The question that was poised to us was in the context of the incredible conflicts and bloody wars that ensued during the reforming centuries. Everyone seemed to know that their relationship with God was the correct one, and that anyone who disagreed with them, regardless of how minor the difference may have been, didn’t deserve to live! And they then set out to see that they didn’t! It was not one of Christianity’s more glorious periods!
How do we know what God wants us to know?
Read 1 John 1:1-4
At the time that this letter was written, the church had been in existence for 50 years or so. It had experienced some good times, as well as some not so good times. It had received some great teaching, and some not so great. It had grown in faith, but it had also suffered and struggled in false faith.
John knew that the people needed a refresher course in what it meant to be a Christian, whether they were in a time of blessing or one of persecution, and so he writes in verse 3 - “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” John didn’t try to express his relationship with Christ in great theological terms, or with high sounding phrases, or in grand expository. He simply told the people what he knew for certain, because he had seen it, or heard it.
When we offer a witness to others, it should never be given in a way that is confusing or questionable. When we come to see the truth in a particular way, simply tell the story the way it happened, without embellishment.
John goes on to say that the church is in fellowship with both the Father and the Son. We can’t have one if we don’t have both. In John 8:19, Jesus told his disciples “If you knew me, you would know the Father also.”, and in John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.” Therefore, John is telling the people that it must also be true that if we are in that fellowship, we are also in fellowship with each other. And when he relates this, he says that his joy is complete.
“How do we know what God wants us to know?”
It is through our fellowship with God and the Church. And it is in that fellowship that truth will be revealed and we will come to know what we need to know at that time. And that was one of the major road blocks in the 16th century. Faith was being defined by the church. The people would be told how and what and why, and that everyone must believe the same and be the same. And as the reformation began to take hold, the reformers didn’t seem to be much different. This was the great failing of the church during the reformation – there was no universal fellowship.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit doesn’t work that way.
Read 1 John 1:5-7
It’s all about the Light.
John Wesley wrote:
When I was young, I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
--John Wesley
The Light of God, in our fellowship with him, is all there is. And the Light shines on each of us in a unique way. We are gifted in different ways; we are used in different ways; we share the grace of Jesus Christ in different ways; we serve in different ways – the only commonality that we seem to have is, first, in the fellowship, and second, in the means of our salvation. The light of Christ reveals our uniqueness within his Body, and it shows us the glory that is in the Blood.
John uses the analogy of light and dark to teach the church about good and evil, about truth and lie. Let me offer a personal example for just a moment. Years ago, when Diane and I were first married, we had a cat named Tiger. Tiger was a hunter extraordinaire, and loved to go outdoors, especially at night. She had a way into the house through a loose window screen, and early one morning, she came in and jumped up on the bed. I was barely awake, and reached down to pet her. I thought that I was petting her foot, until she got up and moved, leaving her “foot” behind. I lifted the object up into the early morning light to find out what it was, just as Diane woke up. She asked “What are you doing?” And I replied, as the light revealed the truth of Tiger’s “foot” – “Tiger just brought us a gift.” It was a dead mouse.
In the darkness, I couldn’t tell the difference between my petting something that was good versus something that was dead. It was only in the light of the new day that the truth was revealed. And it was then that Diane, in no uncertain terms, made me get up out of bed and throw the “deadness” outside.
God reveals his truth to us when we turn to him, when we give our lives to him, when we become one through our fellowship in him, and it is then that the Godly Light can reveal the truth for our lives.
Read 1 John 1:8 – 2:2
John gets down to the bottom line – our sinful ways can only exist when the light of truth is not on us. He tells us that no one is without sin, and that we are only deceiving our self if we think otherwise. But when we turn to Christ, his light will reveal the sin that is in us, and then the reality of it all comes out. When we allow God to rid us of our “deadness”, he takes it away, and throws it out into the darkness where it belongs. It cannot exist in the light.
So how do we come to that moment when God’s light can finally shine on our lives to reveal the things he wants us to know?
Studies and surveys have revealed that relationships require four ingredients: Time, Touching, Talking, and Trust.
- Homiletics On Line -
And this is true of not only human relationships, but also that with the Divine.
Time – we need to be intentional in making time for those who are important in our lives, and not as a shallow or token gesture. It needs to be real and substantial.
Touching – Whether it is physical or spiritual touching, it is the most obvious way to show another that we truly care. When I was on my first Kairos (a prison ministry) weekend, we were doing a listening exercise, and when the one who was telling the story (a Hispanic) came to a particularly tragic point in a story regarding his mother, the other man (a white man) reached out and touched his arm and said “Oh no!”. Touching is not something you do in prison! When the exercise was complete, I asked the man how he felt when the other reached out and touched him. He said “I felt as though he understood.” Touching is OK!
Talking – communication lets each person in the relationship know exactly what is going on – in both the good sense and the bad. But it must always be a two way street.
Trust – is the glue that binds every relationship together. It is not only the basis for our life together, but it draws us ever closer to each other and gives us the desire to be closer.
In our relationship with Christ,
Do we truly trust that the Blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to wash us clean?
Do we honestly and frankly share our lives with the Almighty?
Do we reach out to God to experience that Holy Arm around our shoulders in times of struggle, and the Holy Hand on our arm when we need direction and comfort, and the Holy Presence in our life when we are seeking strength and truth?
Do we give God our best time, and not just the leftovers?
When we do these things, we walk in the light and we leave the darkness far behind; when we do, we fellowship in the glory that surrounds our revealed relationship; when we do, we rejoice in the understanding that God is all about the good in and for our lives, and that nothing else can matter.
In the Light of glory, we can rejoice in the knowledge that God is with us, and that our fellowship with him will only get better. We need to celebrate the Light that brings us into his truth, every day of our lives.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
“Never Look Back!”
Scripture: John 20:1-18
For Christians of today, Easter is a day of celebration. New clothes are purchased and worn, children get a pile of chocolate in their Easter baskets, there are Easter egg hunts for the young at heart, and special Easter dinners in a restaurant that is selected especially for Mom!
But the first Easter wasn’t quite that special! Certainly, it occurred during Passover, and that was a great holiday for Israel, but for a few, Easter morning was filled with confusion and incredible pain. Jesus was dead, and the future of the ministry he had begun was in question. His followers, the very ones who should be carrying on for him, had gone into hiding, and were heading for places unknown, or at least they hoped they were unknown. Fear of the Romans and fear of the Jewish leaders filled their every thought – “Would they be the next to be hunted down and executed?”
Not a single one of them was remembering Jesus’ words of resurrection that we read in both Matthew 17:22-23 and Luke 9:21-22. As Matthew reports it, Jesus said “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”
Such a powerful message, but no one would remember it in those dark, oppressive hours between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. And least, they wouldn’t remember until the events of Sunday morning began to reveal the truth of Jesus’ words!
Read John 20:1-9
As if the events of the past week weren’t strange enough, this had to top the list! Imagine, for just a moment, that you were Mary Magdalene, and that it was you who went to the tomb that morning to complete the preparation of Jesus’ body. You are the one who discovers that the soldiers who had been assigned to guard the tomb, were gone, the seal on the tomb had been broken, the huge stone that had closed the tomb had been moved, and that Jesus’ body was wasn’t where it had been left. Four things that could never have happened, did.
How do you feel? Overwhelmed? Terrified? Confused? Do you even believe what your eyes are seeing? The only logical explanation is that either the Romans or the temple leaders came during the middle of the night and stole the body! You don’t understand why, but nothing else makes any sense! Maybe one of the others can figure this out, but when you tell them what you have seen, none of them can believe this either!
But one - the disciple John – when he ran to the tomb and looked inside, he believed. What was there about that morning that the others couldn’t see? Why didn’t Peter understand? Why didn’t Mary understand? They had heard the same words that John had heard, and yet, he was the only one who could believe.
Everything was just as Jesus had said it would be. The tomb was empty! He had defeated the death that others had imposed on him, and now he lived again!
You would think that disbelief would have ended with the disciples, that when they eventually did believe, that their witness and teaching would convince the world that the crucified Lord had become the Living and Eternal Lord. But it hasn’t. What does it take for people to believe?
Maybe they need overwhelming proof – undeniable evidence that the impossible has occurred. Many would receive that kind of evidence that day, and they would come to understand.
Read John 20:10-15
Well, maybe indisputable evidence isn’t quite enough!
Mary looks one more time into the tomb that she has already discovered is empty, and she sees two beings that weren’t there a few moments before. She asks them a question, but before they can respond, she turns around and sees Jesus standing there, living and breathing. What more evidence should one person need?
She sees 2 angels in a place that she knew had been empty, they were pure white, and spoke with heavenly voices, and yet she didn’t realize who she was talking to.
She sees Jesus in the garden, and yet she doesn’t see him. Mary had been with Jesus for a long time. She knew his voice, she knew what he looked like, she knew his mannerisms – how could she not know?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was constantly in the presence of people who wouldn’t, or couldn’t, believe in him. Some didn’t like his teaching, others thought that he was too good to be true, others simply couldn’t accept the fact that God would ever appear in the form of a human being. And they couldn’t trust his word.
And people still don’t believe, even today, for these same reasons. After 2 thousand years of teaching, after more evidence for Jesus than for any other issue or person in history, of more study, of extensive theological reflection and examination, and still the disbelief continues.
If Mary didn’t believe, and Peter didn’t believe, and most of the disciples didn’t believe – why should the rest of us believe?
Read John 20:16-18
The Lord speaks Mary’s name, and her eyes are opened, she sees, and she believes that Jesus is truly alive. Over the next 30 days, Jesus would appear to countless followers, he would speak to them in ways that each one needed to hear, and they, too, would believe. But I think that his appearing in our presence, his speaking our name, his revealing a truth to us, his feeding us, can’t be all that is needed, otherwise the world would also believe.
I think that Mary’s case is one that we need to consider in our own belief. When Jesus spoke Mary’s name, her response was “Rabboni”. She was still holding on to Jesus as her teacher – as he had been before the death. But when Jesus tells her that she can’t hold on to him because he is returning to the Father’s side, she begins to understand, and when she hurries back to tell the others of her experience, does she say “I have seen the teacher?” No – she says that she has seen The Lord!
Mary had finally let go of her past. Church tradition tells us that Mary had been a prostitute, but, of course, that isn’t true. Scripture only tells us that she had been under the control of demons, and that Jesus had freed her, as well as several others, of the hold that these beings had on them (Luke 8:1-3). She had loved Jesus for the freedom that she now enjoyed, and she served him as well as she possibly could. But now, she had to let go of those old things that Jesus had been for her, and now she had to claim this new thing that he had become. He was no longer their rabbi, he was no longer their teacher, he was no longer their healer or friend – now Jesus was their God.
And that, I believe, is the problem with the world today. We want to see the Jesus who is covered with flesh, and touches us and speaks our name out loud, and heals us immediately of those ailments that haunt and torment us. We want the Jesus of 2012 to be one who fits the mold of our society, and we don’t want him to fit the mold of others! We want a Jesus who can’t seem to get everyone on the same page - we want one who isn’t quite all powerful, but is still all loving! We want a Jesus who laughs and weeps and struggles and is tempted, not one who has destroyed the impact of trial and temptation! We want a pre-crucifixion, a pre-resurrection Jesus - we don’t want the omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (all present), omniscient (all knowing) God of Creation, the God of the Universe, who tells us that our ways are falling far short of what he wants in us.
But we need the post-resurrection Jesus more today than at any other time in all of history. We need to let go of our past way of living and thinking, and begin to see and live in his whole new way.
We need to let go of what was in our yesterday. Those were the days that brought pain and struggle, those days of looking for reason in our existence, of trying to justify those things that we did in business and family and organizations and life. We need to stop thinking in the old way – of having expectations that suit us, that justify us, that perpetuate our old worldly self.
At first, Mary was looking at Jesus with her old eyes, and she only saw another person. Then, when Jesus spoke her name, she saw the old Jesus who had been her teacher and friend, but when Jesus told her that she could no longer see him in the old way, that she couldn’t hold on to what she wanted him to be, she began to see her Lord for who he truly is – God and Savior and Lord of her life.
My friends, we have to begin to see Jesus in the same new way that Mary did – not as one who fits our image of who God should be, but in the light of who he truly is. One day, this gracious and loving God will no longer be our teacher and friend – he will become our Judge. And if we think that judgment will be based solely on all of the wonderful and loving things we have done in this life, we are going to discover that our life is sadly lacking and we will be very disappointed!
Resurrection isn’t about picking up right where it all left off. It isn’t about making the old ways right. As those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord, we have an responsibility to begin living in a whole new way – as resurrected people – raised from the death of our former life and into a new existence in the here and now. We need to start seeing with resurrection eyes, and breathing with resurrection lungs, and loving with a resurrection heart. We need to be, not only the vessels that Jesus fills, but the vessels that he uses to fill others, leading them into his new way and new life.
Let the old way go and move into the new one. Jesus has forgiven our past, he has destroyed it – that old way no longer exists. Don’t look back for it – it isn’t there. Lot’s wife did look back to where she had come from (Genesis 19:18-26), and she discovered that looking back can only serve to keep us in the same old place and prevent us from moving on to the next.
Don’t make the same mistake that she did. Look ahead, with your new life in Christ, and see the new day and new way that awaits.
For Christians of today, Easter is a day of celebration. New clothes are purchased and worn, children get a pile of chocolate in their Easter baskets, there are Easter egg hunts for the young at heart, and special Easter dinners in a restaurant that is selected especially for Mom!
But the first Easter wasn’t quite that special! Certainly, it occurred during Passover, and that was a great holiday for Israel, but for a few, Easter morning was filled with confusion and incredible pain. Jesus was dead, and the future of the ministry he had begun was in question. His followers, the very ones who should be carrying on for him, had gone into hiding, and were heading for places unknown, or at least they hoped they were unknown. Fear of the Romans and fear of the Jewish leaders filled their every thought – “Would they be the next to be hunted down and executed?”
Not a single one of them was remembering Jesus’ words of resurrection that we read in both Matthew 17:22-23 and Luke 9:21-22. As Matthew reports it, Jesus said “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”
Such a powerful message, but no one would remember it in those dark, oppressive hours between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. And least, they wouldn’t remember until the events of Sunday morning began to reveal the truth of Jesus’ words!
Read John 20:1-9
As if the events of the past week weren’t strange enough, this had to top the list! Imagine, for just a moment, that you were Mary Magdalene, and that it was you who went to the tomb that morning to complete the preparation of Jesus’ body. You are the one who discovers that the soldiers who had been assigned to guard the tomb, were gone, the seal on the tomb had been broken, the huge stone that had closed the tomb had been moved, and that Jesus’ body was wasn’t where it had been left. Four things that could never have happened, did.
How do you feel? Overwhelmed? Terrified? Confused? Do you even believe what your eyes are seeing? The only logical explanation is that either the Romans or the temple leaders came during the middle of the night and stole the body! You don’t understand why, but nothing else makes any sense! Maybe one of the others can figure this out, but when you tell them what you have seen, none of them can believe this either!
But one - the disciple John – when he ran to the tomb and looked inside, he believed. What was there about that morning that the others couldn’t see? Why didn’t Peter understand? Why didn’t Mary understand? They had heard the same words that John had heard, and yet, he was the only one who could believe.
Everything was just as Jesus had said it would be. The tomb was empty! He had defeated the death that others had imposed on him, and now he lived again!
You would think that disbelief would have ended with the disciples, that when they eventually did believe, that their witness and teaching would convince the world that the crucified Lord had become the Living and Eternal Lord. But it hasn’t. What does it take for people to believe?
Maybe they need overwhelming proof – undeniable evidence that the impossible has occurred. Many would receive that kind of evidence that day, and they would come to understand.
Read John 20:10-15
Well, maybe indisputable evidence isn’t quite enough!
Mary looks one more time into the tomb that she has already discovered is empty, and she sees two beings that weren’t there a few moments before. She asks them a question, but before they can respond, she turns around and sees Jesus standing there, living and breathing. What more evidence should one person need?
She sees 2 angels in a place that she knew had been empty, they were pure white, and spoke with heavenly voices, and yet she didn’t realize who she was talking to.
She sees Jesus in the garden, and yet she doesn’t see him. Mary had been with Jesus for a long time. She knew his voice, she knew what he looked like, she knew his mannerisms – how could she not know?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was constantly in the presence of people who wouldn’t, or couldn’t, believe in him. Some didn’t like his teaching, others thought that he was too good to be true, others simply couldn’t accept the fact that God would ever appear in the form of a human being. And they couldn’t trust his word.
And people still don’t believe, even today, for these same reasons. After 2 thousand years of teaching, after more evidence for Jesus than for any other issue or person in history, of more study, of extensive theological reflection and examination, and still the disbelief continues.
If Mary didn’t believe, and Peter didn’t believe, and most of the disciples didn’t believe – why should the rest of us believe?
Read John 20:16-18
The Lord speaks Mary’s name, and her eyes are opened, she sees, and she believes that Jesus is truly alive. Over the next 30 days, Jesus would appear to countless followers, he would speak to them in ways that each one needed to hear, and they, too, would believe. But I think that his appearing in our presence, his speaking our name, his revealing a truth to us, his feeding us, can’t be all that is needed, otherwise the world would also believe.
I think that Mary’s case is one that we need to consider in our own belief. When Jesus spoke Mary’s name, her response was “Rabboni”. She was still holding on to Jesus as her teacher – as he had been before the death. But when Jesus tells her that she can’t hold on to him because he is returning to the Father’s side, she begins to understand, and when she hurries back to tell the others of her experience, does she say “I have seen the teacher?” No – she says that she has seen The Lord!
Mary had finally let go of her past. Church tradition tells us that Mary had been a prostitute, but, of course, that isn’t true. Scripture only tells us that she had been under the control of demons, and that Jesus had freed her, as well as several others, of the hold that these beings had on them (Luke 8:1-3). She had loved Jesus for the freedom that she now enjoyed, and she served him as well as she possibly could. But now, she had to let go of those old things that Jesus had been for her, and now she had to claim this new thing that he had become. He was no longer their rabbi, he was no longer their teacher, he was no longer their healer or friend – now Jesus was their God.
And that, I believe, is the problem with the world today. We want to see the Jesus who is covered with flesh, and touches us and speaks our name out loud, and heals us immediately of those ailments that haunt and torment us. We want the Jesus of 2012 to be one who fits the mold of our society, and we don’t want him to fit the mold of others! We want a Jesus who can’t seem to get everyone on the same page - we want one who isn’t quite all powerful, but is still all loving! We want a Jesus who laughs and weeps and struggles and is tempted, not one who has destroyed the impact of trial and temptation! We want a pre-crucifixion, a pre-resurrection Jesus - we don’t want the omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (all present), omniscient (all knowing) God of Creation, the God of the Universe, who tells us that our ways are falling far short of what he wants in us.
But we need the post-resurrection Jesus more today than at any other time in all of history. We need to let go of our past way of living and thinking, and begin to see and live in his whole new way.
We need to let go of what was in our yesterday. Those were the days that brought pain and struggle, those days of looking for reason in our existence, of trying to justify those things that we did in business and family and organizations and life. We need to stop thinking in the old way – of having expectations that suit us, that justify us, that perpetuate our old worldly self.
At first, Mary was looking at Jesus with her old eyes, and she only saw another person. Then, when Jesus spoke her name, she saw the old Jesus who had been her teacher and friend, but when Jesus told her that she could no longer see him in the old way, that she couldn’t hold on to what she wanted him to be, she began to see her Lord for who he truly is – God and Savior and Lord of her life.
My friends, we have to begin to see Jesus in the same new way that Mary did – not as one who fits our image of who God should be, but in the light of who he truly is. One day, this gracious and loving God will no longer be our teacher and friend – he will become our Judge. And if we think that judgment will be based solely on all of the wonderful and loving things we have done in this life, we are going to discover that our life is sadly lacking and we will be very disappointed!
Resurrection isn’t about picking up right where it all left off. It isn’t about making the old ways right. As those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord, we have an responsibility to begin living in a whole new way – as resurrected people – raised from the death of our former life and into a new existence in the here and now. We need to start seeing with resurrection eyes, and breathing with resurrection lungs, and loving with a resurrection heart. We need to be, not only the vessels that Jesus fills, but the vessels that he uses to fill others, leading them into his new way and new life.
Let the old way go and move into the new one. Jesus has forgiven our past, he has destroyed it – that old way no longer exists. Don’t look back for it – it isn’t there. Lot’s wife did look back to where she had come from (Genesis 19:18-26), and she discovered that looking back can only serve to keep us in the same old place and prevent us from moving on to the next.
Don’t make the same mistake that she did. Look ahead, with your new life in Christ, and see the new day and new way that awaits.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
“Preparing For a Life in Christ”
Scripture: Matthew 10:26-42
Today is Palm Sunday – the day when we celebrate Jesus’ grand entry into Jerusalem. The crowds heralded him as a savior, and yet, they still didn’t understand that it was his saving grace that would bless them, and not his physical and mental prowess. They wanted to see the Lord as a warrior, as a conqueror, as one who would free them from worldly oppression. And as the one who was seen as a powerful and disruptive figure within this world, he would also have many detractors.
He was called the Satan (the “Accuser”), a sinner, a demon of the worse kind, a blasphemer, a traitor, and those who would follow after him would suffer from the same lies. And the fear of these threats would deter many from publicly proclaiming Christ.
John Cobb wrote:
If we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have no reason to fear that truth from any source will undercut our faith. Indeed, we have every reason to believe that all truth, wisdom and reality cohere [come together] in him.
--John Cobb, “Being a Transformationist in a Pluralist World”, Christian Century, 10-1, August 1994, 749.
Read Matthew 10:26-33
“Don’t be afraid of them, because it will all work out in the end, and all will be made right.” The last days aren’t the problem for most Christians – it’s the enduring all of those miserable days until that day arrives! And in our fear for today, we hesitate to speak out loudly and clearly as witnesses for Jesus Christ. Now understand that this isn’t about those who are reluctant or hesitant to make a first time commitment to Christ. It isn’t about those who never make the decision to come to him. This is about those who are already his followers, those who have put their eternal hope in the Lord, but who choose to do it silently.
Our discipleship can never be one of timidity. Jesus’ disciples cannot be shy. Jesus’ disciples are not to be bashful. We are to be bold in our faith! Will others ignore us? Of course they will. Will some criticize us? Certainly! Will some of us even experience physical and emotional persecution in some form or another? Yes! But we can’t let that deter us in our faith. Jesus tells us that the one who we should fear is the one who can destroy not only our human life, but also our soul. Not the ones who express their disdain for Christians, not the ones who make our faith tremble, but the one who is behind their efforts to destroy our faith. And that is the real Accuser – the real Satan.
So what are we to do? Remember the people in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. They shouted Hosannas at the top of their lungs, regardless of who might be lingering in the shadows, no matter how many were listening and taking names. They waved their palm branches and covered the ground with their clothing, without any fear of who might be watching them. They were proclaiming Jesus as savior, even as he rode into Jerusalem to face humiliation and death at the hands of the very ones he had come to save. And yet, he assures those who proclaim him of their great worth in God’s eyes and heart, and as for those who refuse to acknowledge him, he lets them know that he will be unable to acknowledge them on the Judgment Day.
Who are we to fear? God? Jesus? No! It would seem that we are to fear our own ignorance and indecision!
Read Matthew 10:34-39
Where is the Christian’s loyalty supposed to lie? We hear a lot about that in our life. We’re told that we are to exhibit a high degree of loyalty in our jobs. We are to be loyal to our family and friends. We are to be loyal to the government that is in place. And in a worldly sense, our loyalty to these is to outweigh everything else, including our faith.
But Jesus would have us follow a better and far more narrow way. He tells us in this passage that even our loyalty to those we are closest to must take a back seat to our love of him. Have you ever had a dear friend or family member tells you that if you truly want to show them your love, then you have to be accepting of who they are and what they do? And if you don’t, then you can’t possibly love them?
Jesus would respond to this attack with two messages – first, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and second, that we are to love our neighbor as our self. Love the Lord without question or hesitation - not because of the things that he does for us, but simply because he is God. Love other people – all of them - without question or hesitation - not because of who they are or because of the things that they do, but simply because we must. And if someone who you show Christian love to turns away from you because you don’t love the things they do, then that is their fault and everyone’s loss. Always remember our call to love the Lord above all else, and through him, to love others. We have to keep the right perspective.
Read Matthew 10:40-42
Preparing to live a life in Christ is never easy. It means that we have to put everything that we have ever learned in this life aside, and learn an entirely new way. Is it any wonder that people throughout the past 2 millennium have struggled with what it really means to be a Christian? It seems that if we are ever to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that others must begin to see him in everything that we do. We are to be his reflection, we are to be his image, we are to speak his words, we are to love as he loves, and above all else, we are to be faithful and loyal to him – and when we are, he can show the ultimate loyalty and faithfulness to us.
It’s a choice – its either Jesus and all that he is, or the world and all that it isn’t. There is no other way. In Revelation 3:15-16, the Lord is speaking of the church in Laodicea, and he tells them “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. Trying to straddle the fence of faith does us no good whatsoever. And actually, we see that it is almost worse than completely turning away from Christ! If we take a look at Jesus, consider his way versus our other options, and make a decision to take a different way, at least there is the possibility of a change of heart. But until we make the effort to at least consider his way, how can there be any hope at all?
On that first Palm Sunday, the people were proclaiming Jesus, and even though they would fail in faith before the week was over, they had still made a choice. The disciples had spent years with Jesus and knew him intimately, and even they, too, would fail the Lord – one would betray him, one would deny him, the rest would desert him, and later, they would even refuse to believe that he was alive! They all had made decisions in faith – some good and some bad - and Jesus will never give up on those who continue to seek a relationship with him, even if they fail him over and over. Maybe that’s part of our preparation – our experiences involved with failing and falling and betraying and denying and deserting and disbelieving. We have to come to an understanding of our faults and failures before we can come to that glorious saving knowledge in Christ, and then and only then can we reject those other choices and options, and claim, instead, Jesus.
I think that it’s all part of our preparation – a lifetime of Lenten seeking. For the past several weeks, we have been considering just what a life in faith is all about. And to tell you the truth, these 6 weeks are in no way sufficient in our examination of what it means to live a life in faith. A life in faith is a lifetime effort. Lent is nearly over, and this coming week will be a test of faith – for the disciples, for the people of Jerusalem, and for the church of 2012. The term “Holy Week” has nothing to do with us and our faith – it is solely about the holiness of God, the glory of his great sacrifice on our part, and the precious gift of redemption and salvation that would soon be offered to all who will believe.
In these next seven days, may each of us suffer a test in faith, and may each of us survive that test. Pray for strength. Pray for faith. Pray for perseverance. And pray for this hurting and lost world. Continue to pray our prayer of Elijah that we began 2 weeks ago –
“O Lord God, let it be known today that you are God in and of this world, and that all good things are of you. Answer my prayer, O Lord, so that others will know that you, and you alone, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Amen.”
And perhaps we should even include ourselves in this prayer for renewed faith.
May your Holy Week reveal a faith in you that goes beyond all reason, and a love that reaches far out to our world in the name of Jesus Christ.
Today is Palm Sunday – the day when we celebrate Jesus’ grand entry into Jerusalem. The crowds heralded him as a savior, and yet, they still didn’t understand that it was his saving grace that would bless them, and not his physical and mental prowess. They wanted to see the Lord as a warrior, as a conqueror, as one who would free them from worldly oppression. And as the one who was seen as a powerful and disruptive figure within this world, he would also have many detractors.
He was called the Satan (the “Accuser”), a sinner, a demon of the worse kind, a blasphemer, a traitor, and those who would follow after him would suffer from the same lies. And the fear of these threats would deter many from publicly proclaiming Christ.
John Cobb wrote:
If we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have no reason to fear that truth from any source will undercut our faith. Indeed, we have every reason to believe that all truth, wisdom and reality cohere [come together] in him.
--John Cobb, “Being a Transformationist in a Pluralist World”, Christian Century, 10-1, August 1994, 749.
Read Matthew 10:26-33
“Don’t be afraid of them, because it will all work out in the end, and all will be made right.” The last days aren’t the problem for most Christians – it’s the enduring all of those miserable days until that day arrives! And in our fear for today, we hesitate to speak out loudly and clearly as witnesses for Jesus Christ. Now understand that this isn’t about those who are reluctant or hesitant to make a first time commitment to Christ. It isn’t about those who never make the decision to come to him. This is about those who are already his followers, those who have put their eternal hope in the Lord, but who choose to do it silently.
Our discipleship can never be one of timidity. Jesus’ disciples cannot be shy. Jesus’ disciples are not to be bashful. We are to be bold in our faith! Will others ignore us? Of course they will. Will some criticize us? Certainly! Will some of us even experience physical and emotional persecution in some form or another? Yes! But we can’t let that deter us in our faith. Jesus tells us that the one who we should fear is the one who can destroy not only our human life, but also our soul. Not the ones who express their disdain for Christians, not the ones who make our faith tremble, but the one who is behind their efforts to destroy our faith. And that is the real Accuser – the real Satan.
So what are we to do? Remember the people in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. They shouted Hosannas at the top of their lungs, regardless of who might be lingering in the shadows, no matter how many were listening and taking names. They waved their palm branches and covered the ground with their clothing, without any fear of who might be watching them. They were proclaiming Jesus as savior, even as he rode into Jerusalem to face humiliation and death at the hands of the very ones he had come to save. And yet, he assures those who proclaim him of their great worth in God’s eyes and heart, and as for those who refuse to acknowledge him, he lets them know that he will be unable to acknowledge them on the Judgment Day.
Who are we to fear? God? Jesus? No! It would seem that we are to fear our own ignorance and indecision!
Read Matthew 10:34-39
Where is the Christian’s loyalty supposed to lie? We hear a lot about that in our life. We’re told that we are to exhibit a high degree of loyalty in our jobs. We are to be loyal to our family and friends. We are to be loyal to the government that is in place. And in a worldly sense, our loyalty to these is to outweigh everything else, including our faith.
But Jesus would have us follow a better and far more narrow way. He tells us in this passage that even our loyalty to those we are closest to must take a back seat to our love of him. Have you ever had a dear friend or family member tells you that if you truly want to show them your love, then you have to be accepting of who they are and what they do? And if you don’t, then you can’t possibly love them?
Jesus would respond to this attack with two messages – first, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and second, that we are to love our neighbor as our self. Love the Lord without question or hesitation - not because of the things that he does for us, but simply because he is God. Love other people – all of them - without question or hesitation - not because of who they are or because of the things that they do, but simply because we must. And if someone who you show Christian love to turns away from you because you don’t love the things they do, then that is their fault and everyone’s loss. Always remember our call to love the Lord above all else, and through him, to love others. We have to keep the right perspective.
Read Matthew 10:40-42
Preparing to live a life in Christ is never easy. It means that we have to put everything that we have ever learned in this life aside, and learn an entirely new way. Is it any wonder that people throughout the past 2 millennium have struggled with what it really means to be a Christian? It seems that if we are ever to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that others must begin to see him in everything that we do. We are to be his reflection, we are to be his image, we are to speak his words, we are to love as he loves, and above all else, we are to be faithful and loyal to him – and when we are, he can show the ultimate loyalty and faithfulness to us.
It’s a choice – its either Jesus and all that he is, or the world and all that it isn’t. There is no other way. In Revelation 3:15-16, the Lord is speaking of the church in Laodicea, and he tells them “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. Trying to straddle the fence of faith does us no good whatsoever. And actually, we see that it is almost worse than completely turning away from Christ! If we take a look at Jesus, consider his way versus our other options, and make a decision to take a different way, at least there is the possibility of a change of heart. But until we make the effort to at least consider his way, how can there be any hope at all?
On that first Palm Sunday, the people were proclaiming Jesus, and even though they would fail in faith before the week was over, they had still made a choice. The disciples had spent years with Jesus and knew him intimately, and even they, too, would fail the Lord – one would betray him, one would deny him, the rest would desert him, and later, they would even refuse to believe that he was alive! They all had made decisions in faith – some good and some bad - and Jesus will never give up on those who continue to seek a relationship with him, even if they fail him over and over. Maybe that’s part of our preparation – our experiences involved with failing and falling and betraying and denying and deserting and disbelieving. We have to come to an understanding of our faults and failures before we can come to that glorious saving knowledge in Christ, and then and only then can we reject those other choices and options, and claim, instead, Jesus.
I think that it’s all part of our preparation – a lifetime of Lenten seeking. For the past several weeks, we have been considering just what a life in faith is all about. And to tell you the truth, these 6 weeks are in no way sufficient in our examination of what it means to live a life in faith. A life in faith is a lifetime effort. Lent is nearly over, and this coming week will be a test of faith – for the disciples, for the people of Jerusalem, and for the church of 2012. The term “Holy Week” has nothing to do with us and our faith – it is solely about the holiness of God, the glory of his great sacrifice on our part, and the precious gift of redemption and salvation that would soon be offered to all who will believe.
In these next seven days, may each of us suffer a test in faith, and may each of us survive that test. Pray for strength. Pray for faith. Pray for perseverance. And pray for this hurting and lost world. Continue to pray our prayer of Elijah that we began 2 weeks ago –
“O Lord God, let it be known today that you are God in and of this world, and that all good things are of you. Answer my prayer, O Lord, so that others will know that you, and you alone, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Amen.”
And perhaps we should even include ourselves in this prayer for renewed faith.
May your Holy Week reveal a faith in you that goes beyond all reason, and a love that reaches far out to our world in the name of Jesus Christ.
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