Christmas

As I sit here in my basement office listening to the wind howl off the lake and drive the snow faster than a Canadian on Highway 61, I'm making notes for the Christmas Eve service. Whether or not we will actually have the Christmas Eve service remains to be seen. The parking lot will have to be plowed. People will have to be able to see to drive, and have some measure of confidence they can get home if they come in to town. It may be a greater service to them to simply cancel the service tonight and urge them to remain safely in their warm homes surrounded by their loving families.

I wonder if God ever thought about canceling Christmas due to unfavorable conditions. There was no room in the inn. It's a long way on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Animal habitat smells. And that trip from heaven down the birth canal, all that blood and commotion! Who's up for that? And of course, the ultimate destination, the great cause for Christmas was a crucifixion. They would all show up to see him die, but so few would be there to see him born.

In my mind I may wonder, but in my heart I know. I know God never once thought of canceling Christmas. The people he loves so much needed a Savior. We, you and me, were trapped in our sins and subject to death and without Christmas, we would be forever lost to him. So he made the journey of a life and lifetime. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes so that we would not remain bound in our sin. He was laid in a manger so the wrath of God would not be laid on us. He was born into poverty so that we would appreciate the riches of his grace. He became nothing to give us everything.

I don't know yet if we'll cancel the Christmas Eve service here in Grand Marais or not. I don't know whether you'll be able to get to a service where you are, but I offer you this. The Child who came to die lives and he still enters gladly into the worst personal conditions of heart and soul to bring peace, joy, and new life forever. Blizzard or no blizzard, if you want God in your life, it can always be Christmas if you will believe in him.

Ask him into your life, into your situation today, whatever that situation is, and discover what Christmas is truly all about.

Christmas Spirit

A light snow fell like sifted flour and covered the landscape, the roads, the parking lots. It was 18 degrees, cold enough to make what snow there was more crunchy than slick. Shoppers were everywhere.

We avoided Black Friday, but could not avoid the trip to Duluth. The 14th Annual Christmas Open House still needed more cookies, dips, and crackers. There were gifts we could not find in our little town. There was the simple need for a change of scenery. So off we went.

Stores and houses and light posts are decorated. Christmas music fills the air, as it does in a lot of places this time of year. I almost started to get into the "Christmas Spirit" until the young woman in the gray Saturn charged down the aisle in the parking lot, horn blaring at a car already three quarters backed out of a spot. She barely missed clipping a pedestrian as she sped to get around the moving vehicle before it could block her path any further.

I seem to recall Coach Carswell drilling the idea into us during Driver's Ed in the tenth grade that if you come upon a car backing out of parking spot, you wait for them to complete their action before proceeding. In other words, you stop and they go. Then you go. You don't lay on the horn and try to get around them putting the lives of drivers and pedestrians at risk.

Minnesotans seem to have learned to drive with different rules of etiquette. If the car ahead of them is making a left hand turn, they pass on the right, crossing the solid white line. They don't slow down. They don't stop. And God help the pedestrian walking on the shoulder at the same time, or the car ahead making a left turn into their path! I've seen cars passing on the right cut off other vehicles that patiently waited for the left turning driver.

All this led me to wonder about the "Christmas Spirit." Where does that inclination to be gracious, patient, kind, thoughtful, sensitive, caring, self-effacing come from? (Certainly not the Minnesota DMV!) The newly fallen snow, the cheerful decorations, the omnipresent music did not seem to create the fabled warmth of the season one might have expected among shoppers and staffers. Lines were long. Patience was short. Frowns were abundant. Smiles rare. Where was the "Christmas Spirit?"

Maybe it is simply too early for its appearance. Maybe there weren't enough children bundled up to their eyelids visiting Santa on the rotunda. Maybe the reason is internal and not external, so the "stuff of Christmas" is getting less effective at producing the "spirit of Christmas?"

I pushed my cart down the aisles at Walmart and thought about it. None of the externals that mark Christmas were present that night. No "price rollbacks." No "limited offer DVDs." No holiday portraits at one low price. No shopping carts, lifetime warranties, or chocolate santas. No gift receipts or express lanes (10 items only, please.)

So, what was there that night? What created the awe, the splendor, the power, the mystery, and the glory that caused Mary to "ponder these things in her heart," and the shepherds to return "glorifying and praising God?" What created the impact the world longs for and so often misses? What created the "spirit" retailers and license bureaus fail so miserably to recreate?

Three things, I think, from Luke 2:10-11. And the angel said to them. 'Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

First, the Christmas spirit arises in the human heart from a divine pronouncement. "The angel said to them." I love this, don't you? God could easily remain distant and quiet, withholding his thoughts and leaving us in the dark about his intents and purposes. He could leave us guessing and getting it wrong and still hold us accountable. Instead, he tells us. He shares his mind, his thoughts, his heart with us, revealing himself, even if we can only grasp a glimpse of the immensity who is God. God's pronouncements are an expression of mercy, for through them we are invited to join him, heart to heart, in the work and wonder of his being God. And that is the Christmas spirit.

Second, the Christmas spirit arises in the human spirit from the divine promise. Six hundred years before, the prophet Isaiah prophesied, spoke God's promise, and said, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." That night the angel said, "Unto you is born . . . a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." The child of promise arrived. God made good on what he told his people to expect. God proved that faith is not futile! Hope received what the heart yearned for!

Listen, if God kept this most important promise to his people, you can expect him, through faith, to keep ALL his promises, including the ones he makes in his word to YOU! Expectation of grace, and mercy, and love, and wisdom, and guidance, and justice with good reason (because God keeps his promises); that's the Christmas spirit.

Finally, the Christmas spirit arises in the human experience from the divine presence. "Unto you." That's what the angel said. "Unto you." Into your experience. Into the realm of your existence. Into the measure of your need. For your salvation. For your joy. For your hope. "Unto you a child is." Ponder it. Marvel at it. God himself comes to you, into your life to be fully present for his glory and your joy as you keep your faith in him. God does not make cameo appearances. He dwells! "Unto you a child is." Christ present in your life for glory and joy. That's the Christmas spirit.

The Christmas spirit in us arises from God actively expressing his love and character in us daily through the Son born to us, died for us, and raised for us. You know what that means, don't you? It is not the trappings of the season that initiate or motivate the Christmas spirit within us, but the reality of the Son, who is always with us. That means any day can be Christmas, and every day can be filled with the Christmas spirit!

Who Prays for the "Worst of These"?

I got up at 3:45 this morning to watch the Leonid Meteor Shower. By all reports I'd read it was supposed to be awesome this year. And I'm sure it was . . . somewhere.

The sky was black and clear. The stars stood out magnificently. I've seen it darker and clearer and more breathtaking, but this was good and I was sure it would be a fine morning for viewing the meteors. I guess I should tell you now that after laying there for forty-five minutes at the proposed "perfect time" I saw exactly one (1) meteor whose flameout lasted about half a second. I must have been looking at the wrong sky. Maybe they meant that other sky over there.

At any rate, the Leonid meteor shower turned out to be a meteor drip for me. But the morning was not wasted. Far from it. As I lay there on my back staring at the stars a thought began to take shape in my mind. "There are so many of them," I thought. So many beyond counting. We see a few, but not even a countable number compared to how many there are. It was captivating, but it was the thought that God threw in next that actually caused my heart to skip a beat and me to catch my breath and hold it for a moment.

"As the stars, so are those whose lives, and bodies, and minds, and hearts are enslaved by pornography." I wasn't expecting that. At all. Suddenly my mind began a slow tumble back to the day we discovered the two grocery bags of magazines my stepfather kept in the attic, the Playboys we lifted from the rack at the corner drugstore across the street from Hardees where Lumpkin Rd. diverts from Cusseta Rd., to a bachelor party the year I left for college. I shook my head not wanting and not willing to return to the places I left behind when I came to the cross.

But God was unrelenting. "I want you here. I want you to recall faces you have forgotten, faces you will never know, faces about which you never cared. Dale, they are like the stars in the heavens. You have seen a few, but there are millions more. Millions more women and girls, boys and men trapped, enslaved, selling what they think they have to get what they think they want and coming away used, empty, and too often dead. And Dale, I want you to answer this question: who prays for these?"

Producers, publishers, printers, photographers, models, actors, owners, distributors, buyers, viewers: victims, everyone of them, of an unspeakable evil more repugnant to genteel folk than AIDS victims in our day. We pray for the persecuted, the sick, the "lost," the imprisoned, the unfortunate, the nation, the president, the school, the church, the potluck, the pastor, the people, and the parking lot, but who prays for these?

Who begs God to send into the filthiest of industries One who will bring hope, deliverance, and true, lifesaving love. We preach, and rightly so, against the dangers of pornography. We rave against the addiction. We filter the Internet. But who prays for the people? Who intercedes on their behalf, these ones who turn a glorious gift into a freak show for perverted minds and hearts? Who prays for them to find someone who genuinely cares for their souls? Who prays to be someone who genuinely cares for their souls?

I finally exhaled as the shower of divine concern subsided. I cried. And I prayed. And I cried some more as I tried to get my mind around how many people in our world (out of perhaps 9 billion people) might be caught in this wicked trap. How many children sold out by desperate parents who can't feed the rest any other way? How many fatherless boys seeking affirmation? How many girls just looking for love? How many women, frightened or fighting for some shred of self, selling themselves one photo set, one film, one view at a time? How many men loving and hating, lusting and loathing, not able to be free and whole? They are more than we can count. And we consider them, all of them, the "worst of these." We recoil at even the thought of what they do, what they have become.

Who will pray for them? Who will pray for the "worst of these," that by the mercy of God someone, somewhere, full of grace and truth, will intersect their lives and offer them Christ? Offer them hope? Offer them a way out and a way home?

I will. I've decided that every time I have to take an impure thought captive to Christ, every time Satan launches a stray image into my mind, every time my eyes are assaulted by unclean things, I will pray for those caught in the spider web of pornography. I will fight back on their behalf. I will not let them die alone, forgotten, unloved. Not everyone can do this. Not everyone should do this. Even the best intentions can be exploited by the evil one. But until God says otherwise, I'm going to pray that a very specific group of people hear a life changing testimony about the grace of God in Christ Jesus every time I think of them.

There are more of them than I can count or even imagine. But God is great. He loves them. He has asked, "Who will pray for these?" He must have a plan for them. I will pray. Perhaps you will too?

A "Well duh!" Moment

I sat down in my favorite booth at the local cafe this morning to order my favorite breakfast and read my favorite prophet. You c'aint git no grits this far north (they think grits is the stuff left over on the road after they sand all winter), so I order biscuits and gravy, two eggs over easy on top, and pass the Tabasco. It's close as I can get to home without ordering fried chicken.

Anyway, I sat down in the booth, ordered decaf and breakfast, and started reading Jeremiah. I've said it before, and I'm saying it again, Jeremiah is the bomb! God sends him out to preach and tells him, right up front, "Ain't gonna be easy, but don't you get discouraged, 'cause if you get dismayed by them, I'll dismay you before them." C'mon, you gotta love a job description that starts out, "They will fight against you but they shall not prevail against you."

So what was Jeremiah expecting? Chapter twelve records his complaint to God. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?" What kind of question is that, don'tcha know? What did he think God meant? Did he think God was kidding when he said, "They will fight against you."

Maybe Jeremiah thought, "Gee, I'm a prophet of God. Surely everyone who loves God will love the messages I bring and the whole nation will treat me like a hero." They treated him like dirt. They threw him down a well and left him there. They ignored what he said. It was just like God told him. There would be occasions when he would be tempted to despair.

God answers Jeremiah's complaint in the latter half of chapter twelve. Essentially he says to Jeremiah, "If you think you have it bad, imagine how I feel! This is my house. These are my beloved. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate place." God continues by promising to "pluck Judah" from among the nations that seek to destroy her. He promises to do them good after accounting for the bad they have done to him.

In case you were looking for a definition of grace, that's a good one.

Anyway, I'm reading through all this and smiling at the lessons God supplies faithful Jeremiah, when I get to chapter 13 verse 12. God gives Jeremiah a message to give to the people. It is a serious statement of the obvious. Jeremiah is to tell the people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Every jar shall be filled with wine.'" It's one doozy of a "well duh!" moment. The people respond, "Do we not know indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?"

"Of course wine jars will be filled with wine, Jeremiah. What do you think wine jars are for? And don't you think we're smart enough to know wine jars will be filled with wine? What kind of message is this." I can just hear them, can't you. Sometimes, we get that response, don't we? We try to tell people about life, and God, and grace, and we get that response, "C'mon we already know all this. What's the big deal?"

Here's the big deal: God used a statement of the obvious as an introduction for a not so obvious announcement. Verse thirteen says, "Then you will say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land . . . and I will dash them one against another . . . I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.'"

Everybody stop and bow your head. God used the obvious to convey a less obvious message. The people were the wine jars and they were to be filled, not for storage but for destruction. Now, there's a time to make the same point about God's justice upon his people (and all people) in regard to sin, but what struck me this morning, was that, as the people responded to Jeremiah, they were stuck in earth-based, time-trapped, self-focused thinking. They did not expect Jeremiah to be providing a spiritual message and so they did not discern the spiritual message written on the face of the obvious. God was telling them more than they recognized.

Thank God Jeremiah kept talking. I've come to realize that God's warnings are occasions for grace. They are invitations to repent and find forgiveness and repair to the mercy and compassion of God before that mercy and compassion become unattainable.

Look for the message God is writing in the world around you. Look for the warning, or the grace, or the mercy that comes in a shooting, or a football game, or a sunset, or a sermon. It is likely there is more to them than the obvious, more than "well duh" can account for.

A Pastor's Down Time Prayer

It has been more than a month since my last post. I thought I might have more to say. Actually, I do have more to say, but so much of what I have to say I need to say to God before I say it to anyone else. I need a divine editor these days, not only of my words, but of my heart.

So much troubles me. So much seems wrong, out of sorts with God and His word. So many willing to cut theological corners, short sheet the word of God in their lives, even ignore the clear injunctions of Scripture to their lives: thoughts, words, actions, and attitudes included. I have been cursed and dismissed and complimented and affirmed all at the same time. I look at Jesus and I think, "Look out! Crucifixion ahead."

O Lord, make me like you. There are other aspirations that float through my mind and spirit, but please, make that one the priority. Tomorrow I may feel differently, but right this moment, while I'm still in my right mind, accept this plea. Make me like you.

You did not lash out. You did not scorn. You did not despair. For the joy set before you, you endured the cross. I feel the cross today, but the joy? Not so much. So make me like you. Please.

I need to be faithful. I need to be gracious, truthful, and filled with unconditional love and forgiveness because the god of this world has blinded their eyes and "they do not know what they are doing." Please, please. Make me like you.

Let me bare my back to the scourging of gossip and misunderstanding, not because those who give it are right, but because you who took it are right. let me open my heart to the heartless and rebellious, not because they deserve my love, but because I do not deserve your love. Please, make me like you.

"I once was blind." In some ways I still am, so please, Lord, don't just give me sight, but fulfill what the author to the Hebrews said when he exclaimed, "We see Jesus!" Make me like you, able to see what you see in my heart, in the hearts of others, in the Father's heart most of all.

I am full of "I" when I should be full of You, full of Spirit, full of faith. Please, Jesus, make me like you.

What's that, Lord? Before the words leave my lips you are answering? What did I think these difficulties and distresses were all about? You sent them ahead in answer to the prayer you knew I would pray when you sent them?

Oh.

Okay.

No, seriously. It's okay. I just sort of forgot as I got wrapped up in my own little--very little--world. I'm better now. You know the plans you have for me, plans of good and not of evil, to give me hope and a future. These are your unthwartable plans. Good plans. Hopeful plans. Plans that, as the future becomes today and passes into tomorrow, will make me like you.

Thank you.

I love you.

Four Ways to Help in Crisis

Autumn blew into Cook County on Monday with an unprecedented fury. Winds from the north, virtually unheard of in our little chunk of earth, gusted from land out over Lake Superior at upwards of sixty miles per hour. Trees uprooted or broken off by the wind took out power lines and transformers. Others toppled on buildings and cars. It's a big mess, and three days later many are without power and water.

Unexpected events like this, though not as severe as a hurricane or other natural disaster, still effect people's sense of normalcy and security and create a level of stress and trauma that can have the same debilitating effect as a low grade temperature does on a body after several days. Energy, enthusiasm, and endurance can all suffer.

Here are a few ways you can help your friends, family, and neighbors cope with the inconvenience and stress of unexpected traumatic events.

First, take a minute and gain some perspective for yourself. We often point out the needs of others as being more intense or acute than our own (or someone else's) need. Please. Don't do this. Not yet. I realize that there are people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who are still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. I realize that their difficulty is very likely greater than mine, their inconvenience more severe than mine, but that does not diminish the emotional effect of my crisis on me. So, helper, take a moment and prepare yourself to understand my crisis in my context. Don't attempt to dismiss my sense of need because you think someone else has a greater need than I. Get some perspective. If you're going to help me, help me.

Second, let's talk about what happened. Let me tell you my story. Tell me your story. Let me tell you how it feel to be a new homeowner and suddenly lose nine trees, three of which were important in screening my house from highway noise. Let me tell you how it feels to have someone else come and cut up my trees with their chainsaw because they didn't think I was competent enough to use it without hurting myself. Let me tell you about not having the ability to shower or even use the bathroom in my own home while I wait for someone who gets to go home to a hot meal and hot shower every night to come and fix my lines. tell me about your trees, your experience, your outlook, and in the telling of these shared stories we'll identify together the things that are important, the things that are silly, and the things that will help us get both the land and the spirit back to normal.

Third, help as you can, but don't make offers or promises you can't keep. If you'd like to help but can't, say so. If you offer to help but are not able to assist me when I tell you what I need, just say so. Please don't tell me you'll see what you can do, and then do nothing. That simply adds disillusionment to my frustration. You might also want to consider offering what you actually can do. If you're allergic to pine sap and can't help me clean up broken branches, but you can bring me a drink of cold water from the store three miles away (since I'm still without power) then by all means, offer what you can, what you will. I'll understand the heart behind the offer and will be encouraged by your thoughtfulness!

Finally, be patient, especially if I lose mine. We all know the proverb, "This too shall pass." We just forget sometimes, in our instant soup world, how slowly some things pass. If I tell the same story again, be patient. Eventually the event will find its rightful place in my life and I'll move on to other stories. If I cuss the same broken tree over and over, be patient. Soon enough new sprouts will grow from the stump and I'll be complaining about more leaves to rake than ever before. If I stand for a moment, overwhelmed at the result of power beyond my control, be patient. Shortly I will realize the normalcy of that position and find my contentment again. So just be patient. It could be the biggest help of all.

Isaiah and Me

You have to love God's sense of irony. At least, I am coming to appreciate it more and more these days.

I'm thinking this morning of a particular prophet in the Old Testament, a man named Isaiah. Early in his career he saw God.

For real.

No lie.

Isaiah saw God. He writes, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple." Now you have to understand, this is very, very unusual. You see, there was only man in all of Israel who might have had the opportunity to see God exalted on his throne in the temple. That would be the high priest who would enter the Most Holy Place, the "throne room" of God in the temple, once a year with a sacrifice for the sins of the people. No one else could enter this room. And even the high priest could only enter once a year and under strictly prescribed conditions.

Isaiah was not the high priest. The vision God gives Isaiah is a special invitation to an extraordinary appointment with the King of kings. While the way to God was closed to others, God opened it for Isaiah for a special purpose. God had a mission for this man.

And that's the irony. God called Isaiah into his Presence. God removed Isaiah's guilt and atoned for his sin, not requiring Isaiah to do these things for himself but graciously doing them for him. Then God poses the opportunity for Isaiah to take up as his own the Lord's purpose in the world. Isaiah writes, "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'"

Isaiah is ready. Isaiah is willing. Isaiah cries out, "Here am I. Send me." Can't you just imagine it? Isaiah is seeing God in a way few others ever had. He hears the voices of angels crying out "Glory!" and the voice of God calling out, "Who?" His soul has been relieved of the burden of guilt, and God himself has atoned for his sins. Can't you imagine the majesty, and glory, and freedom, and excitement, and eagerness of the moment? Can't you imagine the enthusiasm that must have swelled in Isaiah's heart to go and do whatever God asked of him? Can't you imagine how he might have thought what a wonderful life it would be to declare the perfections of this God, high and lifted up, Whose glory fills the temple? Can't you imagine how he might have projected that thousands would be overtaken by the glory of the vision God was giving him? Can't you imagine how that would have spurred his eagerness to put himself at God's disposal? Can't you just imagine?

Then God says, "Go, and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed" (Isaiah 6:9-10). God sent Isaiah on a mission where apparent failure equalled success. That's irony. Intentional, divine, glorious irony.

Isaiah would preach and give his life to draw people to God and to his word, and their response would be to pull farther and farther away from God until such time as God judged his people and sent them into exile. Listen, there's no hint of a megachurch in Isaiah's mission statement, just the sad realization that the hearts of his audience were becoming so jaded in sin and selfishness that to them even the good news would be bad news.

The apostle Paul, writing what was probably his last letter to Timothy before being executed by the Roman government, describes a coming day of trouble and difficulty. "In the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying it power" (2 Timothy 3:1-5). How sad that, according to this last phrase, at least some of the people whom Paul describes will call themselves and be identified as Christians. They will have a form of godliness but it will be without any real spiritual, life changing power. They will be people of religion but have no relationship with the One they suppose to worship. Empty shells. Whitewashed tombs. Pharisees of a different color.

What are an Isaiah and a Timothy supposed to do? What is a Christian who loves the Lord and loves his word to do under these conditions where what men love most is themselves and not God and not his word? What are we to do when all our preaching and teaching and loving and living seems to have the opposite effect than what we projected? What are we to do when otherwise religious people look us in the eye and declare, "I don't care what the Bible says, I want things my way?"

Do what Isaiah did. Confronted with the challenge of sharing God's word with a society and a "church" that would not listen and heed the word of God, Isaiah preached and taught and lived and loved anyway. He did not ask for a different assignment. He did not ask for a change of venue, circumstance, or outcome. Isaiah simply asked, "How long?"

There was no question of whether or not he would agree to be sent by God, having already offered to go. He affirmed his faith-filled intent and asked only that God give him a time frame, a means for understanding God's intent for the days of his life. He did not argue with God, nor express disappointment, nor rail against the people, nor call down fire on the heads of his enemies. He simply asked, "Lord, is this a temporary or permanent assignment? When will I know I've done what you asked?"

If you face a sense of futility in your life today, if attempts to share the word of God with others seem miserably ineffective, if your best efforts at living for Jesus seem only to push people away rather than draw them near to Him, then consider Isaiah. His joy, his hope, his strength was not in a pleasant outcome, but in the fact that God himself had called him, cleansed him, and sent him. It was not the men, the ministry, or the moment that mattered, but the Master.

Take strength in the undeniable fact that God has fully revealed himself in Jesus Christ, and if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father in his glory. Take comfort in the certain knowledge that through faith in Jesus God has taken away your guilt and in Christ atoned for your sin. Take heart in the reality of the Holy Spirit living in and through you and his power to sustain your faith. Be bold in the now, as was Isaiah of old, because the message is True, the One who sent you fills the temple with his glory, and He sets both the time and the outcome.

Dwight Dear Commits to the Journey

 

It wasn't so very long ago dwight approached me in the grocery store and said, "Pastor, I want to have God in my life. Can you help me?" Today, Dwight was baptized, testifying to God's work in his life and his commitment to walk with the Lord. Thank you Jesus!

 

I Will Lift Up My Eyes

Jesus faced an emotionally charged, spiritually potent, and physically impossible task. He stood before the grave of his good friend Lazarus. In the eyes of some he had come too late. Had he been there just a few days earlier he might have prevented this death. They had seen him heal, had witnessed the outpouring of compassion and power that rooted disease from its stronghold and set troubled bodies free. He could face down disease and win, but death, who could win over death?

Jesus loved Lazarus. He wept on his way to the tomb. Everyone saw it in his eyes, in the tears coursing down his face. He did not hide his emotions. He let them be just what God had created them to be, mini-revelators laying bare the depths of his heart.

The crowd was marked by diversity. The sisters were there, the real mourners, the ones whose hearts were broken by a loss they could not prevent. The mourners were there, the ones who spilled empty tears, paid to weep and wail but not to feel. The skeptics were there, posting their notes of disbelief on the hearts of any nearby listener. The stone was there, unreasoning, unmoving, a guard and an obstacle all at once.

And Lazarus was there. Dead. Four days decomposed. Smelly but not smelling.

We face occasions like this. Occasions of pain, difficulty, impossibility. Occasions that break the heart and try the soul. Occasions when dreams die, careers give up the ghost, hope fades. Occasions when we stand before an unmoving and unmovable obstacle and thinks to ourselves, "What do I do now?" Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave. A stone lay against it. A dead guy, his friend, was sealed away inside.

"Take away the stone," he said.

"But Lord, he stinketh," they said.

"Don't miss the glory of God," he said. Don't let the seeming impossibility and unpleasantness of the moment prevent you from seeing the glory of God at work. You see, Lazarus might be dead, but God ain't dead. Not then. Not now.

So they took away the stone.

Then, oh then, Jesus lifted up his eyes. And he said, "I thank you Father that you have heard me." He hadn't said anything yet. He knew that God knew the outcry of his heart. That was the nature of Christ's relationship with the Father: utter confidence that God the Father would know without error or need for explanation the desire of the Son's heart.

E.M. Bounds wrote in his classic little book The Reality of Prayer, "As it was with Christ, so ought we to be so perfect in faith, so skilled in praying, that we could lift our eyes to Heaven and say with Him, with deepest humility, and with commanding confidence, 'Father, I thank thee that thou has heard me.'"

What do you do when your heart is broken and the task at hand bears all the marks of the impossible? Do you lift up your eyes to heaven? Do you speak forth confidence in wisdom, insight, and power of God? Do you plead for life or surrender to death? Do you share with Christ an utter confidence that your Heavenly Father has already heard what only your heart has uttered?

"I knew that you always hear me," he said to his Father. Then he spoke to his friend, "Lazarus, come forth." Right confidence led to right action. I will lift up my eyes in faith. Will you?

A Second Time (Hebrews 9:27-28)

A Second Time
Hebrews 9:27-28

I want to introduce you this morning to a simple but profound comparison that should change the way we live, the way we think, and the way we love while we walk in this world. Throughout this book of Hebrews it has been the Holy Spirit’s purpose to encourage and motivate God’s people to fall so deeply in love with Jesus Christ that we are removed farther and farther from the possibilities of spiritual drifting, practical indifference, nominal faith, and utter ruin that can easily beset of the unconcerned.

The Spirit has pointed out to us the superiority of Jesus over such spiritually exalted beings as angels and over such spiritually exalted persons as Moses and Joshua. Jesus provides a more effective sacrifice than the Old Testament Law, a more powerful ministry than the Old Testament priest, a more personal covenant than the Old Testament covenant. Not only does Jesus transform the nature of our relationship with God, through his sacrifice, our nature itself is changed as we trust in Christ. Our guilt is removed, our shame is healed, our conscience is cleansed and we are adopted, through faith in Jesus Christ, as God’s own sons and daughters.

Besides all this, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, permanently residing in the presence of the Father, offering himself as God’s reason to bestow grace and mercy and forgiveness and love upon weak and willful human beings. The ministry of Jesus that God loves and that God loves through is not merely a thing of the past, but a present reality through which each of us receives the fullest measure of God’s grace right now.

James reminds us in his New Testament letter that “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.” (James 1:17) Every good and perfect gift comes from God and it comes through Jesus Christ by virtue of his superior sacrifice and ministry over the sacrifices and ministries under the Old Covenant. This is the fulfilment of Isaiah 43:19, “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.” God has made a way for us, in Jesus, to walk in this world with focus, victory, and hope, and I want to show you the way in these verses in Hebrews 9:27-28.

The comparison included in these verses is quite simple but incredibly profound. It is a comparison between you and Jesus, between Jesus Christ and all other human beings. The comparison is made with the words “just as” in verse 27 and the word “so” in verse 28. “Just as it is appointed to man” “so Christ.” There is the basis for the comparison. But let’s look at the three degrees of comparison in these verses and ask how so simple a comparison should so utterly change our lives. We’ll follow the form the Holy Spirit uses here in Hebrews: first we’ll talk about us, then we’ll talk about Jesus.

In setting up the comparison, the Spirit first describes the universal conditions under which every human being lives from the moment they are born. First, every human being dies. It is appointed for man to die.

Romans 5:12 reminds us, “ Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” A chapter later in the same letter the apostle Paul reiterates this truth when he writes, “The wages of sin is death.” These verses tell us that death is included in the life process because of sin. God applies death in response to sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, human death entered the world and God appointed the curse of death for all their descendants, for every one of their ancestors. Every human being has a God-set appointment with death.

God told Adam and Eve, when he showed them the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden and told them not to eat of it that if they did so, they would die. Well, guess what. God wasn’t kidding. He did not misrepresent his intentions. He desired and required their obedience and he held to the consequences when they disobeyed. They ate and they died, spiritually and physically, and God appoints the same consequences of sin to all their offspring, including you and including me. Our appointment with death comes not merely by natural process as evolutionary reasoning would have us believe, but by divine appointment. I like what one pastor said, “God plans our birthday and our death day.” This is what God means in Psalm 139:16 when he has the Psalmist write, “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

Our first day and our last day are all determined by God. Our appointment with death is appointed by God. Now listen, there is hope here. Our lives are in God’s hands. There is no room for despair here. No room for discouragement. It is not illness or accident that determines our death. It is not some Satanic or demonic influence that determines the shortness of our days. Fate does not arbitrarily cut the threads that end our life. There is no meaningless ending just because some natural process runs its course. God, the great God himself, Creator of heaven and earth, upholder of the universe and Savior of the world determines our appointment with death and sees that we keep it in his timing, the time he has set for us.

Do you see this? Without having to be concerned about the capricious nature of death, we can trust God all the more for our life! Henry Martyn, a long ago missionary to Persia said, “If [Christ] has work for me to do, I cannot die.” he was right to say this. It is not man or Satan or fate that determines our day to die. It is Christ himself.

But let us take note here that not only is it appointed unto every man to die, it is appointed unto every man to die ONCE. Anyone dreaming of reincarnation and thinking they can come back and try again needs to surrender that dream. It ain’t going to happen. Death happens once and only once. Death doesn’t happen “once in a lifetime” or “once in a while.” Death happens once, period. No next time around. No second chances. The entire point of including this word “once” is to highlight and emphasize the finality of death.

You have once chance to get it right, one opportunity to get right with God. The Scripture tells us, “Today is the day of salvation. Now is the appointed time.” Most of us avoid thinking about death. We don’t care for it. It doesn’t make us happy. But we have to think about it because we have an unavoidable appointment for which we must make preparation. Death is huge. Death deserves some serious consideration. It’s time to stop daydreaming in the now and take some action for forever.
There is an added weight to the need to consider the future. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Death is not the end of our existence. We are not merely organic masses that simply “go out of consciousness and decompose int eh ground.” We have a future beyond death. Beyond death we face God.

Consider Paul’s words to Timothy. He has just admonished his younger protégé to “keep himself pure” and then he writes, “The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.” He means that some people confess their sins and repent of them and take care of their guilt before they appear before God and in that manner establish their hearts pure in faith. Others however, hide their sins, and when they appear before God, their hands are full and God’s judgment is just. Hebrews 10:27-31 describes the judgment that people face, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Wake up and see what lies ahead. See what God in all his mercy reveals to us. Take account of what really matters in this world.

Now, what about Jesus? What is his part in this comparison that should change the way we live, think, and love in this world? Verse 28 takes up this question. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Please be encouraged by what the Holy Spirit sets before us in his word. Just as men die, so Jesus died. Just as men come to judgment, so Jesus will come to the judgment. But there is an infinite difference here that ought to make our hearts sing out in praise and thanksgiving.

Compare Jesus' experience with our experience and we will discover that though he has similar experiences, they do not parallel our experiences, they transform our experience!
First, Jesus died: “having been offered”. This is good news! We know from the previous verses in this chapter that Someone had to die in order for God's "last will and testament," his covenant with us to be put into effect. Jesus died and all the good that God intends for his heirs to inherit is now available to them.

Verse 28 also tells us that Jesus died once to bear the sins of many. This is also good news. Jesus death to bear the sins of many means that for those who put their trust in him, their death is no longer punitive. He took our sins and suffered the death our sins deserve. Through faith in Jesus we can send our sins on ahead for judgment in him, so that when we arrive at judgment through the doorway of death, we can enter without fear for our sins will already have been judged in Christ on the cross. Christ has transformed death from an occasion of dread to an occasion of joy! This is how we can get right with God in spite of being sinners. Christ took our punishment in his death on the cross.

Verse 28 also tells us that Jesus appears a second time, not to deal with sin, but to rescue sinners who by faith have trusted him for their salvation, not to be judged but to save those who are eagerly waiting. He has dealt with sin once and for all. There is nothing left for him to do in regard to sin. We need to confess our sin to God and trust him to forgive us through Christ, but there is nothing left for Jesus to do to make forgiveness available. He is done dealing with sin. His work cannot be improved upon.

But there is more here. We had to face death, and so Jesus faced death and bore the punishment of death for us. But we also have to face judgment, so Christ comes a second time for us, this time not to deal with sin but to save us from judgment. He will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” This is not salvation in addition to the cross but the application of the salvation gained through the cross. This is the fulfilment of God’s word in Romans 5:9-10. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Finally we need to ask to whom does this rescue from the wrath of God come? According to verse 28 Jesus bore the sins of “many.” Those “many” are further identified as “those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Those who are eagerly waiting are those who putting their faith in Jesus deeply long for his return, for their rescue from this world and their establishment in his kingdom forever.

This is how “those who are eagerly waiting for him” are described elsewhere in the New Testament:

Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

1 Corinthians 1:7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

These people have faith that is eager for Christ to come, earnest in their desire for him and for his return. These are people who trust Christ in such a way that makes them eager for him to come. Many people who profess Christ today are not eager for his return. They love the world and the things of this world and they are reluctant to release their grip on the temporal pleasures this world extends. Many who profess Christ are quite happy with the delay in his return and rarely if ever pray, “Even so, Lord, come quickly.”

Eagerness for Christ’s return is an indication, a sign that we love him and believe in him authentically. Can there be any real love for someone whose presence we do not desire? There is a “phony faith,” a false faith that wants to escape hell but has no desire for Jesus. That kind of faith does not save. That kind of “fire insurance faith” that desires deliverance but not the Deliverer is not the faith of those who are saved, those who are “eagerly waiting for him.”

Paul wrote, in 2 Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Do you wait eagerly for Jesus to come? Do you love his appearing?

I urge you this morning, as one who share with you an appointment with death, turn to Jesus. Trust him. Trust God to forgive your sins on his behalf. Turn to him as your eagerly awaited Savior.

Come, All You Worn Out, Weary Laborers

Who knows for certain where dreams come from or why they have the content they have? I sure don't (even though I suspect pan fried tilapia coated with flour and Emeril's Original Essence at 9:00 PM could have something to do with it.) Last night I had the stupidest dream. I don't remember it, I just remember how dumb it was, silly, nonsensical.

I've been having a lot of dreams like that lately. I wake up early, between 4 and 5 o'clock not really remembering the details, just a lingering impression that these dreams made less sense than a prime time comedy sitcom. They have had two good side effects though. They're waking me up early and each time I've awakened from one in the last week or so (so far), I've awakened with a specific Scripture in mind that I have not been thinking about previously.

This morning's verses were Matthew 11:28-30. Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, andyou will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Some mornings I've gotten up and spent a couple hours pondering the verses. This morning I stayed in bed and laid there thinking. I have stopped wondering, "Why this verse?" and have started focusing on the content of these words themselves.

It is interesting to me that Jesus' words here are both an invitation and a command. So often we interpret invitations as having a built in rejection button, kind of like the end user license agreements on software packages: if you don't agree simply click "decline" and you have no further obligation. Jesus' words don't seem to carry an "if." Come! he says. Yes, you are welcome to get off your duff and get moving. You're weary. You're burdened. Make a bit more effort and do something about it. Come.

But how? That's the question I always ask. When Jesus is speaking to the people who surrounded him, they could make arrangements, pack their bags and take a walk with him. He was right there for them to see and touch and follow. How do I come to him now, when he's in heaven, invisible, not physically here? I'm weary. It's hard to keep the faith sometimes. But how do I come to Jesus now?

It's probably the preacher in me, but I think there are three ways plus one we come to Jesus. I think three happen simultaneously and one rightly follows the others, but I also think we can talk about them separately.

First, we come to Jesus by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

I saw a PowerPoint presentation the other night that included slides of people praying at a Shinto shrine in Japan. The presenter said that those who are there praying have no idea if there is anyone out there hearing,and they have little expectation to receive anything in relation to their prayer. Praying is merely ritual that must be followed. No faith is involved. How different is our relationship with Almighty God who sent His Son to die on the cross for us, so that by faith in him we may be certain that our prayers are heard and will be answered. We approach God in faith, certain of what we do not see, certain that he exists, that his "eyes are upon the righteous and his ear is inclined to their prayer."

We come to God in faith. We also come to God in humility, leaving false pride at the door. God "rewards those who earnestly seek him." I find it hard to understand Christians who think that acknowledging God's goodness and his promises to them is sin. These are Christians who proudly decline to ask God for his blessing because to ask anything for themselves is "prideful." Brethren, to refuse to open our hearts and lives to all God has to offer his children is to present ourselves as knowing better than God, being more humble than God, more righteous than God. Is our refusal to accept what God so graciously offers not a greater expression of pride than opening our hands and hearts and receiving with thanksgiving what is so lovingly offered? This preference for "my duty to obey" over God's delight in giving to us is surely not less than sin.

God rewards those who "earnestly seek him" with himself. He gives his Spirit to us. The Spirit of God invests in God's people the full measure of God's life and grace and goodness and compassion. The power that enabled Jesus' sinless life, the authoritative teaching, the miracles, the devotion, the obedience, these all come through the Holy Spirit who is himself given by God to those who earnestly seek God as an act of faith. Come to Jesus by faith, find Jesus by faith.

As we come to Jesus by faith we will also be coming to him in obedience. Come is a command. So are "take up" and "learn." To take his yoke is to join him in relationship and mission. To learn of him is to invest our time and energy in discovery of his person. I remember my first real date with my wife. We went on a harbor cruise in Norfolk, VA. I asked question after question trying to discover whatever I could about her (including what I would need to know to get a second date!) In our conversation, I asked questions and I waited for answers. I probed her answers with more questions. I couldn't get enough of her and the insights she was giving into her heart.

Learning Jesus is not so drastically different. We learn him through the word, through prayer, and through service. The Bible gives us the concepts about Jesus. Prayer provides the personal conviction that what we have learned is true. Service / ministry demonstrates our consecration to the One we have learned the truth about, the One who is True.

Faith and obedience should create expectation, the third way we come to Jesus. he described his "yoke" as easy and his "burden" as light. We should expect that our experience will conform to his revelation. We come to Jesus expecting him to make it easy to know him, easy to love him, easy to relate to him. If we come some other way, without this expectation, or with a different expectation, then we are approaching on our terms rather than his and are not really "coming" to him at all.

That's three ways we come to Jesus. The "plus one" is praise. Jesus opens this invitation to come to him with a prayer of praise to God. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to little children. Praise God for opening the way for us to "come to Jesus" and find rest, and for making it so simple, a child can do it.

Alright, all you worn out, weary laborers. Come to Jesus in faith, in obedience, in expectation and with praise. Simple. Come.

Labor Day seemed as good a day as any to begin the landscaping around the new building. We've been talking about it, planning for it, envisioning what it would all look like. Finally we had a day when we could concentrate on working the plan and digging the holes.

First we gathered tools. Then we gathered the shrubs and got them onto the truck , moved, and unloaded at the church. Then we went back and loaded mulch, which we also unloaded at the church. Then we went and picked up, by hand, several hundred pounds of rock for the border. I decided not to unload that until we were ready to use it. Then it was time to take the machine and dig the holes.

The first hole was not so bad. We planted a Russian Olive in memory of Linnie Quarles. The second hole posed no problem. We planted another Russian Olive. The third hole went smoothly as well. In went a Pagoda Dogwood. (That's going to be a beautiful tree.) Then came "the fourth hole."

The tines of the scoop bit into the packed dirt of the gravel parking lot. We had already anchored the backhoe by dropping the bucket and the stabilizer legs. The scoop began it's short journey from starting position to full. It moved four inches out of the expected twenty-four and stopped. The hydraulically powered, mini-mammoth, stopped in mid-scoop. We were digging in Cook County. We found a rock.

What a rock it must have been. The teeth on the end of the bucket hooked on and brought the entire backhoe six inches closer to the hole. The rock didn't budge. Tried again. Once again the backhoe, heavier and anchored, moved but the rock didn't. I envisioned a boulder the size of Massachusetts, or that perhaps we'd tied into bedrock and were pulling against the entire North American continent.

We took a different approach and after some artsy maneuvering managed to get the scoop under the rock and lift it free. It was about fourteen inches long, four inches tall, and six inches wide. (Think four Subway sandwiches stacked two abreast and two high.) It probably weighed ten pounds. The backhoe is twenty feet long, eight feet tall, and weighs a ton. But the rock moved the backhoe before the backhoe could move the rock.

A well entrenched sin, a long standing destructive habit, a deeply rooted lie, these things aren't removed easily from the heart. Like a small stone in a densely packed parking lot, they take extreme force to remove. What force moves these "rocks" lodged in the heart? God's loving grace applied through the death of his Son, Jesus.

Take the lie that many of us buy into: "You're no good. There's no way God could love you." It worms its way deep into the heart, affecting spiritual, emotional, psychological, and even intellectual development. We learn to live in the context of this lie. We build our lives, in one way or another, as an attempt to negate its effect. Words don't dislodge it. Self-effort doesn't remove it, but instead draw us only closer to the abyss of despair. We need more.

So God sent Jesus to die on the cross to show us undeniably that he loves us, to dislodge the lie from our hearts. God's love, demonstrated, proven, in the death of his Son, gets under the lie and provides the spiritual force necessary to remove the lie. His love is the force. Your faith is the machine that applies the force.

Finders Keepers

John Schnatter found his car. No, he didn’t forget where he parked at the mall. No, someone didn’t take off with his car while he was stopped at a downtown stoplight. No, John sold his gold and black 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 in 1983 to help save his father’s business. He also used part of the money to open a business himself, a restaurant chain now known as “Papa John’s.”

Here’s the deal. Schnatter apparently did what he had to do in 1983, but he missed his car. He spent years looking for it. He created a website specifically for the purpose of assisting in the search. He made promotional appearances to talk about his lost car. He offered a $250,000 reward to whoever found his beloved car. (Schnatter had a replica installed in the company headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, but apparently, it just wasn’t as good as the real thing.)

I don’t know about you, but if I was a car with feelings, I’d feel pretty special and very loved to know that someone missed me that much and loved me that much to go to all the trouble and expense to find me and bring me home! Well, guess what, you don’t have to be a car with feelings to experience that kind of love.

Jesus told a parable (a short story that uses a familiar object to convey a spiritual truth) that makes exactly that point. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:4-7, ESV).

This is a parable about God’s love for you, about his efforts to find you and bring you home, about his great joy when someone leaves their old, sinful life behind and returns to God. Imagine, God looks for us. He searches for us. Finding us when we are lost is of primary concern to him. Such love does he have for us that he went as far as sending his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us. (That’s worth inestimably way, way more than $250,000!) And when he finds us, God rejoices! It makes him happy! Our return makes him happy! (So much for the gloom and doom old guy with a big stick ready to beat the rebellion out of us.) He even draws all the rest of heaven into the party. All this over one sinner, one person like you and me, who reaches out to God and says, “Love me. Help me.”

When John Schnatter found his 1971 Camaro, he was one happy camper. He was so happy that Papa John’s restaurants all over the country planned to offer all Camaro owners a free pizza at stores on Wednesday. Listen, if John Schnatter can be that happy over a lost car, imagine how happy God is when he finds his lost children. That’s one serious happy!

The "Living" God

Four times in the book of Hebrews the inspired author refers to God as "the living God." I realized that while I was reading through Hebrews again, looking for recurrent words. Apparently it was a description the author knew his readers would recognize, understand, and appreciate.

I didn't. I sat there looking at the phrase and realizing I'd never really given it any thought. What does it mean, that God is the "living" God? Intuitively I assume it means he offers some advantages over a "dead" god. But that goes without saying, doesn't it? So then, why say it? And why say it four times in one letter?

I got out my trusty ESV concordance and picked out every occasion when God is referred to as "the living God." Some of the accounts are redundant, the same record in two or more places. But there were four Old Testament uses that stood out as singularly helpful.

The phrase first appears in Deuteronomy 5:26. This is the retelling of the Mount Sinai meeting between YHWH and his people. The mountain rumbles with thunder and smoke. The people are terrified at the voice of God and very, very aware of the death sentence incurred should any of them touch the mountain while God is present. In their reasonable panic they approach Moses with their desire that he risk his life for them and be their spokesman. Verse twenty-six captures their awe and their fear: For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have, and has still lived?

The comparison is life and death and who is subject to death and who is not. They live in fear for their lives before a God who has no fear of death. The living God is the God who causes death but does not die himself.

I like that. I like it that God is subject neither to death nor fear of death. I like it because I'll never, ever turn to God with my fears, or hopes, or sins, or praise and hear, "I'm sorry, sir. God died two weeks ago. We held a lovely memorial service for him, but he is no longer available. Is there someone else that can help you? An angel? A saint?" The living God is eternal, unchanging, constant, and consistent. He will always be there when I turn to him (and he will always be watching when I don't turn to him.)

I love the next time the phrase "living God" is used in the Bible as well. It's in Joshua 3:10, And Joshua said, "Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites."

Replace all the "ites" in the passage with the things in your life that keep you from fully enjoying the immensity of God's blessing. Sin. Bad attitudes. Disappointment. Disobedience. Weak faith. These are the things that not only exist as obstacles to true joy, but actively oppose real joy in our lives. And here in this verse God makes it clear that he is more than merely adequate to uproot and eliminate opposition to joy in our lives. He "will without fail drive out." I take that to imply that God, the living God, is not subject to failing health or diminished strength. He, the living God, will always at all times retain the capacity and the ability to accomplish his good pleasure in your life! There will never be a moment when he is incapacitated, winded, exhausted, or otherwise unable to work the work that makes us holy.

Third, this living God who is not subject to death or failing health, is not subject to social expulsion either. Remember David and Goliath? Remember the nine foot tall guy who terrorized the armies of Israel and mocked their God? David asked, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" It's not just that Goliath challenged Israel. Goliath challenged God and all God's ability to deliver victory to his own glory and his people's joy.

And you know how God responded. One kid, one sling, one stone, and one dead giant! Goliath attempted to convince God's people that God was irrelevant, absent, foolish, powerless, disengaged, unimportant, a force not to be reckoned with by the enlightened in the culture of the moment. We hear echoes of his mockery even now, but let us also hear the all-powerful voice of the living God who will not be expelled from among his people by the uninformed and faithless ranting of cultural giants. The living God will not be silenced just because some fool says in his heart there is no God. The living God does not slip away into oblivion just because some finite earthling says so. He lives, and he will demonstrate his life on behalf of his people!

Finally, the living God is not subject to deprivation. Psalm 42:2 says, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Imagine a man dying of thirst being handed an empty flask. Imagine crawling through the burning sands of a desert to an oasis with trees but no spring, no water. Now imagine the same oasis with cold, clear water bubbling savingly to the surface. God, the living God, is not an empty well or a dry pitcher. He is streams in the desert, the fountain of living water.

Do your own concordance search for the "living God" and you'll find a few more references that deepen the understanding and appreciation for God as the living God. Idols are "dead" gods unable to move or feed themselves or help those who serve them. Not so the "living God." Other gods fall to the machinations of evil men. Not so the "living God." Other people die without hope. Not so the people of the "living God."

We need to be reminded that God is more than we think he is. We need to be reminded that there are depths of his person and his revelation we have not yet plumbed. We need to open our minds and our hearts so that he can teach us about himself and his Son. The more we know of him the more we shall be like him. The more we are like him, the more we will fit into his kingdom, both now and forever.

Simple . . . but not easy

Cook County News-Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 7-08-2009

Jesus defined "Christianity." He said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23,ESV). While "Christianity" today often seems encumbered with various mutually exclusive interpretations, unaccommodating traditions, and diametrically opposed propositions, Jesus kept it pretty simple. "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me."

Simple . . . but not easy. Essential . . . but not convenient. Radical . . . but not impossible. Each phrase Jesus used challenges basic human assumptions about who we are and what we are entitled to. Especially here in our culture of leisure and abundance where every want and whim is within reach of a Visa card and a low monthly payment, the idea of self-denial seems alien and unnecessary. Why deny when I can so easily have? Perhaps at this point in the current economic downturn we have begun to understand the wisdom of Jesus' words.

Self-denial, however, points past possessions. Self-denial points to self-surrender, to giving up our will, our future, our sense of value and purpose for Someone else and Something higher. So Jesus says, "Take up your cross and follow me." One surrenders one's life on a cross. One surrenders one's authority to lead when one follows. Specifically a Christian gives up their life and their right to self-determination to Jesus. Jesus defined "Christianity" as self-denial, self-sacrifice, and self-surrender.

Simple . . . but not easy. Essential . . . but not convenient. Radical . . . but not impossible. That's why he implied that not everyone would want to be "Christian." Jesus opens this sentence with a conditional "if." "If anyone would come after me," implies a choice that not everyone will make, not everyone will want. Jesus understands what he invites people to do. He understands how extensive a "self renovation" he proposes. He understands the major re-outfitting necessary for self-centered human beings to dwell at peace with God in God's kingdom. And he does not hide the truth with self-serving platitudes.

If you want to gain what Jesus gained, the favor and glory of God; if you want to live as Jesus lived, in mercy, compassion, love, faith, and spiritual power; if you want to make a difference in this world and in the lives of people on an eternal level, as Jesus did; if you would come after him, then deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Jesus.

Simple . . . but not easy. Essential . . . but not convenient. Radical . . . but not impossible.

That's the Good News.

Cook County News-Herald Good News Column

I wasn't on the schedule for this week, but the editor called and asked if I would please fill in. I had been thinking about last Sunday's message from Luke 18. In the passage from verses 34-45 I see clear substantiation for people from Cornerstone Community Church participating in our local summer parade specifically to present a critical mass of people (a crowd) that might attract the attention of the (spiritually) blind causing them to inquire as to it's meaning and provide us the opportunity to point them to Jesus.

That's the background for these thoughts from the same passage.

A few days before Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time; a few days before he stood before the Roman governor and an angry mob for daring to challenge the status quo; a few days before he was condemned and beaten and crucified for loving God and people selflessly and sacrificially, Jesus walked into the river town of Jericho and changed a man's life forever.

The man sat near the gate of the city on the road that rises from the banks of the Jordan River past the date palm plantations and dusty ruins of cast off lives from long ago. The caravans plodded up this road headed from east to west, from the ends of the earth, through Jericho to Jerusalem and beyond. Tax payers and tax collectors traveled the road, merchants and murderers, peasants and kings. People came and people went, day after long, hot, wearisome day, but still the old blind man sat begging by the gate, inwardly grateful for the iron and copper coins, a shekel here, a denarius there, a mite in between.

He sat by the road near the gate shrouded in darkness and yesterday's memories . . . memories of when he could see. Memories of color coordinated sound and sight. The faces of his children, his wife, now gone, all of them, leaving him alone in this unwanted reverie. Fuschia and golden colors of flowers held aloft by green against the clear blue skies. Memories, faded, less certain, remnants left to plague him in his old age.

His ears, his hearing more acute in the years since the accident stole his vision, his ears picked up the noise of the crowd long before the rumble of their feet reached his hands through the stony ground. This was no caravan. There was no tinkle of bridle bells. No cracking of whips. No shouts of children pleading for tidbits from weary travelers. This was something different. Something very, very different.

He felt the words rising from his heart before he wrapped his tongue around them. "Hey, what's going on? What's happening? Why such a crowd? What does this mean?"

At first they ignored him. Nothing new there, he thought. Multitudes ignore the plight of the needy among them, much to their shame. Did he have any control over an exploding pot that spewed it's boiling innards in his eyes? Was it his fault? Did they really have to blame him for his predicament? Couldn't they have a little mercy? Couldn't they realize their lives were only a moment from disaster themselves?

He caught himself just before the wave of bitterness and self-pity swept him away. "I said, What does all this mean?'" he shouted. The crowd had gotten his attention. He got the crowd's attention. "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by," they said.

Jesus? Of Nazareth? The teacher? The feeder? THE HEALER?! "Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!" The cry erupted from his soul and passed unhindered from his lips. He had heard of Jesus, heard of the compassion, heard of the miracles. The crowd returned to it's boorish attempt to silence and ignore him, to return him to the cast aside status of yesterday, but it was not yesterday. It was today, and today
Jesus was passing by.

He called all the louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

Jesus heard him, stopped the parade of onlookers and well-wishers, ambitious politicians and eager saints that accompanied him. He commanded the old blind man be brought him to him.

Then Jesus spoke to the man. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked.

Can you imagine? What would you answer to such a man? Would you dare let fly with your deepest hope? Or would you choose some lesser thing, unable, unwilling to believe your heart's desire might be as dear to God as it is to you?

"Lord, let me recover my sight."

Jesus said, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you whole."

And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people,when they saw it, gave praise to God (Luke 18:43).

The blind man who could not see with his eyes and the people who could not see with their hearts were both healed by the compassion and love of the Son of God, who was himself on his way to give his life for them all. This is how God responds to the cry of faith.

That's the Good News.

Misty Memories Worth Remembering

Cook County Star THE GOOD NEWS for 7/25/2009

The mist outside my window this afternoon reminds me of the morning we arrived at the Andersonville Civil War Memorial in Andersonville, Georgia. It had rained that Saturday morning as we drove the miles from south Columbus to Andersonville. The inequity between ground temperatures and air temperatures caused a mist to coalesce across field that had once been prison home to tens of thousands of Yankee soldiers. The fog shrouded the granite memorials in gray and draped a film of water around their solid shoulders that dripped like sweat from the ledges and corners of each monument.

As we walked, fingers lingering across the names of states and soldiers carved in the marble facades, the mist moved with us. Like ghostly memories looking over our shoulders it swirled around us, chilled us, reminded us. The morning was not silent, though silent might have been better. Mockingbirds, I seem to recall, stealing someone else's song, accompanied the awe that came from being reminded how horrible one brother can treat another.

The mist began to lift as we neared the slight depression in the center of the camp. The muddy spot that supplied the only water to the camp still squished underneath grass that then would never have dreamed of growing under the pounding of so many weary heels. We were only children, teenagers, but within only a year or two of some of the younger men once imprisoned in this hell on earth.

I can barely see the spruce across Cedar Grove Lane today, just as I could barely see the water oaks and sycamores that lined the edge of a historic prison yard I visited one July day so many years ago.

The mist reminds me.

The oldest living British soldier who survived World War I, to the Brits, "The Great War," died at age 113 this last week. He died with a message on his lips for everyone who would listen. "Remember." Don't forget. Don't forget those who died. Don't forget what they fought for, why they died. Remember.

Remember those who died for you. Remember why they died. Remember those who died to bring you freedom. Remember also the One who died to make you free. 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. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:19-23, ESV).

Jesus fought the war to make us free from guilt, slavery to fear, hopelessness. He gave his life on the cross to give us new life in faith. Remember.

That's the Good News.

Hope

Cook County News-Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 7/18/2009

Yes, Deb, news of a drowning at Temperance River is bound to get one’s attention, whether you’ve lived here one year or fifteen years. I was sitting at my desk in the basement when Linda called down on the intercom. While she was on the phone with her dad the Call Waiting ID showed that someone from one of the local government offices had been trying to reach us.

Saturday night. Holiday weekend. Trying to reach us. My first guess was the hospital. Second was the law enforcement center. My second guess was correct. There had been another fatality at Temperance River and they needed a chaplain. Would I be willing to go?

Hurrying upstairs I called Linda from her computer, changed clothes, got in the van and we headed down the shore driving behind people who were in far less hurry to get home than we were to get to the park. This was the fourth time in six years we’d taken a similar call, but this time we had instructions to a part of the park we had not been in before. It was dark. Again.

We pulled into the driveway from the highway and slowly passed by little groups of people standing together, looking toward the river, the lake, the red and blue flashing lights, the boats, the dark. We found the campsite and a very nice, but very heartbroken woman sitting at a fire under the compassionate and watchful eye of a ranger, clutching her dog to her chest. We introduced ourselves as we always do, mentioned why we were there, asked how we could help.

I sat on the bench of the picnic table on one side of her. Linda sat in a chair on the other. The woman began to cry. Linda held her hand. I prayed. The dog whimpered. The cat in the tent called for attention. The ranger excused himself to run an errand. The woman cried. Linda held her hand. I prayed.

We talked about her husband. About the years they had come to Temperance. It was their favorite spot. He had had a bad feeling about coming this year. They should have listened, she said. He wasn’t supposed to leave me, she said. We were supposed to grow old together. What will I do now?

This was not a time for hard facts. This night was made for hope. Hope that comes from faith, from the realization that though God may not serve up easy answers to heart wrenching questions in the moment we ask them, he comes and is fully, compassionately, powerfully present in our grief. He comes just as his word says he will. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV).

God knows how to grieve. God lost his precious, treasured Son to death on a cross. God knows the pain of death. He also knows the depth of hope. God sent hope to Temperance River on the fourth of July. Hope in the face of a ranger who made himself available while she waited. Hope in the hot cocoa from concerned friends she’d met just that day a few campsites away. Hope in the straighforwardness of a deputy who did his duty with both professionalism and compassion. Hope in the scream of a helicopter engine hovering over the river preparing for the next day’s search. Hope in the night desk clerk at a local inn who was gracious beyond measure and kind beyond words. Hope in the actions of doctors and nurses who stepped in with answers and assistance when the time came for their services. Hope when a strange community gathered around to prove the words I had prayed earlier: “Lord, please let her know you will not leave her alone.”

God’s love for us is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” He’s available to us in the best of times and the worst of times. His love knows no limit, his mercy no bound. There is no circumstance he does not understand, no situation he cannot turn around, no nightmare in which he cannot produce hope.

That’s the good news.

Mindful of Me

In the time of Herod, king of Judea, God sent the angel Gabriel to make two announcements. One announcement was made to an old, childless man as he served the Lord in the temple. The other announcement was made to a young, childless virgin as she served the Lord in the village.

The announcement to the old man had regard to a son who would be born to him, a miraculous son, since he and his wife were advanced in age. The announcement to the young virgin also regarded a Son, a miraculous Son, since she was unmarried and never knew a man.

The old man's son would be the servant of God, preparing the way for the coming of God to earth. The young virgin's Son would be the Son of God, preparing the way for the coming of men to heaven.

The old man replied with disbelief and was struck with silence. The young virgin responded with faith and was given a song. He got a son who died at the hand of unbelievers. She got a Son who died on behalf of unbelievers.

Mary's song, a prophecy of praise, contains this incredible line: [God] has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Walk carefully with these words for a moment. God, the Almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator of untold worlds and situations, the Decider of countless destinies and the Sovereign of innumerable circumstances, the Upholder of universes and the Sustainer of heartbeats beyond reckoning, has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

"God the Most" pays attention to the life condition of "Me the Least." (Yes, I know a misplaced comma would wreak havoc with the meaning of this sentence, that's why there are no commas.) Mary was the least. Mary was unimportant, unnoticed, unknown. Mary was noteworthy for nothing more, nor anything less, than God's attention. It was his plan, his purpose, his mindfulness of her condition and his action in her condition that added blessing to her life.

And so it is with us, with me and you. Peter reminds us, in quoting from the Old Testament, that "the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ear is inclined to their prayer." For four hundred years there were no prophecies, no word from the Lord, until the old man and the young virgin. Yet she understands. God had not abandoned his plan. He had not deserted his promise. He had not canceled his blessing. All along he had been mindful and now had acted.

Do you wonder at the silence of the heavens? Do you question whether God is distant, aloof, gone altogether? He is not. He is mindful of the humble state of his servant. His eye is upon you. His ear is inclined to you. And when the time is right, he will stretch forth his hand and act mightily on behalf of his servant.

It is not always easy to remain content while we wait the move of the Spirit, so let your contentment be in this, "God is mindful of the humble state of his servant." God knows your state of affairs. God knows you. God loves you. God will fulfill his plan for you.

Conversion (Part II)

Cook County News-Herald THE GOOD NEWS for July 11, 2009

We write these columns to persuade people to convert. You knew that, right? We write of different worldviews, different values, of God and of his Son, Jesus, each from our own perspective, but each with either an implied or explicitly stated invitation to change your thinking and your life, to accept God’s offer of mercy, forgiveness, and new life. Each of us knows the burden we carry to call you to identify and engage in a relationship with your Creator. Admittedly, we conceptualize the nature and course of that relationship differently, but I believe the invitation shares a qualitative commonality: come and know God for yourself.

The invitation to come and know God for yourself anticipates “conversion,” movement from a life without God to a life lived in relationship with God. Today I want to offer one illustration of what a “converted life” looks like.

Little is known of Dirk Willems, but what is known is extraordinary. I don’t know when he was born or how many brothers or sisters he had. I don’t know with certainty his father’s name and found no reference at all to his mother. I know from his arrest record and the script of his court appearance that he was more than twenty years old. I know that Dirk was Dutch and was a Protestant Christian during the time of harsh Spanish rule under the Catholic Duke of Alva in the Netherlands. I know that Dirk believed that when a person was converted to faith in Jesus Christ they ought to be baptized as an expression of their own personal belief, even if they had been baptized as infants in some other church. And I know that Dirk lived what he believed.

Dirk was arrested and imprisoned in 1569. The arrest came because Dirk’s religious convictions countered those in position of power and authority. One night Dirk escaped from his palace prison. Using a knotted rope he climbed down the wall and dropped onto the ice of the castle moat. The ice was not thick and Dirk’s position was precarious. But his time on prison food had left him thin if not nimble and he crossed the icy moat to the far side, away from his captors.

One of his captors, a prison guard, caught sight of Dirk as he made his escape. The man pursued him over the ice. The guard was not so lean as Dirk and the ice gave way beneath him. The guard, in desperate peril, cried for help, but those on the castle side would not risk their lives for their friend.

Dirk, however, was cut of different cloth, converted cloth, if you will. The man’s pleas reached Dirk’s heart as he paused to catch his breath. Realizing the guard would die unless someone came to his rescue, Dirk returned over the treacherous ice and pulled the man to safety. Dirk did not just believe the words, he lived the words of Jesus who said, “Love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you.”

The guard, once again in possession of his life, wanted to let Dirk go, but the magistrate called across the moat reminding the guard of his oath and his duty, and perhaps even of what would await him should he not apprehend Dirk once again. History shows that the magistrate’s words held great sway over the man’s thinking. He arrested Dirk Willems on the spot and returned him immediately to a more secure cell. Days later, on May 16, 1659, Dirk Willems, the rescuer of his enemy, was burned alive in the Dutch village of Asperen by those who would not rescue one of their own.

This is the character of life to which those who answer the call to conversion commit themselves. In this they are like Jesus who first gave himself to rescue his enemies, and whose enemies put him to death, that “whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Dirk answered the call to be like Jesus. And he was. This is every Christian’s calling, to be like Jesus.

Next time, a bit more about citizenship in the kingdom of God.

Conversion (Part I)

The billboard stood unceremoniously among the Jersey's and meadow grass in a Wisconsin cow
pasture boldly proclaiming its message. On the left was a 15 foot line graph, in red and in rapid
decline, captioned: Investments, Stocks, and Bonds. To the right, a 15 foot high portrait of
Wisconsin serenity, a lakeshore emblazoned with the words, "Wisconsin Real Estate." In
between, in giant white on black letters in case passers-by missed the visual message,
"CONVERT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE."

Everyone is talking about conversion these days. Convert paper investments into real property
before it's too late. Convert your old television to digital HDTV before it's too late. Convert
increasingly worthless paper money into gold before it's too late. Convert to non-fossil fuels
before it's too late. Convert to healthy eating habits, exercise, and our new cholesterol drug
before it's too late. I even got a notice from both a magazine and an antivirus software company
suggesting I convert my subscriptions to automatic, multi-year credit card payments before it's
too late.

The call to effective conversion is nothing new, though. When Jesus first appeared on the scene
by Israel's Sea of Galilee after his baptism by John in the Jordan River and his forty day fast in
the desert, he came "proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15). Translation:
"CONVERT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE."

The Greek word for "repent," metanoia, means more than just believing something different than
you've believed before. It means more than kicking yourself for being such a scoundrel all these
years. It means more than taking an inventory of failure and laying in a lifetime supply of guilt
and shame. These kinds of reactions to Christ's invitation may have some limited function, like
internalizing a new worldview that recognizes right and wrong and makes appropriate use of
guilt to produce movement toward forgiveness, but the word means more than just a spiritual
makeover that has us looking pretty and waiting for heaven to arrive.

Repentance means "change." Change in the way we feel about ourselves, yes. And yes, change in
the way we relate to God. And yes, change in our final destination. But it also means a radical
change in the way we live in this world all the days we walk on the face of the planet. The call to
repentance, the call to conversion, is a call, an incredible invitation, to become a fully naturalized
citizen in the kingdom of God, which, though we wait for its final fulfilment, is nonetheless
present.

The kingdom of God is like a woman eight months pregnant. Does she have a baby? Every time
the little darling kicks her in the ribs or takes a seat on her bladder she knows she has a baby, but
in a few weeks time, after much pain and effort, everything will change and she will hold her
baby in her arms, and she will have the baby she already had.

The rule of God in the hearts, lives, and destinies of people and planet has already arrived,
though it is still coming. Jesus' arrival in the manger, his life, his death on the cross ushered in
the kingdom of God and now the invitation goes out: There is an option for your life. There is an
option of hope, and strength, and faith, and purity, and wholeness, and living within the purpose
for which you were created. There is an end to rebellion and being used by the powers that be
like a pawn on some cosmic battlefield. The option is the kingdom of God and the call is to
convert before its too late.

That's the good news for today. Next time I'll let the story of Dirk Willems illustrate a post-
conversion life and what it means to accept the invitation to enter God's kingdom. God bless
you.

The Good News for Father's Day

This is the column I've written for the Cook County News-Herald for Father's Day 2009. As I researched this column I came across four excellent sermons from John Piper that proved very helpful. If you have not already done so, let me encourage you to check out www.desiringgod.org. Specifically, read or listen to the sermon, "Raising Children Who Hope in the Triumph of God," from which I gleaned several key ideas for this column.

Cook County News-Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 6/20/09

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

There are two verses in the New Testament expressly directed to fathers in regard to their role in parenting. Ephesians 6:4 is one. Colossians 3:21 is the other. Let me make three observations about Ephesians 6:4 for dads this Father’s Day.

First, dads, these words are directed to you. You have a specific role in raising your children beyond simply being half responsible for their existence. God addresses fathers with instructions about their parenting role because he expects fathers to be actively engaged in parenting. Fathers get to provide a family, provide for the family, and provide within the family.

Psalm 127:3-5 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” Children are a blessing and it is a blessed privilege to have them. And dad, it is a blessed responsibility to raise them, so God points out for you in Ephesians 6:4 one strategy you could use and one strategy you should use.

The two strategies are separated by the little word “but,” indicating that one strategy is superior to the other and is to be chosen over the other. We should do what we should do and not do what we could do. Fathers could “provoke your children to anger,” but they should “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

When God instructs fathers to not provoke their children to anger, he does not mean that a father should never cross a child’s will. Elsewhere God reminds us how earthly fathers reflect God’s own love for us when they discipline and correct us: “We have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live. For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness” (Hebrews 12:9-10). Neither does God intend for father to never deny a child’s desires. What God means is, dad, don’t cross your child’s will or deny their desires without making that action intentionally part of a greater vision of God’s love and plan for your child and his purposes in the world.

That’s where the “should strategy” comes in. Fathers should nurture and nourish their children in such a way that their children will recognize and come to understand the true nature of God and his love for them, as well as God’s plan for the world and their place in it. "Anger comes from a feeling that a parent’s instruction is petty, trivial, self-serving—that it is not part of something truly great, something really important." And there is nothing greater or more important than knowing, loving, and serving God.

How can a father do what he should and not just what he could do? First, dad has to have a relationship with God that is more important to him than anything else. No kid is going to believe a dad who says the child should love God while dad’s primary love is money, or work, or fishing, or women, or something else. Children grow to love what their father loves, and if their father does not love God it is less likely that children will continue to learn and love God while they are in the home and even less likely once they leave home.

Let your life be God-saturated, dad, and your children will be God saturated as well. Pray for your kids and pray with your kids. Read the Bible yourself and read the Bible to your children. Be a living example of faith to your kids. Be happy, disciplined, humble. Worship together with your children. Be holy, and let God’s love fill your heart, your life, your outlook, and your parenting, and your kids very likely will follow suit. And even if they don’t you will have represented well your heavenly Father to them.

That’s the good news.