This Substack is about walking the path of Jesus. But since the lion’s share of my audience is already trying to walk this path, I have not spent much time discussing why this path is better than all the other paths on offer. Today I want to go back to first principles and look at why the path of Jesus is the only possible path to life.

* Fear God

* Fear Not

Today I would like to give each of these statements a little thought.

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Proverbs 4:15-19 [ESV]

Last time, we talked about the context and structure of the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor found in Revelation. I would like to continue that study as we work to answer the question, “How are we to live while we wait for Jesus?”

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If you are interested in the topic of the last things and the coming age I have written a reader’s guide to the book of Revelation to help you understand and enjoy this encouraging book. Revelation is a book written in difficult times to encourage a suffering Church. It is still an encouragement to the suffering Church.

You can pick up a copy from here. The Time Between

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Have a Good Friday and a Great Easter!

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

As we try to live worthy lives in this fallen world, finding the right voice for this cultural moment is difficult. However, Peter gives us a bit of encouraging advice in his second letter. Let me read a bit from the third chapter.

In my classes I have reduced this idea to a motto:

“I will know the truth, as I do the truth.”

When young people ask me why such and such a policy exists on our campus, I tell them, “Every rule has a name.” By that, I mean rules are made because someone did something that caused someone else to make a rule. Over time you get countless rules that way, but somehow people keep doing bad things.

Jesus explained this phenomenon as he was explaining why he was disagreeing with Moses regarding divorce in Matt 19:

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

Paul echoes this with just a few words in Galatians 3:9.

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions,

Laws are a response to evil; they do not prevent it. Laws do not change hearts; they only describe evil and its consequences.

Laws are essential in governance. They educate and warn people of the consequences of bad behavior. When justly applied, they can bring order to society. But they don’t change the human heart.

The source of evil is internal, so the solution to evil must begin at the source, the human heart. This reality is one of the sources of modern desperation. The world wants an answer that doesn’t require a change of heart. They want an external answer that can be forced on others regardless of what they think or desire. Such solutions will always lead to tyranny. The only lasting answer, the only answer that leads to true freedom and justice, is the answer God has provided in Christ Jesus. Paul describes it this way in his letter to the Romans.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:1-6 [ESV]

Laws deal with evil behavior, but only after the fact. God has dealt with human evil at its point of origin. The human heart. This change of heart is offered as a gift from God to all those who are willing. As Christians, we sometimes want to force Christian behavior on the world, whether they want it or not. For their own good, mind you. But when we do this, we find ourselves in unholy agreement with the tyrants.

Our instructions are clear. We are to preach the gospel and demonstrate what obedience to the gospel looks like to a lost and dying world. We are called to repentance and faith in Jesus and to love one another—and love our enemies too. This is a costly calling, but it is a strategy that deals with the real sources of evil. It gives hope and freedom to the human heart and reminds the spiritual forces of evil driving this world that their days are numbered. By doing this, we demonstrate the current reality of the kingdom of God and prepare for the return of the King.

This week

If you live in the U.S., I don’t have to tell you that we live in a state of constant uproar regarding the law and how it should or shouldn’t be applied. As Christians, we need to be careful who we join hands with, and we need to think carefully about what we are agreeing with. Slogans are chanted by all sides as if they were scripture. They’re not. The actual scriptures will not excuse those that would mask hate with self-righteous slogans.

Let’s remember the encouragement of Paul to Timothy this week:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Remember, Paul was writing this during the reign of Nero. Let’s not be distracted by the noise of this present age, and let’s stay focused on the things that really matter. That is—accurately reflecting Jesus to this lost and fallen world.

Have a great week!

But is Christianity simply a self-improvement exercise? Does self-improvement ultimately achieve what our eternal souls need? Can we really overcome our selfish desires through the efforts of self? Or are we in reality exchanging one form of self-centered living for another? Is there any way out of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” dilemma? I think this passage is my favorite meditation when I am reflecting on my inability to heal myself.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, ...   (2 Corinthians 5:14-18 ESV)

From this passage it seems clear that change is not a function of our efforts; it is a function of our death and resurrection in Christ. Salvation is not the result of our efforts but of His. What’s more, our fallen natures and evil desires are not repaired; they are replaced. They are replaced by a wholly new creation. What we were no longer defines us, for we are not what we were; we are now something entirely new in Christ.

What does this mean in day-to-day life?

For a long time I took a primarily theological approach to this concept of death and new creation. It became more or less an abstraction and something with more eternal significance than day-to-day usefulness. However, I have learned over the years that for those sins that seem particularly stubborn, this idea is the difference between success and failure.

In practice, faith in Jesus involves faith in several things. When we say we are trusting in the “finished work of Jesus,” that work was his substitutionary death and his victorious resurrection. However, this passage tells us that his death was not his alone, but when he died, we all died with him. By his death we were therefore set free from the power of sin, because the person I used to be, the person who was a slave to desire and sin, died and is now a new creation in Christ. Faith in Jesus is believing all of that and more.

As we begin to truly accept that the death of Jesus was also our death, we are set free from the power of our old life and given the ability to live a new life. A life that was impossible for us while we were still enslaved to our various desires and sins.

Changing our thinking

This concept is a lot to take in, and our feelings want to say it ain’t so. But God says it’s true, so this passage also gives us a bit of instruction about how to get our head wrapped around all of this. Paul tells us, “From now on we know no one according to the flesh…”. This includes ourselves; we must no longer know ourselves according to the flesh. Who we were and the way we have always thought about ourselves are all irrelevant because we have died. That person I knew as me has died. Now I have to get to know that new person who was created in Christ as a son of God. I need to follow that new person as he grows up into that which God intended from the beginning. Consider the following:

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.    (Romans 8:10-14 ESV)

So we can change and live a different life. But we can’t do this by our own efforts through our own corrupted desires and strength. God in Jesus has already restarted us. We now need to walk in this new life of the Spirit and put no trust in who or what we were. We must consider that old life dead to fully embrace the new life we have in Christ through the Spirit.

Giving this grace to others

This week let’s forget about trying to fix ourselves up and simply let that old life go while embracing our new identity in Christ. As we allow the grace of God the freedom to work in our lives, we need to remember that this same struggle is going on in our believing brothers and sisters. Paul said, “From now on we know no one according to the flesh.” By this he means our brothers and sisters in faith. Let’s refuse to know them according to who they were, and instead let’s call out who they are in Christ this week. Let’s refuse to identify them by the labels that used to define them but see them as new creations in Christ. We can all start over, and we can do it today if we have the courage to walk away from a life that is already dead. Step into a new creation that is destined for far greater things in Christ today.

Have a great week!

Christianity is filled with things that seem to be at odds with each other. Blessed are the meek. Humble yourself, and you will be exalted. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to him the other. And the list goes on.

Today I want to examine one of those paradoxes with you. Being wise while maintaining the innocence of a child. Let’s begin with these two passages.

First, Jesus tells his disciples this:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Matt 10:16 [ESV]

Then Paul picks up this theme years later as he is talking to the church in Corinth.

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 1 Cor 14:20 [ESV]

The Church today seems to always want to run to extremes. On the one hand, you have those who feel that we should all be thoughtless children. Always be nice to everyone and think happy thoughts, and Jesus will be happy with you. On the other hand, there are those who wish to be wise and influential and, in the process, leave innocence and virtue behind. The Christian view of politics is similar; some don’t want to touch it at all, while others fall into it headfirst, forgetting that we already have a king.

In the first passage, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the trials that await them as he sends them out into the world to preach the gospel and heal the sick. In the second passage, Paul is trying to help the church at Corinth navigate the gifts of the spirit and prophecy without allowing the whole service to degenerate into chaos. These are very different contexts, but in both cases the advice was the same.

We like extremes because extremes are simple. It is all or nothing. No pesky edge cases that don’t resolve cleanly into a nice black and white answer. Am I talking about moral relativism? Absolutely not! But wisdom is not needed in simple cases. Wisdom is needed when the answer is not as clear. And when that happens, we are to be wise and innocent at the same time. And that requires help.

As Jesus sent out his disciples in the first passage, he comforted them with this promise:

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matt 10:19-20 [ESV]

There was no question that trouble would find them, but they could take heart in the knowledge that God’s Spirit would be with them. To guide them and give them the wisdom they require in those bewildering and terrifying moments.

In the second passage, Paul was correcting pride, conflict, and confusion in the church. The gifts were in operation, but love and encouragement were being forgotten. In their zeal to use their gifts, they were forgetting love. They were forgetting the reason those gifts exist in the first place: to unify and grow the body of Christ in love.

This dilemma has not improved with time. The need to balance knowledge and love, wisdom and innocence, remains. We must engage this world to teach it the gospel. But engagement must never come at the cost of our innocence or the love that first brought us to repentance and taught us to trust God unreservedly.

We still need help to keep these seemingly opposite requirements in balance. And we still have that help in the Holy Spirit. But as with all things related to the grace of God, this help must be sought and received by faith. And faith to be living and genuine needs to act. I will close with a few words from James. These passages are not in order, but I think I am being faithful to their original meaning.

1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:5;1:27;4:6-10 [ESV]

As we celebrate the Christmas season this year, let’s not be foolish, but at the same time, let’s not lose the wonder of it all in our grown-up cynicism either. And above all, let’s not miss the obvious, and let’s love one another in ways that bring glory to God for all of his kindness to us.

Have a great week and a great Christmas season!

This is the sermon I will be giving on Sunday, Nov. 30. I was given the passages below as the lectionary passages for the week. It was a challenging assignment, but I think I found a way to talk about Thanksgiving, Advent, and these passages—eventually.

Daniel 3 John 18:36-38

Advent, Thanksgiving, and Hope

Good morning! Today is the first Sunday of Advent! The first Sunday of the New Liturgical Year. And the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. Advent is a time of preparation, anticipation, and hope. Unlike Lent, which is a time of soul-searching and penitence in remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus, Advent is a time of preparation and celebration that looks both forward and back. And in the process—changes our hearts today.

Today’s readings from the lectionary don’t track very well with either Thanksgiving or Advent; they describe a world at war with God and all those who follow him. They describe some of the painful and challenging realities of being a faithful follower of God in a fallen world. Nevertheless, we will circle back to these stories later.

To prepare our hearts for the Advent of Christ, we first have to go back and remember why we need Jesus in the first place. What happened to separate us from God? Why did God need to come to us? Why is the world in such a mess? And how does Jesus fix it?

This war between the powers that influence the world and God goes way back. Back to the first pages of the Bible, where we find a snake in the garden of God trying to subvert and destroy God’s plan for the future. Throughout the Scriptures, we see over and over again the persecution of those that follow God and His truth. The passages today are just two examples. Time will not allow us to review all these stories, but everyone from Abel to Joseph to David and the prophets suffered in this ongoing battle between the powers of evil and the followers of God.

And the battle continues to rage. Today, Christians are being murdered by the thousands around the world simply for being Christian. In the past 5 years in Nigeria alone, it is estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 Christians a year have been murdered for their faith. And if we add to that the constant lies and manipulation of the media and the corruption we see in every earthly government, our hearts can easily be overwhelmed to the point where thanksgiving and hope seem almost impossible.

Advent, on the other hand, is a celebration of hope for the future and a thanksgiving for God’s greatest gift to us in the past. During Advent we declare God’s faithfulness in the past and proclaim our hope for the future. It is our way of standing in faith against the trials of our time. Whatever they may be. It’s a chance to focus on the fact that God himself has come to us; he has become one of us, and maybe most importantly, it helps us remember that he is not finished yet. So let’s take a few moments to think about the hope of Advent.

Advent - The Past

Ironically, the Advent hope goes back to our first failure and a veiled promise God made to Eve. After Adam and Eve failed by pursuing their selfish desires over their love for God. God curses the serpent but adds this promise to Adam and Eve as he does.

Gen 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

In this short statement we have both an explanation of the hostility we see everywhere in the world and the source of the hope we celebrate here today. The war began with the serpent, but God has promised to end that war one day through one of Eve’s children. But as great as this promise is, our sin still separated us from God that day, and we were expelled from the garden. We lost direct access to God, and we lost access to the tree of life. We once lived in the Garden of God, the Garden of Eden. It was a place where we could walk and talk daily with God. But choosing our own way over God’s way caused us to lose access to all of this. We lost direct access to God. We could never undo what we had done. This promise was that first ray of hope, a lifeline when all other hope was gone.

However, this first promise was not the last. As time went on, God gave us more insight into the nature of his plans to save this fallen world.

In Isaiah, God sends word again regarding this child, but this time he adds a bit more detail.

Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end…”

This short passage gives us a tremendous amount of help in understanding the plan of God.

First, we see that this child is born to rule. The government was going to be upon his shoulders. And the names that are given to this child teach us even more. These names inform us that this child will be no ordinary human ruler. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace all describe this child as far more than just another human leader. Only God himself is worthy of names like this. This human child was to be called “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father.” This is an overwhelming thought. And, as our Wonderful Counselor, he would teach us, and he would be our everlasting Prince of Peace. What’s more, his government, his rule, his peace, will increase forever, and his kingdom will never end.

The cynic might say, “If Jesus is the prince of peace, why is the world still at war?” This is obviously a complex question, but there is an answer. And that answer is, the government of Jesus is increasing—and will do so—forever. His kingdom has come, but His kingdom is, at the same time, still coming. It is ongoing. Our hope is not just in the past with a baby in the manger but in a risen king who has conquered the power of evil and is coming again to destroy evil once and for all. But in this time between, we will see trouble as the kingdom of God continues to rise and grow among the evil kingdoms of this world.

Our earlier readings today describe challenges the people of God have faced in the past. Whether we are discussing the faithfulness of the three friends of Daniel in the face of a terrible death or the steadfastness of Jesus as he stood unjustly condemned before Pilate. We see the enmity between the people of God and those who follow the serpent everywhere we look in the Scriptures. Jesus is that child who was described so long ago. But the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as wonderful as they are, were not the whole story, but rather, the beginning of a longer and more glorious story.

We still have a future hope, and Advent is a time the Church has set aside every year to remember it. Jesus is our hope now and for the future, and this hope gives us the strength to endure, regardless of what challenges or threats come our way. Daniel’s friends found the strength to stand up to Nebuchadnezzar through their hope in God. And in the book of Hebrews, we read that Jesus took strength from the joy that was set before him. Hope is a powerful thing. And Advent is about strengthening our hope.

The coming of Jesus can be seen in three phases. And we recognize and celebrate all three during Advent. We recognize the past promises of God that were fulfilled by the first coming of Jesus. We celebrate our current ability to receive the gift of Jesus, allowing him to change us from the inside out. And we set our hope on the day when Jesus returns and fully restores our relationship to God, resurrects our bodies, and creates, or recreates, heaven and earth again. We will once again walk with God and eat from the tree of life.

Let’s look briefly at all three of the ways we prepare ourselves during this Advent season.

Remembering the past prepares us by reminding us why the world is the way it is. The short answer? Sin. Our rebellion against the authority of God cost us our relationship with God. We lost direct access to God, and we lost access to the Tree of Life. The result is that we are all alone and dying in this world, separated from God and without hope. We have been trying to fix our problems ever since we first sewed fig leaves together to cover up our shame, but we were unable to fix our problems—because we are the problem. If we were to be saved, God would have to save us.

But he chose to save us in a somewhat unexpected way. God himself came to us as a human child. He wanted to be with us again, so he became one of us. God did for us what only He could do. He came and paid the price for what we have done. He became a human to pay the price for humanity’s sin.

Only God could pay such a price, and only a human could rightfully take our place. Jesus is that man, and the life of the eternal Son of God was the price. Through Jesus, God set us free from our slavery to sin and conquered the powers that have ruled this world since that fateful day in the garden.

And now, His kingdom is growing. Sin’s power over us has been broken, and we work to announce that freedom to the entire world. There is a new king now, and we are his ambassadors. His reign of peace has begun, but we have yet to see the full realization of his kingdom.

This takes us to the future.

The advent of Christ is not just about a baby in a manger two thousand years ago. Jesus will be back. He is returning to destroy the works of evil once and for all in the final judgment. At his return he will create (or recreate) a new heavens and earth free from the corruption of sin and evil. He will wipe away every tear and heal every disease. Peace will reign forever and ever, and we will live forever in the presence of God. This is now our hope; the promise of the child has been fulfilled, but the healing of this world and our own mortal bodies is yet to come. It is our faith in the faithfulness of God that motivates us now. He has shown us His faithfulness in Jesus. He has demonstrated His power through his miracles and, most of all, through the resurrection of Jesus.

We now live in the time between, the time between the promised arrival of Jesus as a child and the fully realized eternal kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has begun, but there is more to come. The king will return, and when he does, he will restore everything. His first coming made us new in our spirits; when he returns, all of creation will be made new.

For thousands of years people hoped for the coming of this child. Now we celebrate the faithfulness of God in sending us His Son Jesus. Hope is always a future thing. The past is history. Our hope now is in the return of the King. Our hope is in that glorious day when all this pain and suffering will finally end, and all of creation will be made new. This present world is hard, but the pain of this age is not forever. Injustice rules in this age, but when Jesus returns, there will be true justice. Evil and its sources will be destroyed, and all those who have suffered under the present evil will be comforted.

How we respond to this hope.

During Advent, our celebrations are for the victories of the past, and our hope is for the coming final victory over evil. But today—right now—is the only time we have where we can actually do things. We can’t do things in the past, and we can’t do things in the future. We can only effect change today. Advent is a time to take stock of our relationship with Jesus and our hope for the future.

Maybe we have heard about Jesus, we know the Christmas story, but we have never allowed it to really control our lives and change our destinies. The gift of God has been given, but have we ever, from our heart, responded to that gift?

If you have never responded to the gift of God in faith, don’t wait, today is your only opportunity. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow never comes. Today is the only day we can do anything. Take the time today to allow Jesus in. Allow the Prince of Peace to give you peace today. Allow the Wonderful Counselor to comfort and guide you today. Loosen your grip on your life and allow Jesus to lead you today. Leave your old life behind, and begin a path that leads to eternal life with God.

Maybe you have already done this, but life in this fallen world has become extremely difficult. It’s possible that for you, hope is hard to find and even harder to believe in your current struggles. If that is you, remember Jesus today. Jesus gave up his position in glory to become one of us. He was mistreated and suffered great loss and ultimately suffered the most cruel and humiliating injustices on our behalf. He felt it, he cried out and asked his Father if there was any other way, but in the end, his love for all of us was greater than his desire to avoid suffering. Jesus is our strength, our life, and our example. Today, if you need encouragement, remember Jesus and lean into his body, which is the Church, and allow Jesus to comfort you through his body.

And finally, for those of you who are feeling ok today, take this time to hear and to celebrate once again how God loved us enough to send his only son to us, to become one of us. So that we can be restored to the arms of God. If that is you today, look around, for you are the body of Christ. You are the physical manifestation of Christ on earth now, at least until he returns. So look around and see where your voice can be the voice of Jesus. Look around and see where your hands can be the hands of Jesus. And let’s celebrate the coming of Jesus right this year. By being the people we were created to be, by being the people Jesus suffered to save.

For the next four weeks, we will remember and celebrate the hope that came with Jesus and still awaits us when he returns. Advent is not just about remembering that the baby Jesus was born in a manger. It is about remembering the victorious Jesus, who will one day return and fully bring about eternal life, peace, and justice. In Jesus, God is with us now, and will be with us forever.

Today, we can be the first coming of Jesus for someone. Jesus came, he died, he rose again, and made us, through his Spirit, into his hands and feet. Now, everywhere we go, we are the physical presence of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

Today is the advent of Jesus Christ on earth. Jesus has come; now we bring Jesus to the world. Today the body of Christ is at work around the world bringing peace from the Prince of Peace until he returns.

Have a Great Week!

We often consider ourselves to be the first link in the domino chain. But other times we consider ourselves to be the last in the chain. But the truth is more complicated than that because we are all part of a very long chain we did not create.

So you’re probably wondering what brought this random analogy to mind today. It all started for me when I came home from a meeting where I sat next to the pastor who commissioned me into ministry 35 years ago. And as I thought about him and his impact on me, I thought about his father, who prayed with me 10 years before that, as I returned to faith in Jesus. His father has long passed now; he is 90, and I am 66 and a great-grandfather.

The First Mistake

Everything we are and everything we do is built on a chain of choices that reach back before time. We are all standing on the shoulders and prayers of those who have gone before us. We are not the first in the chain. To illustrate, I am reminded of a testimony I heard from a missionary team returning from a closed country. They were young and excited, and for good reason, they had seen some remarkable answers to prayer on their trip.

But this is what made me smile as they reported. They completely failed to recognize the uncountable number of prayers and all the nameless people who have sacrificed for the people they reached, long before they ever had the idea to go, long before they ever prayed their first prayer. They felt they were the first in the chain, the first to go, and the first to pray, so obviously it was their prayer alone that God was answering.

This is the kind of mistake that excitement brings; it’s understandable, even heartwarming, and not very serious, unless they never learn to appreciate their place in the body. And I don’t just mean the body as it currently exists on earth, but the whole body that has been sacrificing and praying from the origin of the Church. This realization that we are just one small domino in a very long chain is both humbling and comforting at the same time. We are not alone; we are covered by the combined prayers of the church from the beginning, and we are covered by the prayers of Jesus before the Church, as we know it, was founded.

The Second Mistake

So we are not the first in the chain, but we are not the last either. I think every generation of Christians from the first until now has thought they were the last generation before the return of Christ. In my lifetime I have seen many false claims that Jesus is coming back. The funny thing about this misconception is that it is almost but not quite the right frame of mind. We should all be living as if Jesus might return at any moment; the mistake is trying to pin that down to a day or a year.

The most serious danger with living as if there is no tomorrow is this: if Jesus does not actually return today, you risk breaking the chain for the next generation. We need to hope Jesus returns today and live like he won’t return for a thousand years. There is an apocryphal story about Luther that became a trope for preachers in the middle of the 20th century, but it’s a good story regardless of whether it’s an exact quote of Luther. The story is about someone who supposedly asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew Jesus was coming today. And according to the story, he said, “I’d plant a tree.”

The idea with this story is that our hope for the return of Jesus should always motivate us. But it should not motivate us to give up our calling and sit around waiting for Jesus; it should motivate us to work all the more until he arrives because time is precious. (At least for us mortals ;) The fact that we don’t know how much time we have should motivate us not to waste it.

A Better Perspective

In Hebrews 12 we have this reminder of how to think about those who have gone before us, the present age, and the hope of the age to come.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 [ESV]

With this in mind, we need to live not as the first domino or the last, but as one domino in a long chain that began with God and goes on to eternity. That does not make us less important in the chain because every domino’s job is to set the next domino in motion. Our hope of the coming age should motivate us not to sit back and wait, but rather to use whatever time we have to continue on the path that Jesus has laid out before us. Because we have no idea how much time we have.

This week

This week, let’s look up and realize that the powers of this world do not have the last say, nor do they have the power of eternity behind them or before them. Let’s look up and remember that Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords now, and we are his hands and feet until the next age dawns, and then—on to eternity!

Let’s encourage each other in this hope today.

Have a great week!

There is an internet meme that goes something like,

Your boos mean nothing; I’ve seen what makes you cheer.

At the end of Paul’s description of the downfall of humanity in Romans 1, his final summary describes the tragic mess the world has become in this way:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32 [ESV]

The final mark of the world’s wickedness is not only that they practice these wicked things, but also that they give approval to those who practice them. You see, the things we approve—the things we cheer for—say a lot about us. The things we cheer for tell us where our heart is. We cheer for the things we value, celebrate, and desire.

I have taught the book of Romans many times over the years, and this last line of chapter 1 has always bothered me. This passage forces me to look at the things that make me laugh and that entertain me. Everyone puts on a good show, myself included, but what we cheer for is a window into our hearts and our deepest, darkest desires. When we laugh or cheer spontaneously, our reason is bypassed, revealing the things that we often hide in our more guarded moments.

In the unguarded moments of everyday life, I find myself laughing at things that, when I really think about them, are not funny at all. When I examine them more closely, I realize that they are the products of the very things that are destroying this world. Pride, greed, resentment, lust of all kinds, and even vengeance play around under the things we laugh at and sometimes seriously support. When I support such things, I am no longer laughing or agreeing from a safe distance; I am becoming a part of the problems I claim to hate. What I approve of is what I am and what I am becoming.

This can quickly become depressing. What are we to do with these desires that are constantly pulling us into the dumpster fire that is this present world? Recognizing our failures is always the first step. This is why the Church has historically held confession as a primary aspect of worship. But simply confessing our failures does not bring about change. If all we do is admit how bad we are every day or every week, we gain very little. We need something we do not have by nature. We need the grace of God.

David understood this a thousand years before Jesus was born. Let’s join with him in his song of prayer from psalm 51.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:6-12 [ESV]

This week, let’s examine what we really love and support. Let’s look at what makes us laugh and what makes us cry. And let’s go to God for the grace that only He can give. Grace to change our hearts. Grace to love what He loves and hate what He hates. And let’s encourage each other in ways we never have to be ashamed of. God is so good to us, and His grace is new every morning.

Have a great week—together!

After the six days of creation, God rested, or as some have said, sat down to rule.

Ever since, the seventh day has been a commemoration and a time to reflect on what God has done in creation. And it has given us a pattern to follow in the process. Six days of work followed by one day of rest to reflect and restore our spirits.

But although God’s creative work was done, the work for man was just beginning; we were told to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth; we were to subdue the earth (implying it needed subduing). This could mean that God’s good creation was good in the sense that the earth was exactly as God wanted it in preparation for us. His project was done, and we were never to forget it. But our work of filling, subduing, and caring for His creation was just beginning. And the Sabbath gave us one day a week to rest and ponder the greatness of God and the commission he gave us. A day to join with God and each other in unhurried fellowship.

Seven plus one

Likewise, Sunday is resurrection day, the first day of the new creation, the eighth day, as it were. Like David was the eighth of Jesse’s sons, foreshadowing Jesus. John, in his gospel, related seven signs that prove Jesus is the eternal Son of God. Then—he added one more, an eighth sign: the resurrection of Jesus. God’s work of creation was done in seven, and His son’s work was done in eight, beginning a new week. Jesus’ work of redemption and the restoration of our spiritual lives was done. Then, like his Father when His work was done, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God to rule. His work was finished, but once again, ours was just beginning.

We were commissioned to fill the earth with the knowledge of God. To preach the gospel and teach all nations to obey the things that Jesus taught us. And every Sunday is our time to stop and together remember what Jesus has done. A time to reflect on the commission and the anointing of the Holy Spirit he gave us when he left. On the eighth day, Jesus began a new week.

What’s next?

This begs the question, “What’s next, and what will the next age look like?” The Bible tells us that Jesus will physically return, the dead will be brought to life and judged, and all of creation will be re-created. But now, I can’t help but wonder, “What will the challenge of the next age be?” We were, it seems, created for challenge; created for doing things. We don’t yet know the nature of the world ahead and the challenges that it will bring, but I’m pretty sure we were created to do more than eternally lie around practicing our harps. There will be endless fellowship, worship, rest, and satisfaction, to be sure. But God has plans for more; everything about his creation tells us that God thinks big and is endlessly ambitious. He did not retire after creation, He did not retire after our recreation in Jesus, and He will not retire after the recreation of earth in the coming age either. And neither will we. We will finally be free from futility and empty struggle, we will have rest, and we will be free to do things that truly matter—for eternity. What things? Who knows? That is where sanctified imagination comes in.

We have a taste of that satisfaction now as we follow and obey Jesus. As we join in his work, our work takes on eternal significance even now. As believers, we are the seeds that grow into the glory of the next age. So let’s review the patterns of work and rest in the Scriptures and find encouragement for our work today.

In Genesis 1 we find our first commission.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28[ESV]

And when God had finished His work, He rested. He sat down to rule over all He had made.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:1-3[ESV]

But this was just the beginning. There was a recreation coming, as we see in this passage from Colossians.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Col 1:15-20[ESV]

And because Jesus has reconciled us to God, we have a new commission; a new purpose.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20[ESV]

But there’s more, and this passage from Revelation is what I want to leave you with today.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Rev 20:3-5[ESV]

Creation is going somewhere; by our clocks it may seem to be moving very slowly, but we also have the advantage of time past to show us that God is moving all of creation to a future that will be worth the wait. Each step of creation is punctuated by patterns of work and rest. Sunday—today—is a day set aside to enjoy what God has done in creation, in our recreation in Christ, and in the ultimate recreation of this earth and the final restoration of our relationship with God.

Take the time today to enjoy this day, this new week, this new life, this new age, brought to us through Jesus, while remembering rest is not retirement. God is still working in us through Jesus and His Holy Spirit to bring about a new creation by filling the earth with His good news. We work and we rest as we wait for the new heavens and earth where we all rest and work with eternal joy in the presence of God.

Have a great Sunday!

We have not arrived—and that is a good thing.

It is easy to take so many things for granted. As Christians, we’re taught that we are saved by grace through faith, and since we have faith, all is well. And we are well in Christ; we are forgiven; it’s all true! But today I want to think about what comes next, now that we have faith. Now that we believe, what has changed, and what do we seek?

Paul describes his perspective on seeking God in the following passage from Philippians 3.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Phil 3:12 [ESV]

Paul understands that he belongs to Christ, but he is not there yet. And he goes on to say that all who are mature should think this way. His words imply that only the immature would be so naive as to think they have somehow arrived. It’s a blessing to know how much we all still lack. It motivates us to press on, or as Paul puts it, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” The prize is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Our lack makes us hungry for something more, something better.

We can never “attain” God any more than we can catch the entire ocean in a thimble. But the analogy of a thimble isn’t quite right for this topic. It’s true we can never completely comprehend all that God is and has for us, but unlike the thimble, our capacity can grow. This is what Paul was seeking; he knew he wasn’t there yet, but he also knew his capacity was growing along with his knowledge of God. He knew there was so much more.

So what should we do now that we believe?

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:7-11 [ESV]

We need to guard against being too easily satisfied with worldly things. Worldly things give us pleasure one day and pain the next. And all of them end too soon. God is not stingy. He is not holding out on us. He is a good father who, in love, is more than willing to give us good things. But we need to use the faith we have in Him. We must seek Him with all of our hearts to find Him and all that He has for us in Jesus.

This Week

A seeking heart is like hunger. When we fill our bellies with candy, there is no real hunger for good food. This week let’s honestly ask ourselves what we are filling up on. Are we satisfying ourselves with things that, by their very nature, can’t last? Do we love Jesus? Do we want to know him as a person? Or have we filled that longing with something else, something less?

We can help each other here. The body of Christ is not dependent on pastors or church leaders. The body of Christ is dependent on each member being connected and contributing all they have to the health of the body. Let’s encourage growth in the body this week. And as we work and grow, we will get hungry, hungry for more of Jesus.

We will seek, and we will find, as we press on to the upward call of God in Jesus.

Have a great week!

Self-evaluation can be extremely difficult. When I am very honest with myself, I begin to see how often I am more concerned about what people think of me than what kind of man I truly am. The Bible tells us that life and death flow from the inside out. This is a recurring message, and it was taught long before the Gospel. Consider this passage from Proverbs, for example:

Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23 [NASB]

In Matthew, Jesus flipped this idea upside down when he described the human condition this way:

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Matthew 15:17-20 [ESV]

Jesus was expanding on the words God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 [ESV]

Reading these passages, and there are many others, it’s natural to think we are doomed, because without help we are. I know what kind of stuff slithers around in my heart of hearts. And fixing it through willpower alone has never really worked out very well. So what’s the answer? It’s definitely not slapping a fresh coat of paint over the mess.

The gospel’s answer is surprising. It tells us our hearts can’t be fixed. They need to be replaced.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 [ESV]

Jesus died for all of us. Therefore, we have all died. We are no longer who we were; we died with Jesus. Our Christian brothers and sisters are no longer who they were. In Jesus, we have all become something new through faith. We are a new creation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But we need to allow that new creation to grow and thrive; grace is resistible and easy to neglect. Paul gives the Colossian church this advice:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4[ESV]

We must fix our eyes and our hearts on the things above and the things to come. With yet another round of false prophecies about the end of the age and the return of Jesus in the air. It’s easy to get jaded and numb to the entire topic of the coming of Jesus. The devil would love to fill the world with false predictions and lies until no one wants to hear anything about Jesus returning.

Yet Jesus, and the hope of his return, is the only hope this world has. The return of Jesus should be the motivation for every Christian. Without new life and a joyful anticipation of the coming age, the Church is just a social club with no lasting purpose or hope. The future of humanity is truly hopeless apart from the grace of God.

But focusing on Jesus and his return is not the whole story, or we all end up on a hilltop wearing robes waiting for the second coming. If we continue in this passage from Colossians, we are given instructions. We are told what to do with the new life and hope we have been given in Jesus.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:5-11 [ESV]

The new must destroy the old. Forgiveness does not make our sins ok. Our new life gives us the power to say NO to sin. We are no longer slaves to sin, as Paul points out in Romans 6. This is a process that old-timey preachers and theologians called “mortification.” We must “mortify” our old desires and engage with our new lives in Christ. Sanctification is not a passive process. It is an ongoing and deliberate process that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. It’s the process of putting off our old desires and putting on the new creation that has been freely given to us in Jesus.

Christianity is not a process of “fake it to make it,” where we act holy in the hopes that someday it will soak in somehow. Christianity begins with our deepest desires. It does what our best efforts can never do. The gospel is good news. Jesus has done what we could never do. He has given us new hearts. We have been set free from our slavery to sin. Without the grace of God in Jesus, we would be hopelessly trying to lift ourselves off the ground by pulling up on our bootstraps.

One last point

By nature the world works by survival of the fittest. It is divided by race, class, and culture (and also male and female if you track this idea through Paul’s other writings on the subject). The passage we just read ends with a sharp contrast to that kind of social hierarchy. It begins with “Here there is not…” When he says “here,” where exactly is Paul talking about? The place Paul is describing is in Jesus. Our new creation does not function according to the old labels and categories. We are all new creations. What we were before faith in Jesus died with Jesus.

Since the Enlightenment, the world has tried to siphon off the benefits of Christianity but without Jesus. I think we are seeing now that this is a failed project. While we are all created in the image of God, sin has warped that image into something ugly, as we observed earlier. Only in Christ is that image of God restored, making the previous labels obsolete. We are new creations in Christ, being transformed into the image of God. In the world it is always an endless quest for power. Jesus conquered this world not by imposing his will by force but by defeating this world’s ultimate weapon, death. He conquered death, and when we join with him, we join with his death and—his resurrection.

Jesus changes the inside; this world wants to control the outside.

This week, let’s take stock of ourselves. Not to condemn but to recognize where our dead nature is still trying to control us and—by God’s grace and faith in the power of Jesus—put it to death. Let’s allow our new creation to guide us this week, allowing the glory of new life to shine on the world around us.

Have a great week!

If you are interested in learning what the Bible actually says about the second coming of Jesus, consider picking up my common-sense reader’s guide to the book of Revelation called The Time Between.

There was a time when bracelets with WWJD on them were popular. The idea was that before anyone did anything, they should ask, What Would Jesus Do? This is still a fine question, long after the trend is gone. Today, we want to pursue that question a bit by asking, “What Did Jesus Preach?” We need to understand His message to understand Him. And we need to understand Him to understand what He would do. When we read the story of Jesus, the first thing he asks people to do is change, or repent. But we need to step back a bit further to see why this would be his first ask.

God is God.

The thing about God that does not sit well with people is that He actually is God. We exist by His grace, and we exist in His grace. He alone defines us. We may be free to do as we please, but doing as we please does not please God. Nor is it in our eternal best interest. Our eternal well-being is being with God.

God does not ask us to change because it is a desirable option or because he is insecure or needy. He is telling us to change because he loves us and does not want to see us suffer. God desires that everyone repent and return to fellowship with Him. Plus, He is God, so He is the boss of everything. So, there’s that.

Let’s start with a passage from 2 Peter.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 2 Peter 3:9-10 [ESV]

The Message of Jesus

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, he went out preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” If you search the New Testament for the concept of repentance, you will soon see that repentance was the core of Jesus’ teaching. When he sent his disciples out, he gave them the same message to preach: “Repent.” And in Acts, when the church began to preach and grow, the message preached was once again, “Repent.” Whether they were preaching in Jerusalem on Pentecost or in Greece to idolatrous, philosophizing Gentiles, the message was the same: “Repent.”

Much is made of the fact that Jesus accepted everyone, saint and sinner alike. This is true, but, and this is important, no one who came to Jesus left in the same state they arrived. They were all told to repent and were left with two choices. Either they changed (repented) and began to walk the path to life, or they refused and went back home in worse shape than when they came. How were they worse off? Because now they had heard the truth and said, “No,” making their hearts even harder than before. Jesus did not turn away any, but many, maybe even most, turned away from Him.

Repent was not a word of condemnation; it was an offer of hope. For all those who wanted eternal life and freedom from their slavery to sin, the offer of repentance was a source of joy. For those who were convinced they were fine on their own, His words were little more than a curiosity. But for those who were well-situated in this life, this offer of hope through change often sounded like a threat to their livelihood.

The message of repentance left the choice up to them but made their choices unavoidably clear. It was impossible to walk both ways; you needed to choose. Jesus told the truth in love, but he didn’t back down when the truth was rejected. We must all change to walk the way of Jesus. To err is human, but to err is not ok. Not one of us is ok as is. We must all change. Paul said it this way to a group of Greek intellectuals in Acts.

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31 [ESV]

When I was younger and my boys were still boys, they would often say they were sorry just to avoid the consequences of their actions. I would sometimes tell them, “If nothing is different, nothing has changed.” That made me feel smart—until I realized how often I say exactly that to God but take no action at all to significantly change anything.

I see the condition of the world right now as a call to reflection for Christians and non-Christians alike. We can either look with scorn at “those people,” or we can use the grace that God is offering us in Jesus to effect real change in our own attitudes and actions. Remembering we can’t change others, but we can change ourselves.

This Week

This week I want to get practical. The challenge is this: read from the book of Luke through to the end of the book of Romans. Focus only on this and read it in order. It will take a bit more than 3 hours, or if you prefer to listen, it will take 5-6 hours depending on the speed. Reading this in order will re-anchor your faith in these crazy times and give you a fresh look at who Jesus is. If you have never read it, you will see Jesus as you never have—let it change you. We all waste more than 3-6 hours a week; let’s put those hours to better use this week. Let’s change.

Have a great week!

When I look out into the world today, it’s hard to understand how so many things that were never even a question in the past are now the only things people talk about. Events like mass shootings didn’t exist, and assassinations were extremely rare. Since guns have not changed and we have more laws than ever, I have to lay the blame on us. We have changed.

In the 60s and 70s, the question always seemed to be, “Who am I?” But the answer never materialized because people persistently looked inside themselves for the answer. Nevertheless, these existential questions remained, as did the insistence on finding the answer within. This obviously self-referential approach to discovering an objective answer is, of course, as self-defeating as it is self-referential. But the questions continued.

Now, the questions have changed. We are not only asking “who am I,” but “what am I?” Using nothing but our feelings as a reference, we get some strange, even bizarre, answers. Our feelings are highly variable; many things can alter them, which makes them useless as a compass. Today, we have made our feelings god; our feelings determine right and wrong. Our only goal is to be and do what we want—but without negative consequences. Sin never changes. Sin always begins with something we hold as more important than our relationship to the true God.

For a while now, I have been amazed and confused by how many people have accepted the notion that you can change the reality of biology by simply saying, “That’s not me, that’s not the way I feel.” This phenomenon was baffling to me. However, as I thought about what was under it, I realized the expressions may be new, but the motivation is ancient.

Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul made observations that could have been made this morning. Consider this:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1:18-25 [ESV]

Paul describes this downward slide in five major steps in this passage.

Step 1: Suppress the truth

They do this by refusing to recognize God's work in creation, though the evidence for many of His divine attributes is clearly visible to all who will honestly look.

Step 2: Refuse to acknowledge God

The obvious outcome of refusing to see the evidence for God in creation is refusing to acknowledge God entirely. Leaving only humanity to play the role of God.

Step 3: Follow gods of our own making

Having rejected the true God, we decide what we will devote ourselves to. As we continue to play God, our overinflated egos lie to us, making us think we can define ourselves right down to our gender, genders, or the lack thereof. We lie to ourselves, imagining that only we can define what we will and will not be and what we will devote ourselves to.

Step 4: Pursue their various lusts

Having created an imaginary world where we alone make the rules, we are now free to engage in any desire or lust that comes to mind. And since we have deluded ourselves entirely at this point into thinking we are our own final authority, and really, the only authority, we resent anyone who says otherwise.

Step 5: Worship the creature rather than the Creator

We abandon God to worship ourselves and the things we have made. God allows us to do this because love can’t be forced or coerced. We have abandoned Him to follow every whim of our overstimulated desires, and as we continue reading what Paul describes next, we find a tragic progression that leads to depravity and ultimately judgment and destruction. Why? Because we are not God. Our desires will destroy us like they have destroyed every nation and empire before us.

The lie the serpent told Adam and Eve is that by breaking free of God’s rule, they could become as gods themselves. The human heart has not changed, nor have the lies we believe.

The Way Forward

There is a way out, but we must abandon our current self-centered path, repent, and turn to Jesus. The way of Jesus is the way of God—the true God. I am not who I feel I am; I am who God says I am. I am what God says I am.

God is our creator. He does not ask us to repent and turn to Him; He requires it. And He has been doing this for thousands of years. Many nations and empires have fallen before us; we will not be an exception.

We need to begin with personal repentance. We must abandon our way to walk the way of Jesus, no matter the cost. But we also need to own the sins of our nation and culture. We can’t smuggly snort in their general direction and say, “At least I’m not like them!”

When Daniel prayed over the sins of his nation, he did not talk about “their sins” to God; he confessed “our sins” to God. For the believers in this country, or anyone reading this, the sins of our people are our sins. We need to pray for mercy and grace for ourselves and for our nation.

We do not live in a vacuum. We live in a culture, and we are responsible to be all that God made us to be in our culture, regardless of the outcome. This is why I admire Charlie Kirk. While everyone wants to talk about his politics, his politics were not nearly as important as the proclamation of his faith. He knew the risk of standing for Jesus, but continued to stand nonetheless. He was abused, slandered, and ultimately murdered, but he stood offering the hope of Jesus in places many Christians have abandoned. He remained faithful in the face of threats, slander, and hatred. Many grieved his murder, but many cheered. People have not changed. The same crowd that cheered the death of Jesus and mocked while he suffered, cheered the death of Charlie. We need to repent.

Daniel never experienced the salvation he foresaw, but he was an important part of God’s plan to bring it about. We need to follow Daniel’s example, pray for our nation, stand in the truth, and walk the way of Jesus in a broken world. The joy of Jesus is found in His presence, and we are in His presence as we follow Him into this fallen world with good news of a better kingdom. The King is coming soon.

Have a great week!

Times like these make us ask questions about the future. If you have wondered about what the Bible says about these troubled times and what the fully realized kingdom of God looks like, consider this reader’s guide to Revelation.

It was written to help people who struggle to understand these trying times find encouragement in this beautiful but often misunderstood book.

One day, in frustration, I said, “If nothing has changed, nothing has happened!” This caught in my throat the minute I said it. I knew I wasn’t just talking to my son, but God was talking to me.

That brings me to the topic I want to discuss today.

According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus began his ministry by preaching the following message:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15 [ESV]

If you have been a Christian for a while or have had any exposure to Christianity, you will be very familiar with the word “repent.” Despite this, many in the Church today forget or neglect the central role repentance and the kingdom play in the gospel. Repentance is the core of Jesus’ message. We all need to change if we wish to be part of the kingdom of God.

Repent is a word found in both the Old and New Testaments. The Hebrew word that is generally translated repent has the idea of turning around and going in the other direction, while the Greek word used in the New Testament leans a bit more toward the idea of changing your mind and attitude. When you look at these words in context, it’s clear that both kinds of change are required.

Change of Mind

Change must begin in the mind and heart, or no genuine change of direction can occur. Paul says it this way in Romans 12.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2[ESV]

We must allow our thinking to be transformed, and our minds renewed. This world and our base desires conspire every day to warp our thinking, which will inevitably warp our lives. But if you look more carefully at the entire passage, you see that simply thinking new thoughts is not enough to bring about real change.

This passage begins by telling us to give our bodies as living sacrifices, and ends with the phrase, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Change of Direction

This takes me back to the thought I began with. If nothing has changed, nothing has happened. We are drowning in information, both good and bad. It is easy to confuse hearing something inspiring with genuine change. We have learned nothing until it becomes a part of us. Knowledge is best thought of as embodied truth. Until we live the truth and it becomes a part of us, we don’t know the truth; we have only heard it.

We will know the truth, as we do the truth.

This Week

The Biblical Core Course I teach requires students to make a final application of a timeless truth they have discovered in the text they are studying. I often tell them that I would rather see them immediately do one simple thing in obedience to that truth than make some elaborate plan for the future that never happens. The purpose of the final application is to build a habit—a habit of responding physically to the truth. Because, “You will know the truth, as you do the truth.”

This week, let’s study, pray, and immediately do each small thing God leads us to do. As we develop this habit of obedience, God will change both our minds and our lives.

Have a great week!

Today, I am going back to the beginning and looking at the other path, the path that has been misleading us ever since the Garden of Eden. It’s the path that doesn’t trust God, the path of selfish desire, impatience, envy, and pride. We were all on it until we repented and put our trust in Jesus.

The other way scarcely needs explaining because we are immersed in it daily via the media and our culture. But because it is so common, it’s also easy to suffer from “home blindness,” like the spot on the carpet that has been there for so long that you stopped noticing it years ago. And while we may be able to resist the coarser sins of this world, the attitudes that drive them hit us from so many angles that we need help to keep them from seeping in and slowly turning our heads away from the path of Jesus.

This is why the book of Hebrews so frequently warns us to be aware of the danger of wandering away. It tells us to encourage each other every day. Consider this passage:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Hebrews 3:11-14[ESV]

The urgency in this passage is focused on the slow hardening of our hearts brought about by the “deceitfulness of sin.” The other road is constantly calling, constantly making us offers both large and small, tempting us to turn and look away from the path of Jesus. The best defence against this onslaught of tempting ideas is the help of our brothers and sisters in the faith. We must encourage each other in the faith daily.

Time for an analogy

There are two kinds of housekeepers.

One allows the house to fall into a terrible state and then struggles to make it livable, then kicks back and allows it to fall back into that awful state again, and the cycle repeats. The other kind of housekeeper constantly monitors the condition of things and immediately cleans or repairs each thing.

When it comes to our spiritual houses, Hebrews is adamant that we must be that second kind of housekeeper. But more than that, as individual members of the house of God, we have to care for each other to keep the house of God clean. We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters that we too often neglect. Maybe it’s the other road calling and telling us that such care is unwanted meddling. Or maybe our motives are not for their best interest or God’s, but ours, so out of a nagging guilt, we do nothing. But no matter the motivation or the lack thereof, we need to pray through the noise and get to the place where we can, with loving hearts, encourage the faith of others. In the process, our own faith will be restored as the body of Christ gains in health and strength.

If you are like me, you have spent too much time pondering and playing along the other road. And way too much time sitting back and waiting for others to change.

This Week

Let’s decide together to decisively turn from the other road of mistrusting God’s goodness, which leads to unbelief, self-will, sin, and ultimately destruction. Let’s walk together on the Way of Jesus and encourage each other every day so no one becomes hard-hearted and returns to that “other way.”

Have a great week!

But let’s reread them today and examine these blessings once again.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matt 5:3-12 [ESV]

Lately, I have been pondering the word blessed in each of these lines. It is clear from the language and grammar that Jesus is not describing a future reward, but a present state of blessedness or happiness. In other words, you are blessed or happy if you are in these states. For some of these statements, like “Blessed are the merciful” or “Blessed are the pure in heart,” it is understandable to say that you are currently in a happy or blessed state. But to say you are happy and blessed when “others revile you and persecute you” seems kind of backward.

The beatitudes end with the statement, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.”

This last statement gives us a different perspective on the suffering that sometimes follows obedience. We must learn to focus on the eternal value of things rather than on our immediate comfort if we want to know the blessing in suffering for obedience.

Paul once told the Philippians, “…I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content.”

Too often, we associate happiness, joy, and contentment with our external circumstances. We tell ourselves and others, “If only this one thing changes, then I will finally be happy.” Our entire culture is focused on comfort and pleasure, but Jesus tells us our outward circumstances are not the measure of our happiness or blessedness. We are happy and blessed through it all if we can remember that there is something beyond our current circumstances that will make whatever we are going through worthwhile.

Today, I want to focus on contentment more than happiness or blessedness. God has taken me to the woodshed many times about contentment, not because God is angry at me, but because discontentment makes me miserable in so many ways. And when I am miserable inside, I am miserable outside, which means I am miserable to others. Jesus keeps telling me about contentment, but my desire for the things I don’t have, or my frustration with the things I have and don’t want, always wants to scream louder than the truth.

The answer is not complicated, but it’s an answer I don’t always want to hear in the moment. The answer is to remember the generosity of God’s grace in Jesus. I should remember what I would be and where my life would be going if I were to experience true justice instead of the outrageous grace and mercy of God I have been offered through Jesus.

The truth is, we are blessed even on our worst days. We have life in Jesus, now and for eternity. We have been adopted into God’s family. We are forgiven and made righteous through nothing but God’s love and generosity. Beyond this, Jesus tells us in the beatitudes that we will be rewarded for our patience through any pain our obedience to him may bring us.

Some suffering is just the product of life in a fallen world, and some suffering we bring on ourselves by our discontentment. But there is a blessed suffering we take on by saying yes to Jesus. And this suffering brings an eternal reward with it.

How can we be content no matter what? By remembering who we are without God, who God is, and the price He has paid to adopt us into His family and remake us in His image. We must learn to see our short lives here through the lens of eternal life with Him. Our suffering is nothing compared to the suffering of Jesus, who willingly took on the pain and just punishment of our sins so that we may know eternal glory with Him.

This Week

The apostle Paul, who was no stranger to suffering, tells us:

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Tim 6:6-10 [ESV]

This week, let’s encourage each other to keep our eyes on Jesus and his coming kingdom, to give thanks for his love and forgiveness, and to love people the way he did by benefiting others at our expense. And let’s be content, because contentment is peace, and to know peace is to be truly blessed.

Have a great week!

The spiritual leaders of Jesus’ day once asked him which commandment was the most important,

“The most important is,

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

The second is this:

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, but he answered by quoting two commandments. This is very interesting to me. Jesus felt he could not answer the question with a single command; the most important thing is actually two things. I believe he is saying that the two loves cannot be separated. At least one of his disciples heard it that way and wrote about it decades later.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12 [ESV]

John connects our love of God with our love for others. Not that we can justify ourselves before God by loving others. But His love for us gives us His love for others. Loving others flows from His love for us. To love Him is to love others because He loves us all. The two loves are inseparable.

That takes me to the thought I want to focus on today.

Walking the way of Jesus involves a double commitment.

* We need to prioritize time with God, loving and being loved, to be infused with His love and know Him and His love for us in that sacred place.

* We need to distribute the love we have received from God to others so we may truly know love.

Knowledge is: embodied truth.

Love is: benefiting others at my expense.

Let’s get practical

So, what does this two-part walk look like? Is it two ways, or one? Jesus was never a big fan of living a double life, so we need to understand how these two commandments to love God and your neighbor are one way. Since all things ultimately originate with God, we must start there. God is our source of life; He is our source of new life. God is love and the source of love. So, to know love, we must first know God.

But how do we know love? As I mentioned above, knowledge is embodied truth. We will know the truth as we do the truth. We will know love as we love. And love begins with God. Although we have already concluded that the two paths are one way of life, in practice, we need to go to the source first.

Breathing in

Walking the Way of Jesus is much like breathing. Breathing is not inhaling or exhaling; it is both. To exhale, you must first inhale, but once you have exhaled, you have no choice but to inhale if you want to keep on living.

I would like to use this breathing metaphor to describe the practical rhythms of life we find along the path of God. Let’s begin with breathing in because without a fresh breath of air we won’t get very far.

Time with Jesus

God is the source of all life. Jesus is God in the flesh who lived, died, and rose again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To think we could do anything or be anything without Him is silly. So, let’s be a bit more specific.

The first step along the path is to stop. Unplug from our daily pressures and routines, sit with Jesus, and listen quietly without interruption. In practical terms, this means changing your schedule and your priorities.

With each decision we make, we vote on what’s important to us. If we believe there is a God, Jesus is His Son, and he really desires to live with us and bless the world through us, our priorities need to change. God is our source. God is our past, our present, and our future. This means we must begin with God every day. If that means waking up an hour earlier, then that’s what it means.

What could that look like?

First and foremost, find a time and place that is free of distractions. This is often the hardest part for me. From the moment I wake up, I am overwhelmed with distractions from inside and out. This is why aggressively scheduling time for Jesus is so important; if I don’t make that the most important thing every morning, there are a hundred things just waiting to swoop in and take over.

Next, I need a deliberate plan for reading and studying the Bible. For the word of God to have its full effect, we must read the Bible broadly, deeply, and prayerfully.

* Broadly, this means reading books we don’t normally read in order to round out our understanding of the whole word of God.

* Deeply means that we must also do the hard work of studying each of the biblical books in context and carefully, allowing the text to speak in its own voice.

* Prayerfully means that we don’t assume we know what God is going to say to us or how He is going to say it. Prayer carries us to a place where we can hear what Jesus is saying.

Breathing out

Once we have a breath of fresh air from Jesus, we are ready to breathe out. This is the second commandment Jesus spoke of earlier. Loving your neighbor as yourself. Time with Jesus will give us new eyes to see the people around us. Everything we see and hear around us wants to breed apathy, suspicion, or even contempt for those around us. But when we see ourselves in others, we begin to understand what we look like to Jesus. When we see ourselves and others through the eyes of Jesus, it will lead us to ways of showing the love of Jesus to others.

The love of Jesus is far more than just evangelism. More often than not, it is simple kindness—kindness that flows from God’s Spirit and may lead people to Jesus. But if not, it is kindness that shows them that God is love, even when that love is not returned. The love of God has always been the best argument against selfishness and hatred.

This Week

Both Jesus and John made it very clear that loving God and loving our neighbor are two sides of the same coin. They are inseparable. Jesus also said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Not only do we have Jesus to empower and guide us, but we also have each other as believers. This week, let’s lean into this second commandment. Loving each other and reaching into the world Jesus died to save. Together, we can demonstrate the love and forgiveness we have been shown to a world that so desperately needs it.

Have a great week!

As I got older and started studying music myself. I used to try to imagine what the psalms would have sounded like back when they were first played. I never did figure it out, but in the end, I didn’t care because even without the music, the words were so powerful. I say the words were powerful, rather than beautiful, because it was the power of the songs that impressed me. I knew I would never know how they originally sounded, but even stripped of their music and translated into English, the power of those words somehow survived, and that impressed me.

Since then, life has taken me to many places, but the psalms have always been with me. I have experienced so many things that only the psalms seem to understand. Pain, disappointment, confusion, and even anger all found expression in the psalms somewhere. Especially pain.

Today’s psalm comes from a place of deep, deep pain – pain that led to a healthy desperation. Let’s look at the first stanza together:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

The first four words of this psalm set the stage and the tone for the rest of the song.

Out of the depths.

This psalmist was in a deep hole and in desperation cried out to the only one who could help. God. He wanted God to hear him – to answer him. He was not crying out for justice; he was crying out for mercy. Because he knew, all too well, that he could never expect God to answer him out of justice, for he was a guilty man, if God acknowledged him at all, it would be an act of pure mercy. But although the author was desperate, he had not given up. He was desperately hopeful. He knew something about God that drew him to God, even though he knew he was a sinful man.

Let’s read the next stanza to learn what he knew that gave him the courage to ask – and the faith to hope for an answer.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared.

Whoever this psalmist was he was keenly aware of the universal problem of sin. He knew that under every problem lies the deeper problem of our sin and separation from God. But this did not lead him to despair because this songwriter knew something about God that gave him hope. He knew – God is a forgiving God. He is powerful and holy, but he is also loving and forgiving, and He is merciful to those who call upon him.

Ironically, it was the mercy of God that led him to fear God. God’s justice and power are awesome and not one of us has any hope – if not for the completely undeserved mercy of God.

The author has complete faith in the goodness and mercy of God so he determines to wait for his answer. Let’s read on:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.

The psalmist is determined to wait for God and God alone. He will wait anxiously and excitedly, like a watchman waits for the morning. If you have ever worked nights, you know this feeling. When I was younger, I was a prison guard for six and a half years, and for three of those years I worked nights. I watched, often in the dark, all night, and believe me, nothing is sweeter than seeing the sky slowly brighten in the morning. Because I knew that the long night was nearly finished. The writer of this psalm knew that feeling too, but his desire to hear from God was far deeper than the relief I found at the end of a long night shift.

The psalmist repeats this line twice, he is leaning into his longing for God, he is desperate for the light of God to dawn on him. He can hardly wait to hear God’s voice. All of his hope rests in God and His word. He knew that no matter how bad things were, they would be far, far worse without the mercy of God.

It’s also interesting to notice that the psalmist is placing his hope in God’s word. Have you ever wondered what word of God he is trusting at this time? Much of the Bible as we know it had not been written yet. This songwriter probably lived between 800 and 500 BC. Depending on the exact date of writing, it’s likely that a significant portion of the Old Testament had not yet been written or assembled, and he almost certainly did not have a personal copy of it. So, was he talking about the books of Moses? Was he referring to moments of direct revelation from God or words delivered through prophets and seers? In our age, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the word of God, especially in the Christian West. We have multiple translations of the entire Bible, and easy access to 2000 years of Christian writings from scholars and heroes of our faith to guide and inspire us. But this psalmist likely had only a fraction of the revealed word of God to hope in. But such as he had, he clung to, as both his strength and his source of hope.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

and with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel

from all his iniquities.

The psalmist’s hope in God was far bigger than the crisis that originally drove him to write this song. This last stanza speaks of his faith in God’s love, who will someday redeem us from our iniquities. For a song that begins in crisis, it is a bit odd that it does not end in the resolution of that initial problem, but instead, ends in a statement of faith in God to resolve our ultimate crisis – our sin and separation from God. Sin is the source of every crisis.

Today, we live in a world of crisis. Everywhere we look we see suffering and impending doom. Economies collapsing, war, violence on the streets, corrupt politics, broken families, technological threats of all kinds, even threats to our health, wherever we look we seem to be staring disaster in the face. To make matters worse, each of these issues are reported to us by a media that profits from hysteria, pouring gasoline on the fire of every one of these problems.

In a world like this, where do we go for help? Where do we find peace? This song shows us the way.

God is the only possible source of help because mankind is universally corrupted by sin. Humanity at its very best is limited, and everything we do is tainted by the selfishness of sin. This is not new. The psalmist knew this. He knew that he had no right to even approach a holy and righteous God. He knew that humanity stands guilty before God and has no right to ask for anything.

And yet, the psalmist also knew that God’s love for us moves Him to mercy, and so he asked God to forgive him once again. He asked God to hear him and answer him. In the Church today, we have been repeating confessions and hearing of God’s mercy for so long that we sometimes forget what a miracle God’s mercy is. The psalmist, on the other hand, knew God only through sacrifice and the temple. In his world, you could not approach God or His temple without first dealing with sin. And that meant sacrifice, and sacrifice meant the shed blood of a perfect animal.

Ancient believers were much more in touch with what it means to say that the wages of sin is death. In their worship, forgiveness of sin involved the literal death of animals. However, they knew that killing an animal would never erase or restore what their sin has destroyed. They believed that their faithful obedience to God’s word would open the gates for God’s mercy. They knew that God’s mercy was their only hope in the long run.

So let’s review the path of the psalmist through this song:

He was in pain → he took his pain to God → he confessed his sin and the sin of his people → He waited on God → he found hope for the future.

What should we take away from the psalm today?

Have you ever noticed that the best stories come from the worst days? The best stories are always told after the fact, when all the real danger is past and there is nothing left now but a good story. Take the story of Israel at the Red Sea. We all love to hear about how God opened the waters so that they could walk through, and we love to hear about how God used the same sea that they thought would be their death to save them by drowning their enemies in it. After the fact, thousands of years later, we teach our kids a version of the Song of Moses. A song that was originally composed to celebrate how they felt as they watched God destroy their enemies before their eyes. But today’s psalm is not a song of triumph after the fact. Today’s song is the kind of song you would write before the sea was split. This song is a song of faith; faith in a good God, a merciful and forgiving God, who will redeem and save.

Our lives are filled with problems, some of which we can solve, while others are entirely beyond our control. I think this is by design. We like to ask why at times like these, at least, I do. But God, I believe, purposely gives us problems that are beyond us because He wants to go through them with us. He wants us to invite Him into our lives and into our problems. He wants to show us His power, His grace, His kindness, His love, and at times, he wants to show us His pain. We often don’t think about God’s pain because we are too absorbed with our own pain. But the ultimate redemption that the psalmist was praying for came at the expense of God himself. The pain of Jesus is God’s pain. And that pain was caused by our sin and rebellion against Him. It was our refusal to trust Him and to trust in His goodness that set all of creation onto the path it is currently on. We often cry out, “Why!?” to God, but the reason is our sin. Not just our individual sin, but the collective sin of humanity. The psalmist recognized both his individual sin and the collective sin of the world. It was this recognition that caused him to both love and fear God because, unless God redeemed and forgave us, none of us could ever stand.

Today, we stand on the other side of the Red Sea, so to speak. God has redeemed us; that is a historical fact and a present reality. But it is also a future hope. This world is still deeply damaged by the sin of humanity. We all suffer because of it. But there is a hope beyond the present sin-damaged world. We have been given new life in Christ now as a down payment of the world to come. All of Creation is going to be made new one day, and all that remains of this sin-damaged world will be gone. There is a day coming when the redemption the psalmist foresaw and the redemption that began at the cross will be made complete in a new creation, a new heavens and earth. A creation untouched by the sin and rebellion that damaged this present world.

Can we, along with the psalmist, trust God for his full redemption? Can we wait for God to speak and to comfort us in our present pain? Will we encourage others to trust in the goodness of God while we wait? Psalm 130 walks us through whatever challenges we may face this week and reminds us of the hope we have for the future because of the goodness and mercy of God.

Let’s walk this path together this week!

Amen.

When I was young, there were a few years when I was just the right age to be a fishing partner with my Grandpa. I was old enough to help him and keep him company, but not old enough to be absorbed by jobs and girls—and whatever else a boy might be distracted by. Those years contain some of my best memories of childnood. I spent a lot of time with my Grandpa preparing to fish, fiddling with the boat, fishing, eating snacks, cleaning fish, and telling stories afterword. In the process, I heard a lot of his more or less unfiltered takes on life and the world.

There are a couple of his sayings that have stuck with me over the years. I hated both of them when I was a kid, maybe that is why they stuck in my mind for so long. But now that I am a greatgrandfather myself I think I understand what he was trying to say to me.

The first one of the sayings I hated was, “I got a celler full of sorry.” He would sometimes say this to me when I apologized for something that I should have known better than to do. I always thought that was a kind of mean thing to say, but now I think I know what he meant. Saying sorry does not undo evil. It is far better to refuse evil in the first place than to try to brush-off intentional bad behavior with a half-baked apology. But this is probably an article for another day.

The saying I want to lean into a bit today is this, “You don’t learn nothin’ til it costs you somethin’.” I hated this saying when I was a kid because it just seemed wrong to me. I learned things every day and it didn’t cost me anything.

Or, so I thought.

The truth is, the Bible teaches this idea in many ways and in many places. Consider this passage from 1st Peter:

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2[ESV]

Now, to be fair, I seriously doubt that my grandpa had this verse in mind when he was saying that, but the principle is the same. His point was that costly lessons were not quickly forgotten. If you read this passage from 1st Peter carefully you will see, that is Peter’s point as well.

Once you have suffered you are not likely to commit the same sin again. You will stop being lured by the lie of quick pleasure, easy money, and selfish pursuits. You will remember the pain and realize that the best path is not always the quick and easy path. The pain will remind you that following God is in the long run both the best and the most rewarding path. Pain does not last forever, but the joy of God’s presence does.

However, pain does more than reinforce our memories and alter our priorities. It teaches us to love. By experiencing pain we learn what it feels like to hurt, and what the hurting people around us need.

In 2nd Corinthians Paul explains the process of growing in love like this:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Cor 1:3-4[ESV]

God is our comfort in distress, and this is a blessing beyond all words to those who are in desperate need of comfort. But God’s comfort does more than just encourage us in our pain, it teaches us how it feels to truly hurt, and maybe more importantly, it teaches us how to comfort others in their pain.

We resist pain, we run from the very idea of pain, fortunately there is no escape. Pain teaches us in every area of life. But most importantly, pain teaches us to love, if we will allow God to touch and heal us. The healing we receive from God becomes both our model and our motivation for loving others.

This Week

This week, let’s not bury our pain but learn from it. Let’s allow God to comfort us so that we may be instruments of comfort to those around us who are hurting. We need to allow our pain to soften our hearts toward God and those around us. We need to share the comfort we have received. As we do this, our burdens will inexplicably become more bearable and our hearts will be healed as we give the comfort God has given us to others.

Have a great week!

The Pharisees tried to build a wall around the law to ensure they never broke it, and created lawyers.

Jesus said I am the way, follow me,and created disciples.

Imagine you’re a fisherman in 27AD. You’re working with your brother and your father, much like he worked with his father before him. But you’ve been hearing things about a teacher, and this one sounded different than all the rest.

One day, this teacher you’ve been hearing about walks up to you as you’re working and asks you to follow him. You’re thinking, “Does he know what he is asking? Who will provide for my family?” But still, something about this invitation pushes all those questions to the side, and you follow; it was the only way to know, the only way to see where it all led. So, despite the fear and the unanswered questions, you walk away from everything you have known. And as you go, the questions continue, but you keep going because, beyond all the questions, deep down, somehow, you know this is the path to life.

Let’s look at this story.

Why did this invitation to follow inspire him to leave everything, his way of life, the family business, and any sense of security? What compelled him to leave it all and study with this new rabbi? He had all the laws and teachings of Judaism, as well as the religious teachers at the temple and the synagogue. But did any of those rules and restrictions ever give him the urge to leave everything and follow God? They didn’t seem to.

No, the rules only defined the edges of what was considered “Godly.” They were more of a fence than a path. There were things to do and things to avoid, but there was no clear path forward and no real hope. Jesus was the path forward.

Jesus was and is different. Jesus personally leads us. And this path is going somewhere. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

In John, we read these words of Jesus:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:27-30[ESV]

Laws describe what should and should not be. The invitation of Jesus does what laws can never do: it gives us direction and an example. Jesus himself is the path and the goal. We follow him to be with him. We follow him to be more like him.

The invitation does not answer all of our questions; in many ways, it gives us more questions. But this simple invitation leads us; it is the path to life, to joy, and to purpose. It is the path of God and the path to God.

A Change of Direction

When Jesus went out to preach in Matthew, his message was, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When we follow Jesus, it is a change of direction. The fisherman Jesus called could not continue with what they were doing; they had to change their direction. They had to repent. Repentance is to change direction—the direction of our minds, desires, and actions. We now follow the king into his new kingdom. A kingdom that is not like this world’s current order, it’s one based on God’s order, where Jesus is the king.

So many Christians want to ask questions like, “Can I do this or that and still be a Christian?” This question is wrong-headed. It tells me they are looking in the wrong direction. They are, in effect, asking how far away from Jesus they can be and still avoid hell. His sheep are following him, not their own desires. His sheep ask how they can get closer to Jesus, not how far away they can get before they are lost forever.

Christianity is Directional

Once we understand that Christianity is direction and not a rulebook, many questions disappear, or at least become unimportant. The many questions become one: how do I get closer to Jesus? With our face to Jesus, our back will be to all those things that previously held us in their grip. Confusion gives way to hope. And the nagging fear that I am not doing it right, or that I am not good enough, is left behind as we obey the invitation to follow Jesus.

This Week

This week, let’s do what Paul determined to do with his life so long ago.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Philippians 3:13-16[ESV]

Let’s keep our faces toward Jesus this week as we walk through life — to life.

Have a great week!

Christianity grows like a seed from the inside, bearing fruit on the outside.

Other religions and worldviews believe that the solution can be found by changing outward behaviors, thereby gradually changing the inside.

This, in a nutshell, is what makes Christianity unique.

Both systems produce changed behavior, but the causes of that change are radically different.

This week, I would like to explore our fundamental assumptions about Christianity. What is Christianity, and what does God want to accomplish? What assumptions do we bring to our faith, and are those assumptions accurate?

First, we have to take an honest look at what’s inside our own hearts. We are not good, we are not okay, and we are not even broken—because this implies we just need some repair work. We are not fine, bent, or broken; we are wicked and spiritually dead.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Gen 8:20-21[ESV]

The story of Noah is the story of human wickedness. Wickedness that had run wild for so long that God decided to wipe the slate clean, cover the earth with water once again, and start over with a new couple. But God said this was the last time he would do this to the earth because the problem was not with the earth, it was with mankind.

Paul described this problem very clearly in Ephesians 2:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Eph 2:1-3[ESV]

Paul wrote this to Christians, and when he said “we,” he included himself in this group. Paul knew better than most what kind of evil lurks in all of our hearts. But Paul was not trying to repair himself; he knew he couldn’t. Instead, he trusted the work of God in Christ and, by faith, trusted God to recreate him so that he might bear the fruit of good works.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, felt that by doing the right things, their works of external goodness might somehow change their evil hearts. Jesus disagreed.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matt 23:25-28 [ESV]

Nobody wants to be a Pharisee; in modern language, the term Pharisee has lost its original meaning and has come to mean a self-righteous person. But what were they doing wrong? They were working hard to control their impulses, at least their uglier outward impulses. Doesn’t prolonged discipline build character? Can’t we change who we are through self-discipline and self-control? Not really, no.

We are only putting lipstick on the proverbial pig. All of our attempted repairs are applied from the outside; they do nothing to repair the cause of our problems. In fact, those things we see on the outside are not our real problem; they are the fruit of our real problem. We are spiritually dead, that is a problem only God can fix, and He has fixed it—in Jesus. We must repent of our pride and the determination to fix our own problems and cover our own sins, and allow God to do something truly new in us. To recreate us from the inside out. Our earlier passage in Ephesians goes on to state:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:4-7

We have not been repaired, we have been resurrected as new creatures, created in God’s image for a purpose. That purpose is good works. Paul concludes with:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10[ESV]

This week, let’s remember that we are not trying to work goodness in—we are trying to work goodness out. God has already given us new life in Christ. Our job is to let it out. We work because we are new creations, not to become new creations. Fish swim, birds fly, and children of God do good works. It’s who and what we are in Christ. Let’s allow what God has done in us to bear fruit this week and let those good works out everywhere we go.

Have a great week!

The noise and demands of this world grind our souls and saturate our minds until life begins to feel like an endless stream of pointless events. We crave peace and quiet, but when we try to quiet ourselves, the noise inside is as loud as the noise outside. So we find a way to ease our minds and keep going. We find ways to numb that voice inside that we know we should listen to, but are afraid of, though we rarely ask why.

But every once in a while, something happens that shatters the noise we have grown so used to and forces us into a silence we can’t ignore.

Recently, I had just such a time. My brother had died of a vicious cancer, and my wife was off visiting her cousin. And at the end of the day, as I sat in an empty house, I was forced into a silence I could feel. The loss of my brother and the emptiness of my house conspired together to force me into a place where there were no distractions to hide behind. I was alone, keenly aware of my mortality, and helpless to change anything that mattered.

As I am describing this moment to you, I just noticed that my AI-powered editing software is sitting in the corner of my screen with a frowny face, trying to describe the “tone” of my writing. But AI will never understand what I am trying to describe today because it can’t. As I sat in that silence, alone and empty, I realized something.

I am not alone. Ever.

As the silence lingered that day, those empty and depressing voices began to die down as well, and I heard another voice. This voice wasn’t really saying much; it was just there. It was the same voice I heard—but didn’t hear—in the woods 46 years ago on another night of naked silence. It is the voice that is there whenever life overwhelms my false sense of understanding and control. And it begs a question.

Why do I only seek this voice when I am pushed, helpless, exhausted, frightened, or lost?

Too often, I—and I suspect we all—live sub-Christian lives unnecessarily. God is here, He has always been here, and He always will be. So why don’t I choose silence over noise more often? Is it self-will? Is it lingering guilt? Is it fear? Whatever it is, my noisy life is drowning out the one sound that can give my life meaning. The voice of God.

This week, instead of running from silence, let’s run to silence. Let’s go voluntarily instead of kicking and screaming all the way. God is waiting for us to stop, to listen, to take a true sabbath, and find rest in Him.

Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah (Pause and let that soke in) There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Silence is not scary when you are alone with God. Make time for some silence this week. Make some time to listen.

And…Have a great week!

If you’re like me, you often feel guilty when you sit down. It’s usually not a specific feeling, but you feel like you should really be doing something else, something more. There are endless things I could be doing, so I feel like I really should be doing something. Then, we read things like this in Proverbs:

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. Prov 6:6-11[ESV]

Verses like this can give that compulsion to do something, to work harder, to get busier, another shot in the arm. (To be clear, if you are a sluggard, you need to think carefully about this passage because it is wise, though not the topic of this article.) But for those who have already filled every waking moment with work and activities, for those too busy for church, the scriptures, or even friends, the Bible has more to say than get busy.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:1-2 [ESV]

Last week, we learned to seek God’s kingdom first because God will care for you as he does the birds and the grass. This will involve work; his disciples didn’t just lie around all day. But it does not lead to the kind of compulsive busyness that keeps us running non-stop 24/7. God’s work involves rest; in fact, he mandated rest in the 10 commandments. We were to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy. That is not just a command to go to church on Sunday or to take a day off (whatever that means in today’s world). Rest in God is an act of faith, worship, and obedience.

When we fill our lives with non-stop activity of any kind, we crowd God out, leaving no margin for God, for reflection, or for enjoying the company of others. To seek God’s kingdom as our highest priority is not to work harder but to work for something other than ourselves. God is not something we try to find some time for; God is primary, and our desires, family, work, and play come second. But as we see in Psalm 127, when God builds the house (and he will use our hands to do it), we get the house, without the anxiety, and we also get to sleep.

Anxiety is often the product of idolatry. Idolatry is anything we put in God’s place. Money, position, and even our children’s happiness and education can become idols. Worse, when we chase after the idols our culture has erected, we model that for our children, teaching them that the idolatrous desires and goals of this world are, in fact, the true gods.

Idols do not love us; they give us no rest because whatever we do will never be enough, it will never satisfy us. We will run and run and never arrive. This is a tragedy because it is completely unnecessary. God’s peace is with Him, and He is ever present—if we slow down enough to see Him and listen to His words.

Jesus taught us about this in Matthew when he said:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30[ESV]

The burden of Jesus is not like the burden of our self-appointed gods. Putting Jesus first and carrying his load is not doing nothing. But there is rest in it; Jesus is not a slave driver. Sin is slavery, and idolatry is sin. To make Jesus Lord and his kingdom our primary concern is to find freedom from the slavery of our culture’s gods.

How do we break free?

Like all habits, breaking the habit of compulsive busyness begins today, this moment in fact. Tomorrow will not change unless you change today. Take some time, right now, to clear your mind of the list of things you feel urgently require your attention, and focus on God and the things He wants for you at this moment. Ask God what He wants you to accomplish today, because “His yoke is easy, and His burden is light,” and “You will find rest for your soul.”

Have a great week!

Most people, myself included, generally shrug it off with a comment like, “That’s life.” But is it really? Is that as good as it gets? Is that what we were created for? To struggle, fret, and run around in circles until we die? If that is the case, what is the difference between the way of the world and the way of Jesus?

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us this:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matt 6:31-33[ESV]

When Jesus began his ministry, his message was simple. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” Repent—as in, turn around, because the kingdom of heaven is near!

When humanity rebelled in the garden, we lost access to God and to the Tree of Life. However, God’s plan from the beginning was to restore our relationship to Him and set us free from death. This plan was gradually revealed over time and finally came to fruition in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But suffering did not disappear with the appearance of Jesus. The Kingdom of God is being progressively revealed, and we will not see it in its final form until the king returns, evil is destroyed, and we are resurrected to eternal life in a recreated world.

So what about now?

What about this life? We must remember that the world in its current state is not the ultimate goal; it’s only the beginning. When we failed in the Garden of Eden, our failure was, at its heart, a failure to trust God. Our present life has been restored in Jesus, and we no longer have to fear death. But it is a life of faith.

Our ancestors became impatient and greedy. They failed to trust the goodness of God and took matters into their own hands, plunging the world into death and darkness. Jesus has set us free from the darkness of our own hearts and teaches us to walk in faith, trusting in the goodness of God.

This is where today’s passage comes into play. Jesus wants to reset our focus and desires on God, His kingdom, and the things eternal. He is telling us that God’s kingdom and His righteousness should be our primary focus, the thing we seek above all else. And ironically, if we do that, the other things we need will be provided by God in the same way he cares for the birds and the flowers. Jesus is taking us back to a Garden of Eden lifestyle.

This may sound ridiculous, and I can hear the voices saying, “Look around! This is not Eden!” Obviously not, and Jesus of all people knew that better than anyone. But our relationship with the God of Eden has been restored thanks to the suffering of Jesus on our behalf. So, we can live an Eden lifestyle now, even in this fallen world.

What does that even look like?

I have spent the bulk of my adult life trying to understand that question. I have been reading the Sermon on the Mount since I was a kid. I have seen hippies use this phrase as an excuse to do nothing, and I have seen motivational speakers act like the passage does not even exist. I think it’s safe to say that both of these approaches miss the point. But what is the point then?

The point, as near as I can tell, is one of redeeming our desires. We desire a great many things, and we need some things too. (though not as many as we think) Jesus is telling us that our desires for things are the problem; our desire must be for God alone, first and foremost. And when we do that, the things we truly need will be provided for us, not without effort, but without worry and grinding anxiety.

In a word, Jesus is freeing us from idolatry. That’s right, idolatry. A topic that is not talked about in the church anywhere near as much as it is talked about in the Bible.

When we trust our wisdom and efforts, we become idolaters worshipping at the altar of our wandering desires. On the other hand, when we seek the kingdom and His righteousness, we, by necessity, have to give up on building our little kingdoms and pursuing our often destructive desires. When we are free from idolatrous desires, we are free from all the worry that goes with them.

Jesus is recasting the old stories of idolatry, blessings, and curses from the scriptures into a context his audience could better understand. Idolatry is not just a pagan thing; it is a human thing. Idolatry is putting anything other than God in first place. Blessing follows our faithfulness to God and God alone. Curses follow the worship of anything else, including our own efforts.

Worship is placing something above all else; idolatry is worshiping anything other than God. Let’s find peace this week by destroying all of our idols and pursuing God and God alone. Let’s seek His kingdom and not our own. Let’s pursue his righteousness rather than things this world holds so dear. And let’s bring someone along with us on this journey.

And have a great week!

There is a story of an old man and a traveler. According to ChatGPT, this is an ancient story, and some version of it can be found in many cultures around the world. I don’t remember when I first heard this story, but it has stuck with me ever since. I'd like to begin today with my version of this classic parable.

A young man was traveling in search of a new home. Late in the afternoon, after a long day’s travel, he came upon a kindly old man reading a book on a bench in the shade near a large city. As he walked past the old man, he paused, scratched his head, turned around, and said, “Excuse me.” And waving his hand in the direction of the town ahead, said, “What sort of people live in this town?” The old man looked up, smiled, and after examining the man for several moments, asked him, “What sort of people live in the town you came from?” The question surprised the traveler, but as he thought about it for a moment, he said, “Well, to be honest, they were pretty awful; that city was filled with selfish, greedy types that would as soon steal from you as help you.” Hearing that reply, sadness clouded the old man’s face as he looked down, deep in thought. After a moment, he sighed, looked up into the traveler’s eyes, and said, “I think you’ll find the people in the town ahead to be about the same, unfortunately.”

Sometime later, another traveler approached the man; their eyes met, and a smile lit up the young traveler’s face. “Good afternoon! Such a beautiful day, don’t you think? Do you live around here?” The old man nodded, smiled back, and said, “Yes, and what brings you out here today?” The traveler replied, “I am looking for work in the town ahead, and I am wondering what I can expect from the people in this town? What sort of people live here?” The old man smiled again and asked, “What kind of people lived in the town you just came from?” The traveler quickly replied, “They were wonderful, kind, and generous people. I lived there for many years. I’d still be there today if not for losing my job. I miss them already.” The old man looked up with a broad smile and said, “I think you’ll find the people in this town to be every bit as wonderful as the people you left.” With that, the traveler took heart, thanked him, and continued on his journey.

At this point, a young boy approached the old man, curious and a bit confused. He timidly asked the old man, “Excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have been listening to you this afternoon, and I’m confused. You told the first man that the city was full of terrible, selfish people, and you told the second man that the city was full of wonderful and kind people. Are you talking about the same city?”

The old man smiled and patted the boy on the head, saying, “Yes, son, I was talking about the same city.” The boy looked at him as if he were crazy. The old man chuckled at the boy’s response and explained, “Same city — it’s the men that were different.”

You may wonder what this ancient story has to do with walking the way of Jesus. The moral of the story is that our perception of people and experiences often reflects our internal attitudes more than external reality. The point I want to make today is that our attitude also warps our perception of God, and in turn, affects our response to everything we encounter.

In Matthew, Jesus tells a parable of three servants. Each of them was given a certain amount to manage. The first two profitably managed their resources, but the third one refused, and the reason he gave is telling. Let’s read this third servant’s response.

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. Matt 25:24-28 [ESV]

This may seem confusing until you compare it to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matt 7:1-2 [ESV]

The third servant did not see the master as good but rather as a stingy, demanding, and unjust master. The master responded according to the wicked servant’s attitude toward him. If you look at how he treated the two who respected and obeyed him, He was very generous and kind. However, the master responded to the third servant in exactly the same way the servant described him. The wicked servant was being measured with the same ruler he used on the master.

In the book of Hebrews, we are told that those who come to God must believe that he is a good God.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Heb 11:6 [ESV]

When faith in God's goodness breaks down, everything falls apart. If we examine humanity’s first recorded failure in the Garden of Eden closely, we see that once the serpent succeeded in getting us to question God's goodness, his work was as good as done. The serpent implied that there were good things that God just didn’t want them to have (he never said why, but left that to the imagination of Adam and Eve). Once he had them questioning the goodness of God, it was easy to lead them to outright disobedience.

Our assumptions about the character of God determine our response to God. Everything God does for us is filtered through our belief in his goodness-or the lack thereof. If we believe God is good, we will naturally trust Him and His intentions toward us. But if, deep down, we don’t believe He loves us and has our best interests in mind, we will find it almost impossible to trust Him.

Like the traveler in the story, what we see in people and in God says more about us than it does about others or God. Maybe, especially God. If we believe that the God behind everything is evil, we will see evil in everything.

God is good. He has proven it in a thousand small ways to those who are looking for it. But he has proven it in a few enormous ways that should be recognized, even if you are not inclined to look. When we rebelled and became evil and violent, and yes, I said we, not they. God could have ended the entire human project right then and there. But instead, he became one of us and subjected himself to the full fury of human evil in order to save us from ourselves. God is good. Love is benefiting others at my expense. God didn’t just command us to do this; He demonstrated that love for us in Jesus.

So this week, let’s remind ourselves and each other every day that although evil is everywhere, God is good. So I will leave you with this famous song:

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. Psalm 145:8-13 [ESV]

Let’s share this thought with everyone we meet this week, directly or indirectly.

And have a great week!

Like dark is a lack of light, and cold is a lack of heat, evil is a lack of goodness — a lack of God.

Joy, on the other hand, is a thing, and its source is a person.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 [ESV]

Happiness is a feeling we get when circumstances agree with us.

Joy is something else.

Joy carries us when happiness is a distant memory.

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:6-8[ESV]

We live in a world obsessed with pleasure, happiness, and fulfillment. But these things are both difficult to define and impossible to maintain. Joy is something else, joy is not the product of our labor or good fortune. True joy is found only in God. As the world looks to prosperity and pleasure for rest, those who know God rest in God to find joy.

Psalm 16 describes this well and ends with the following line.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 [ESV]

The pursuits of this world do not satisfy, and the hearts of those who chase after them are never content. But those who know God have a different attitude. Psalm 16 describes that perspective like this.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. Psalm 16:5-9[ESV]

Joy, Faith, and Contentment are hard to separate both in theology and in life. Contentment in God can only be achieved when you have faith in God’s goodness, faith in God’s eternal care. This faith in God’s goodness and care will produce a joy that is deeper than any worldly trouble. It is a faith that knows that no trouble can separate us from God. This faith draws us to God in times of trouble, and in God we find true joy.

This Week

This world and all of its corruption and troubles can make us feel hopeless and helpless. But in Jesus, we are neither hopeless nor helpless. Our help is in God, who gives us strength to endure and a peace beyond understanding. We can be content in His blessing and know a joy that nothing can steal from us.

This week, let’s help each other remember which things last forever and which are at best temporary. Let’s rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, knowing that neither happiness nor sorrow lasts forever, but joy does. Let’s encourage each other to rest in God’s goodness and find the lasting joy that only He can give.

Have a great week!

I have had a fascination with the Bible for my entire life. Even when I was not sure I believed in God, the Bible struck me as different than any other book I read. In my spiritual experimentation phase, I read many other religious and spiritual writings. Still, I kept coming back to the Bible because it always seemed to be different than the rest. Even at the height of my hedonistic musician phase, there was always a Bible in my apartment, and when I got bored or curious, I picked it up and fell into its pages again.

But it was at this time that I noticed something. I was reading about the past and people that I had never met. Are these simply stories, or is there a real God that does real things today? This question haunted me until one night at 2 a.m. alone in the woods, God answered that question in one moment. I can’t properly describe that experience because it was like nothing I had ever experienced, before or since. I can only describe it as an overwhelming sense of God’s presence. Time meant nothing in that place, so I had no sense of how long this experience even lasted. But it changed me and the direction of my life.

I wish I could say that after that I did a bunch of smart things and life has been a bowl of cherries ever since. Unfortunately, after this encounter, I was still me, I was still a mess, and there was a long road ahead. But after this experience, I knew something amazing was at the end of the road.

Before this, I had a storybook god. A god that interested me and that I loved to read about, but it was also a god I could close the book on and walk away from anytime I wanted to. But a storybook god is not God at all. God is inescapable; He does not go away when you stop thinking about Him or stop believing in Him.

A storybook god is easy to think about and easy to ignore. When god lives in a book, all his power and miracles live there too. The biblical world begins to feel like Tolkien’s Middle-earth: a fun place to think about, but one that does not actually exist.

My meeting in the woods that night took me on a 45-year journey into real life. It was then that I realized that God is not simply a character in a book and that this earth is more than a rock flying through space. So for 45 years now, I have been trying to understand God, to know what He is asking of me. I have studied His word, listened to lectures, and read books, trying to understand. I have studied those who have gone before me, trying to learn the true path and how to walk it.

But like Christian in the story of The Pilgrim’s Progress, danger is never far away.

The Return of the Storybook god

As I burrowed into studying and teaching, one day, I realized that the storybook god had returned—but this time, in a different form. I no longer wondered if God was real, but following God had gradually become indistinguishable from knowing about God, theology, ancient culture and practice, and a hundred other things that were useful in their place, but crucially, were not God. God had once again become something that I could close the book on. I hadn’t stopped believing or trusting, but the goal of my study became preparing to teach or finish some project, rather than to spend time with God and learn his ways.

Why do we do such things? There are probably many reasons, but when I search my own heart, I can’t shake the feeling that we simply like control of our own lives. A powerful God that we read about in a story is fun to read about, and very safe because we can close the book on Him any time we want. But a powerful God in the present is frightening; a present, powerful God might do or say anything, and then, we would have to do something about it. A present, powerful God will demand things of us that a storybook god never could.

The Fear of the Lord

We are often uncomfortable with the term “the fear of the Lord.” But as I think about the storybook god phenomenon, I believe we are ultimately talking about the fear of the Lord—or, more accurately, a lack of fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord makes us all uncomfortable, as it should. So our fallen nature looks for ways to contain God, and if we can’t do that, to avoid him.

When we consciously or unconsciously turn God into a storybook god, we create a god we can manage. An interesting god who does awesome things in the stories, but who is ultimately a safe god that we can interact with as we choose.

This Week

So, what am I saying? I am absolutely not saying, stop reading your Bible. In fact, reading the Bible can be the answer to the storybook god problem, because in the Bible we see God described as he actually is. The answer is not less Bible, the answer is more God. More God at breakfast, more God at work, more God when no one is around, more God when I’m bored, more God when I’m busy.

The Bible should draw us into the presence of God by helping us to understand who He really is. The storybook god turns up when we want to deceive ourselves, when we want a god that great, but not someone who is going to interfere with our day. The storybook god turns up when we talk about God without listening to Him.

The storybook god is not a Bible problem, it is a heart problem.

This week as we read and study God’s word, let’s remember that God is not an historical figure. God is, and was, and will always be — God almighty, ruler of all things, including us; and that is a good thing. His power is real, and so is His love. We can’t separate the two.

This week, let’s live in the presence of the actual almighty God we find described in the pages of the Bible; and have a great week!

Easter therefore is the core celebration of the Christian faith, much more so than even Christmas. Celebrating a famous persons birth does not hold a candle to the celebration of the Son of God’s resurrection from the dead. And if Jesus did not rise from the dead, he becomes nothing more than a famous man.

Today I want to focus on the meaning of the resurrection to the believer. If you wish to explore some of the reasons to believe in the historical fact of the resurrection I have included a few YouTube videos below that I think make the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus pretty well. So if you are interested in this aspect of resurrection enjoy those videos!

Why this matters

Let’s move on to the question of, “why is the resurrection so important?”. To get a sense of how important Paul thinks the resurrection is, we have this passage from his letter to the church at Corinth.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.   (1 Corinthians 15:16-19 ESV)

...If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”   (1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV)

So we see that the resurrection of Christ is not a minor side issue, it is instead the foundation for all of Christian faith. Beyond that, the resurrection of Christ certifies that the things that Jesus said about himself are true. It can be fairly said that we don’t believe in Jesus because of the truth of the bible, we believe in the truth of the bible because Jesus has risen from the dead. In rising from the dead he verified what the bible, particularly the old testament, has said. And without the resurrection I seriously doubt the new testament would have ever been written or preserved. Jesus would have been just another wannabe Messiah or wannabe cult leader. So for this podcast we are going to accept the resurrection of Jesus as a fact, and focus on why that is so important to our lives today and everyday as we walk the path to life.

Resurrection and New Life in Christ

The death of Jesus was a sacrifice, it was in fact the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Justice after all is about balance, if $10 is stolen the thief is accountable for a $10 loss. We are however all guilty of a capital crime, rejecting the very source of all life - God.

Thankfully, God in his love and mercy found a way.

But how could God who is just overlook justice?

By paying the debt himself.

And that is what He did in Jesus.

So since the death of Jesus paid our debt for sin what did the resurrection do?

The death of Jesus gave us a clean slate, but the resurrection of Jesus gives us a new life to live. A life united with Jesus, a life in Jesus, a life that does not end in destruction but goes on to eternity. Paul describes this new life in several places. Here are a couple of examples.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.    (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ESV)

And again in Romans

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.   (Romans 6:3-4 ESV)

When we join ourselves to Christ in baptism we do much more than get wet. This is more than a ceremonial washing, or a symbol of cleansing. This is our total identification with Christ in his death and since we are now united with him in his death for sin we are also, and this is the really amazing part, united with him in his resurrection from the dead, never to die again.

But this is not a blessing that will kick in only after we physically die, Paul is saying we have already died with Jesus. This is a blessing that is given to us now that will never end. It is a new spiritual life now, with a new transformed and eternal body in the future. This new life does not belong to us, it belongs to God. We squandered our old life with rebellion and sin, our old life was beyond repair, so it had to be replaced with something new. And in Jesus, his death and resurrection, we have also been resurrected and given something truly new. Our life is now embedded in Jesus. He will never die again and neither will we. He lives for God alone - and in Him so do we.

Passion week should always be a time of reflection on the precious nature of life, and the love of God for us, even in the face of the outrage of our sin against him. It cost Jesus his life to redeem us to the father. Now we must sacrifice our old sinful life to partake in the new life provided by God through Jesus and his resurrection.

What keeps us from this blessing today?

The one thing that prevents us from embracing and enjoying this new life is our desire to try and cling to our old dead life. We need to see the love of God clearly to see why we should give up what we have now for something better in Christ. At the cross and the empty grave we see this love more clearly than at any other time. Our old life may be “ours to rule” so to speak, but it makes us the captain of a sinking ship. There is another captain whose ship cannot sink and he is reaching out his hand to us today. No we can’t be captain of that ship, but since we already sunk ours, is that a bad thing?

he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

This week let’s stop pretending that we know what we are doing, and allow the resurrected life of Jesus to flow through us to others. Let’s honor Jesus this Easter by allowing him to be our Lord, our King, our Commander, our Boss, because in reality He is our life and our only hope. This week let’s embrace our eternal life in Christ, love others as we have been loved - and leave our fallen and fading life behind.

We are in this together, let’s have a truly great week in Jesus!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.   (1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.   (Romans 6:10-11 ESV)

For further study:

Many of us have believed in Jesus for many years. Some of us were raised in the faith. But if we are honest with ourselves, it is easy to understand how we can spend years as Christians without really thinking about who we are with. Philip found himself in just such a place in this story. He was an early follower of Jesus and had stayed with him from the beginning, but at this crucial moment, it became apparent that he still didn’t fully understand who he was following all that time. Our story today comes from John 14.

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. [John 14:8-11 ESV]

Philip wanted more confirmation that Jesus was God, that he was the one they had all been hoping for. Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and still do not know me, Philip?” Jesus was implying that the evidence was plentiful; the issue was not lack of evidence but lack of faith.

People frequently complain that if there really is a God, why doesn’t he just give us proof? I would say there is plenty of evidence for God, but God has intentionally left room for doubt to see if we love Him, trust Him, or simply fear Him. In Eden, we failed to trust God, listening to our own desires and the suggestions of a snake instead. To restore what was lost in Eden, we need to choose to trust God, trust His provision, and trust His goodness. If those things were all unavoidably obvious, no trust would be required.

Getting back to Philip in our story, it seems he could not see the forest for the trees. I’m not sure what he expected from the Messiah, but it seems he wanted more, just to be sure. He wanted to see the Father, to see God, and Jesus was saying in effect, “Look at me, look at what I have been doing. Who do you think is doing that? More importantly, who do you think I am?”

Do we believe?

I think we can all relate to Philip sometimes wishing that God would show us a sign or give us a definite (and loud) answer to our questions. We want to test God, but the hard truth is that we are the ones who fail. God wants to see if we will trust Him, if we believe He is trustworthy and good. The evidence is all around us, but it is not the kind of evidence that forces us to believe; it is the kind that invites us to believe.

The Book of Revelation ends with this invitation:

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Rev 22:17 [ESV]

The water of life is freely available to all who desire it. As Christians, we know and have experienced Him, just like Philip. So this week, let’s encourage each other to walk in confidence, trusting in God’s goodness. Let’s put our faith in what we do know rather than flounder around in the many things we don’t know. Let’s accept that the evidence we have is enough and step into each day in faith—faith that Jesus is who He says and is enough for whatever comes our way.

God is in and with us, so let’s have a great week!

We were made to worship. It is in us, and it is always looking for an outlet of expression. When we worship our creator with a pure heart, everything in us springs to life like a bird suddenly released from a cage. In true worship, we find the joy of being what we were created to be, images and reflections of God to the rest of His creation. However, much like the physical world, where misdirected growth becomes cancer, misdirected worship also metastasizes into something ugly and ultimately deadly. Complaining is misdirected worship.

Complaining breeds bitterness and is a cancer to the soul.

It gradually overtakes us, it grows slowly without our notice until it defines us and finally becomes us. But we don’t have to yield to unthankfulness, we don’t have to drown in unhappiness. Complaining is singing praise to resentment, spreading misery like true worship spreads thankfulness and joy.

Trouble and pain are often listed as the cause of our complaints, which are really nothing more than a description of our unhappiness. But trouble and pain are simply the realities of living in a fallen world, not the cause of resentment, unthankfulness, and unhappiness. We often justify our complaints by dressing them up as a need to share in order to heal. Sharing pain with a trusted friend can be healing, but complaining to a friend is spreading your disease, not healing. Remember, we are made to worship, and worship is a team sport. We naturally join in with the song of the people around us.

You might be thinking at this point, “So, we should just stuff our feelings and ignore our pain, then?”

Not at all.

The Psalms are a book of worship songs, and they are full of pain and even some shockingly direct complaints to God. So why is that okay, but complaining to my friend is not? Your friend can’t heal or resolve your complaint unless your complaint is against your friend. Evil complaints spew resentment to others, a resentment that is ultimately aimed at God. It is not wrong to ask why, but it is wrong to say to God, “How dare you do that to me!” Sharing that with a friend is asking your friend to join in your resentment against God.

In Psalm 71, David complains that his enemies are slandering and hurting him in many ways. However, look at the tone of his complaint and compare it with ours.

O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. Psalm 71:12-16[ESV]

Rather than bitterness and resentment toward God for his troubles, David reaches out to God in faith. David trusts God's righteousness completely, and he shares that faith with others.

Worship is the expression of loving submission to God. It is found in a correct relationship with God and seeks that relationship to the fullest. That relationship will express itself in healthy ways, even when we are experiencing pain and disappointment.

This Week

What do we do with our pain and complaints? This week, let’s examine our hearts for any sign of resentment and entitlement. These are signs that we feel God, this world, and the people in it all owe us a level of respect and fulfillment—signs that we have put ourselves in God's place. To conquer a complaining attitude, we must look to its true source, which is not pretty. Once we have repented, we will be ready to replace our old habits with new ones. The apostle Paul has some suggestions in Philippians 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:4-8[ESV]

Have a great week!

The question is not who you were or who you hope to be, but who are you now?Life can only be lived now, not tomorrow, or yesterday.Yesterday and tomorrow are hiding places.We only live now, we only love now (or not), we only forgive now (or not).We can begin to change now, or choose not to change.The things we choose to do now become our lives tomorrow.

Now is an important moment. Let’s look at a few passages on the subject.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:12-15 [ESV]

Now is the Time to Listen

When we dwell on yesterday or tomorrow or someday we live our lives in what amounts to a delusional state. God always speaks to us now. And if we hear the voice of God now we need to respond now, tomorrow will be too late. But it gets worse, if we refuse to listen we don’t just miss an opportunity, we harden our hearts against the voice of God. A hard heart will not obey, until it becomes so hard it does not hear at all.

Today is the only day we can encourage each other to hear God.

But hearing is not just perceiving sound waves, it is responding as Paul reminds the church at Corinth.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. For he says, "I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you." Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! II Corinthians 6:2 [New English Translation (NET)]

Now is the Time to Believe

We live every moment of our lives in the now. Saying later is just another way of saying no. Our spiritual journey can not be completed now, but if we don’t take the next step of our spiritual journey now, we are no longer on a spiritual journey. Our journey is a series of steps in faith. Each moment we take a step of faith or we take a step away from the source of life. Christianity is directional. We are either walking toward Jesus or we are walking away from him. We make that choice every moment, we make that choice now.

It is tempting to argue, “I’m not a monk, I have responsibilities, I have bills to pay” so do we all. But Jesus does not let us wiggle out of our responsibility to God that easily. Consider these words from the Sermon on the Mount.

Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won't he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? So then, don't worry saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:28-34[New English Translation(NET)]

Now is the Time to Act

This is a subject that encourages and frightens me at the same time. On the one hand it is an encouragement to act, and act now. And on the other, Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow and all its pressing needs, because, Our Father knows our needs and will take care of us.

So how do I live now? I try to keep my eyes focused on where God has me now and who God has put in my path. I try to keep my ears open to His voice. I remember the past but I try not to live there. I think of the future, but I try to remember the future is the fruit of what I do now.

So, as Paul said, let’s encourage each other while it is called today. Let’s encourage each other to make the most of today. Encouraging each other to seek God’s kingdom, love people, choose to forgive, and be thankful now — today. Because tomorrow never comes.

Have a great week!

For Christians, though, such self-examination can end very well, even if we are totally wrong in our initial assumptions and our circumstances have little or nothing to do with bad choices or God’s displeasure. Why? Because we tend to run to God for answers in these scenarios, and if we ask God in sincerity we gain a better understanding of God’s character and our own.

The final result of trouble and failure, if taken to God in sincerity, is growth, growth of character, strength, and knowledge of God. As James told us so long ago:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:2-5 [ESV]

Or Paul, when he encourages the Romans with this:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 [ESV]

Success is a different story

When we succeed, we rarely ask ourselves the hard questions. Success does not force us into harsh self-examination or humility. Success is generally taken as a reward for good behavior, so we rarely question it. If we do examine ourselves, it is to find that thing we did that brought all this success about. We start to forget about God and look to our own skills and devices for the answer. We become idolaters, and our success affirms our faith in our idols. In the end, all idolatry is self-worship, whether it is a statue of something or someone we revere and put our hope in or the more direct and insidious idolatry of trusting our own strength, wisdom, and devices.

The problem is not new. God warned the Israelites about it as they were leaving the wilderness to enter the promised land. He told them that they were going to succeed and that all their success was the fruit of His kindness, but they needed to beware.

Reading from Deuteronomy, we see this warning:

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Deut 8:17-19 [ESV]

We often curse our problems and our failures, but as long as they drive us back to God, as long as they remind us of the true source of our blessings, our troubles actually help us. The real danger is success. Success flatters us and encourages us to look to ourselves and to our own efforts. Success intoxicates us and encourages us not to think at all about why we succeeded in the first place.

Are we to seek failure?

At this point, you might be wondering what I am suggesting we do. We certainly don’t seek failure, nor do we curse success. Making poor choices is certainly a very stupid course of action, as we all (hopefully) have learned by now. So what are we to do with success? The answer is pretty straightforward but easy to forget.

We handle success with thankfulness and humility. We handle it the same way we handle problems; we look to God in faith. Recognizing that while our choices have consequences, our circumstances, whether good or bad, are not the sole product of our choices. Our best efforts can fail, and tragedy can strike without warning. Comicly, at times, we can succeed through sheer ignorance as well.

God is God, and we are not. God is good even on our worst days.

The warning in success is to remember. Remember that everything we have, even if we “earned it through hard work,” is a gift from God. God gave us the health, strength, and opportunity to work. Idolatry is forgetting God and giving His credit to other things, other gods, or to our favorite false god — ourselves.

This week, let’s take the time to count all the blessings God has given us and remember — He is God, and everything we have comes from Him.

Let’s practice thankfulness together.

Have a great week!

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matt 4:17-22 [ESV]

In the context of the gospels, calling is not at all about our desires, gifts, and talents; it is about our Lord calling us to follow him—nothing more, but nothing less either. We are often unaware of how deeply our individualistic and self-centered culture affects us. The calling of Jesus has nothing to do with any special talents and effort on our part. Our call is simply a call to follow.

It is a call we must accept by faith, faith that we will have what we need for our calling because Jesus called us to do it. We will not succeed because we are talented, visionary, or great leaders. Our job is to say yes when Jesus asks us to do something.

In broad strokes, John tells us what Jesus is asking in chapter 15.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. John 15:12-17 [ESV]

As we walk with Jesus, these principles of love and obedience become clear. Jesus speaks to us as we follow if our ears are attentive to his voice. When we follow His call, our hearts are trained to view the world through His eyes. How are our hearts trained? By spending time with Him in prayer, meditating on His words, examining His actions, and imitating them.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 [ESV]

People seem to argue about Christianity more than they do it. Sometimes, I think that Reformed theology has put such a wall between works and salvation that people begin to feel that what they do is irrelevant. A quick read through the Bible will shatter that notion thoroughly, but nevertheless, on a subconscious level, we often seem to feel that as long as we think the right things, what we do is meaningless or at least forgivable. In this state, hearing the voice of Jesus is difficult, if not impossible.

This Week

Our beliefs give birth to our actions.

Over time, our actions define our beliefs much better than our words.

This week, take some time to contemplate the reality of your calling. Jesus has called you to follow Him. Put yourself in His mental space, imagine looking into His eyes as He asks you to follow Him, and check what your heart is saying to Him. If your heart says “No” or “Not now,” don’t panic; just repent and say “Yes” because Jesus is not asking you for something He is not providing.

Lean into His call and lean back on His strength.

I leave you with an encouragement from the book of Hebrews.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Heb 13:20-21 [ESV]

Have a Great week!

Academia has been a gift to the body of Christ. I am thankful every day for the gift of 2000 years of scholarly study into the scriptures and all the time and energy so many give to record these discoveries and insights for the benefit of all. Without this effort, we would not even have a Bible to study in our native language, much less all the study materials that help us understand it.

But over the centuries, I fear academia has become a magnet next to the compass of Christian thought and life. Over time, understanding can be confused with knowing. To know about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus.

Jesus saw this error in the scholars of His day, and it broke His heart.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 [ESV]

This may sound weird coming from a guy who has dedicated the last 35 years to mission work and the last 25 years to teaching the Bible, but the ultimate goal is not knowing the scriptures but knowing Jesus. We don’t study to be the smartest guy in the room, we don’t study for recognition, and we don’t study (or teach) simply to make a living. We study to know Jesus, and as teachers, we study to point others to Jesus.

But before you say, “Ya, that’s xackly why I don’t study nothin’,” we need to think a little deeper about this issue.

We can’t know Jesus in 2025 without learning about Him. And that knowledge of Jesus comes from the testimony of those who knew Him when He walked the earth. And that testimony is recorded for us in the Bible. Without the Bible, how else would we ever know he existed or what he was like? Without scripture, how would we test our thoughts, feelings, and assumptions? How will we interpret our lives? How will we know if we are living as disciples if we know nothing of what a disciple should be?

Over the last two millennia, ignorance and even anti-intellectualism have manifested themselves in many ways. At times, ignorance was foisted on the Church by the elite classes and crushing poverty, and at other times, anti-intellectualism was almost a rallying cry among certain evangelicals. No matter its cause, ignorance has never borne good fruit.

However, academia and an overinflated regard for intellectualism are not harmless either. As an old mentor of mine once said,

“You can fall into the ditch on either side of the road.”

Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is as futile as art for the sake of art, maybe worse. Because Christians rarely start out seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge, they drift into that state. This is what I meant earlier when I said that academia has become a magnet next to the compass of Christianity.

People begin by wanting to know more about Jesus, which is absolutely vital and right. But over time, they begin to focus on the information and forget why they gathered it in the first place. Slowly, gathering information becomes an end in itself—or, if not the end, the means to an end. They begin to see education as the ticket to their self-chosen paths rather than instruction for following the path of Jesus. We want answers to questions, which in itself is not wrong. Still, when our curiosities and desire to know overwhelm our desire to follow the way of Jesus, we begin to bow at foreign altars—idolatrous altars of our own making.

On Walking the Way

This view of academics came as a correction to me several years ago and led me to focus on what it means to “walk the Way.” That is why I started this newsletter and podcast. The Bible is precious beyond words to me, so much so that I have dedicated my adult life to helping people understand it as it was originally intended. But that is the rub; God’s original intention in preserving the Bible for us was not to satisfy our curiosity and certainly not to generate arguments. The Scriptures were preserved for us so that we could know him. The scriptures teach us to discern between the Holy Spirit and evil spirits. It helps us to see the difference between our own thoughts and the Spirit of God. It teaches us the difference between a strange experience and the work of God. God gave us the scriptures to lead us to Himself.

This Week

So this week, as we read the Bible, remember that its main purpose is not to educate in the normal sense of that word. It intends to lead us into a closer relationship with God and instruct us “On Walking the Way” of Jesus.

Have a Great Week!

We live in an angry world. It’s a vengeful and unforgiving world. A world where people are constantly at war, if not with bombs, guns, knives, and clubs, with commerce, and if not with commerce, with slander, defamation, and character assassination. But one thing we are all certain of — is that it is the other guy’s fault. It must be their fault. After all, we are the injured party. So, we have a right to feel this way, to act this way, and even to retaliate.

This world leaves many wounded in big and small ways, but every wound, if left untreated, is another link in a chain that enslaves us. To make matters worse, or possibly better, this slavery is self-inflicted. The treatment is simple but costly. The treatment is forgiveness. The wound lights the fire, but unforgiveness forges the chain. The chain that ultimately binds us and not our enemies. Thankfully, Jesus teaches us how to break the chains of our own unforgiveness.

The Lord’s Prayer is underrated, particularly in many modern churches where it is seldom used as a prayer. Nevertheless, in it, we are taught to pray for forgiveness in the following way:

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matt 6:12[ESV]

Many read this simple line without really pondering what we are really asking God to do. Jesus is teaching us to ask God to forgive us in the same way that we forgive those who sin against us. If you think I am reading things into this passage, consider the verses that immediately follow, where Jesus clarifies his teaching on forgiveness.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:14-15[ESV]

When we refuse to forgive, we are doubly, perhaps triply bound. We have the original offense and the damage it caused, the unrelenting bitterness and isolation that our own unforgiveness causes, and the crushing weight of the loss of God’s grace for our own sins against God. Forgiveness unlocks us from everything but the original loss, which typically we can never get back no matter what we do. Forgiveness is costly, but it is far cheaper than the alternative. Forgiveness heals, and unforgiveness multiplies the pain.

Clear Conscious — Light Heart

I have spent far too much time supposedly “stressed out” and unhappy, blaming all the wrong things instead of recognizing that all the internal noise and turmoil were really symptoms of my guilt, shame, and unforgiveness. This was a terrible situation, but in reality, it was far worse than it sounds because, as a Christian, all of it was unnecessary.

Unforgiveness is not a static problem. Like cancer, it metastasizes, mutates, and grows until it destroys us. We will never know a clear conscience until we forgive. Until we forgive, we will never know the forgiveness of God, according to Jesus.

So why don’t we all just forgive? To forgive, we have to admit our own sin and wickedness. To have a clear conscience, we need to not only recognize our sin but actively turn from it. Forgiveness and being forgiven are inescapably intertwined. This is the genius of the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Forgiving others is not dependent on their actions. It is a choice that we make to release them from their debt, and in the process, we release ourselves. Forgiveness is not cheap. In the process of forgiveness, the one forgiving agrees to cancel the debt of the one being forgiven. It costs $10 to forgive someone for stealing $10. It cost Jesus his life to pay for the deeds we have done against each other and, more importantly, against God.

This Week

This week (or better still, every day), we need to take a long, honest look at the condition of our hearts. A clear conscience brings a light heart, and a light heart brings joy, kindness, generosity, and a host of other blessings. But a clear conscience is impossible until we have dealt with our own sins and forgiven the sins of others.

Forgiveness is expensive but not as expensive as unforgiveness.

So — forgive — and Have a Great Week!

The truth begins to sound like a muffled voice lost in the crowd. It is easy to feel like the psalmist when he cried out in frustration, “I said in my alarm, ‘All men are liars!’”. We start to wonder if there is any way of hearing the truth or if the truth exists at all.

Muddling the waters and making people wonder about the truth - is, and always has been, the Devil’s game. Ever since the garden when the serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say…?” obfuscation and lies have been our daily bread, or so it seems. But is that assessment of the situation accurate? Not necessarily.

The empty tomb of Jesus defeated that old serpent. Jesus is the way; he is THE TRUTH and the life. Though the truth may not be the loudest voice in the room, it is by far the most powerful. But before we can speak it, we need to hear it. The noise inside us is often more distracting than the noise around us. But - if we can quiet our hearts to listen to the truth, we can then be a voice of truth to others. We can be peacemakers in a world at war. As Paul explains to the Corinthians:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Cor 10:3-6 [ESV]

It has often been said that “The truth is its own defense.” I think that old saying is true but incomplete, as is the case with all cliches. For the truth to stand, it must first be declared. In this passage, Paul describes his method of warfare against evil. It is not fought in the flesh. It is fought with truth. His warfare carries divine power and destroys strongholds. What are these strongholds? Arguments and “lofty opinions” raised against the knowledge of God. Paul is using the truth to shatter powerful lies aimed at preventing people from finding the knowledge of God.

The sheer number of lies and the speed with which they multiply and disperse in today’s world can sometimes make it feel like we are trying to hold back the ocean with a broom. But this is yet another lie. The truth has divine power. The truth, like God, simply is. The truth can not be destroyed; it is reality, and it will ultimately prevail.

How are we to fight the battle for truth?

Again, Paul has advice for us all. This advice comes to us from his letter to the church in Ephesus.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! Eph 4:15-20 [ESV]

We need to speak the truth, but we need to speak the truth in love. Love is - benefiting others at my expense; it is not - proving I am right no matter what. The truth both builds and destroys. It destroys the lies that enslave the ones we love and builds the body of Christ. But we face real dangers when confronting the lies of this age. So, I will leave you with a bit of encouragement from the book of Proverbs.

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Prov 26:4-5 [ESV]

As with all Hebrew poetry and especially in the wisdom literature, wisdom is found by balancing ideas. These two verses placed side by side are not a contradiction they are to be held in tension when deciding what to do. I would interpret them as: Be careful when arguing with a fool or you might become one yourself.

This week let’s be speakers of truth without forgetting the goal.

So, speak the truth in love.

Be careful out there.

Have a great week!

Stories are the core of culture. Culture is built on a collection of shared stories and experiences that come together to shape our opinions on everything, often without our conscious knowledge. Christian culture is based on Christian stories and experiences, while Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Animist, and various secular cultures all base their assumptions on a set of different stories. When people say things like, “Everyone knows that…” or “Obviously…” they are referencing common stories that they feel everyone should know and respect.

A culture war is a fight over which stories are legitimate and foundational. This is why people fight over statues and the “real meaning” of the Thanksgiving story in the U.S. On the surface, these arguments sound trivial, and by themselves, they may be. But we all know, almost instinctively, that these stories define us and our culture. This is our history; to change it is to change our culture and identity. Stories are incredibly powerful. Today, I thought it would be good to think about that power.

I am currently teaching a Biblical Core Course to a group of young missionary trainees. The Course has many goals, but one of the primary goals is to teach people how to read the Bible in literary and historical contexts. To help them with context, we read the entire Bible in story order, beginning in the Old Testament with all of its often awkward stories and events.

As I introduce the Old Testament and its various literature types, my students are always amazed at how much of it is stories and poetry. (Spoiler—stories, poetry, and songs make up the vast majority of material in the Old Testament.) But it gets interesting when I explain to them how biblical narratives in the Old Testament rarely interpret themselves. They simply tell the story, complete with all the most shocking and, at times, embarrassing details, and move on. Leaving the interpretation to the reader/hearer.

At this point, jaws often visibly drop, and someone will ask, “How are we to interpret these stories?” And sometimes, “Why doesn’t God just tell us what it all means?” I can sympathize with their questions, but these questions overlook the point. Why does God use stories, poetry, and songs to teach us?

Stories have an advantage over other teaching styles. Direct, specific statements typically have a sell-by date. By that, I mean the more specific a statement gets, the more narrowly it applies. The Bible is an ancient collection of writings. These stories carry truths far more timeless than specific statements about situations and events that no longer occur or advice that no longer directly applies to the modern world.

Stories can carry multidimensional truth. Direct statements, for the most part, are what they are. A truly inspired story has layers and layers of application and truth, and the Bible is truly inspired. A better question than “Why all these stories?” would be, “Why have these particular stories been preserved?”

We learn by example. We catch and absorb more than we study and learn. When a story becomes a part of us, it guides us and teaches us in ways we cannot always identify. But over time, the collective effect of these absorbed stories is undeniable.

So, what is the point of this little excursion into the power of stories? Well, we need to “watch what we eat,” so to speak. Our world is filled with stories, some true, some false, some dangerously false. The most dangerous ones do not necessarily come from people we think are rude or on the “wrong side” of the issue.

The most dangerous lies are the ones we accept without examination.

The ones we feel are right because “everyone says so.” The world is wrong in a great many ways. We should never accept the world’s so-called “common knowledge” uncritically. Remember Jesus’ warning in the Gospel of John.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. John 15:18-20 [ESV]

This passage is not easy, but it is an important reality check. A story is not true simply because it is commonly believed and often repeated. We need to fill our minds with the right stories, with God’s stories, even when they are difficult to understand, because stories shape our thinking, our lives, and our futures. We need to relearn to tell stories to each other because stories anchor our identities and guide our choices. I will close today with this final encouragement from Paul.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philppians 4:4-9 [ESV]

Have a great week!

Ever since I was young, the book of Proverbs has fascinated me. There was just something about it—all those short little sayings that you could read in a couple of seconds but end up thinking about for the rest of the day. Now that I am an old man, I have come to realize that the proverbs are not designed to answer questions; they are designed to cultivate wisdom.

I think this was brought home to me years ago when I was looking and laughing at the following two verses:

Prov 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Prov 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. [ESV]

Well… do you or don’t you answer a fool according to his folly?

These two verses seem to contradict each other, and they have been located right next to each other in the scriptures for thousands of years. This is no accident. This is not an error; it is the lesson. I would interpret it as something like this: sometimes, you have to engage with fools because it is the only way to help them, but in engaging with fools, we run the risk of becoming one ourselves. There is no black-and-white answer for how to respond to a fool. Wisdom is the only thing that will help us in these situations. Through the guidance of these proverbs, the Spirit of God, coupled with experience, will give us the needed wisdom.

Today, I want to look at another Proverb I have often enjoyed. One that runs a lot deeper than it would appear on the surface. This is a proverb about the wisdom of small creatures, but again, it teaches us wisdom, not zoology.

Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces. Prov 30:24—28 [ESV]

This collection of small and helpless creatures each has a trait that the wise will learn from.

Ants

Ants are not strong. Individually, they can be easily killed, but they work together to gather food when it is plentiful in the summer. They don’t gorge and starve. They don’t waste opportunities. They think about the needs of the future and take steps to prepare. I am ashamed to say these little guys are often wiser than me. They are more persistent, too, if you’ve ever watched them go after a food supply.

Ants also work together, knowing that together, they can do things they could never do separately. If you have ever watched a chain of ants doing their work, you know something amazing is happening. It may be an annoying thing to watch in your kitchen, but it’s still amazing.

Rock Badgers

The rock badgers are also small and easy prey, but they are wise. They fortify their weakness rather than arrogantly assume they can handle whatever comes their way. They live and work from a position of safety, high above the fray.

Locusts

Locusts work together without anyone forcing them to obey. They move and work together without leadership. They know that together, they are safer than they are as individuals—a volunteer army without a commander.

The Lizard

The lizard here likely describes the lowly gecko. In warmer climates you will find these little guys patroling the walls in the most unusual places. They eat bugs and don’t bother anyone, so in most of the places I have been, they are considered little household friends. They are unassuming and don’t make any noise, and as the proverb states, they are not that hard to catch. Yet you will find them in the most amazing places. The wisdom of the gecko is that it quietly goes about its work and minds its own business. It is not ambitious or self-aggrandizing, but you will find it quietly doing its job even in kings’ palaces.

This Week

Since it’s the new year, it’s always a good time to do something new. Try taking a month and reading a chapter a day in Proverbs. Or if that does not work read a shorter passage but give yourself time to meditate on the wisdom being offered. Instead of blurring your brain and numbing your soul with news and social media first thing in the morning, enjoy a few minutes of peace, taking in some ancient wisdom. (I take mine with coffee ;)

Have a great week!

Another new year has begun, and with it comes the hope of a fresh start. Over the holidays, I spent a bit of time thinking about tradition. Traditions are important. They give our lives rhythm, but more than that, traditions anchor us to history. They give us a sense of where we have been and serve as reference points from which we calculate our path to the future.

The New Year is one such tradition. It is a time to reflect on the past and make resolutions for the future. It is a time of hope and new starts. We start new diets (often out of necessity), ponder our vocations, and consider our options. It is also a good time for Christians to take stock of their faith. I fear we often assume too much when it comes to our faith. We lean on our past experiences, sacramental rituals, or even our interaction with other believers without properly assessing the fruit of the Spirit and the condition of our faith. For example, when was the last time we asked ourselves:

—Have we grown in our faith over the past year? —Do we make decisions based on faith? —Do we seek guidance for everyday living or only when we’re in trouble? —Do we follow Jesus every day, or do we generally run the show while asking Jesus to help us?—Does our life reflect the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

Confession is a spiritual practice that has been dropped in many church traditions. But I think that is a mistake. We need traditions and habits that build and transform our character. Confession, particularly corporate confession, is a tradition that builds regular times into our lives when we must stand together and honestly assess our performance as human beings and as children of God.

As we consider the year before us, let’s take the time to reflect honestly on the year we have just lived. Do we love? Do we live in such a way that we seek to benefit others at our expense? Jesus did — and we are following him. I know that comparing our lives to Jesus is a high bar to jump, and I am not saying that I have succeeded in all categories or anything like it. But the new life that Jesus has given us is real and powerful. It is far more powerful than we often give it credit.

Believing in Jesus is, at its core, believing he was successful in his mission. It is believing we are not only forgiven but also changed — and changing every day. We are being transformed into the image of God each day we follow Jesus rather than our old desires.

This year, we have been given another opportunity to walk in the grace and power of Jesus. We have the Spirit of God at work in us and through us to do the things we could and would never do on our own.

Let’s begin this year right, with thankfulness and hope. Hope that is built not on our efforts but on the grace and faithfulness of God. Let’s examine ourselves honestly but without fear, remembering Paul’s encouragement.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:3-6;9-11 [ESV]

Deb and I want to thank all of you for your faithfulness to us over the years. We stand with you as you walk into this new year.

May you all have a very blessed new year!

Now, my Dad and Mom have both passed, and I am a lot older than they were when I was young. The world seems much less magical; it seems instead to be a darker and, at times, almost sinister place. But it is exactly this kind of world that needs Jesus the most. It is this kind of world that Jesus was born into over 2000 years ago. Sometimes, as I look at all the evil in the world, I wonder what this place must look like to God, and I am overwhelmed at the thought. How can God, in His holiness, even look at this mess? The words of Isaiah take on a deeper meaning.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. Isaiah 9:2[ESV]

And then — I remember John 3:16 and I am left speechless.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17[ESV]

The deeper the darkness, the more beautiful is the light.

The light has come! It’s Christmas!

God, despite all the evil of this world, loved us. He did not love us from afar, but He became one of us in Jesus. He came to save us, He gave His life for ours, that we might spend eternity with Him. The hard work of salvation is done, it was begun on that first Christmas long ago, and finished on that blessed resurrection morning. However, though the hard work is done, the project of salvation is ongoing. We celebrate the beginning while we grow into the image of God, until that day when Jesus returns and restores not just our souls but all of creation, a new heaven and earth. On that day, there will be no more darkness, no more pain, no more evil. The king who was born to rule will finally take His throne.

Christmas is a celebration of past blessings, present grace, and future hope all rolled into one.

So, let’s not forget the magnitude of what we are celebrating this week as we are overwhelmed with events. Find a quiet moment, or better yet, create a quiet moment at some point this season to remember how unworthy we all are of such a priceless gift. Let’s rehearse it with our children and grandchildren to perpetuate more than an empty tradition. Try reading these passages out loud together.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6[ESV]

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:7-14[NET]

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. Revelation 11:15-19[ESV]

Merry Christmas! And have a great week!

When people talk about Jesus, they often regard him as a simple person with a simple purpose. And often, sometimes comically, they transform him into the person they want him to be rather than the person he is. However, as we will see today, even the early prophecies of Jesus describe a person who is anything but simple. Goodness, wisdom, power, and authority are not things that fit neatly into a corrupt and wicked world. He is a wise judge and counselor who brings justice to the poor, but he is also a conquering king. He is gentle with the weak yet unblinking in his judgment of the wicked. He was born in humility, but he was born to rule. Isaiah describes him like this:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples— of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:1-10 [ESV]

On Christmas, we are surrounded by songs and images of the baby Jesus. It is a symbol of hope and peace — and it is exactly that. But maybe not in the way we sometimes think. This child is quite literally one of a kind. This tiny baby was born to rule. He was born to judge the wicked. He was born to reconnect us to God. In fact, Jesus is God becoming one of us — to fellowship with us.

The brain-busting part about Jesus is that he is all of these things and more. The wicked will not go on forever, committing one atrocity after another. Evil people who lived long, prosperous lives and died of old age did not “get away with it.” There is a king who will judge with righteousness, and there is coming a day when everything that has been done will be brought into account. And this humble child is both the judge and eternal King. Creation itself will be brought back into order.

Our hope is not that one day we can rule our own lives and live in peace. Our hope is in a king who became one of us so that we can become one with him in his kingdom. We are now a part of God’s family again. God bought us back from our rebellion and our slavery to desire; He took the cost of our sins upon Himself. We have a future now and forgiveness for our past. Judgment is no longer a dread that looms in the distance.

Jesus has come, and with him came the grace we need to be restored, fully restored, forever restored. We have a living hope that evil will not reign forever. Justice is coming. So this week, as the symbols of Christmas surround us, let’s not forget that Christmas is much more than a pleasant memory or a happy thought. It is a memory of this baby Isaiah predicted who came to give his life to save us. But his work is not over. It is just beginning.

Advent is a time of hope for the future. We now know the name of this child that Isaiah foresaw. However, as we can see from this prophecy and many others, his work is still in progress. He is coming again to judge and to rule. And we have a lot of work to do to prepare for our coming King.

This week, share that hope with someone. Be intentional about it. Live into the coming kingdom we all hope for, and remember, Advent is not a time of looking back. It is a time of looking forward to our coming King. Let’s serve Him well this week.

Have a great week!

Christmas is a time of hope. Hope is the fuel that gives us the courage to go on. Hope provides us with the strength to fail and keep going. Without it, we wither and die. I wish that were an overstatement, but the older I get, the more convinced I am that — without hope, everything else collapses.

Today, we read from Isaiah, who saw hope for the future nearly 2800 years ago and shared it with us all.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:2-7 [ESV]

The Advent season is here again. The holidays and their pressure, possibilities, and responsibilities overwhelm us again. It’s ironic, really, that the time we set aside to celebrate hope and peace is so often stolen from us by our own busyness (business) and anxiety. But Advent is a time of hope, and we don’t have to let the pressures of this world steal that from us; we do have a choice in the matter, no matter how we feel sometimes.

Coming out of a highly political and divisive season in the U.S., it might be hard to focus on where our hope is found. Every election is the same in one way: no matter who is elected, they will be sinful and flawed. Our hope is not in human strength or excellence. It is in Jesus, who is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and — the Prince of Peace.

For Isaiah, this was a future hope. For us, it is both a memory and a future hope. A memory of a young girl who was promised a child of hope but also a child of pain. A memory of Jesus who gave his life for a world that didn’t seem to care. But it is also a memory of His resurrection from the grave in glory and his promise to return as the ultimate king of kings. In all of these, we find a foundation for hope. It is a genuine hope, not wishful thinking. His resurrection is well attested, and his prophecies of the coming judgment of Jerusalem came true in shocking detail.

His Spirit is in us, testifying to the truth, and the word of God holds steady while empires rise and fall. Hope does not come from new ideas. It comes from the ancient promises of God. Isaiah knew this all those years ago and ended this passage with, “The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.” The “Lord of Hosts” was an ancient title for God, even in Isaiah’s time. Isaiah was not hoping that a better idea or political system would come along. His faith was in the ancient but certain promises of the God who created and maintained all of creation. God himself was coming to us to be our prince of peace. The name of this prince is Jesus. And He is coming again. There is hope.

This Week

As we enter this Advent season, let’s remember why Christians long ago felt it was so important to build this season of remembrance and hope into the church calendar. Let’s re-anchor our hope in the Lord of Hosts, His only Son and coming king, Jesus. This week, let’s share that hope with someone who needs encouragement.

Have a great week!

Thanksgiving is a holiday that, like most, is faithfully observed but often underappreciated. For Christians, giving thanks is both a privilege and a discipline. It is a privilege because God, in His grace through Jesus, has forgiven us and made a way for us to know Him and fellowship with Him again. God has given us everything from our very existence to our daily bread. And thankfulness is the only proper response.

Thanksgiving is a discipline because the persistent choice to be thankful restores our souls and changes our focus and outlook. Thankfulness restores our strength, our health, and our minds. Thankfulness brings us peace, no matter the circumstance. Thankfulness reorients our thinking and helps us understand our proper place in creation.

As I was thinking about being thankful this year, I started to read the Psalms because so many of them directly or indirectly focus on giving God thanks. I finally settled on the 23rd psalm because it is very familiar, and yet, I have not heard anyone teach on it for years. So, let’s read this beautiful song again.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23 [American King James Version]

He cares for us body and soul

Shepherds lead and care for sheep. This is so basic that I usually read over the opening line without giving it a thought. However, the opening line is not just a statement of fact. It’s David’s personal declaration that he has made the Lord his shepherd. David has chosen to put his life into the hands of the Lord. As I read this psalm, I realized that all the blessings that follow this opening line depend on the fact that we have placed our lives and futures into the hands of the good shepherd — Jesus.

We must all place our lives in His hands to know His care and provision. We are sheep; we follow the shepherd, and He cares for us as we do. Every bite of food and every sip of drink is a gift from Him as he leads us on. Our strength, our work, and our rest are all blessings, the blessings of following our shepherd.

He cares for our physical needs, but more than that, He cares for our souls. Our shepherd restores us to wholeness, body and soul. The road we walk wears on us, drains our souls, and steals our joy. When our strength is gone, we can’t restore ourselves. But we have a shepherd who has walked this road before us. He will lead us and restore us again.

But this song is not a lullaby of pleasant thoughts.

The next line tells us that he leads us and protects us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. No place is so dark that our shepherd can not lead us through it, so we need not fear. It’s the comfort of knowing that He is with us that gives us courage in dark times. When we have made the Lord our shepherd, we always know exactly where we are going. We are following Him. We know that nothing can touch us when we are next to Him. His rod and staff are all the protection we need.

He not only protects us from our enemies, He prepares a feast for us in front of them. Our shepherd, Jesus, has conquered all our enemies — even death. There is a day coming when we will celebrate this victory with Jesus at the great marriage supper. A day when all of our enemies are subdued, and we are vindicated and comforted in the presence of God. Life may get very hard, but it is not hopeless. We follow the good shepherd, who will bring us home again, and that homecoming will be glorious.

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” In a sense, we are already home when we are with our shepherd. Goodness and mercy will follow us all of our days because we are with Him. And we will live in His house forever. We are not simply waiting for a better future. We know His goodness and mercy now, and His blessings stretch into eternity. We have a lot for which to be thankful.

As we give thanks this week

This week, as we consider again all the blessings of God and our unworthiness to receive even one of them. Let’s say it out loud. Let’s not only be thankful but share thankfulness with everyone we meet. Let’s spread thankfulness through our families, communities, and businesses, and in so doing, let’s help to reorient everyone’s thinking to our shepherd and toward the eternal blessing he leads us to.

Have a great week!

In all of this, where do we find hope and security? Do we enthusiastically embrace each new regime as our new hope? Or cynically say there is no hope because the world is such a terrible place? Do we put our hope in our opinions about people? Or do our opinions about people crush all hope?

Whatever we decide to do, we can be sure that we are not the first to arrive at this dilemma. Putting our faith in human strength and leadership alone is an ancient temptation. We see it expressed thousands of years ago in this ancient song, Psalm 33:

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! Psalm 33:8-12 [ESV]

This passage makes it clear that this is God’s world, and he is the true ruler and really — the only ruler. While kingdoms rise and fall, the plans of God stand forever. Those whose God is the Lord are blessed. But the last line in this passage deserves a bit of thought. “the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” When we read this in its historical context, it is obviously a reference to the nation of Israel. But the New Testament defines the people of God a bit differently. The Gospel has expanded the concept of the people of God beyond simple ethnicity. The people of God are now defined by faith. All believers are members of that chosen people of God now.

Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 2 and also with his illustration of the olive tree in Romans 11. The olive tree has wild and natural branches, but there is only one tree. And Peter makes this very clear by saying: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” By declaring this old covenant blessing over the church, he forever changes our concept of what it means to be the people of God and His priests.

So we are all a part of this chosen nation, this royal priesthood, by faith. This is the reality that gives us hope. Peter is not talking about a future status that we may one day achieve. He was speaking in the past tense. This is already what we are in Christ. Our future hope is now focused on the return of our king and all the nations being gathered into his new and eternal kingdom. Our hope is not in the current regime, whether good or bad, strong or weak; our hope is in God and his Son and our king, Jesus.

The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Psalm 33:16-22 [ESV]

This Week

Let’s encourage each other as we progress through these uncertain times that our king is king forever, and His council and judgments stand forever.

Have a great week!

There are times when we hear of people having amazing experiences with God - only to find that when we try to have such an experience, the way to God seems blocked, and the help we seek is out of our reach. This was the situation of the four men in this story. They had a friend with such profound needs that they were desperate to see Jesus, believing that if they could just get into His presence, their friend would be healed. But when they arrived, they found the way blocked. These four guys are easy to overlook in this passage, so I want to examine their role in this healing and their faith that impressed Jesus so much. The story comes from the second chapter of Mark.

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:1-5 ESV)

The Persistence of Faith

The first thing that seems clear about these four men is that they genuinely believed that Jesus not only could but would heal their friend - if they could only get their friend to Jesus. So they did the obvious thing, which was to take their friend to Jesus, but there was a problem. The way to Jesus was blocked by the masses of people surrounding Jesus. In this story, ironically, we see how people are both the means to healing and the obstacle to healing at the same time. But maybe that is another article.

However, our friends did not accept this situation and give up. Their desperation was every bit as intense as their faith. In fact, I believe that it was their faith that drove their desperation. The belief that Jesus would help them was so strong that they did not stop despite the difficulties. If you look carefully at the story, you will notice that it was the faith of the friends that Jesus was responding to. There is no mention of the paralytic’s faith. It was when Jesus saw the faith of his friends that he responded.

A Surprising Response

What is most surprising in this story is the response of Jesus. He did not immediately heal the paralyzed man, which is it seems what everyone expected. Instead, he pronounced that the man’s sins were forgiven! Did Jesus overlook the man’s greatest need? Or did He instead heal the greatest need first? One of the lessons in this story is that sin is a greater crisis than any physical infirmity. Jesus shows himself to be much more than just a healer of bodies for a time. He is a healer of souls for eternity.

Unbelief raises its ugly head

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:6-8 ESV)

The Scribes knew the scriptures and understood the law. These were not inconsequential thoughts they were having. The Scribes knew that the authority to forgive belonged to God alone, and no human could simply take this authority on for themselves. Jesus was a preacher, but that did not give him the authority to forgive sins. To make such a claim was outrageous and blasphemous.

Technically, they were not wrong, but in this case, they were not dealing with an ordinary man. They were dealing with the only Son of God. Jesus was not a “son of God” in the ordinary sense that Jews, or even we, might use the term. He was entirely unique in His relationship with God. He was with God, and He was God, according to John’s Gospel. In this story, we see that unique relationship revealed. Jesus did have the authority to forgive sins because He was God. Ironically, the Scribes were right. Only God is able to forgive sins. Jesus did not argue with them on that point. He simply demonstrated His power and authority in front of them and left it to them to consider the implications of his actions.

The Reward of Persistent Faith

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:8-12 ESV)

To this point in the story, though I am sure the four friends were gratified to see their paralyzed friend forgiven by God, they still had not received what they came for, which was healing for their friend. They had gone to extreme lengths to get him into the presence of Jesus. They demonstrated great faith in the ability of Jesus to heal their friend as they broke through the roof of a stranger to get access. Their persistence had put them into the presence of Jesus, but they still had not received the blessing they came for.

As is often the case, both in this story of Jesus and in our own experiences with God, He never seems to respond exactly the way we think He should to our persistent prayers and faith. This story demonstrates why He often responds in such unexpected ways. He has something much bigger than our particular problem in mind.

Jesus could have healed with a word as He did in many other cases, and people would have been very impressed. But instead, He announces the forgiveness of God to this man, and only he and this paralytic knew what that forgiveness was for. It is possible that the faith of the friends was praised because the paralytic had none. He may have even been bitter toward God because of his affliction; who knows? If you think about this for a minute, this is actually quite plausible since the paralytic never interacts directly with Jesus. In this passage, he never speaks to his faithful friends or to Jesus. Yet Jesus forgives him, and he finds this forgiveness - because of the faithful efforts of his friends.

This is a story of persistent faith, not faith for our own benefit, but rather, faith for the benefit of others. These friends exercised their faith by putting it into extreme action. Think about it: after this was over, someone had to fix that very hospitable man’s roof! I don’t think he was anticipating damage to his house when he let Jesus and his friends in that day. The homeowner in this story is probably another whole story. We often don’t know what we are getting into when we let Jesus into our house. It is always awesome, but very often, it is also costly.

In the end, the enacted prayers of these four friends were rewarded, and their friend who had suffered so much was healed both body and soul. He was set free from the bondage of the paralysis of his body while being set free in his spirit from the paralysis of sin. Life had truly begun anew for this man. His friends, who were willing to do whatever it took, were also changed that day. They began to understand that Jesus was not just a healer and a teacher. He was so much more. Jesus is Lord! Jesus is The Lord!

So this week, let’s not calculate the cost so much that we do not act. Let’s do whatever it takes to bring our friends to Jesus with whatever afflicts them. Let’s be the faithful friend that does not give up when it gets difficult. Let’s persist in our faith both in prayer and action until we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus, where His authority and power can truly set us free from the things that paralyze us all!

Have a great week!

Every once in a while, something completely ordinary happens that sets me back on my heels and causes me to rethink everything. A few weeks ago, I had just such a moment at church.

As I was checking my phone and reading the bulletin, waiting for the service to start, I was tapped on the shoulder by a sweet older lady who asked if I would give the cup of water she had to the lady at the end of my pew. I was happy to help, so I said, sure! I slid across the pew and handed the lady the cup of water. She looked up at me like I was her long-lost friend, and said thank you, and began to drink. Immediately, I saw her eyes brighten as she straightened up in her seat. It was the thank-you that got me started. I thought — I did nothing. It was her friend from two pews back that got her the water. So, I looked back at her friend, and she thanked me as well, and I still had done nothing! I didn’t know what to think.

Pure Kindness

I had found myself in the middle of an exchange of pure kindness, and I was humbled. How did I miss the need when I was sitting three feet from it? To be fair, I didn’t know her situation as well as the lady who thought to get water, but still. To see things like this, you need to look for them, and there I sat, in church no less, oblivious to the people around me and never giving one thought to what needs they might have or what I might do to help them.

Eyes to See

It made me wonder how many times a day I walk past opportunities to help other people without even realizing it. This simple act of kindness had a power that really surprised me. Jesus once said,

For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Mark 9:40-41 [ESV]

I’m not sure I ever thought about that passage much until that day. But another passage comes to mind that is even more sobering. It is found in Matthew 25.

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 [ESV]

This Week

Jesus often healed the blind. After this encounter, I felt like I was blind. This week, I am praying that Jesus will open my eyes to the people around me and allow me to see the need and where I can help. I pray we all slow down and look around with the eyes of Jesus to see the needs of others. May we all help each other to see and help each other to serve. It may be as simple as a drink of water, but a simple drink of water can be a powerful thing when given with the right heart.

Have a great week!

I have been trained in multiple evangelism techniques over the years, and although I am not a gifted evangelist, I try. It has become clear to me over the years that my work and gifts function better in the second wave than in the first. I am most effective when I follow evangelists and teach the new, the young, and the immature what the bible says and how to interpret it correctly. My goal is to teach them how to read it through the eyes of the author and the original audience and then apply that truth today.

Evangelism always seemed to be about convincing people to believe. However, there are times in the bible when it seems that Jesus was not really trying to convince people as much as to offer them the truth and ask them to follow. To illustrate what I am saying, let’s look at a couple of typical instances of Jesus interacting with would-be followers.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.    (Matthew 4:18-20 ESV)

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.   (Mark 10:21-22 ESV)

To Follow or Walk

In both of these stories, the similarities jump out at me more than their differences. In both cases, they had lives, jobs, and possessions. Yet, Peter and Andrew walked away from their possessions(and family), and the second young man walked away from Jesus, even though this unnamed young man was actually given better promises than Peter and Andrew.

Let’s think about this from the standpoint of Jesus first. In both cases, Jesus did not try to coerce them. He simply invited them. It seems Jesus did this a lot. Some followed him, and some did not. However, Jesus did not shape his message or his ministry based on the results of any one individual. He obeyed his Father, spoke the truth, and walked on. People either followed or walked away.

As a teacher and a missionary, I find this challenging. So many forces are constantly trying to push you in one direction or another. You have literal crying needs constantly tearing at your heart. You have people back home expecting specific “results” pulling in another direction. Then, you have your own insecurities as a human being pulling at you in yet another direction. Your ego wants its own results. Finally, you have your most basic human desires, wanting nothing more than to sit on the porch with an iced tea and play with your grandkids. In the middle of all this noise, you have Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, asking you to simply follow him.

The question is, will I follow or walk away? We all make this decision many times a day as we walk along. It’s challenging to follow Jesus, but when we walk with Jesus, we never walk alone. What’s more, as we walk with him, we learn that most of our fears are baseless. Jesus miraculously supplies the strength we fear that we lack.

So, what makes a person cling to their possessions while another walks away? Only the one being asked to follow can really answer that question. Are rich people really more attached to their possessions than poor people? I’ve never been rich, so I don’t know, but I have been poor, and I don’t remember any urge to dump what little I had.

So what is it — really— that holds us back? Is it the urge to control our own lives? That feels most likely, if I’m honest. Is it that I don’t actually trust God? Am I struggling to believe God loves me and wants what’s best for me? Or do I believe that if I need it, I will have to get it myself? That “grab it if you want it” attitude didn’t work out too well for Adam and Eve. Life, at its core, really is basic. The choice is the same as it has always been ever since Eden. Trust in God’s love or walk away and try to grab it for ourselves.

The Body of Christ and Following

My first point was personal and individual. My second point is more about our collective ministry as the body of Christ. As the body of Christ, we are the physical manifestation of Jesus on the earth today.

What is our message and our method? Is it the method of Jesus? It should be if we are his body. Do we demonstrate the truth and invite people to join us? Or do we threaten and coerce with fear and reward? Do we look for ways to demonstrate the love of God, or do we look for ways to demonstrate our political power? Do we point to Jesus as the answer, or do we point to the government as the answer? God’s power or human desire and effort? Put in these extreme terms, these questions may not even seem fair. But is this extreme, or is it fairly accurate? I think about this a lot. We should all think carefully about how we handle the gifts and opportunities that God has given us.

The history of the Church is and has been deeply colored with human error. Today is no different. However, throughout history, there have always been those who simply follow Jesus, loving each other and showing the love of God to a world that does not know what love truly is and inviting others to follow along the way of Jesus.

The Body of Christ has succumbed to the temptation of using compulsion and coercion many times in the past, using slick marketing, fear, threats, or even co-opting political power to get people to comply. Sometimes well intended and sometimes not, but all of those times are black eyes for the Body of Christ as we look back. We must follow, and as the current Body of Christ, we must demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God and simply invite people to join us, just as Jesus did. Some will follow, and some will not, and we need to be OK with that. We must learn to trust God with the outcome of the truth and our love.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. To follow him is to follow in his ways. This week, we will not change the world, but we can change our world and the lives of those in our world by following Jesus when he calls. Then, as we follow, we can invite those we meet to follow along with us.

Join me this week as we prepare our hearts to drop what we are doing when Jesus calls and simply follow.

Have a great week!

Think back to a time in your life when Jesus was close, his truth was clear in your mind, and your heart was searching for more ways to love him and others. Maybe it was a time of transition: a new faith, a new spouse, a new child, a new town, a new church, a new job. It was a time of seemingly endless possibility. God was close and on His throne.

Was that time nothing more than misinterpreted emotion? Skeptics would say yes, definitely, but for millennia, believers would answer and say — partly. However, God is always on His throne, and He is never far away. That is just a brute fact. It is our circumstances and our emotions that have altered our perception of this reality. Our circumstances and feelings change constantly. God does not. This brings me to today’s topic. How do we stay faithful to the end when our feelings do not always match our expectations? How do we finish well?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:1-2 [ESV]

Witnesses?

Before we get started, who or what is this “cloud of witnesses?” Unsurprisingly, there are many opinions on this. Some would say that the saints that have gone on before us are watching over us and helping us. Some would say this refers to the angels. But I think the more obvious reading is to assume that this cloud of witnesses refers to all the faithful people of the past the author just finished listing in the previous chapter, people who remained faithful whether they saw their desired outcome in their lifetime — or not.

Lay aside every weight

So, using the faithfulness of those who have gone before us as an example, let’s lay aside the things that hinder our faith and growth in the Lord. So, what are those things that hold us back from fully following the Lord — wherever He may lead? What do we desire that makes us hesitant even to ask Jesus what He would have us do at this moment? Do we follow Jesus? Or do we use Jesus to achieve our own desires? These are difficult questions that only we can and must answer for ourselves. But as painful as they may be, they are important questions if we want to finish the race well.

The sin which clings so closely

Now, we come to the topic of besetting sins. The ESV translates this as the “sin which clings so closely,” whereas most other translations (I think more correctly) translate this as the sin which so easily “entangles” or “besets” us. We all know about these sins. We all have them. They are the sins that we seem particularly vulnerable to. The sins that are the hardest to leave behind. They are familiar sins we have struggled with so long we may even try to write them off as, “the way I am.” But they have to go, and by the grace of God, they can be defeated.

Running to Jesus

To finish well, we must leave all of these things behind and look to Jesus. The routine of life often dulls our sense of urgency. If things are going well, we often make the mistake of thinking we are doing well spiritually. But when we closely examine ourselves, it is obvious that superficial judgments of this sort are very misleading, either for good or bad. Our external circumstances are a very poor mirror of our spiritual health. When things are going well, our pride congratulates our efforts, and when things are going wrong, our unbelief wants to condemn us and deny God.

The only way to stay faithful to the end is to follow Jesus, who was faithful through fame, shame, betrayal, and the cross. Jesus did not judge his obedience based on how things were working out or how he felt. He walked the road of obedience wherever it led. And it ultimately led him to glory.

This Week

We can help each other this week. We can help each other see what really matters in life and encourage each other to walk the way of Jesus. We can help each other with those things that hold us back and trip us up. In Christ, we can be faithful to God, come what may. We can take heart in knowing that in Jesus, our sacrifice is not for nothing. Our reward is in Jesus, and we will reign with Him forever — if we follow Him now.

Have a great week!

People look for peace, prosperity, and meaning in this life, but such things never last in this world. The kings of this age will not bring us lasting peace. But there is a king who has and will.

 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33[ESV]

Love and war, tribulation and peace seem impossible to reconcile. But Jesus tells us that in this age — in this world, we will have both — in Him. The kingdom of God has begun but is not yet fully realized. We are in His new kingdom, so we know its peace, at least in part. Yet, the world around us is still governed by ancient evil principles. The seeds of evil produce only evil. It’s simply the nature of things. However, Jesus tells us that the kingdom is also a seed. It may be a tiny seed, but it will grow into a large plant.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:3-5[ESV]

There is a lot of darkness in this world, but darkness can not overcome the light. The love of Jesus was abused, and this world attempted to extinguish it altogether. But the darkness neither understands nor can it destroy the light. The more love is abused, the brighter it shines, by contrast.

Love is — benefiting others at my expense.

Love can be resisted and ignored, but it cannot be destroyed. It can only be glorified.

War brings both evil and love into sharp contrast. While I see a lot of evil, I am not depressed because I have seen so much love rise in the face of it. I am watching people choose to put themselves in harm’s way to love those who are suffering. Love and war are opposites, but love is stronger than war. Wars end, love never ends. Kingdoms rise and fall, but the kingdom of God endures forever.

Jesus is our light and the source of our hope.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12[ESV]

But in Matthew, Jesus talked about the light of the world in a very different way.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5:14-16[ESV]

During my visit to Ukraine, I have seen both the light of the world and the darkness of this present world. I have seen the tribulations of this age and the hope of the age to come.

This week, let’s all encourage each other with a hope that transcends politics and human government. We have a better king and kingdom than any the world could offer. Our hope is not in our strength but in the power of God’s love in Christ. And it is that same power in us that gives us the strength to press forward when it seems all hope is lost. That same power in us gives us love when the world gives us hate. This week, let’s show the world that there is a better kingdom. Let’s give of ourselves for someone else’s benefit. This week, let’s remind each other that we are the light of the world now, and the darkness will not overcome the light.

Have a great week!

There are times when the reality of my fragile, tiny, and helpless condition snaps into clear focus. This week has been one of those times for me. As we pack to go to the other side of the world, the realization of all that can go wrong at any time overwhelms me. So I pray, and as I pray, I am overwhelmed with another thought: the realization that God, the creator and source of all things, communicates with me. He knows my name and cares about me. And I realize in those moments that walking with Him poses no danger at all. My life and death are in His hands every moment.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8:1-5[ESV]

As I pray and ponder just who I am praying to, I realize that if God were to answer me in full, I would never be able to contain or understand His answer.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Rom 11:33-36[ESV]

When I think of these things, my mind goes to Psalm 139.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:1—6[ESV]

We play with our phones, drive cars, and marvel at our own brilliance. But not one of us can guarantee our next breath. We ask great questions and write thick books, but like Job, not one of us could understand the answer if God gave it to us straight. Even in Heaven, the universal response is awe and worship. We do not now, nor will we ever fully comprehend the God who is the source, the creator, and most importantly for us, the redeemer of sinful humanity. We are and will be, forever out of our depth.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Rev 6:13-14[ESV]

This Week

This week, let’s all take time every day to simply stop. Stop worrying, stop thinking about what is next, and allow the sheer majesty of God to overwhelm us. In my experience, problems of all sorts rearrange themselves or even disappear into God’s overwhelming greatness. Being out of our depth is not a problem of Christianity. It’s the most beautiful part!

Have a great week!

Today, I am going to discuss a passage that even unbelievers like to quote—or, as we will see, misquote. It is a powerful passage that tells us a lot about God’s love and our response to it. This is part of a longer passage where Jesus explains how we are to love those who can do nothing to help us, to give with no thought of repayment, and even to love our enemies. Today, I will focus on three verses from this longer teaching from Luke 6.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Luke 6:35 [ESV]

Showing kindness and generosity toward all, even our enemies, is not an outrageous and burdensome command. In this passage, we see that we are to do all of these things to reflect who God is to the world. God is generous and loving to all, even those who hate him. Jesus even forgave those who were killing him. We are to be sons of the Most High. We are to be like our Father.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:36-38 [ESV]

To understand these two verses, it is helpful to think about Biblical poetry. Read this teaching as you would Proverbs, and the parallel repetitions will help you understand what Jesus is trying to say. We have all heard people say, “Judge not!” when they really mean, “Shut up and mind your own business.” But when we take these parallelisms together, we see a different picture. The passage begins and ends with the mercy of God. God is merciful. We are to show mercy if we want to have mercy shown to us. To put it more clearly, we must reflect the mercy God has given us to others.

The two couplets, “judge and condemn” and “forgive and give,” are paired together to help us understand these two ideas. The judgment Jesus is forbidding is not discernment or discretion but rather the condemnation of others. That is not to say we should not speak to others about their sin. Remember, the main message Jesus and the disciples preached was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is a recognition that only God is the final judge, and we all stand or fall by His mercy.

We can’t take God’s mercy for ourselves and deny it to others. This brings us to the last line. “For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” There is an unmistakable justice in the system of mercy. We must forgive as we have been forgiven. We must show mercy as we have been shown mercy. We will be measured with the same ruler we use on others.

This Week

Our correction of others must always be with their best interest in mind. Not flippant condemnation intended to harm them while making ourselves feel superior. Once again, love is the answer. Love is — benefiting others at my expense. It is what God has done for us. It is what Jesus gave us on the cross. And, it is what we must give each other. To know love, we must show love. To know mercy, we must show mercy. To know forgiveness, we must forgive.

Let’s help each other with a generous attitude this week. Knowing that the more we give, the more we will be given. We are truly rich in God’s mercy. We can afford to be generous to others.

Have a great week!

The gospel is good news, but only if you first accept the bad news. For all those who live in denial, the gospel is an irritating reminder of the inner evil they are desperately trying not to think about. The gospel is about justice and mercy, and justice is about balance. You steal 10 dollars, and you pay back 10 dollars plus something for the pain you caused. Justice is not vengeance, and it is not equality. Justice is everyone getting exactly what they deserve. The guilty never cry out for justice. They cry out for mercy. We are all guilty. We need mercy. But if we all get mercy, what happens to justice? Simply saying that evil does not matter is evil. Can a just God do that?

How can a just God simply declare that evil does not matter? The answer is, of course, He can’t. But here’s the problem: God is both just and merciful, a seemingly hopeless contradiction. Justice demands payment, but those in need of mercy are broke. We can’t pay our debt because everything we are and have come from God in the first place. At best, we could only return to Him a small portion of what He has already given us. Since humanity was doomed in this scenario, God became human and paid the price for human evil. God paid the demands of justice himself so that He could offer mercy freely to all who would humble themselves and ask. And so God, through Christ, has forgiven us.

We are Forgiven! Now what?

The short answer is that we must now forgive others freely and from our hearts.

We must forgive in the same way we have been forgiven.

Consider this well-known passage in this light:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt 6:9-15 [ESV]

We have all heard that we must forgive others, but how we forgive others is talked about much less. What does it even mean to say, “I forgive you,” and how do you know if you have fully forgiven someone?

First, if we think of sin as debt, then forgiveness marks that debt as paid in full. Think for a moment about how you feel when someone has wronged you. You want payback. You want to make them pay for what they have done to you. Forgiveness is refusing payment. It is marking that debt as paid. Forgiveness sets the debtor free in the same way that Jesus paid our debt and released us.

Forgiveness does not begin with a feeling. Forgiveness is a choice and a commitment to release the offender from their obligation. When hurt or offended, our feelings often need to follow our actions rather than direct them. When Jesus was being tortured to death on the cross, his decision to forgive those who were killing him did not flow from his feelings. They were actively mocking him and murdering him at the time. Yet, he asked God to forgive them because they did not understand what they were doing. He did the right thing despite his feelings, not because of them. He cared for their eternal well-being more than he cared for his feelings at that moment. He made a conscious decision to place our good before his own.

However, there is more to forgiveness than just doing the right thing. Later in Matthew, Jesus also asks us to forgive others from our hearts. We are to forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven us. How do we do that? Good question.

Years ago, as I struggled with this, God led me to a verse that I thought was very odd and, at first glance, not very helpful. After all, the verse was about money, and I didn’t see what it had to do with love and forgiveness. This verse is found in Matt 6:19-21:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As you can see, Jesus was talking about money, but he was really talking about the way our hearts work. When I realized this, the light bulbs slowly started to flicker on. When it dawned on me that my heart followed my treasure, I realized how I could begin to feel more concern and empathy for others. I needed to invest my treasure in them. And my treasure, the thing I value most, is not my money; it is my time and energy.

Let’s Review

We must forgive because we have been forgiven. Our forgiveness should naturally flow from our gratitude to God for His mercy toward us. We must forgive even when the pain clouds our gratitude because love demands we seek the other’s benefit at our expense. This is the way God showed His love toward us, and this is how we must show our love toward others. As we give of ourselves to benefit others, even those who have hurt us, our hearts will begin to feel again. Our world will begin, over time, to grow beyond our pain. We will no longer be the center of our world, but we will live in a much larger world, a world where God is the center and the love of others is our motivation.

This Week

This week, let’s write off any remaining bad debt. When we find our thoughts frozen on old offenses, we know it’s time to get out the rubber stamp marked paid in full. Let’s set some prisoners free this week in the same way that Jesus set us free. Don’t ask yourself to forget. Ask yourself to forgive. I’m sure Jesus still remembers the cross. But I am also sure he has forgiven us. Let’s love even our enemies this week by finding ways to help them, investing our treasure into those whom Jesus died for.

Have a great week!

I have talked about the Kingdom of God often on this podcast. Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God a lot as well. But Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God in the same way he taught about most things — indirectly. He gave parables, metaphors, and similes about the Kingdom and what it’s like but never really said what it is. Let’s start with one of my favorites from the Sermon on the Mount.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matt 6:31-34 [ESV] 

In this short teaching, Jesus teaches us what the Kingdom of God is not. It is not what we eat, drink, or wear. We will receive all those things from God if we seek His Kingdom before all else.

But What is a Kingdom?

The English word gives us a clue. A Kingdom is that which is under the domain or rule of a king. So, to seek the Kingdom of God is to actively seek His rule on earth. It begins with each of us seeking to follow and obey God as King. But Kingdoms are more than land. Kings rule over people. Like a city, a kingdom is a group of people first and foremost.

The people Jesus spoke to were early first-century Jews and would have been thinking all kinds of political and national thoughts when they heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God. They believed that God, through the long-prophesied son of David, was about to fulfill those ancient prophecies and glorify Israel above all the nations of the earth. Many of those who followed Jesus believed him to be that messianic son of David. But when you look carefully at what Jesus said about the Kingdom, was restoring Israel to power really what he was describing? Or was it something else, something bigger?

While Jesus was on the earth preaching the Kingdom, he taught that he was the way, the truth, and the life. Finding faith in him was finding life itself. He sent his disciples out with the same task: to announce the Kingdom and lead people to faith in Jesus. Seeking the Kingdom has both a personal aspect and a corporate aspect. We must seek the Kingdom for ourselves, but when we find it, we must tell others. Consider the following verses:

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure Mat 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value Matt 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Light of the World Matt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

These stories teach us two important truths.

* We must seek the Kingdom and find the Kingdom no matter the cost.

* We must share what we have found so that all may see it and glorify God.

How do we “seek first the Kingdom of God?”

We do this by show and tell. Consider the following statements of Jesus.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35 [ESV]

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20 [ESV]

This Week

Rather than trying to argue people into the Kingdom this week, let’s all do our best to show them the Kingdom by loving each other and sharing the love of Jesus with those who still don’t know or believe. This week, let’s seek the righteousness of God’s Kingdom more than anything else this world might use to entice us and allow His love to overflow us to others.

Have a great week!

Recently, I have had heartbreaking conversations with people who have suffered trauma and loss in their lives. As sad as these stories were, there was something more troubling than the suffering and loss they experienced. It was their shattered faith. For various reasons, some known only to themselves, their losses had crushed their faith. Making their loss doubly tragic.

Today, I want to look briefly at the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a tiny book buried among the minor prophets that many overlook. He lived in Israel during a troubled time. The northern ten tribes of Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity by Assyria because of their idolatry. At the same time, Babylon was growing strong and threatening to take over the region. And his home in the southern kingdom of Judah had become as idolatrous, corrupt, and wicked as the northern kingdom had been.

Habakkuk was overwhelmed and cried out to God:

How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. Habakkuk 1:2-4[ESV]

God answers Habakkuk, but it’s not the answer he was looking for. God was going to deal with the wickedness that Habakkuk saw everywhere, but he was going to use a nation even more wicked than his to bring His judgment on Judah. He would use the Chaldeans, which is Babylon, the very thing Habakkuk feared. But along with this bad news, he was told that the righteous live by faith. Another day was coming when the evil of Habakkuk’s day would be overcome with goodness.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14[ESV]

Habakkuk tried to process all that God said regarding the coming judgment of his people and responded with a song of worship about God’s power, justice, and majesty. And the song ends with this remarkable statement of faith:

Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. Habakkuk 3:17-19[ESV]

What do we do when the miracle does not come?

When Christians talk about prayer, they often use language like, God did not answer my prayer, or I am still waiting on God when life is not the way they desire it. That perspective is often the right one. But sometimes, this attitude can be used to cloak denial of the possibility that God did answer, and the answer was no. Habakkuk did not like or even understand God’s response to his prayer, but the remarkable thing to me is that once he understood God’s intention, he did not fight it or deny God’s justice. He knew God’s judgments were just. He leaned into God at those moments, knowing that God would make everything right in time.

Habakkuk took the long view during those trying times, and so must we. During the darkest times in my life, through tragedy and trial, God’s presence was the most precious to me. God’s mercy carried me through even when my faith was failing. It is important to remember how short life is and how long eternity is when we are struggling with life. God’s view and our’s can’t be compared to each other, so we must trust in the goodness of God whenever life overwhelms us. Consider how Paul dealt with difficult answers to prayer:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor 12:8-10 [ESV]

This Week

This week, I will take some time to remember the goodness of God in the past and His promises to us for the future. I will deliberately thank God and the people I meet for the many blessings I take for granted every day. Like Habakkuk, I must trust God even in crisis because I know He is good.

This week, I will try to remember the phrase I have told my students so many times:

No god small enough to fit in my head is big enough to worship.

Have a great week!

This is a difficult subject and today’s passage is a difficult passage. But I think it can give us some help in navigating today’s world.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.   (1 Peter 2:15-23 ESV)

Vengeance vs Justice

The desire for revenge runs deep in the human heart, often using the notion of justice as a cover for its rage. But true justice is in the hands of God alone, according to this passage. Even Jesus, who suffered the greatest injustice in history, did not condemn his abusers but rather prayed that God would forgive them. Our job is not to bring down the so called “wrath of God” on people that offend us or treat us badly. The actual wrath of God is a fearful thing, and it is a real thing - it is not a phrase to be thrown around lightly.

As Christians, we should understand the fear of the Lord. And we should understand what the wrath of God would mean to a rebellious and sinful world. Our job is to demonstrate the grace of God — not his wrath, in the hope this kindness will lead people to repentance. Like Jesus, we are looking to bring forgiveness no matter the personal cost. And as hard as it is to hear, this may well mean suffering injustice without immediate retribution, revenge, or justice. We are to follow in the example of Jesus, not the example of this fallen world and our self-serving lower nature.

This can’t be right…

To modern ears, this passage seems to get everything wrong, to the point of being totally irrelevant in today’s world. It assumes slavery for one thing and then seems to give abusive slave owners a free pass on their outrageous behavior. And then, to top it off asks those being abused to accept this abuse like Jesus accepted the abuse he suffered on the cross. Why would God ask such a thing???

This takes us back to the counter-cultural nature of Christianity. We are to be light in a dark world, we do not repay violence with violence or hate with hate, which can only add dark to the darkness. We are to be salt to this world, something different that improves the world, not something that follows the world in a never-ending tit-for-tat exchange of violence and hate.

But to allow injustice is to empower it, right?

The assumption in this statement is that personally striking back for personal injury is just. Previously we looked at the preceding verses in this passage and saw that God established human government to reward good and punish evil. This passage talks about taking matters into our own hands and striking out against personal abuse for our own satisfaction. This is not what Jesus did. Everything Jesus did was in obedience to God and for the good of others. Therefore he willingly endured evil against his person for the greater good. We need to be willing to pay that same price if we are to truly follow Jesus. This is very, very counter-cultural and grinds against our most basic instincts.

But that makes no sense in a democracy!

This is an interesting thought for those who live under democratic governments of one kind or another. (Which, by the way, is not as common as you might think in this world.) The original readers of this letter had no voice and were truly powerless except to possibly make things worse for themselves and others. For the majority of people in the world today, this is still true, so they would more easily understand this passage than those who live in “free” societies where individuals have a voice(however limited) in their own governance.

I think doing good in a state where leaders are democratically selected does mean participation in the process, but we must never participate in the evil that often goes along with the political process. We must demonstrate what good looks like in a world that demonizes everyone but those who look, think, and talk like us. This will mean being slandered and misunderstood at times. After all - Jesus was.

But as this passage and others affirm, the best argument against evil is doing good to others. Grouping people up into “us and them” and blaming “them” for all evil is not doing good - it is the prelude to war and one of the main sources of the very injustice we all want to see abolished. Demonizing the “others” is how atrocities of all sorts have been justified throughout history.

So we’re all doormats then…

Here’s where it gets real. We are all free in Christ, so free in fact that temporal pain and suffering are trivial compared to the privileges we have as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. Would you describe Jesus as a doormat? I guess you might if you think the cross was a defeat. But the bible tells us, and history has shown us, that it was, in fact, the greatest victory against evil of all time. So the question becomes, do we believe we are free citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, or do we believe that this present world is all there is and all that will ever be?

To endure temporary hardship for eternal gain is not easy or fun, but it is logical and rational, and most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. I am not saying we go out looking for trouble, but if it finds us, as it often does, we must not simply react. Our first reaction is rarely the right one. Indignation and a self-righteous lust for revenge may feel justified in the moment, but justice is no friend to the guilty, and we are all guilty before God. None of us can ever stand righteous before God - on our own.

To stand righteous before God means to stand in faith that the suffering of Jesus fully paid the terrible price that justice demands of all of us. We were made righteous in Christ by his suffering. We did not earn this grace it was a gift from God. And now, it is a gift we must pay forward to the other thoroughly undeserving people on this earth so they, too, may have the chance to respond to this completely unwarranted grace of God. And should they respond to this grace positively and repent - true eternal good will come of our suffering, both for us and for them.

What does this look like on a Tuesday?

So what do we do when we are faced with injustice and injury? Do we fight to defend our “rights”? Is there even such a thing as a “right” to not be offended or wronged in this present age? The life of Jesus argues against the idea. Can we really expect to live in a world governed by fallen humans guided by selfish desires without being offended, injured, or mistreated? The short answer is - of course not, but responding to this reality is not always straightforward.

Peter tells us plainly in this passage that we are called to suffer at the hands of sinners, because Jesus did. This is true but for me, that fact needs a bit of explanation if I am to successfully endure injustice. As I think about all of this and the various experiences with injustice and abuse I have seen and had; there are a few things about this aspect of our calling that I find helpful.

The first thing, and the thing that helps me the most, is recognizing that the evil in my abusers and persecutors is the same evil that is in me. If you are like me, your knee-jerk reaction to this statement is something like, “Well, not exactly…” — but yes, we all wish it wasn’t true, but it is. That is the bad news. The good news is that if we can embrace this truth it helps us show grace to others because we are doing nothing more than reflecting the grace that God has shown us - to them. Now think about how great Jesus is. He was not reflecting the grace he was shown for his sin since he had none. Through his suffering, he became the original source of grace for all sinners everywhere - including us.

Next, we need to recognize that it was the kindness of God that drew us to repentance. If all we knew was his justice and wrath we all would have run away from him in fear and shame. When we show God’s undeserved grace and kindness to others we clear a path for them back to God. We offer a path of grace for them rather than a threat of judgment. Our response of grace and kindness could help them take that all-important first step on the path to God and eternal life.

An Important Distinction

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the suffering described in this passage is suffering for doing good. We should all expect to suffer for doing evil. It is not wrong for the police and the justice system to punish wrongdoers. But Jesus did good and was treated terribly in return. We also need to consider that doing the right thing will not always be rewarded or celebrated in this fallen world. But we must never respond to this kind of injustice by returning violence for violence or hate for hate. We must follow the example of Jesus.

There is a lot to think about here, so I am not going to try to sum it all up into some cute slogan about how to deal with something as difficult and painful as injustice and abuse. But we have an example in Jesus to follow. We have His Spirit in us, we have His word, and we have the gift of His grace. So we are rich enough to give this grace to others this week. This week take some time to pray through this passage and the ones I have included below. And let’s stop focusing on the way we feel and our need for vindication and recognize there are eternal destinies hanging in the balance for everyone, every day. Let’s make it easier for those who have yet to see God’s grace find it by reflecting the unspeakable and unearned grace that we have received toward others.

Have a great week!

Our world is a fearful place at this moment in history. The world has been here before, but that doesn’t calm our fears. As we read history, wars, economic crises, and political instability are common themes. But reading about them and living through them are two very different prospects. The natural response of many as they face a crisis is to look for a savior. But ironically and sadly, many look to politics and human wisdom for help instead of our actual savior, Jesus. Jesus is our king and our savior, and our wholehearted allegiance must be to his kingdom.

Jesus taught us to pray by giving us a template we call the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer helps us to focus on living in and toward his kingdom at the same time.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil". (Matt 6:9-13 ESV)

Often, when we recite this prayer, the phrases, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” are said as if they are three distinct thoughts. This is understandable, in a way, because this prayer is often recited together, and this phrasing helps everyone stay together. But this custom has a downside: these three phrases are actually just one thought, and breaking it up can sometimes obscure the thing we are asking for.

What are we really asking for here?

I have heard this topic discussed many times, and the answer to this question generally runs in three directions.

* We are asking Jesus to return and usher in the kingdom of God in its fullest form.

* We are praying that all would repent and follow the true King Jesus.

* We are praying for this present age to be changed to conform more closely to the principles of the kingdom of God.

To me, if you take any one of those ideas as complete, you are missing something in this prayer. We are praying for the kingdom of God to come. But this is hard to imagine if the king is still absent. The full realization of the kingdom only comes with the return of our king, Jesus.

However, the second half of this petition speaks of a change on the earth. And while the final and ultimate transformation will come with the return of Jesus and the abolition of evil. We are, nevertheless, to be salt and light. We are to be agents of change. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. A tiny seed that grew into a plant, a plant large enough for birds to nest in. In Daniel, we see it described as a stone that grows to fill the earth. In these metaphors and prophecies, we see the kingdom of God starting small and growing tremendously.

So, I think all three of these ideas are correct as long as they are taken together and not separately. Without the ultimate hope of our king’s return there is little motivation to try to change the hot mess that is this present age. Without actively engaging the wickedness of this age through the gospel and taking action motivated by the love of Christ, we become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

If we did nothing but sit and wait for our king’s return, the temptation would be to check out of this life in a vain attempt to find some safe place to hide and wait out the storm. But there is much to do while we wait.

Consider this story Jesus told describing the time of waiting for his return:

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 24:44-51 ESV)

Jesus understood the tendencies of humanity very well. He knew that a failure to maintain faith in his imminent return would result in moral corrosion and, ultimately, destruction. In this passage, a vital faith in Jesus seems contingent on a vital faith in his return. This story also implies that his return will take much longer than many expect, making faith in his return all the more important to us today. But having faith also means we must continue actively serving our Master until he comes.

How do we respond to this petition today?

Given this understanding of the Kingdom of God, how do we respond to this beyond simply remembering that Jesus will return someday? This is where we really need to think through how our faith affects every area of our lives.

We say and think all kinds of things, but more often than not, we do what we truly believe. Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words. (Not always the happiest thought, I have to admit) Nevertheless, praying for the kingdom to come will have its first effect on us. It changes the relative value we place on everything we do. Much like having your house on fire, makes you reevaluate which things are really important in your house.

But this is not primarily a self-improvement prayer. It is a radical world-changing prayer. A prayer that reaches into the very core of why this world is the way it is and attacks its rebellious and thoroughly selfish heart. It is a prayer of revolution and rejection of the current world order and a focused effort to prepare the way for the coming king.

My kingdom is not of this world

When Jesus was on trial, Pontius Pilot asked him if he was a king.

Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

As we ponder how to be faithful servants of Jesus while we wait for his return, it is tempting to forget that the kingdom of God is not something that springs from this world. It is the kingdom of God. It belongs to Him, and it comes from Him. It is not the product of human effort and certainly not the product of human conflict. It is a gift that is either received with joy or rejected with contempt.

Human government will never be the source of the kingdom of God. We must never indulge in the idolatry of human effort in some vain and misguided attempt to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. The kingdom of God already has a King. The more we struggle against his rule, the worse our situation becomes. If we keep placing our faith in earthly kings in the ridiculous hope that they will force those “other people” to finally get in line. We are not honoring the prayer that asks for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We will instead be ushering in yet another human tyranny. Where there is no repentance, there is no change.

Our job is to announce the good news of the coming kingdom of God and to demonstrate this kingdom every day in our interactions with each other. This will not result in us bringing the kingdom of God into being — God already did that. But it is the fruit of the kingdom of God in us that will, in time, bear fruit in others. This is fruit worthy of the kingdom, and we will be rewarded for our labors when the King returns.

Our hope is not in the kingdoms of this world. Our hope is in the kingdom of God. The answer is not to be found in the wisdom of this world but in the wisdom of God.

Today, we pray for God’s kingdom to come, and we work as faithful servants of the King to proclaim the freedom that is found only in God’s kingdom, demonstrating that the kingdom of God is truly coming through our obedience to the King and our love for one another.

Have a great week!

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that in recent days, words have spilled over into violence in America(again). After the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump and the murder and mayhem associated with it, the words have not stopped. In some ways, they have intensified as the blame is assigned, then shifted and assigned again, breeding suspicion and more blame. And it’s not a matter of which “side” you’re on. The hatred seems almost universal on all sides. So today, I want to talk about words and the dark places in our hearts that give birth to them.

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:  it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Matt 15:10-20 ESV

What is going on here?

There were many food and cleansing laws in Israel at the time of Jesus, and the Pharisees strictly enforced them. Remaining ceremonially clean was a high priority with them. By saying this, Jesus was not trying to abolish the practice of washing your hands before you eat. He wanted to draw attention to an uncleanness that water can not remove.

To be clean in God’s eyes requires more than washing your hands and abstaining from certain foods. Jesus wanted to talk about their hearts. His blunt dismissal of the Pharisees, who could not see the difference between outward observance and inward change, is sobering. Jesus had no time for pretense.

But disciples, then and now, want to know more. So, he answered their question and explained his parable to them. This is always the way with God. Seek, and you will find. The Pharisees never heard the answer because they never asked. They never asked because they thought they already knew.

The Deeper Problem

The deeper problem with evil is that it does not come from dirty hands or improperly prepared food. Food quite literally goes in one end and out the other, as Jesus somewhat drily explains. The source of evil is much more disturbing. Evil comes from deep within all of us. It comes from our hearts.

But the darkness of our hearts does not stay in our hearts. It finds its way into the world through our words, and our words grow into evil and violence of all sorts. Jesus explained that evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander all flow from our hearts and are released through our words. Words based on this inner evil defile us.

Words are not harmless. They release all kinds of evil into this world and destroy our own lives in the process. Words grow into actions, and actions have consequences. Whether we are talking to ourselves or others, our words have power. James says it this way:

James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. [ESV]

And again:

James 3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [ESV]

We live in a connected world which in effect means we all live in a small town. Where words whispered among friends on social media can affect people on the other side of the country or the world. The words we hear are a toxic mix of truth, lies, and ignorance. They corrupt us as we receive them into our hearts and release them into the world.

What are we to do?

The short answer is we need to love with our actions. We need to do more and talk less. I think Peter said it best, so I will end with his advice.

For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. I Peter 4:7-11 [NET Bible]

Have a great week!

The public ministry of Jesus was one of seemingly ceaseless travel, preaching, healing, and serving. Along the way, he offered hope and peace to all who would follow him. This is probably best summed up in the following verses.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30(ESV)

For those who don’t know, a yoke is like a collar fitted over the neck of oxen or other beasts of burden. Yokes typically paired two animals together side by side so they could pull together. This is the picture Jesus is painting here. We have all struggled alone and found the burden overwhelming. Jesus invites us to join him in his yoke, for working alongside him is an easy burden.

The invitation goes out to all, and it is an invitation to join in the work of Jesus, pulling side-by-side with him. It’s an easy yoke because he is pulling with us. This offer is welcomed by those who have tried and failed or are simply exhausted by trying to carry the overwhelming load alone. Jesus famously made broad and open offers like this when he went out to preach. The invitation was genuine and open to all. But what was he offering, and how was that offer accepted? That is what we will examine next.

The Cost of Discipleship

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 19:16-23 ESV

The young man walked away because the price was just too high in his estimation. He did not go home healed, and he did not follow Jesus as a disciple. The crucial point for our discussion today is that Jesus did not chase him or try to soften his message. Jesus spoke the truth, and people either followed him or went home.

This brings me to the point I am trying to make. Jesus was not inclusive in the modern sense. He was open, inviting, and loving. But the invitation was not to come and be affirmed — it was to follow and be transformed. The way of Jesus excludes all other paths, and we are all asked to walk it. There are not many ways of Jesus. The path is narrow and straight, by his own description. We either abandon our own ways and walk the way of Jesus, or we do not. There is no third option. Love can not sacrifice truth because there is no love in a lie. We have all believed lies and still do to various degrees, even if unknowingly. The way of Jesus requires the same thing of all of us: to abandon our former way and walk the way of Jesus. We can’t follow our desires and walk the way of Jesus.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:23-26 ESV

The Reward of Following Jesus

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matt 13:45-46 ESV

God proved His love for us all by His incarnation, teaching, and faithfulness until death. He gave us all the hope of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And life is a gift beyond price.

The example Jesus gave us in the previous passage is one of many that follow the same theme. The reward of life in Jesus is worth everything we have and everything we are. To follow Jesus is to leave our old lives behind to find eternal life in Him.

This week, let’s forget about the “cost” and instead focus on the reward. Let’s leave our old desires behind and allow his life to become our life. Let’s encourage each other into love and good works inviting others to join us on the way.

Have a great week!

When Jesus began his ministry, his message was simple. Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near. He also prophesied against the cities that refused to repent. The Kingdom of God is not destined to coexist with the kingdoms of this world. The Kingdom of God will instead fully replace the kingdoms of this world one day. Jesus declared after his resurrection that “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth,” so the disciples were told to go and make disciples of all nations. We now live in a world that is occupied by two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God — and all the rest of the nations who reside under the thumb of the defeated powers of evil. I think it is safe to say we live in interesting times. And the coming months are going to be no exception.

It’s political season again in the USA, so I thought giving the current worldly political noise a bit of kingdom context might be good. The relationship between earthly authority and the Church has been complicated for millennia. Worldly powers have persecuted the Church, and in response, the Church has often tried to isolate itself from the world because of its evil. At other times, the Church has attempted to take over or at least co-op the government. While all these responses are understandable in their various contexts, the question remains, “How should the Church interact with a world governed by lies and spiritual evil”? Why did Jesus leave us here, and how should we live while we wait for the full realization of His Kingdom?

Let’s explore some options.

1. Go along to get Along

Jesus did not “Go along to get along.” I think the gospels make that clear. But the crowd was another story. The crowd cheered for Jesus as he did miracles and announced the coming Kingdom of God. After all, they were sick of Rome and its demands. But the same crowd that shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday cried “Crucify him!” just as enthusiastically a few days later when the political winds blew in the other direction. This kind of “anyway the wind blows” attitude is a non-starter, or at least, it should be for Christians. Let’s look at the sermon on the mount for inspiration.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matt 5:6 ESV --------- Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt 5:10-12 ESV

2. Responding in kind

If we don’t follow the crowd, then what are we to do? Fight back? Organize resistance? Start a counter-culture movement? Well, we are a little late for this last option. Jesus has already started the counter-cultural movement to end them all. The Kingdom of God is the movement. Jesus began it with his first coming and will complete it when he returns.

Simply reacting to this world’s ideas accomplishes nothing. Throwing rocks, making noise, and breaking stuff is easy — building a kingdom is hard, and it’s not just hard. We can’t build the Kingdom of God with nothing but human effort. This point was made thousands of years ago in the story of the Tower of Babel.

Our job is not to build the Kingdom of God — God is doing that. Neither is our job to defeat evil — Jesus did that. Our job is to demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. We are to be changed so we may bring the hope of change to others. We are to be instruments of change insofar as it conforms to the Kingdom of God. That will not put us at peace with our current culture, but it will not turn us into bomb throwers either. We all long for unity, but true unity flows from our unity with Christ.

The world is tribal and often violent toward opposing tribes. In contrast, Christ humbled himself and sacrificed himself to save us all. By laying down his life, Jesus paid the price for human evil. He won the war by taking up his life again in the resurrection. Our job is to follow His lead as we give of ourselves for others. As we do that, we demonstrate the reality of God’s Kingdom.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matt 5:7-8 ESV

Preachers and Peacemakers

Jesus explained our new relationship to this world in Matthew 28.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus tells us that we are to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. The world belongs to Jesus. He is the King, and he has been given all authority. We are to proclaim this good news and teach all nations to observe all that Jesus commands. So, what does that look like in the world today?

The writer of Hebrews describes the current situation this way: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Many have described this as “the kingdom now and not yet.”

We now live in the time between our redemption and freedom from slavery to sin and our inheritance in the coming full realization of the Kingdom. We are His messengers sent out to proclaim the victory of Jesus and demonstrate His Kingdom’s wonder to this world’s failing kingdoms. The Church lives at the intersection of these two kingdoms. We know peace in Christ, but we will always be opposed by the powers that be in this world since Christ signals the beginning of the end of their reign.

We are not called to fight but to proclaim. To teach and demonstrate the reality of Christ’s Kingdom. Thus giving this hopeless world a way forward, a way that we can all follow together as we work toward that coming Kingdom as we wait for our King.

To sum up, how should we live in cultures and kingdoms opposed to the Kingdom of God?

* Should we give in and follow along in a vain attempt to live in peace at the cost of truth and righteousness?

* Should we respond in kind and fight evil with evil?

No, to live as ambassadors of Christ in this foreign land, we need to be citizens of Christ’s Kingdom first and citizens of whatever earthly Kingdom we find ourselves in second. That does not mean checking out of society, but our engagement with culture must always be with a purpose. We are to proclaim the Kingdom of God by demonstrating that Kingdom in every situation. This will mean that we oppose everything that leads to slavery and death and support everything that leads to true freedom and eternal life.

Our goal is not to prove we are right but to expose the lies that will destroy us if we follow them. It is a tricky line to walk, but one Jesus walked before us. He found a way to love without compromise and stayed faithful regardless of the opposition.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matt 5:9 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matt 5:5

In the coming weeks and months, we will all need to learn to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. However, we are not alone in this challenge; we have each other, and more importantly, Jesus is with us to the end of the age.

Have a great week!

Anyone who has had children or has ever been a child knows the phrase, “Are you listening to me?”. It’s the kind of thing that parents shout over the noise. When I was young, the noise was my stereo. Now, it is any number of devices, but the problem remains the same. Jesus had the same problem with those who followed him around. They followed him and seemed to be listening, but did they hear anything he said? If not, why not? Today, I want to look at some things that make us deaf to the voice of God and each other.

External Noise

The easiest thing to pick on when it comes to noise and distraction are the things that originate outside of ourselves. We all curse these external distractions — when they annoy us. But why are we drawn to them like a magnet if we hate them so much? Why can’t we put down our phones? Why do we immediately go to the news, books, or magazines? Why do we spend so much time online?

But most of all, why are we so afraid of silence?

Here is where we have to get honest with ourselves. Why don’t we want to hear? What are we hiding from?

Internal Noise

The noise inside is by far the most difficult noise to eliminate. More often than we are ever willing to admit, we are deafened by a combination of self-will, self-righteousness, wantonness, and sloth. How’s that for some ol’ timey words? But those words still have meaning. How often do we use external noise to drown out the sound of our conscience? Worse yet, how often are we drowning out the voice of God in the process? Whether we actively resist the voice of God or passively ignore what we hear, the result is the same. We hear, but we don’t. Our self-will does not want to hear from God or anyone else. We want what we want. We ignore the sound of anything that challenges our desires, and our hearts grow numb.

Numbness of the heart takes many forms. And, while numbness can seem harmless, at least to others, it is anything but. One surprising symptom of numbness of the heart can be seen in all those who see and hear everything as an indictment of others. Their heart has been trained to deflect all correction towards others. They hear everything but take nothing in.

Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house. Ezekiel 12:2 [ESV]

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,   ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ Matt 11:16 [ESV]

For this kind of deafness, repentance is the only road forward. But thankfully, repentance is not difficult in this case. The cure can be downright pleasant if we take the problem seriously.

This Week

Go outside and sit. Don’t bring a book, a phone, or a friend. Sit quietly, watch a bird, or look at a tree, but don’t fall asleep. Listen; your thoughts will be very noisy at first, but if you persist, they will quiet down. Then open your bible to Psalms, Proverbs, or the Gospels and let Jesus speak to you. He loves you more than you love yourself if you can believe it, and He will heal your deaf ears — he’s really good at that.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30 [ESV]

Have a great week!

God is God, and Jesus is King, but we have all followed our lower physical desires instead. Desires that often run contrary to God’s law and our own well-being. We are all slaves to sin by nature. Our situation is truly hopeless without God’s love and grace. Thankfully, God has given us grace in Jesus. Our situation is no longer hopeless. God has opened the door to eternal life for anyone who will put their trust in Jesus and walk away from those desires that ultimately destroy us.

This is the gospel. This is the grace of God, and it is glorious. Grace is the source of our hope and our joy. But like all good things, grace can be perverted into something it was never intended to be. Today, we are looking at the Letter of Jude, where we find the following troubling passage.

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4 [ESV]

The faith we enjoy through the grace of God has been delivered once and for all. It doesn’t change because it doesn’t need to change. God’s grace is enough. But in Jude’s time, some wanted to alter the grace of God into something else. It seems they felt that grace gave them a license to sin. They imagined they were free to follow their lower physical desires since grace covers all. If grace covers all, then nothing we do matters. They desired the blessings of God’s grace but refused to change the direction of their lives. They had no intention of turning away from their lower sinful desires. Instead, They wanted to have the pleasures of sensuality and the joy of forgiveness at the same time. Jude describes this as a perverted grace, one without repentance or remorse. They saw grace as a license to sin. Or as Paul said to the Roman church:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2 [NASB]

Christianity is Directional

Repentance is an old word and often misunderstood. Repentance is a change of direction. We are either walking toward God or away from Him. Repentance is recognizing we are going in the wrong direction and redirecting our lives toward God. This will often take us in the opposite direction of our immediate self-interest and base physical desires. The grace of God leads to eternal blessing for anyone who turns and follows Jesus in faith. Then and now the call of Jesus is simple, “Follow me.”

The people Jude was describing, on the other hand, seemed to think the grace of God allowed one to indulge in sinful pleasures with God’s blessing. However, as Jude points out, refusing to follow Jesus is denying that Jesus is Lord and Master.

Where have these people gone?

Unfortunately, these people are still creeping around in the Church, sometimes unnoticed as in Jude’s day, and sometimes shouting their opinions from the housetops. There are many who desire to redefine the grace of God today. They would conflate love and invitation with acceptance and even affirmation of sinful behavior. They use words like inclusion and affirmation to negate the need for change in the lives of those who would follow Jesus. They are not offering freedom in Christ, but instead, they ask the Church to celebrate their slavery to sin by assuming that natural = good.

Natural does not equal good. We are all natural rebels and sinners. As a result, we were all slaves. The grace of God sets us free and gives us strength through faith in the power of God. Enabling us to live our lives free from our previous hopeless slavery to the desires of our lower nature. Paul tells us repeatedly that through the cross of Christ, our old lives have been crucified. We are now new creations - we are no longer defined and enslaved to our sinful desires. Our identity is not defined by our physical desires and habits. Our identity is defined by God in Christ.

Jesus turned no one away, that’s true, but it’s also true that no one encountered Jesus and remained unchanged. Either they repented and followed him or refused and went home with harder hearts than when they came. I don’t mean to be offensive. However, this is the gospel, and if it does not work for all, it does not work at all.

If some are exempted from the need to change, then why must I? If no one needs to change, then what exactly is the gospel? Is it a get-out-of-jail-free card? Does this get-out-of-jail-free card work the same way for murderers, rapists, drug dealers, genocidal maniacs and politicians? What about justice? These are serious questions and won’t just go away because they make us uncomfortable in our current culture.

So now what?

So what should a believer do in a world like ours? Paint a sign and run out on the street in counter-protest? I doubt it. We are called to be fishermen, not fighters. When we fight, those we push against instinctively push back—the odds of anyone truly winning drop to virtually zero.

Winning is not fighting to prove I am right and they are wrong. Winning is convincing them that Jesus is right and we are all wrong.And we all need to change.

The only answer is to turn and follow him. I can’t change the minds of government officials or denominational leaders, but I can follow Jesus, and I can tell the truth. I can pray that those above my station and sphere of influence can come to the realization that there is still one higher and that one day they will answer to Him—no matter who they are or think they are. Jesus is and always will be king.

I can also encourage others as the madness of this world threatens to overwhelm them. We can encourage each other to continue on the path of Jesus—despite all the pressure to turn and follow the culture to destruction.

When I say encourage I literally mean to fill each other with courage. Fear is the Devil’s main weapon. We are afraid to speak the truth, we are afraid to be identified as different. We are afraid of being called names. I was afraid to write this article, thinking maybe some of my supporters would stop supporting me.

It’s ironic that concern for the eternal well-being of others can be labeled as hate. But we live in a crazy world where boys are girls, up is down, and being popular is perceived as being right. A world that denies the existence of absolute truth but thinks those that disagree are absolutely wrong.

Jesus is the only legitimate authority all the rest are usurpers, posers, and wannabes. The day is coming when this will all become clear, but while we wait we demonstrate that the kingdom of God has come. There is hope for all who will recognize their hopeless state and turn to follow Jesus. Jude ends this difficult little letter with the following doxology of hope and blessing.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time - and now - and forever. Amen. Jude 24-25 [ESV]

Have a great week!

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. These are the first words of Genesis. The gospel of John starts with: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But how has God revealed Himself to us? Today, I want to look at the four primary avenues of revelation God has chosen to use to reveal himself to us.

Though Creation (General Revelation)

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2 [NASB]

Many would insist that the so-called “hiddenness of God” is one of the great theological mysteries. Obviously, I have not heard or read everything on this subject, but I am not convinced based on what I have heard. The underlying premise smells to me of something like, “God should be doing more than He is for us.” You see, we are the ones who rejected God, and as a result, we have lost direct access to Him. So, the hiddenness of God never seemed like a mystery to me. The mystery to me is why He did not destroy us outright then and there, not why He is not more visible to us.

But even in this state of exile from His presence, not even the worst sinner on earth is without a witness of God’s existence and power. The evidence is all around us in the things He has created. Paul explains this in Romans 1.

For what can be known about God is plain to them,(the wicked) because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:19-21[ESV]

But God gave us more than indirect evidence of His existence and power. He also reveals Himself directly.

Through His Word (Specific Revelation)

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. II Peter 1:19-21[NASB]

God used frail and failing humans to speak to us. In His sovereign wisdom, God chose the right person at the right time with the right words to speak to us all. He revealed Himself to those who have rejected Him so we could all understand His plan to save us from ourselves—a call to turn back to Him and trust in His love.

Through His Son (The Incarnation of God)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Hebrews 1:1-4[ESV]

In time, God’s word took on human flesh, and we could see Him in a form we could understand and relate to. God became a man and walked among us, teaching us and demonstrating His love for us all the way to His ultimate testimony of love. He sacrificed Himself for us to pay the debt we owed but could not pay, and through His resurrection, He became the king of God’s eternal kingdom. A kingdom that has begun but is not yet complete.

Through the Body of His Son (The Church)

...that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph 1:18-23[ESV]

The Church is the “Body of Christ.” In other words, we, as the Church, are now the visible manifestation of Christ on the earth. Given this fact, we are now God’s revelation to the rest of humanity. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Thankfully, we do not(can not) do this on our own. Jesus is our head. He is our Lord, our Master, and our Boss. He is the one who fills all in all, and we incarnate that presence on the earth.

This Week

As the body of Christ, we have been given a breathtaking responsibility. We are to represent Jesus and be vehicles of His will and word on earth. Given the magnitude of all of this, where do we even begin? Thankfully, we have instructions on all of this in the words of the prophets and apostles and in the words of Jesus himself.

We are to forgive as we have been forgiven and love as we have been loved. This week, let’s remember those fundamental steps and take action. We are a living body, not a painting of a body. We are alive with the life of the resurrected Jesus. Let’s encourage love in action this week and spur each other on to love and good works.

Have a great week!

A child does not turn two on their second birthday. They turn two the day they first say “no.” Every parent knows that. We normally see the process of growing up as a quest for independence culminating in the teenage years - when things really get strange. Growing up spiritually takes a somewhat different path. To grow up spiritually, our thinking must mature while somehow maintaining our childlike innocence. Paul says it this way in his first letter to the Corinthians.

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 1 Cor 14:20 [ESV]

Or consider the advice Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Matt 10:16  [ESV]

Let’s talk about Maturity

When the entertainment industry creates something for “mature” audiences, it does not refer to entertainment that will demand a high level of thought and experience to appreciate. It means it will be filled with foul language, violence, and probably sex. Our culture seems to equate maturity with the fantasy of having the ability to fill your mind with trash and walk away unaffected. By contrast, actual maturity is seeing past the lies and fantasies that this world is constantly trying to sell us. Maturity is being an infant in evil but a grown-up in your thinking.

A maturity that understands itself as savvy to evil is in reality - childish thinking. Like children pretending to be all grown up by smoking or using disgusting language. We all know this is not maturity. This is silliness in a child and stupidity in an adult. Yet, too often we tell ourselves that to be useful adults, we must keep up with all the latest forms of sin and wickedness, and that being mature is being aware. Aware, maybe, but is awareness the desire that draws us to these stories of evil? Or is it something else? How do we maintain the posture Paul describes as being “infants in evil” while being mature in our thinking?

Wise as Serpents - Innocent as Doves

Jesus draws this same line for his disciples but uses different words. Jesus is sending them out as “sheep in the midst of wolves,” so they must be wise enough to survive but not harmful like serpents. They must maintain their innocence while being wise to the danger around them. Danger takes many forms, and we are still sheep among wolves. Being wise to the danger and innocent of the evil that drives it is no small trick. We need God’s help just like the disciples did.

About those Wolves

I suspect the wolves Jesus warned his disciples about were external threats—people who meant to harm them because of their allegiance to Jesus. Thankfully, external threats to the church are still rare in the West, though sadly, they are increasing. The wolves we deal with daily are the ones who wish to devour our souls, one bite at a time. The ideas that drive the world are anti-Christian by nature and design. We try to resist, but our innocence is often lost in the process. Is there a way to be both wise and innocent?

This Week

With wars, elections, constant lies, and economic upheaval on all sides, it is easy to be overwhelmed and downright depressed. But we are not the first to suffer, nor are we alone in our suffering. I will leave you with a few thoughts from Paul to meditate on this week as we face the wolves together.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Phil 4:4-9 [ESV]

 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4 [ESV]

We can be wise, harmless, and innocent as we walk together in Christ. But not without the Spirit of God and the help of the body of Christ. Let’s grow up together!

Have a great week!

I hate 3 am. It’s when I often wake up only to realize it’s not morning. Most nights, that’s all it is, and I go back to sleep. But some nights, 3 am is the hour of fear and doubt—the hour of worry. The hour of questions I can’t answer, and the hour of questions I am not sure I even want an answer to. Not long ago, I had a night exactly like this, and it gave me a new take on a familiar passage: 1st Corinthians 13.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Cor 1-3

The text goes on to describe love and discuss our current limitations in knowledge and understanding until Paul summarizes his thoughts in the next few lines.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:12-13

At 2:34 am that morning, everything I thought I knew and had ever done seemed utterly pointless. Every deed I had ever done seemed hopelessly corrupted by hidden or not-so-hidden, selfish motives. Oh, and I had also failed my wife and my kids, just for good measure. I thought, what do I have? Has my life produced anything good? Is there any hope at all?

It was at this point that God mercifully interrupted my thoughts with another thought. There is hope, but it rests in faith, not faith in me or what I have done, but faith in what Jesus has already done. But I countered his encouragement with another failure and wondered, “Can you still be interested in helping me?” This is when God dropped this passage into my head. I have heard this passage quoted at weddings so many times that I am not sure that I have ever seriously considered what Paul was really saying with it.

Paul was not trying to encourage newlyweds. He was discussing the futility of our best efforts in impressing God. Paul understood better than most that pure religious zeal, no matter how extreme, could ever elevate our status with God. We do have hope, but our hope flows from our faith in Jesus and the sufficiency of His love and sacrifice for us. But that hope was never intended to exist in a vacuum; it doesn’t exist only for itself. It is his gift to us - one that we must share, and we share this gift by demonstrating his love to others.

Now faith, hope, and love abide. But the greatest of these is…love.

I am flawed, and I have failed, but I don’t lose hope. In love, Jesus gave us all hope—if we would only believe. However, love can not be bottled up and kept; it can only be given. If we try to save our lives, we will lose them. It is only when love is given that it grows into life and abundant life. The life we give brings life, hope, and faith to others. When we give our lives, we find them. It sounds backward, but it is the only way that true love works. Our love is a small reflection of the life Jesus gave for us.

This Week

So, where am I today? And what can I do in response to all of this? I need to stop worrying about what I get out of everything and start thinking about how to help and encourage others. In other words, I must reflect the love Jesus has shown me to others.

Jesus showed this kindness to me again that night, even when my faith was flagging at 3 am. Now, I must show that same grace to others, even on their worst days.

This week, let’s change our question from “What do I have left?” to “What can I give to others?” Let’s find our lives again as we give them to others.

Have a great week!

Since then, I have been involved with training young missionaries and have been asked many times about calling, what it is, and how you know if you have one. These days, I have been led to rethink what calling really is for a Christian. There is such a thing as a calling in the vocational sense. Being a pastor, a missionary, a doctor, a nurse, a farmer, or a car mechanic can be and is a calling if, and this is a big if; that is where Jesus has led you.

A New Testament Calling

The first example of calling in the gospels is Jesus calling various people to follow him. He made this offer to all kinds of people, not just the 12 apostles. Let’s look at a few examples from Matthew.

Matt 4:19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Matt 8:19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Matt 18:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

The call is not a job or a destination. It is a journey. We are called to follow Jesus. We are not always told where that road leads. More often than not, even the disciples were clueless about where they were going or what Jesus was up to. Their job was to follow Jesus, not coach him, and so is ours. Jesus is not our assistant. He is our Lord and our Master. To put it in terms we are more familiar with, he is our boss and our leader.

Many today are advised to “Follow your passion,” or perhaps slightly better, “Do something you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” But both of these slogans make the same mistake. They assume that we are the masters of our own destiny and encourage people to follow their own desires and goals. This attitude is the exact opposite of following Jesus. If that sounds exaggerated or harsh, have another look at the passages we read earlier.

We are all called

We are all called, and that call is to follow Jesus. Our calling can sometimes feel so ordinary that we forget that we are called. And sometimes, and this is more serious, we begin to think that our calling is simply the things we like and choose to do. Following Jesus is a conscious, ongoing decision to do what Jesus is doing and focus on the things Jesus cares about.

This Substack is called “On Walking the Way.” Jesus is that way. Whatever path Jesus has chosen for us is our calling and requires as much diligence and self-sacrifice as any other vocation. There is no hiding from Jesus’ call to follow him. We will never know true peace until we submit to the path Jesus has chosen for us. If our conscience can not seem to find rest in our current pursuits, perhaps our current pursuits are not the path of Jesus. So, in a very real sense, if you can, with a good conscience, do anything else, do it. But if not, it may be time to speak to Jesus about your direction.

This Week

Today, we have studied three difficult passages. Our calling is not the kiddy pool of faith. Following Jesus will affect everything we are and do, even the mundane aspects of our lives. It takes us out of the driver’s seat and makes us all disciples, children, and sheep to use biblical metaphors. But we prefer to think of ourselves as grown-ups. We don’t like letting anyone else take control of our lives and determine our direction. To do this, we need to help each other.

Our new lives in Christ were created for good works. So now, we have two options before us: we can follow our old natural desires, or we can follow Jesus. Let’s encourage each other to follow Jesus wherever he leads this week, remembering that our plans are ultimately futile, but the path of Jesus leads to eternal life for ourselves and others.

Have a great week!

Our appetites drive us, but our appetites distort our identity. Our perceived identity shapes our decisions, and our choices define our lives. Given this, the question, “What am I hungry for?” becomes very important. It gives us insight into our present state and predicts our direction and destination in the future. The passage for today is short, but it has long legs under it. It is found in Proverbs chapter 15.

Prov 15:14  The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly. [ESV]

When you think about this passage for a while, it starts to sound like a chicken-and-egg problem. It seems you would need knowledge to understand, but if you have understanding, you seek knowledge. Folly and the fool have a similarly interconnected relationship in this verse. These descriptions of the wise and the foolish purposely interconnect a person’s wisdom(or foolishness) with the things they hunger for.

So, the purpose of this proverb is to get us thinking, “What am I hungry for?” “What do I seek?” and “What do I feed on?”

Hunger

The first thing we need to clarify is what is intended by the phrase “him who has understanding.” The Book of Proverbs is a collection of ancient proverbs focused on leading the foolish to wisdom. So this phrase describes the wise. It is the wise person who has understanding and the wise person who seeks or hungers for knowledge.

Our hunger drives us, for better or worse. This passage explains that the hunger for knowledge drives the wise person. But this knowledge is not simple information. Wisdom consists of more than the accumulation of information. Wisdom is the ability to apply information at the right time and in the right way for the right reason.

We are what we eat

The second half of this passage parallels and contrasts the first. But unlike the wise person, the fool hungers for folly. Taken together, the message here is simple but very challenging. Our appetites define us. The things we “eat,” so to speak, either lead to an increase in wisdom or foolishness. In proverbs, foolishness is not considered neutral or harmless. Foolishness is the road to death.

How does this help?

I see this verse, and others like it, as diagnostic tools. It was inspired and preserved for us by God to shine a light on things we often fail to consider. This proverb is not written as a question, but it nevertheless asks us some very disturbing questions about who we are and what motivates us. What do we hunger for? Information? What kind of information do we hunger for? That which leads to wisdom? Or do we have a Gossip’s(Fool’s) appetite for the inappropriate behavior of others? Do we seek to learn wisdom? Or are we just looking for reasons to support our own opinions? Are we even teachable?

Prov 15:12  A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

I don’t like to think of myself as a “Scoffer” or “Fool,” but do I like to be corrected? Do I go to the wise or to the media for answers? What entertains me? I don’t like my answers to these questions. I wonder what God thinks. Proverbs stand for thousands of years, asking the same questions of all of us. That’s what makes them so valuable.

Our world changes constantly and rarely, it seems, for the better. But these proverbs are an anchor that can hold us steady when the world around us is anything but. This week, let’s help each other. Our tongues are powerful weapons for good if we use them to encourage others on the path of wisdom, which is the way of life.

Jesus is Lord, Jesus is alive, and the kingdom of God has begun! Together, let’s demonstrate those truths to a lost and hopeless world this week.

Have a great week!

.

Thankfully, for Christians, our identity is one of the first things restored to us through repentance and faith. It is also one of the many reasons that Christianity has always been deeply connected to the cross. The cross has been the source of and symbol for Christianity from the beginning.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself ...   (2 Corinthians 5:14-18 ESV)

The love of Christ was most perfectly demonstrated by laying his life down for our benefit. But the cross was so much more than simple self-sacrifice. Being God in the flesh, his death was sufficient to cover the price of sin for all of us. The cost of sin is death. Justice requires balance, debts must be paid, and we were all broke.

Now, we are new creations in Christ. What we were before Christ or what we are “in the flesh” is irrelevant now. We are new creations. We do not identify ourselves by our flesh or our previous desires because we died. We are recreated and now defined by God alone.

We are united with Jesus through faith. We all died with him and were reconciled to God through this death. Through His resurrection, we are given new life. And this new life is found only in Him. Our life is no longer ours to define. We will never find life, purpose, or identity in our feelings, temperament, and sexual urges. Our life is now united with Christ. Christ is our life, and our identity is found in Christ alone.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.   (Colossians 3:2-4 ESV)

Why do we chafe at the gift of new life?

We always seem to default to the same answer. We would rather die trying to be our own God than live forever in unity with the actual God. We have been making this choice from the beginning when we chose the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil over the Tree of Life. When we reject God as our Creator, every other vice follows naturally. Paul describes this slippery slope problem very well in Romans 1:18 - 32. I would recommend reading this passage through. It answers a lot of questions about how we became who and what we are as a culture. People never change. In Romans 1, Paul describes our “modern” situation perfectly 2000 years ago while describing his culture. And it’s not just that we don’t change. We don’t seem to learn. Later in Romans, we read this rhetorical question.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”   (Romans 9:20 ESV)

We have always been ready and willing to blame God for things, directly or indirectly. If we don’t reject Him outright as the Creator, we tend to blame him for His choices. We ask why instead of trusting in his character. Do we really think we could ever possibly know better than God? We question his choices and decisions constantly while reflecting on our choices much too infrequently. If we genuinely wish to see the beauty of what God has done, we have to stop trying to be God ourselves.

Ironically, we don’t need to try to be God. We are now His children through faith in His gift to us through the love and sacrifice of Jesus.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.   (1 John 3:2-3 ESV)

This Week

The passages we have looked at today are powerful verses. But they are sometimes difficult to apply directly. This week, let’s commit together to view ourselves through the eyes of who we are in Christ. Let’s allow ourselves to believe that the people we were before Christ are not the people we are now in Christ. Let’s not imprison each other in our old lives by treating each other like nothing has changed. Instead, let’s set each other free by calling out the new creation we have all been given in Christ.

Have a great week!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matt 22:36-40 ESV

God is our creator and the source of all we are and will ever be. There is no “me” and no “you” without God. And yet, our thinking rarely follows the obvious implications of that fact. Too often, we think of ourselves as autonomous and independent beings. We imagine that our lives are something that we create for ourselves and that God’s role is to help us achieve our “best self.” But our ideas of autonomy and independence are lies. Every breath we take is a gift from God, and no matter how hard we try, we can never earn anything from God through our efforts. For our strength and our very life come from God. At best, we can only return to Him a small portion of what He has already given us. We are children trying to repay our parents with our allowance.

But does that mean we should do nothing? Hardly.

The book of Revelation begins with seven letters to seven churches in a region known as Asia 2000 years ago. The first letter was to the church in Ephesus.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Rev 2:1-5 ESV

The church in Ephesus faithfully endured the pressures of culture and false teaching. They were tireless in their work for the Lord and their testimony. But there was a problem. Somehow, while they were serving Jesus and persevering in a hostile city, they somehow abandoned their first love. How is that possible?

Can you serve Jesus without loving him?

This is a troubling question, and the answer seems to be yes, which is even more disturbing. Humans are complicated critters. We do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons, often without reflecting on those reasons. Are we trying to one-up our neighbor or gain status? Are we trying to validate our worth as human beings? Or are we trying to impress God to earn favor? The list goes on and on and on.

How can we know if we are walking in the love of Jesus or doing things for reasons of our own? The passage above tells the Ephesian church to “repent and do the works you did at first.” But what works might these be? John helps us with his first letter:

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.   Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. 1 John 3:23-24 ESV

If you read the rest of 1st John, it is clear that loving Jesus and loving others are two things that can not be separated. If we love Jesus, we keep his commandments. And his first commandment is to love one another. Therefore, to love Jesus is to love others.

The Single Heart

So, where am I going with this? I started out talking about a single heart. Holy, in its most literal meaning, describes a singleness of purpose. It is a thing set aside for only one use. If a holy thing is used for any other purpose, it is no longer holy.

We are a holy people in Jesus, and our one use is to serve him.

And that service is loving those he gave his life to save.

Love is not Impossible

Jesus told us to love even our enemies. By cultural definitions of love, this is quite literally impossible. But here is where the English language and modern culture conspire against us. Greek has at least four words to describe the things that English tries to describe with one word: love. There are certain kinds of love we will never feel for our enemies. To feel some kind of warm admiration for someone who murdered your child, for example, would be a form of mental illness, not love.

Love is - benefiting others at my expense.

Love is - choosing the welfare of others over our own.

Love is a gift.

This is the love Jesus lived. This is the love Jesus gave to us on the cross. We can give this kind of love to everyone because Jesus has given that kind of love to us.

This week, let’s reflect on the price Jesus paid for our well-being and be brutally honest about our state when he found us. While we’re at it, we should reflect on our current state. These reflections will help us to help others. Jesus loved us while we were still in active rebellion against God. He sought us and found us when we were lost. And he loves us still, despite our failings.

This week, when we meet someone, let’s ask ourselves, “How could I help?” Trusting that the love Jesus has given us will be all we need to love others, let’s make the love of Jesus and the love of others our single focus.

Have a great week!

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Heb 3:7-14 ESV

Our Giants

In our world, we hear stories of unbeatable giants every day, and like the Israelites of old, these stories fill us with fear. Fear and faith are constantly at war in our hearts. To overcome fear with faith, we need to recognize those things that weaken and corrode our faith. The author of Hebrews describes how Israel fell in the wilderness due to unbelief. They had allowed their hearts to be hardened by sin, though they had seen God move on their behalf many times during their journey. Their hearts were wayward, running everywhere except to God when things got difficult, and over time, their hearts became evil and unbelieving.

Who do we listen to?

The people of Israel had a focus problem. We do, too. Every day, we choose the stories that we listen to. But if you are like me, too often, our choices are guided by our impulses and curiosity. They say you are what you eat, and that goes double for what you choose to listen to. The internet is full of news, but the news that gets the most clicks wins. And that winning news is almost always bad. Fear and anger drive and motivate people. We are naturally drawn to bad news. Knowing this, the news vendors produce more bad news, and we click on it, or if you’re a television person, you tune in. I guess it’s a survival instinct gone wrong. By nature, we look for signs of danger so we can prepare and be safe. But this instinct can quickly betray us, destroying our faith instead of protecting us from harm.

On the internet, this behavior even has kitschy names like “Doom Scrolling” or “Fear Porn.” But it doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is its effect on our faith. When we listen, watch, or read anything, we take something into our souls that positively or negatively affects our faith. We need to choose what we take in and then choose again how we respond to what we have just seen or heard. We can’t avoid bad news altogether, not on this earth. But we can choose how we respond to it. We can determine whether we spend our time corroding our faith with stories of doom or building our faith in God, who is greater than any problem we face.

In the story of Israel’s failure in the wilderness, it is easy to blame the messengers. They were responsible for the stories they told and their effect on the people. But when we blame others, we ignore our problems. The story of Israel in the wilderness was not recorded to correct those ancient messengers. It was written to warn us. Israel’s failure of faith did not begin on the day the spies reported in. Their response to the challenging report was qued up before the messengers began to speak. Their knee-jerk reaction to bad news was unbelief from the moment they left Egypt. Faith is not our default setting either, so we need to be intentional in our response to the things that come our way.

This Week

God is good. Our fears often stem from our belief (or unbelief) that He is not good. We are too quick to believe that God has forgotten or doesn’t care. We may even think that obeying God will lead to pain and suffering, so we need to protect ourselves. Entertaining any of these thoughts will cause us to lapse into unbelief under pressure. The time to strengthen our faith is not in crisis but every day. And our faith affects the faith of those around us.

This week, let’s be intentional. Let’s prepare for the big questions by getting the little ones right. We need to do this together, using our words to build up the faith of others and, in the process, anchoring our own. Let’s demonstrate faith and our love of God by finding ways to bless others, knowing that as we give to others, it will be given again to us by God.

Have a great week!

Selfishness is not new, and Jesus pushed back hard against it. Today, I will look at a story that is extremely challenging to the modern mind; it reminds us that we are servants of God. Many years ago, a man who shaped my early spiritual life made this observation - with a wink. He said, “Christians like to think of themselves as servants until someone treats them like one.” The story for today goes to the heart of our entitlement by explaining the true heart of a servant. It comes to us through Luke.

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10 [ESV]

This passage speaks of our duty to our Master, to God. As modern Americans, we find the idea of being servants to another or duty-bound to serve repugnant. We imagine ourselves as autonomous and independent. This notion is absurd, of course, but it’s how we prefer to think of ourselves. In truth, we are bound financially and socially to many things that demand our efforts and attention, or we will be destitute and outcasts in society. In this passage, Jesus uses an example from his world to illustrate a truth that not even his disciples fully understood.

Jesus sets the scene for this story around the relationship between a bondservant and his Master. These are terms no American is familiar with or comfortable with. No one wants to be owned by another, and no one is comfortable with the idea of being owned by God. Too often, modern Christianity speaks of God as someone who exists to serve us.

The situation Jesus describes is a type of servitude often entered into because of debt. One would find themselves in financial trouble and sell themselves into slavery to avoid complete destitution. To understand this story, we need to consider our condition objectively. We were all hopelessly in debt because of our rebellion and sin. We were enslaved to sin, and God, in His mercy, bought us back. So, we are doubly indebted to God. He is our creator, sustainer, master, and now He is also our redeemer. These facts beg the question of how we should respond to what God asks of us. Paul gives us a bit of perspective on this in Romans:

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. Romans 6:15-19 [ESV]

If you are like me, you hear a voice in the back of your mind saying, “Wait a minute, we are sons of God now, not slaves!” This is true, but Jesus has taught us an even deeper way—the way of love, the way of the cross, the way of service.

Consider this description of the heart of the eternal Son of God from Philippians.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11 [ESV]

The eternal Son of God did not cling to his position and privilege but set it aside to become one of us. He took on human form to serve us and give his life for us.

Jesus is our example.

We have been redeemed and brought into God’s family as sons and heirs, but not to rule, at least not yet. Like Jesus, we must set that aside and become servants of God and others in love.

And now for the hard part, the part Jesus described in the first story: When we finish serving, we recognize it is nothing more than our duty. We have nothing that God has not first given us by His grace, and our service earns us nothing from God. God already loves us and has given us everything in Christ. God will also exalt us in due time. But for now, we, like Jesus, exist to serve God and others as we bring the love of God to others. Let’s go back to Paul for another perspective on this:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Cor 5:14-15 [ESV]

Putting all of this together is not easy. The New Testament uses many different stories and metaphors to describe our old lives and our new relationship with God through Jesus. We are all sons and heirs(both male and female), but we never outgrow our subservience to God. God will always be greater than us, and we will always be in His debt by nature and necessity. God in Jesus condescended to us to give us an example of His love. His love is benefiting others at our expense. The freedom and adoption we enjoy in Christ came at a high cost to God. As His sons and heirs, we must model that love in our lives. Let’s allow the love we celebrated during Passion Week to flow through us to others this week.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:11-15 [ESV]

Our service earns us nothing with God. His grace flows from his love to us, and our service to others flows from our love for Him. We will always be unworthy servants in the sense that we deserve none of the blessings He has shown us. We don’t deserve them and can’t earn them, but we can serve Him in gratitude by loving others. And when we use the gifts he has given us to love and serve others, remember, we have not done anything heroic. We are just doing what we have been asked.

Have a great week!

We are often shocked and dismayed that so many wish to silence or corrupt the Easter message. And at times, it’s shocking where the resistance comes from. Nevertheless, our message must be more than just vainly trying to shout down the skeptics, marketers, media, and, sometimes, our government. The message of Easter is the good news. It is the gospel. Jesus is alive and has conquered death! And this life is available to all who believe it. Let’s reflect on the miracle of Easter beginning with the first chapter of John.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,   who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:9-17[ESV]

The eternal Word became flesh(Jesus) and dwelt among us, but even his own people did not receive him. He was the light, yet most preferred their darkness. But Jesus brought overwhelming grace with him, such that anyone who believed in him would receive the right to become children of God. But this grace did not come cheap. Isaiah describes the life of Jesus over 700 years before his birth.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:2-11[ESV]

The resurrection is God’s seal on the life of Jesus. It proves for all time that He is pleased with the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. Isaiah describes in detail the righteousness that we(the unrighteous) will receive because he(the righteous) has suffered for us. God has not watched us suffer from afar. He has joined us in our suffering, but more than that, he has endured the suffering that our evil has caused. God is not silent, absent, or distant. He has become one of us in Jesus, and although he has never sinned, He paid the price and suffered the consequences for ours. And along with our forgiveness, we have also been given His righteousness.

This Week

It’s vital to remember that the death and resurrection of Jesus is our death and resurrection as well. Despite the many voices to the contrary, we are new creations because of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul sums it up so well in his second letter to the Corinthians:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:14-19[ESV]

Christianity is not a religion; it is a person—a person who gave everything for us so that we may live forever with him. For all who believe, eternal life begins today. Share that life with someone today.

Have a great week!

But how do we engage in a conversation like the one our culture is having today?

As I look back on my life, it occurs to me that God has led me on an unusual journey. For a missionary, I have an odd work history. It’s a history that has taken me many years to appreciate. I was raised on a small dairy farm. I studied music. I have worked in construction, as a prison guard, and for the last 33 years as a missionary—things that, on the surface, have absolutely nothing in common. But it has allowed me to work in a lot of different contexts with many very different people. Over time, I have come to appreciate that this unusual background has allowed me to see some things I may have never noticed had I lived a different life.

One of these observations will be the subject of today’s discussion. Today, I want to think about thankfulness. We were probably all taught to say thank you as children. But thankfulness is more than being polite or pleasant. It changes us, and everyone we meet, and this change is for the better—much better.

It may seem overblown to suggest that something as simple as thankfulness could have so much power. But after many years of experience with people from all over the world, I am more sure of this truth every day. Thankfulness changes everything.

Thankfulness and Joy

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100 [NASB]

Thankfulness changes our focus. It changes our focus from ourselves to God and others. This in itself is healing because self-focus is the root of discontent, resentment, bitterness, depression, and ultimately - despair. Thankfulness causes us to focus on what we have rather than what we lack. It is a constant reminder that we are wholly dependent on God, every moment, even for our very existence. God is our Creator and sustainer, and He is our hope for the future. Thankfulness releases joy, and joy is healing. Joy is also contagious.

Have you ever met someone and walked away feeling happier and more alive? Have you ever had the exact opposite experience? Think about it: what was different about those experiences? I can almost guarantee that the life-giving experience included thankfulness and the draining experience did not.

I understand that there can be a sort of perverse pleasure in running down everything and everyone. But in the end, you feel empty and alone with a vague(or not so vague) sense of guilt and shame. An unthankful heart is toxic and malignant. Consider Paul’s words in Romans:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:21-23 ESV

Thankfulness, on the other hand, leaves you feeling hopeful and alive. Thankfulness revives and strengthens our souls. Thankfulness gives us hope, and hope changes our attitude and actions. Hope gives us strength to help others and look to the future. Thankfulness brings hope, and both are contagious. Imagine a world that hoped in God instead of the futile imaginings of humanity. Imagine a world where people used their words to lift instead of crush. We can do something about this; we can do more than simply imagine it. We can be carriers of hope to this world, and it can start today.

This Week

We can be thankful because there is much to be thankful for. God has forgiven us and adopted us into His family forever. The temporary problems of this world are nothing in comparison. Paul tells us in Romans 8: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Thankfulness reminds us of this eternal perspective: this life is not all there is. Even on our worst days, there is always so much to be thankful for. Thankfulness is not “fake it till you make it;” it is recognizing the reality of what God has done and will do. This week, let’s practice thankfulness. Write down your blessings and rehearse them. Share your thanks and hope with someone else, and you will learn the secret of thankfulness.

I will leave you with some encouragement from scripture.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope you in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 42:11 NASB

Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NASB

Have a great week!

Metaphors are powerful but can easily be misunderstood and even abused. So, I didn’t want to leave this subject without looking again at God’s work in our fruitfulness. In my life, I’m prone to bounce back and forth between complacency and trying to do everything myself. When I’m complacent, I hate myself, and when I’m trying to do what only God can do, I’m frustrated and discouraged.

Today, hopefully, we will all get a little closer to finding that balance between trusting God’s work and our response to His gifts. Let’s begin with a familiar passage from Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24 [ESV]

This passage begins with the word ‘but.’ Which means this is the second half of a thought. The first half of this proposition described the “works of the flesh.” These “works of the flesh” are contrasted in this section by the “fruit of the Spirit.” The contrast between these phrases gives us our first clue to understanding the relationship between our work and God’s.

Works of the flesh have their source in our lower nature. They are products of our sinful and fallen nature, fostered by our insatiable physical desires. If you go back and read the list of these fleshly works, every item will sound very familiar. These works surround us in this fallen world because these desires drive the world.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit has a different source. These things are not the fruit of our efforts or desires. They are the fruit of the Spirit of God working in and through us. When we see these things at work in us, we can know and be encouraged that God’s Spirit is at work and bearing fruit. Let’s read on for some final thoughts.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:25-26

In these last two lines, we see where the work of God and our response to His work come together. As we saw in 2 Peter last week, the Spirit is a gift and does what we could never do on our own. But, we need to keep in step with the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the product of cooperation between the good soil and the good seed.

We rest in God's grace and trust that He will finish what He began in us, but He will not force us to do anything. Walking the Way is not a passive exercise. God empowers us to do what we could never do without Him, but in the end, we still need to do things to bear fruit. God’s grace has been poured out with an end in mind, and that end is seeing His grace brought to the world. We are His chosen vessels to carry that grace. We are not potted plants. God gave us legs and arms.

This Week

This passage begins with encouragement to “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” It ends with the encouragement to “keep in step with the Spirit.” When we do, the Spirit will have all that He needs to grow and bear fruit in our lives and in the lives of those He sends us to today.

Paul gives us one last warning in this passage. We are never more vulnerable than when we are doing well. Knowing this, Paul closes this passage with a reminder to avoid conceit, provocation, and envy. The Spirit empowers us to do what we could never do on our own, but it does not prevent us from falling back into our old ways. Fruit is delicious, but any number of things can spoil it.

This week, let’s encourage each other to “love and good works”, allowing the Spirit of God to grow His fruit in us so that we can share His gifts with others through the virtues we discussed last week.

Have a great week!

2Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Peter starts by describing the gift of God’s grace in great detail. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And this gift comes to us through the knowledge of him who called us. But we are not just called. We are called to something. We are called to his glory and excellence. Supporting this calling, he has given us precious promises through which we can become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world.

The implication in all of this is that we now have the resources to do something that, prior to receiving these gifts of God, we could not do. There are many Christian slogans that we need to be careful with. Because, like all slogans, they are very limited in scope and context. They have to be, to be good slogans. For example, “There is nothing we can do to make God love us any more than He already does.” This is true, of course, but incomplete. In the parable of the sower, the sower had a reasonable expectation of the seed growing and bearing fruit. In the parable of the talents, the master expected a return on his investment.

So the question is not, what can I do to make God love me? He already does. Or, what can I do to make myself acceptable to God? Jesus has already done that, too. The question is, “What can I do to thank Him?” What can I return to God for His unspeakably generous gifts to me? Peter gives us some help with this question.

2Peter 1:5-9 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Peter tells us that because we have been given such gifts, we must make every effort to build on them. Adding these virtues is the key to being effective and fruitful. This is our thanks - and our worship.

To lack in these virtues means we have forgotten our forgiveness in Christ. We have become blind to the value of the gifts God has provided for us. Paul comes to a similar conclusion in Romans 12:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:1-2 ESV]

In light of the grace we have received, what can we do but offer our lives back to God as worship? But this sacrifice is not some mystical experience. Paul immediately gives this advice a very practical spin. We must be transformed in our thinking. And our new thinking must be tested(put into practice) to know God’s will and discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect. The testing Paul is describing is doing things. We are to do things in response to the gifts that we have been given.

So grace was not given to be passively received. It was given to change us, our thoughts, and our behavior. The precious seed of God’s grace has been planted in all of us to bear fruit for God. Our transformed lives are the purest worship.

Paul sums this up again in his letter to the Ephesians.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10[ESV]

So this week, let’s take Peter’s advice and build on the grace that has been freely given us. Let’s find ways to express our thanksgiving to God in our love for others. And I will leave you with the same encouragement Peter gave in our first passage.

2Peter 1:12[ESV] Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

We have been given everything we need for life and godliness! We can afford to be generous, bearing fruit for God through our love for others.

Have a great week!

The world we live in often leaves us feeling harassed and anxious. It can leave us feeling desperate to take control of our lives and bring them into order. I feel like this a lot. But sometimes, maybe more often than I am comfortable with, these interruptions have another source. And I think this is especially true when those interruptions are people. Sometimes, these “interruptions” are not interruptions at all. They are brought to us by God himself, just like the desperate woman from last week’s story.

Today, I will look at another story that stopped me short and caused me to reflect a bit on my assumptions about “time management,” “personal priorities,” and “self-care.” It caused me to re-think what “walking the way of Jesus” really looked like for the disciples and what it might look like for me today. And by today, I really do mean today, as in this actual day.

To set up today’s passage, it is important to understand that it begins just after Jesus has been informed that Herod has beheaded his cousin John the Baptist for the most outrageous reason imaginable. Matthew picks up the story from there:

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

Jesus understandably wants some time alone with his Father to process the loss of his cousin and contemplate the evil that brought about his insane and gruesome death. His instinct to find a quiet place to pray and process is not only correct but important in a time like this. However, it was not to be.

But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Despite his feelings and even needs, Jesus had compassion for them and healed them. On what was likely the worst day of Jesus’ life to date, a day when he wanted nothing more than to take some time to process the loss of family, he saw the suffering of others and put their good ahead of his own.

Wait… what?

Everything I have ever been told or taught about grief and suffering is screaming at me right now, saying Jesus did the wrong thing. But is that right? It was a very costly thing for him to do, to be sure, but was he wrong to do it? Here, we have to be careful how we judge. The compassion that Jesus showed the sick that day is the same love he showed us all at the cross. Instead of spending his remaining energy trying to heal his own wounds, he uses it to heal others. That is love.

But this story does not end there. His disciples were with him, and they knew John. They were grieving and hurt and very likely frightened as well by such a vicious attack on a godly man for the most trivial reasons. Imagine you’re with him that day and consider what happens next:

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”    (Matthew 14:13-16 ESV)

Everyone was tired, the people were tired, the disciples were tired, and I am sure Jesus was beyond all tired after giving of himself all day for this crowd. But he does not send them away as the disciples ask; instead, he asks the disciples to feed them. Imagine yourself as one of the disciples at this moment. You just hear that someone you loved and respected was brutally murdered on a whim, then as you went off to grieve, you were accosted by a huge crowd and, against everything you were feeling at that moment, were asked to serve them all day instead.

Now imagine when this nightmare of a day is finally ending; you are told to do the impossible and feed this crowd without the resources you need to do it. The disciples often failed in the gospels, but this is one time that they did remarkably well. They obeyed, and they served and trusted that somehow or other, Jesus was going to make all this work.

Compassion or Resentment?

We are all interrupted by other people and their needs, just as Jesus and his disciples were. This is just one of many examples in the gospels of Jesus doing miracles and healing while he was actually on his way somewhere else. The question for his disciples and us is always the same. Are we going to choose the welfare of others in these moments - or our own?

When we are busy, it is a short road from interruption to impatience, impatience to annoyance, and annoyance to resentment. But the Holy Spirit in us is asking us to choose another path. It is the path of Jesus. It is the love of Jesus in us calling us to set aside our needs for the needs of others. Remember:

Love is benefiting others at our expense.

This week, instead of assuming all interruptions are the devil, let’s consider if some of them are, in reality, opportunities sent by God to give us a chance to labor along with Jesus, even on our worst days. Do we have the strength to do this? No, but then, neither did the disciples. Jesus more than made up for what they lacked in this story. And he will do the same for us each day as we trust him and keep our eyes open for the interruptions of God.

Have a great week!

Every day, we hear statistics, and we listen to people discussing trends. People are discussed as if entire groups are a single entity. But Jesus was often surrounded by what the gospel writers euphemistically called the “crowd,” yet he somehow never failed to see the individual whose voice was being smothered by the crush and the noise.

The story today is about one such person. A person that no one even wanted to see. She had been ceremonially unclean for 12 years due to illness, making her a social outcast and “untouchable” by those who wished to remain ceremonially clean. She was lost in the crowd following Jesus. The crowd, for its part, was hoping to see something new or amazing. And Jesus was in the middle of it all, trying to help a man whose daughter was desperately ill. Today’s story picks up as Jesus is on his way to heal this man’s daughter.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Mark 5:24-36

You don’t have to think very hard about this story to understand that Jesus was beyond all busy and most likely very tired. I don’t know about you, but these are my two favorite excuses for not helping people, if I am to be honest. But unlike me, Jesus remains keenly aware of the people around him, and despite the current catastrophe, he took the time to restore a woman who had run entirely out of options.

The event that brought this story back into focus for me this week was a recent prayer time I was involved with. We were praying for “language groups” and “villages” that we hope to engage with over the next three years. I suddenly realized that Jesus did not see “language groups” or “villages.” He saw individual people. He loves individual people. We tend to talk in terms of group, using collective language. But Jesus heals one person at a time, ignoring the crowds. The collective impact of his healing is a knock-on effect of his love of individuals.

We are frustrated by “crime” and “unrest.” Meanwhile, Jesus redeems the repentant criminal and gives peace to the one who can find none. We often want collective results without dealing with the individual’s problems. I wonder if what we are really doing is externalizing these problems in order to externalize the solutions as well. Are we taking a “Gee, I hope somebody does something about this” attitude because we imagine(or want to imagine) there is nothing we can do to resolve such enormous problems?

This is a big deal in day-to-day living. If you are like me, the overwhelming nature of this world’s collective problems often paralyzes me and keeps me from affecting the changes I can bring about in the lives of people I interact with every day. Jesus never made this mistake. The next time you read the gospels, take note of how many times the story takes place while Jesus is on his way to doing something else. Or how many times Jesus taught and healed by way of interruption. Jesus never used a daytimer. He didn’t schedule meetings. He obeyed his father and loved all those he met along the way, including his enemies.

Today

I usually end with an application entitled “This Week,” but I think we need to be even more specific to deal with this particular issue. So what are we to do today? We will not bring about world peace by posting a Ukrainian flag on our social media profile. But we can bring a bit of peace to someone we know who is suffering. We can encourage someone with our words instead of rehearsing all the world’s problems. We can build someone’s faith with an encouraging story. And we can pray for someone who is finding it hard to hang on in difficult times.

The classic “Missionary Problem” is that supporters want to hear about nations, people groups, and revivals. But missionary work is done one person at a time. Everyone, including missionaries, loves to hear stories of or, God willing, participate in big events. But this is a crowd thing, not a Jesus thing. Jesus worked one person at a time, and so do we. The crowds got excited, but that was just about their only contribution to the gospels. Remember, those same crowds got excited a bit later and shouted, “Crucify him.”

Join me this week in looking for a few small, simple things I can do for the people God puts in my path instead of worrying about innumerable big things I have no control over. Pray that we see and respond to the person God places right in front of us. And in time, we will make a collective difference together, one person at a time.

Have a great week!

Matt 4:1-11 is the famous story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, where, after being baptized, Jesus walks off into the desert alone. But we quickly learn that he was not really alone. The devil himself soon joined him. This week, we will examine this story to learn how to follow Jesus through temptation.

There is a famous Sunday school joke where the teacher asks little Timmy, “What is the first thing you have to do to be forgiven?” and Timmy answers, “Sin!”.” Well, Timmy, it turns out that sin is not really the first step. Temptation is. We pray, and we strive to avoid temptation, and we should. There is real wisdom in avoiding unnecessary temptation. But in this episode in the life of Jesus, we see that even in solitude, and even if you’re Jesus, there is no escaping the battle with temptation. But there is a path to victory.

Why am I Being Tempted?

I mentioned that it’s wise to avoid temptation, but in this story, it almost seems that Jesus is walking straight into it. But it’s crucial to notice that Jesus was not pursuing his lower human desires into the desert. He was obeying God and following the Spirit into the desert. This observation makes His first response to the devil more understandable.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. Matthew 4:1-2

His hunger was an honest hunger, not the glutton’s lust for more. It was the hunger generated by 40 days of difficult obedience.

Overcoming Physical Desire

The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread." Matthew 4:3[NET]

The devil, true to form, now attacks Jesus where he perceives Jesus is the weakest, His physical hunger and fatigue. He questions Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, presumably to irritate Him, and then challenges Jesus to do something about His situation. He doesn’t need to be so hungry and weak; make some food and eat it!

But Jesus maintains His focus on God rather than his hunger and refuses to do anything God has not told Him to do.

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4[NET]

Overcoming Presumptuous Sins

But the devil was not done yet.

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you' and 'with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Matthew 4:5-6[NET]

Since Jesus made such a big deal about following every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, the devil thought fine, show me. Once again, he starts with a taunt about his identity as the Son of God, saying in effect, “God would never let His Son come to harm, so prove you are the Son of God.”

But Jesus did not fall for this kind of playground shenanigans, either.

Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” Matthew 4:7[NET]

Jesus had nothing to prove to the devil regarding His identity, and neither should we. Jesus was content to let God be God and follow Him wherever He led.

Overcoming the Lure of Success

The devil tried one last thing, and it was both brash and subtle at the same time.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” Matthew 4:8-9[NET]

This was a bold ask, and at first glance, it seems almost absurd. Why would Jesus even be tempted by such an offer? This is the subtle part. Jesus knew He was the Son of God, and He knew how hard His mission was on earth. But He also knew that at the successful completion of His mission, he would be crowned the King of Kings, the ruler of the whole world, seated at the right hand of God’s power. What the devil was offering here was a shortcut. Worship him as god, and he would, in turn, hand the world over to Jesus. No suffering, no hardship; Jesus would simply have to bow to the devil as a god. The offer was, “Worship me, and I will give you everything. There is no need to suffer.” If only the devil knew what God’s plan really was for the future. He had no idea that his opposition to Jesus was all part of the plan.

Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him." I Corinthians 2:6-9[NET]

This Week

So, what are we to take away from this story? After all, we are not Jesus. These specific temptations are never going to happen to us, right? Unfortunately, we are all tempted by physical desire, prideful presumption, and the urge to cheat and take shortcuts.

We may be tempted to think, “Well, sure, Jesus passed the test; He was Jesus!” but never forget that Jesus was every bit as human as He was divine. He felt every temptation as deeply as we do. Jesus passed every test, and accordingly, He was exalted to the highest position in heaven and on earth. But because He was tempted, He knows how it feels to be tempted. He was not alone in the wilderness of temptation, nor are we. He is with us, His Spirit is in us, and His Word guides us.

We are new creations in Christ. Temptation is where this new creation is tested, strengthened, and proved. Christ in us is the hope of Glory! We may not be able to thwart all the devil’s plans, but Jesus already has, and so will we if we trust Jesus. We need to trust God rather than take matters into our own hands, trying to “make bread out of rocks,” so to speak. We have proved our weakness more than enough, but Jesus has proven His strength. In Jesus and His victory, we find ours.

Let’s find someone to encourage through their wilderness this week.

Have a great week!

Theologians and philosophers have discussed the so-called “hiddenness of God” problem for centuries. The question of God’s hiddenness or silence is typically discussed in times of trouble and suffering when our felt need for something more tangible is pressing hard on us. Today, I want to look at hearing God and experiencing God. I want to examine what it means to seek God and how we know we have found him.

Let’s begin with a line from one of my favorite Psalms: Psalm 27.

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” Psalm 27:8

Love seeks. I think that is one of the fundamental attributes of love. Love seeks the object of its affection. David loved God and didn’t need to be coerced to seek Him. When God said, “Seek my face,” David was only too happy to oblige. Too often, I have waited until catastrophe strikes to get serious about seeking God’s face. This kind of seeking is not born of our love for God. It is born of desperation that presumes upon the love of God. Thankfully for all of us, God deeply loves us and, like a good parent, has mercy on us even though we never genuinely deserve it. But like a parent, God does desire our love and thanks. Like any loving parent, God would rather we come to Him for the simple joy of being with Him. The most valuable things in my memory are the hugs I received from my granddaughters for no reason at all.

As Psalm 32 tells us:

Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah Psalm 32:6-7

The Best Time to Seek God

This psalm tells us that there is a time when God can be found. That is the perfect time to pray and seek His face. Those who seek God out of love even when they don’t “need” God (which is a terrible phrase when you think about it) have a hiding place when disaster strikes. For that person, disaster is a time to hide and rest in God because they constantly seek Him. They are prepared for disaster because they have sought and found God on the good days. They don’t imagine God to be a panic button under glass that we only break in an emergency. God is not hidden from those who pray and seek Him when He “may be found,” as the psalmist says. To those who love God, He is the constant focus of their attention.

But that is not even the best part of this relationship. Our seeking will always be limited by human frailties. But God’s seeking has no such limitations. God’s love is faithful even though our’s is often fickle.

Paul describes it this way in Romans 8:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

This Week

The Bible tells us in 1st John that we love God because He first loved us.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:19-21

As we seek God this week, we will find Him, and the overflow of his completely undeserved love for us will flow through us to others. We love others not to earn God’s love because we already have that in Jesus. We love others as our worship and thanksgiving to God, who loves us even when we are unlovable. Let’s encourage each other in God as we walk in His love with each other this week.

Have a great week!

God Over All

Psalm 24 [ESV] The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

In Genesis, we are told that the earth was given to us to subdue and to fill. We were to take that raw and wild earth and transform the whole of it into the image God gave us in the garden. But the earth does not truly belong to us; it belongs to God. We were to be his image bearers and agents of his glory. This earth, then and now, belongs to God. Why? Because He is the earth’s creator and ours.

God created the earth and everything in it for His glory. But for God, creation is not complete, nor is His glory without us. He is a saving God to those who come to Him for help.

God’s offer of blessing

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

Our clean hands and pure hearts do not earn us a place on God’s holy hill. They are the response of an honest heart that genuinely seeks God. And as they seek God honestly and with a pure heart. They receive God’s blessing and are given what they could never earn: God’s righteousness and salvation.

For years, I read this psalm as if righteousness were a mountain I needed to climb by having the cleanest hands and purest of hearts. But somehow, I managed to miss the line that says righteousness is a blessing that is given to us by God. We don’t earn it, but we need to seek it. God does not force anything on us, but to those who honestly seek Him and Him alone, he gives us the blessing of righteousness and, ultimately, His salvation.

One last thing in this second stanza is worth looking at. Besides seeking God with a pure heart and clean hands, we are told that we must not lift our souls up to that which is false. In the context of ancient Israel, I think this is a snide reference to the false gods and idolatry that were ever-present in their world. But I think this message is a timeless one. Jesus is the truth; following him is not following lies of any kind, no matter who is telling those lies. Sometimes, the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves because those are the ones that are the hardest to shake.

To all those who honestly and wholeheartedly seek God, we not only receive the blessing of righteousness, we receive eternal hope. And that hope is none other than God himself. Our actions and devotion are both the road to God and reflections of the blessing our loving God has given us in Jesus. So we have hope. Not a hope that someday we will finally get our act together, but a hope in a God who created us and the entire world we inhabit.

Our Hope

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

This week

The takeaway for me this week is to keep my heart fixed on God and only God. There is no hope in this world apart from its creator and sustainer. And there is no hope for me in anything other than God. There are voices in my head and heart and a host of voices in this world that all have one thing in common: they want my attention and, far worse, my allegiance. So this week, I will seek God and God alone. Join me, and bring a friend. Only when the body of Christ is whole can we live and work in the blessedness described in this song as we all wait for the God of Glory to return with Jesus.

Have a great week!

From the start, I have determined to steer this podcast away from politics. So, I apologize if this title hints at politics; my point for today will not be political. It will be “anti-political” if that is even a term. The question of who is in charge has been eternally answered for Christians. Jesus is the king, now and forever.

However, it is easy to say, “Jesus is Lord” or “Jesus is the King of Kings,” when we are around other Christians. Today, I want to talk about what those statements look like as we live and interact with this world. When we explore the theological part of our brains, we understand phrases like “Jesus is Lord,” but as we live our lives day after day, we often find a long line of other “lords” that want to direct our actions. We are constantly tempted to seek help from the nearest tangible source.

We pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” But what are we asking for as we pray this? There seem to be two perspectives on this, one passive and one active. Are we to wait passively and pray for Jesus to return and end all of this suffering? Or are we to actively bring about this kingdom through direct action? The answer is a qualified “both.”

In Hebrews 11, we are given a list of the faithful through history, and we are told that they had one thing in common: their hope was in a future city, a future country. This country is not a man-made place. It is a place whose designer and builder is God.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Heb 11:10[ESV]

…they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Heb:11:16[ESV]

After reading this, you might think, “So it is a passive thing; we just hope in God for a better future,” but the ancient faithful did not wait passively. They did things in faith because of their hope for the future that only God can bring. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us that we are to be salt and light in this world as we wait. Salt gives flavor and is a preservative, and light allows the world to see. Last week, we talked about wisdom, a wisdom from above that guides our words and directs our actions.

This week

This week, we need to resist the double temptation of becoming “bunker Christians” and doing nothing or “activist Christians” who think we can, through our efforts alone, bring about the Kingdom of God. Instead, the path of Jesus is to use each opportunity we are given to be salt and light to this world. We need to speak the truth in love and bear witness to the reality of God’s kingdom through our actions. All the while living in the hope of that better country that Jesus will bring and God will build.

There are many voices in this world that would silence us and many desires in our own hearts that would dilute and even negate our testimony of Jesus. Faith and hope in the coming city of God will give us the courage to speak and act in love when everything else argues against it. And wisdom, the wisdom from above, helps us know when, where, and how to act. This week, we need to pray for wisdom and courage so that we may all live as faithful witnesses to the reality of God’s kingdom. I will leave you with an encouragement from Paul in his letter to the Colossians.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. [Col 3:1-4 ESV]

Have a great week!

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18 NASB

Forest Gump once said, “Stupid is as stupid does,” here, James explains that wisdom is as wisdom does as well. And what does wisdom do? It does good deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. I love the phrase “gentleness of wisdom,” being smart and being wise are two very different things. But from there, this passage takes a disturbing turn. He begins to describe another kind of wisdom, a wisdom that has a very different source. This is demonic wisdom.

James describes demonic wisdom as having two identifiers: jealousy and selfish ambition. I don’t know about you, but these would not be my top picks for the fruit of demonic wisdom. But as I think about it, I can see his point. Far more evil grows from these two desires than we often realize. From jealousy springs resentment and covetousness, which in turn breeds theft, graft, adultery, and violence. Selfish ambition is even sneakier because it can more easily disguise itself as a virtue. But self-serving ambition grows in the same soil that jealousy does. Lies, greed, covetousness, graft, adultery, and violence are never far from the person motivated by selfish ambition.

To make matters worse, the world often rewards selfish ambition; be successful, and people will line up to hear your “wisdom.” But James tells us this kind of success is a form of self-deception. Disorder and evil will be the final result of this demonic wisdom. Jesus warns us about this sort of ambition in Matthew 6:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:19-21 [ESV]

The Wisdom from Above

Thankfully, James speaks of another wisdom - a wisdom from above. Look at the words he uses to describe this wisdom: Pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, and good fruits. This is godly wisdom, not the demonic wisdom of the world.

This wisdom is outward-focused and benefits others rather than self-centered and exercised at the expense of others. The definition of love is benefitting others at my expense. The wisdom from above flows from the love of God through us to others. God is love, so it follows that His wisdom flows out from that love. If we remember this, it is not hard to discern the type of wisdom we are hearing. Does it flow from love to life? Or is it focused on selfish gain? Let’s go back a few thousand years and see what the proverbs have to say on the subject.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. Prov 3:13-18[ESV]

This Week

As we begin a new year, and in the US, an election year at that, we are facing a year of loud voices, most of which will be motivated by the self-centered, grasping, and, according to James, demonic wisdom that is the common coin of this world. We must remember that another wisdom is available from above. This wisdom leads us to be those who plant “the seed whose fruit is righteousness [that] is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Let’s be sowers of this seed regardless of the chaos surrounding us this week.

Have a great week!

What does “The Way” look like to a follower of Jesus in times like these?

There are many ways to look at the times we are now facing. One is to compare it to our experiences of the last few decades. (If we are old enough to do that.) Another way is to look back at church history and see how the Church has responded to upheaval and opposition at other times. Yet another way to gain perspective is to look forward to the promises of God, the coming full realization of the kingdom of God, and the return of the King.

Faith to Endure

Let’s begin by looking back. A big-picture look through the Bible and Church history shows us, first of all, that Christianity is not a utopian religion. The world of the early Church was as far from Utopia as a world can be. And yet, the Church grew and even thrived in this unjust and brutal environment. It survived through the same power that gave it birth: the power of God. As Jesus once said,

With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Faith in God gives us strength and direction for the road ahead. The encouragement to remain faithful till the end is a recurring theme in both the Old and New Testaments. Trying times test our faith, but history teaches us that these trials will not break our faith but rather, as James tells us,

My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways. James 1:2-8[NET]

There is a lot to take in here regarding our trials and faith, but it’s clear that our faith grows stronger by overcoming the troubles of this world. History tells us that James maintained his faith through to martyrdom. So, I think he knew what he was talking about. We have the same God and the same Spirit James had, so we can be sure that our faith will hold. John gives us a similar encouragement in his first letter,

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5[ESV]

This passage speaks not only of a faith that endures but also of a faith that overcomes or conquers. So, let’s examine this aspect of faith as we look toward the uncertain road ahead.

A Faith that Conquers

In our current culture, words like “conquer” are seriously out of vogue. However, the Bible does not shy away from this aspect of faith, and neither should we if we understand it correctly. In modern circles, Christianity is too often imagined as passive and harmless. Aggression is almost universally seen as sin, or at least, the road to sin. But evil is aggressive and relentless, and we are repeatedly told that we must conquer it. Kindness toward people who mistreat us is a good thing, but a passive attitude toward evil is an entirely different matter. We need to conquer evil, not passively watch it grow. We must speak the truth in love, but to do that, we must tell the truth to others. If Jesus had remained silent, he would have never had any impact. If John the Baptist had remained quiet, he would never have been imprisoned and ultimately killed. The truth has consequences, but so does allowing lies to spread unchecked.

The idea of aggressively dealing with evil begins with God’s advice to Cain in Genesis 4,

Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry and why are you scowling? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin crouches at the door and desires to control you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6-7[Unlocked Literal Bible]

Unfortunately, Cain did not listen and ultimately murdered his brother rather than aggressively deal with his sin. Being aggressive with evil actually would have prevented him from doing violence to his brother. This encouragement to take an aggressive attitude toward sin and evil continues all the way through the Bible to the book of Revelation, where “conquering to the end” is a repeated phrase.

So, what am I saying? Perhaps this year, more than any other in recent memory, we will need to stand strong together in faith. We need faith in God and His ability to do what no human could ever do. A faith that does not waiver in the face of opposition. A faith that does not take a casual approach to evil. A faith that loves our enemies but does not sit idly by refusing to speak the truth in places where the truth is so desperately needed.

This may seem like a dark way to approach the coming year, but I don’t think it is. In good times, we tend to forget our absolute need for God and each other and become careless. A careless attitude toward evil is the opposite of conquering to the end. And being passive and indifferent to those around us is the opposite of love.

Trying times are nothing to look forward to, but they are nothing to dread either because, in Christ, we have everything we need to endure and conquer. Remember what Paul told us in Romans 8,

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39[ESV]

Together, we are the body of Christ, the physical manifestation of Jesus to this present age. Remember what Jesus said in John,

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33[ESV]

This Week(and this year)

Our first victory for the coming year must be over hopelessness in ourselves and those around us. If we are going to make resolutions, let the first one be to speak the truth in such a way as to inspire faith in everyone we meet. Faith conquers hopelessness in ourselves and those around us.

To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ Rev 2:7b[ESV]

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Rev 3:21[ESV]

This week, this year, let’s resolve to be agents of faith and hope, thereby conquering this world's evil, lies, and hopelessness.

And let’s have a Happy New Year together! (In faith!)

Have a great week!

Have you ever thought about what the world would be like today if Jesus were never born? We have probably all seen the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, where George Bailey is shown by the angel Clarence what the world would be like without him. It turned out that George Bailey, as ordinary and outwardly unsuccessful as he was, still profoundly affected everyone in his circle and far beyond.

Now imagine a world without Jesus in it. Would there be hospitals? Orphanages? Universities? Would there even be science in the modern sense? What would the literacy rate be? Would our rulers still be considered demigods? Would there be any thought of equality among people? Would there be any objective grounding for justice? Would there be any hope at all for the future? These are just a few questions that immediately come to my mind, but like George Bailey, I’m sure that if we thoroughly examined the impact of a world without Jesus the results would be far more profound - and terrifying.

These are just the everyday effects of the coming of Jesus. I haven’t gotten into the realm of his impact on our spiritual condition yet. So let’s think about that for a moment. First, let’s review our situation. God exists, God is holy, and our destiny does not end at the grave. Therefore, we have a problem. We are not holy, but God is. Our destiny does not end at the grave, it is ultimately determined by God in the final judgment. And since we are not holy our destiny can be nothing but bleak and terrifying.

Thankfully, God loves us. He was not content to leave us to our inevitable fate but personally took action to save us. That action was to send His only son to us. Taking on our humanity so we could know him, learn from him, and balance the scales of justice for us by taking the just penalty for our sins onto Himself. God is not indifferent, he is a loving God who willingly sacrificed to provide a way for us to be restored to Him as His children forever. The son and sacrifice is Jesus. And Jesus is now exalted to the right hand of God enthroned forever as the King of Kings.

Jesus changed everything in heaven and earth through his life, death, and resurrection. The Christmas season is dedicated to remembering where this all began so long ago in Bethlehem.

This Week

As we reflect on the life and promise of Jesus this week, let’s remember his teaching and his example as we wait in hope for his return and the final restoration of this broken world. Join me as we all join together in songs of joy, peace, and hope until that hope becomes reality at the return of the King.

Have a great week!

We celebrate the birth of Jesus because that baby is now the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Advent is the season of our anticipation of his return to rule the earth with justice. Advent is the anticipation of all that was promised, long before this baby was born.

Jesus is no longer helpless

Many many years ago as I was preparing to leave on our first missionary trip, I was listening to a young girl give a devotional talk. My expectations for this talk were pretty low because I knew this girl (or so I thought) so I didn’t expect much from this devotional. But God has a funny way of using whoever he wants, however he wants and he used this girl to say something that has stuck with me to this day. She said many things that day but the tagline was always your Jesus is too small. She talked about various fears we have, how they affect our actions, and how at the root of these fears is the belief that we have a small and fragile Jesus that might break or fail if we do not carefully protect him.

A weak Jesus might fail us in temptation, and a baby Jesus might be crushed by opposing viewpoints. So, the question for us is twofold: Is Jesus the King of kings, and do we believe that? Failing either of these two questions brings about all the worst in us. If we have any doubt that Jesus is the king of the universe we may get defensive and even violent as we try to protect him. But the King of the Universe does not need our protection; since He has already defeated death and the devil, He can’t be harmed by lies or slander. The truth will always win. The truth has already won. Lies are just noise now. Lies are a noise we must learn to ignore as we put our full trust in the truth. Remember, Jesus is the truth (and also the way and the life).

The fear of a breakable Jesus can also make us timid. If we are unsure about Jesus then the things people say about Jesus disturb us and shake our faith. We lose confidence in the truth and compromise out of the fear of our neighbors. We begin to “go along to get along” because we are just not sure that our tiny fragile Jesus can hold up to the world’s criticism.

Jesus and his gospel are unstoppable. If we truly believe that, we do not have to be fearful or defensive. In Jesus, we have already won no matter what the world wants to do. The only loss to concern ourselves with now is the unnecessary loss of those who have not or will not, believe the truth. We are safe and therefore we can love those who still have not believed from a place of complete safety. The lies of this world will not stand, Jesus always will.

This Week

This week, as we reflect on the Christmas story, let’s not forget that the baby was only the beginning. That baby grew up. He loved us, He gave his life for us, conquered evil, rose from the dead, and is currently ruling and reigning at the right hand of God. We as His followers are in Him strictly by grace, so his victory is our victory. We need not fear as we wait this year, no matter what the world throws at us. The Jesus we trust is no longer tiny and fragile. The Jesus we wait for at Advent is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are complete in Him and eternally safe in His love and power. Let’s close by remembering what Jesus said in the Gospel of John:

"Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father's house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too." John 14:1-3 [RSV]

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage - I have conquered the world." John 16:33 [NET]

Have a great week!

To destroy tradition is to erase memory, memory requires rehearsal and repetition. If we erase our collective memory we erase our identity. If we lose these things we will steal any sense of history and identity from our children. Tradition is far more important than I ever imagined when I was younger. People are quick to see the flaws in our traditions and history but slow to see it’s value.

Today we see a horrible identity crisis in young people, I don’t want to be simplistic, but I think it is fair to say that this is at least aggravated by the fact that so many children are raised with no sense of history or tradition. Nothing to anchor them and no sense of who they are or where they come from as a people, and therefore no sense of who they are as an individual. This makes them easy prey for the sellers of perverse ideas regarding so called “identity” that are currently flooding the media and education systems.

Last year I discussed my past as a Lutheran farm boy and while I had very few advantages financially I did have love and a rich identity that flowed from a history that informed and anchored everything I did. To some degree this history defines me to this day. Now that my boys are middle aged I have listened to them describe their childhood and it is interesting what stuck with them and what they value even without realizing how much they value it. It’s little things like Saturday pizza and getting the Christmas tree. It’s cookies, Lebkuchen, Stollen and lights.

These things, though small and by themselves completely unimportant, form memories that anchor their childhood and define who we were and who we are as a family and as individuals. Each of my sons had their favorite and least favorite parts of this season and arguing about it with their brothers helped them to understand who we are as a family and who they are as individuals. They are family and they share a common bond, but they are not all the same.

Advent is one of those traditions that is not technically a Biblical mandate or even a teaching, but it is traditionally a time set aside to remember the gift of God to us at Bethlehem. And a time to remember our hope for the future in Jesus. God has come to us in Jesus and advent reminds us of the absolute mystery and wonder of that event. But advent is also a time to remember that he is coming again to bring final justice to all, and eternal life to all that believe. The mess that self-serving human government has made and continues to make, will one day end. Jesus came once many years ago to serve us and give his life for us and he is coming again, this time to to rule forever.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.   (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

This week let’s not allow ourselves to be pushed along by the things we call urgent, and carve out some time to reflect on our history and our future. Let’s allow the wonder of God’s gift to a rebellious and sinful people to soak in a bit. It’s time to fight this anchorless culture and establish a culture and a tradition of remembrance, honor, and hope in Jesus. Start a new tradition or reestablish an old one. Let’s help each other remember that there is real hope for the future in Jesus.

Have a great week!

As I look through the New Testament, I see a few evils that are singled out and condemned very harshly. Before I begin, I want to make it clear that God’s grace not only forgives us for these evils but gives us the ability through our new creation in Christ to overcome them. I say this because we are about to look at some very strong language, some from Jesus and some from his brother James, and I don’t want anybody to feel overwhelmed and condemned.

The particular evil we will be looking at today is the harm we can do through our speech. Let’s begin with James 3:

... we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. [James 3:1-12 ESV]

Here, James describes the devastation caused by the malicious or even the careless use of our tongues. He describes the tongue as a deadly poison and a fire that shapes the direction of our entire lives, the source (and it seems the destination) of which is hell. It is, according to James, an untameable evil, but thankfully, that is not the whole story. James goes on to say in the rest of the chapter that there is another source: There is a wisdom that comes from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy.

To James, it all comes down to sources. Some words and deeds flow from jealousy and selfish ambition, while others flow from divine wisdom. The good news is that we can now, in Christ, do what we could not do before. The bad news is that our natural heart or natural inclinations are still with us, and they are still not good.

Jesus said it this way:

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” … 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. [Matt 15:10-11; 18-20 ESV]

We have been given a new heart. But as long as we are in this body, our old heart is never far away. As believers, we must choose: will we live according to our new life in Christ or continue to follow our old fallen heart? Through the Spirit of God, we now have a real choice. We are no longer slaves to sin because we have been set free through the death and resurrection of Christ.

For the Americans reading this, we just celebrated Thanksgiving Day, and as Christians, we have a lot to be thankful for. We can be grateful that we are not alone in this. We have hope. Jesus has set us free from the tyranny of our old, fallen hearts. And that is a very good thing because the last passage I want to examine is the harshest one so far. I’m not sure I have ever heard a sermon on this one, in fact, but from the wording, it seems pretty important.

I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." [Matthew 12:36-37 NET]

Here, Jesus is explaining that our words really do matter. They can heal and hurt, and their effects carry forward into eternity.

This Week

This is a somewhat overwhelming selection of passages this week, and there is a lot to think about here. But I don’t want to look at this, throw my hands up, and walk away because I don’t know what to do with it. There is a way forward. God has not put an impossible task before us without giving us the grace to do it.

This week, I want to start small. By God’s grace, I can do things today that I failed to do in the past. I can use my tongue for what it was intended for today. Paul gives us a first step with this advice in Ephesians:

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

This week I will work to speak only those things that build up others rather than tear them down. I want to speak life to people, not death. Individually, these are small and doable steps, but jealousy and selfish ambition have to go to make this happen.

Since this has been a kind of heavy day, I would like to end with some encouragement that Paul gave to the Philippian church:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9 NASB

I can’t add anything to that except to say busting stuff is easy, and building stuff is hard, but building others up is worth the effort. Remember, “The Lord is near!”.

Have a great week!

The title of this article is a bit provocative, I confess, but the really scary thing about it is that I think it is sometimes much more accurate than it should be. At some point, we have probably all been guilty of this sort of thing. Let me explain.

First, some definitions: witchcraft is using magical spells or rites to coerce beings in the spirit world to help you. It is trying to manipulate the spiritual world to your own advantage.

Can a Christian do this? Well, obviously, a Christian could fully engage in this sort of thing by rebelling against the faith and seeking help from evil spirits, but this is not what I am talking about today.

Jesus once asked his disciples, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” and even more sobering, he once described judgment in this way,  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”.

I put these two quotes together because I think it helps us to understand these hard sayings of Jesus. And it is helpful in understanding the attitudes and behaviors I am talking about today. The difference between prayer and witchcraft comes down to one simple question.

Who is serving whom?

When we pray, are we trying to coerce God into obeying our will? Or are we submitting ourselves to God and praying according to His will? Are we asking as loving children in need? Or are we spoiled children stomping our feet and demanding our way? Do we try to make deals with God? Do we throw His words back in His face and demand action? Do we think we know better than God? Do we believe that He has our eternal best interests in mind? Or do we think like the wicked servant in Matthew 25 saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’. Do we really believe that God is good? Do we act like His faithful servants? Or do we approach God, prayer, and our religious service as a means to coerce Him to satisfy our desires?

So what is Prayer?

Is prayer a conversation where God does what we ask? Is prayer a conversation where our desires become more aligned with God’s desires? Does prayer change God’s mind? Can God change His mind? Should we ever even ask God to change His mind? As I look at the scriptures, I think a case can be made for all of these perspectives, including times when it appears that prayer actually changed God’s intentions for a situation. So it turns out that a simple question like, “What is prayer?” is in many ways a very difficult question to answer definitively and, theologically at least, turns out to be anything but simple.

But in a way, the question of prayer can be childishly simple if you approach prayer with the heart of a loving child and that of a faithful servant. The difference between prayer and witchcraft really is one of intent. Witchcraft is self-serving, and prayer is centered on the will and wisdom of God. The Bible is full of examples of normal people who ask God things in love and faith, and God responds to them. Whether the answer is yes or no, God does answer prayers. What we need to have is the right heart to ask the right questions and the right heart to hear the answers. And this, in my opinion, is the most important function of prayer, aligning our hearts and our desires with the desires of God.

So, is it wrong to pray for ourselves?

Of course not; there are several lines in the Lord’s Prayer that address our personal needs. Again, it is a question of intent. Our mistake when we pray for ourselves is often one of assuming we know what is best and then demanding God give it to us. Or we may even try to bargain with God to get what we feel we need. The truth is, what’s best for us is that which is eternally best for us. We can’t begin to understand the eternal consequences of our requests, but God can. If we wish to keep our prayer pure, we need to believe that God is good, all the time, and that he desires our eternal good more than we do. With this understanding, we can and should pray for our needs and the needs of others and trust that God will give us all that we truly need. But not always what we want at the moment.

This week

To wrap up, we definitely do not want to think about prayer as a way to bend God’s will to ours, as if God is a reluctant Genie. But we do want to pray, and it is not at all wrong to ask. So, what changes do we want to make to our prayer life this week?

Once again, James has some advice.

You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [James 4:2b-3 ESV]

This week, I want to be more deliberate in my prayer. I want to make wisdom my first ask so I can know His will and see clearly to ask in love and faith. Confident that my father in heaven knows what is best and what I truly need, long before I ask. Join me and bring a friend!

Have a great week!

In previous weeks we have been discussing bible interpretation and inductive study. This week I thought it might be useful to give a brief example of how the steps we discussed last week can be used in daily bible study.

Last week I briefly summarized the main steps in studying the bible inductively.

* Discover the background of the book

* Observe what the text is actually saying

* Interpret the text through the eyes of the author and original reader

* Apply the timeless truths of the text to our lives and/or contemporary issues

Step One - Background

The letter to the Romans was written in 57AD by Paul. Under Claudius the Jews were kicked out of Rome, however at the time of this writing Nero had assumed power and presumably allowed the Jews to return. This is confirmed by the fact that in this letter Paul speaks to both Gentile and Jewish believers. Sometimes he speaks to them together and other times he speaks to each group individually. Watch for this as you read Romans, it is a helpful observation to identify Paul progression of thought through this book(letter).

The text for today comes from the beginning of the 12th chapter of Romans and since context is crucial for understanding I will give a two minute summary of the book of Romans so far.

Chapters 1 - 3

Both Gentiles and Jews stand guilty before God each in their own way. Jesus through his sacrifice justifies both Jews and Gentiles through faith.

Chapter 4

Abraham was also justified by faith making him the father of all those that believe, Jew and Gentile alike.

Chapter 5

Through the righteous sacrifice of Jesus, death which was brought into the world by sin ever since Adam, has been overcome.

Chapter 6

Through baptism we are united with Jesus in his death and his resurrection. The power sin and death had over us died with Jesus, and with his resurrection we now also share a new life in Christ which is no longer enslaved to sin and death.

Chapter 7

For the Jewish believer wondering how they can live in a new covenant when they are still bound to the old covenant Paul explains that covenants are only in effect until death. The death they share with Jesus frees them from the old covenant, and his resurrection life frees them to enter into a new covenant by faith.

Chapter 8

Though our flesh may still be weak, through the Spirit of God we are now empowered to live a life that was previously impossible as we wait for the coming of Jesus.

Chapter 9 - 11

God has not abandoned the Jewish people, but rather he has expanded his people to include all believers, Jew and Gentile alike. Paul gives a beautiful illustration in Chapter 11 of a single olive tree with both natural and wild branches all attached through faith.

Chapter 12

This is our current chapter and here Paul begins to make his previous teachings very practical with advice on how to apply his previous teachings.

That is a bit of background and context now let’s move on.

Step 2 Observation

Let’s begin with a simple reading of the text we wish to study.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

Paul begins with a “therefore” which connects this appeal to all the things he has previously taught. In other words, in light of this gospel I am begging you to think about your life like this. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Remember the temple is still standing and sacrifice is still practiced, so this image is a powerful one to the original audience Jew and Gentile alike. A normal sacrifice was death for the sacrifice, it was a one and done process for the sacrificial animal. But our sacrifice is to be a living, ongoing sacrifice of our lives to God. This is acceptable to God and it is the highest worship.

Paul then contrasts being conformed to this world with being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Friendship with this world is not possible it is one or the other as this strong contrast shows, we either think like the world, or we allow the truth of God to transform us. But the transformation is not just in the mind it is tested and realized by our lives. The rest of the sentence tells us, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect”.

Step 3 Interpretation

I think there are at least two important thoughts for the original readers of this text. Their lives were bought back from slavery by the blood of Jesus and therefore they do not own their lives, they belong to God from this day forward.

And the second key takeaway is this: Knowing is not really knowing until it is put into practice and tested. It was not enough to be Jewish or not enough to believe facts about Jesus. True knowledge came from putting the truth into practice. True knowledge was tried and tested knowledge. If they wanted to know the will of God they needed to put what they have learned into practice.

Step 4 Application

In this particular passage the message for today and the message for the original reader is very much the same. While there are questions regarding the Gentile Christians relationship to Judaism are not a particularly hot topic for today’s church, the underlying concepts remain the same. So what are a couple of “timeless truths” from this text?

* Because of the sacrifice of Jesus for us our life is no longer ours to claim. We belong to God and our highest worship is to live everyday as a sacrifice to Him.

* True knowledge is more than information, it can only be realized by putting that information to work in the actual world.

This Week

So how do we personally apply the truths of this passage this week? The final and most important step of bible study is finding a way to apply the truth into our everyday decisions and actions. There is a lot to consider in the short passage we looked at today. What does the understanding that our lives belong to God change about our priorities and plans for this week. Are we even asking the right questions when we wake up in the morning? If we are asking the right questions what are we doing with the answers? Do we live like servants of the Almighty God? Do we submit our will to the will of God?

And how do we know the will of God? Ironically by living out the truth we have learned from the Spirit of God through His word.

So this week let’s set a doable goal. Let’s act on at least one thing we have learned from God and take note of how it changes our life and our understanding of His will for us. This week let’s find at least one concrete way to demonstrate the gospel with our lives. Let’s love in action and allow God to transform our transformed thoughts into transformed actions.

Have a great week!

When I was young I was blessed to know a man named Obed Edom Balken. I used to jump at the chance to ask him questions after church. He was kind and wise and had a twinkle in his eye that made me smile. He was one of those people that made you feel more alive every time you talked to him.

One day in response to one of these questions, (and I don’t even remember the question), he looked at me with that twinkle in his eye and said, “you know, you can fall into the ditch on either side of the road”. This thought got me thinking about the role of balance in biblical interpretation. It is a thought that has guided and helped me ever since as I became a missionary and eventually a bible teacher to young aspiring missionaries.

What is “Interpretation”

I was brought up thinking that interpretation meant, “what does this mean to me?”. But that definition gets the cart before the horse in a serious way. Bible study ends with me it does not begin with me. It begins with the people it was originally written to. If we want to understand the bible the first thing we need to do is get our own interests out of the center of our focus.

I have been teaching an inductive bible study method for over twenty years now and the process has permanently changed the way I read the bible, even in my private devotions. At the core of this method are the following three steps.

* Observation

* This is reading the text carefully and making sure you understand what the words are actually saying.

* Interpretation

* This is not what it means to me but what it meant when it was written. What the author intended and what the original readers would have thought.

* Application

* This distills the timeless truths from the interpretation and applies those truths to our current situation and culture.

Each of these principles can be expanded on to no end so obviously I can’t get into all the details today. Talking about method might make bible reading sound academic and dull. But today I want to stress that reading the bible with understanding is not some ivory tower goal that can never be reached by mere mortals. The bible was written to regular people with the assumption that they would understand what the author was saying. So with a bit of background information as we discussed in the last podcast regular people today can accurately interpret and apply these books. But more than that, the inspired word of God transforms, encourages, corrects, guides, and inspires us then and now. In fact, at no time in history have so many people had as much access to the scriptures as we do now. Around the world the bible is reaching into peoples and cultures of every language. What is lacking at this point is not so much access to the scriptures, at least not for the majority of the world. What is lacking are the skills required to read and understand those scriptures. This has been and still is the need that motivates me to keep going, helping people learn to read, understand, and enjoy the scriptures.

How do we know we are right in our interpretations?

In a word, humility. But in practice, it is a little more involved. To begin what do we mean by “right”? The “right” interpretation is the authors intended interpretation. So what did it mean when it was written is really the key question when you are discussing interpretation. Once that is done you can “apply” that truth to our situation today. But here is where things often go wrong.

We often run into the ditch of feeling right but failing to apply what we have learned, or we fall into the other ditch of becoming so convinced of our rightness that we become for all practical purposes unteachable, either by God or by others. We confuse knowing the truth with living the truth. We seek answers to difficult questions just for the satisfaction of knowing the right answer, but too often refuse to let the truth change us. Does the truth change our behavior?

As I have studied and taught over the years I have become convinced that it is not the parts of the bible we don’t understand that should bother us the most, it is the parts of the bible that we do understand that should really bother us. It is the truth we know that should drive us and shape our lives - everyday. Obeying the truth will lead us to more truth. (Seek and you will find) Disregarding the truth we know will harden our hearts and make us unresponsive to God and His word. (The Pharisees never learned anything from Jesus, neither did those that simply went home when the show was over.)

This Week

So what are we going to do this week that we were not doing last week? This week let’s be more intentional about our bible reading. If you don’t have a reading buddy think about finding one, someone to talk with about what you are reading and what you are learning. And this week let’s try reading in the four step method that we have described so far.

* Read in a study bible or online and get some background on the book you are reading. Find out who wrote it and when they wrote it. Try to understand why they wrote it and what the problem was that they were writing into. Try to understand those original readers of this text and try to discern what their questions were.

* Read the text carefully watching for repeated words and ideas, looking for comparisons and contrasts, and watch for any purpose or summary statements made by the author. Read the text with a “blank slate attitude” don’t read your questions and conclusions into it, but rather let the text speak to its own issues and in its own voice. Remember these are ancient texts from a very different culture. Their questions were not our questions. Their questions must always come first. That takes us to the next step

* Ask yourself what those original readers would have heard in this text. Ask yourself, “what did the author want his readers to do?” or “what question does this answer for the original reader?”. And when all that is done you can finally ask the question, “what is the timeless truth that is being taught in this text?”. What remains true regardless of time, circumstance, or culture?

* What does this truth mean in today’s world? Or, what should I do with this truth today? While it is true that we don’t have the exact questions that the original readers had, the truths taught in answer to their questions are still true today. This last step requires that we find those truths and find ways to express them in our culture today.

These simple steps if taken carefully can open the door to a deeper level of understanding. So get a friend or two or three together and try to read the bible using this approach to interpretation. If you have any questions about this method feel free to ask them in the comments below, you can be sure you are not the only one with questions so don’t be shy.

Have a great week!

We talked last week about the importance of developing your own personal liturgy, a structured time each day set aside for God. And we spoke about the importance of a daily bible reading program of some type to help in the development of this new healthy habit. The point of this newsletter from the beginning was to stay focused on topics that help us walk every day in the Way of Jesus. As a bible teacher I have talked to many people over the years that were either in the process of developing a bible reading plan or discussing why they have failed to do so in the past.

So this week I would like to discuss some practical ideas for how to read the bible in a way that is enjoyable, helpful, and sustainable.

What is the Bible?

I am going to start at the beginning today. The bible is not a book it is a collection of books, it is really a library of ancient books translated into modern languages. This may seem pretty obvious when you think about it for a minute but these facts are tremendously important to remember when you are reading your bible.

* This is a collection not one book.

* They are truly ancient documents from cultures very different from our own.

* They have all been translated in modern language, even the King James English is very modern compared to the original. The originals were in Hebrew and Greek.

* Finally these books are not all the same type of literature. There are poems, songs, narratives, law, biography, letters, prophecy, visions, and parables.

The last point is very important for the modern reader, because you do not read law in the same way you read a poem. And you don’t read a poem the way you read a letter. And you don’t read prophecy and visions the way you read a biography. So, to understand and enjoy reading the bible requires an awareness of what you are reading. Some things are to be read in a literal matter of fact way, others like poetry, parables, and prophecy need to be understood in a much more figurative way. This is by necessity, it’s important to remember:

The right interpretation is the authors intended interpretation. Literal interpretation is only correct if the author intended the reader to take it literally.

This might seem shocking, you might wonder, how can I know what the author intended? Generally speaking it’s not all that hard to know the literature type, and once you know what kind of literature you are reading, the way you read it follows. Of course there are difficult passages in the bible, but generally it’s not that hard to understand what it being said once you understand two things.

* Who is speaking and who the intended reader is. (This includes where, when, and what their situation and perspective was)

* What type of literature is the author using to communicate.

The good news is that some of this kind of information can usually be gathered easily either from the introduction to the book in any good study bible or from a good bible encyclopedia. The more you read about the background of the biblical books the more you will understand and feel what the author is saying.

Context, Context, Context

Once you get a sense of what you are looking at, the next challenge is context. Context can be understood in two main categories. I could talk all day about either one of these categories (and I have on occasion) but to get started I just want you to think about how important context is. Context is how we understand everything, and the bible is certainly no exception.

* Historical Context

* This is the kind of context that is most often neglected. None of the books of the bible were written to us. They are written for us to understand but they were not written to us. The newest of the documents is ancient and you have to always remember that the entire frame of reference of both the author and the original readers is very different than ours. The oldest books are speaking from the perspective of the late Bronze or Early Iron age middle eastern culture. This kind of context can be learned from study bibles and bible dictionaries. You must never forget that although the people in these stories are very relatable they have a very different worldview than we have.

* Literary Context

* This is the “normal” sense of context and includes the immediate setting of the verse or phrase you are reading. But it also includes the broader context of the entire book you are reading. For example, think about how the phrase or verse fits into the larger topics and themes of the book. Consider where the phrase or verse fits into the larger message of the author of the book. Look for the conclusion of the point the author is making and see if he makes any summary statements or draws any conclusions from what he has just said. And this is just scratching the surface.Beyond the immediate context and the context of the book, there is the context of either the New or Old Covenant. And finally there is the overall context of the entire Bible.

Dealing with Figures of Speech and Symbolic Language

Many of my students have been put off by poetry, figures of speech, and Symbolic Language or numbers. They are afraid that if it is not to be understood in a literalistic way then it could mean anything. While I understand this concern, figurative or symbolic does not mean “make believe” nor does it give anyone license to make it mean whatever you want.

Figurative language and symbols are understood in the same way that all words are understood. By Context and Common Usage.

You see every word is a symbol, it is a symbol with an agreed upon meaning. This meaning is determined by context and common usage. Think about this word for a moment: lead. Without context we don’t know how to pronounce the word in English. We don’t even know if it is a noun or a verb. But we don’t just “make up” meanings for it because it could have more than one meaning. We use context and common usage to understand and use the word. With context we know if we are talking about a leash or a soft heavy metal or the process of guiding someone or something else along.

Symbolic language and figures of speech are the same, we use common usage and context to understand their meaning. The bible is our greatest asset in interpreting the bible. Now that may sound circular but when it comes to context and common usage the bible is our first reference for both. We look for other places this phrase or symbol is used and we see how it is used and the meaning it carries. The numbers 12 and 7 are great examples of symbolic numbers. They are used all over the bible so we do not have to guess at their meaning. Again for the more obscure ones you may want to look at commentaries or some other external source, but don’t go there until you have looked carefully at it yourself, then go to eternal sources for help and possibly even confirmation. Finding something yourself can be very satisfying and also much more memorable.

Whatever you do keep reading

I have had the pleasure of working with a few top notch scholars over the years. One of them was Ronald Youngblood who, among many other things, was one of the translators of the NIV bible. After a lecture one day we were talking and I asked him, what keeps you going? You could have retired long ago (he was 80 at the time) and he told me, “every time I read the bible I see something new, the bible is not just a book it is a living thing”. This stuck with me and I have also found it to be absolutely true in my own life.

So whatever you do in your bible reading, read your bible. Read it everyday and let God speak to you, if you do that, you will have no regrets for the time you have spent.

Let me know what you think of this topic, I am thinking about doing a series on how to study the bible effectively. If this is something that interests you let me know, either in the comments below or by replying to the email if you want more privacy.

Have a great week!

According to Webster a liturgy can be described as: a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances. Often this word is used to describe the order of worship on a Sunday morning. But Sunday is only one day of the week, what do we do on the other days?

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This is a thought I had some years ago as I was preparing a lecture for a bunch of aspiring missionaries. I like to use catch phrases and short quotes as hooks in my teachings and this one sounded good, so I wrote it down. The problem is that this saying is better than I am. As I stared at it I realized that this was not something the students needed to think about as much as it was something I needed to think about. Which is good I guess, since I am always telling young teachers that they can’t lead students anywhere that they have never gone themselves. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander I guess.

This led me to changes in my lifestyle that I have continued to develop to this day. I started thinking about my daily worship and lifestyle. Does it have any substance? Is it an accurate reflection of a changed life? Am I consistent? What do I spend my time on? Do I read, if so, what do I read? Who and what do I listen to? And probably most important, why do I do any of it?

Today I am going to start with a famous verse from the gospel of John. It is part of a dialog Jesus was having with a Samaritan woman by a well. She asked a question about worship in her cultural context a wanted to know who is right about worship(Jews or Samaritans) and where it should be done.

John 4:21-24 (ESV) Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I went in to this article today thinking about spiritual disciplines and personal worship. But this passage is once again better than I was looking for. In this passage Jesus is pushing past outward expressions of worship and zeroing in on the source of the worship that needs to be expressed.

Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

What was Jesus really saying with this often quoted phrase? Was he suggesting that formal corporate worship was not important? That it was in some way obsolete? Or was he saying that both Samaritan and Jewish outward worship forms are inadequate? True worship is not simply ritual, true worship flows out of the heart of the worshiper from and through the Spirit.

So if true worship flows from the heart of the worshiper, where does it go from there? How is this true worship expressed? Can true worship ever be unexpressed? Worshiping in Spirit certainly must find some means of expression or it has no reality. Think about it, is it even possible to have a cause without an effect? It seems to me that while true worship is not simply external activity, true worship in the Spirit must find some expression in order to be actualized. After all in Revelation we see many scenes of worship in heaven and they are all very expressive. So what is the proper expression of true worship in the Spirit for us today? Paul says in Romans 12:1 that true worship involves making our lives living sacrifices. Unlike the worship of Jesus’ day where sacrifice was offering up an animal’s life. Paul’s understanding of worship is to offer up our own lives continuously. What does such an ongoing sacrifice look like? And where do we go to learn?

The Word, the Spirit, and us

The Spirit of God breathed through men to give us the scriptures.

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

In a way, the scriptures like Jesus are a sort of incarnation. These words are an expression of God and His will and His ways to us in a tangible form. We know God by interacting with His word. Therefore to worship in Spirit we must in some way reflect His word to the world. We need to know His word. Through His word we know Jesus with the help of the Spirit. And the Spirit through his work and the word will bear fruit in us, just as Jesus explained to his disciples:

Matt 7:16-18 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

What does this look like on a Tuesday morning?

This is where it gets real for me. Am I a true worshiper? Or do I just worship sometimes if the music is right. What does worship look like? How do I express this worship? I will not completely answer these questions today obviously. These questions need to be answered though, they need to be answered through the entire course of our lives, and in many different ways.

In the coming weeks I will return to these questions, but for today I want to get very practical and lay what I consider to be the first brick in the wall. Reading God’s word. Going to church is important but it will not feed your soul on a Tuesday morning when life is crashing in from all directions. I know that worshiping in spirit and truth is more than reading the bible. But getting quiet before God and listening to the word that He has breathed out by his Spirit allows his Spirit to work in us, to revive and strengthen us for whatever the day may bring.

Habits can be good

This week let’s consider how we can build a habit of letting God speak through his word by His Spirit to us every day. So that, we can reflect that Spirit as true worship throughout the day.

So if you are not already in the habit of daily bible reading, I would recommend that you get a daily bible reading plan of some sort, there are many, and commit to read a portion of the bible every day. Do this with someone else so you can encourage each other. Use that time in God’s word to reflect and get quiet and allow God to speak through his word. Life will not want to cooperate with this so you will need to aggressively schedule this into each day. Jesus found time even when he was traveling, we can too. After all we never forget to eat and sleep, we always seem to find time for the things we believe to be important.

This takes me full circle to where I started:

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This week let’s take steps toward becoming a people that truly worship in spirit and truth every day, so that we may show the world God’s glory through our actions. Take some time, make a plan, and begin to create a personal liturgy of your own - today. Build daily habits that will build your life.

Have a great week!

Resources:

Bible Reading Companion app (This is an app I have used especially when travelling)

Daily Lectionary Readings (a nice selection of readings throughout the year)

I am sure there are apps for iphone that give you a daily reading plan as well I just don’t know them to recommend them.

James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

This seeming contradiction can be a bit startling at first until you start to consider what Paul and James mean when they say the words “works” and “faith”. Once we define those terms a bit the whole supposed controversy becomes much easier to understand.

Words can have many meanings, I would say that this is one of the main reasons for our current cultural divisions. So how do we understand the meaning of words when words can have more than one meaning? The answer I give my students is that words as well as figures of speech and biblical symbols are defined by common usage and context. Faith for example can have a range of meaning depending on the context.

Faith for James and also for Paul is more than just believing that the truth is true. Faith can, and I think should, be understood as a positive response to the truth. Because as James points out in a moment even the demons “believe” in God and yet they “shudder”.

James 2:18-26 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

So what are we to make of Paul saying that we are saved without the “works of the law”?

The “works of the law” that Paul refers to here are not the kind of works James is discussing. James is not advocating kosher laws, sacrifices, or circumcision as a means of justification before God. He was defining faith, specifically a genuine and saving faith, as opposed to a mere intellectual assent that the truth is true.

Paul’s comments were in the context of questions that were circling around the churches at that time. There was a lot of debate around the idea that Gentiles needed to become Jewish proselytes, getting circumcised and keeping food laws and other Jewish ceremonial laws, before they could partake in the blessings of the Jewish Messiah. This was also the focus of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. James was the leader of the church at Jerusalem at the time and he was the one that had the final word at that council. There were those that were assigning saving power to outward acts of Jewish ceremonial law and James shut them down. Paul was dealing with this same kind of false teaching when said works of the law do not save us. But Paul was not talking about being saved without repenting from sinful works. Nor was he saying there was no need for good works.

He was saying we are saved by faith and not “works of the law”. Salvation is now freely available to all, Jew and Gentile alike. This was Paul’s point in saying that. But James was making a very different point in his epistle, one which Paul would have fully agreed with.

Faith does not consist of good works, but saving faith results in good works.

We do not work to be saved, we work because we are saved.

Faith requires a response to what God has freely given us. Consider this famous passage from Paul in Romans.

Romans 10:9-10 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

So you see for Paul as well as for James faith is not simply believing that the truth is true, it is instead a positive response to that truth. This kind of faith is necessary for the gift to bring about its desired end. To make it more clear consider what Paul said in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:9-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

When you read this it becomes clear that there is no controversy between Paul and James regarding salvation. James was just clarifying for his readers what real faith looked and acted like. He was guarding against a sort empty intellectual belief that was seeping in and corrupting the definition of true living faith.

I discuss this definition of faith further in the article on faith and Walmart.

And finally to show that there is no real difference in the teachings of Paul and James on faith, consider this teaching of Paul to the Ephesian church.

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), Ephesians 5:5-9

Jesus told us that to abide in him is to bear much fruit, for without him we can do nothing. As long are we don’t try to reverse the process, and begin to think that God will owe us salvation because of our works, we are in no danger of trying to “earn our salvation”. God will never owe us anything, since everything we have comes from God in the first place.

But there does seem to be a danger here that both Paul and James agree on, and that is possessing a type of faith that does not produce the fruit of good works. If our life is devoid of the fruit of the Spirit I think it is appropriate to ask if we really do have the kind of faith that saves us. Paul told the Corinthian church to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith”. It was good advice then and I believe it is good advice now.

This week

This week let’s encourage each other to “love and good works” as the author of Hebrews encourages us. We need to remind each other that the Kingdom of God is people, people Jesus died to save. And let’s stay focused on the gift of life that God has provided for us all, and think about what our response to such an unimaginable gift should be as we interact with each other.

This week let’s demonstrate our faith by our actions.

Have a great week!

I grew up thinking that Pharisees were holier than thou religious types, the worst of the worst. They were horrible people pretending to be super righteous people. Was I wrong? Well, no they were and are that, but it was a naive and incomplete understanding of how universal the problem of self-righteousness really is. The world we live in at this moment is really not a very religious place. Yet, it is filled to the brim with self-righteous and hypocritical people that say one thing and do another while at the same time condemning anyone that would disagree or point their hypocrisy out as evil.

While the original Pharisees were religious establishment types, the modern Pharisees have their own religious beliefs and they love power, influence, and public respect fully as much as any biblical Pharisee. They are self-righteous or to put it another way, fully convinced of their own self-defined rightness. They condemn as evil all those that disagree and use public opinion as their source of authority.

With this awareness let’s have a look at a portion of Matthew were Jesus describes this situation in his day and see if any of this sounds familiar.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. [Matt 23:1-12 ESV]

Not long ago I asked my grandson what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, “I want to be an “influencer” on YouTube”. This made me laugh because of its raw honesty. We all want to be respected, we all want our opinions to be the guiding principles of others. And, we all like to pretend we don’t. The Pharisees were in just such a position in their society. They were the teachers, they were respected in the streets. Their opinions were sought after and people feared to contradict them. They decided who was in and who was out.

Our culture is no different, though the current popular religion has nothing to do with the true God, in practice it has many gods and many dogmas. And there are those that set and enforce those dogmas, they are the respected and feared ones. They are the ones that people fear to contradict. Think about it, people no longer fear to contradict Christianity, that’s how you can tell that Christianity is not the dominant religion in this world. If you want to know who the Pharisees are today just ask yourself who do I fear to contradict? Who sets the tone and who decides what is and is not acceptable? And who is it that is constantly fighting against Jesus and his teachings? These are the modern Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees.

So why did Jesus talk about them so much?

Why did the Gospel writers spend so much time on them?

Two reasons come to mind for me.

* They are still around.

* The culturally powerful and influential are still at work resisting Jesus and his teachings. They are and always have been energized by the “spirit of antichrist”. They are the influencers and the “powers that be” and they never change because Jesus never changes. They are quite literally anti-Christ.

* We can so easily become them.

* This is the real threat. This is why the second half of this teaching focuses on making sure the disciples don’t become the very thing that they hate. It is all too easy to be right and wrong at the same time. Jesus instructs his original disciples and us to avoid even the language of “teacher” and “father”(both were titles of authority in the culture of Jesus’ time.)

* The way to avoid becoming the thing you hate is humility and service.

This Week

This week as we reflect on this I think there are two ways we can respond as well.

* First we must remember that having cultural authority does not make you right. Nor does agreeing with cultural norms. But our disagreement mustn’t degenerate into a self-righteous hatred either, lest we once again become the very thing we hate.

* We must humble ourselves and serve, allowing our actions be our strongest argument. We will still be hated by those that hate Jesus. But we will be hated unjustly since we will be hated for our actions rather than our hypocrisy and empty talk.

We must “Speak the truth in love” as Paul teaches, neither kowtowing to the mob nor being an ugly mirror image of the mob. But rather showing the reality of our words with our deeds. Loving each other as Jesus loved us and gave his life for us.

Have a great week!

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. [Joshua 5:13-15 ESV]

This is not my usual New Testament reading. But this story is timeless and one of my favorites. We see in this story that God is not and will not be defined by our human categories. This is why Jesus was so confusing to friends and foes alike. In this podcast I like to focus on topics that help us walk in the way of Jesus. So I have purposely avoided anything overtly political. Jesus was also stubbornly non-political if you follow his life through the gospels. His disciples and others were often encouraging him to be more political, and his enemies were afraid he already was a rising political threat. But thankfully through all these pressures Jesus stuck to his message and his mission and did not succumb to any of these voices.

Today I want to discuss how we can maintain a kingdom focus in a world that desperately demands that we choose to be either “right” or “left”. To begin, the commander of the army of the Lord has come and our orders come from him alone. When we realize this, all other distinctions and labels become meaningless. He is the end of all arguments, God has now entered the world and His word is final. Following Jesus the King of Kings will put us at odds with the world left, right, and center. (Libertarians won’t like it either) When the commander of the army of the Lord shows up (and he has) there is only one side that matters and only one question remaining.

“What would you like me to do?”

The answer to Joshua is a curious one. “Take your shoes off because you are standing on holy ground”. There are several ways to think about the significance of taking your shoes off, but the one I keep coming back to is this: we make shoes to lift us up and to separate and protect us from the ground. When our creator tells us to take off our shoes there is now nothing man made between us and the dust we were created from. It is an act of humility and a recognition of sovereignty before our creator all in one.

So if we are to navigate the current conflicts step one is taking off our shoes and remembering we are but dust without God. Our commander has the only word we need to listen to. And victory will not come by our efforts alone. The right side is not mine or yours it is God’s.

There is a new way

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. [Isaiah 43:19 ESV]

The world wants us to go left or right. The world wants to divide us into classes of people, defined in various ways but always, always distinct and separate and at odds. The world cries for unity while dividing into groups and fighting. They shout down those in power while grasping for more power at the same time. They want to be heard, but they want to silence others. They don’t believe in objective truth, but will call you evil if you disagree with them. This is the world we live in, but this is not the kingdom of God.

Jesus is now the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and although this world is still in a state of confusion, governed by the lies of the Devil, the kingdom of God will be fully realized in time. And while we wait He has shown us another way. Let’s call it, “the narrow way” because Jesus called it that one time. It’s called narrow because the other ways are everywhere. Everything in this world wants to drag you down one of the other ways. The way of this world, which is the way to destruction, is wide and easy to find because it’s everywhere and it often looks quite hopeful and nice.

The good news is that the narrow way is not something we have to create, as we see in this passage, God has already created it we just need to walk it. The narrow way is Jesus, the broad way is everything else. This is why Jesus confuses us. We think we can fix our own problems, we can’t. We think we know what to do, we don’t. We think history is on our side, it isn’t. Any plan that deviates from God’s plan is doomed to fail. Jesus is frustrating because he does not join our causes, he demands we join his.

But if we can just take our shoes off and humble ourselves before him we will understand that HE has come. He did not come to join our cause He came to save us from our causes. If we follow Him the world will refuse to trust us, because we are not wholly sold out to one cause or another. The world hates people they can’t categorize and put in a box. Remember, they hated Jesus even though he did nothing but heal, feed, teach, and restore. But people wanted him to join their cause and fight their battles, or if they were in power they were afraid he was going to mess up the status quo. Either way they wanted Jesus to be either for or against them, because that the world can understand. But today just like in Joshua’s time Jesus says no, I am not with your team or the other guys, I am the commander of the army of the Lord - and I have come.

Jesus has come and He is the King of Kings, he is the commander. He did not come to join our causes he came to invite us to join his cause.

This week we will all continue to be bombarded with voices trying to convince us of a particular cause. They will manipulate and intimidate, they will play to our emotions and demonize all those that disagree. What will we do? Will we pray that Jesus joins our cause or will we pray to understand the orders of our commander in this fallen and evil world? We will walk and talk like those who have been set free to serve in love? Or will we take a side and put our faith in our side? Will we follow our commander Jesus in laying down our lives for the benefit of others? Or follow our misguided desires and fight with each other.

We live in an age where it is hard to find a moments peace so let’s take our shoes off, so to speak, and listen to our commander. There is a war to fight but it is not against people, it is against evil. This week let’s fight as our commander fought, let’s do whatever it takes to help people and set them free from the evil that wants to destroy us all.

Have a great week!

In our world mercy seems to be in desperately short supply. Everyone seems very confident that they are right and that those that disagree are either ignorant or evil and probably both. This week we are going back into the letter of James and we are going to look at a single idea, it is an idea we see Jesus speak to on more than one occasion. It is this idea of mercy and judgement.

Last time we were in James we looked at the sin of partiality and James said, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”. After which he goes on to describe how according to the law partiality is a sin like any other and breaking any law is damnable. Today we are going to look at his final warning regarding the sin.

James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Our need of mercy is clear to anyone that still has a conscience. If we were to try and justify ourselves based on our perfect adherence to any law we would all be condemned. When we fail to recognize this, we begin to demand a sort of variable justice on others. This is how this passage connects to James’ teaching on the sin of partiality. When we start to value money, power, and influence over faith in the mercy and grace of God we invariably start to pervert justice and fall into sin.

Without the pure gift of God’s mercy and grace we could never stand before the justice of a righteous God. When we forget our own depravity we lose our ability to show this same mercy to others. When we withhold the grace of God from others we shut off our own supply. Jesus describes this in Matthew 7:1-2.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Can we stand up to our own judgment? How will we measure up to our own standards? Jesus tells us we will be measured with our own ruler.

And again in Matthew 6:14-15 we see how our forgiveness from God is connected to our forgiveness of others.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

There are many other such references in the teaching of Jesus as well. To show mercy is the best way of proving that the mercy of God is real. To show mercy to others opens the gates of heaven to us, and allows God’s mercy to flow to us. It is the height of arrogance to think that we are entitled to a mercy that others are not worthy of. It is the height of wickedness to receive mercy and then refuse to show mercy. Let’s look at one more story to illustrate the point that we must never receive the mercy of God without showing it to others.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” [Matthew 18:23-35 ESV]

This story gets even more shocking when you convert the amounts used in this story into more familiar amounts. The first servants debt would take more than 1000 lifetimes to repay at a day laborers wages. The second debt would take just over 3 months to repay at day laborers pay. This should help us to forgive this week. We must remember that the debt we owed to God was literally unpayable and he forgave us at great cost to Himself. The debts of others to us are trivial by comparison. It is only when we forget the magnitude of the mercy that we have been shown that it becomes difficult for us to show mercy to others.

This week, let’s remember the words of James, “judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment”. And let’s, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” as Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians. This week let’s let the unimaginably great mercy and forgiveness we have been given, flow through us to others.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me— practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. [Phil 4:7-9 ESV]

This is the blessing Paul gave the believers in the Philippian church and it can be ours this week as well, if we will learn to let the mercy God has shown us flow through us to others.

Have a great week!

I like the picture for today, because it says so much without saying a word. In it we can see and almost feel what the process of training is like for these football players. Training is never a passive pursuit. No one accidentally gets trained. Training requires both a trainer and a trainee and they both need to be actively involved or training never happens. Today we are going to take look at some of the ways that the grace of God trains us.

Titus 2:11-14 [ESV] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

We are not alone in this world, the grace of God has appeared(in Jesus through his death, resurrection, and the Holy Spirit) it brings salvation for all people, and it is this grace that trains us to renounce ungodliness. This grace is also the source of our hope that our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will return.

But grace is not a passive gift. It is not a “get out of jail free” card. It is a transformative gift. It is a gift that teaches us. But even teaching is too weak a word. It trains us and disciplines us. I think coach or schoolmaster comes closer to the original idea of the Greek word, that is why I chose this picture of a football coach for this article. The grace of God trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.

But it seems to me that in our time grace is often seen as thoroughly passive. Some even act and speak as if grace makes sin irrelevant. Grace covers all so we can live as we please. No. Just no.

Because of this passive attitude, we are also seeing God’s people turn from the grace of God and deny the truth the moment the world applies even the slightest pressure. This lack of perseverance is a sign that we are failing to allow the grace of God to train us. We have chosen our desire for acceptance and status and comfort over the grace we find in the cross of Christ. But the cross is not a symbol of passivity. It is a symbol of self-sacrificial love.

But how does grace teach us?

Grace is a strange concept in some ways. On the one hand even a child can understand that grace is favor that is completely unearned, it is a gift. But when you get into the question of what exactly this gift really is and does the questions get more difficult to answer.

Like everything else, grace begins with God and comes to us through Jesus. It is a gift and it is our only hope in this life. In some traditions grace is understood to come through various means like, baptism and communion. But I think the “means of grace” is better described as, our response to the gift of God’s grace, and this response can take many, many forms beyond simple outward participation in the sacraments.

This passage tells us that the grace of of God teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions(desires). So to respond to this grace we must listen and obey by renouncing ungodliness and refusing to cave in to the pressures of our own desires. But grace is something that is more like a who than a what, consider this passage from the gospel of John.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." [John 14:15-18 ESV]

Grace comes from, and in some sense maybe is, the indwelling of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of truth in us, given to us by Jesus, that is teaching us. This presence in us teaches us to give up our former desires and habits of mind and body and to enter into a new life that is godly and upright, a life that practices self-control. A self-control that is only possible now that Jesus has conquered the power of sin and taken up residence within us. We are not alone, we are not orphans according to Jesus he has come to us, and dwells in us. And through His Spirit he teaches us and transforms us into His image.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [Romans 8:29-31 ESV]

The grace of God has been freely given to us all, the only question left seems to be, “What are we going to do with it?”. In all of the verses we looked at today, and in quite a few more scattered throughout the new testament, we see that God has already made the first move. And God through His grace continues to do all the heavy lifting. It seems all we need to do is allow Jesus to do His work in us. We need to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” as he has taught us. We can do this because He now resides in us by His Holy Spirit, and His Spirit in us can do what we never could on our own.

We are a new creation now, all things are new, but the old still exists. If we choose to, we can still live according to our old nature. But why would we want this? Jesus indwells us, the Holy Spirit indwells us, God is in us in other words. God himself is conforming us into the image of His Son. And as Paul concludes after recounting all of this, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”.

This week

Grace has been given to us, it is a grace so great that I think we often disbelieve it. We wonder, “how can this be?”, but the testimony of prophets and apostles is that God really has done this. So we need to listen to the grace that has been given to us. We need to consider our forgiveness and stop exploiting God’s grace by continuing to live as though nothing has happened. This week we need to listen to the voice of God’s grace through the Spirit and trust in that grace to give us the strength to do what we could never do on our own. Let’s take courage and renounce whatever is left of ungodliness and worldly passions. Join me in being “zealous for good works” this week, as we wait for the blessed hope of Christ’s return as the true king of heaven and earth.

Have a great week!

Today we are going to consider another bear of a man who God changed from a raging animal killing and terrorizing the church into a raging missionary terrorizing the Devil and his kind. The change went so deep that his name needed to be changed. This is the story of how Saul became Paul.

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” [Acts 9:1-6 ESV] Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." [Acts 9:10-15 ESV] For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. [Acts 9:20-22 ESV]

Is it the day before or the day after?

It occurs to me as I read this story that meeting Saul the day before his conversion, and meeting Paul the day after his conversion would be a very different experience, especially if you were a Christian. And it caused me to think about the people in my life, am I talking to them the day before or the day after?

Far too often I put people in little boxes that I have built for them in my mind, boxes that are more like cages in reality, because I am very reluctant to let them out of those boxes.

Ananias needed a new box

Ananias had a box like this prepared for Saul, and very understandably so. Saul was a genuine threat to any Christian in his day. People talk today of “existential threats” but rarely are they talking about anything like people riding around with the authority to do harm like Saul. Ironically though, Saul saw Christianity as the existential threat to his beliefs and he was not going to sit around and wait to see how it turned out, he was going to act.

So you see, when God told Ananias that he should pray for Saul his response was quite understandable. People like Saul just don’t change, he was quite sincerely an avowed enemy of the faith. Ananias was no child, he knew how the world worked, but now he was being told something that did not fit in his box at all. He was being told to believe something that was exactly opposite of all his experience. He was being asked to pray for healing for a man who had come to harm him and his friends. He was being asked by God to let Saul out of the box he had him in, and allow Saul be who God created him to be. God gave Ananias a new box for a new Saul who would now come to be known as Paul, a man God used to change the world.

With this in mind let’s consider a passage from 2nd Corinthians where Paul was reflecting on the change he experienced which is the change we must all experience.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. (according to who or what they were) Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; [2 Cor 5:14-18 ESV]

This Week

Let’s take a little time to think about the way we think about others. Do we see them as new creations in Christ, or do we still have them safely wrapped up in the box of who they were. Are we helping them to become all that God has created them to be or do we continue to treat them as if nothing has changed. You might be saying, “what about the people that don’t change?” well that is another article, but today we are talking about the people that have turned to Jesus in sincerity. For those that have yet to repent their behavior is on them, but our behavior is on us. We do not change people God does. The question for us is, are we going to help in the transformation like Ananias did? Or, are we going to be an obstacle to God’s work in their life? That’s a question that we can actually answer.

This week let’s encourage the transformational work of God everywhere we see God working in people. Let’s be Ananias to someone God is changing this week. And remember, today you might be talking to Saul, but tomorrow God might transform him into Paul. So if you meet a “Saul” this week remember Jesus loves him, and if you happen to meet a “Paul” this week, let him out of your box and help the poor guy he probably still can’t see very well.

Have a great week!

In George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm” he writes,

"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS".

This little line has become something of a sarcastic proverb since then. But the problem is real and it’s certainly not new. Current culture and politics have clamped onto the concept of equality to the point that a calm conversation about it is almost impossible in the unbelieving world. Sadly, it’s not always easy to have a calm conversation about it in the church either. Culture is a powerful force.

Today we continue our walk through the book of James. James is not afraid to tackle the cultural poison that has crept into the churches of his day. As we enter chapter 2 James comes out swinging against the sin of showing partiality among the believers.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

What is James Saying?

The nice thing about James is his direct and blunt style of communication. He is saying exactly what he means, no figures of speech or obscure idioms. We are simply told not to show partiality between believers. Then he gives the example of showing partiality to the rich. His first statement is not exclusive to the churches treatment of the rich it is a principle that can be widely, if not universally, applied.

However, his example of showing partiality to the rich is as valid now as it was then. So why do we almost instinctively show partiality to the rich (or powerful, or successful, or influential take your pick)? Two things come to mind for me:

* We are looking for favor in return. James reminds his readers of reality here, the believers are more likely to be sued and abused by the rich and powerful than rewarded. It is this lust for reward that James refers to when he says, “have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”. They have some selfish return in mind with all their so called “honor”.

* We assume that being rich means they are wise. How often do we assume that we need to look for rich and successful people when we are looking for church leaders? James contradicts this notion by reminding the readers of something he assumes they should already know. That being, it is the poor that God has chosen to make rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Faithfulness is wisdom in the kingdom of God. Poverty is not a virtue in and of itself, but God does bless the poor in spirit as Jesus himself promised in his sermon on the mount.

Love is the thing

James ties this teaching off with a simple but direct contrast.

* If you love your neighbor as yourself

* You are doing well

* If you show partiality

* You are sinning

And the sin of showing partiality is as wicked as any other sin you can commit.

This last line is the most sobering. I along with most every other Christian I have ever met tend to think that socially unacceptable sins are far worse than socially acceptable sins. Just one sin is enough to land us all in the category of sinner. The type of sin we commit is ultimately unimportant. Though not all sins carry the same short term consequences, every sin is equally damnable.

The book of James is sometimes criticized for being a little light on Jesus and the gospel. But I think a closer look at this book in its historical and literary context shows just the opposite. This book is intended to be corrective and instructive not evangelical. James assumes that his readers know the hopelessness of their sinful state and their need of Jesus. They know the foundations of their salvation. His language in this passage and elsewhere seems to assume that they should know better. In this little teaching he warns them of the sneaky nature of sin, and that we can easily engage in sinful behavior even while we are worshiping together.

This Week

This week let’s help each other to see people the way that Jesus sees them. Let’s remember that faith is the currency of eternal riches. Let’s remember to check our hearts as we deal with others to see if we are truly loving them for their sake, or if we are in fact giving honor and praise to others in the hope of some form of personal gain down the road.

“God shows no partiality” according to Paul in Romans. And we are his children, so let’s walk as true children of God this week.

Have a great week!

There are many “benedictions” or statements of blessing in the bible. Romans 15:13 is one of my top three biblical benedictions. Not only is it a blessing but it is a very intentional blessing to all those who believe, Jew and Gentile alike. This is a New Covenant blessing for all who can hear and believe. Today’s passage is found in the conclusion of Paul’s argument for the inclusion of the Gentiles in the blessings of God through Jesus. I am starting towards the end of the passage so if you have the time I would recommend reading over this section in its entirety.

[Paul continues to quote the Old Testament] And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” [Now]May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. [Rom 15:11-13 ESV]

Hope comes from God

So where does hope come from? According to this passage hope, joy and peace come from God as we believe in Him. First, it’s important to notice that God is called the “God of hope”. Paul connects hope so tightly with God that he refers to Him as the God of hope. Are there other forms of hope? Sure, but they are false and temporary hopes. At best they can give a bit of momentary comfort, without God to anchor these hopes in eternity they are ultimately disappointing and short lived. God is the God of eternal hope. He gives a hope with eternal value. The hope God gives is a hope with substance. He himself is the thing our faith hopes for. He is life eternal and joy and peace. He is the source of all these things. In Him these things never end and never disappoint.

The world we live in has few sources of hope of any kind. The government is corrupt and incompetent, institutions are overwhelmed and often wrong headed and corrupt as well. Corporations, banks, modern philosophies all fail. They are corrupted and/or bankrupt. Then there is the American way, we trust ourselves. Well, we are corrupt as well, we are the ones that are individually and corporately responsible for the corruption of the world.

Hope is a miracle

To appreciate hope we need to take a long honest look at our own hearts. When we do that, we will stop complaining about evil and start repenting of it - in earnest. John Mayer once wrote a song called, “Waiting for the world to change”. In it he resigns himself to an empty and futile hope that with the next generation in charge things will get better. That was in 2006. When we see, honestly see, what is in our hearts, all hope that the world will “change” through our efforts will leave us. The world will change but we will not be the hero of that story, Jesus is the hero in that story. Only Jesus can save this world. There is hope, but that hope must never be in our own efforts to change things to our liking. The hope that is real is a miracle and a gift from God, just like life itself. Our hope did not begin with us and thankfully it does not end with us.

Hope is a Gift

Hope is a gift from God but it was never meant to end with us. Like Paul we need to actively seed this hope everywhere we go. We need to water that hope with prayer for all those who need hope. We need to cultivate that hope with our words and with our actions, so that all can see that there is hope. Not an empty hope that humanity will eventually “get it right”. But an eternal hope in a God that has been working from the beginning to create and sanctify a people to spend eternity with.

Have a great week!

One day though, as we were driving I must have said something to offend him, I don’t even remember what I said or did. But I will never forget what happened next. I said, “I’m sorry Grandpa” but he very dryly replied, “I got a cellar full of sorry”.

I was stunned, he didn’t shout and didn’t even seem upset he just said it. When I recovered a bit from the shock, I asked him, “what do you mean?”. He just looked at me and said they exact thing again. I asked again and he repeated it for a third time. At that, I stopped asking and wondered what he meant by that for the rest of the day and far beyond. I still remember it clearly.

Thinking back I am sure he could of easily explained that figure of speech to me but he never did. He wanted me to figure it out. Whether he was inspired in that moment or just plain tired I will never know. But those words stuck with me and eventually I did figure them out. Sorry is as sorry does. Words without action are nothing but an assortment of sounds. As a guy gets older it would be easy to fill the cellar with empty meaningless pseudo apologies and vague regrets.

The book of James is a sermon concerned with issues that are closely related to the problem my Grandpa was trying to teach me about that day. So let’s pick up where we left off a couple of weeks ago and finish the first chapter of James.

 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. [James 1:19-25 ESV]

James covers a surprising amount of ground in this short section. It begins with some amazingly good advice for life in general. We are to be:

* Quick to hear

* Slow to speak

* Put away filthiness and wickedness

* Receive the word you have been given with meekness

But the heart of what James is saying is in the next phrase:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

Even though Christianity was still a relatively new movement, James was already seeing some alarming trends among believers. People were giving lip service to all the right things, but were not actually doing them.

Christianity is and has always been a transformitive experience. For example, the inclusiveness of Jesus is often commented on today, but this is a very incomplete observation of the facts. While it is true that Jesus spoke with the so called “untouchables” and “sinners” of his day. His message was, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Anyone could come to Jesus, but no one left in the same state that they arrived. They either repented and followed Jesus which changed everything about their lives(which is repentance). Or they walked away and became even more hard-hearted, but now without hope.

James is reminding them that if nothing changes nothing has happened. We not only lie to others with our empty words, but we deceive ourselves as well.

The Mirror of God

This segment concludes with an illustration of a man looking into a mirror. He sees the problem, but does nothing. Seeing is not changing. The deception that seeing evil is to rise above evil is everywhere in our culture right now. Everyone seems to be a “fact checker” or a “debunker” of “misinformation”. So what?

If nothing changes, nothing has happened. Seeing the evil in others does nothing for them, nor does it loosen the grip of evil on ourselves. Looking in the mirror is only helpful if you use that mirror to make changes. And until you get the “log out of your own eye” can you never hope to truly help anyone else.

The true measure of religion

James closes with a simple but brutal tool for assessing our faith. Does our tongue and our life match? If not, our religion is worthless. He goes on to describe what true religion looks like.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,

and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

That is a lot to think about for this week. We all need help to keep our confession and our profession aligned. This week let’s look into the mirror of God’s word and ask God what we need to change before we fret about the rest of the world. Let’s help each other do the truth not just talk about it. And let’s not let the world teach us how to act. Thankfully, we are not alone in this, we have the Holy Spirit of God in us and the body of Christ around us to help. Let’s be the body of Christ this week, let’s be the physical manifestation of Christ on earth. Let’s work to make the church which is Christ’s body actually look like Christ.

Have a great week!

When we sin, do we ever imagine that Jesus is standing next to us? I doubt it, I know I don’t, and that’s a big problem. Years ago there was a Christian fad of wearing bracelets with the letters WWJD on them, or “What Would Jesus Do”. As fads go, this was actually a very good question. But, it only works if you believe that Jesus is real, alive, and present.

Without that living awareness of the presence of Jesus, faith becomes an academic matter. Nothing but a series of questions regarding various propositions that we believe to be true or false. But when you have a living faith, in a living Jesus, you are living every day in the presence of Jesus. And with that active knowledge of his presence, most of the so called difficult decisions we face tend to get real clear real fast. So why don’t we live in that place of constant fellowship with Jesus? That is the more difficult question and the one I plan to work on today.

Jesus as an Idea

As I think about this it occurs to me that Jesus has been abstracted down from being a living person that is always present with us, to various sets of abstract ideas, or theologies, or practices, or cultures. We do this because these are the kind of things that we can consider from a comfortable distance as if we were shopping online. There are now so many flavors of Jesus to choose from. We can shop around from church to church to find exactly the flavor that pleases us. We can choose to have a certain kind of Jesus but on our terms, rather than the Lord Jesus on his terms. As Paul once told Timothy:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [2Tim 4:3-4 ESV]

Now church hopping and “taste testing” is bad enough and I could fill this article and probably 5 more just looking at everything involved with that phenomenon. But I think the most destructive fruit of abstracting Jesus down from a living person to an idea grows in our private lives. We simply can’t have a relationship of any kind with an idea, you can only have a relationship with a living person.

Ideas don’t care and they don’t feel, but a person does. Ideas don’t get offended, but a person does. So if we understand Jesus as a person we need to understand our sins as offenses against an actual person. And not just any person but THE person who suffered beyond understanding and gave his own life to save us from the very sins we are committing.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [1Peter 1:8-9 ESV]

Playing Peekaboo Jesus

When my grandkids were young they loved to play Peekaboo. And some of them when they covered their eyes believed that when they couldn’t see us we couldn’t see them. It was hilarious. But here’s what I am thinking, how often do we, or more importantly I, pretend that because we can’t see Jesus he can’t see us? And how often do we act as if he does not even exist?

The Psalmist understands this phenomenon and writes this song to remind us of the living reality of God.

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. [Psalm 139:7-12 ESV]

This week

Why do we hide? I suppose that there can be many reasons ranging from pure evil to crippling shame. Maybe we like our sin and don’t want to think about Jesus, or maybe the shame of our past sin causes us to want to hide from Jesus. But either way when we do this we walk in unbelief. We don’t believe in the resurrection though we say we do.(which only adds to the shame) We don’t believe that he really forgives, so we are afraid to look into his face. No matter what our idea it’s a bad one. Jesus died to restore our relationship with God. Faith is believing his death was enough. Jesus rose again to give us hope. He poured out his Spirit on us to give us strength.

This week let’s encourage each other in the faith that what Jesus did was enough. Let’s walk in the revelation that not only can we now walk with Jesus and look into his face he desires it enough that the cross did not seem to him to be too high a price. And when we feel overwhelmed let’s remember that the same Spirit that was at work in creation is in us by faith, and let’s have a great week with Jesus.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” [Psalm 27:6-8 ESV]

Have a great week!

To be human is to face temptations of all kinds. Jesus was tempted in all ways as well, yet he did not sin. To often though we tend to think of temptation as some kind of external, even demonic or satanic force that is attacking us. But the truth is even more disturbing than an external demonic attack. Today we are going to look at the source of temptation and sin, and it is not pretty.

James 1:12-18 [ESV] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.  Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

God is Good

We have talked about this before, but the first lie the snake told us was that God was withholding good things from us, and therefore if we wanted good things we were going to have to take them for ourselves. In other words, God is not good and cannot really be trusted. But did the temptation really begin with the snake or did it begin someplace a lot closer to home?

What were we doing under the one tree that God told us we could not have? Why were we examining its fruit to see if it might be good to eat? Why were interested in a source of knowledge that God had forbidden? The snake did not give us our wandering desires, he simply exploited them. The actual pressure to sin was not external it was internal.

From Desire to Death

James says we are “lured and enticed” by our own desires. So it seems that the true root of our trouble begins with our own desires. Are these desires universally evil? Well, no, but also yes. Take hunger it lets us know when it is time to eat. However, that same desire can cause us to steal or even to kill. At this point we are talking about temptation or enticement, not sin. But James describe our desires like they are living things things that conceive and give birth. They are not static or harmless they are relentless and progressive. And what do they progress to? Well, James tells us that when our desires “conceive” they “give birth” to sin. And when sin grows up it’s child is death.

To Sum up this passage

This little passage is an example of what is sometimes called an “inclusio”. Which is an idea sandwiched between two instances of another idea. It is a technique used in the Bible for emphasis at times. So here is the big picture inclusio of what James is saying:

* God is Good (He is not the source of temptation and evil)

* Our desire leads to sin which leads to death (on the other hand)

* God is Good (All good things come from Him and He never changes)

The point here, when you see these ideas together, is pretty obvious. James does not want his readers to forget that sin comes from us and only good things come from God. It seems then as now people are all too eager to blame others, the devil, or even God himself before considering the role of their own evil hearts in their failures.

Are we Doomed?

So how do we overcome ourselves? When I think of this I am reminded of my Dad who used to tease me when I was trying to impress him, “that’s nothin’, why, when I was young I could jump in a bushel basket and lift myself 10 feet in the air”. It made me laugh because even then I knew you couldn’t lift yourself into the air, not 10 feet in the air anyway. Funny how we think we can lift ourselves all the way up to God. Faith is believing that Jesus has done what we can not. Faith is believing,

that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.2 Cor 5:14-16

Our desires flow from our old natures, but we are not who we were. Through Jesus we have died and the enslaving power of those desires died as well. Believing this and walking in that faith is true freedom. We are not doomed to live a life of endless failure.

This Week

So this week, let’s not live as though nothing has happened, let’s not act as though we are on our own against our desires that entice us to evil. This week let’s remember that our new creation in Christ is an eternal life destined to be “conformed to the image of His Son”. When our desires rise let’s remember that Jesus has conquered, the cross is more powerful than our desires, and the Holy Spirit now does in us what we are not able to do for ourselves. And let’s encourage each other with that truth.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [Rom8:3-6 ESV]

Our temptations spring from our own desires it’s true, but something greater than our desires is at work in us! God is good!

Have a great week!

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;   he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. [James 1:5 - 11 ESV]

God is the source of all true wisdom

First, James describes God as not only the source of wisdom but that He generously gives wisdom to all that would ask without reproach, (or scold or “put down” to use a more common term). This phrase tells us a lot about the character of God. He is generous and kind and wants us to have wisdom. Think about the first temptation in the garden of Eden for a moment. Here the serpent implied to Eve that God was just the opposite. He implied that God was withholding wisdom from them because he knew that if they had it they would be like God. The implication being that God did not want that. In this passage:

James demolishes the literal “oldest lie in the book” with his first sentence regarding wisdom.

God is not “hidden” in the way that many philosophers would fret about. He is ready and waiting to give wisdom to all that would ask. God has opened a path back to Him for anyone that would seek it. But there is one catch…

An important proviso

We must ask in faith. When we sinned in the Garden of Eden so long ago, our first mistake was not eating the forbidden fruit. Our sin began by believing that God is not good, believing that He is holding back good things from us, and therefore can not be trusted. So God’s plan is to provide us with a road back to Him through His Son Jesus. But it is the road of faith, we must repent of the suspicion and distrust of God that brought us here in the first place, and trust in His goodness and generosity. We must believe that he is not withholding wisdom, He is not stingy or cruel or hiding from us, He can be trusted with our whole heart for He is the ultimate good.

Now wholeheartedness seems to be a big concern for James in this letter, it is a theme he touches from many angles. Here he speaks to the “unbelieving believer” that is like a wave of the sea tossed around whichever way the wind blows. Such a request can’t be taken seriously by God because it is not even believed by the one making the request. A person like this is double-minded, he is sure of nothing but open to everything, and he is unstable in all his ways. James bluntly states that a person like this should not expect anything from the Lord.

Wisdom, humility, and reality

Finally James makes a statement that at first blush almost seems like a change of subject. He talks about the rich and the poor. He describes how the poor are exalted and the rich will fade away like a flower. But the poor in this case are not simply the impoverished but the faithful poor. And the rich in this scenario are those caught up in their pursuit of riches and the associated earthly glories. While this is not explicitly said here he will come back to the subject of rich and poor believers in the church later. This I think is a preamble to that discussion.

The poor that James is describing have no hope but Jesus, they are wise in that they are looking nowhere else for help. They may be poor now but because of their faith they will be exalted by God in eternity. Rich believers however are much more inclined to be double minded trying to pursue both God and money.(As if that is possible.)

So what is James trying to say here? Wisdom requires a desire for wisdom, as proverbs often teaches. The poor have this desire forced on them by their need every day. This is difficult for the poor and they feel it, but James reminds them that they will be rewarded for their faith. Wisdom reminds the rich on the other hand to remember that their riches will fade and that their pursuit of riches is ultimately futile. Wisdom brings eternal riches, money and fame do not. Realizing this is the first step toward the wisdom of God. And by the way, if you are “not rich” you are not safe from this double mindedness, sometimes the poor are more focused on riches than the rich.

So how do we walk the path of wisdom?

God will not force himself on anyone, but neither will he hide himself from anyone if they ask Him for wisdom in faith. The first step, as always, is our desire to be wise. This week let’s not substitute information for wisdom. Today let’s spend 20 minutes in prayer rather than 20 minutes flipping through social media. Let’s get true wisdom from God instead of being manipulated by the news and corporate Ad agencies. We can always choose how we spend our free moments. Let’s not waste them this week. Let’s commit to helping each other focus on wisdom. Let’s speak life to each other this week. And may we always pursue things that have eternal value, for that pursuit is the road to wisdom.

Let me close with a familiar quote from Proverbs:

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.  She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. (wisdom personified) [Prov 3:13-15 ESV]

Have a great week!

As with all of the books of the Bible the letter of James has had its share of scholarly opinion. Shockingly not all scholars agree. I’m kidding about the shocking part scholars never completely agree on anything it seems. But as I have studied and taught over the years I have come to love what is called “Occam’s Razor”. Occam’s Razor shaves away all overly complicated and unnecessary theories. In other words, the simplest adequate answer to a question is usually the best answer.

The simplest and oldest understanding of James was that he was the younger brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem until he was savagely murdered by being thrown off the temple wall and then stoned to death. He was well respected by both Christian and non-Christian Jews in Jerusalem because of his extreme devotion to God and his unending service in prayer. But the gospel then and now is not loved by the “powers that be” either in the spiritual or human realms. So his story ends like the story of so many Godly people throughout history, in tragedy. So with that brief introduction as background let’s begin our study of this letter from James to the Christian Jews scattered around the Empire.

1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. [Be well and filled with Joy]

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It’s fun to read the opening lines of this letter while thinking about the fact that James is the actual half-brother of Jesus. Until the resurrection James thought his brother was crazy, but now as he writes to those Jewish believers scattered around the Empire he refers to himself as the servant or slave of God and his half-brother Jesus. James now declares Jesus to be both Lord and Christ.

Each of those titles has enormous weight to a first century Jew. There is only one Lord so to call Jesus Lord is to recognize his oneness with God, and to call him Christ is to declare that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. To insert the name Jesus into this title reminds everyone that the man Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. These claims got Jesus killed and eventually led to his brothers death as well. I think today these words are often spoken with little or no understanding of what a fearful and awe inspiring title The Lord Jesus Christ really is.

Take some time today and let the full weight of the truth that Jesus is both Lord and Christ sink in. As Lord His authority knows no bounds and as Messiah He is destined to rule the earth forever. His resurrection declared His victory over death and the all the powers of evil. The ESV just ends this amazing opening line with “greetings” which while technically a correct translation, seems like a ho-hum way of translating a word that means something more like “be well and overflowing with joy”. The longer more literal translation seems to me to be a much more appropriate ending to that introduction than simply saying “greetings”.

The first of many unexpected turns

Count it all Joy! (when you encounter trials of various kinds) Huh? I think one of the things I like best about James is his bluntness. Unlike so many today, he gets straight to the point, says what he means, and moves on to the next topic. Suffering, trials, temptations are not words we would ever use to describe joy. But James simply says we should think of all those things as joy, or at least as the road to joy. Because when our faith is tested we learn steadfastness. And it is this steadfast faith that James describes as the true source of all that we need to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James lived a life of poverty in constant service at the temple in prayer and piety. So we need to understand what it means to him to be “lacking in nothing”.

The value of steadfast faithfulness

I the very first lines of this letter James is already teaching on the value of things in the kingdom relative to the value of things in the world. This is a theme he will expand on in many ways as he progresses through this short but powerful letter.

By enduring trials and temptations we will come possess something of such enormous value that it can be truthfully said that we “lack nothing”. James is showing us that learning steadfast faithfulness under pressure is a gift of ultimate value. All the riches in the world will not help us if our faith collapses under pressure into unbelief. Trials in a sense then become a source of strength, trials build our spiritual muscles and give us strength to endure no matter what comes. Trials and temptations truly are then a source of joy and hope, by enduring trials we gain the strength to remain faithful and faith is the only source of genuine enduring hope.

How to walk this path this week?

It is silly to look for trouble and to actively cause trouble for ourselves. James is not suggesting some sort of twisted masochism here. But we do not shrink from trouble out of cowardice either. Our culture seems to value a trouble free life as a sort of “highest good”. The bible on the other hand teaches the highest good as God himself. To follow God in a world that refuses to acknowledge the very existence of God will put us at odds with the world. As Jesus himself told us in John’s gospel.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33 ESV]

This week lets not keep quiet for convenience or give into temptation just because it’s easier than fighting it. By enduring, by remaining steadfast in faith we gain ultimate and eternal joy. By remembering that overcoming trials and temptation is the road to joy, it will give us strength to endure and a living hope for eternity. Let’s help each other remain faithful under pressure this week and make the world a little bit more joyful and a little bit more hopeful.

Have a great week!

I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? [John 5:43-44 ESV]

Why do we so frequently question God and so casually accept what the world tells us? There is no doubt a lot of ways to answer this, but here Jesus exposes the primary motivations of the skeptical leaders that were challenging him. They would rather have the glory of man, here and now, than the future and more difficult to perceive glory of God. They wanted the glory of man for themselves, so they understood and more readily accepted others that sought their own glory. Someone who “comes in his own name” is the kind of person they understand. Guys like these are trusted by those that are also trying to make a name for themselves.

People are by nature status seekers, whether our circle is small or large everyone knows the pecking order in the circle. We watch celebrities rise and fall as if it is some kind of sporting event. We cheer the winners and boo the losers off the field. While this may seem harmless the motivations that drive it are not. We desire the affirmation of others, this is natural, and like so many other things it can have both a proper and improper place in our lives. Here Jesus is talking about the darkest consequence of this desire - to be recognized and celebrated by others.

What Jesus is warning against in this passage is the way our desires for acceptance and approval forces faith in God out of the frame. To the point that he asks, “How can you believe when you receive glory from one another?”. We will listen to the famous and popular self-promoters of this world all day, but someone speaking the word of God? That is another matter.

The way of Jesus is not the road to our interests or pleasures, it is the road to God Himself. The first commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself. The second flows naturally from the first. When we love God we love those He has made in His image. When we reverse this, loving ourselves before loving God, and changing the love of others to seeking glory from others, we are literally running in the wrong direction and faith in God becomes impossible.

It is easy to condemn the world for this behavior but as Christians we are not immune to hardhearted unbelief. Nor are we safe from the danger of allowing our focus to become self-satisfaction and the approval of others. The first commandment is first for a reason, when we obey it and love God above all else it grounds our faith, our thoughts, and our actions in God alone. Then our relationships with others can be healthy, flowing naturally from God through faith and grounded in an honest desire to care for others for their own sake, not our glory.

Now for the difficult questions

Who or what do we love more than anything? And, who are we trying to impress? Because the answer to these questions play heavily into things as basic as our ability to trust God and believe in His Son. If we are concerned about what people think about us or what people say about us more than we are concerned about what God thinks of us we are in trouble. And our current world promotes the fear of social rejection as much or more than any time in history. Whether it is social media, or our neighbors, or those in our church the fear of disapproval or rejection guides our thoughts far more than it should.

So this week, let’s intentionally identify and reject any kind of fear of rejection or desire for social positioning. Let’s focus instead on something that can actually make things better both for us and the world. Let’s love God and obey him above all else by fully trusting his Son as we love our neighbors.

Have a great week!

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” [Acts 2:36-39 ESV]

Last week we looked at our role in the crucifixion of Jesus. And in this sermon Peter is very bluntly spelling out for all those that were listening to him how they are to blame for the death of Jesus. Of course, for some in the audience they were literally responsible in that they were likely in the crowd that shouted, “Crucify Him!”. But it is worth noting that many in this crowd were likely not in that crowd but were no less culpable. This was a Jewish holiday and those gathered, gathered to celebrate it. They were Jews and Jesus was their Messiah and they rejected him rather than embraced him.

What should we do?

When they heard Peters message and realized that what he said was true they were left in a crisis of actual guilt. Not guilty feelings, but actual guilt. And worst of all they had no idea what to do with their newly realized guilt.

They cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?”. I think they wanted to do something to atone for their own sin, but the answer likely surprised them a bit. They were told to change their mind and believe in Jesus but not just believe he existed or that he was good after all. They were to believe in Him FOR the forgiveness of their sins. They had to believe that Jesus was now their source of forgiveness. They were to ask him, as Peter himself had to do not long before this sermon, to forgive them. He was now their only hope and the source of their cleansing and forgiveness. For a Jew in a time that the sacrificial system was in full swing this was a lot to take in. They were being asked to put Jesus in the place of that entire sacrificial system and trust in Him for their forgiveness and cleansing. They really did have to change their minds or “repent” down to the core of their beliefs.

But how?

Like Peter the crowd that day were being forced to look at their recent utter failure. And for those that were being honest with themselves they had to be thinking, “how do I go on without immediately failing again?”. Here again in just a few words Peter gives them an answer they will be digesting for the rest of their lives.

“And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”

Peter was not telling them to go out and try harder next time, he was reminding them of the promise of God in the prophets and announcing to them that the promise gift has been given to all those that put their trust in Jesus. The Holy Spirit has been given in a way that was previously unknown. That pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness was now given as a tongue of fire on each believers head, to guide us all through the wilderness to the promised land. The Holy Spirit has been given to all who believe.

“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.”

This week let’s encourage ourselves and each other that walking the way of Jesus is not a matter of trying harder so that, “this time I won’t fail”. It is a matter of trusting Jesus for our forgiveness and trusting in the gift of the Holy Spirit to truly change us however slowly into the image of Christ.

Have a great week!

We see the corruption of human leadership and institutions as they plot to kill Jesus to maintain their position and power over the people. We see the fickleness of the crowd as they cheerfully welcome Jesus to Jerusalem only to, just as cheerfully, cry out for his death 5 days later. We see the disciples who with the best of intentions vow to be faithful no matter what, only to run away in terror when things go wrong. Passion week speaks to all the weakness and wickedness of the human heart. And it speaks to mine as well.

Every character in the story of Jesus’ last week has something to say to all of us. If we don’t see that, we risk missing the whole point of the gospel. As long as we are still saying, “I would never…” to ourselves we miss the point. I don’t care if it is Peter or Pilot or Thomas or Judas. Each character has something to say about the way our fallen humanity thinks and acts. As long as we only see this wickedness in others, we are still pretending that sin, in all its horror, is a “them” problem not a “me” problem. And until we recognize that it is our sin and our failure that caused the pain and suffering to both Jesus and His Father, we will never understand the depth of love it took to save us.

Our sin is not a “victimless crime” though we often act as though it is. Nor are we able to conquer it ourselves, though again, we often act as if we can. Sin separates, it separates us from God and God is the source of life. It separates us from each other as well since sin is in its very essence self centered and self serving. Every sin is a rebellion against God, it is saying, “no!” to God and since God is the source of life, every sin is saying no to life, separation and death are therefore the only possible outcome. It is that sin, my sin and your sin, that Jesus suffered for. Justice requires balance and only the death of Jesus could balance the scales of justice against the mountain of human guilt. He was fully human and thus could rightfully stand in humanities place, and He was fully divine making his death enough to pay for all the sins of mankind.

Passion week is a time of embracing the pain of our failure and not simply celebrating the victory of Christ’s resurrection. Without embracing our own guilt and our own complicity in His death we will not fully appreciate the unthinkable depth of His love and mercy for us all. To celebrate the resurrection without recognizing and embracing our guilt in his death is like hearing about a cure for cancer without having known anyone with cancer. With no appreciation for the horrors of the disease, the glory of the cure is never fully felt.

The death and resurrection of Jesus is a miracle of God’s grace and love for all of us. It is made more overwhelming by the knowledge of our genuine guilt before God. The eternal Son of God however understood the price, he became a man and felt our pain and carried our guilt to the cross and to the grave, in spite of our fickle and sin hardened hearts.

But God did not leave Him in that grave, God vindicated Christ and raised him up again and now we do truly have something to celebrate. Now life does not need to be a pointless and painful march to the grave. The grave has been defeated and Jesus is alive forever and His Spirit now empowers and transforms all of us as we trust in His work, rather than our own.

This week let’s embrace the process and purpose of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Trusting only in His work because He has proven Himself worthy and God has verified this for all eternity through His resurrection from the dead.

Let’s close with this word from Paul to the church in Galatia.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. [Gal 6:14-16 ESV]

Have a great week!

I think anyone that has been a Christian for any length of time has prayed to God and asked for some kind of supernatural infusion of love. We have all prayed to feel some love for someone who needs it while doing everything in their power to be unlovable. Jesus talked of loving our enemies, and he wasn’t talking about people we disagree with on Twitter, he was talking about real enemies that have done real harm.

Many years ago now, I was praying just such a prayer. I was feeling cold to the needs of others and I wanted God to give me different feelings. I wanted to care more, I wanted to be moved by deep feelings rather than pragmatism. As I was praying this halfhearted prayer, motivated more by wishful thinking than anything else, something surprising happened. God answered me. And His answer surprised me even more than the fact that He answered me. He reminded me of the last line of this passage.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matt 6:19-21 ESV]

At first it seemed irrelevant. Then the lights began to flicker on for me, I realized that treasure does not have to be money. Treasure is anything I value, and for me that is my time and my energy as much as it is money. I realized at that moment that love is an action, it is a commitment to the well being of another.

Feelings don’t lead us they follow our love, and love is benefiting others at our expense.

My heart will follow my investment. My will never strays far from the things I value and the things I value are the things I invest in. God was showing me a kingdom principle with this lesson. We often ask for the abundance before we share, when Jesus teaches us to first share, then we will never run out. I wanted God to give me feelings for people, thinking that when I had those my actions would follow. But Jesus told me to love first, to give first, and my feelings would follow my treasure.

This week let’s encourage each other investing our treasure in other people. The banks, as we have seen once again, are nothing like an eternal storehouse for our treasures they pass away like everything else on this earth. The kingdom of God is people. To invest in them this week is to put our treasure into an investment with true eternal value.

Have a great week!

Today though, I would like to look at the subject of temptation more broadly and look a bit more at the whole 40 day experience of Jesus in the wilderness. The story of the temptation of Jesus is reported in all of the first three gospels but this is how Luke describes the events.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.  The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,  and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,  for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. [Luke 4:1-13 ESV]

To begin we need to understand that the temptations that Jesus faced were not few or easy, but rather they took place over 40 days without food in the wilderness. Jesus was weak and hungry and had been harangued by the Devil for over a month.

Jesus was hungry and certainly tired because the sleeping arrangements were no better than the eating arrangements in the wilderness. I don’t know about you, but after one night of uncomfortable restless sleep I struggle, Jesus had been hungry and tired for over a month straight. And it was at that time that the Devil offered him bread, sort of. What he actually did was tempt him to misuse his power and position for selfish gain. The hunger and fatigue Jesus felt was just adding leverage. The added temptation here was that it is not sinful to eat, all Jesus had to do was misuse his power just a bit for a legitimate need, even if it was his own.

But Jesus said no to food once again, and more importantly he said no to using his power and position for selfish gain, or to prove a point to the Devil, who by now I’m sure had to be getting pretty stinking annoying.

Jesus no doubt was also praying into his mission on earth. Through his death and resurrection he was going to buy back humanity from the slavery and tyranny of sin. He came to gather again all things in heaven and earth back to God through his sacrifice. Remember Jesus is exhausted and hungry and fighting back the dread of his coming suffering when along comes the Devil with this little gem:

“To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

Nice… Jesus could avoid all that pain and have the world, if…

But he said no again to this wicked shortcut to his destiny.

The Devil was maximally annoying now and tries to finish him off with a playground styled dare. His was betting that if he could invoke enough anger and frustration in Jesus that he would out of pride and impatience abuse his power just to shut the Devil up.

But Jesus refused again. Physical duress, fear, impatience, pride, anger, and frustration all failed to turn the head of Jesus as he walked toward the cross and his destiny, and ours. But the Devil was not done, only put off. The last line of this story tells us that the Devil left to wait for a more opportune time.

Temptation never ends. When I was young I once asked a very old saint how long it would be before I was spiritually mature enough that the temptation of certain evils would end? He smiled and said with a wink, “I will let you know when I get there!” He has long been with Jesus, so thankful I think he has finally gotten there. But what about us?

This week I want to remember that,

temptation is not so much a sporadic event as a continuous grind punctuated by crucial moments of decision.

I want to reflect on the fact that how I choose in those moments depends on my attitude and trajectory up to that moment. And I want to remember that, although we may fail at times, our hope does not rest on our perfection and holiness, but on the victory of Jesus over evil, once and for all.

Have a great week!

The noise of our culture can, if we let it, turn our lives into a barely controlled panic. Life can start to feel like a run down the cattle chute, blindly following the one directly in front of us, never stopping for fear of the cattle prod. No idea where we’re going but too afraid to stop. The freedom of Jesus is the opposite of this blind death march down the cattle chute.

The freedom we have in Jesus actually begins in death, it moves us from death into the freedom of a new and resurrected life. Let’s consider this passage from Colossians today.

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.   Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,   for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.   When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.  

Instead of looking forward to death and all around us to pain, we are told to leave death behind and look up to life. We have already died with Christ and our new life is hidden with Him in God. Not only do we need to look up, we need to seek the things we find there.

What do we find in heaven? God and His eternal Son Jesus, life, peace, love, hope, joy, in short eternal things. These things are very unlike the things of earth which are all passing away at best, and at worst, actively destroying us. Most of all we need to stay focused on Christ who is literally our life and our only hope. In Him we have life both now and eternally, so He is and must always be our focus.

So what does a focus like this produce and inspire in us? Let’s read on:

So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.   Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.  

The response to the offer of eternal life in Christ is to turn away from those things that are of this earth and are destroying us. The list of vices above is all too familiar and has not changed in any way since the first sin captured our hearts. These are the reasons the earth and all those focused on this present life and selfish desires fall under the wrath of God. This is our common experience, but it does not have to be our common destiny.

But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.   Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices   and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.   Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. (Col 3:1-11 NET)

We have a new life in Christ but this reality leaves us with a choice to make. Will we continue in our self-serving, idolatrous, and wicked ways? Or, will we embrace the new life that Christ has given us through His death and resurrection? This life is a gift and it is available to all regardless of race or social status. Our new life is created in the image of God. The old labels have become meaningless.

We live in a world that is constantly dividing itself into groups: nations, skin colors, ideologies, political parties, genders, the list is endless and getting longer. But in Christ the real truth is these labels and affiliations are all irrelevant, in Christ we are all recreated and growing into the image of God. We are one because there is only one Christ. There is only one God. There is only one family. Our old ways and our old labels and affiliations are dead.

This week lets once again commit to embrace reality and walk according to our true identity in Christ. Let’s keep our eyes up and focused on the author of life rather than the noise of confusion and death that surrounds us. This week let’s commit to speaking life to each other rather than repeating the fear and despair that this passing world is drowning in. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Have a great week!

There is a lot of talk and honestly, a lot of confusion around the word “freedom” today. Freedom is a word that the New Testament speaks of fairly often, so it seems like a good place to start this study is with Jesus. The first passage we are going to look at is an excerpt from a longer conversation Jesus had with certain Jewish leaders. They seemed to feel that they were already free, they also had come to believe that they had never been enslaved, largely it seems, because of their heritage. They already considered themselves to be a part of the elect of Israel since they were “sons” of Abraham. But Jesus saw the situation quite differently.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. [John 8:34 - 36 ESV]

Jesus was unconcerned with politics and physical heritage as he spoke of freedom, the freedom he was talking about was freedom from the tyranny and slavery of sin. Those who sin are slaves - slaves are not sons - but the true Son can set you free. And if the Son sets you free you will be truly free. The freedom Jesus spoke of existed both in this life and eternally. He was discussing a freedom from their own evil desires and the bondage that comes from living as slaves to these desires.

He was also hinting very strongly in this passage that freedom from sin changes a persons status from slave to son, and so makes that person an eternal heir and a true member of God’s family. A slave in that culture was not a member of the family only sons are heirs.

Our freedom then is a freedom from our sinful desires where our actions are not dictated by the relentless desires of our lower nature. True freedom is escaping all of that, and being free to live as “sons” in Christ.

If such frequent use of the word “sons” is jarring to you, relax. The New Testament was not written to sooth modern sensibilities it was written to address the audience of its day. We are all sons in Christ because he is The Son. We all share in His status in the family and we are now all heirs with him. In the ancient world daughters were not the heirs, sons were. Son was a status in the family not just a description of biological sex. We are now all heirs in Christ we are all sons in Christ. And we are all, whether male or female, the “bride of Christ”. So females are sons and males are brides don’t get triggered, but understand why these terms were used.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,  and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. [Col 2:6-10 ESV]

This passage is from Paul who is reminding his readers not to be, once again, taken captive and enslaved. But here the slavery is a more specific form of slavery than the sin that Jesus broadly described in our first passage. The slavery Paul warns of is submitting to philosophy and lies, serving ideas based on human tradition and the so called “elemental spirits of the world”. These are all things that flow, not from Christ, or His Spirit, but from the world and its “zeitgeist” for lack of a better word.

The question for modern students of Paul’s words must be, what is the current spirit of the age? What philosophies, lies, and human traditions are trying to enslave us now? What ideas are simply not of Christ? This last question is where things get very odd in our current world.

Today even Jesus is often re-imagined and re-created to fit whatever odd idea is in vogue at the moment. One of the things that I think describe the current spirit of the world as well as any is the obsession to redefine, re-imagine, and re-identify everything until nothing has any meaning at all. Ironically even the word nothing has been redefined such that scientists can make the claim that everything came from nothing, although by nothing they mean a quantum vacuum which in fact is not - nothing. So here we sit in a world where each person is imprisoned in a jail of their own definitions unable to even talk to our neighbors because they are locked in prisons of their own.

Every person while seeking personal freedom is enslaving themselves in the prison of their own desires and isolating themselves from every other person on earth. The desire for personal “freedom” has in fact created a self-imposed solitary confinement.

These self-centered desires for freedom are the essence of the sin Jesus was describing in the first passage. Ironically, in trying to find a freedom of our own we lose the very thing that we seek. We can’t set ourselves free, when we try all we find is anarchy and violence. The book of Judges ends with the phrase, “and every man did what was right in his own eyes”. The next thing you see in the history of Israel is a nation begging for a king, the anarchy and violence had become too much. When they were told that a human monarchy would lead to oppression they cried, “we don’t care! give us a king!”.

Ever since the garden of Eden the devil has been trying to convince us that what we want and don’t have is more desirable than what God has provided for us. We need to reject this urge and turn back to God. And Jesus is the way that God has provided for our return. The road to freedom is Jesus. He is the way, He is the truth that frees us from the lies of the current spirit of the age. And He is the life we seek to create but so often fail to embrace.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [Gal 5:13-16 ESV]

This week let’s encourage each other to walk in the freedom that only Jesus can give. It’s also the Lenten season, so instead of giving up sugar or something, let’s give up our selfish desires and take the opportunities God gives us to help and to bless those around us. As we forget about our own self-serving freedoms may we all find true freedom in giving ourselves for each other. Because when we walk that self-sacrificial road of the cross we will find we are not walking alone but with Jesus and with everyone else that follows Him. And we will at last be truly free.

Have a Great Week!

In the first 10 of my 32 years working in missions, I worked in what could be called the logistics of missions. I have been responsible for the care and maintenance of the 50+ structures on this campus. I have led our accounting department and created the IT department as we moved from the analog world of the ‘80s to the digital world of the ‘90s, led the design team, and acted as General contractor for the administration building and many smaller projects. I wrote software for our accounting department and eventually ended up as operations director. I learned all these things by experience, trial and error, reading, and watching others who knew more than I did.

But after ten years of serving in this way, God led me to take a sabbatical and spend 60+ hours a week immersed in the word of God while completing a School of Biblical Studies. About halfway through the course, God led me to the story of Peter and Jesus in the final chapter of John. Since Peter was a fisherman, he decided to go fishing, yet he caught nothing. Jesus showed up, and he immediately caught more fish than he knew what to do with. After this, Jesus and Peter have a little talk, and Jesus asks him, do you love me more than these? Now, this question is ambiguous enough that it can legitimately be understood in several ways. But at that moment, I knew that Jesus was asking me a very specific question. Do you love me more than you love the things you have known and become skilled at? You see, I took Jesus to be asking Peter if he loved him more than the fish. He was asking Peter, in effect, do you want to go back to being a fisherman, or do you want to get back to your calling and be a fisher of men?

The instructions Jesus gave Peter were simple, “feed my sheep.” It was a moment of truth for Peter, and it was a moment of truth for me. Would I continue to do what I was good at and comfortable with, or would I change my entire focus of life and feed the sheep of Jesus? It was at that point that my entire focus changed from physical and administrative ministry to teaching and pastoral care.

But here is the ironic part: was that a move into “ministry” or away from it? The answer, of course, is neither. Jesus was just introducing me to the next lesson he had for me. You see, when Jesus taught his disciples, it was not simply a cerebral process, though he did challenge their thinking constantly. Neither was it simply “on-the-job training,” though he did a lot of that as well.

The teaching style of Jesus was focused on transforming people into the image of God. To restore the image of God that was lost to sin ever since the garden. And transformation is a holistic process involving mind, body, desire, and will. The teaching of Jesus focused on all those things together to one unified end. He was transforming people sold out to sin into disciples and children of God. Jesus understood that knowledge is not simply the accumulation of information.

In the end, you really only know the things you can do.

Typically, the bible speaks of knowledge as something more akin to “knowing” the piano than “knowing” the multiplication tables. The knowledge that the bible typically describes is gained when information is coupled with experience and becomes a living part of a person. Knowledge involves input, embodiment, and expression. Knowledge is as knowledge does.

The measure of a disciple is not their ability to repeat ideas they have heard, it is the expression of that knowledge by their life. Jesus instructed his disciples to judge teachers by the fruit they produced. We also need to assess our own lives based on the fruit we produce. Consider this familiar line from Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [Gal 5:22 - 24 ESV]

The healthy, honest disciple of Jesus will increasingly bear the fruit described in this passage. This fruit is the fruit of true knowledge of God.

This challenge was given to me in the heart of the COVID nightmare when I was unable to travel or teach, and our schools were all shut down. Jesus took me back to the gospels to walk with him through his teachings again and to let them transform me. He told me to change my focus from knowing to doing. And he led me to start this Substack, which was to be a series of reflections, “On Walking the Way,” not just knowing about the way.

So this week, join me as I travel back to that road that only Jesus knows. Let’s walk the path instead of talking about the way things ought to be. Let’s encourage each other to trust the Master as we leave our safe and known lives to follow Jesus into the unknown of everlasting life. So, I leave you with this thought to ponder as you return back to your life:

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

Have a great week!

Today, we are going to look at Elijah who challenged the political and religious authorities to a literal winner-takes-all contest - and God won, demonstrating once for all that He alone is God. But this was no celebration for Elijah. He immediately learned that winning in a contest like this makes you a whole lot of powerful enemies. So this story picks up with Elijah running for his life from the murderous queen that he just publicly humiliated. When he finally stops running for a moment we find him cowering in a cave in the wilderness.

Then God speaks:

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he[God] said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” [1 Kings 19:9-13 ESV]

This story can and should be interpreted in its own context and the context of Elijah’s life and as a serious student of the bible you must always start there. But this story has such poetic power that it is hard not to see bigger principles and metaphors at work here.

Elijah was faithful, he acted in obedience, and God did an epic miracle. That part of the story is literally awesome, but Elijah is not some two-dimensional comic book hero he is an actual human being. The evil queen Jezebel sent messengers to tell him he would be dead in a day so he was running for his life. He ran til he was exhausted, and angels fed him. He kept running, and he was running blind until he finally collapsed in a cave. Now God speaks, and what does he say?

“What are you doing here Elijah?”

God’s language does not seem to be happy or sad. It has the tone of a father talking to his son after he has gotten himself into a bit of a mess. What are you doing Elijah? Elijah needed to stop and get a grip, and God like any good father had to slow him down and help him think. Elijah needed to slow down and calm down in order to even hear what God was trying to say to him.

Hearing through the roar

So now Elijah has stopped running, and God has him in the sanctuary so to speak, and he is listening, but the noise and confusion continue. Was God in the wind? Was God in the earthquake or the fire? No, no, and no. But as Elijah continues to listen for the voice of God he hears a whisper. This time it is God, but what does God say? He repeats his earlier question, “What are you doing Elijah?”. The story continues with God answering Elijah’s complaints and, snapping him out of his self-righteousness, self-pity, and fear, gives him some useful direction. God tells Elijah to get walking in the way he is showing him instead of running frantically in blind fear. Elijah had to calm down and listen, really listen, and start acting rather than reacting in fear.

What are we doing?

Are we running blind with fear nipping at our heels? Or are we walking in faith? Are we asking God what he is doing, or is He asking us what we are doing? Are we feeling sorry for ourselves, or are we thankful for God’s miraculous provision every day? Are we scrambling to find a place to hide in safety or are we looking for a quiet place to hear God’s instruction? Elijah was human; he did a lot of very human things in this story, but Elijah was also faithful and he not only listened for God to speak, but he also listened to God when he spoke.

This week, let’s commit together to help each other discern the difference between the noise of the wind and the storm and God’s voice. Let’s help each other find faith when everything in this world wants to drive us with fear. Let’s listen for the quiet voice in the noise that is guiding us in the way that we should go, and let’s walk together with purpose, in peace, while the world rages on and on. Beneath the roaring threats of the world and the constant noise we face even in our sanctuaries, there is a quiet voice asking us what we are doing. I want to listen to that still small voice this week because that voice is the voice of God Almighty maker of the heavens and the earth, and I need to stop running to hear it.

Pray with me this week as I pray for you, as we all seek to hear the voice of God and find the path of God in a noisy and dangerous world.

Have a great week!

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

In a world where references to God are commonly used as profanity or empty expressions of surprise, I guess it follows that the impact of God’s name and, by extension, the very concept of God has been diluted to a triviality in the everyday world. This is I suppose to be expected in the unbelieving world, but the Christian world should really know better. However, Christians are not immune to the influence of these profane and trivializing references to God. The effects of this environment can often be seen in our language and heard in our conversations about God.

God Almighty - the creator and sustainer of all things

Whether we are looking at the first page of Genesis or the prologue of John’s Gospel, the message is clear and consistent. God is the creator and sustainer of all things, which of course includes us. Every breath I take is another gift from God Almighty, it is another opportunity to walk before Him and be blameless. (like Abram)

Yet we often talk about God like He is little more than a philosophical idea or maybe some kind of cosmic genie that will help us, if we go about it the right way. A genie we can call, but not the Lord God Almighty that can call us. We often treat Him as a god we can use, not the God that can use us, as he wills for His purposes. We have replaced the very sensible realization that life is a rare, fragile, and fleeting gift, with the false hopes the unbelieving world clings to. While we would rarely be silly enough to say it out loud, our actions often betray a deep inner belief that we are autonomous. We all too often act as if we are self-existent and completely self-determining. As if God’s role, if He has one at all, is to serve us(when and if we need it). Think about it, why do we really read books on prayer? To become more obedient or to figure out how to get the results we want?

I have lived far too much of my life absorbed in this kind of delusional view of God, thinking of God as a helper rather than God Almighty. As someone I will see someday when I die, rather than the source of my life every moment of every day. It is God who defines me, I do not define God, I could not define Him if I tried, after all He is God Almighty and I am just a man. I’m a man that He, through his grace has allowed to live for the last 63 years, in spite of my ignorance and self-serving rebellion.

I sometimes think it would be nice if we could physically see his sustaining presence in our lives, like if we were connected to Him by a long extension cord. Then I would remember not to unplug from Him. But then I think, wait a minute, His sustaining power is physically visible, we just misinterpret it or disregard it altogether because we prefer to imagine ourselves as our own sustainer and ultimately our own God. We prefer to think of ourselves as our own final authority.

Sin is and has always been, choosing our will over the will of God Almighty, and he allows this because He does not seem to be interested in forcing anyone to love or obey Him. But our freedom does not make our use of this freedom any less consequential to our lives or the lives of those we influence. The choices are very real and so are the consequences.

God Almighty is above all, He is unchanging, all powerful, and loving and gracious and patient, but he will not be mocked or ignored forever. We must all ultimately give an account to God who is The All-Mighty.

Jesus Almighty - creator and master of life and death

John 1:1 - 5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 20:28 Thomas answered him[Jesus], “My Lord and my God!”

Matt 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Rev 1:17 - 18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

So God is the Almighty but also Jesus is God The Almighty. He was with God, creation was made through Him and He was(and is) God. We now have more things to consider, when Jesus speaks He speaks the words of God, he is The Word of God. So how are we to respond to His word, to The Word? Does having a proper “fear of the Lord” mean living in terror of God’s judgment? Or, do we like so many simply redefine fear to mean something we don’t have to really worry about? How do fear, love, joy, peace, obedience, and confidence play together?

If you were to search the bible for the words fear and Lord you will find a tremendous number of references. In Isaiah 11:1-3 even the coming Messiah is said to have a special anointing of the fear of the Lord. So fear of the Lord is important even for Jesus. From our perspective, grace and forgiveness can’t be properly appreciated or enjoyed without a knowledge of our true guilt, our true need, our true dependence and inescapable mortality.

I have often warned my students that we can only appreciate our salvation to the degree we appreciate our guilt before a righteous and Almighty God. Only when we see God as truly almighty can we begin to understand what a miracle of love and grace our forgiveness really is. The clearer we see our actual situation before God Almighty the clearer we will see His love and grace and the more secure we will feel in His love, because He truly is a loving God who is also - Almighty.

This week let’s help each other remember that God is not an idea or a set of ideas. God is a person who is The Almighty God our creator and sustainer, our judge and our savior. He loves us beyond our comprehension but that is because He is powerful beyond our comprehension. Let’s remind ourselves who it is we are talking to when we pray this week. Let’s remember that His answer may not be the answer we desire but the answer we need. His words may be comfort but they may also just as easily be instruction or even command. Today and every day we live in the presence of God Almighty. He has given His only Son to save us, now we need to ask about the appropriate response to such love and grace and sacrifice. It is by His grace alone that I write this and that you read this. Each breath is another gift and another opportunity to give the love He has given us to the world that so desperately needs it.

Have a great week!

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

[Matt 5:5 ESV]

In teaching the bible over the last 20 years or so the same two mistakes keep popping up over and over again. They manifest themselves in various ways depending on the passage but they are the same mistakes.

* Interpreting a figurative passage as literal.

* Interpreting a literal passage as figurative.

To be fair it is not always easy to discern as we will will see today, however that does not mean that the bible can mean whatever we want. The correct interpretation will always be the intended interpretation. In other words, the goal is understanding what the author was saying to the people he was writing to. Our concerns can be addressed only after we understand what was originally being said.

When dealing with a difficult passage the trick is not to focus our view on the difficulty, but rather to broaden our view by looking at the surrounding texts, in order to increase our context and improve our perspective on the difficult passage. We need to learn more by taking a broader perspective, not focus narrowly on the one passage we don’t understand.

We must always remember this axiom when interpreting the bible:

Use the clear to interpret the obscure

The important things in the bible are not the “hidden” things or the difficult things. God made the important things clear, so we must always start there, and use those clear concepts as our context for the things that are less clear.

Today’s Passage

With that in mind what are we to make of today’s passage? Is this a philosophical ideal? Is this a promise for this age? Is this an idealistic hope for later in this age? Or, is this a promise that will be realized in the age to come?

In the modern world we seem to slam from one ditch to the other on the road to understanding. On the one hand you have people that seem to believe that if it can’t be touched, measured, labeled, and cataloged it is not real. On the other, you have people that want to abstract everything all the way down to basic biology. To those in this camp it seems that either nothing is real or that reality itself is simply a mental construct of some kind. So, you end up with people speaking literal non-sense like “my truth/your truth” or “identifying” as something they clearly and literally are not.

But we all live in this world, and we are all affected by it. So, I guess it follows that this confusion will complicate our reading of the bible as well, whether we wish to admit that or not. So what do we do with a passage like, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”? Did Jesus mean that those particular people in his audience would literally inherit the world if they were meek? If so, when or how? Or was he speaking in vague platitudes saying essentially, “God will reward you(in some way, someday) if you are meek”. Or is this just empty moralizing by a teacher 2000 years ago as some might cynically declare.

It is difficult to understand many of the teachings of Jesus if you hold that the present world and its material realities are all there is. Those that reject the supernatural (anything beyond the natural physical world) but still like the idea of Jesus will try to imagine a world where the strong do not dominate the week. But since there is no world but this one in their mind, they try imaging ways of changing and “equalizing” everything. Ironically, since the powerful of this world are actually powerful this striving for an equitable world is, by necessity, generally brought about through the means of force of one kind or another.

But Jesus did not come to rule by force, not the first time anyway. He came and sacrificed his life to balance the scales of justice, so that we could all be forgiven for our part in this horror show. But another day is coming, and that is the subtext of so many of the teachings of Jesus. Including this one.

The rewards listed in the beatitudes implicitly demand a new order, a new day, and a truly new creation, one where evil is no more. The meek are victims in this present age and Jesus knew that better than anyone. He was not talking about this age, but the age to come. He was not looking for justice in this age, he was paying the way for the next age, one where God is King not the powerful, violent, and greedy. An age where justice is actual and not an ideal or a happy day dream.

The meek Jesus spoke of, are those whose relationship to this age is the same as his. Jesus was meek, he loved, he served, he healed, he taught, he helped, and ultimately he was murdered for it by the wicked and powerful of this age and the crowd cheered as they killed him. He was calling all of us to follow him as he did real good in this present evil world, knowing that whatever he does in this world will have consequences far into the next world. True justice comes at judgment day, but good can be done now by those who are meek. And though the world does not recognize the value of this sort of meekness, God does.

The meek will literally inherit the actual earth that the powerful have been trying to steal and dominate since the beginning. This is a future promise, but living as sheep among wolves is a present reality.

Matt 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

So this week let’s remember that following Jesus is the path of the meek. This path runs contrary to way of this world, but it is a path that leads to a permanent inheritance in the next age in the new heavens and earth. We will not inherit this present earth with all of its violence, we will inherit the earth cleansed of evil and death in the age to come. With this in mind we need to encourage each other to seek that kingdom, rather than our slice of the pie in the current kingdoms of this evil age. We need to encourage each other to stay strong and through faith continue to do good until the end.

Jesus by all external appearances was defeated by the evil of this age. Yet we know this was only an apparent defeat. Death could not hold Jesus, he is the author of life, nor can it hold us, if we belong him and follow him. This week let’s encourage each other. Not with some forlorn hope that evil will somehow become good, but with the knowledge that death has been defeated and final judgment is coming on all evil. And beyond that final judgment - awaits our inheritance. The meek will inherit the earth, but it will be a new earth, where evil and death are no more. Until then, we must plant the seeds of God’s kingdom into the hearts of all those that will receive it. So they too can have a hope that is real, a hope of true justice and of peace in Jesus, a new life now and new earth forever.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

[Ps 37:10-11 ESV]

Have a great week!

As I was reading the passage for today, this story caused me to stop and reflect a bit on my assumptions about “self-care” and “time management”. It caused me to re-think what “walking the way of Jesus” really looked like for the disciples, and what it might look like today. And by today I really do mean today as in this actual day.

To set up today’s passage, it is important to understand that Jesus has just been informed that his cousin John the Baptist has been beheaded by Herod for the most outrageous reason imaginable. This passage picks up from there:

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

Jesus understandably and desperately wants some time alone with his Father to process the loss of his cousin and contemplate the evil that brought about his insane and gruesome death. His instinct to find a quiet place to pray and process is not only correct but important in a time like this. However, it was not to be.

But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

In spite of his own feelings and even needs, Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick. On what was likely the worst day of Jesus’ life to date, a day when he wanted nothing more than to take some time to process the loss of family, he sees the suffering of others and puts their good ahead of his own.

Wait… what?

Everything I have ever been told or taught about grief and suffering is screaming at me right now that Jesus did the wrong thing. But is that right? It was a very costly thing for him to do to be sure, but was he wrong to do it? Here we have to be careful how we judge, the compassion that Jesus showed for the sick is the same love he showed us all at the cross. Instead of spending his remaining energy trying to repair his own wounds he uses it to heal others. That is love.

But this story does not end there, his disciples are with him and they also knew John, they were also grieving and hurt. They were very likely frightened as well by such a vicious attack on a godly man for the most trivial reasons. Look what happens next:

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”    (Matthew 14:13-16 ESV)

Everyone was tired, the people were tired, the disciples were tired, and I am sure Jesus was beyond all tired after giving of himself all day for this crowd. But he does not send them away as the disciples ask, but instead he asks the disciples to feed them. Imagine hearing that someone you loved was brutally murdered on a whim, then as you went off to grieve you were accosted by a huge crowd and against everything you were feeling at that moment we asked to serve them all day instead.

Now imagine when this nightmare of a day was finally coming to an end you are told to do the impossible and feed this crowd without the resources you need to do it. The disciples often failed in the gospels, but this is one time that they actually did remarkably well. They obeyed and they served and trusted that somehow or other, Jesus was going to make all this work.

Compassion or Resentment?

We are all interrupted by other people and their needs just as Jesus and his disciples were. In fact this is just one of many examples in the gospels of Jesus doing miracles and healing while he was actually on his way to somewhere else. The question for his disciples and the question to us is always the same. Are we going to choose others welfare in these moments, or are we going to choose our own?

When we are busy it is a short road from interruption to impatience, from impatience to annoyance, and annoyance to resentment. But the Holy Spirit in us is asking us to choose another path. It is the path of Jesus, it is the love of Jesus in us calling us to set aside our needs for the needs of other. To benefit others at our expense.

This week instead of assuming all interruptions are evil incarnate let’s consider if some them are actually opportunities sent by God to give us the chance to labor along with Jesus even on the worst days. Do we have the strength to do this? No, but then neither did the disciples, Jesus more than made up for what they lacked in this story. And he will do the same for us each day as we trust him and keep our eyes open for the interruptions of God.

Have a great week!

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”   But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.    (Genesis 3:1-6 ESV)

One thing that always interests me in this story, and I think it speaks to who we are as human beings, is this: there were two special trees in the garden. One was called the Tree of Life, and the other the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It seems our natural inclination from the start was to look at the one thing that was out of our reach. We had life and abundance for the taking, but instead, our desires drew us to the one tree whose fruit was forbidden. So it seems, even before we sinned, there was a natural curiosity and a set of desires in place that drew us to dangerous places.

Three primal desires

What were these desires? Were these desires sinful in themselves? Let’s consider these questions one at a time. If we look at this story carefully, I think there are at least three desires that can be identified. Some would sum it all up and say we fell into pride, but to me, pride is a sinful condition of the heart. Proud is what we became because of our mishandling of our core desires. I am looking at what we were before we fell, and it seems to me we had desires, and these desires, though not sinful in themselves, were easily exploited by the serpent to encourage us to choose to satisfy our immediate desires over obeying God’s long term desires for us.

Let me begin by listing the desires I see in this story.

Ascendancy

This is the desire to improve and increase ourselves. It is actually a useful desire considering our commission from God. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  

So, the desire for ascendancy is not sin, but it is what drew them to the tree in the first place. The desire to extend, increase, and subdue became a desire to push the boundaries. But even that was not a sin until it became disobedience. In this story, the desire for ascendancy was the thing that drove our desire for knowledge and wisdom and to be “like God.”

Autonomy

This is the desire for self-rule, and it is also necessary if we are to obey God’s commission to multiply. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  But when we embrace this fundamental desire to grow and mature and to become responsible for our own well-being and establish our own family, this desire is easily subverted into the desire to be fully autonomous. Which in practice becomes a desire to be our own final authority.

Left unchecked, this desire will throw off all other sources of authority, including God’s, and turn us into self-serving rebels against our own creator. So we see again in this story that the desire for autonomy drove us to take matters into our own hands and take the things that we were not intended to have. This desire ultimately drove us to usurp God’s authority and place ourselves in the role of being our own god.

Physical satisfaction

The last desire in play here is the ever-present desire for physical satisfaction. The desire for physical satisfaction is so primal and so necessary that we could not live or multiply without it. Yet, as has always been the case, when physical desire overwhelms our love for God and others, when the desire for physical satisfaction becomes primary, a whole host of evils are born. We see this desire raise its ugly head as they looked at the forbidden fruit and thought is was beautiful and good for food.

The temptations never change

And so the story goes, all the way down to today. We still struggle with these primal desires, and we still allow them to lead us into various sins of pride and rebellion against God’s authority. We still feel that if we want it, we need it; if we need it, we take it. Sadly, we do this regardless of what God wants, and often with no regard for its long-term impact on ourselves or others.

These desires, though not evil in themselves, become the core motivations for evil. They are desires for our benefit, not God’s, and not others. When we allow these desires to rule us, we turn love on its head. Remember, love is benefiting others at my expense.

Jesus took a different path

Then he(Jesus) said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”   (Matthew 26:38-39 ESV)

As Jesus was contemplating the most difficult decision in human history we see him in the end making a very different choice than the one we continue to make from the beginning. Jesus chose God’s will and our good over his, the short term cost was immeasurable, but so was the long term gain. Jesus, in sacrificing his immediate desires and needs to God’s ultimate plan and wisdom, gained not only eternal glory for himself but eternal life for us all.

This week

This week, let’s commit to being more aware of how these desires affect us. When it comes to these basic nagging desires and the temptations that they bring, we are still faced with the same basic choice. Will we follow the will of God, or will we follow our desires and pursue our own satisfaction? Will we cave in to the pressure of our desires, or will we lean into Jesus, whose Spirit gave Him the strength to say no to his desires and yes to the will of God? Are we saying, like Adam and Eve, not your will, but mine be done? Or will we, like Jesus, trust in God’s strength and say, not my will but yours be done? This week, let’s encourage each other to follow God and not our lower desires and supposed needs, trusting Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God to give us the strength through our new creation to both desire and do God’s will.

Have a great week!

But is Christianity simply a self-improvement exercise? Does self-improvement ultimately achieve what our eternal souls need? Can we really overcome our selfish desires through the efforts of self? Or are we in reality exchanging one form of self-centered living for another? Is there any way out of the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” dilemma? I think this passage is my favorite meditation when I am reflecting on my inability to heal myself.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, ...   (2 Corinthians 5:14-18 ESV)

From this passage is seems clear that change is not a function of our efforts it is a function of our death and resurrection in Christ. Salvation is not the result of our efforts but of His. What’s more our fallen natures and evil desires are not repaired, they are replaced. They are replaced by a wholly new creation. What we were no longer defines us, for we are not what we were, we are now something completely new in Christ.

What does this mean in day to day life?

For a long time I took a primarily theological approach to this concept of death and new creation. It became more or less an abstraction and something with more eternal significance than day to day usefulness. However, I have learned over the years that for those sins that seem particularly stubborn, this idea is the difference between success and failure.

In practice, faith in Jesus involves faith in several things. When we say we are trusting in the “finished work of Jesus” that work was his substitutionary death and his victorious resurrection. However, this passage tells us that his death was not his alone but when he died, we all died with him. By his death we were therefore set free from the power of sin, because the person I used to be, the person who was a slave to desire and sin died, and is now a new creation in Christ. Faith in Jesus is believing all of that and more.

As we begin to truly accept that the death of Jesus was also our death, we are set free from the power of our old life and given the ability to live a new life. A life that was impossible for us while we were still enslaved to our various desires and sin.

Changing our thinking

This concept is a lot to take in and our feelings want to say it ain’t so. But God say’s it’s true so this passage also gives us a bit of instruction about how to get our head wrapped around all of this. Paul tells us, “From now on we know no one according to the flesh…”. This includes ourselves, we do not even know ourselves according to the flesh. Who we were, the way we have always thought about ourselves, are all irrelevant because we have died. That person I knew as me has died. Now I have to get to know that new person who was created in Christ as a son of God. I need to follow that new person as he grows up into that which God intended from the beginning. Consider the following:

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.    (Romans 8:10-14 ESV)

So we can “start over” we can live a different life. But we can’t do this by our own efforts through our own corrupted desires and strength. God in Jesus has already restarted us, we now need to walk in this new life of the Spirit and put no trust in who or what we were. We need to consider that old life dead, and fully embrace the new life we have in Christ through the Spirit.

Giving this grace to others

This week let’s forget about trying to fix ourselves up and simply let that old life go while embracing our new identity in Christ. As we allow the grace of God the freedom to work in our lives we need to remember that this same struggle is going on in our believing brothers and sisters. Paul said, “from now on we know no one according to the flesh” and this includes our brothers and sisters in faith. Let’s refuse to know them according to who they were and instead let’s call out who they are in Christ this week. Let’s refuse to identify them by the labels that used to define them, but see them as new creations in Christ. We can all start over, and we can do it today, if we have the courage to walk away from a life that is already dead and step into a new creation that is destined for far greater things in Christ.

Have a great week!

I realized that I was thinking about that, I was thinking about the idea of Jesus being with me. I was not experiencing the presence of Jesus, nor was I really with him in that moment.

When I realized this it set off a traffic jam of thoughts in my head and heart about the nature of my relationship with Jesus in everyday life. So today, as we finish this year and prepare for the next, I wanted to meditate on the actual presence of Jesus - the Immanuel of Isaiah, a name which means, “God with us”.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matt 28:18-20 ESV]

As a missionary for over 30 years this passage is very well known to me, I have studied it and I have preached on it, and I have used it to guide my decisions, but looking at it today, it’s the last line that stands out to me. Jesus is with us, that is a fact. But do we live as if Jesus is with us? Do we talk to Jesus like he is actually with us? Or are our prayers more like postcards we drop in the mail? Do we see the world through his eyes as we stand with him? Or do we see the world through the eyes of the media? These are a few of the thoughts I would like to explore today.

Do we live as if Jesus is with us?

If we believe Jesus is alive and with us how does that change things? If we “practice the presence of God” one of the things we need to do is follow the example of the prophets and righteous people of old. One of King David’s disciplines for example was his persistence in “seeking the face of God”. Consider this passage from Psalm 27.

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. [Psalm 27:8-10 ESV]

Our mind does not naturally seek God, it naturally seeks its own various desires. So it seems to me that the first step toward developing a richer walk with Jesus is teaching ourselves to seek a richer walk with Jesus, we need to practice seeking the face of Jesus in everyday life. Jesus told us that he is with us always to the end of this age. It is a delusional mind that denies reality, and the presence of Jesus is a reality. So we are in effect all mentally ill, in a manner of speaking. We live in the presence of God every day but we rarely acknowledge it. We must discipline ourselves to live in reality, the reality of God and His Son Jesus. To live in reality we must take David’s lead and seek the face of God everyday, until it becomes a habit of mind. As our perspective changes and expands we will finally understand reality as it actually is. And we will know that we are never alone.

Our conversations all take place in the presence of Jesus. When we speak, we speak to Jesus as well. Our troubles are not ours alone, but Jesus is there to comfort us and give us his strength. Jesus is with us if we will believe, He is there if we are willing to take his hand. He is listening, are we listening to him? If not, we must learn to listen.

The Tyranny of Noise

So why don’t we do this more often? The reason I believe these thoughts came to me at night is that during the day the noise and pressures of everyday life deafen and blind us to the presence of God. The world is filled with the voices of unbelief. We easily forget that Jesus himself is with us as we push through the difficulties and distractions of our daily lives. This is why we must do as David did and “seek the face of God”, we must learn to “practice the presence of God” like Brother Lawrence. We need to discipline our weak and beleaguered minds to live in the reality of God’s love and the presence of Jesus.

So this week, no matter how crazy life can be at times, I plan to intentionally take time to seek the face of God, to personally interact with Jesus, to quiet my soul and listen to the one that loves me, who set aside his glory to become a man, and gave his life for me. I hope you can join me in this kind of working/walking worship this week and I pray that you and yours have a truly blessed week, and a happy New Year!

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It has been a long time since the first coming of Jesus. So long in fact that the cynical and uninformed are starting to talk as if Jesus was nothing more than a legend. Jesus himself saw this and warned us saying:

“Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” [Matt 16:2-4 ESV]

Paul described our state even more clearly telling Timothy:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [2 Timothy 4:1-4 ESV]

It is not hard to see what Paul is talking about here as we take in the news from various sources and watch as people take sides on everything. Everyone is so sure they are right and yet the more they reject the source of all things to more unhinged their thinking gets. When asked why they believe something, each of them can quote a notable person or source of some sort to give credence to their beliefs. We live in a world where literally everything is a matter of opinion. Where truth is scoffed at and framed as nothing but a personal perspective or opinion.

This kind of “my truth/your truth” gives us no guidance it has no power at all, until that is, it is adopted by the mob and enforced through bullying and coercion. It was a mob of exactly that sort that hailed Jesus as king 2000 years ago, and then screamed for his crucifixion - all in the same week. Nothing changes. Mobs of self-serving people are always the same. Now we have electronic mobs, but a mob is a mob.

But there is a truth we celebrate at Christmas, and as Christians we know him. The truth as I have said before is “that which is”. When Moses asked God’s name He simply told Moses, “I am that I am”. God is the truth, and Jesus is God, this understanding was behind his words when he told his disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. No one can truthfully say that except God. But Jesus did say that, and he did miracles to back it up. Then he was crucified, and then he rose from the dead. Those are the facts of Christianity, the challenge for us is believing the truth to such an extent that it truly transforms our lives.

Christmas was designed to be a time of both remembrance and anticipation. Advent is the beginning of the church calendar. It was to be a time of remembering the miracle of God’s love and grace. To remember what Jesus gave up to become a helpless human being. And to remember that he is going to come again, only this time he will not be helpless at all. He is coming as the fully glorified Son of God. He is coming to destroy evil and death ushering in a new age, with a new heavens and earth and eternal life for all those that believe.

Living in the hope of Christmas

The questions we have now, the questions that seem so overwhelming will pale into complete irrelevance in the light of his glory, and the glory of his fully realized eternal kingdom. This season I have determined to be much more intentional in my hope in the coming of Jesus, rather than be satisfied with feel good moments as great as they can be at times. Jesus came once to confirm the promises of God and pave the way of salvation for us at tremendous cost. He will come again with power and glory and bringing eternal life with him. Death, pain, injustice, and war will end. He truly is the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace. His reign will never end, He can’t be voted out or overthrown. Two-thousand years ago Jesus humbled himself to become a helpless baby and a servant of all mankind. But now Jesus is king forever, and He will be back!

Have a great Christmas!

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”   (Luke 2:25-35 ESV)

Meet Righteous and Devout Simeon

Simeon was a man, he is given no title in this story other than righteous and devout. He was righteous because he was faithfully waiting and believing in the promise of the coming Messiah. In the passage immediately following this one we meet Anna, who was a prophetess from the tribe of Asher. (also a nobody in Jewish temple hierarchy) She like Simeon dedicated her life to worship and prayer and who was, along with Simeon, given the privilege by God to witness this event.

In both of these people we see that they were not there because of their position or prestige, but because of their faith and humility. God did not reveal himself to kings and priests, but to the faithful nobodies that trusted in the coming salvation of God. We saw a similar pattern in the stories of his birth. It was shepherds and in Matthew it was foreigners that God revealed himself to first.

In these simple, faithful people we find hope for all that wait faithfully on God. It has always been the case that those who seek God are the ones that find him, if they seek him in faith. It is the humble and the faithful that God still reveals himself to. This simple fact gives us all hope in this world filled with evil and pain.

The Message of Simeon

Simeon first thanks God for his faithfulness because, just as God promised, he is finally able to see God’s salvation with his own eyes, though still only in its infancy. But he goes on to describe this salvation:

* It is to be to all peoples

* It was to be a light to the Gentiles

* And finally it was to be the glory or Israel

But it was not all good news. It was also going to be:

* For the fall and rise of many in Israel

* A sign that is to be opposed

* A source of pain even for Mary

* And a revelation of the thoughts of many.

This was to be a universal salvation that will not be universally accepted or appreciated. Nor will it come without pain. Valuable things are always expensive, salvation is no different. I sometimes think people are somewhat misled by the notion(although true) that salvation is a free gift. While it is free to us now, that is only because it was a gift paid for by another. To the giver of this gift(God) it was inconceivably expensive. And in many ways those that freely accept it, even today, will also pay a price. This prophecy makes the wonderful, joyful, disruptive, and painful nature of this gift of salvation clear.

What can we walk away with today?

As I read this, I am taken back to a time when the outcome of this birth is not completely clear. A time when hope, joy, anticipation, and fear all swirled together in awe and wonder. I find myself amazed at how God values character and faith over knowledge and position. I see again how God did not come down in triumph but came as a nobody to serve, to heal, and give his life for all those who would believe.

So this week I want to focus on faith and hope in God. I want to learn from the humility of the eternal Son of God. And walk in that same mixture of hope, joy, anticipation, and maybe even a bit of healthy fear - that Mary, and Simeon, and Anna had back then. I want to refresh my sense of awe that God would value nobodies like me and you enough to become one himself. And through His most unlikely, even shocking, ministry of self-sacrificing love - saves us all. Let’s encourage each other to exercise this hope in such a loving and faithful God this week.

Have a great week!

For bible students they often believe it to be some theological question or other that will finally tie it all together. Or maybe some atheist barb has gotten under their skin and they want biblical ammunition so they can go back and win an argument with someone or other. Now, I do try and help them with their quandaries and sometimes I even feed some of their wandering curiosities. After all, part of my role as a bible teacher is to stoke a hunger for studying the bible. But in the end it is not the hard to find answers that are the most powerful or important, it is the obvious and often repeated truths that really need to be understood and applied.

The power is in the object of our worship, not our knowledge.

What makes the simple things so powerful?

As I have thought about this I think simple things are powerful because God ordained it so. The important truths are accessible to everyone, not just those with advanced degrees. But more than that it’s the simple things that stick in our minds, simple things direct our decisions. No one makes decisions based on theories regarding quantum mechanics. And no one is saved by their eloquence in making some obscure theological case or another. We are saved by trusting in the love and grace of God, we are saved by trusting in His Son Jesus. Faith in Jesus is simple and it is actionable, and it is based on a surprisingly small collection of simple stories that tell us who he is and what it looks like to follow him. Those stories are what brought me to the keyboard today.

Isaiah 52-53 tell us of the coming servant and about his humility and sacrifice.

Philippians 2 tells us how he set aside his position and authority in heaven to become human like us and die in our place.

Luke 1-2 tell of his birth and identity and destiny.

Mathew 1-4 speaks of his birth and his connection to Israel passing the tests that Israel failed. Fulfilling the ultimate destiny of Israel.

And all the gospels are filled with stories of how he called people everywhere to repentance while announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. They all tell us of his death and resurrection. There are stories of his teachings, his prophecies, his healings, and his repeated demonstrations of authority as the Son of God. These are not complicated stories, they are very real and personal stories for the most part. But they are stories with a profound power to change the lives and destinies of all those who live on the earth.

The Gospel of John sums it up like this:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.    (John 3:16-19 ESV)

Nothing here is complicated, but it is supremely powerful. Salvation is not to be found in the one tiny detail that no one else has seen. Salvation is to be found in believing the truth that has been proclaimed for two millennia and acting on it. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Rediscovering the story this advent season

My goal this advent season is to rehearse the Gospel stories, to reacquaint myself with who Jesus is, what he did, and why he did it. True power is in the person of Jesus and the love of God. These stories have life in them, they are truly unique. That is what makes them stand out among all other stories. They don’t draw us into a fantasy land to escape reality, instead they draw us back to reality. They tell us of God’s unending love for us and his eternal plan to bring us back into fellowship with Him.

There is always noise competing for our attention. Let’s take the opportunity this season to blot out the confused noise of this world, knowing that there is no life in confusion and strife, and let’s focus on the source of life himself. Let’s focus on Jesus this advent season, and let’s walk his way. His love is the most powerful thing in the universe, and we experience this love as we let it flow through us to others.

Have a great week!

To destroy tradition is to erase memory and to steal any sense of history from our children. Today we see a horrible identity crisis in young people, I don’t want to be simplistic, but I think it is fair to say this is at least aggravated by the fact that so many children are raised with no sense of history or tradition. Nothing to anchor them and no sense of who they are or where they come from as a people, and therefore no sense of who they are as an individual. This makes them easy prey for the sellers of perverse ideas regarding so called “identity” that currently flood the media and education systems.

Growing up we were Lutheran, and there we plenty of traditions, this may even be why the anti-tradition message resonated so loudly with me back then. There was common cup communion, confirmation, advent and Easter and too many smaller traditions to list. There were candles and evening services with my Mom and Dad on cold nights, dreaming of Christmas while we sang Christmas songs together. Not every thought in my head was historically accurate, but it established in me a sense of history which in turn gave me a sense of hope for the future. I knew who I was, where I came from, what we did as family and why we did it. This gave me a very solid platform from which I could navigate my future. (Too bad I did not make better use of it, but that is another story altogether)

Advent is one of those traditions, that technically is not a Biblical mandate or teaching, but it is a time set aside to remember the gift of God to us at Bethlehem and to remember our hope for the future in Jesus. Jesus has come and advent reminds us of the absolute mystery and wonder of that event. But advent is also a time to remember that he is coming again to bring final justice to all, and eternal life to all that believe. The mess that self-serving human government has made and continues to make, will one day end. Jesus came once many years ago and he is coming again this time to stay.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.   (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

This week let’s not allow ourselves to be pushed along by the things we call urgent, and carve out some time to reflect on our history and our future. Let’s allow the wonder of God’s gift to a rebellious and sinful people to soak in a bit. It’s time to fight this anchorless culture and establish a culture and a tradition of remembrance, honor, and hope in Jesus. Start a new tradition or reestablish an old one. Let’s help each other remember that there is hope for the future in Jesus.

Have a great week!

If there was ever a time when we need a holiday like Thanksgiving it is now. Have you ever stopped to think of how many blessings we have just by virtue of living in the modern age? But no matter how we improve things the happiness of our souls seems to be almost completely disconnected from our technical advances and circumstances.

Thanksgiving is a genius holiday, because if people could learn to be thankful we would know a joy that is quite separate from our circumstances. But thankfulness is quite often not a spontaneous outburst, it is a discipline of mind. We need to learn thankfulness because our base animal desires are never ever satisfied. Nothing is ever enough for our base desires, it you don’t believe me check out Twitter or just about any social media outlet sometime. You will find precious little thankfulness there. So let’s get some advice from Paul today and think about how to live counter to this unthankful culture.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.   (Ephesians 5:17-21 ESV)

Thankfulness changes everything

To be thankful requires us to get our eyes off of ourselves. It forces us to think about what we have been given rather than what we lack. And maybe most importantly, it is something that draws us together. The humility that is required for thankfulness makes it easy to think about others rather than ourselves.

Thanksgiving is a radical change of perspective, and it is the will of God no less. We spend so much time wondering about the will of God, but this passage makes it pretty simple, we are to give thanks and love each other. It’s not too hard.

This Thanksgiving, let’s not forget the whole reason this holiday exists and let’s thank God always and for everything.

be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father

Have a great week!

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

First and foremost a lord is a master or to use a more contemporary term a “boss” or even an “owner” as distasteful as that thought is to modern ears. Bosses do not give instructions for people to consider and discuss, bosses give instructions to be obeyed and carried out. Often when I hear people including myself use the word Lord, I hear in the back of my mind the voice of Indigo from the movie “The Princess Bride”: “You keep using that word, I do not think that it means what you think it means”.

To have a Lord is to relinquish your autonomy and place yourself completely under the authority and rule of that Lord. Jesus is Lord, he is The Lord. Whether people obey him or not, his position is unchanged. He will be the judge of us all in the end and our behavior, while it can not by itself save us, does matter. When Jesus tells us something he expects us to obey him. We are often deceived by our own shortsightedness into thinking that immediate gain or pleasure makes our decisions correct. This is false, Jesus is the judge of what is correct and he is the judge of the whole earth. The freedoms we have are not for our pleasure but rather a gift and an opportunity for us to act in love for the benefit of others in obedience to Jesus.

The result of obedience

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”   (Luke 6:46-49 ESV)

This passage comes from Luke in what is sometimes called the “sermon on the plain”. This teaching has many similarities to the “sermon on the mount” in Matthew 5-7 and they both end with this analogy of building on the rock vs building on the sand. But in Matthew rather than ask the question we have above, Jesus queues up the “house on the rock” analogy with this statement,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

It is important to really look at this passage by Jesus and not simply pass it off as hyperbole or try to nuance it out of existence by burying it is some form of systematic theology or church doctrine. The words of Jesus trumps all later doctrine and systematic analysis. We need to hear it in the same way the original hearer did and be equally shocked. Think of it, you go out to hear a preacher/prophet/healer that everyone has been talking about and what do you hear? That your eternal destiny hinges on whether or not you obey his teaching. That is way beyond audacious, I’m quite sure that this left many followers and would be followers completely speechless and others enraged.

Putting these passages together

If we take the passages in Luke and Matthew together we see that there is both a requirement and a benefit in obeying Jesus in this age and the next. The storms that hit the two houses are not the final judgment, but rather the storms of persecution and hardship. Obedience to Jesus gives us the strength to stand through anything this world can throw at us. Given the worlds situation at the moment that is something I think every Christian on earth should be thinking about now.

The passage in Mathew though tells us that beyond the pressures of this life there is final judgment, and that is an even greater concern. In the final analysis the question will be, are we walking with Jesus or are we walking according to our own desires? In the final judgment not even religious exploits will suffice only obediently walking with Jesus as our Lord, our Master, and our Boss. Now let’s look at one last aspect of the authority of Jesus. In John, Jesus makes the following statement.

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.   (John 13:13-16 ESV)

What does this obedience look like for us?

In a word, following Jesus who is the way. In this story Jesus washed the feet of his disciples very deliberately in order to give them an example. We need to demonstrate the gospel as much as preach it. Jesus made this clear in this example and underscores this teaching with the reminder that the servant is not greater than his master. If he as their master washes their feet then they need to wash each others feet for the servant is not greater than the master.

So this week let’s encourage each other and serve each other, remembering that we are not our own to do as we please, we belong to our Master and we must do as he says and do what he does. We don’t do this to earn our place in heaven, but because we belong to Jesus and we have already been given a place in heaven, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus. He is our Master and Lord.

Jesus set aside his glory and gave his life for our benefit. As his servants we must follow this example. For us there is only obedience to our Lord or disobedience to our Lord. When we placed our faith in Him we gave our life to him, just like he gave his life to us.

This is a hard passage, not because it is hard to understand but because it is hard for our old selfish nature to hear that we are not our own boss. But the truth is, we are not the our own, we were bought with a price. This is why we need to encourage each other daily, so we don't give up and give in to our own base desires. When we follow Jesus in washing each others feet, so to speak, we demonstrate the gospel and we make it easier for everyone to love and serve each other as we love and serve Jesus.

Have a great week!

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.   (1 Peter 2:15-23 ESV)

Vengeance vs Justice

The desire for revenge runs deep in the human heart often using the notion of justice as a cover for it’s rage. But true justice is in the hands of God alone according to this passage. Even Jesus who suffered the greatest injustice in history did not condemn his abusers, but rather prayed that God would forgive them. Our job is not to bring down the so called “wrath of God” on people that offend us or treat us badly. The actual wrath of God is a fearful thing and it is a real thing - it is not however an immediate thing.

As Christians we should understand the fear of the Lord. And we should understand what the wrath of God would mean to a rebellious and sinful world. Our job is to demonstrate the grace of God not his wrath, in the hope this kindness will lead them to repentance. Like Jesus we are looking to bring forgiveness no matter the personal cost. And as hard as it is to hear, this may well mean suffering injustice without immediate retribution, revenge or justice. We are to follow in the example of Jesus, not the example of this fallen world and our self-serving lower nature.

This can’t be right…

To modern ears this passage seems to get everything wrong, to the point of being totally irrelevant in today’s world. It assumes slavery for one thing and then seems to give abusive slave owners a free pass on their outrageous behavior. And then to top it off asks those being abused to accept this abuse like Jesus accepted the abuse he suffered on the cross. Why would God ask such a thing???

This takes us back to the counter-cultural nature of Christianity. We are to be light in a dark world, we do not repay violence with violence or hate with hate, which can only add dark to the darkness. We are to be salt to this world, something different that improves the world, not something that follows the world in a never ending tit for tat exchange of violence and hate.

But to allow injustice is to empower it, right?

The assumption in this statement is that personally striking back for personal injury is just. Last week we looked at the preceding verses in this passage and saw that God established human government to reward good and punish evil. This passage is talking about taking matters into our own hands and striking out against personal abuse for our own satisfaction. This is not what Jesus did, everything Jesus did was in obedience to God and for the good of others. Therefore he willingly endured evil against his person for the greater good. We need to be willing to pay that same price if we are to truly follow Jesus. This is very, very counter-cultural and grinds against our most basic instincts.

But that makes no sense in a democracy!

This is an interesting thought for those that live under representative governments of one kind or another. (Which by the way is not as common as you might think in this world.) The original readers of this letter had no voice and were truly powerless except to possibly make things worse for themselves and others. For the majority of people in the world today this is still true, so they would more easily understand this passage than those who live in “free” societies where individuals have a voice(however limited) in their own governance.

I think doing good in a state where leaders are democratically selected does mean participation in the process, but we must never participate in the evil that often goes along with the political process. We must demonstrate what good looks like in a world that demonizes everyone but those that look and think and talk like us. This will mean being slandered and misunderstood at times, after all - Jesus was.

But as this passage and others affirm, the best argument against evil is doing good to others. Grouping people up into “us and them” and blaming “them” for all evil is not doing good - it is the prelude to war and one of the main sources of the very injustice we all want to see abolished. Demonizing the “others” is how atrocities of all sorts have been justified throughout history.

So we’re all doormats then…

Here’s where it gets real. We are all free in Christ, so free in fact that temporal pain and suffering are trivial compared to the privileges we have as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. Would you describe Jesus as a doormat? I guess you might, if you think the cross was a defeat. But the bible tells us, and history has shown us, that it was in fact the greatest victory against evil of all time. So the question becomes, do we believe we are free citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, or do we believe that this present world is all there is and all that will ever be?

To endure temporary hardship for eternal gain is not easy or fun but it is logical and rational and most importantly it is simply the right thing to do. I am not saying we go out looking for trouble but if it finds us, as it often does, we must not simply react, our first reaction is rarely the right one. Indignation and a self-righteous lust for revenge feels justified in the moment, but justice is no friend to the guilty, and we are all guilty before God, none of us can ever stand as righteous before God - on our own.

To stand righteous before God means to stand in faith that the suffering of Jesus fully paid the terrible price that justice demands of us. We were made righteous in Christ by his suffering. We did not earn this grace it was a gift from God. And now, it is a gift we must pay forward to the other thoroughly undeserving people on this earth, so they too may have the chance to respond to this completely outrageous and unwarranted grace of God. And should they respond to this grace positively and repent - true eternal good will come of our suffering, both for us and for them.

What does this look like on a Tuesday?

So what do we do when we are faced with injustice and injury? Do we fight to defend our “rights”? Is there even such a thing as a “right” to not be offended or wronged in this present age? The life of Jesus argues against the idea. Can we really expect to live in a world governed by fallen humans guided by selfish desires without being offended or injured or mistreated? The short answer is - of course not, but responding to this reality is not always straightforward.

Peter tells us plainly in this passage that we are called to suffer at the hands of sinners, because Jesus did. This is true but for me, that “brute fact” needs a bit of explanation if I am to successfully endure injustice. As I think about all of this and the various experiences with injustice and abuse I have seen and had, there are a few things about this aspect of our calling that I find helpful.

The first thing, and the thing that helps me the most is recognizing that the evil in my abusers and persecutors is the same evil that is in me. If you are like me your knee jerk reaction to this statement is something like, “well, not exactly…” but yes, we all wish it wasn’t, but it is. That is the bad news, the good news is that if we can embrace this truth it helps us show grace to others, because we are doing nothing more than reflecting the grace that God has shown to us - toward them. Now think about how great Jesus is, he was not reflecting the grace he was shown for his sin since he had none, through his suffering he became the original source of grace for all sinners everywhere - including us.

Next we need to recognize that it was the kindness of God that drew us to repentance. If all we knew was his justice and wrath we would most likely run away from him in fear and shame. But by showing God’s grace and kindness to others, especially those that don’t deserve it, we clear a path for them back to God, we offer a path of grace for them rather than a threat of judgment. Our response of grace and kindness could help them to take that all important first step on the path to eternal life.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the suffering in the passage is suffering for doing good. We should all expect to suffer for doing evil. It is not wrong for the police and the justice system to punish wrongdoers. Jesus did good and was treated terribly in return. We also need to consider that doing the right thing will not always be rewarded or celebrated in this fallen world. But we must never respond to this kind of injustice by returning violence for violence or hate for hate. We must follow the example of Jesus.

There is a lot to think about here, so I am not going to try to sum it all up into some cute slogan about how to deal with something as difficult and painful as injustice and abuse. But we have an example in Jesus to follow, we have his Spirit in us, we have his word, and we have the gift of his grace. So we are rich enough to give this grace to others this week. This week take some time to pray through this passage and the ones I have included below. And let’s stop focusing on the way we feel and our need for vindication, and recognize there are eternal destiny’s hanging in the balance for everyone, everyday. Let’s make it easier for those that have yet to see God’s grace find it this week by reflecting that unspeakable and unearned grace that we have received to others.

Have a great week!

Imagine living under Roman rule and you are a servant or slave, a situation that was as likely as not for the original readers of this letter. In fact nearly all of Peter’s original audience for this letter gathered in what would be called home churches now to hear the scriptures, the gospels, and the teachings of the apostles read to them - because they could not read and did not possess copies of these documents. You have no vote, and no prospects to be anything other than what you are. Even the citizens and masters of the day had no real legitimate say in government.

It’s important to understand this if we are to hear this advice correctly. Modern people especially in the west, are used to an unprecedented amount of personal autonomy. No one wants to be told what to do, especially by government, particularly if it is not the government they personally voted for. This autonomy has gotten so overblown today that it has become a problem in its own right for the Church. Because we have forgotten what it means to have a “Lord”.

The original readers of this text, on the other hand, lived everyday under the rule of many lords. What Peter was trying to help them with was obeying the Lord Jesus while not dishonoring the various earthly lords they were beholden to. So let’s get into today’s text…

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.   (1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV)

For the Lord’s sake…

The key to understanding this whole passage is in these four words. Everything that Peter is going to ask them to do flows directly from their relationship with, and obedience to, the Lord. Leading an honorable life on earth brings glory to God. As I watch current events it feels like it has been a long time since most people have given any serious thought to living honorably. We are to be subject to earthly authorities in honor of the Lord.

Getting back to Peter’s audience, who are the earthly authorities Peter was referring to? The names are surprising especially when you connect obedience to these people to honoring the Lord as Peter does. The emperor at this time was very likely none other than Nero, let that soak in. Paul in the thirteenth chapter of his letter to the Romans makes similar comments about the Neronian government - this is the same Nero that would some day murder him.

Both Peter and Paul were under no illusions about either the integrity, or even the sanity, of Nero. Nevertheless they also knew that human government was established by God for a reason, it was established for our good and His honor. The fact that evil men corrupt every human institution does not give us license to disregard its importance. Our governments have always been and still are corrupted by sin, like everything else humans touch. Yet without them things would actually be far worse, because the same human corruption in society without the restraint of government would very quickly lead to chaos and violence.

Silence the ignorance of foolish people

Moving on there is another reason given for living honorably as citizens of earthly governments.

“By doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people”.

Well in the age of the internet, social and corporate media manipulation, and globalism there is certainly no shortage of ignorance or foolishness. Doing good however, is still the godly answer, not picking a side and blindly joining the fray. What’s more, for this to work it can’t be just hiding in your house and thinking good thoughts either, it needs to be living and doing good in such a way that it silences the madness of the unbelieving and rebellious world. Politics is politics it never really changes, at its heart it is driven and corrupted by a lust for power and control. Sin in other words. People have a keen eye for sin in others but for some reason a difficult time seeing it in themselves.

Doing good begins with recognizing our own sins and confessing them to God and turning around and going the other way. Repentance to use word rarely heard anymore. By the grace that God has given us in Christ we can be instruments of good in God’s hands, but not because we are good but because God is good and in spite of our past sin He is still willing to work through us.

Live in freedom

So we must remember our true king, our eternal king Jesus has set us free. We are free from the slavery of sin and we are free to do good. So we must use our freedom for good. In the U.S. these days there is a lot of talk about freedom, but so much of this so called desire for freedom is nothing more than a desire to do as we please. While few would say it this bluntly the desire is too often for a freedom to sin, not the true freedom from evil that allows us to live to God’s glory and do good to others.

Peter tells us to “live as people who are free”, but knowing the condition of the human heart he quickly adds,

“not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God”.

Peter knew that we only have two choices, to be servants of God and find true freedom, or we can be slaves of sin with all the pain that follows. We hate sin in others but far more often than we are willing to admit, we want to have it both ways for ourselves. We want the blessing of God and the autonomy of sin. This week let’s not kid ourselves, self-righteously calling out the self-righteousness in others and showing contempt for those who hold offices in the governments that God has established for our good. But instead, let’s take the opportunity that the grace of God affords and do good to others showing the proper honor to everyone we meet.

So, “for the Lords sake…”, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (or President, or PM, or Governor, or whatever)

Have a great week!

The Church throughout its history had various takes on politics and citizenship. It has at various times been deeply political(often to its own harm) and at other times refusing to even discuss politics. This second group represented the attitude of the church I was raised in. Through the years since my childhood however I have been involved with many churches in many countries as a missionary, and in my studies I have read about a great many more. What I can say after all this is that politics and the Church have a troubled relationship. Enough said, I resolved early on not to let this Substack become just another political rag.

So how are we to reconcile our citizenship in the kingdom of God, with the politics and governmental authority of this world? Peter gives us some of the best advice on this I think, so for the next few weeks I think it would be encouraging to look at our “dual citizenship” and how to resolve the inevitable tension between the two.

Let’s begin with Peter’s first letter, chapter 2.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.   (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)

The first thing Peter calls to mind for his readers is that they have a calling and an identity that is above their bare existence on earth as human beings. He also reminds them that they have a citizenship that is above any earthly citizenship. Just look at the labels in this passage: chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, and a people for his own possession. I don’t know about you, but when I look in the mirror in the morning those are not the first things that spring to mind. You might be saying of course not, me either! But actually this is not good, because for a Christian these labels are the truth, it is my feelings and assumptions that are constantly trying to lie to me.

Not only is this our true identity in Christ, we were also chosen with a purpose. We were chosen to proclaim the excellencies of the one who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We were nothings and nobodies, now we are God’s people. And we belong to God because He has extended His mercy to us, even while each of us were living entirely for ourselves in utter opposition to God. If this description does seem to fit you it is only because you have not yet recognized the darkness in your own heart, and the outrageous grace that God is showing us day by day through his mercy.

We were all living in rebellion until the grace of God came to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is our king because he has conquered the power of evil, and he has given us everything we need. And everything have that is good and eternal resides in him. He is the source of our life - and he is quite literally our future. We are a part of his holy nation now, and we are priests in the new temple.

With that truth in mind it becomes clear that some kind of response is required, if we are to embrace our citizenship in God’s kingdom. So let’s read on…

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.   (1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV)

This language sounds a bit foreign and dated even in modern translations particularly in the west because most of us have never personally had to face an actual exile. Exile is something we tend to watch on the news rather than experience. Sojourners is a bit easier for us to grasp because anyone that has had the blessing of travel knows what it is like to be a foreigner - and sometimes even a hated foreigner.

My first experience with this was in Brazil over 30 years ago. I was having breakfast in a cafe with my family when someone inserted himself into our conversation and asked if we were Americans. When I said yes he proceeded to tell me exactly how I thought, and why exactly America was evil, and how that was manifested in me. I smiled and let him talk, but that was the first time in my life I felt like a true sojourner, I was a stranger in a foreign land. That experience stuck with me and I often thank God for it, because over the years I have learned much from that exchange. It taught me things about travel and more importantly, it taught me things about my own attitude towards strangers and foreigners.

But here Peter tells us we are all exiles living as foreigners in a land that does not love or understand us. In fact, Jesus tells us in the gospel of John that the world hates us, and we should not be surprised, because it hated him first. So how should we act as exiles and visitors? Peter gives us two categories of things to think about in this regard.

First, we need to deal with our own “passions of the flesh”. Interestingly, in modern English passion has actually become a positive word. Which is confusing because the bible consistently considers our passions, or more accurately, our “feelings and desires” as things that need to be controlled. In biblical terms, to be led by our physical desires and feelings is the road to destruction. So Peter’s first advice is to gain mastery over these feelings and desires, to abstain from them, to set them aside. We must live in freedom from these desires, they must not rule us, if we are to live as we should and represent ourselves as true and free citizens of the kingdom of God to this world.

Second, we need to live honorably and do good so that we may demonstrate the truth to this world, rather than just talk about it. The net result of such actions is that even the unbelievers will have to admit the truth and give glory to God on the “day of visitation”. Which takes us to the final point of this passage, what is the “day of visitation”?

The day of visitation is synonymous with terms like the “day of the Lord” it is what we have been talking about for weeks. There is a day coming when all created beings will have to give an account to their creator. It is the final judgment, and on this day everyone will have to admit the truth and give glory to God. Some with joy and some with unending regret.

So what does this look like as we go about our lives this week? For many of you in the U.S. this is an election season. Politics is in the air constantly, but we have a king and a nation that is quite independent of earthly kingdoms and rulers. Does that mean we stand mute? I don’t think so. Does that mean we join a faction and fight with all our might. No, that is not the answer either.

Jesus is again our example, he refused to be drawn in to the political controversies of his day, but he always did good and spoke the truth fearlessly. To walk in his way means we do good to others and we speak the truth - but honorably. We do what we can to help others to see, both in our words and deeds, that there is a kingdom that is uncorrupted by money and power. It is an eternal kingdom and we serve an eternal king, one that has laid down his life so that anyone who accepts him as the true king may live forever.

This week let’s get caught up with our role as a holy priesthood remembering that a priest is primarily an intermediary, one who advocates to God on behalf of another. Let’s not allow ourselves to get caught up the hysteria of the news peddlers. Let’s be a true priesthood and good citizens of both heaven and earth this week and intercede for a lost and dying world while doing good and speaking the truth.

Let’s help each other stay on the path of Jesus through all the current confusion and - have a great week!

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’   (Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

Initial observations

So let’s look at the initial setup of this story. It begins with, “For it will be like”. This phrase is the clue that this story is describing the same time of waiting that he has been referring to previously. Once again we see a master leaving on a journey and leaving his servants behind. This is now the second story that is built on this basic framework. The first time Jesus used this setup was to explain the difference between two servants, one who remained faithful to the end, and the other that gave up on the master returning and became selfish and wicked.

This story is an expansion on that idea. Now there are three servants and they were not all given the same gifts and responsibilities. The lesson here then is in the comparison between these three servants all of which were given gifts and responsibilities.

The Faithful Servants

The three servants that Jesus describes were given different amounts of resources, “each according to his ability”. So although the gifts were not distributed evenly they were distributed justly. None of these servants were asked to do more than they were able. I think this is an important side note in this story, given our current cultures confusion regarding, equality, equity, and justice.

The first two servants performed as expected and each of them managed their gifts well. They each were profitable to their master, if this sounds too mercenary for your taste consider some of the other metaphors that Jesus uses, like seeds bearing crops in the parable of the sower, or trees bearing good or bad fruit. Jesus does have an expectation of return on the gifts that he has given us. It is difficult to read this story and not come away with that conclusion.

In this story the reward for the faithful servants was the pleasure of the master and an increase in their responsibility and authority. The only thing I would point out here is that they did not get the same amount to start, nor did they produce the same amount in the end, but both got the same reward and praise from their master. Jealousy over gifts and position are unnecessary, something I think Jesus repeatedly tried to teach his disciples.

The last servant however is an entirely different story.

The Unfaithful Servant

Judging from the amount of detail given by Jesus about this guy, I think it is safe to say that this servant represents the main point of this story. I see this is a cautionary tale at its heart. The first words out of this guys mouth say a lot about who he is, and the condition of his heart. Compare his attitude with the simple obedience of the two previous servants.

‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’

It seems that he understood the servant/master relationship as one that only benefits of the master.(Something the first two servants prove to be false) In this servants mind his relationship with the master was something more like oppression than service and his misunderstanding of the character and love of the master guided all his decisions thereafter. This “victim mentality”, if you will excuse the phrase, caused him to relate to his master through paralyzing fear, rather than love, gratitude, respect, or even a sense of responsibility. So he did nothing with the gift that was given to him and intended to just give it back, assuming the master ever returned. He “quiet quit” to use another recent cultural trope. He thought he could just “opt out” of his calling and responsibility, disregard his gifts and live for himself.

The master did not take this mans assessment of the situation well though, and responded to the servant in a way that may have surprised him(and us).

‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

If this response surprises you, think about this passage from the sermon on the mount.

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.   (Matthew 7:2 ESV)

This servant has wrongfully judged the master(think God) to be grasping, self serving, and unjust, so that is exactly the way he treated him. He was judged in the same way he himself judged others. But more than that, the master explained to him that he was not even living consistently with his own warped and twisted understanding of the master’s character. Because if he really believed what he was saying, he would have given that money to the bankers so that he would have something to show for the gifts he was given when the master returned.

I think the last servants response shows a poorly disguised contempt for both the gifts he was given, and his master that entrusted him with them. He seemed to be projecting his lack of character onto his master. Maybe he was offended to be given less resources than the others, maybe he didn’t think the master was really coming back, who knows. But for whatever reason he had no interest in serving the master or putting those gifts to their intended use. And in the end his explanation was nothing more than an insulting and worthless excuse.

What about us?

It has been said by many that the most important thing in our head is our concept of God. I think this story illustrates that axiom very clearly. So, given our constant exposure to a godless and often God hating world, we need to regularly evaluate our own view of God’s character. Do we see him as loving and generous, or has the world twisted our thinking to see Him as stingy and cruel? Do we hold back when we should be giving? As difficult as it can be to ask these questions of ourselves I think it is important that we do.

I think this question is the question Jesus is asking his disciples as he told them this story. He wanted them to examine themselves and ask, “Which of these servants am I?”.

What were we given by the master?

Life, energy, material resources, education, encouragement, skills, friends, family - for most people the list goes on and on. For Christians who have experienced and known the grace of God, His mercy, forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life gives us an absolute embarrassment of riches. We have all this and more in Christ and it should absolutely compel us to respond in kind to others. But does it?

What does investment of these gifts look like?

The most important question before us today is once again, what am I going to use my gifts for today. For some there is a fixation on the future, for others there is perhaps more of a fixation on the past. But the past can not be changed and the future is unknown - today is the day of salvation. Today we will either use our gifts in service of the Master - or we won’t.

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  (2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV)

None of us will wake up tomorrow, every time we wake it is today. If we do not use the gifts we have been given today, as the 5 foolish virgins learned only too late, then we do not use our gifts at all. At the masters return we can not go back in time to make corrections nor can we make excuses like the wicked servant in this story.

We invest in the Masters kingdom whenever we use the gifts he has given us to bless others. Will we see the benefit of this investment? Probably not directly or immediately, but when the Master returns he will not forget what was done and we will be rewarded with entrance into his joy forever.

So this week, let’s remember the price Jesus paid in his service to us and not focus on the cost of our service. Whatever price we pay will be nothing compared to what God paid to redeem and restore our rebellious and wicked souls. The joy of the Lord is found by those that serve Him, not by those who serve themselves. So let’s take inventory of what resources God has given us in Christ and look for places to invest those gifts.

Have a great week!

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“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.   (Matthew 25:1-13 ESV)

Watch Therefore

A story like this can be made to say many things depending on the meaning you assign to the various elements in the story. So, to keep our interpretations from running completely amok,(which is always a good idea) first let’s look at the moral of the story according to Jesus.

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”.

Last week we discussed what “staying awake” looked like for the disciples and for us. But this week the characters in this parable actually all fall asleep, but they do not all have the same outcomes, because some are wise and some are foolish. This is a very interesting expansion of the teaching on being prepared for the coming of Jesus. Beyond being told to simply stay awake it seems that wisdom prepares for a longer than expected wait. It shows us something of a difference between legitimate rest and the dangers of the drunken and careless deeds of the night that Paul was referring to in the passage last week. This story also takes a slightly different tack on the contrast between the good servant and the debauchery of the evil servant described in the passage just before this one.(I have included that story below)

The Bridegroom was Delayed

In this parable Jesus is adding to his previous warnings to, “stay awake” and remain “faithful servants”, the idea that his return may well take much longer than we expect and therefore, we should be watchful for we do not know how long it will be. In this story Jesus talks about the importance of preparing for a possible extended wait. The question today is then, “how should we live in light of an unexpectedly long delay in the coming of the Son of Man(Jesus)?” who is here depicted as the “Bridegroom”.

In this story wisdom was preparing for a long wait and foolishness was not preparing at all. The difficulty in this story is trying to understand the nature of the oil and the lamps that the wise virgins brought. They all fell asleep so unlike the earlier metaphor of sleep, the difference here is not that they stayed awake, but their preparation. They all brought lamps, they all fell asleep, but five of the virgins came prepared for a long wait and five did not.

The Oil

Now Jesus could be telling them to simply be prepared in their hearts for a potentially long wait. And maybe so, but even that begs the question, “what does being prepared in your heart for a long wait look like on an average day”?

So what are our options for the extra “oil” in this story. One way might be to consider the oil to be our salvation by faith, meaning that 5 had faith and 5 did not. While that might be a simple solution it does not really fit the story very well. Did the 5 foolish virgins run off to find some more faith? Taken as faith then, this story could be told as, “10 virgins came to wait for the bridegroom, 5 had extra faith and 5 had only the faith they came with”. This seems a bit odd to me and if you make the oil the Holy Spirit it gets no better. Remember the point of the story according to Jesus is, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. He is telling this story to his disciples who are all believers, so what is the extra oil really talking about?

What else could it be?

What other options are there? Let’s get this story back into the context of the other stories in this group of parables. We just examined what the life of a fully awake disciple of Christ looks like, sobriety, faith, love, and hope. Let’s look at the oil as our preparation for the return of Jesus. That seems to fit well with the moral of the story that Jesus provides. Perhaps we could understand this preparation as, we fill our lamps with the works that flow from faith, love, and hope. These good works provide the light that we walk in. That is why there is no time to do this when the bridegroom returns, this oil is prepared before the return. When the Bridegroom returns there is no time to get more “oil”. That is why the oil is there even when they sleep, it was prepared beforehand by their walk of faith, knowing that there was no telling when the Bridegroom would come.

You might be thinking, “but isn’t that a type of works salvation?”. To this I would once again appeal to context. In the previous story, Jesus compares a faithful and an unfaithful servant, I have included the text below. In the parable following this one we see three servants that were given money and expected to make profit with it. They were expected to be fruitful with the gifts they were given, the servant that was cynical, selfish, and lazy was not fruitful and his gift produced nothing. He was rejected upon the return of the master while the faithful servants were blessed. After that parable, Jesus describes the final judgment. Here he explains the difference between those that he “knew” and those he did “not know”. Those Jesus did not know did not act on their love and faith and hope when they had the chance, those he knew and rewarded - did.

In this story the rejection of the foolish virgins by the Bridegroom is worded in the same way as the rejection of those in the final judgment story, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ So I think this story illustrates the difference between an “end of the world prepper”, to use a pop culture phrase, and a true servant of God. True servants of God and disciples of Jesus will be serving, and loving until the end. Even if they fall asleep from fatigue their works will follow them, they will awake to find Jesus, they will be prepared, and Jesus will accept them into eternal joy.

This Week

So what are we to do with this parable? Do we out of fear scramble to make sure we have enough “good works” to be accepted by Jesus when he returns? Absolutely not. Our salvation and new birth in Christ are a gift of pure grace received through faith alone. On the other hand our good works do flow out of our faith, in fact they are inseparable. If a fruit tree bears no fruit it is not a good sign. A thoughtless, careless, unexamined and unexpressed faith may in fact be no faith at all. With that in mind, I think it is wise to take Paul’s advice to the Corinthians seriously.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!   (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)

Our hearts are quick to abandon faith and sink back into selfish unbelief. This week let’s encourage each other to love and good works. Works that are not born of fear, or pride, or unbelief, but in true faith and a genuine love of others. As we do this we will have fellowship with both God and people and we will have nothing to fear no matter when our Bridegroom returns. In a world increasingly hostile and violent to faith in Christ we must all the more lean into fellowship and encouragement.

So to sum up, to be watchful in the way Jesus commands in this passage is to tend to our faith, keeping it fueled by practicing truth, and allowing it to burn brightly in this dark world as we wait for Jesus to return.

Remember the simple things like faith, hope, love, and encouragement, and have a great week!

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.   (Matthew 24:36-44 ESV)

This passage is part of a much larger dialog that Jesus had with his disciples regarding the destruction of the temple, his second coming, final judgment, and the coming full realization of the kingdom of God. This whole conversation starts with a statement by Jesus that the beautiful temple the disciples were admiring was going to be thoroughly destroyed. This set of prophecies and parables in Matthew 24 and 25 are in response to the following two questions from the disciples.

...“Tell us, when will these things[the destruction of the temple] be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”   (Matthew 24:3 ESV)

As we go through this passage today and many of the passages in the weeks to come it’s important to remember what questions Jesus was answering for his disciples. Since two questions were asked, it’s not always obvious what Jesus is referring to in his responses. I think it can be shown that he is responding to both of these questions, but he alternates from one to the other. For example, in the two passages just prior to this one he says the following things, I will summarize because the passages are a bit long.

In verses 29-31 he speaks of the sun and moon being darkened, a sign in the heavens of the Son of Man, he describes how the tribes of the earth will mourn, how the Son of Man will come in the clouds, and that his angels will be sent out to the four winds to gather the elect.

It is hard to see this language as a description of the destruction of the temple, no matter how fanciful your interpretation. So this clearly is in response to the second question they asked regarding the sign of His coming and the end of the age.

However in the very next paragraph he changes his focus. In verses 32-35 his focus is not on the tribes of the earth but something much closer to home as he says, when you see [the things he was describing earlier regarding the destruction of the temple and the tribulation surrounding that event] then you know he[not me] is at the gates[of the city presumably]. He goes on to say that this[present] generation shall not pass away until all these things are accomplished[that generation was in fact still around in 70AD].

So in the course of two consecutive paragraphs Jesus has discussed the answers to both of the disciples queries. The question then becomes which event is Jesus discussing in the paragraph we are examining today? Is it the hour of destruction that awaits Jerusalem, or is it the hour of Christ’s return that is being described? In today’s passage Jesus repeatedly states that it is the time of the “coming of the Son of Man” that is unknown. He is describing a normal day where people are working and getting married, not a gruesome siege that ends in the fiery destruction of the temple and the city. And, as in the earlier passage where the angels were sent out to gather his elect, we see in this passage that some are “taken” while others are “left”. And the passage closes with a strong warning that the disciples(and we) must “stay awake” because the Son of Man is coming on a day we do not expect(the fall of Jerusalem came as no surprise after a terrible three year siege by the Roman army).

How are we to live in the light of this unknown day?

There are many more details in this passage to be sure, but the gist of this prophetic warning is very clear and it is directed to the disciples, not the city of Jerusalem that is about to be judged. I always like to work from the big picture down to the details so let’s start with the main idea of this passage. The simple overarching message is to “stay awake”. The uncertainty of the day underlines how important it is to stay awake at all times. But what is “staying awake”? This passage does not really elaborate, but Paul gives what I consider to be commentary on this teaching of Jesus in his first letter to the Thessalonians:

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,  (1 Thessalonians 5:3-9 ESV)

Paul is speaking to a church far from Jerusalem consisting of mainly Gentiles, so I think it is safe to say Paul was not describing the fall of Jerusalem. But this day will come without warning according to Paul and he gives the Thessalonians the same advice that Jesus gave his disciples. His advice is simple, Paul describes “keeping awake” as sobriety, faith, love, and the hope of salvation.

Faith

Faith in the all sufficiency of the work of Christ. This is the beginning and the end of our walk on the way of Jesus. We must never stray from this fundamental truth. Faith connects us to the grace of Jesus and moves us to action to extend that grace to others.

Sobriety

While the meaning of this is obvious in the sense of excess alcohol consumption I doubt that is all that is intended here. The world is in darkness, the world is asleep, the world is intoxicated with any number of distractions that blunt its awareness of and response to the truth. We must remain sober in a world that would rather think about anything other than the coming kingdom of God. We must stay focused on Jesus and his coming kingdom in a deeply distracted world.

Love

Love as we have discussed many times before is, “benefiting others at my expense”, the love we give to others is one of the main channels of God’s love in day to day life. As we love others we reflect the love of God and demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom to the world. Love is the primary “work” of the believer. It is the outward sign of our inward faith and a demonstration of our hope in Christ.

Hope

As we discussed last week hope lies underneath our Christian walk in many ways. We take hope for granted often I think, because it is such a big part of our motivation to do anything - everyday. Everything we do that involves the future whether it’s later today or 100 years from now is based on a hope of some sort. We literally can’t live without hope.

But the hope that is in Jesus is on a whole different level, this is an eternal hope, this is a hope with substance. Our hope is more than just a vague belief that things will work out. We hope in the one that died and rose again, the one that healed the sick and raised the dead. The eternal Son of God who was the pattern of creation and the foundation of the age to come. The Jesus who humbled himself and gave his life for us so that we may have eternal life, there is nothing more to prove, our hope is sure.

This week, let’s encourage each other to excel in the daytime works of faith, love and hope keeping each other awake and sober as we navigate together the madness of a world living in denial of the God that created it, and his Son who gave his life to save it. Jesus is going to return and although we have no idea when, it doesn’t matter, because until then we have plenty to do - if we stay awake.

So once again, have a great week!

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To be clear, I don’t think it’s bad to reflect on the second coming, I don’t think we ponder this reality enough in fact. Jesus gave repeated and explicit instructions on how we were to live as we wait in anticipation for his return. But this series will not focus on the usual second coming fare of, “Who is the Antichrist?” or “What day will he return?”, as we look at the actual teaching of Jesus we will see that Jesus does not even speak on the subject of the Antichrist and specifically declares that we are not to know the day of his coming. Instead this series will focus on how we should live in the time between the 1st coming of Jesus and his ultimate return. We will focus on how this hope can help and encourage us as we wait for that glorious day.

I am hoping to make this series more practically focused as well, concentrating on how we are to act while we wait, and what our attitude should be. We will focus on the hope that lies ahead and the work that is still undone, instead of dreading each passing day. We work in hope because with the return of the King will come the final consummation of the Kingdom of God as well. The barrier between God and Mankind will finally and forever be removed and we will live with him forever. For the believer this is not a dreadful fear, but a blessed hope and a source of strength in these troubled times.

With this introduction let’s begin with the following passage from John:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".   (John 14:1-6 ESV)

This passage is one of the passages that inspired the creation of this entire site. “On Walking the Way” was intended from the beginning to be an encouragement to action, not simply another discussion of Jesus’ words. It is to be a motivation to walk in his way. But as we see in the broader context of this passage, the way we walk is built on a very specific and powerful hope, the hope of the return of Jesus our King.

Let not your hearts be troubled

Jesus says this on the heals of telling his disciples that he is leaving and he is about to be betrayed, so he is asking them to trust fully in him through the time of uncertainty that is about to come. Of course this puzzles the disciples for many reasons, not the least of which is that they were pinning their hopes for the coming kingdom of God on Jesus, and if he is leaving what is their hope? Thankfully Jesus does not just say he is leaving he explains that he is coming back for them as well. It seems he has mentioned the fact that he is going to prepare a place for them before, but the shock of his blunt announcement that he is leaving without them has caused them to forget.

I will come again

…and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. This is really the hope Jesus was trying to get the disciples to embrace in their shock and grief at the thought of his leaving. Jesus was leaving for a reason, to prepare a place for them (and us) so that, we can be with him forever. But he further confuses poor Thomas with the next thing he says, “you know the way to where I am going”. Thomas was baffled, he didn’t know where he was going so how could he know the way?

I am the Way

The secret to this passage, if you can call it that, is understanding where Jesus was going. He was going to the Father. But more than that he told them, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” This is why Jesus is the way to the Father, because Jesus and the Father are one. As this dialog goes on we learn that the goal of his leaving is not only reuniting with his Father and preparing a place for them. Jesus tells them all, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you”. He was not leaving them alone until he returns, he was sending them a helper, the Holy Spirit. It was through the work of the Holy Spirit that they would know and understand what Jesus was saying. But more than this, Jesus and the Father would come and make their home in them(and in us).

Walking in this Hope

For the disciples who heard this, all of this was still a future hope and honestly pretty confusing, but for us only the second coming of Jesus remains a future hope. The Holy Spirit has already been given to teach us all that we need to know to walk the way of Jesus to our eternal hope and destiny. We now have the fullness of God indwelling us, so we do not need to fear even death.

So our hope now consists of two parts, our present fullness in the Spirit of God and our coming hope for the return of Jesus and our eternal home. I think the perfect close for these thoughts is in John’s first letter.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.   (1 John 3:1-3 ESV)

May this hope inspire and strengthen us this week as we face the uncertainties of the future knowing that the Father and the Son reside in us through the Spirit. And may we use the strength we have in the Spirit to walk in His purity, for we are never alone and our future is with Jesus forever!

Have a great week!

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”   (Luke 10:29-37 ESV)

How would Jesus tell this parable today?

If Jesus were telling this story today I think the characters would vary depending on the audience he was teaching. There are 4 main characters in this story, the victim, the priest, the Levite, and or course the Samaritan. The fun part is imagining who these characters might be in the modern world. Some might think of the priest as the modern clergy or maybe the big denominations. Some might think since the priesthood was corrupt and political that the priest might be better played by a politician. Some might think the Levite might be a better candidate for the clergy or the self-righteous religious person. But what about non-religious self-righteousness? Would Jesus really give them a pass if he were here? I doubt it.

As I read this it seems to me that Jesus was saying it does not matter who you are, the true neighbor would help the one in need. He does not say why these people just walked by instead of helping, it doesn’t matter why(though I am sure they had their reasons). The point is, they did walk by instead of help. The fact that he made a Samaritan the loving neighbor in this story just made it sting a little, Samaritan’s were more or less despised in that culture. If he were telling this tale today in many American churches he might have made the hero a Muslim or an Atheist or even a blue-haired political activist. The point he was making was, love is as love does. The true neighbor is the one that actually helped the man.

It is also worth noting that although the motives of those in the parable are not explained the motives of the one asking the question are. The questioner was, “desiring to justify himself”. I don’t know about you, but many times in my life I have spent more time and effort explaining to myself why I should not help than if I would have just helped in the first place. And every time I tried to justify myself I somehow never felt justified, instead I felt a sick nagging guilt.

You go and do likewise

So the moral of this story is not subtle, nor is its application. Neighborly is as neighborly does - plain and simple. So Jesus told his hypocritical critics to go and be neighbors rather than wonder who their neighbor really is. And this advice continues to hold down to the current day regardless of our culture and circumstances.

John is even more blunt

John in his first epistle picks up this idea and expands it in several ways. Consider this verse:

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  (1 John 4:20 ESV)

In this verse, and 1st John is loaded with verses like this, John makes it clear that there is no such thing as a “love of God” that does not translate into a love of people. The language in this passage is insultingly strong, he calls those that don’t love their brother(or neighbor) liars if they claim to love God.

I think the real force of the story of the good Samaritan should never be diverted toward “those self-righteous people”, the point is clearly intended to help us never become those self-righteous people that say they love God but do not love people.

I am convinced that if the “Good Samaritan” of this story were a real person he would have gotten home a bit later and had a bit less money in his pocket, but he also would have had a genuine peace in his heart knowing he did the right thing. This has been my experience whenever I have ignored my inner selfishness and focused on serving others instead. It is usually not hard to know what is right, but it often comes at a personal cost. Doing what is right generally means we have to set aside our selfish interests and do something about the needs of others.

The good news is this, we can do this. It is the very thing that the new life Jesus has given us wants to do, but we need to silence that selfish, self-justifying voice in our heads that wants to figure out who our neighbor really is.

This week let’s not waste our time and energy trying to figure out who our neighbor is and simply help those that Jesus puts in our path.

Have a great week!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends....   (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV)

Love is patient and kind

When love is not based on what I feel or what I am getting out of the interaction, love can be both patient and kind. Patient because the outcome does not ultimately depend on me and kind because I have been the recipient of this same undeserved love from God. It was the kindness and patience of God that brought me, however slowly, to repentance. This love which is from God will work through us to overcome anger and remain patient and kind, even when others fail us.

Love does not envy or boast

The love of God comes from God. And since the source of this love is inexhaustible so is this love. We are eternally secure in this love because it can never fail, because God never fails. Therefore, this love does not fall to the usual sins of insecurity, such as envy or boasting. The love of God in us gives us a sense of peace and satisfaction that allows others to succeed without wishing it was us. We don’t need what someone else has, nor do we need to prove anything to anyone. This love is a gift and we have it, there is no need to brag or pretend. We can be certain of God’s love for us and in us. Therefore we can give it away generously and with confidence knowing we will never run out.

Love is not arrogant or rude

To know the love of God is to understand our unworthiness of it. To know God’s love is to understand that it is a gift of God’s mercy and grace alone. The more this love invades our hearts the more we understand our own evil and selfish motivations. The contrast is shocking to us and helps us to see others in a very different light. When the love of God shines a light on the darkness of our souls we can see the faults of others without imagining that somehow we are superior to them. And as we shed the superior attitude - the rudeness goes with it.

Love does not insist on its own way

This attribute of love takes us back to our earlier definition, “Benefiting others at my expense”. The love of God, this “agape” love is wholly focused on the others benefit. It is the love that carried Jesus through abuse, disdain, torture, and ultimately death at the hands of the very people he came to help. His singlehearted focus on our eternal good carried him through all of this because of his “agape” love for us. In the garden of Eden we essentially said to God, “not your will but mine be done”, and at the cross Jesus reversed that by saying, “Father, not my will but yours be done”.

In this day of “self-care”, “establishing personal boundaries”, finding that elusive “proper work/life balance”, and often just downright hedonism and narcissism it is hard to even hear, must less take seriously, the call of love to lay our lives down for others. To the modern mind our personal health and well being is paramount. We often hear absurdities like, “if I don’t love myself, how can I love others?” This love of self is not “agape” it is a profoundly selfish desire. If there is one thing our culture does not lack it is the love of self. And if self-love truly made you more loving toward others we should be living in paradise already, but I think we have all seen what this fixation on self has produced. True love shows us a very different way.

Love is not irritable or resentful

Love is exactly what is missing in our, “that triggers and offends me culture”. There is no love in forming tribes and blaming all of our problems on the other tribe. Resentment is taught from early on through constant harping on the injustices of the past, or inequities of the present, and the notion that we do not deserve to suffer in any way. And when we do suffer it is caused by the injustice and privilege of others we are never personally to blame for our unhappiness. To call the current culture irritable and resentful is like calling the ocean wet. As our culture has increasingly rejected the love of God in Jesus it has unsurprisingly become much less loving. Thus more irritable and resentful.

Love does not rejoice in wrong but in the truth

Our appetites tell us a lot about our hearts, I say this with a deep sense of my own failure in this regard. What do we hunger for? What fills us with glee? The truth, or is it the thrill of “getting away with something”. Do we celebrate good people who try to follow the truth? Or do will follow those that cynically play to our lower natures? There are many more questions of this sort and they all come down to the same question. Do we love? Do we love others? Do we seek the truth? Or do we rejoice in evil? Each of us has to answer these questions for ourselves.

Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things

As I look at this final list of attributes I realize that a whole article could be written on each one. But for today, I think I will look at them together because when taken together they paint a very profound picture of the kind of person that love creates. Previously we mentioned John Lennon’s song “Imagine” but instead of imagining a world without religion imagine a world filled with faith, and hope, and patience and endurance and fortitude. I’d much rather imagine a world like that than the soulless, godless, hopeless world of Lennon’s imagination. Without God there is no love, without love there is no faith, without faith there is no hope, without hope there is no future worth imagining.

Love never ends…

In this passage Paul talks about the transitory nature of nearly everything but this one thing remains, and that is love. The Darwinist and the materialistic naturalistic scientist will never explain the origin of love. So in a very real sense love has no beginning or end its source is God and God has no beginning or end. Whatever else goes right or wrong, over time this one thing we can always count on.

Love never ends.

Have a great week!

Similarly, today, I want to talk about love and knowing God. I don’t think you can separate those two things without breaking them either. They are inseparable if you are to know either one. So, let’s begin by looking at a passage from 1st John.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation(satisfying sacrifice or payment) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.   (1 John 4:7-11 ESV)

This passage ends with the statement that we “ought to love one another.” I know it’s a bit odd to start at the end, but I think it will help us in this instance. The word “ought” in modern usage is a pretty weak word. We often use it in sentences like, “I ought to stick to my diet.” Something we should do but often we don’t, but we ought to. We have a lot of vague guilt for such vague responsibilities.

But it would be a mistake to read the word ought in this passage in that “ya I probably should” sense of the word. The word ought here speaks of obligation not inclination it is an imperative conclusion given the love of God described in the previous verses. Consider the following passage to give this phrase a bit of context and a bit more bite.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.   (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)

Now that we have a better feel for the weight of John’s words let’s go back and look at it again. First, we learn that love is from God. Love is something special; it has no earthly source. Whether it is a bear with her cubs, a mother with her child, or a father laying down his life for his family this all has the same source. Wherever true love exists it does not spring from itself. It is a reflection of the God that created all things. There is nothing more pathetic and sad than a true believer Darwinist trying to explain the origin of love or beauty or reason for that matter. It seems the obvious is totally lost on them. What is the chemical composition of love? What does it weigh? Why not catch some in a jar and synthesize it so it can fill the world?

No, love is from God and whoever truly loves is born of God and knows God, but whoever does not love does not know God. This may sound a bit jarring to our theology but it shouldn’t. In fact, the final judgment scene in Mathew 25 is hard to understand without this understanding of love. In that scene, people were saved or not saved based solely on their love for each other or the lack thereof.

My point in bringing this up is not to start a kerfuffle about the true nature and essence of salvation but to reassert the absolute necessity of love in the life of every believer. I am trying to show that love of others and knowledge of God are two blades of a scissor. And maybe to give a bit of pause to any believer that assumes that they are a cut above the rest because of their “faith” or “knowledge,” when, in fact, their love is no greater than an unbeliever’s. Faith and love can not be separated into two distinct piles. And love is not a feeling. It is an action taken for the benefit of others, this is plain in the Matthew 25 passage. Love is benefiting others at my expense.

Getting back to where I started, knowing God can’t be separated from love for others as this passage makes clear. Since God is love you can’t know God unless you know love. And to know love is not to simply understand love it is to actually love, much like to know the guitar is to actually play the guitar.

Love is foundational

So, love really is the foundation of everything. It is the foundation of God’s salvation through Jesus and His grace towards us. And it is the foundation of our knowledge of God. It could even be argued that love is more fundamental than faith since arguably it would be hard to truly trust someone you do not love. Or from another point of view, the ability to trust anyone at all, depends on the ability to love. I offer this as food for thought. In everyday Christian conversation it seems faith is talked about so much more than love. But verses like this make me wonder if I really have the right priorities in my life.

How do we walk along this way?

As always this is the hardest question of them all. For Jesus, the way of love led him to the cross, where he paid the ultimate price to benefit us all. But Jesus told us that to follow him we must pick up our cross daily. So, I think we can safely say we are not expected to literally die every day on a cross. Actual crosses are definitely a one-and-done kind of event, not something you do daily. So, what does picking up my cross look like daily? It looks like benefiting others at my expense. This kind of love may take a million forms, but it must always be our first concern. Because...

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.   (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

So, to walk the way of Jesus and to pick up our cross is nothing more or less than daily looking for ways to benefit others at our expense. This love is not necessarily dramatic or flashy, but it is something we can all do every day, even to our enemies.

Have a great Week!

Imagine a world where everything happens just as it must. No choices, nothing but the necessity of existence. Each piece playing its part no more, no less. Complete harmony of motion, nothing out of place.

John Lennon wrote the song Imagine about a world like this(though I doubt he realized what he was suggesting). And people ask all the time, “If there is a God, why didn’t He create the world without evil?.” So, let’s look at that question as we begin our discussion of love. Couldn’t God create a world where no one did anything wrong, where there was no hate, greed, division, or violence?

In our age of computer simulations, we think we know the answer to this. Of course, he could! So why didn’t he? I mean, if we can create a simulated world where everyone behaves just as they should, why would God create this one? Many would argue that since we don’t live in a world like that, then either there is no God or maybe God is not great, as the famous atheist Christopher Hitchens once wrote.

Here’s the thing: we have all wondered about evil, and we have all asked why. But if you are like me, we do not always think about it very deeply, and when we do, we do not always think about it very objectively. Do we really want to be Sims in a world where we only do what we must? Did Christopher Hitchens want that? I doubt it since he made his entire career out of being a critic of culture, politics, and religion. Those are all things that would have to go to make this Utopian dream a reality. To have a created world of perfect order seems to require a world where living beings are reduced to simple cogs in a machine, with no meaningful choices available, doing everything just as they must to maintain the perfect order.

What does all this have to do with love?

Love is a lot of things, but one thing it can’t be is coerced. Love can’t be forced, and it can’t be taken. Love can only be given. Consider these passages:

...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.    (Romans 5:8 ESV)

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again....   (John 10:17-18 ESV) In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.    (1 John 4:9 ESV)

Love is benefiting others at my expense. This is what God did by giving us His Son. And it is what Jesus did by laying down his life for us. Love is a choice we can all make. If someone else forces, coerces, or simply creates a world with no other available choices, there can be no love.

Simply put, evil is necessary if love is possible. If non-love(evil) is not possible, then neither is love. If non-love is possible, it will happen, but then so will love. The price of love is very high, but so is its value. Valuable things are always expensive. Love was so valuable to God that he was willing to give his Son. It was love that caused Jesus to value our restoration to the Father so much that he was willing to give his life for us. In fact, love was so valuable to God that he was willing to endure ages of evil for the eternal good that love would make possible. God was not creating Sims in a game for His entertainment. He was creating children. Children in His image, with the ability to choose, create, and love. That same ability to choose good and love is the very ability that gives us the ability to choose evil and hate.

Now, there are many in both the atheist and theist camps(Christians included) that would have us believe that free will essentially does not exist. That all things are either mechanically determined if you’re an atheist or divinely determined if you subscribe to certain forms of theism. Either way, though, it seems to me that the entire concept of love is destroyed by determinism. With no free choice to love(or not), there can be no love. Love can not be coerced or determined by others. Oddly enough, evil also becomes a meaningless concept without the ability to choose. Since everything is what it must be, there can be no violation and, therefore, no evil in a deterministic world. It is what it is, as the saying goes.

Without love, everything that makes life meaningful and valuable ceases to exist. This is what I meant by subtitling this article, “love is not trivial.” God is love, and this world reflects that reality. We reflect that reality by our ability to love. We live in a world where love is possible, but for such a world to exist, evil must also be possible.

God is love, but he is under no obligation to love. The thing that makes God’s love amazing is its very unnecessary nature. For God is also just and righteous. God, in His justice, could have rightly ended us long ago. It was God’s unnecessary love that motivated Him to find another way to satisfy the demands of His justice. And it was the same unnecessary love that motivated the eternal Son of God to become human and die in our place to satisfy the demands of justice.

In doing this, Jesus not only satisfied the justice of God but also showed us the true nature of love and of God. Love is giving of yourself for the benefit of others.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.    (John 3:16-17 ESV)

God’s gift of His Son Jesus was not necessary for Him. It was a gift of His love to us. And our response to that gift is not necessary either. But thankfully, now, by the grace of God, we can respond by turning back to God, recognizing and confessing our true state before God. And by that same gift of grace, we can believe in the One that God has given to save us - Jesus. And now, through this faith by His grace, we have been set free to live and to love again.

This week, read John 3 again, but this time in the light of the unnecessary nature of love, and let God’s Spirit overwhelm you with a fresh revelation of the love of God. I pray that this week, we all allow that same unnecessary self-sacrificing love of God to flow through us to others as we go about our daily lives.

Have a great week!

Success is by far more dangerous than failure, though for some reason, we all worry about failure far more than success.

When you do a careful reading of the Gospels a strange pattern begins to emerge around the miracles of Jesus. Very frequently Jesus tells those that he helps not to tell anyone about it. Now, to be fair, there is a lot of room for discussion about why he would do this, but the bare fact remains that he did do this and he did it often. This story does suggest at least one reason though, Jesus preferred to help people one on one to having huge crowds following him just for the novelty of it.

The crowds brought fame and fame brought constant pressure and criticism and this in many cases made his work harder not easier. However, the crowds were a reality and the way Jesus handled his popularity is interesting to me, especially in light of how many famous and popular Christians operate today.

Intentional time with the Father

As the crowds grew larger we see Jesus very intentionally taking time to be alone with his Father. In spite of the pressure he did not, like so many would tell you today, look for ways to reduce the load. Instead he looked to his Father for strength and direction by finding private times to be alone with Him. Consider this incident recorded in Mark.

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”   (Mark 1:32-38 ESV)

Jesus was successful and in high demand but he did not pull away from the people he was called to serve. Nor did he embrace the celebrity and praise. Instead, he intentionally pressed into God in prayer and as a result he was ready for the challenges of the next day. He heard the voice of God and had a plan for the day. He was not listening to the voice of the crowd nor was he working to establish his “brand”. He was not inflated by praise, dissuaded by criticism, or withering in self-pity. He never gave into the pressures and temptations of success and fame instead he saw them as a distraction.

How did he do it? He kept this clarity of mind and purpose through intentional time with the Father and remained focused on the needs of the people he was called to serve.

No other gods before me

Jumping to the topic of idolatry may seem like a radical change of direction in this article. However jarring the language of idolatry might seem though, in my opinion, this is the difference between Jesus and far to many pastors, leaders, and teachers today. Idolatry is not some ancient set of customs irrelevant in today’s modern world. Idolatry is holding something other than the true God as ultimate in our lives. Idolatry is trusting anything other than God. Idolatry is anything other than God that becomes the focus and ultimate goal of our lives.

What we see in Jesus is an absolutely wholehearted desire for God, that works itself out in every aspect of his life and ministry. Consider the following verse from John.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19 [ESV]

We fail when success, or anything else, becomes the goal instead of union with God. If we are in Christ and this verse describes the posture of Christ, then out posture must be the same as His. Today we hear so many stories of preachers and leaders who rise to great prominence only to tragically fall later on. The thing that trips up many of these preachers, is some form of idolatry. At some point something other than God became their principle desire. They followed that desire and failed.

Glad I’m not a leader!

But it is a dangerous to think this sort of mistake is simply a famous preachers mistake. The reason so many are damaged by the fall of these leaders is that so many of their followers are as idolatrous as they are. While those preachers may have idolized success or fame or influence or pleasure or all of the above for all I know, their followers idolized the preachers. They thought that these leaders were somehow different than “regular people”. They became the one to follow they had “arrived”. They were the ones “doing it right” they had the “secret sauce” for success. But we all share the same self-seeking desires and rebel’s heart. The moment any of us forget that, we risk the same type of fall into sin, even if we don’t get the notoriety of a famous preacher or leader when we do.

Which takes me full circle again,

Success is by far more dangerous than failure, though for some reason, we all worry about failure far more than success.

May we all this week follow Jesus whether in good times or bad. May we all remember that no matter what is pressing us, we need to do as Jesus did and take time away to spend with God. We need to refocus on the one who never changes. He is the only God, and the only one worth following wholeheartedly and unreservedly. He is our only solid point of reference in a world that seems to take delight in removing all points of reference. In these quiet times with God may we all find peace and direction for each day, and the strength to do it.

Have a great week!

Worst Time ever?

Some say that these are the most evil times in history. I don’t know. How do you even assess such a statement? I’m sure that during the black plague people thought things were pretty bad. Living in Europe during either world war was pretty bad. Living in Uganda or Rwanda during their genocides was pretty bad if you were there. I am not sure that trying to assess if these are actually the most evil times ever in God’s eyes is even worthwhile. Because what good is such knowledge, if it does not tell us how to live?

What do we know?

According to the passage above (and the news) we know that the world is full of lies. We also know these lies are not all as random as they seem. There is a spiritual wickedness behind these lies. And what’s more, the forces behind these lies have an agenda. I know, I know, this sounds like conspiracy stuff. But it’s not a conspiracy in the normal sense of that term, it is simply the reality of spiritual evil at work in this world. It is the spirit of antichrist according to the text and it has been at work in the world since John’s time, so it is safe to assume it is still at work.

We also know from this text that the one who is in us (as believers) is greater than the one that is at work in the unbelieving world. Namely, the antichrist spirit that has made pawns of all those who do not believe.

How do we know?

This is the whole point of this article. John has given us a way to discern between the true and the false, the spirit of antichrist and the spirit of Christ.

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  

They are from the world

The spirit of antichrist is not some unusually evil thing as many expect. It is a very common and ordinary thing for the most part which is why it is so influential. It is of this world, it speaks to this world, and the world listens. It is a perverse kind of common sense, something the whole world knows and understands. But it is anti-Christ and anti-God, it is a very human centered and physical world focused spirit.

We are from God

We often shy from even speaking like this because it sounds proud to us. But when properly understood, it is the exact opposite of proud. Being “from God” is not a status that we have earned, our life and new life is a gift from God it is the Spirit of God in us. Those who are for God will hear us, those who are not will only hear the spirit of antichrist, that spirit of this world that opposes God and Christ. What makes the difference between those that can hear and those that will not? That is an old argument that many theologians have fought about, I do not have time for those kinds or questions today. Not that anyone can answer them definitively anyway, and I’m not sure the answer really matters in the end. The fact remains, there are only two kinds of people in the world. Those that listen to God and those that will not. We see these two groups interacting from the Gospels to Revelation.

By this we know

“By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.” Those motivated by the spirit of error will not listen to the truth of God and those motivated by the spirit of God will. Ironically, this holds true whether they claim to be believers or not. There are those that have ears to hear and those do not. Jesus spoke and still speaks to those that have ears to hear.

Now that we know, what do we do?

As always “what to do?” is the toughest question of all. Is this bit of discernment meant to give us the smug self-satisfaction of being a bit smarter than others? Well, if we go there it is very questionable if we even know the Spirit of truth. Smug, superior, self-righteousness is the spirit of this world, which is the spirit of antichrist. We see it everywhere today. It is the spirit that thinks it does not need Christ or God. It is truly anti-Christ.

No, the knowledge that we belong to God and that our life is now only to be found in Christ should take us in a very different direction. The knowledge that many others are led by a different spirit should move us as well. If you read the broader passage in 1st John you will see that the church was being influenced by those that were motivated by worldly thinking, by the spirit of antichrist. John wanted them to be wise and discern what they were listening to, who they were really listening to. They were not hearing the Spirit of God but the spirit of antichrist in all this worldly (though often religious) chatter.

Today the Church and by “the Church” I am not referring to some denomination or local fellowship I am talking about the entire body of true believers in Christ. Today we need to think carefully about who we listen to. Their proclaimed allegiance to a group or the lack thereof is not enough to give anyone credibility. The real question is, “Do they hear and respond to truth?”. Or do they, reject it when they hear it? There are many claiming to be Christians that through their actions and teachings deny Christ. And ironically many that have no such stated beliefs that will respond to the truth and even defend it when they hear it. Today more than ever we need to listen and watch and judge our observations not on a persons stated beliefs or allegiances, but rather assess those speaking on their response to the truth of Jesus.

And we need to pray, Jesus opens blind eyes, he always has. He opened our eyes, if we can in fact see. This new found sight is a miracle and a gift, and we must pray for that miracle in others as well. We must lead people to Jesus so that he can do this miracle for them. And to lead them we first need to go ourselves.

May we all, as we live and work this week, allow the Spirit of God to so motivate us that anyone that would follow us would be walking toward Jesus. And may God grant us the grace to know the difference between His Spirit and the lying, self-serving, spirit of antichrist. Jesus is still Lord of all and He that is in us is still greater than he that is in the world.

Have a great week!

There is something about a child that makes us all feel young and free. Their wide-eyed wonder at everything they see makes all of us feel that wave of innocent freedom, even if only for a moment. But all too often our experience is nothing like that child’s innocence and freedom. Too often our experience is one of guilt, regret, and the persistent feeling that we are not doing enough. What is this? It is, at least in part, our damaged conscience.

Conscience is something people don’t talk about that much anymore. Sometimes it feels to me like people have given up on maintaining a clear conscience. I often wonder if people have given up on trying to maintain a clear conscience because they feel that achieving a clear conscience is impossible.

Well, I guess that makes sense. Without Jesus, a clear conscience is impossible. We are often told that guilt and shame are only cultural constructs. But that is simply false, or at best incomplete, it assumes that humanity is the last and only word on right and wrong. The truth is, right and wrong have been established by the one who created all things. That is not us. There are cultural constructs of course, but they are nothing like the last word on anything. Jesus is the first and the last word on everything, and his sacrifice balanced the scales of justice once and for all, for anyone that wants to be forgiven and set free.

The upshot of all of this is that in and through Jesus, a clear conscience is now possible to attain, and more to the point, to maintain. We can believe and put our trust in Jesus and we can love one another. Love is, as I have said before, benefiting others at my expense. It is what Jesus did for us, and it is what we can do for others - even our enemies.

According to this passage in 1st John, to maintain a clear conscience we need to love one another with deeds rather than empty words, and if we do that in faith we will have a clear conscience that will result in confidence before God. A pure love for others through faith in Jesus does not calculate the cost to itself, or make projections on potential gain for itself. A pure love is concerned only with gain for the other. The cross of Jesus is our model, and the Spirit of God is our strength. The Christian has no excuses (though we often look for them) because, as Peter says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence...”.

So this week instead of living in fear of the next news cycle or living in regret of past failures, let’s repent of our past failures and receive the grace of Jesus. We can truly walk along his path, in the real world - today. His path leads us to love others through faith in the power of His cross and resurrection. His path, His way, is love for others which produces a clear conscience as we walk on to eternal life in Him. Jesus is the beginning of the path and the destination. And along the way we love others with a clear conscience.

Have a great week!

There is a story in the gospel of John where Jesus said some things that thoroughly confused and disturbed his disciples. Many disciples left Jesus because they just could not understand what he was saying, those that remained said in their exasperation, “where else would we go? you have the words of life”. Let’s pick this story up just after many followers gave up and left.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”    (John 6:66-69 ESV)

I want to explore this idea of how we respond when we don’t understand. Do we walk away making matters worse, or do we continue to follow in faith because there is no life to be found in wondering alone in the dark. When described in these terms the answer seems obvious. But when we are experiencing these times of confusion or doubt it feels like there is nothing obvious about anything.

First of all it is easy to dismiss the confusion the disciples were feeling as trivial, but it was nothing of the sort. The bulk of those following Jesus had just walked away because he told them that they would have to eat his body. Eating the body of your Rabbi is not now, nor has it ever been a part of the Jewish faith. For many of the disciples of Jesus this was just too much. Saying things that are a bit hard to grasp was to be expected, but talking about some kind of weird cannibalism was a bridge too far. This is not the only time Jesus was considered crazy by his followers and even his family. Earlier in his ministry when things began to get crazy and crowds were gathering and people were being healed Mark reports this event:

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”  (Mark 3:20-21 ESV)

How are we going to respond?

We live in a world whose knee jerk reaction to faith in God seems to be that faith is crazy, almost by definition of the word. They define faith as believing without evidence, or describe it as a blind leap. But is it true that faith is believing without evidence? After all when John describes his motive for writing his Gospel he describes it like this:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.   (John 20:30-31 ESV)

John was not asking his readers to believe without evidence, he was giving them evidence so that they may believe. As for blind faith how many things does every human on earth believe that can’t be empirically proven as fact. If we only moved when all the facts were undeniably proven we would never move. So whether one believes in Jesus or not we all have to face the dilemma that the apostles faced in this story. What do we do when we are not sure what to think?

Leaning into what you do know

When faced with something that just can’t be understood with the knowledge we have we have two broad options. Give up - or lean into what you already know for sure and use that as a platform as you reach for more understanding.

The apostles were not denying reality nor were they taking a blind leap of faith. They knew Jesus and they knew that he had the words of life, whether they understood those words fully or not - they did know him. They were willing for forego judgment on the things they did not understand because what they did understand was compelling enough to carry them through the things they didn’t understand.

Today everywhere you look there are those asking you to believe things that are by no means facts. In fact there are many that don’t believe there are hard facts at all, only perceptions of individuals. At the same time there are many voices today trying to get you to forget what you know in your heart to be true. They attempt to lead you away from the truth of Jesus, by confusing you with things you do not understand. Today we need to cling to what (or rather, who) we know for sure and refuse to deny those things simply because there are things we don’t understand.

There will always be things we don’t understand, there is nothing amazing about that. What is amazing is Jesus. He not only has the words of life, but through his death and resurrection he has become life to all who believe - as long as we never quit. This is the foundation we work from as we grapple with the things we legitimately do not understand.

Have a great day!

How do we know the real from the fake? In this day of “deep fake” video and constant manipulation of the truth, just discovering what is happening around the world can be a dizzying prospect. Jesus and Paul give us a more foolproof way to learn the truth and find the way.

Jesus said it this way,

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.  (Matthew 7:15-20 ESV)

We all follow someone, whether we are self-aware enough to know that or not. It is important for us therefore to seriously consider who we are following. And the way we do that is to consider the fruit of their lives.

According to Paul, those we do not want to emulate are those who follow their base desires and chase after the things of this world. We should instead follow after those who live in expectant hope as citizens of the coming age. The choice is always the same: we either live for fleeting and temporary selfish pleasure or for the love of others and eternal joy with Jesus.

What is “Good Fruit”

“The truth is true no matter its source.” Sayings like this are common, and on many topics they are valid. However, in the Matthew passage above Jesus is saying that when it comes to spiritual instruction, the character of the messenger is vitally important. Why? Consider this: the nature of spiritual truth and wisdom is such that motive and context can be the whole difference between right and wrong in many situations. For example, what was Ananias and Sapphira’s sin? Was it failing to give away all they had? No, it was pretending to give away all they had. Their motive was the problem, not their action.

In Paul’s case above he warns his readers about people who are motivated by their lowest desires and who are focused on the pleasures of this world and not the kingdom that is to come. So both Paul and Jesus are making a similar point in the end. As Jesus famously said, “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”  The character of those you follow is crucially important. Their motives, their presuppositions, and their selfish desires will corrupt their path and the path of those who follow them.

So who is worthy of following?

Paul does not seem to have perfection in mind here, but rather a quality of heart. We are to follow those who honestly follow Christ. This does not imply perfection of performance, but it does require sincere and enduring faithfulness to Christ and dogged pursuit of the way of Christ. We judge their fruit before we commit to following them. We follow the good ones not simply the good-looking and clever ones.

Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

There are still people like this on the earth and many more who have left us their advice, encouragement, and example over the course of the last 2000 years. These are the people we are to emulate. These are the people we are to follow as we navigate the Way this week.

Have a great week!

I have been trained in multiple techniques of evangelism over the years and although I am not a gifted evangelist, I try. It has become clear to me over the years that my work and gifts function better in the second wave than the first. I am most effective when I follow evangelists and teach the new, the young, and the immature what the bible says and how to properly interpret it. My goal is to teach them how to read it through the eyes of the author and the original audience, then to apply that truth today.

Over the last 20 years of doing this there are a couple of things about the way Jesus interacts with people that I find a bit jarring. To start, let’s look at a couple of typical instances of Jesus interacting with would be followers.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.    (Matthew 4:18-20 ESV)

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.   (Mark 10:21-22 ESV)

To Follow or Walk

In these two stories it is the similarity of Peter and Andrew with the young man in the second story that jumps out at me more than the difference. They both had lives, jobs, and possessions yet Peter and Andrew walked away from their possessions(and family) and the second young man walked away from Jesus though this unnamed young man was actually given better promises than Peter and Andrew.

Let’s think about this from the standpoint of Jesus first. In both cases Jesus did not try to coerce them he simply invited them. Jesus seemingly did this a lot. Some followed him and some did not. But Jesus did not shape his message or his ministry based on the results of any one individual. He obeyed his Father, spoke the truth, and walked on. People either followed or walked away.

As a teacher and a missionary this is challenging. So many forces are constantly trying to push you in one direction or another. You have literal crying needs on the one hand constantly tearing at your heart. You have people back home expecting certain “results” pulling in another direction. You have your own insecurities as a human being pulling at you in yet another direction. You have your ego that want’s its own results. And then you have your basic human desire that wants nothing more than to sit on the porch with an iced tea and play with your grandkids. In the middle of all this noise you have Jesus through his Holy Spirit speaking, asking you, to simply follow him.

The question is, will I follow or walk away? In essence we all make that decision many times a day as we walk along. That is challenging, but when we walk with Jesus we never walk alone. And as we walk with him we learn that most of our fears are baseless, and the strength we fear that we lack is miraculously supplied by Jesus.

So, what makes a person cling to their possessions while another walks away? Only the one being asked to follow can really answer that question. Are rich people really more attached to their possessions than poor people? I’ve never been rich so I don’t know, but I have been poor and I don’t remember any urge to dump what little I had.

So what is it really, that holds us back? Is it the urge to control our own lives? That feels more likely if I’m honest. Is it that I don’t actually trust God? Am I struggling to believe that God loves me? Or do I believe that only I can get what I want and need? That “grab it if you want it” attitude didn’t work out too well for Adam and Eve. Life at its core really is that basic. The choice is the same as it has always been ever since Eden. Trust in God’s love or walk away and try to grab it for ourselves.

The Body of Christ and Following

My first point was personal and individual, my second point is more about our collective ministry as the body of Christ. As the body of Christ we are the physical manifestation of Jesus on the earth today.

What is our message and our method? Is it the method of Jesus? It should be if we are his body. Do we demonstrate the truth and invite people to join us? Or do we threaten and coerce? Do we look for ways to demonstrate the love of God or do we look for ways to demonstrate our political power? Do we point to Jesus as the answer or do we point to the government as the answer? God’s power or human desire and effort? Put in these extreme terms these questions may not even seem fair. But, is this extreme or fairly accurate? I think about this a lot and think we should all think about who and what we believe really has the power.

The history of the Church is and has been deeply colored with human error. Today is no different, however throughout history there have always been those that simply follow Jesus, loving each other and showing the love of God to a world that does not know what love truly is. Then inviting others to follow along on the way of Jesus.

The Body of Christ has succumbed to the temptation of using compulsion and coercion many times in its past, using slick marketing, fear, threats, or even co-opting political power to get people to comply. Sometimes well intended and sometimes not. All of those times are black eyes for the Body of Christ as we look back. We must follow, and as the current Body of Christ we must demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God and simply invite people to join us, just as Jesus did. Some will follow and some will not and we need to be OK with that. We need to learn to trust God with the outcomes of truth and our love.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, to follow him is to follow in his ways. This week we will not change the world, but we can change our world and the lives of those in our world, by following Jesus when he calls. Then, as we follow, we can invite those we meet to follow along with us.

Join me this week as we prepare our hearts to drop what we are doing when Jesus calls and simply follow.

Have a great week!

The church in Ephesus was surrounded by various religions and magical practices. As we see reported in Acts these practices were a part of the believers former life as well. Paul’s letter to them begins with this bold statement. He made it clear from the outset that there is no need, and in fact no place for any other religion, or secret knowledge through mysterious rites. There is no need for the favor of principalities and powers, or magical practices. Because, in Christ they have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In the book of Acts we see that many in the church were still dabbling in magic and it was not until they witnessed a remarkable spiritual event that they finally burned their books on magic. But here Paul is trying to give them a more substantial explanation of why they should give up all these other religions and practices for good.

What strikes me personally about all of this is that then as now, believers are deeply affected by their surroundings and their backgrounds. To break free of a lifetime of habits and the continuous input of lies from their culture was not easy for those believers in Ephesus, nor is it for us now. The truth needed to be established in their hearts as the foundation if they were to stand against this constant pressure, and the same stands true as our only hope today.

But what is this truth? What is this foundation? It is Jesus himself. He alone is the vine, he alone is the source of live. He is our life now. As believers our old life was lost due to sin, our new life is now in him alone. This passage tells us something of this life that gives us the strength to walk away from our old dead life.

In Christ we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”.

We live in a world that is constantly bombarding us with frightening information, and bullying us to believe what we are told. And we are told to obey whatever the trend of the month is. How do we stand in faith against this barrage of ever changing so called “truth”? How do we stand in faith when even our own family and friends are pushing us to join the crowd? This is not an easy question, but we must start at the beginning with the actual truth.

Jesus was born, died, resurrected from death, and raised to the right hand of God. Jesus is the king of kings and the lord of lords. No matter what the news tells us. No matter how loud and frightening the world becomes. Earthly kings are a passing wind, Jesus is and will always be, over all creation. Death has been conquered and in Jesus we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places - forever.

Since Jesus has died and risen we know what he said was true. Therefore we are not without an anchor in this current “passing wind”. We do have an answer to the difficult questions of our time. We can rest in the arms of our good shepherd, and live the eternal life that is ours in Christ.

This week let’s remember where our life really comes from and where it is going, and rest in the love of its source - Jesus.

Have a great week!

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.   (John 15:1 ESV)

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.    (John 15:3-5 ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,   (Ephesians 1:3 ESV)

This famous passage is often quoted and preached, and for good reason, for myself, the concept of abiding in Christ is really the essence of the Christian experience. Early in my Christian life I was introduced to a book by Andrew Murray titled, “In Christ”. This book had a deep impact on the way I approached living as a Christian. I don’t remember how I came to possess this book, and I had no idea at the time it was considered a “Christian Classic”, I just read it. I had no theological background to hold it up against I didn’t even know who Andrew Murray was. But as I read that book and tried to apply it I saw something there I had never seen before. I experienced Jesus in a way that I never knew previously. Prior to that, my Christianity was more of a knowledge about Jesus than a knowledge of Jesus.

So I would like to take a couple of weeks to look at the concept of living “in Christ” and the best place to start is in this simple analogy that Jesus gave us in John 15. Jesus paints this image for his disciples to teach them that He is the source of life not just a source of knowledge. Everything we are and do flows from Him. He is the vine and we are the branches, a branch disconnected is a dead branch. The imagery is simple but the conclusion is powerful, apart from me you can do nothing.

Many would look at this passage and immediately take off on a theological and christological flight to explain the mechanics of this relationship. I would be more than happy to just live in the reality of that relationship and I think you would too. So for today I want to leave you with a quote from Andrew Murray’s wonderful book and think about what living “in Christ” looks like from moment to moment.

And to all who desire to learn the blessed art of living only a moment at a time, we want to say: the way to learn it is to exercise yourself in living in the present moment. Each time your attention is free to occupy itself with the thought of Jesus - whether it be with time to think and pray, or only a few passing seconds - let your first thought be to say: Now at this moment, I do abide in Jesus.

Use such time, not in vain regrets that you have not been abiding fully, or still more hurtful fears that you will not be able to abide, but just at once take the position the Father has given you: "I am in Christ; this is the place God has given me. I accept it; here I rest; I do now abide in Jesus."

This is the way to learn to abide continually. You may be yet so feeble as to fear to say of each day, "I am abiding in Jesus ;" but the feeblest can, each single moment, say, as he consents to occupy his place as a branch in the vine, "Yes, I do abide in Christ." It is not a matter of feeling,—it is not a question of growth or strength in the Christian life,— it is the simple question whether the will at the present moment desires and consents to recognize the place you have in your Lord, and to accept of it. If you are a believer, you are in Christ. If you are in Christ, and wish to stay there, it is your duty to say, though it be but for a moment, "Blessed Saviour, I abide in Thee now; Thou keepest me now."

(Andrew Murray, In Christ: chp.15)

I pray that the reality of Christ in you will encourage you to rest in that truth today.

Have a great week!

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   (Colossians 3:15-17 ESV)

Essential Thankfulness

What is the difference between joyful service and grinding labor?

In a word thankfulness.

I grew up on a small dairy farm, so hard manual work was a part of every day to some degree or another, but some days much more so than others. I remember one cold Saturday morning in particular being dragged down to the barn by my father and handed a pitchfork. I knew what came next, we were going to pitch manure out of a large calf pen - yay! As you can imagine as a 15 year old boy on a Saturday knee deep in manure I was thrilled and my attitude was amazing, yes this is sarcasm. In reality I was in a terrible mood, but as I worked, back to back with my father pitching manure I could hear him whistling under his breath. As I remember my Dad he always had a song playing in his head as he did physical work. It was driving my nuts and I was driving him nuts with my attitude and eventually he stopped and said this to me, “You really need to learn to love work, because you will be working for the rest of your life”. Then he went back to whistling under his breath and pitching manure.

It took a long time to figure out what he really meant by that and even longer to figure out how to love work - even when I didn’t like it. To my Father life was work, and to love life was to love work. Since work occupied most of our waking hours we either loved work or hated life. My father loved his life.

But how do we love life when we do not enjoy what we are doing?

In the modern world the answer seems to be, you can’t. This is a symptom of an entitled and wealthy society. Happiness in the modern world is often pursued by getting what you want. Joy runs much deeper than this kind of happiness. Joy flows from the presence of God, and joy produces thankfulness, and thankfulness produces service. This is why Peter’s mother-in-law when she experienced healing from the presence of Jesus immediately got up and served him with joy.

The presence of God brings joy, joy brings thankfulness, thankfulness brings service.

But thankfulness is not the only possible response. Sadly we read of another response, perhaps the most common response in Romans 1.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.   (Romans 1:21 ESV)

In this passage we see that unthankfulness does much more than rob us of joy, it blinds our minds and darkens our souls. The fruit of unthankfulness leads to all kinds of evil, as Paul goes on to describe in the rest of the first chapter of Romans.

Service with Joy

But to keep this article under 10,000 words I want to focus again on the connection between thankfulness and service. After 30+ years as a missionary and missionary trainer I think I can safely say that to serve with any kind of joy absolutely requires maintaining a profound thankfulness to God and others.

Without thankfulness service immediately becomes grinding labor, which breeds resentment and self-pity, which feeds a greater unthankfulness completing the death spiral that leads to despair. That may sound overly dramatic but I can give you names of people that have gone from joyful missionaries to bitter unbelievers. And one thing they all had in common was unthankfulness. Many of these people I counted as friends and colleagues and I tell you this in great sadness.

Thankfulness is life-giving and contagious, unthankfulness is malignant, extremely contagious, and ultimately deadly.

One of my early mentors told me once, “I can only afford about 15 seconds of self-pity a week - at the most”. Truer words have never been spoken as I look back at my life. Self-pity is a self-inflicted cancer of the soul. It destroys healthy thankfulness and replaces it with a toxic self-interest that blots out the goodness of God and the joy that flows from his presence. The more we pity ourself the more pitiable we become. Resentment quickly fills the void in our soul when we forget the goodness of God. And all work becomes toil and grief as hope evaporates with our thankfulness.

But this outcome is not inevitable, thankfulness is more powerful than self-pity and it is every bit as contagious. When thankfulness fuels our efforts, love and joy can redeem even the most menial tasks. Even pitching manure on a Saturday morning can be transformed from profane to sacred space when done in the presence of God in the spirit of thankfulness. Thankfulness is our response to the grace of God. Thankfulness transforms every task into worship. Thankfulness fuels a joy that is quite separate from our immediate circumstances.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.   (Psalms 100:1-5 ESV)

Father may I reflect your joy and grace through thankful service this week, wherever I find myself in whatever I am doing.

Have a great week!

Easter therefore is the core celebration of the Christian faith, much more so than even Christmas. Celebrating a famous persons birth does not hold a candle to the celebration of the Son of God’s resurrection from the dead. And if Jesus did not rise from the dead, he becomes nothing more than a famous man.

Today I want to focus on the meaning of the resurrection to the believer. If you wish to explore some of the reasons to believe in the historical fact of the resurrection I have included a few YouTube videos below that I think make the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus pretty well. So if you are interested in this aspect of resurrection enjoy those videos!

Why this matters

Let’s move on to the question of, “why is the resurrection so important?”. To get a sense of how important Paul thinks the resurrection is, we have this passage from his letter to the church at Corinth.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.   (1 Corinthians 15:16-19 ESV)

...If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”   (1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV)

So we see that the resurrection of Christ is not a minor side issue, it is instead the foundation for all of Christian faith. Beyond that, the resurrection of Christ certifies that the things that Jesus said about himself are true. It can be fairly said that we don’t believe in Jesus because of the truth of the bible, we believe in the truth of the bible because Jesus has risen from the dead. In rising from the dead he verified what the bible, particularly the old testament, has said. And without the resurrection I seriously doubt the new testament would have ever been written or preserved. Jesus would have been just another wannabe Messiah or wannabe cult leader. So for this podcast we are going to accept the resurrection of Jesus as a fact, and focus on why that is so important to our lives today and everyday as we walk the path to life.

Resurrection and New Life in Christ

The death of Jesus was a sacrifice, it was in fact the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Justice after all is about balance, if $10 is stolen the thief is accountable for a $10 loss. We are however all guilty of a capital crime, rejecting the very source of all life - God.

Thankfully, God in his love and mercy found a way.

But how could God who is just overlook justice?

By paying the debt himself.

And that is what He did in Jesus.

So since the death of Jesus paid our debt for sin what did the resurrection do?

The death of Jesus gave us a clean slate, but the resurrection of Jesus gives us a new life to live. A life united with Jesus, a life in Jesus, a life that does not end in destruction but goes on to eternity. Paul describes this new life in several places. Here are a couple of examples.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.    (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ESV)

And again in Romans

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.   (Romans 6:3-4 ESV)

When we join ourselves to Christ in baptism we do much more than get wet. This is more than a ceremonial washing, or a symbol of cleansing. This is our total identification with Christ in his death and since we are now united with him in his death for sin we are also, and this is the really amazing part, united with him in his resurrection from the dead, never to die again.

But this is not a blessing that will kick in only after we physically die, Paul is saying we have already died with Jesus. This is a blessing that is given to us now that will never end. It is a new spiritual life now, with a new transformed and eternal body in the future. This new life does not belong to us, it belongs to God. We squandered our old life with rebellion and sin, our old life was beyond repair, so it had to be replaced with something new. And in Jesus, his death and resurrection, we have also been resurrected and given something truly new. Our life is now embedded in Jesus. He will never die again and neither will we. He lives for God alone - and in Him so do we.

Passion week should always be a time of reflection on the precious nature of life, and the love of God for us, even in the face of the outrage of our sin against him. It cost Jesus his life to redeem us to the father. Now we must sacrifice our old sinful life to partake in the new life provided by God through Jesus and his resurrection.

What keeps us from this blessing today?

The one thing that prevents us from embracing and enjoying this new life is our desire to try and cling to our old dead life. We need to see the love of God clearly to see why we should give up what we have now for something better in Christ. At the cross and the empty grave we see this love more clearly than at any other time. Our old life may be “ours to rule” so to speak, but it makes us the captain of a sinking ship. There is another captain whose ship cannot sink and he is reaching out his hand to us today. No we can’t be captain of that ship, but since we already sunk ours, is that a bad thing?

he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

This week let’s stop pretending that we know what we are doing, and allow the resurrected life of Jesus to flow through us to others. Let’s honor Jesus this Easter by allowing him to be our Lord, our King, our Commander, our Boss, because in reality He is our life and our only hope. This week let’s embrace our eternal life in Christ, love others as we have been loved - and leave our fallen and fading life behind.

We are in this together, let’s have a truly great week in Jesus!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.   (1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.   (Romans 6:10-11 ESV)

For further study:

Let’s begin with this passage from Matthew, it follows the exchange between Peter and Jesus where Peter tells Jesus he must not talk of his death. Jesus in turn tells Peter that he is functioning as Satan and is not thinking the thoughts of God but of man. Jesus then told his disciples:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.   (Matthew 16:24-27 ESV)

Let’s try to look at this statement from the perspective of Jesus first. Jesus has just explained to his disciples that he was going to die and rise again. Peter is rebuked for trying to talk him out of it. Now, he not only explains that he must walk the path of the cross, he extends that requirement to anyone that would follow him. He explains the economics of this “way of the cross” by contrasting the fleeting gains of this life with the eternal value of our soul. And he ends with a promise of reward to each person when he returns in glory to judge the earth.

Must we all die as martyrs?

After hearing this we must all ask, is Jesus saying that every Christian should die a martyrs death on the cross? That does not seem possible or likely given the rest of his teachings and actions. Jesus never makes martyrdom a requirement for salvation. History does however show us that martyrdom is required at times, but it is clearly not the only way of salvation nor is martyrdom the definition of obedience.

Then what is Jesus trying to say with this? And what does this “way of the cross” look like on an average weekday for a follower of the way? Every serious Christian needs to think about this question often because it is clearly very important to Jesus.

Jesus as always is our perfect example. In the next passage from Philippians Paul uses the example of Jesus to inspire his readers at Philippi to walk in true love for one another by following the way of Jesus - the way of the cross.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   (Philippians 2:1-11 ESV)

In this short passage we are reminded of how Jesus sacrificed his position in glory and ultimately his life for our benefit. Paul gives the church a path to follow the “way of the the cross”, a path that abandons self interest in order to truly love one another. He is not telling them they all need to go out and die physically, but rather that they should all do as Jesus did. Which is to set aside their personal gain and invest their short lives on earth into others. This way has an eternal reward for the Philippian church, and hopefully also for those they help.

Walking the “way” today

A good working definition of Christian love is, “Benefiting others, at my expense”. This is what Paul is describing in Philippians and I think this is what Jesus is asking of his disciples. It is what Jesus did for us, and we must do no less - if we are truly following Jesus in obedience along the “way of the cross”.

Christian love cannot be separated from service and self-sacrifice. Christian love is far more than a desire or a feeling. It is an action taken for the benefit of others. It is something that can be done for friends and enemies alike, regardless of our feelings.

This week I want to look at my life as a gift. A gift that was given to me by God first, then after I squandered it with sin, given to me again by the sacrifice of Jesus. This gift requires a response. I want to respond, not in my own hollow self-interest, but with the selfless love of Jesus that he has given to me.

May God bless you as you bless others this week!

Grace is a gift

The grace of God is a gift, pure and simple. We don’t earn it, and we don’t deserve it. It is given to us much like a Walmart gift card. Its value is not always immediately apparent. In fact, until we respond to the gift, it does us no good at all.

Faith is a Response

Faith is often used as a synonym for belief, and depending on the context, it can be. But if we look at the way both Paul and James speak of faith in the Bible, we see that faith is more than just believing that the truth is true. In the next passage, James draws a line between believing that the truth is true and what he calls a living faith.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!    (James 2:14-19 ESV)

Many will look at this passage and cringe a bit, immediately formulating a way to take the edge off of this very blunt statement. And I understand that impulse, I have it, but we have to do more with difficult verses than simply explain them away. James made this point very forcefully for a reason. I have only included part of his argument here. He goes on in the passage to give examples of how faith is connected to works.

Many throughout history have imagined a conflict between James and Paul regarding faith. But consider this passage from Romans.

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.   (Romans 10:9-10 ESV)

Paul describes a two part process to receive the grace of God, he couples belief with confession. Faith is a response to the truth, not simply believing that the truth is true.

What does this have to do with Walmart?

This, believe it or not, brings us back to the Walmart gift card. It takes an expression of faith to receive the blessing of the gift when you receive a gift card. The card is paid for before you ever receive it, but there is no blessing until you express faith in its value by handing it to the cashier. Do we earn the blessing by handing the card to the cashier? Of course not. But we do not receive the blessing that has been freely given unless we respond to the gift. This is faith. Faith is a response to the gift. Faith not only believes that the Gospel is a gift, it responds to that gift.

But isn’t that just letting works righteousness in the back door?

The Gospel was never intended to abolish good works. The Gospel makes good works possible. Consider this passage from the second chapter of Ephesians:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.   (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

The gift of salvation is free, but its purpose is to produce good works. Faith responds to this gift via good works. These good works do not flow from us but are the product of Christ’s work in us. C.S. Lewis was once asked, “Which is more important, faith or works?” he responded with, “That is like asking which blade of the scissors is more important.”. I like that answer. We often try to separate things that cannot be separated. An egg cannot be taken apart without breaking it. And once it is broken, it is no longer an egg. It is a mess.

The gift of God must be responded to in order to have its intended effect. Much like the gift card must be responded to in order for the recipient to receive the intended blessing. Salvation has been given by the grace of God alone; that is not the question, that is simply the truth. The question is, “Will we respond to that gift and receive the blessing of salvation?”. Our response is not initiative. The initiative has already been taken by God through Jesus. Our response is simply necessary for the gift to have its intended result.

Walking in faith this week

I think there is a real danger of walking in a sort of clinical salvation, a cold and legal arrangement, a pardon that needs no expression or response. It is easy to think that grace is just a fact of God’s love, then, like trust fund kids, sit around doing nothing, waiting for the full release of our riches, regardless of how we live or respond to our privilege. I would rather be the poor kid who receives a gift from a stranger totally unexpectedly, to feel the joy of a love that is unearned, and be filled with the overwhelming desire to do something - anything to respond to this gift.

This kind of response, this driving thankfulness, is what I want to be my core motivation and my overflowing expression this week. This week I want to take Christ’s gift card to the store (so to speak) with faith and I want to give that blessing away, knowing that there is no spending limit on this gift card.

Have a great week!

This is a very famous story, and one that can be looked at from a great many perspectives. You can look at it from the perspective of the self-righteous and indignant host who was uncomfortable having a person of this sort in his home.

You can also look at it from the perspective of Jesus trying to make a point about his identity and authority, particularly, his authority to forgive sins. Or you can look at this story through the eyes of this penitent sinful woman. There is a lot to be learned in this story no matter how you look at it really.

However, I was struck this time around by the last statement of Jesus to this woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. What faith was Jesus referring to? It seems she was already forgiven when she came in, and that is why she was so thankful. And yet in the end Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her. What did she believe? And how was that faith expressed? Let’s look at these questions one by one.

What did she believe?

We have no real background or description of this woman nor do we have a name for this woman, all we know is that she was a known “sinner”. We don’t know if Jesus had any previous contact with her either, though it seems she knew about him. She was aware of her sinfulness,(It seemed there was no lack of people to remind her) but she was also aware, at least to some degree, that Jesus forgave and healed sinners.

She believed that Jesus could in fact forgive her, the Pharisees by contrast scoffed at the ability of Jesus to forgive sins. Only God could forgive sins, they would say - and they were right, and that is exactly the point. And that is what this pathetic woman understood and believed, and it moved her to action. Her faith was that she could be fully forgiven and restored, she believed that she was forgiven and it overwhelmed her.

How was her faith expressed?

The expression of faith or the response of faith is something that is often skipped over when faith is discussed. I suspect because preachers and teachers are afraid of conveying any hint of “works righteousness” and I get it, you have to be clear on the chicken and egg question. Which is first the chicken or the egg? Answer: God.

Our response of faith is a response to the grace of God that has already been given. Just like this woman’s thankfulness was a response to the grace that was already given. But here is where it gets interesting, when she came in crying with her gift was it because she was already forgiven or was it because she believed she would be forgiven? If you read the story carefully I think you will see that it is not entirely clear why she was so thankful and Jesus forgave her later in the story. (Though I believe that was more for the Pharisees benefit than hers)

The point I am trying to make is that faith and the response of faith cannot be separated into two neat piles that must not touch. Paul famously connected faith and the response of faith in Romans.

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.    (Romans 10:9-10 ESV)

So you see trying to separate the response of faith from the belief is futile. The one flows from the other like light flows from the sun. Jesus saw her faith in her actions she was both forgiven and saved exactly as Paul describes above. While it is true we are not saved by our works I think it is also true that we are not saved without them. They are truly inseparable.

The only danger here is if we would try to reverse the process, where we would attempt to work in order to be saved, rather than believe in the saving grace of God resulting in a response of faith.

This woman for all her faults, understood where the grace of God came from. The Pharisees that were present missed it entirely. Jesus is God’s expression of grace to humanity and this sinful woman believed that God’s grace through Jesus was enough, even for her. Her outrageous outpouring of love was her response of faith to her belief in the grace of God in Jesus. And Jesus responded by saying she was both forgiven and saved.

Walking this path today

To walk in the path of this woman it seems to me we have to examine ourselves to see if we are more like the Pharisees in this story or the forgiven and grateful woman. We need to examine our responses to see if they are based in trust in the grace of God or trust in ourselves, or anything else for that matter.

Love and good works will flow naturally from a heart that has been forgiven and set free. If we do not feel that way we just have to ask, “Do I really believe I am a sinner?”. And then, “Do I believe I am truly and fully forgiven?”.

When this woman answered yes to these two questions the response of love and faith followed naturally. To walk in the knowledge of the grace of God is to walk in both love and faith. This is the path to life.

Have a great week!

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38 ESV)

We live in a world that would answer the question, “What is Truth?” in a number of different ways. Which is interesting in itself, given that the definition of truth is actually pretty simple. Truth ultimately comes down to, that which is. Perspectives and opinions on truth are actually in a completely different category of things. There are obviously a whole lot of opinions on everything. But we are talking about objective truth not subjective perspective or opinion and it is very important to keep those categories separate for this kind of conversation. Statements are true or false based on how accurately they reflect that which is.

This article will also assume that you accept that God is God, and that Jesus is God incarnate, since this newsletter is about walking the way of Jesus. I will not be offering a defense of God’s existence it will be a foundational assumption in this article.

Let’s get real

So when we speak of the truth we are talking about all that actually is. The sum total of actual reality. In fact The Truth when used in this sense is functionally just a synonym for all of objective reality.

Let’s look at some of the passages I have highlighted above. The first passage taken from the beginning of John’s gospel may seem like an odd choice, since it does not even mention the word “truth”. But again, since truth is “that which is”, this passage actually has a lot to offer us in understanding truth.

Let’s step back a bit. When Moses asked God for His name, God simply responded, “I am who I am, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”. God just simply is. God is reality. God is the truth. So when John begins his gospel with “In the beginning was the Word” he is making a deep connection between that “Word” and God. He goes on to say that “the Word was with God and the Word was God”. “He was in the beginning with God and without Him was not anything made that was made”. And finally, in verse 14 of this passage John connects the last dot, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

So when Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” this is not metaphor, this is literal fact. The Word was, the Word is, and the Word will always be. Jesus is the Word. So Jesus is The Truth. All that we know of reality came through Him. He is the foundation of reality itself, he is therefore quite literally - the truth.

Well that might be your truth…

Now we have to address this common thought. That being - since each person has their own unique perspective on truth, then either there is no such thing as truth, or truth can not be actually known by anyone.

Let’s consider these two positions one by one.

There really is no such thing as actual objective truth.

In other words there is no truth that is not a matter of interpretation, therefore objective truth is essentially non-existent. This idea rests on the observation that reality, can only be perceived by an individual observer’s senses and therefore is not by definition objectively true it is only true from a particular perspective. This objection is brought into play by a variety of people ranging from armchair quantum physicists to armchair philosophers on the internet and assumes there is no ultimate perspective - like God for example.

Let’s think about this. Is it really true that our inability to clearly or accurately grasp or fully agree on “that which is” makes “that which is” disappear. That seems absurd on the face of it. What is, is; whether we perceive it correctly, incorrectly, or even if we fail to perceive it at all. It’s like declaring that math does not exist because our calculator is broken.

You see, God’s calculator works just fine. God is primary - creation is secondary and fully dependent on God. Without God there is ultimately no anything. Since his existence is objectively real, therefore we know there is an objective reality and therefore there is an objective truth - whether we perceive it or not is irrelevant. Whether we as part of creation even exist is irrelevant to the existence of objective truth. So this thought fails badly in the actual world which God has created.

Next objection, there may be an objective truth but we can not know what it is due to our limited and often distorted perspective of reality.

Of the two I think this is at least a better objection because it does not overreach as badly as the first objection does. But this is not a modern thought. This cynicism about the human ability to know truth was solidly in place in Jesus’ time. Pilot dryly responded to Jesus speaking about the truth with a very dismissive, “What is truth?”. To use our math analogy again, this objection says in effect, math exists but we can’t really know the answer because our calculator is broken.

To be honest I think this would be a fair point - if there was no Jesus. If the Word did not exist from the beginning, if the Word did not become flesh and dwell among us our situation would in fact be - totally hopeless. Because the only way that we can know the truth is if the truth reveals itself to us. Our perspective is limited and hopelessly warped by sin. Our calculator is broken by sin and human limitation. But God did not leave us in that state. He revealed the truth to us in Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment (or incarnation) of truth.

Wait! I have a different objection!!

Ok, you may have any number of different objections. I may not know what they are - but it really does not matter.

“How dare you dismiss my objections! Why don’t they matter?”

Because any argument against the existence of objective truth is an excellent reason not to believe the argument. Arguments against truth are inherently self-defeating. Why should anyone believe anything if there is no objective truth. Life becomes an incoherent mess at that point that will ultimately end with might making right. Sort of like the world we see on the news and on the internet everyday.

So Whose Truth do I believe??

God’s truth… His name is Jesus.

God is I am. God is “that which is”. God defines reality. God anchors reality. Reality is truth.

Jesus is the Word, and the Word is with God and the Word is God.

Jesus is “that which is”. Jesus is truth. To know Jesus is to know the truth.

And finally, to get back to our inability to know the truth, you can know the ocean without seeing all of it. Children can know their parents without knowing every last detail about their parents. We can know the truth without knowing everything. Because, we can know Jesus in this relational though incomplete sense, we can trust Him with the things we don’t know, because he is trustworthy. As the embodiment of truth and our Savior he will cover that which we don’t or can’t know with his loving grace.

All that is required to know the truth is enough humility to realize our need of it, and courage enough to embrace it. The truth is bigger than our perceptions of it. The truth is bigger than our opinions. The truth is bigger than the creation it describes. God is. God is the the creator. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Truth. We can know Him. We can trust Him, because he gave everything to save humanity from its hopeless state, motivated by nothing but his love for all of us.

To know him, is to trust him.

To know him, is to know the truth.

Have a great week!

At first glance this petition seems so easy, but as I have pondered this a bit, this simple request is a bit more involved than it first appears. So to get a bit of context let’s look at some of the other verses regarding temptation. Here’s one we looked at a couple of months ago from James.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15 ESV)

In this passage we see that the primary source of temptation is our own desires. It is our desires that set in motion this terrible progression that ends in our death. But the situation is not hopeless. For those in Christ have been given resources that allow us to live free from the tyranny of our desires.

For example, consider Paul’s advice to the Corinthians:

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Cor 10:12-14 ESV)

Paul is warning his readers that sin is never far away, and that they should never presume that they are safe from it because of past successes. He goes on to describe how their temptation, rather than being uniquely powerful is the same temptation that everyone faces. Moreover, God will faithfully shield you from any temptation that is too strong for you.

By saying this he is removing all the common excuses we give for our sin. All the “What else could I do” or “I guess that’s just who I am” nonsense that we desperately try to tell ourselves to justify our own evil falls on the floor in light of this understanding of temptation and sin.

Idolatry and Temptation?

He ends by warning them to “flee from idolatry” a warning that far too many modern Christians ignore, thinking that since we have no little statues on the shelf we are not idolaters. This warning, rather than being irrelevant today, is deeply connected to Paul’s thoughts on enduring temptation. It is all the false hopes and false sources of help that we cling to that lead us into temptation and sin. In other words, our idols are a snare to us, just like they were in the biblical stories.

This world is thoroughly idolatrous and we will fall into its idolatry unless we knowingly and persistently reject it. A holy thing is a thing dedicated to a single use only. We are to be holy. We are to be dedicated to God alone and trust only in Him.

When we give the trust that belongs only to God to any other thing we become idolaters. We open the door to temptation and sin with our own hands.

And finally we have this advice, given by Jesus as he and his disciples prayed the night before his arrest.

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt 26:41 ESV)

Coming full circle now, we are back to a prayer that is very much in the same tone we heard in the Lord’s prayer where we began. Here the disciples are tired and keep falling asleep while Jesus is praying for the strength to endure his coming trials.

He warns his disciples to pray that they do not enter into temptation. He is advising them to do what he did and pray for help to follow God’s will rather than their natural desires and thus fall into temptation and sin.

Then he adds an observation that is often used as an excuse for failure, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. Rather than and excuse for failure this is actually the reason why they need to pray. The desires of our flesh are always close at hand, and will trip us up if we are not careful to trust in the strength of God alone, rather than the strength of our own will.

So what does that mean to us, today?

Today like every day our base physical desires will harass and nag and whimper and whine and generally try to guide our every decision. Rather than be surprised, we should pray and pray often and never give up, because the temptations of our flesh and this world will never quit. Freedom from the slavery and tyranny of sin is a big part of our new life in Christ, through faith. Faith that when Jesus died in a real way, we died. We are dead to sin and thus no longer need to be controlled by it.

This is the life of faith, this is the way of the cross. This is the way of freedom leading to eternal life. So today let’s not pray wistful and futile prayers of unbelief, but the prayer of faith that the death and resurrection of Christ set us free as well. And in him we can not only know about this freedom, we can live in it.

Have a great week!

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This phrase more than any other in this prayer challenges me. It challenges me on a daily basis. And I believe that was the intent of Jesus when he taught us to pray this way. This seems to be one of the crucial elements of this prayer. I say that, because immediately following this teaching, in the very next verse in fact, Jesus expounds on this thought.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matt 6:14-15 ESV)

So let’s go back and look at this petition a bit more carefully. What exactly are we asking God to do in this petition? The first half of this phrase is a pretty straightforward ask for forgiveness - nothing difficult there. It is the way the second half of this petition is connected to the first half that makes this request challenging.

Consider “as we also have forgiven our debtors”. In framing this request in this way the thing we are really asking God for is something pretty shocking. This statement could be rephrased as, “Oh Father, forgive us in the same way that we have forgiven others.” We are asking God to treat us the way we treat others. This is a very powerful thought.

Contingent Forgiveness??

To make our forgiveness contingent on our forgiveness of others just feels wrong. I react negatively to that almost by instinct, all the teaching I have received regarding the infinite and unconditional love of God explodes in my head. Is Jesus making my forgiveness conditional on my actions?

Before we go on it is important that we just don’t answer nah…

It is extremely dangerous to deal with difficult verses by denial.

Jesus said what he said, we don’t get to just dismiss it because it doesn’t sit well with our understanding of grace or some such thing. We need to look at what Jesus is saying here and elsewhere and see if we can find a consistent thread in it all. We have to do the hard work of Bible interpretation.

How are we forgiven?

To begin, we have numerous examples in the New Testament of Jesus forgiving the sins of people on the spot, just as he found them. They did nothing to be forgiven, sometimes they did not even ask for forgiveness, as in the story of the paralytic that was lowered down by his friends for Jesus to heal. So it seems clear that our forgiveness comes as a gift from God, paid for by Jesus who was himself the channel of God’s grace to humanity. With this in mind, how can forgiveness be withheld by the Father? To understand this we need to consider another story from Matthew:

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

This story neatly describes the concept that Jesus put into just a few words in the Lord’s prayer. Freely and generously we have been forgiven, so we must also forgive others - freely and generously. If not, we are in danger of forfeiting our own forgiveness.

Another point that is made in this story is the magnitude of our forgiveness. Peter asks, “should I forgive my brother 7 times?". Seven was not just a number but was thought of symbolically as completeness or perfect fullness. Jesus takes Peter’s 7 multiplies it by 10 and then by 7 again. In other words fullness times 10 times fullness again Peter. Or to put it another way our forgiveness is to have no limits. Then he tells this story to make it even more clear.

This servant owed 10,000 talents. It is estimated that it would take a day laborer about 225,000 to 275,000 years to earn that much. In other words he owed a debt he could not pay in a thousand lifetimes. By comparison, the servant that owed him money only owed him about 3 months pay.

This is the real story here. Jesus wanted Peter and everyone else that would hear to understand the relative value of God’s forgiveness of my sin compared to the trivial debts that others might owe to me. Without this perspective it would be easy for us to fall into the sin of this ungrateful and selfish servant who was thinking only of the cost to himself.

So yes, it seems that there is a consequence for failing to respond properly to the completely unmerited grace of God that has been freely given to us. The proper response to a gift of this magnitude is generosity. The outrageous mercy we have been given from God, we are to give to others. We did not deserve this generosity any more than that pitifully indebted servant did. So we can in turn give this grace to anyone and everyone that sins against us no matter how unworthy we feel they are.

Walking this out today

So how do we forgive those that have truly hurt us, today? To be clear forgiveness does not require forgetting. I seriously doubt that Jesus has forgotten the cross. Forgiveness is marking a debt paid in full. It is releasing someone from what they “owe” us. We no longer hold this offense over their head. We no longer imagine hurt for them. We bless instead of curse. We can and must love and forgive even our enemies as Jesus commands.

This is obviously easier to say than to do, but if we commit to forgiveness we are not on our own. We have the grace of God flowing through us to others. The strength to do this is not ours but it is the strength of Jesus working through us. It is his ability to forgive that we need to trust in, if we are to find the strength to forgive others. We have been given that grace in Jesus - now it is only right that we share that grace with others.

And one last thing, as we release others we set ourselves free from this hurt in the process. Join me in letting the blessing of Jesus flow through us to others this week. We are the body of Christ.

Have a great week!

Deb and I have been missionaries for over 30 years now, we are technically self employed volunteers. This means that we have had no salary in any normal sense of the word for over 30 years. Yet God has provided for our entire family, 4 boys, college, 3 marriages, and 6 grandkids with everything that entails. Our income has averaged roughly what one would make working full time at McDonald’s all this time. And at times things have gotten a bit dicey. So we have been forced to learn about this particular petition many times over the years.

My favorite provision story

When our kids were still young there was an evening when after working all day on the campus we were walking the 2 blocks to our house, knowing that when we got there we had nothing to make for our kids for supper. It was raining, which seemed about right for that kind of day, and we were slogging home. Above us we noticed an osprey struggling to stay aloft in the rain, trying to carry a fish home for her supper no doubt. As we watched this bird it seemed to be fighting a losing battle with the rain. As it struggled overhead it suddenly dropped the fish at our feet. It was a decent sized lake trout and it was still alive. Deb and I looked at it in disbelief and felt a little like Elijah. We had the food we needed for today despite our disbelief and there was absolutely no one but God to thank for it. Believe me, we thanked God for that fish more than any meal before or since.

Obviously God provided in other ways through various means after that crisis passed and we are still alive and well today. But that day God showed us something that changed our understanding of this prayer forever. God is able to make a way where there is no way. And God provided for us without any human support or money on the day when we needed it the most. He did not park a truckload of fish in front of us, he did not give us a fishing boat. He gave us the food we needed that day.

What is Jesus saying in this statement?

It is important to remember at this point that Jesus was not simply giving the disciples a prayer to repeat, he was teaching them how to pray. He is teaching them what to pray for. So it has to be asked, why frame the petition in this way? Why not pray for abundance? That has certainly been a popular prayer in recent decades. Why not pray for oil and wine? God has provided oil in the past and Jesus provided wine for a wedding. Why bread and why ask for only the bread that is needed today?

To understand the heart behind this teaching on prayer I think it is helpful to look at some of Jesus’ other teachings for guidance in how to read this one. In Luke Jesus tells a story of a rich man who had a particularly bountiful year. So he built bigger barns and essentially decided to retire and enjoy his wealth. God’s verdict? You fool! Tonight your soul has been required of you, then whose will these things be. Sounds harsh, but Jesus adds a moral to this story that I think ties all of this together.

“So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God”.

Jesus is reminding us about our complete and utter dependence on God for each breath and each bit of food and every stitch of clothing every single day. He is teaching us as he does again in the verses that follow the Lord’s prayer that our focus needs to be on obedience today or we will be truly foolish.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matt 6:31-34 ESV)

We are children of God and we will be provided for by Him as any human father would provide for his children.

By teaching us to pray for our needs today, we are taught that we do not know if we will even be here tomorrow, so the needs of today are enough.

How do we walk in this truth?

The harsh fact is, not one of us is going to wake up tomorrow.

Every time we wake up it is today. In addition to that, whether or not we wake up at all depends entirely on God’s sovereign plan for our lives. If we love anyone, it will have to be done today, because tomorrow never comes and yesterday is gone. If we obey God it will also have to be today. Our focus needs to be on the kingdom of God, today. We need to love people today we can not love people tomorrow or yesterday. We need to give today. We need to live today.

Jesus by teaching us to pray in this way is also teaching us to live in this way. Living each day in utter dependence on God, focused on His coming kingdom. Trusting in God to provide like the loving father that he is.

Does this mean we stop working and wait for God to drop food in our mouths? Not exactly, but I think it means more than we often want to believe it means. Paul balances this dependence on God with a very practical piece of advice in his letter to the Ephesians:

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Eph 4:28 ESV)

When we work to serve others we are working to build the kingdom of God. And in this work God will, in one way or another, provide all our needs. The kingdom of God is made up of people, as we contribute to the transformation of people into the image of God we build the kingdom of God. This labor can take many forms but the overall goal is always the same. The realization of the eternal kingdom of God. One person at a time one need at a time we work to build the kingdom. And every day as we pray God will provide us with what we need.

Have a great week!

Often when this prayer is recited the phrases, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” are said as if they are two or three distinct thoughts. This is understandable because this prayer is often recited together and this phrasing helps everyone stay together. But there is a down side to this custom, these three phrases are actually just one thought and breaking it up can sometimes obscure the thing we are asking for.

What are we really asking for here?

I have heard this topic discussed many times and the answer to this question generally runs in three directions.

* In this petition we are asking for Jesus to return and usher in the kingdom of God in its fullest form.

* In this petition we are praying that all would repent and follow the true king Jesus.

* In this petition we are praying for this present age to be changed, to be conformed more closely to the principles of the kingdom of God.

To me if you take any one of those ideas as complete you are missing something in this prayer. We are praying that the kingdom of God would come. This to me is hard to imagine if the king is still absent. To me, the full realization of the kingdom comes with the return of our king, Jesus.

However, the second half of this petition speaks of a change on the earth. And yes the final and ultimate transformation will come with the return of Jesus and the abolition of evil. Nevertheless, we are to be salt and light, we are to be agents of change, and the kingdom of God was compared to a mustard seed by Jesus. A tiny seed that grew into a plant, a plant large enough for birds to nest in. Or in Daniel we see it described as a stone that grew to fill the earth. In these metaphors and prophecies we see the kingdom of God starting small and growing tremendously.

So I think all three of these ideas are correct as long as they are taken together and not separately. Without an ultimate hope of our king’s return there is little motivation to try and change the hot mess that is this present age. And without actively engaging this age through the gospel and action motivated by the love of Christ, we become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

If we did nothing but sit and wait for our kings return the temptation would be to check out of this life in a vain attempt to find some safe place to hide and wait out the storm. But there is much to do while we wait.

Consider this story Jesus told about the time of waiting for his return:

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 24:44-51 ESV)

Jesus understood the tendencies of humanity very well. He knew that a failure to maintain faith in his imminent return would result in moral corrosion and ultimately destruction. A vital faith in Jesus seems contingent on a vital faith in his return in this passage. This story also implies that his return is going to take much longer than many expect, making faith in his return all the more important to us today. But having faith also means we must be actively serving our master until he comes.

How do we respond to this petition today?

So how do we respond to this beyond just remembering that Jesus is going to return? I think this is where we really need to think through how our faith effects every area of our lives.

We say and think all kinds of things, but more often than not, we do what we truly believe. Over time our actions describe our beliefs better than our words. (Not always the happiest thought I have to admit) Nevertheless, to pray for the kingdom to come will have its first effect in us and in the relative value we place on everything we do. Much like having your house on fire makes you reevaluate which things are really important in your house, and which things you are going to attend to first.

But this is not primarily a self improvement prayer, it is a radical world changing prayer. A prayer that reaches into the very core of why this world is the way it is and attacks its rebellious and thoroughly selfish heart. It is a prayer of revolution and rejection of the current world order, and a focused effort to prepare the way for the coming king.

My kingdom is not of this world

When Jesus was on trial Pilot asked him if he was a king, Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

As we ponder how to be faithful servants of Jesus while we wait for his return it is tempting to forget that the kingdom of God is not something that springs from this world. It is the kingdom of God. It belongs to Him and it comes from Him, it is not the product of human effort and certainly not the product of human conflict. It is a gift that is either received with joy or rejected with contempt.

Our job is to announce the good news of the coming kingdom of God and to demonstrate this kingdom everyday in our interactions with each other. This will not result in us bringing the kingdom of God into being, it is His kingdom not ours after all. But it is the fruit of the kingdom of God in us that will in turn bear fruit that is worthy of the kingdom, and we will be rewarded for our labors when the king returns.

Our hope is not in the kingdoms of this world, our hope is in the kingdom of God. The answer is not to be found in the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God.

Today we pray for God’s kingdom to come, and we work as faithful servants of the king to proclaim the freedom that is found only in this kingdom, demonstrating that the kingdom of God is truly coming by our love for one another.

Have a great week!

Jesus prayed, he impressed his disciples with his prayer to the point that they asked him to teach them to pray. This passage is the longest and most complete teaching on prayer in Matthew. The last section of this teaching has been loved and recited ever since as the “Lord’s Prayer”. I am hoping to spend a few weeks looking at this familiar prayer to see if there are things that through repetition and over-familiarity I have overlooked.

In this passage Jesus begins with negative examples of prayer. Whether it is the self-righteous and self-serving prayers of the religious or the repetitive and hopeless prayers of the Gentiles. Jesus commands his disciples to refuse to follow their lead. Zeal and effort can not compensate for unbelief. Jesus wanted them to know first of all that they have a Father that knows them and knows their needs even before they ask.

Pray then like this…

So Jesus gives his disciples this blueprint for prayer. It is a list of thoughts to include in their prayers. It is shockingly short. It excludes many of the things we spend a lot of time on, and it includes some things we almost certainly do not think about enough. It seems that Jesus always seems to respond just a bit differently than we expect. So let’s look at the first thought Jesus gives us in this prayer.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Our Father - this description of God is very powerful. If we have been raised in a Christian world we may not be as jarred by this address as we should be. God is our Father we have been adopted into the family of God with all the privileges that includes. He cares for us - as a father, we have complete access to Him just as children have access to their father. This opening phrase immediately closes the gap between us and God. The first thing Jesus wants us to remember is who we are talking to, we are talking to our Father.

In heaven - not only is God our Father but He is our Father in heaven. Our Father transcends this earth, he is not bound by the limitations that we face every day. We are created in His image, but He is not like us in many important ways. He is above us, all of creation together does not equal Him. He is not part of creation, He is the creator. All of creation could cease but our Father would remain.

Hallowed be your name - When I was younger this statement seemed almost redundant. Like praying that water would be wet. But then I lost my childish simplicity and began to see the world more clearly for what it is. A world lost in selfish rebellion that fuels actual contempt for its creator and sustainer. A world that by and large would rather listen to the lies of demons, than the invitation of God who lovingly endures the madness of evil to offer salvation to all who would come to Him for help.

What are we really being told to ask for in this petition?

As I think about this first petition I have to ask, “what am I really asking God for?”. If we are petitioning God for His name to be hallowed, what does the answer to that prayer look like? There are a couple of answers that come to mind as I think about this.

* The first thing I think of is that the answer is in the next petition. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” But I would prefer to look at this petition in the next article.

* The most immediate answer to this petition is a change in attitude for me. Are my words and actions properly reflecting the glory and holiness of God? Does my life bring Him glory and contribute to the sense of His holiness? Does my life reflect a reverence for this holiness? Do I hallow His name?

What does it mean to “hallow His name”?

The word translated “hallow” in Greek means to make holy or to sanctify. But these words are no more clear than hallow to most people. To make holy or sanctify contains the idea of something set apart for only one use. Something separate and special, the opposite of common. So God’s name is to be held as something separate, special, it is to be have no common use, nor are unworthy things to be associated with this holy name.

But even the word “name” needs to be thought about just a bit more. By God’s name the bible does not mean simply that word that is associated with God or even the word God. My name is Tom but to dishonor my name does not mean simply to make fun of the name Tom. It has to do with things that devalue and degrade who I am as a person. And it has to do with spreading this dishonor to others.

Conversely to hallow God’s name is to do and say things that increase the value of God’s person in the eyes of others. To bring about an increased appreciation of God’s honor and absolute uniqueness, His beauty and incomprehensible grace, His perfection and authority. To speak in common or vulgar terms about God is the opposite of hallowing His name. To behave in ways that bring dishonor to God is perhaps even more damaging to God’s name than using His name in a common or vulgar way.

So, this week, my goal is to is live more deliberately. To do and say things that actively increase God’s honor both personally and in my interactions with others. To live and speak as an act of worship to the God whose name is holy and almighty. To honor the creator by showing love to those He has created and lovingly redeemed from their own rebellion.

Have a great week!

We talk about and hear about faith all the time as Christians. But what is it really? Where does it come from? How does it act? And why does it act that way? These are the questions that are in play in this story. You see, Israel also thought and spoke much about faith but this Gentile soldier seemed to understand something that others had somehow overlooked.

Identity and Authority

What was it that this soldier understood that so many in Israel had missed? It seems from the story that what this soldier recognized was that Jesus had authority. He had legitimate authority that flowed from a higher authority than humanity. He had the authority of God and as such had the power to speak things into being.

This soldier understood human authority, because he exercised this kind of authority himself. But in Jesus he saw another level of authority. He recognized that if as a soldier he could say a word and others would make it happen, Jesus having God’s authority could certainly speak a word and make things happen. We see that his faith in the authority of Jesus flowed from his understanding of the identity of Jesus. The primary question that separates Christians from everyone else on earth down to this day is this, “Who is Jesus?”.

We see this question woven throughout the gospels in various ways.

For example:

"Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29 ESV)

Or consider this disturbing example where even the demons clearly understood the true identity of Jesus:

And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them, “Go.” (Matthew 8:29-32 ESV)

But some who really should have realized who Jesus was never understood. Look how bluntly Jesus stated the truth of his identity to the high priest:

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. (Mark 14:61-64 ESV)

In these passages we see a Gentile soldier that “gets it” while the bulk of Israel does not. We see the disciples finally come to understand. We see demons that understand immediately, and ironically, we see a high priest that never understands even when he is directly told.

Those that understand and accept that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, or “the Son of Man” also understand his authority. They have faith in His authority because they understand the source of His authority. The source of His authority is God himself.

The God that spoke creation into existence can speak healing to a servant and the centurion knew it. And the centurion knew that Jesus was legitimately the Son of God and therefore could legitimately speak with the full authority of God.

Faith and evidence

Faith is not a blind leap, although many for various reasons try to describe it as such. In reality everyone on earth has faith in any number of things. They believe things because they have reasons to believe things. Blind leaping inspires little or no true faith. How much can anyone really trust an unsupported, blind assertion.

No, we have the most faith in things that we have evidence for. This centurion had been watching, he had amassed enough evidence to be convinced that Jesus had the full authority of God backing him up. He understood Jesus’ rank so to speak, so he knew that all Jesus needed to do was say the word.

Some might counter by saying, “what about when Jesus said, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’”. Well, in the very next verse John says this, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. It seems Jesus was pronouncing a blessing on all those that would never physically see Jesus. Thomas was especially blessed being able to physically see and touch Jesus. I think this blessing is best understood as a blessing to all those that would never experience such physical contact.

John in the very next verse was explicitly giving evidence sufficient to build faith in all those that would read his book. So faith is and always has been based in evidence. All the way back in Psalm 38 we read “taste and see that the Lord is good”. We are invited to gather evidence and believe in the goodness of God.

Our centurion friend seems to have done exactly that even though he was not a Jew, and did not have a natural inclination to hope for a messiah. He did however watch with an open mind, and see evidence that many of the Jews either overlooked or refused to see. What people see is sadly often warped and obscured by their presuppositions and prejudices. Who do we see when we look at Jesus? Do we behave as though he has the full authority of God? Do we believe He is both able and willing to help? This Gentile soldier did.

Do we have this kind of faith?

So how do we walk out this kind of faith today? How will the knowledge that Jesus has authority to speak into my life and the lives of others change my decisions? Jesus has authority over this world, am I giving him the honor and worship His position demands? Do I pray as if Jesus actually has the power and authority of God? Do I pray as if God’s authority is greater than human authority? Do I pray as if His authority is greater than the tyranny of our circumstances?

This week, let’s take our inspiration from this Gentile soldier who understood from afar that Jesus has the authority of God. He has no need to come to our house physically, he only needs to say the word. This week let’s walk in this centurion’s faith.

Have a great week!

Finally, the one who would follow the way of Jesus must never think that you can follow a way foreign to this world without opposition. Those that follow the way will find themselves walking in a way that the world at large wants no part of. The selfless path will not be embraced by a world dedicated to the exaltation of self.

Those that listened to Jesus will listen to us. Those that hated Jesus will in the same way hate us. We should have no illusions that we can defy the principles of this world without consequence. We must never be surprised at the reactions of this world. The rejection and exclusion, the slander and abuse of the unbelieving are exactly what we are told to expect in this beatitude.

This is the last of these short phrases that comprise the beatitudes. In these sayings Jesus gives us hope, and promises that beggar the imagination. But with them come the realities of living godly in an ungodly world. Nevertheless, we are blessed even on the worst day because our hope is not bound up in today, it is not measured in earthly success, it is an eternal blessing from God himself. One that continues long after this world is a distant memory.

The Anti-Beatitudes

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. (Luke 6:24-27 ESV)

Many people are unaware that in the Luke’s version of this sermon Jesus adds the lines above after the final beatitude regarding persecution. Here Jesus turns the beatitudes on their head to emphasize the importance of these simple sounding truths.

Regarding persecution and contempt from the unbelieving world, Jesus declares woe rather than blessing for those that everyone seems to love. Those that never offend are not blessed, they receive exactly the opposite. Our world seems obsessed with the idea of offense. It seems we must at all costs not offend, though I have to say there is no concern whatever with offending believers. Ironic? sure. Surprising? Absolutely not. Jesus tells us that is what we should expect and we are blessed if this is the worlds reaction. This reaction is inevitable if we are walking in the truth, if we are walking the way of Jesus. Selfless love of God and our neighbor will offend the self-serving and unbelieving world. Our very existence will be an offense to them, because seeing our faith and commitment to the truth tortures their damaged and neglected consciences.

There is a fairly common idea floating around that if we live our Christianity right then everyone will like us, and maybe even agree with us. This is a nice fantasy but unfortunately that is all that it is. When we attach ourselves to Jesus we take on the full blessing of that union, but just as real as the blessing is the outrage of those who have aligned themselves against the truth. No one is a better Christian than Christ himself, we should never expect to receive the blessing without the cross.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:20 ESV)

On walking the Way

So with all this in mind what should our response be? What else can it be, with such blessings and promises at stake? We must with whole hearts walk this path.

This is the way of life. This is the way of peace. This is the path of God’s Son. This is now the path of us all since Christ has opened this path at the cost of His own life.

Blessings of this sort do not exist in this rebellious and self-centered world. We would be fools to let such an offer go unanswered. We would also be wrong to respond to this worlds abuse in kind. We must never respond to hate and rejection with resentment, retaliation, and condemnation. Jesus died for those who crucified him. We are following him, we do not repay in kind to those that abuse us. We are called to the path of the cross.

The path is not complicated but it is hard, and it comes at great cost. It cost God his Son. It cost the Son his glory with God and finally his life. It will also cost us our self-serving, self-glorifying ambitions and passions, but it will not leave us destitute. Quite the opposite, it will leave us forever blessed and fulfilled, in this age and the next.

As we recognize our need and our inability to achieve eternal life and happiness on our own, we humble ourselves and allow the Spirit of God to do in us what we could never do for ourselves. As we obey Jesus and begin to walk the path of life, we will stop worrying about our own situation and begin to seek the good of others, we will find on this path the very blessing we thought we would never find.

We must learn to draw our strength from God alone, as Hebrews encourages us we should be, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. We must continue to value the opinion of God over the opinion of this world. We must continue to love those that despise us as Jesus loved us even when we were lost in sin. Jesus prayed for those that were killing him, this is our ultimate example. This same Spirit that empowered Jesus to endure the cross is in each of us now.

Let us walk in that Spirit this week, in a love that is unstoppable and eternal.

Have a great week!

When help seems just beyond our reach

There are times when we hear of people having amazing experiences with God - only to find that when we try to have such an experience the way to God seems blocked and the help we seek is out of our reach. This was the situation of our four friends in this story. They had a friend with such profound needs that they were desperate to see Jesus, believing that if they could just get into His presence their friend would be healed. These four guys are easy to overlook in this passage so I want to take a bit of time to examine their role in this healing and their faith that impressed Jesus so much.

The Persistence of Faith

The first thing that seems clear about these guys is that they truly believed that Jesus not only could but would heal their friend - if they could only get their friend to Jesus. So they did the obvious thing which was to take their friend to Jesus, but there was a problem. The way to Jesus was blocked by the masses of people surrounding Jesus. In this story ironically we see how people are both the means to healing and the obstacle to healing at the same time. But maybe that is another article.

Our friends did not accept this situation, their desperation was every bit as intense as their faith. In fact I believe that it was their faith that drove their desperation. The belief that Jesus would help them was so strong that they did not stop regardless of the difficulties. If you notice carefully in the story it was the faith of the friends that Jesus was responding to, there is no mention of the faith of the paralytic. It was when Jesus saw the faith of his friends that he responded.

A Surprising Response

What is most surprising in this story is the response of Jesus. He did not immediately heal the paralyzed man, which is it seems what everyone expected. Instead, he pronounced the mans sins forgiven! Did Jesus overlook the mans greatest need? Or did He instead heal the greatest need first? I think one of the lessons in this story is that sin is a greater crisis than any physical infirmity. Jesus shows himself to be much more than just a healer of bodies for a time, He is a healer of souls for eternity.

Unbelief raises it’s ugly head

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, (Mark 2:6-8 ESV)

The Scribes knew the scriptures and understood the law. These were not inconsequential thoughts they were having. The Scribes knew that the authority to forgive belonged to God alone and no human could simply take this authority on for themselves. If Jesus was just a preacher it did not give him authority to forgive sins. To make such a claim was outrageous and blasphemous.

Technically they were not wrong, but in this case they were not dealing with an ordinary man. They were dealing with the only Son of God. Jesus was not a “son of God” in the normal sense the Jews or even we might use the term. But He was entirely unique in His relationship with God. He was with God and He was God according to John, and in this story we see that unique relationship revealed. Jesus did in fact have the authority to forgive sins because He was God. Ironically the Scribes were right, only God can forgive sins. Jesus did not argue with them on this point, He simply demonstrated His power and authority in front of them and left it to them to decide.

The Reward of Persistent Faith

“Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:8-12 ESV)

To this point, although I am sure the four friends were gratified to see their paralyzed friend forgiven by God, they still did not receive what they came for, which was healing for their friend. They had gone to extreme lengths to get him into the presence of Jesus. They demonstrated great faith in the ability of Jesus to heal their friend as they broke through the roof of a stranger to get access. Their persistence had put them into the presence of Jesus, but they still had not received the blessing that they came for.

As is often the case, both in this story of Jesus and in our own experiences with God, He never seems to respond exactly the way we think He should to our persistent prayers and faith. This story I think demonstrates why He often responds in such unexpected ways. He has something much bigger than our particular problem in mind.

Jesus could have healed with a word as He did in many other cases, and people would have been very impressed. But instead He announces the forgiveness of God to this man, and only he and this paralytic knew what that forgiveness was for. It is possible that the faith of the friends was praised because the paralytic had none, he may have even been bitter toward God. If you think about this for a minute it is actually quite plausible, since the paralytic never interacts directly with Jesus. In this passage he never speaks either to his faithful friends or to Jesus. Yet Jesus forgives him, and he finds this forgiveness - because of the faithful efforts of his friends.

This is a story of persistent faith, but not faith for our own benefit, faith for the benefit of others. These friends exercised their faith by putting it into pretty extreme action. I mean, after this was over someone had to fix that very hospitable mans roof! I don’t think he was anticipating damage to his house when he let Jesus and his friends in that day. Actually the homeowner in this story is probably another whole story. We often don’t know what we are getting into when we let Jesus into our house. It is always awesome, but very often it is also costly.

But in the end the enacted prayers of these four friends was rewarded and their friend who had suffered so much was healed both body and soul. He was set free from the bondage of the paralysis of his body while being set free in his spirit from the paralysis of sin. Life had truly begun anew for this man. And for those friends that were willing to do whatever it took in faith for their friend, they were changed as well. They came to understand that Jesus was not just a healer and a teacher, but He was so much more. Jesus is Lord! Jesus is The Lord!

So this week let’s not calculate the cost so much that we do not act. Let’s do whatever it takes to bring our friends to Jesus with whatever afflicts them. Let’s be the faithful friend that does not give up when it gets difficult. Let’s persist in our faith both in prayer and action until we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus where His authority and power can truly set us free from the things that paralyze us all!

Have a great week!

Why do we keep going back to habits and mistakes that we hate? The answer, unfortunately, is not something that we want to hear.

I don’t think I have ever met a Christian who did not have a story about some flaw or flaws that they have or some temptation that repeatedly trips them up. They will talk about how frustrated they are and how much they hate this weakness in themselves, sometimes to the point that they have given up and just concluded that there is something in them that makes this error impossible for them to overcome.

I have been there, I don’t know about you.

I have wrestled, as much as anyone, I think, with those recurring temptations and the resulting sin. I have struggled to understand why I keep doing the things I hate. Why do I keep running back to those same things? What kind of madness draws me to things I hate?

The answer, it turns out, is even uglier than the problem. As I have gotten older, I have realized that the magnetic power of these sins is not found in what I hate but rather in what I secretly love. I found that in every action or thought that I hate, there are elements that I love, like an addiction that starts in pleasure and ends with a destroyed life and family. It is the secret selfish pleasures that destroy us, not the things we think we hate.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. (Matt 15:19-20 ESV)

There are many reasons to hide things, but in the end, we tend to hide the things we secretly want to keep.

This is why we fail to change because as vile as these evils are, we know there is also a secret pleasure in them, or at the very least there is a certain utility in them.

Freedom to change

So, how do we free ourselves from the things that flow from our own hearts?

Let’s ask John…

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation(satisfying payment) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:9-2:2 ESV)

Instead of resolutions, maybe we should consider confession instead. But here I am not talking about the kind of “after the fact” type of confessions we usually make, but rather, a confession of those desires that lead us to sin in the first place. The path to sin generally starts with a series of decisions based on self-serving desires. Then, as we progress down this path, we suddenly find ourselves in a place of seemingly overwhelming temptation. James says it this way:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15 ESV)

So, to live free - to walk free, we must be on our guard not just against sinful actions, but we need to allow the Spirit of God to bring our desires under the scrutiny of the Spirit and the authority of Christ. We need to believe that the work of Christ on the cross not only paid for our sins but set us free from the desires that led us to sin in the first place.

Paul says it like this:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:4-7 ESV)

Paul concludes this passage with these instructions:

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14 ESV)

Walking in Freedom

So faith is walking in the conviction that the death and resurrection of Jesus was enough. Faith is walking in the knowledge that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us to raise us up from our lower natures and those persistent desires that seem so overwhelming. These desires are, in fact, overwhelming for us on our own. But they are not too much for the power of God through the Spirit, and the sooner we give up on self-help programs and allow the grace of God to set us free, the sooner we will know true freedom.

If self-help actually set us free, Jesus would not have needed to come to us as a baby, teach us, heal us, suffer for us, and die for us. Jesus did this because it was the only way to save us. But we are not simply saved from some future judgment; we are saved from those things which make us slaves to sin now. Not forgiven to see if we can do better next time, but forgiven and empowered by the Spirit of God to walk in freedom, no longer slaves to our lower nature’s desires.

In writing this, God has taken me on a journey of self-examination that was both painful and liberating. After all, to leave behind something our lower nature loves is a loss that can be painful, but the peace and freedom that follows is amazing.

I would like to invite you to join me in this new year on this journey to freedom. Let’s skip making all the empty resolutions and wishful thinking. Instead, let’s push a bit deeper into why we do what we do and allow the Spirit of God to lead us into a truly new and blessed year of peace and joy. Serving God and others with a conscience cleansed and a love empowered by the grace of God.

Have a great week!

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Jesus has come, Jesus has conquered, and Jesus is coming again to reign.

These three simple facts make up the core of Christian thought, and it is the core of the message of good news that we have been commissioned by Jesus to communicate to the world.

Jesus is Lord of all! Jesus will come again to rule! The evil of this age will not go on forever! The Prince of Peace is coming!

The Time Between

But now we live in the time between, the time between the victory of Jesus over sin and death, and the time of His return to destroy evil and reign over the new heavens and earth. This time between is marked by trouble of all kinds and includes a set of particular troubles for the church. The Church is the body of Christ on earth. The forces which killed Jesus on the cross have not repented of their hatred of God and His Son. So we, as the body of Christ on earth, have been the continued target of these beastly forces of evil ever since the victorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The history of the Church is a story of perseverance through trouble.

Christmas and the Prince of Peace

Christmas however is always and rightly celebrated as a time of joy and peace on earth. Yet, life on earth is seldom like the cards we send each other at Christmas. The truth is, real lasting peace will only come when the prince of peace returns. The joy we experience now is real joy but it is nothing compared to the joy that follows the return of the king of kings, the removal of evil, and the establishment of the new heavens and earth. Only then can we fully realize peace and joy as God intended from the beginning. Only then will we see the end of death itself.

History has been a long journey for humanity, and a costly one. But too often we think only of our personal cost or perhaps the human cost of evil. Christmas and Easter are times of the year we set aside to consider the cost of our evil to God. At these times we recognize God’s love for us in that He did not leave us to die in our sin without hope. He instead became one of us and experienced death and judgement in our place.

But Jesus did not come just to suffer. He didn’t even come just to be raised again in victory. The plan has always been to redeem humanity and restore them to God’s family, to a proper and loving relationship to the Father. God’s plan has always been to build or rebuild a world where true peace, true joy, true love, and fellowship exist -eternally. And to rule this new world of joy and peace is Jesus, our Prince of Peace and eternal king!

Living while waiting

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (Matt 25:44-46 ESV)

Matthew 24:36-25:30 gives us several parables of Jesus and all of them relate to how we should live as we await the return of our king. If you have not read them in a while it is well worth the time to go over them again in the context of Jesus returning to judge the earth and gather his family. Chapter 25 ends with Jesus describing the final judgement. And the final judgement is not described as we might think. People are judged on that day according to how they have treated those who were suffering. Because whatever they did for these suffering people they did for Jesus himself.

I get questions all the time that people feel must be important because they are so hard to answer. But in this passage we see that it is not the difficult questions that are important but rather the difficult choices that make the difference in our eternal destiny.

To truly believe in Jesus is to follow Him, it is to walk where He walked and help the people that He helped. It is easy to sit around and think you know the answer, it is more difficult to be that answer in someone else’s life. But thankfully - it is usually not as difficult as we sometimes make it out to be.

After a busy time of Christmas preparations and events it would be easy to kick back and feel like, now I can rest. And we can, God gives His children rest, he even commands it for one day a week. But in our resting we must not forget why we are here. In our resting we must remember, remember that we are all blessed with resources and places to use them for the good of others.

As I go about my business this week God help me to see the people around me, really see them, and help. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and may God strengthen you now for the week ahead!

Have a great week!

Tom

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6:11 ESV)

Here we see Luke, John, and Paul all describing the birth of Jesus. Each one focuses on a different aspect of this little baby’s arrival. Luke tells us He was born in an insignificant place, in an insignificant town, in an insignificant country, to an insignificant young girl. This earth shattering event was announced to nameless, almost certainly illiterate, shepherds who could not even record this event for posterity. And yet…

This child was born to be the savior of the world!

This is truly great news of joy for the whole world!

But there’s more - this tiny child is the Word of God according to John’s gospel. He was with God in the beginning and He was God. All things were made through Him, and life was in Him. And this life was the light of men, this light shines in darkness and the darkness did not overcome it!

The word became flesh and dwelt among us

John concludes this portion of his gospel with this statement. This tiny insignificant baby was God, He was the creator, He was life itself laying helpless in a manger. God had become one of us, God has joined in our struggles and our lives by becoming one of us and living and dying with us, but much more importantly - living and dying for us.

A word from Paul

Paul gives us a glimpse of what this looked like from the perspective of the eternal Son of God. Though he was in the form of God he did not cling to this equality with God but humbled himself by taking on the form of Man and not just a man a servant. But he did not stop there, he served us to the point of death. And because of that humility and sacrifice and love for others, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name above all names. Jesus is Lord of all!

And this king before whom every person shall bow is the same child we find in the manger in Luke’s account.

Walking this way

As we reflect on the lengths that the God has gone to save us from our sin and give us new life. And as we consider the selfless, humble, love the eternal Son demonstrated in taking on a human form in Jesus. How are we to reflect this life to the world - today?

The life that the eternal Son of God took on was no life of luxury or glory or fame. It was the life of a nobody in the middle east 2000 years ago. A boy that I am sure grew up with whispers about his parentage in the tiny town of Nazareth. He knew political oppression, poverty, and endless hard work. This boy grew into a man that served everyone he met, and ultimately gave his life for the whole world.

As we consider our own life, how do we reflect the value that Jesus has put on us as we interact with the people we meet? Will we follow the way of Jesus in setting aside our benefit for the benefit of others today? Will we share the gift of God in Jesus to the world He was sent to save? To have a true and living faith is to act in harmony with our belief. True faith can’t be passive. Our belief in this gift, which is given to us in Jesus, will not allow it. Because to truly believe in a gift this great changes everything. God has become one of us in Jesus. He gave himself so we may live with him forever! This is Christmas! And this story is now our story!

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

Have a very Joy filled Christmas wherever you are! Remembering that 2000 years ago in a humble manger a child was born. He was born to be one of us, born to suffer, born to die, born to be raised again, born to give us life eternal, and born to rule forever!

Amen!

And may we all live worthy of this gift as we celebrate this blessed season and await the return of the King of Kings!

Have a great week!

When I found the picture for this article it struck me as being a whole lot closer to what this story is describing than most of the pictures of Mary and the Angel that you will find. Googling angels or Mary gives you a whole lot of very unusual images, many of which have little to do with a young girl in Galilee two thousand years ago. Two thousand years of traditions and creative storytelling have created some unusual images in many peoples minds regarding this scene.

So this week I want to look at the core characters in this very familiar story. To see if there are things we may have overlooked in this story.

Mary

The story begins with a godly young girl who is betrothed to a man from the house of David. She was likely very young by today’s standards. Almost certainly a teenager and Joseph was likely a fair bit older than she was, a man her family felt was capable of caring for a wife and a family. In this time(the bulk of history globally) marriages were arranged by parents and families to insure their daughters were well cared for and the family name continued with honor to the next generation. Romance novel styled love rarely entered into the equation. That is not to say husbands and wives did not love each other, even romantically, but marriages for the most part were not based on the fickle attraction of physical desire. The family was more important than the individual as a general rule in this culture.

This is hard for modern western people to understand but it is vital in understanding the importance that virginity and male children had in ancient culture. To shame the family or to fail to carry on the family name was catastrophic in Mary and Joseph’s world, both for the individual and the family.

With that thumbnail sketch of their world we can now get a better feel for the weight of this event.

Mary was informed that she was both known and favored by God. This was a lot to take in for a teenager, or anyone for that matter. She was also told that she would have a child, but not just any child, this child would have all the attributes we discussed last week in the prophecy of Isaiah.

* He will be called Jesus (which means “God has saved or God is savior”)

* He will reign on David’s throne forever

* He will be called the Son of the Most High

* His Kingdom will have no end

But there is one small problem…

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

She may have been young, but she was very aware of how things worked, and she knew that what the angel was telling her was clearly impossible.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

As we discussed last week in the prophecy of Isaiah this was going to be no ordinary child. He was not going to be simply a “great” child. This child was to be “the Son of God” in a completely unique sense of that term.

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

This was no trivial commitment, how do you tell your betrothed husband and family that God made you pregnant? This is why Mary is revered to this day, she was not being compelled to do this, as some would suggest, she was giving her consent to this calling and her unblinking trust in God is rare, to say the very least. She put all the normal questions and worries aside and placed her reputation, her future husbands reputation, her families reputation, and her entire future well-being unreservedly into God’s hands.

Joseph

“When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus”. (Matthew 1:18-25 ESV)

This story of Joseph is told in Mathew. The situation looked very different from his point of view. Imagine being told by your future wife that she is pregnant. Needless to say, Joseph’s mind certainly did not run immediately to “it’s a miracle!!!”. And yet, it did not immediately run to jealousy, indignation, and rage either. Even before Joseph receives the explanation from God he looks for a kinder and more honorable solution to this problem. I think Joseph’s character is often overlooked in this story, he was a remarkable man to respond the way he did.

When God did give him an explanation, he like Mary, put aside the personal, social, and family ramifications of this news. Joseph also entrusted all of that to the care of his loving almighty God. He knew to the point of committed action that God’s will is the highest good, regardless of what people think. To Joseph a life lived for selfish gain was no life at all and disobedience to God was sin, so for Joseph the path forward was clear. It was the path God had chosen for him as well as Mary.

Walking like Mary and Joseph

What do we do today in order to live more like Mary and Joseph as we anticipate the coming of Jesus? In our well-healed modern world we tend to think of God as one of our many resources. Now, when I say it like that I think many people would object, but I know in my heart, whether I say it out loud or not, that I far too often tend to live as though God is just one of many resources that I have. I guess you will have to judge your own heart to see if you are afflicted with my weakness or not.

But some of you might say, what is wrong with that? We do have other resources to draw from. My point here is not to condemn anyone for having an abundance of resources. It is to contrast the ancient worldview with the modern one. They were not materialists(thinking that nothing beyond matter and energy exist). They were not Humanists(thinking that humanity is the final authority and the only source of help and wisdom). The ancient world considered atheism a form of delusional thinking(unlike the tendency to think belief is delusion today). The ancient world was very aware of how fragile and fleeting life was, and they knew God was the source and the sustainer of life.

Now I realize that there was no lack of disobedience and sin in the ancient world. My point is that they had a different default mindset than people in the modern world especially in the “enlightened” west. To Mary and Joseph angelic visitations even in dreams were not to be taken lightly, as the product of stress or too much pizza. This was God speaking and although accepting such a calling might mean hardships for the rest of their lives, God was the source of their lives, and because they were faithful, they also knew that God is good and therefore can be trusted completely.

The question for today

The question we need to ask ourselves is, on what am I basing my decisions? Am I basing my decisions on what I think is most likely to produce my desired outcomes? Or am I basing my decisions on what God is asking me to do today regardless of the outcome. This question is not easy, no matter who you are, it was not easy for Mary or Joseph, it is not easy for me, and no doubt it is not easy for you.

One of the difficulties we have in putting obedience ahead of immediate benefit stems from how we judge outcomes. Are we looking only for short term personal gain or are we looking toward eternal joy in the presence of God. On an average Wednesday this is not an easy question, the short term is always much, much louder and more urgent than the dream you had last night or the words of a stranger that you think might have been an angel(or other messenger) from God. On a Wednesday you have to tell your parents that God made you pregnant by a miracle. On a Wednesday you have to trust a dream while you explain to your family that your future wife is pregnant via a miracle from God, because an angel told you - in a dream.

In real life choosing God’s way is not always easy but here we can be encouraged because the choices we face today are very likely not as hard as the choices Mary and Joseph had to make. And God really is God, and He really is good, and He loves us, so our highest good can only be found in Him. Our self-serving ideas have no eternal weight.

I hope this encourages you to face the world as we find it today with faith and courage. Faith that the God who saved the world in this unlikely way is still the same God that is at work in our lives today. And faith that Jesus our king will return to be enthroned and glorified on earth completing the kingdom He established two thousand years ago.

Have a great Christmas Season!

The Promise of Hope

Isaiah 2:3 and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

This prophecy in Isaiah goes back a long way and yet it speaks of things that are still hoped for to this day. In this series we are going to be looking at how God has and continues to fulfill this and other similar prophecies through the coming of His Son Jesus! We will see as we examine some of these prophecies just what it is that makes Jesus so absolutely unique in the history of the world.

The goal of God in salvation is clear in this passage. He wants to gather the nations to himself and transform this chaotic and sinful world into a world of peace where everyone is taught by God. Then humanity will finally give God the honor He deserves as he takes his rightful place as king and judge of the whole earth. But wait a minute, isn’t Jesus the king and the judge when he returns? Yes he is, and that is where the fun begins.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

A whole series could be created just to examine the list of names ascribed to this child. This list of names is absolutely amazing, when you consider Isaiah is talking about a human child. Two names really stand out in this regard, Mighty God and Everlasting Father. If you think about this in terms of the cultural context, you have to wonder - what was Isaiah thinking about? How could a child be the Mighty God which on the face of it sounds blasphemous even today, to say nothing of what that would have sounded like in Isaiah’s day. And to call a child the Everlasting Father is no less impossible and bazaar. But there you are.

From a 21st century Christian perspective we read this passage without blinking, un-phased by the outrageous nature of such a claim. This is why taking the time to pause and reflect periodically is so very important. We can so easily become numb to the inconceivably great promises of God. We can listen to this world lie and fight everyday and lose heart that anything will ever improve. But Isaiah speaks of a child who will be the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father and that brings those who believe a hope that this world can know nothing about.

Now to say that a child will be a Wonderful Counselor or a Prince of Peace could possibly be understood as something a great human king may achieve. But “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father” is in an entirely different category of things. And while scholars and wannabe scholars may bicker about exactly what Isaiah intended with those titles, he goes on to say this human child’s government would increase without end and that He will reign in justice and righteousness forever.

This is no ordinary child, this is no ordinary human king, this is no ordinary earthly kingdom, this is Jesus. He has come, He has conquered sin and death, and He is coming again to fully realize the promise of the Kingdom of God.

How do we walk in this truth today?

Today we find ourselves in the time between. Between the birth of the King and the time He returns to judge with justice and bring about true and lasting peace on earth. The bible tells us this is a time of trouble and trial, but also a time of anticipation and preparation. So how are we to live today in light of all of this?

While He was physically present with us on earth Jesus taught us to pray.

(Our Father)Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We can walk in the promise of the Kingdom of God by actively participating in this prayer today. We can each be a small part of the answer to this prayer by living in a way that is consistent with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom has come and will continue to increase, until the consummation of the age where evil is finally destroyed along with all those that love and practice it.

While the knowledge that this day is coming brings great peace, Jesus left us here for a reason. While no human can pretend to know all the reasoning of God, we can know what he has told us to do, and how we are to do it.

Love

It begins and ends with love. John is the New Testament writer with perhaps the most to say about the love of God. For example, “God is love”. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him may have everlasting life”. And “having loved His own He loved them to the end”.

But what kind of love is this? Certainly not the fickle desire driven feeling that is generally described as love today. That fleeting feeling did not empower Jesus to stay faithful to God’s will all the way to the cross. The love that was strong enough to carry Him to and through the pain of the cross was based on His commitment to benefit all of us and honor His Father, no matter the cost.

When teaching this I have found the following definition of this type of love to be helpful:

Love = Benefiting others at my expense

This definition describes the love of Jesus for us and this definition helps us to understand how we can love even our enemies as Jesus commands. I can do things that benefit my enemy but I have no idea how to have warm fuzzy feelings about someone who truly and intentionally hurts me.

So how do we become a part of the answer to our prayer for God’s “kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven”? How do we walk in the truth of this Advent season?

We can love someone today. With a love that flows from the Spirit of God to everyone we meet. A love we demonstrate with our actions.

In doing this, we create an instance of the Kingdom of God on earth and perhaps more importantly, we demonstrate that The King - is our King, and that one day soon he will come again. When we love by our actions we truly function as the body of Christ, we become the physical manifestation of Christ on earth. We expand the Kingdom of God to every place we go. This is a way that we can participate in the “increase of His government that will have no end” as Isaiah foretold.

Advent is a time of anticipation of this fullness. Advent is a time of celebration that God has sent His Son Jesus as a humble impoverished child, in order to bring His everlasting Kingdom to earth. Advent is a time to reflect on the promise of this child that was born to be king, who defeated death by his life, death, and resurrection. Advent is a time to walk in faith and obedience knowing that our King Jesus walks with us, and works in us and through us, as we work in faith and wait with anticipation for Him to come again.

Have a great week!

Like father like son, or so the saying goes. Jesus teaches us once again how badly we misunderstand God. To be like God is to be a peacemaker. Paul describes the church’s purpose as being an agent of reconciliation in this world.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18)

We see Christ’s ministry was to reconcile the world to God.

“making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:9-10)

To make peace where previously there was rebellion and animosity. And if we are to truly be sons of God we can do no less. We are to be peacemakers because we are now sons of God in Christ. We must continue the work he started. We are peacemakers now by means of our new nature in Christ. The very nature of God is now in us through Christ and we must exercise that gift, becoming agents of reconciliation. We are now all sons in Christ, we must be about the family business.

Don’t you mean children of God instead of sons? Are women excluded from this promise?

 …for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

(Gal 5:26-29 ESV)

We are all sons of God through faith. Jesus is THE Son of God and we are all in Him through faith, and therefore we are all sons of God. And as such we are all, whether male or female, sons and therefore heirs of God according to the promise. This is very significant in the New Testament world of Paul. In those days females did not inherit only sons inherited. What Paul was saying here that whether you were male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free we are all sons of God and full heirs of the promise. This was shocking news in those days, and strangely it is still hard for everyone to hear this today. In Christ we are all one, we are all sons, and we are all heirs, and that is a good thing.

So understanding that, let’s look at the first half of this promise. Blessed are the peacemakers. As simple as this statement sounds there is actually a lot to think about here, especially if you try to act on that promise in this fallen and divided world. For example, some may feel that they simply need to avoid conflict at all costs to be a peacemaker. But is avoiding conflict really making peace? Problems cause conflict and turmoil, but it can hardly be said that avoiding the issue fixes the issue thereby making peace. In practice avoiding problems often deepens them.

So it seems to me that making peace involves working to correct the things that cause division. And this division presents itself on two fronts. First is our division with God. Jesus has paid the price to restore that relationship but his offer requires a response on our part. Repentance of our previous rebellion towards God must be both aggressive and ongoing. Faith in the sufficiency of the cross is also an ongoing commitment that will be tested daily.

The second front in this effort is our division with each other. And this, as we all know, is often not an easy peace to make. Once again, avoidance of interpersonal problems does anything but resolve them. So being peacemakers in this highly divided world will not be simple or easy, but if we want to be children of God we need to be involved with the family business of reconciling the world to God and people to each other. To God no price was too high to accomplish this reconciliation. The eternal Son left his exalted place with the Father to become the man Jesus and give himself for all of us. If this is the price our Father was willing to pay, if this was the price Jesus was willing to pay, what is it worth to us?

As we go about our daily business we need to remember that it is the peacemakers that will be called the sons of God. And that making peace could very well be a costly endeavor for us, as it was for Jesus who is The Son. To be an agent of peace may well require us to lay down our rights and privileges in order to see someone else find their peace with God through Christ. But like Jesus we need to focus on the joy before us in order to find the strength to endure the cost of making peace.

(Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV)

…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

(James 3:16-18 ESV)

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

So Today, as we go about our business let’s keep one eye open for opportunities to function as children of God, opportunities to engage in the family business. Let’s find ways to be peacemakers wherever we find ourselves in a world that knows precious little of true peace.

Have a great week!

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt 5:8)

Then there is this, a promise so big it almost sounds like hyperbole. The thought of seeing God is both exhilarating and frightening. We are overwhelmed with the thought of seeing God, and finally finding that missing piece. That elusive “thing” that we have been missing since humanity first rebelled against God. And yet, we are fearful of what we will find when we see him. Our lingering guilt and remorse for the countless selfish transgressions of our lives causes us to shiver at the thought of seeing God.

But to the pure in heart the fog begins to clear, revealing the truth that there is no life apart from the source of life. As we purify our hearts we begin to see God for who he truly is. We begin to see the grace, the mercy, the love, the kindness, the joy, and also the justice of God. He is the source of all that is good, all that we long for.

But to see God we have to get past the noise of our fallen hearts. The self-serving old nature needs to go. The sin we cling to must be forsaken. The old desires must be transformed and retrained on God himself and his righteousness. We must learn what it means to possess real singleness of heart, a pure heart, unmixed, a heart focused on God and his glory alone. Where do we find a heart like this? Only in the cross of Christ. (2 Cor 5:15-18)

This purity is not brought about by the power of our will. Our old nature is truly focused on self and we can not overcome selfishness through a self driven desire to improve ourselves. This is clearly self defeating and hopeless.

What we need is something else something outside ourselves. Something that can destroy this constant self serving drive that corrupts us all. This something is the cross of Christ. But how does the cross of Christ help us today?

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

(2 Cor 5:14-15 ESV)

The secret, if you can call it that, is having faith that Jesus by his death accomplished more than just payment for our past sins. By his death he also “killed“ our old nature, breaking it's stranglehold on us.

However, when we see this and believe, we are left with a choice. We either choose to live in this new life in Christ or continue to focus on ourselves. The purity of heart Jesus is talking about refers to a singleness of heart, a heart unmixed, where we live in the faith that Jesus has set us free. As we give up on all other sources of help our hearts can truly rest in a pure trust in the cross of Jesus. Then we can know the blessing of seeing God, then we can know the blessing of a truly new life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…

(2 Cor 5:17-19 ESV)

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

(Rom 6:10-14 ESV)

Today as always the challenges are great, but God’s grace is greater. We are not victims or slaves, but rather new creations in Christ!

Faith is believing that this is true and responding accordingly. Today we have everything we need in Christ, encourage someone with that truth and allow this new creation in Christ to shine in everything we do!

Have a great week!

Christian “war stories” are also enjoyable, we love them and we should. We love to hear of the faithfulness of God as we revel in the spiritual victories of others. Unlike fantasy, it is both important and life giving to encourage each other in this way. Recently however, God has been bringing a tougher truth to my mind regarding these wonderful stories.

It dawned on me one day that these stories are only as wonderful as the situation was terrible.

After all, if the biggest story of Moses life was that one day he got a splinter in his finger, then after praying, unexpectedly met a man with a tweezers. I doubt we would still be reading about Moses. However, having the Red Sea on one side and a murderous army on the other. That is a story! The first story is an everyday story of something that might happen whether you are obedient to God or not. The second is a story about the problems and victories that are only encountered through active faith and obedience. It is this second type of story I want to focus on.

While I am greatly encouraged by tales of God’s faithfulness in other’s lives. These stories have nowhere near the power of the stories God has built into my life over the years. Not that I have done greater things than Moses or anyone else for that matter, it’s just that my stories are of times that God showed himself to me. Not Moses or Joshua but me, a farm kid from Wisconsin. He showed himself in ways that I can never experience in someone else’s stories. The problems were real and they were mine. And because of that, the faithfulness of God was equally real and equally mine. This is where stories with the power to transform and sustain us are born.

So, how does one develop a catalog of these stories? In my experience there are two ways. The first way is to just wait until trouble finds you. Then if you lean into God, he will show himself faithful. Simple, and to some degree inevitable in this life.

But there is another way, a way that leads to the richest victory stories. That is, actively pursuing God in obedience and allowing God to lead you into places only He can sustain you. Then each day is transformed into a story of God’s faithfulness. Because each day is an exercise in living beyond your earthly means in full dependence on God and His grace.

My Story

For me this started 39 years ago when my wife and I started a street evangelism ministry in our town. We were way over our heads but each Friday night God was faithful. This was followed by starting a crisis hotline in the same town. Now we were even farther over our heads but again God was leading us and teaching us. Eventually God led us to Youth With A Mission where things really began to get interesting. No job, future unknown, and four young kids. That was 30 years ago and God has been faithfully guiding us, teaching us, and providing for us all this time. The current count is 4 boys, 3 daughters in-law, 6 grand-kids, and more blessing than I could ever explain, though not without incident. There are many war stories. Our family has been through death, sickness, heartbreak, disappointment, opposition of all kinds. But each of those bad days is now a great story of God’s love and faithfulness.

Today’s Story

So if God asks you to do something, maybe something new or unusual and you are wondering, “can I really do this?” consider this. The best of those amazing stories of faith represent an intentional and often risky step of faith into unknown events. A step taken while trusting in the unfailing love and grace of a known God. Each step of obedience you take beyond your own ability, will build a life giving story of God’s unfailing faithfulness in you. A story which you in turn can tell to bring life to others.

So we all have two choices today, we either try to hide from trouble in fear which is futile, or we move forward into the calling of God on our lives. It may feel more risky, but in the end it is the safest place to be. Best of all, when we are living beyond ourselves it is far easier to see each time God intervenes in his faithfulness. And with each new act of God’s faithfulness and power - our faith and joy and peace will grow. Giving us fresh encouragement to share with others.

God is speaking to you today to do something that is beyond you. Step out and do it, and you will meet God in ways you never imagined. Take a step into places that are beyond your natural ability and into the arms of an ever faithful God. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Have a Great Day!

There are it seems three ways to be hungry. One is through poverty, another through self denial, and another through hard work. Jesus has already talked about poverty of spirit so we could look at this blessing as an extension of the first beatitude. But I think there is more to look at here beyond our bare need of righteousness.

Today I would like to look at spiritual hunger from a few other angles as well. When we first experience the love of Christ we are overjoyed with the realization that God is real and that He truly cares about us. His gift of grace, so undeserved, fills us to overflowing. But as time goes on there are many things that can mask our ongoing need, and many things we hunger for other than righteousness.

Like candy these things ruin our appetite for good food.

( other scriptures: Psalm 107:17ff; Ps 63:5ff)

Past, Present, and Future

Those that are hungry for power and control seem to get everything in the current world order. In the kingdom of God however, those that hunger for righteousness are the ones that will finally be satisfied. Again we see the contrast between those whose focus is on this present world only, and those whose eyes are on eternity.

Hungering for righteousness in an unrighteous world can be a recipe for frustration rather than satisfaction. But in this simple statement we see a promise of a future where righteousness can be known.

But more than that, these promises are not simply a promise of a better world someday. This promise, in particular, is a promise that can be realized in this life, though perhaps not as fully as in the next age. We will know the righteousness of God in this life - if we truly hunger for it. For Christ is the righteousness of God. By faith we are in Him and he is in us. Though at the time that Jesus delivered this message this promise was still veiled, Jesus is actually offering his own righteousness to anyone that truly hungers for it.

This promise was first offered by God through Isaiah, repeated here by Jesus, and finally and fully declared in the book of Revelation:

“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:17)

This is God’s intent from the beginning. This is his offer to all those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness and life. God has paid the price in Jesus so that all may know, all may drink and be filled, and all may find life in His Son Jesus.

But I am already a believer…

To those that have known the blessing of God’s righteousness through Jesus there are other aspects of hungering for righteousness that should not be overlooked. The first thing that comes to mind is apathy.

Apathy has many sources but they all end up the same. A lack of desire. When it comes to the lack of desire for righteousness, this disease becomes very very serious. It threatens the very life of our soul. So understanding spiritual apathy is important.

The Main Cause of Spiritual Apathy

In my experience apathy seeps in slowly while we are engaged in other things. They can be good or bad things, they can even be “religious” things. In the end it does not matter what it is, it can be anything that dulls our appetite for Jesus and His righteousness. The biblical word is idolatry, but nobody likes that word, because that is what bad people do. But the truth is, idolatry is so often discussed in the bible because it is so very common. The same can be said of self-righteousness we really hate that trait too - in others.

The cure for this is given to us by Paul in the 8th chapter of Romans.

Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (ESV)

Today and everyday we need to check our compasses. Where are we fixing our mind? Do we hunger for Jesus and His righteousness, or do we settle for just the next thing life offers?

Maintaining a Healthy Appetite

For a final encouragement I want to give some advice I first heard many years ago from Tim Keene, who was one of a handful of pastors that God used to shape my life. He said, as I remember it, “If you want to be thirsty for God, you should try going out and getting in the spiritual battle”. In other words spiritual work will make you spiritually hungry. You will feel the need for righteousness when you focus your eyes on spiritual things and begin swimming upstream with all your might, against the tide of this unrighteous world.

As we focus on that which is above, when we work against the unrighteousness of this world, when we feel the opposition of this world we will quickly recognize our need, and as we recognize our need, we will feel the hunger. Then, when we are truly hungry for righteousness - we shall be filled.

Join me today as we walk this path together, keeping Jesus as the source, the sustainer, the path, and the goal of our journey to everlasting life.

It only existed when each member sang their part in perfect harmony.

I learned early on that, there are no lead singers in the choir. (Though many try to the ruin of everything).

The choir has a voice all its own.

Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The Choir and the Body of Christ.

This memory of my mom and the choir got me thinking about the connection between the “voice” of a choir and the “voice” of the church. The unity we see described in the book of Ephesians speaks of a body with various members with various gifts. Paul describes this in Rom 12 as well, it seems to be a favorite analogy of his. But when these members are all connected and using their gifts properly something magical happens. That body starts to look and function like Jesus. When the members are all working together that is when we are truly grow into the “full stature” of the body of Christ. The visible manifestation of the living Christ on earth.

We too often look at these analogies simply as encouraging sentiments. That’s a shame. I believe they are much more than that. Another mistake we frequently make is to read passages like this as purely personal encouragement for our personal maturity. When in fact, this passage is speaking of maturity in the corporate sense. It is talking about the whole church growing up and using the gifts Jesus has given it to fully reflect Jesus to this world. To truly become the body of Christ.

When Jesus said to his disciples that, “it is necessary that I leave, so that the helper can come”. Or when he said that we who believe would do greater things than he did, this was not hyperbole. Through the Holy Spirit we become the “body of Christ” or put another way “the physical manifestation of Christ on earth”. We do greater things than he did because now we cover the earth, then Jesus was limited to one tiny spot on the earth.

Let’s do this - Today

So, like the choir we need to find our voice - together. Forget about how beautiful our voice is for a minute and try to blend our voice with other voices in the choir. When we do that, we will hear another voice, it will be the voice of Jesus.

May we all, together, today, speak not with our own voice, but with that united voice of Jesus to this lost and tired world. We do that through humility and active love by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. There is nothing we lack.

So… be your part of the body today, and have a great day in Jesus!