The rain awakened me just a bit past midnight this morning. I think it was the rain. It could have been my wife as she finally crept into the bedroom using her little keychain LCD flashlight. Or it could have been the Holy Spirit using the prevailing conditions to make a point. I woke up thinking of one particular friend and the current state of his spiritual circumstances. I checked the clock, prayed a bit, closed my eyes, put in the ear plugs since the wind had loosened one of the vinyl panels at the top of the wall outside our bedroom (and it beats a funky but irritating rhythm in a storm.) I opened my eyes, turned over, closed my eyes, prayed a little more, listened to the rain, sang the refrain of "Revelation Song" in perfect pitch in my mind, listened to the rain some more, started thinking about that song that says, "Listen to the sound of the falling rain / telling me what a fool I've been," and then decided it was time to get up.
I made my way through the dark house and used a flashlight through the dining room doors to make sure the vinyl siding on the bedroom was not more damaged than it sounded, then descended the stairs to the office in the basement. The sleeve on my bathrobe caught on the steeple of the stained glass church on the little stand by the book shelves, but I was moving slow enough that catastrophe was avoided. I spent an hour or two at my desk studying the passage I've selected as for Sunday's sermon. I thought I might be ready to sleep after that so I settled into the overstuffed, green recliner. I closed my eyes. I started thinking about my friend and listening to the rain. That song came back, the falling rain one. I made the effort to pray for my friend, both because he needs me to pray for him and because I didn't want that song sloshing around in my brain all day.
I still couldn't sleep so I returned to the desk, picked up pen and put it to paper. Something was circumnavigating the cerebral hemispheres and I hoped by writing to identify it, connect with it, and resolve it so I could get some sleep. The first sentence I wrote was, "People don't want to make commitments, they just want to feel better." What I wrote next clarifies the sadness of that sentence.
"Once the crisis is past, people today rarely seem to follow through on the plans, strategies, or commitments that guided them through the critical moments. A desperate man claims he wants God in his life, but once the threat is passed begins to fill his life with other relationships and other activities that slowly displace God from his life once again. A troubled couple seeks counseling and gathers a few helpful tips from their first session but does not return nor follow through on the call to commit to a local fellowship for the health of their marriage and family and for their spiritual well-being.
"These are consumers looking for the immediate effects of spiritual Tylenol but unwilling to become true disciples of Jesus, those who leave all to follow him. Many, it seems, are called, but few are chosen.
"Jesus taught his disciples with a parable that describes this spiritual phenomenon. He spoke of a sower, a farmer, who went out to sow his seed. As the man cast the seed it fell on several types of soil. The seed fell on the hard packed soil of the well-trodden path where it never had a chance to germinate before the birds swooped in and scarfed it up. The quality and potential of the seed never stood a chance against the reluctance of the soil and the thieving avian hunger.
"Other seed fell on rocky ground. The seed, good and full of life as it was, rooted and sprang up, but the soil was shallow. It held neither water nor nutrient and when the sun rose to its midday height and began to beat down on the tender shoot, the inadequate root system failed and the young plant withered.
"Some seed fell on ground that was already very productive . . . producing weeds! Non-productive species extricated all the water and nutrients and crowded the space stealing more than their share of sunlight. The seed sprang up in this soil. It even grew, but it could not flourish, mature, reproduce because it was soon choked out by the competition. The seedling remained weak and puny, barely alive.
"At last some seed fell upon well prepared, fertile soil. The soil received the seed, nurtured the seed, sustained the seed, and assisted the seed to grow, flourish, mature and eventually, together, they offered a harvest as much as one hundred times multiplied.
"Each of these soils, Jesus taught, describes the spiritual condition of a human heart in relation to God's gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ. Some hearts are hard and even though the seed is good it cannot penetrate the resistance before outside influences steal away any impact the gospel might have had.
"Some hearts are shallow. They receive the word gladly. They recognize it has value for them and desire its benefit, but they lack the commitment, the surrender, the deep and abiding love for God and his word that yields a full spiritual harvest from the gospel. They are self-centered, self-absorbed, self-satisfied people who cannot last when the joy fades and the hard work of endurance commences.
"Some hearts seem fertile, but they are full of worldly concern. Culturally derived philosophies and worldviews choke out the counter-cultural message of God's love in Jesus Christ. Other things, other activities, other relationships quickly move in to move the gospel out. There are bills to pay, people to see, things to do. Prayer and personal worship fail first. Bible study gets abandoned, attendance at worship set aside. Soon there is nothing left but a fruitless stalk encumbered by the surpassing growth of useless things.
"Some hearts, though, are fertile. Some receive the gospel and fall in love. They take up their cross. They make the commitment. They follow Jesus as both their first and foremost priority. Their love for him fosters his love in them for others and the gospel is multiplied in many more lives."
The most pressing question of midnight rain and soiled hearts is this: which is my heart? God demonstrates his love for me in this, while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. Do I reject this good news? Do I received but do little to cultivate it? Do I receive it, but then leave my heart open to other things that will one day crowd this glory out of my life? Or do I love this good news, receive it, live with it, grow it, commit my life to its joys, bring forth its full potential in my life?
I, you, we are one of these. Each of us. It is the same good seed that comes to us all. God, please, prepare us to be good soil. Amen.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Treasures of a Single Word
The plan for fishing today got rained out, so I made a cup of Bohemian chocolate coffee and sat down by the picture window to read. I’ve been giving some attention to First Corinthians lately, so I picked up my Bible from the coffee table and turned to page 1266. The problem with reading the Bible, for me, is that often I don’t get past a word or two. It’s not that I’ve gotten so old I fall asleep or so jaded I get bored. I get caught up in the possibilities of words.
Today, for instance, I actually got to verse eight of the first chapter. I have to confess I barely made it past verse four, where Paul thanks God for the Corinthian Christians not because of how wonderful or obedient or faithful or generous they were, or for anything about them at all. Paul thanks God for these Christians because God has given them his grace in Christ Jesus. Paul always starts and ends with God and sees in God the reason to give God thanks for anything of worth or value in the Christian experience. For Paul, the life of faith and all its benefits and manifestations in Christians is about God and who he is and what he does in Christ. That a human being gets to experience the outworking of God’s will is a testimony to God’s greatest, not their’s.
I could have spent a few more hours just giving thought to the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the life of a Christian and the will of God, but decided to press on. Then I got to verse eight. And I stopped. In fact, I stopped in the New International Version of 1 Corinthians 1:8 at the third word: “keep.” The entire verse reads, “He [God] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God will keep you strong. God who gives us grace in Christ Jesus— the grace that saves us, the grace that reconciles us to himself, the grace that forgives our sins and justifies us before God, the grace that transforms our hearts and lives—the God who gives that grace “keeps” the ones he graced strong until the end.
He “keeps” us. What does that mean, that he “keeps” us? It’s so easy to simply accept the fact and move on, but I had to stop and think, to toss around the question in my heart for a while. What does it mean from God’s perspective that he “keeps” us?
First, God keeps us by an act of his choice. He chooses us. Whether you believe that God elects people to faith and makes his choice before they choose him or after they choose him is not the issue here. The issue is that God chooses to save you and me from our sins and the death sentence those sins impose upon the soul. He keeps us strong and blameless in preparation for Jesus’ return by choosing us. Jesus said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” God chooses, and his “keeping” begins in his choosing.
But there has to be more than just his choosing. There is a sliver tone Chevy truck with the Z71 off road package sitting in the lot at Grand Marais Motors. It’s not the four door one. It’s the two door extended cab parked next to it, under the sign in the left hand corner of the lot as you face the front door of the dealership. That’s the truck I’ve chosen. The red one is nice, and newer, and has fewer miles. The four door four by four is more powerful and practically oozes testosterone. But, as we were driving by the other day, I said to my wife, “See that one. That’s the one I choose.”
She just rolled her eyes because she knows there’s no way we can afford to replace the truck we lost in an accident several years ago. She knows that my choice of that truck, or any truck, is meaningless because there is no transaction forthcoming that will make the truck mine.
God, when he chose us, extended his choice by an act of will. He paid the price to complete the transaction to make us his. God sent Jesus to die on the cross as the perfectly adequate sacrifice to pay the penalty for human sin. The death of Christ is infinitely as effective for forgiveness as sin is infinitely deadly and deserving punishment. God keeps us not only by choosing us, but by acting to make us his.
But that is not enough to describe how God keeps us. I’ve chosen my replacement truck. It is conceivable that someday God could provide a way for me to own the truck of my choosing. But choosing it and owning it without working to allow it to meet its full potential would be meaningless for me. I need to get in it and drive it and work it and maintain it in prime working condition.
God keeps us by choosing us. God keeps us by making us his own. God keeps us by filling us with his Spirit who empowers our potential to fully experience his joy and fulfill his will. God gets in us and maintains us by his Spirit present within us. He strengthens us by his might. He directs us by his will. He guides us by his wisdom. He enables us by his power. He transforms us by his mercy. He keeps us by his will.
God does all this and we are the happy recipients of his keeping. And the result of his keeping is a blameless life in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God chooses us, makes us his own, maintains us. He keeps us strong and blameless so that we can enjoy the eternal glory of Jesus Christ at his coming.
Now you know how I get hijacked by words. You know why I can spend a week reading 1 Corinthians and not have gotten past the third word of the eighth verse of the first chapter. May you discover the infinite depth of God’s word for you today!
Today, for instance, I actually got to verse eight of the first chapter. I have to confess I barely made it past verse four, where Paul thanks God for the Corinthian Christians not because of how wonderful or obedient or faithful or generous they were, or for anything about them at all. Paul thanks God for these Christians because God has given them his grace in Christ Jesus. Paul always starts and ends with God and sees in God the reason to give God thanks for anything of worth or value in the Christian experience. For Paul, the life of faith and all its benefits and manifestations in Christians is about God and who he is and what he does in Christ. That a human being gets to experience the outworking of God’s will is a testimony to God’s greatest, not their’s.
I could have spent a few more hours just giving thought to the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the life of a Christian and the will of God, but decided to press on. Then I got to verse eight. And I stopped. In fact, I stopped in the New International Version of 1 Corinthians 1:8 at the third word: “keep.” The entire verse reads, “He [God] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God will keep you strong. God who gives us grace in Christ Jesus— the grace that saves us, the grace that reconciles us to himself, the grace that forgives our sins and justifies us before God, the grace that transforms our hearts and lives—the God who gives that grace “keeps” the ones he graced strong until the end.
He “keeps” us. What does that mean, that he “keeps” us? It’s so easy to simply accept the fact and move on, but I had to stop and think, to toss around the question in my heart for a while. What does it mean from God’s perspective that he “keeps” us?
First, God keeps us by an act of his choice. He chooses us. Whether you believe that God elects people to faith and makes his choice before they choose him or after they choose him is not the issue here. The issue is that God chooses to save you and me from our sins and the death sentence those sins impose upon the soul. He keeps us strong and blameless in preparation for Jesus’ return by choosing us. Jesus said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” God chooses, and his “keeping” begins in his choosing.
But there has to be more than just his choosing. There is a sliver tone Chevy truck with the Z71 off road package sitting in the lot at Grand Marais Motors. It’s not the four door one. It’s the two door extended cab parked next to it, under the sign in the left hand corner of the lot as you face the front door of the dealership. That’s the truck I’ve chosen. The red one is nice, and newer, and has fewer miles. The four door four by four is more powerful and practically oozes testosterone. But, as we were driving by the other day, I said to my wife, “See that one. That’s the one I choose.”
She just rolled her eyes because she knows there’s no way we can afford to replace the truck we lost in an accident several years ago. She knows that my choice of that truck, or any truck, is meaningless because there is no transaction forthcoming that will make the truck mine.
God, when he chose us, extended his choice by an act of will. He paid the price to complete the transaction to make us his. God sent Jesus to die on the cross as the perfectly adequate sacrifice to pay the penalty for human sin. The death of Christ is infinitely as effective for forgiveness as sin is infinitely deadly and deserving punishment. God keeps us not only by choosing us, but by acting to make us his.
But that is not enough to describe how God keeps us. I’ve chosen my replacement truck. It is conceivable that someday God could provide a way for me to own the truck of my choosing. But choosing it and owning it without working to allow it to meet its full potential would be meaningless for me. I need to get in it and drive it and work it and maintain it in prime working condition.
God keeps us by choosing us. God keeps us by making us his own. God keeps us by filling us with his Spirit who empowers our potential to fully experience his joy and fulfill his will. God gets in us and maintains us by his Spirit present within us. He strengthens us by his might. He directs us by his will. He guides us by his wisdom. He enables us by his power. He transforms us by his mercy. He keeps us by his will.
God does all this and we are the happy recipients of his keeping. And the result of his keeping is a blameless life in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God chooses us, makes us his own, maintains us. He keeps us strong and blameless so that we can enjoy the eternal glory of Jesus Christ at his coming.
Now you know how I get hijacked by words. You know why I can spend a week reading 1 Corinthians and not have gotten past the third word of the eighth verse of the first chapter. May you discover the infinite depth of God’s word for you today!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
God and the GPS
When Linda and I want to have a really crazy vacation, we take a road trip without maps. We drive to the nearest intersection and decide then, at that moment, which direction we're going to take. Then we drive to the next intersection, and decide then, at that moment, what direction we're going to take. At every stop we make the decision for the next step, never really knowing where we're going, where we'll wind up, but finding adventure in the uncertainty of our decision making process.
This last vacation to Alabama to visit Linda's parents was a road trip, but it wasn't crazy. We didn't use maps this time, but I did use a GPS. We call our GPS, "Kia." That's short for "know it all." Kia identifies our starting position, then, when I type in our destination, she calculates the route. "In 1.1 miles," she says, "keep left, then turn right." "Continue 197 miles," she says. "Turn right," she says. And when I fail to turn right? "Recalculating! Go .4 miles then turn left and make an immediate U-turn."
Kia is very nice about her job, but she's also very demanding. You see, she works on the assumption that I don't know where I'm going. Her programming assumes that she knows the big picture in regards to the available routes to get to the desired destination, and that I would not be using her if I already knew where I was going. So, I tell her I want to drive from Arab, AL to Lino Lakes, MN. At one point along the way, we turn off a perfectly reasonable interstate onto a two lane county road. The interstate is going the direction I think I want to go. Still, she demands the turn, so we make the exit.
It is a quiet little, beautifully shaded road in Missouri that follows along a river and has the most delightful little rises along the way that give that roller coaster effect when you speed up over them. It is not a very long drive, just a few miles, but it shaves nearly fifteen miles off the trip because it is more direct than the interstate would have been.
That experience happened a lot as I trusted Kia with the course of our journey. We took roads I would never have taken only to discover that there was less traffic, less aggravation, and less overall miles. She knew where we had come from, knew where we were going, and had the big picture of our journey in mind. She did not always make the choices I would have made. She never asked my opinion of her choices. She simply offered what she knew to be best and directed me to turn around and adjust my direction when I failed to follow her advice.
If this is not a great picture of what it means to trust Jesus Christ by faith then I don't know what is! If you want to spend eternity with God then you've got to trust your life to him and to the directions he provides. You have to trust his knowledge of the big picture. You have to trust that he knows the most direct, beneficial route from where you are to where he is, and you have to trust his leading along the way. Sometimes, he will lead you to make choices and follow him in ways you might not otherwise have chosen, but God has an advantage that "Kia" doesn't have. God actually knows it all AND is personally committed to doing what is best for you. "Kia" serves you, but God loves you! Those two facts, his knowledge and his love, make him
immeasurably, perfectly trustworthy for your life journey. God's ultimate trustworthiness makes him the perfect GPS ("Godly Positioning System") for your soul.
That's the Good News.
This last vacation to Alabama to visit Linda's parents was a road trip, but it wasn't crazy. We didn't use maps this time, but I did use a GPS. We call our GPS, "Kia." That's short for "know it all." Kia identifies our starting position, then, when I type in our destination, she calculates the route. "In 1.1 miles," she says, "keep left, then turn right." "Continue 197 miles," she says. "Turn right," she says. And when I fail to turn right? "Recalculating! Go .4 miles then turn left and make an immediate U-turn."
Kia is very nice about her job, but she's also very demanding. You see, she works on the assumption that I don't know where I'm going. Her programming assumes that she knows the big picture in regards to the available routes to get to the desired destination, and that I would not be using her if I already knew where I was going. So, I tell her I want to drive from Arab, AL to Lino Lakes, MN. At one point along the way, we turn off a perfectly reasonable interstate onto a two lane county road. The interstate is going the direction I think I want to go. Still, she demands the turn, so we make the exit.
It is a quiet little, beautifully shaded road in Missouri that follows along a river and has the most delightful little rises along the way that give that roller coaster effect when you speed up over them. It is not a very long drive, just a few miles, but it shaves nearly fifteen miles off the trip because it is more direct than the interstate would have been.
That experience happened a lot as I trusted Kia with the course of our journey. We took roads I would never have taken only to discover that there was less traffic, less aggravation, and less overall miles. She knew where we had come from, knew where we were going, and had the big picture of our journey in mind. She did not always make the choices I would have made. She never asked my opinion of her choices. She simply offered what she knew to be best and directed me to turn around and adjust my direction when I failed to follow her advice.
If this is not a great picture of what it means to trust Jesus Christ by faith then I don't know what is! If you want to spend eternity with God then you've got to trust your life to him and to the directions he provides. You have to trust his knowledge of the big picture. You have to trust that he knows the most direct, beneficial route from where you are to where he is, and you have to trust his leading along the way. Sometimes, he will lead you to make choices and follow him in ways you might not otherwise have chosen, but God has an advantage that "Kia" doesn't have. God actually knows it all AND is personally committed to doing what is best for you. "Kia" serves you, but God loves you! Those two facts, his knowledge and his love, make him
immeasurably, perfectly trustworthy for your life journey. God's ultimate trustworthiness makes him the perfect GPS ("Godly Positioning System") for your soul.
That's the Good News.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Last Newspaper Column for This Year: Fog
Cook County Star THE GOOD NEWS for 5-29-2010
Who knew there were so many different kinds of fog? Fog can form in a number of ways, depending on how the cooling that caused the condensation occurred. There is radiation fog caused by the cooling of land after sunset. The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. There can be ground fog which is “fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base of any overhead clouds.”
Advection fog seems to fit the North Shore fog of May. This fog occurs when moist (warmer) air passes over a cool surface (Lake Superior) causing the moisture in the air to condense around particulates in the air. Other types of fog include evaporation fog, precipitation fog, upslope fog (or hill fog), valley fog, freezing fog, frozen fog, and of course, artificial fog. We should not neglect to mention Garua fog, which occurs along the coast of Chile and Peru, hail fog, and the very rare pogonip, which can occur at temperatures below -40 degrees F.
Fog is produced by condensation of water molecules around airborne dirt or salt particles. The resulting tiny droplets remains airborne and can create a wall that significantly reduces visibility. So here’s a question: If I can see through a glass of water, why can’t I see through a wall of water droplets? Why isn’t fog transparent?
I think refraction must be part of the answer. Light traveling through a drop of water can be “bent” in much the same way that light passing through a glass lense can be “bent” to reveal the color spectrum we see reflected on the wall when we hold up a prism to the sunlight. Now take a bazillion little prisms of water, each bending the sunlight and the end result is opaque fog. That means a wall of water you can’t see through.
By now you must be asking yourselves, “McIntire, where are you going with all this?” A couple days ago as I was driving through the fog near the mine at Silver Bay I suddenly realized that I knew the mine was there, covering ground on both sides of the road. I knew the towers were there putting out steam. I knew the yard was there full of taconite pellets. I knew the mechanical building was uphill. But I couldn’t see what was there. The fog didn’t define the mine structures or in any way reflect the truth of the reality sitting just yards to the side of the road upon which I was driving. The fog simply refracted the light and hid the truth; it didn’t change the truth.
There’s another kind of fog that rises in the world. It is a fog that clouds the mind and heart. It is a fog that refracts the Light of truth and blinds the observer to reality. The fog does not define reality, it merely covers or distorts it. Sin is such a fog in the human experience. Arrogance and pride are truth hiding, truth denying fogs. Error and lies form a fog that can prevent the casual observer from regarding the truth. Selfishness, ignorance, and indifference can coalesce in the human heart to produce a thick spiritual fog that results in spiritual darkness and spiritual blindness.
Every human being lives in a spiritual fog until God in his mercy lifts the veil and reveals himself to them. For some that revelation comes through God’s word, the Bible. For others it may come through an encounter with God as he reveals himself in the natural world. But that fog will not clear entirely until there is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself, who is the full and perfect revelation of God to us foggy hearted human beings.
I know what it is like to be lost in a spiritual fog and bear the burden of guilt and of shame, addicted to false joys and earthbound pleasures. I also know what it means to meet the Savior and set aside the guilt and shame forever, and find eternal joy in a life full of meaning and purpose, being, by God’s grace, what he created me to be.
And “a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.”
That’s the Good News.
Who knew there were so many different kinds of fog? Fog can form in a number of ways, depending on how the cooling that caused the condensation occurred. There is radiation fog caused by the cooling of land after sunset. The cool ground produces condensation in the nearby air by heat conduction. There can be ground fog which is “fog that obscures less than 60% of the sky and does not extend to the base of any overhead clouds.”
Advection fog seems to fit the North Shore fog of May. This fog occurs when moist (warmer) air passes over a cool surface (Lake Superior) causing the moisture in the air to condense around particulates in the air. Other types of fog include evaporation fog, precipitation fog, upslope fog (or hill fog), valley fog, freezing fog, frozen fog, and of course, artificial fog. We should not neglect to mention Garua fog, which occurs along the coast of Chile and Peru, hail fog, and the very rare pogonip, which can occur at temperatures below -40 degrees F.
Fog is produced by condensation of water molecules around airborne dirt or salt particles. The resulting tiny droplets remains airborne and can create a wall that significantly reduces visibility. So here’s a question: If I can see through a glass of water, why can’t I see through a wall of water droplets? Why isn’t fog transparent?
I think refraction must be part of the answer. Light traveling through a drop of water can be “bent” in much the same way that light passing through a glass lense can be “bent” to reveal the color spectrum we see reflected on the wall when we hold up a prism to the sunlight. Now take a bazillion little prisms of water, each bending the sunlight and the end result is opaque fog. That means a wall of water you can’t see through.
By now you must be asking yourselves, “McIntire, where are you going with all this?” A couple days ago as I was driving through the fog near the mine at Silver Bay I suddenly realized that I knew the mine was there, covering ground on both sides of the road. I knew the towers were there putting out steam. I knew the yard was there full of taconite pellets. I knew the mechanical building was uphill. But I couldn’t see what was there. The fog didn’t define the mine structures or in any way reflect the truth of the reality sitting just yards to the side of the road upon which I was driving. The fog simply refracted the light and hid the truth; it didn’t change the truth.
There’s another kind of fog that rises in the world. It is a fog that clouds the mind and heart. It is a fog that refracts the Light of truth and blinds the observer to reality. The fog does not define reality, it merely covers or distorts it. Sin is such a fog in the human experience. Arrogance and pride are truth hiding, truth denying fogs. Error and lies form a fog that can prevent the casual observer from regarding the truth. Selfishness, ignorance, and indifference can coalesce in the human heart to produce a thick spiritual fog that results in spiritual darkness and spiritual blindness.
Every human being lives in a spiritual fog until God in his mercy lifts the veil and reveals himself to them. For some that revelation comes through God’s word, the Bible. For others it may come through an encounter with God as he reveals himself in the natural world. But that fog will not clear entirely until there is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself, who is the full and perfect revelation of God to us foggy hearted human beings.
I know what it is like to be lost in a spiritual fog and bear the burden of guilt and of shame, addicted to false joys and earthbound pleasures. I also know what it means to meet the Savior and set aside the guilt and shame forever, and find eternal joy in a life full of meaning and purpose, being, by God’s grace, what he created me to be.
And “a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.”
That’s the Good News.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What Happens When the Trappings of Love are Lost?
Cook County News Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 5/21/2010
Le Ponts des Arts. The name sort of rolls from the tongue. It shouts, "Paris! Paris!," in quiet tones that whisper of love and romance and starlit moments when lovers caress one another with longing eyes and unspoken words.
At least, it used to. The Ponts des Arts is a seven arch iron bridge that spans the river Seine in the heart of Paris, France. The original bridge, the first metal bridge in Paris, was constructed between 1802 and 1804. It links the Institut de France with the central court of the Louvre. For years however, it was the scene of far more personal, and perhaps more beautiful connections.
Until last Wednesday, the Ponts des Arts was a favorite place for lovers to proclaim their lasting devotion to one another. Couples would come and stroll the famous pedestrian bridge and bring along a padlock and keys. That's right, a padlock. Some were very handsome locks. Others, not so much. Some were inscribed with names and dates and proclamations. Others bore decorations and symbols. Still others, small and silver or brass, glowed in their simplicity.
These love-struck couples would stroll by the iron mesh of the guardrails and fasten their padlocks to the rails, then toss their keys into the river to symbolize their eternal love. Yeah. I know. That's really sweet. Very romantic. So French. So Paris.
But apparently, not everyone in Paris thinks so. Sometime before morning last Wednesday, they all disappeared. All the locks are gone. All the trappings of undying love have vanished. Poof! Gone. According to the town hall in Paris, in an effort to preserve the 19th century bridge, pragmatism displaced romance.
What happens when the trappings of love disappear? What happens when the warm fuzzy fades, when the moonlit glow gives way to the full reality of the daytime sun? What happens when the whispers of love give way to the cries of infants, the demands of careers, the wail of alarm clocks, and the general cacophony of life? Does love die when a relationship no longer bears the original decorations?
Love never dies, but is has been known to succumb to less noble choices. More than it is anything else, love is a choice. The padlocks represented choices. The keys represented choices. The inscriptions represented choices. The choice of love is the choice to put the interest of another ahead of one's own interests, no matter what. The padlocks and keys, the trappings of love, expressed love, but they were not love. Their disappearance is sad, but it does not signal the end of love for those who maintain their commitments. You can lose the decorations and still maintain the choice. The trappings of love can vanish but love remains. How can this be? Because love is a choice.
God chooses to love us. He chooses to seek our best interest no matter what. He chooses to forgive and restore us even when it costs him the life of his dearly beloved Son. Jesus chooses to die for us. He chooses to lay down his life on our behalf. And what is that choice, the choice of our benefit at even the most precious price? Love!
The padlocks are gone, but the love is not. Sometimes we think blessings are love, and when the blessing turns to sorrow, we think love has left. It has not. Sometime we think joy and peace and ease and wealth and luxury are love, and when we are in turmoil and sad and troubled and barely getting by, we think we are abandoned by love. We are not. Sometimes we think that when our life experience is good and pleasant God loves us, but when life is painful and uncomfortable God hates us (or has lost interest in us altogether.) Not true.
God made a choice. It is a choice he continues to make, to love, to seek the very best interest of those he created. He continues to apply the justifying blood of his Son to the soul of all who believe in him. That is the "no matter what" love that you can experience through faith in Jesus Christ.
That's the Good News.
Le Ponts des Arts. The name sort of rolls from the tongue. It shouts, "Paris! Paris!," in quiet tones that whisper of love and romance and starlit moments when lovers caress one another with longing eyes and unspoken words.
At least, it used to. The Ponts des Arts is a seven arch iron bridge that spans the river Seine in the heart of Paris, France. The original bridge, the first metal bridge in Paris, was constructed between 1802 and 1804. It links the Institut de France with the central court of the Louvre. For years however, it was the scene of far more personal, and perhaps more beautiful connections.
Until last Wednesday, the Ponts des Arts was a favorite place for lovers to proclaim their lasting devotion to one another. Couples would come and stroll the famous pedestrian bridge and bring along a padlock and keys. That's right, a padlock. Some were very handsome locks. Others, not so much. Some were inscribed with names and dates and proclamations. Others bore decorations and symbols. Still others, small and silver or brass, glowed in their simplicity.
These love-struck couples would stroll by the iron mesh of the guardrails and fasten their padlocks to the rails, then toss their keys into the river to symbolize their eternal love. Yeah. I know. That's really sweet. Very romantic. So French. So Paris.
But apparently, not everyone in Paris thinks so. Sometime before morning last Wednesday, they all disappeared. All the locks are gone. All the trappings of undying love have vanished. Poof! Gone. According to the town hall in Paris, in an effort to preserve the 19th century bridge, pragmatism displaced romance.
What happens when the trappings of love disappear? What happens when the warm fuzzy fades, when the moonlit glow gives way to the full reality of the daytime sun? What happens when the whispers of love give way to the cries of infants, the demands of careers, the wail of alarm clocks, and the general cacophony of life? Does love die when a relationship no longer bears the original decorations?
Love never dies, but is has been known to succumb to less noble choices. More than it is anything else, love is a choice. The padlocks represented choices. The keys represented choices. The inscriptions represented choices. The choice of love is the choice to put the interest of another ahead of one's own interests, no matter what. The padlocks and keys, the trappings of love, expressed love, but they were not love. Their disappearance is sad, but it does not signal the end of love for those who maintain their commitments. You can lose the decorations and still maintain the choice. The trappings of love can vanish but love remains. How can this be? Because love is a choice.
God chooses to love us. He chooses to seek our best interest no matter what. He chooses to forgive and restore us even when it costs him the life of his dearly beloved Son. Jesus chooses to die for us. He chooses to lay down his life on our behalf. And what is that choice, the choice of our benefit at even the most precious price? Love!
The padlocks are gone, but the love is not. Sometimes we think blessings are love, and when the blessing turns to sorrow, we think love has left. It has not. Sometime we think joy and peace and ease and wealth and luxury are love, and when we are in turmoil and sad and troubled and barely getting by, we think we are abandoned by love. We are not. Sometimes we think that when our life experience is good and pleasant God loves us, but when life is painful and uncomfortable God hates us (or has lost interest in us altogether.) Not true.
God made a choice. It is a choice he continues to make, to love, to seek the very best interest of those he created. He continues to apply the justifying blood of his Son to the soul of all who believe in him. That is the "no matter what" love that you can experience through faith in Jesus Christ.
That's the Good News.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Pure Religion
Cook County News-Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 5/15/2010
People have opinions, in case you hadn’t noticed. I read an article this week about current Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan. The AP article by Tom Breen noted that if Kagan is confirmed there will be no Protestants on the Court and that would mean “none of the justices would be rooted in the Protestant Reformation traditions that shaped the country from its earliest stages.”
While that has intriguing implications which Breen’s article explored, what I found more intriguing were the blunt comments that followed the article on the Yahoo! page. Most of the remarks were fired like flaming arrows at “religion.” One amateur commentator defined religion as one of the world’s great problems. He cited his reasons for his opinion: “genocide, child molestation, 911, stoning of women, etc.” These atrocities comprise “religion” to that person. Those atrocities define “religion” for a lot people.
And frankly, if those acts of indecency, immorality, and injustice were in fact a full and adequate description of “religion,” I’d be hard pressed to have much faith in religion either. Fortunately (or “providentially”), though sin and human moral failure do cloud both the expressions and experiences of “religion” they do not encompass the real, true religion which God by His own testimony affirms and accepts.
Did you know God has an opinion about “religion”? Did you know that He actually sets out in writing what tenets of “religion” He finds acceptable and pleasing to Him? The New Testament letter of James provides a stark, bold faced definition of “religion”: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27, ESV).
Religion, according to God, should accurately reflect two essential characteristics of God Himself: active compassion towards the culturally, physically, socially, economically vulnerable in their need, and persistent, personal, practical godliness. True religion is not one or the other, according to the Bible, but both together. Perhaps the general public’s view of religion has been twisted because those who practice “religion” have been tilted toward one or the other to the exclusion of one or the other.
Some have understood “religion” strictly in terms of one’s personal relationship with God without concern for compassionate interaction in the lives of those around them. Others have understood “religion” solely on the basis of social intervention without considering any personal relationship with or accountability to God. Both situations are inadequate expressions of true religion, from this New Testament standpoint.
When a man came to Jesus and asked him what was the greatest commandment, a question not unlike “what’s your opinion of the best religion,” Jesus answered, “The greatest commandment is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength.” But he did not stop his answer there. He continued, without being asked, “And the second is like to it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” True religion, pure and undefiled before God, the Father, loves God and loves others. There is not one or the other. There is both or there is not true religion. Jesus would not let us get away with thinking otherwise.
True religion, then, excludes genocide. It leaves no room for molesting children or destroying buildings and lives with airplanes, or ignoring the poor, or ignoring the condition of one’s own heart. True religion, though still subject to being rejected by the selfish or uninformed, lives to love. Just like Jesus. There is love for God and there is love for people, and that love is neither theoretical or hidden, but active, open, public and powerful.
I suspect there is a great deal of opinion about “religion” based not on truth but on failure, the failure of some, even many, to live a “true religion.” It is never wise, however poor the prevailing example might be, to “throw out the baby with the bath water.” Don’t settle for the regurgitated disgust of some disheartened complaint. Come and see for yourself. Come and see the love God offers in Jesus Christ.
Jesus exemplifies true religion and offers to live the life of love in and through those who put their faith in him.
That’s the Good News.
People have opinions, in case you hadn’t noticed. I read an article this week about current Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan. The AP article by Tom Breen noted that if Kagan is confirmed there will be no Protestants on the Court and that would mean “none of the justices would be rooted in the Protestant Reformation traditions that shaped the country from its earliest stages.”
While that has intriguing implications which Breen’s article explored, what I found more intriguing were the blunt comments that followed the article on the Yahoo! page. Most of the remarks were fired like flaming arrows at “religion.” One amateur commentator defined religion as one of the world’s great problems. He cited his reasons for his opinion: “genocide, child molestation, 911, stoning of women, etc.” These atrocities comprise “religion” to that person. Those atrocities define “religion” for a lot people.
And frankly, if those acts of indecency, immorality, and injustice were in fact a full and adequate description of “religion,” I’d be hard pressed to have much faith in religion either. Fortunately (or “providentially”), though sin and human moral failure do cloud both the expressions and experiences of “religion” they do not encompass the real, true religion which God by His own testimony affirms and accepts.
Did you know God has an opinion about “religion”? Did you know that He actually sets out in writing what tenets of “religion” He finds acceptable and pleasing to Him? The New Testament letter of James provides a stark, bold faced definition of “religion”: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27, ESV).
Religion, according to God, should accurately reflect two essential characteristics of God Himself: active compassion towards the culturally, physically, socially, economically vulnerable in their need, and persistent, personal, practical godliness. True religion is not one or the other, according to the Bible, but both together. Perhaps the general public’s view of religion has been twisted because those who practice “religion” have been tilted toward one or the other to the exclusion of one or the other.
Some have understood “religion” strictly in terms of one’s personal relationship with God without concern for compassionate interaction in the lives of those around them. Others have understood “religion” solely on the basis of social intervention without considering any personal relationship with or accountability to God. Both situations are inadequate expressions of true religion, from this New Testament standpoint.
When a man came to Jesus and asked him what was the greatest commandment, a question not unlike “what’s your opinion of the best religion,” Jesus answered, “The greatest commandment is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength.” But he did not stop his answer there. He continued, without being asked, “And the second is like to it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” True religion, pure and undefiled before God, the Father, loves God and loves others. There is not one or the other. There is both or there is not true religion. Jesus would not let us get away with thinking otherwise.
True religion, then, excludes genocide. It leaves no room for molesting children or destroying buildings and lives with airplanes, or ignoring the poor, or ignoring the condition of one’s own heart. True religion, though still subject to being rejected by the selfish or uninformed, lives to love. Just like Jesus. There is love for God and there is love for people, and that love is neither theoretical or hidden, but active, open, public and powerful.
I suspect there is a great deal of opinion about “religion” based not on truth but on failure, the failure of some, even many, to live a “true religion.” It is never wise, however poor the prevailing example might be, to “throw out the baby with the bath water.” Don’t settle for the regurgitated disgust of some disheartened complaint. Come and see for yourself. Come and see the love God offers in Jesus Christ.
Jesus exemplifies true religion and offers to live the life of love in and through those who put their faith in him.
That’s the Good News.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The New Bible
I meet every Wednesday with one of the local Lutheran pastors. We talk theology, Bible, ministry, you know . . . pastoral stuff. Today he mentioned the new Bible I have on my desk. Several months ago I opened the ESV I've been using and Revelation fell out. Took the entire Concordance with it. The glue that held that section to the binding simply surrendered its mission. Now, whenever I take my Bible into the pulpit I have to leave out some of the God's word, and you know what the Bible says about those who add to or take away from what is written!
So, I've been looking for a new Bible. I want the same version, but since I make notes in my Bible, I like the wide margin format. I stopped by the Crossway Publisher's table at a recent conference I attended and asked the representative if there was another Crossway wide margin Bible that was sewn and not glued. He asked why I had asked that particular question and I told him about my prodigal pages. He then asked me how long I'd had the Bible and I told him. Then he said, "It doesn't matter. It should have held up much, much longer. You don't need to buy another Bible. We need to replace it. Let me have your contact information and I'll find a new Bible for you."
Well, you can imagine how pleased that made me. I handed over one of my cards and was equally pleased when a new, wide margin, genuine leather ESV Bible arrived at my office. It's a beautiful Bible with 1.25" margins to write in. There is just one tiny problem. Crossway has apparently changed the format between what they called a wide margin Bible when I first bought mine and what they are offering as a wide margin format today. The new font is half the size of the old format. Now, not only do I get to take the full counsel of God into the pulpit, I literally have to take my glasses with me and put them on in public to read the print.
<> I got exactly what I asked for, but not what I wanted.
Anybody else have an experience where someone provided exactly what you asked for, but it wasn't what you wanted? I think the idea will make a great sermon, but I'm interested in what that phrase suggests to you. Leave me a comment and let me know: How have you had this experience, "I got exactly what I asked for, but not what I wanted"?
So, I've been looking for a new Bible. I want the same version, but since I make notes in my Bible, I like the wide margin format. I stopped by the Crossway Publisher's table at a recent conference I attended and asked the representative if there was another Crossway wide margin Bible that was sewn and not glued. He asked why I had asked that particular question and I told him about my prodigal pages. He then asked me how long I'd had the Bible and I told him. Then he said, "It doesn't matter. It should have held up much, much longer. You don't need to buy another Bible. We need to replace it. Let me have your contact information and I'll find a new Bible for you."
Well, you can imagine how pleased that made me. I handed over one of my cards and was equally pleased when a new, wide margin, genuine leather ESV Bible arrived at my office. It's a beautiful Bible with 1.25" margins to write in. There is just one tiny problem. Crossway has apparently changed the format between what they called a wide margin Bible when I first bought mine and what they are offering as a wide margin format today. The new font is half the size of the old format. Now, not only do I get to take the full counsel of God into the pulpit, I literally have to take my glasses with me and put them on in public to read the print.
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Anybody else have an experience where someone provided exactly what you asked for, but it wasn't what you wanted? I think the idea will make a great sermon, but I'm interested in what that phrase suggests to you. Leave me a comment and let me know: How have you had this experience, "I got exactly what I asked for, but not what I wanted"?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Cave and the Sun (or Us and the Son)
Cook County News Herald THE GOOD NEWS for 5/8/2010
Once upon a time, not so long ago as you might be inclined to think at an opening like this, a Cave lived under the ground, as caves have the habit of doing. The Cave had lived its entire life in darkness. One day (not the Cave knew whether it was day or night. You see the Cave was hampered by the fact that its nature is darkness), one day the Cave heard a voice calling to it, “Come up into the light; come and see the sunshine.” The Cave retorted, “I don’t know what you mean; there isn’t anything but darkness.”
Again and again the Cave responded the same way, “I don’t know what you mean; there isn’t anything but darkness.” The Cave had only known darkness for all of its life. Every Cave he knew of in all the world knew only darkness. Based on the Cave’s personal experience and general observation to date, the world was all Cave and darkness. It made no sense to the Cave that someone should call him to sunshine, since he could not, based on his observations and experience, imagine such a thing. Surely there could not exist something that could not be fully embraced by observation and experience.
Still the voice persisted, “Come up into the light; come and see the sunshine. It is beautiful up here. The light reveals all the darkness hides. Come and see. Come and see. Come and see for yourself. Come and see the sunshine.” Finally the Cave ventured forth and was surprised to see light everywhere. In the light the Cave saw revealed what the world really looked like. He saw what had been hidden to him. His observations and experience were expanded to encompass all that was real, and wonderful, and marvelous, all that he had missed in the narrow confines of the darkness that filled his observations and experience.
Filled with wonder at the truth revealed by the light, the Cave looked up at the Sun and asked, “Won’t you come with me now and see the darkness?” The Sun was puzzled and asked, “What is darkness?” The Cave replied, “Come and see.” One day the Sun accepted the invitation. As it entered the Cave the Sun said, “Now show me your darkness!” But there was no darkness.
An eyewitness to Jesus, a friend who knew him well and whose testimony withstands the passing of time, shares this with us about God’s Son: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . . The true light, which enlightens every man, was coming into the world” (John 1:4-5, 9). We human beings live in darkness. We survey our experiences and the experiences of others and conclude that all is darkness, vanity, emptiness. Sometimes, in the narrow confines of darkness, we even insist that darkness is all there is, all that can be, all that ever will be. Occasionally, we even attempt to persuade one another to find what joy we can in our darkness since we have no inkling that there may be anything but the darkness we know so well: the disappointment, the anger, the failure, the discouragement that colors our observations and experiences. We will even, from time to time, proclaim the light non-existent. But our rantings in the darkness do not affect the Truth, the true Light that enlightens every man, of whom John wrote.
God, in love, sent his Son, Jesus, into the world with an invitation, “Come and see. Come and see the Light. Come observe and experience God for yourself.” God reveals himself, he pours the Light upon himself for all to see in his word, the Bible, and in his Son, Jesus Christ. Come and see for yourself. Are you not sure if there is truly any Light? God says, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18, ESV). This is an invitation from God himself to engage God through the Bible and find the Light for yourself.
God’s intent in making himself known in the Bible is so that you can know him for yourself, and not merely know what someone else says about him. He knows you and wants you to know him. He wants to shed some light on your life, light that will bring the realities of your life and his love into focus. Come and see. You can come and see for yourself.
That’s the Good News.
Once upon a time, not so long ago as you might be inclined to think at an opening like this, a Cave lived under the ground, as caves have the habit of doing. The Cave had lived its entire life in darkness. One day (not the Cave knew whether it was day or night. You see the Cave was hampered by the fact that its nature is darkness), one day the Cave heard a voice calling to it, “Come up into the light; come and see the sunshine.” The Cave retorted, “I don’t know what you mean; there isn’t anything but darkness.”
Again and again the Cave responded the same way, “I don’t know what you mean; there isn’t anything but darkness.” The Cave had only known darkness for all of its life. Every Cave he knew of in all the world knew only darkness. Based on the Cave’s personal experience and general observation to date, the world was all Cave and darkness. It made no sense to the Cave that someone should call him to sunshine, since he could not, based on his observations and experience, imagine such a thing. Surely there could not exist something that could not be fully embraced by observation and experience.
Still the voice persisted, “Come up into the light; come and see the sunshine. It is beautiful up here. The light reveals all the darkness hides. Come and see. Come and see. Come and see for yourself. Come and see the sunshine.” Finally the Cave ventured forth and was surprised to see light everywhere. In the light the Cave saw revealed what the world really looked like. He saw what had been hidden to him. His observations and experience were expanded to encompass all that was real, and wonderful, and marvelous, all that he had missed in the narrow confines of the darkness that filled his observations and experience.
Filled with wonder at the truth revealed by the light, the Cave looked up at the Sun and asked, “Won’t you come with me now and see the darkness?” The Sun was puzzled and asked, “What is darkness?” The Cave replied, “Come and see.” One day the Sun accepted the invitation. As it entered the Cave the Sun said, “Now show me your darkness!” But there was no darkness.
An eyewitness to Jesus, a friend who knew him well and whose testimony withstands the passing of time, shares this with us about God’s Son: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . . The true light, which enlightens every man, was coming into the world” (John 1:4-5, 9). We human beings live in darkness. We survey our experiences and the experiences of others and conclude that all is darkness, vanity, emptiness. Sometimes, in the narrow confines of darkness, we even insist that darkness is all there is, all that can be, all that ever will be. Occasionally, we even attempt to persuade one another to find what joy we can in our darkness since we have no inkling that there may be anything but the darkness we know so well: the disappointment, the anger, the failure, the discouragement that colors our observations and experiences. We will even, from time to time, proclaim the light non-existent. But our rantings in the darkness do not affect the Truth, the true Light that enlightens every man, of whom John wrote.
God, in love, sent his Son, Jesus, into the world with an invitation, “Come and see. Come and see the Light. Come observe and experience God for yourself.” God reveals himself, he pours the Light upon himself for all to see in his word, the Bible, and in his Son, Jesus Christ. Come and see for yourself. Are you not sure if there is truly any Light? God says, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18, ESV). This is an invitation from God himself to engage God through the Bible and find the Light for yourself.
God’s intent in making himself known in the Bible is so that you can know him for yourself, and not merely know what someone else says about him. He knows you and wants you to know him. He wants to shed some light on your life, light that will bring the realities of your life and his love into focus. Come and see. You can come and see for yourself.
That’s the Good News.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Newspaper Columns
It looks like May will be my month to write once again for our local newspaper. I have missed writing the Good News column far more than I thought I would, so I'm really glad it's my turn. I'll put the text of the column here since some of your won't be reading the Cook County News-Herald anytime soon.
Here's the column for May 1:
Wow! It seems like forever since we've had a chance to just sit down and talk like this. How have you been? I'm sure so much has happened in your life since we met last. I know I've been busy.
Winter wasn't too bad this year. Yeah, not too much snow, and I don't remember that we had so many days of below zero temperatures either. I suppose winter weather in northeast Minnesota is a little like what I've heard about having a baby: that the pain is intense during delivery but soon forgotten in the aftermath of new life. Not having had that experience personally, I can only assume there is some truth there.
Have you heard any good jokes lately? Carson Haring sent me one the other day and Bobbie B emails me some from time to time. Oh, I'd love to share them with you, but that would be like a long time county resident revealing their most successful fishing hole or blueberry patch. You just have to get out there and find your own. I know you understand.
What can I tell you, then? Well . . . let me see. Christmas came and went. The local Salvation Army Service Unit got involved in assisting some friends and neighbors and I helped with that. Cornerstone invited the local community to Easter dinner. Had 110 people come and eat with us. Really nice folks, too. I met some I had not met before. Linda and I went to a conference in Louisville, Kentucky after Easter. It was called "Together for the Gospel." Seven thousand pastors. You should have heard them sing!
What did I like best? Being in the south was good. Okay, it was great. Redbud and dogwood blooming. Sunshine. Eighty degrees with a light breeze. Sweet tea. (Why tea is seasonal on the North Shore I believe I will never understand.) Oh, you meant about the conference. That's easy. Eight excellent messages on the validity and necessity of an uncorrupted gospel in our day from wise and brilliant men through whom God spoke.
The gospel? Surely you know what the gospel is; the good news about Jesus. Never heard of it, you say. Well here it is in a nutshell. God created human beings to enjoy God's glory and love in a face to face relationship that would be their deepest joy forever, but those human beings declined God's offer. They disobeyed God. They sinned. Their sin separated them from God with nary a hope of ever getting back into His good graces. They couldn't help themselves. They were sunk, and all their children after them were sinners and separated from God, subject to the penalty of death, and without hope in the world.
Even though God was perfectly just and righteous in condemning their sin, God loved human beings. He loves you and he loves me, and he does not want us to suffer the penalty of eternal separation from him. He wants us folks to know his love, his goodness, his mercy and his glory, so he did the most amazing thing. God came into the world himself. He took on flesh. God became a man, the man Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the life we all should have lived but couldn't. Jesus was innocent, sinless and because he was God, he was eternally innocent and sinless. Because he was God he could offer his innocent and sinless life in exchange for all of us. He
could take the penalty of death for every sinner that ever did or ever will live, including the penalty for your sins and mine. And that is just what he did. Jesus died on the cross giving his life in death in exchange for us.
Now, when we believe in Jesus and trust our lives to him in faith, God forgives our sin on account of Jesus. He changes our heart and our inclination toward sin, and he gives us eternal life with Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, God reinstates the relationship we declined by our sin. We no longer have to be afraid of what God thinks of us, because now we know that He loves us. He sent Jesus to die in our place. No greater love has any man than this, that he lays down his life for his friend. Jesus laid down his life for us as a clear expression of God's love for us.
Yes! God loves you. Yes. Even though you did that. Yes, even though you think that way sometimes. Yep, even then. Yes. Listen, there is no sin, no guilt, no shame you can mention, nothing you can confess in the past or the present that God doesn't already know about and has already decided about. He loves you. Jesus died for you before you did any of those things. He loved you before you ever gave him a reason. He loves you now. He loves you always.
That's the Good News.
Here's the column for May 1:
Wow! It seems like forever since we've had a chance to just sit down and talk like this. How have you been? I'm sure so much has happened in your life since we met last. I know I've been busy.
Winter wasn't too bad this year. Yeah, not too much snow, and I don't remember that we had so many days of below zero temperatures either. I suppose winter weather in northeast Minnesota is a little like what I've heard about having a baby: that the pain is intense during delivery but soon forgotten in the aftermath of new life. Not having had that experience personally, I can only assume there is some truth there.
Have you heard any good jokes lately? Carson Haring sent me one the other day and Bobbie B emails me some from time to time. Oh, I'd love to share them with you, but that would be like a long time county resident revealing their most successful fishing hole or blueberry patch. You just have to get out there and find your own. I know you understand.
What can I tell you, then? Well . . . let me see. Christmas came and went. The local Salvation Army Service Unit got involved in assisting some friends and neighbors and I helped with that. Cornerstone invited the local community to Easter dinner. Had 110 people come and eat with us. Really nice folks, too. I met some I had not met before. Linda and I went to a conference in Louisville, Kentucky after Easter. It was called "Together for the Gospel." Seven thousand pastors. You should have heard them sing!
What did I like best? Being in the south was good. Okay, it was great. Redbud and dogwood blooming. Sunshine. Eighty degrees with a light breeze. Sweet tea. (Why tea is seasonal on the North Shore I believe I will never understand.) Oh, you meant about the conference. That's easy. Eight excellent messages on the validity and necessity of an uncorrupted gospel in our day from wise and brilliant men through whom God spoke.
The gospel? Surely you know what the gospel is; the good news about Jesus. Never heard of it, you say. Well here it is in a nutshell. God created human beings to enjoy God's glory and love in a face to face relationship that would be their deepest joy forever, but those human beings declined God's offer. They disobeyed God. They sinned. Their sin separated them from God with nary a hope of ever getting back into His good graces. They couldn't help themselves. They were sunk, and all their children after them were sinners and separated from God, subject to the penalty of death, and without hope in the world.
Even though God was perfectly just and righteous in condemning their sin, God loved human beings. He loves you and he loves me, and he does not want us to suffer the penalty of eternal separation from him. He wants us folks to know his love, his goodness, his mercy and his glory, so he did the most amazing thing. God came into the world himself. He took on flesh. God became a man, the man Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the life we all should have lived but couldn't. Jesus was innocent, sinless and because he was God, he was eternally innocent and sinless. Because he was God he could offer his innocent and sinless life in exchange for all of us. He
could take the penalty of death for every sinner that ever did or ever will live, including the penalty for your sins and mine. And that is just what he did. Jesus died on the cross giving his life in death in exchange for us.
Now, when we believe in Jesus and trust our lives to him in faith, God forgives our sin on account of Jesus. He changes our heart and our inclination toward sin, and he gives us eternal life with Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, God reinstates the relationship we declined by our sin. We no longer have to be afraid of what God thinks of us, because now we know that He loves us. He sent Jesus to die in our place. No greater love has any man than this, that he lays down his life for his friend. Jesus laid down his life for us as a clear expression of God's love for us.
Yes! God loves you. Yes. Even though you did that. Yes, even though you think that way sometimes. Yep, even then. Yes. Listen, there is no sin, no guilt, no shame you can mention, nothing you can confess in the past or the present that God doesn't already know about and has already decided about. He loves you. Jesus died for you before you did any of those things. He loved you before you ever gave him a reason. He loves you now. He loves you always.
That's the Good News.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Behind Deceit
My Bible software is incredibly legalistic. I had no idea. I started using the software's "Read the Bible Through in a Year" function. I figured, new software, new year, I don't mind starting over, so sure, I'll give it a try. It sets out each day's reading next to a selection box. Below the day's reading are the next two days' readings, also with selection boxes. When you've read the listed passages you check the selection box and the next day's reading moves to the head of the list. It's all good.
Until you miss a day. Yes, sometimes I miss a day. Sometimes I have to read other things. Sometimes the telephone rings, like it did today and I had to get involved in someone else's life for a while. It happens. But not for my Bible software. If you miss a day, when next you open the software, there's a picture of the cover of your default Bible version with a big red banner across the front that reads, "BEHIND." I don't know whether it's a statement of condition or a personal accusation, but I can tell you, I don't like it, not one bit. Imagine getting bullied into reading your Bible regularly by a computer Bible software program. I think if it were so smart it would just read it for me. It's supposed to be helpful and save me time, right?
Well, of course, just to show them, I stopped getting "BEHIND." In fact, I read forward four days. So there! The reading is in Genesis. I've read it many, many times, but this time I'm using the Inductive Bible Study (www.precept.org) highlights that are included in the software. I'm reading slower, making observations along the way, and gleaning a great deal of really amazing truth. For instance, Abraham deceived both Pharaoh and Abimelech. Sarah deceived Hagar. Jacob deceived Isaac . . . and Esau . . . and Laban (who deceived Jacob). . . and Laban again . . . and Esau again. Simeon and Levi deceived Shechem over Dinah. Joseph's brother's deceived Jacob. Potiphar's wife deceived her husband and her household over Joseph. Joseph temporarily deceives his brothers. And of course, the entire book starts with the Serpent deceiving Eve and Cain deceiving Abel. If you didn't know better you would think that every human being after Adam was a son of a deceiver.
But that's the point, isn't it? Generation after generation, situation after situation, circumstance upon circumstance, selfishness and deceit reign in the human heart. Even the most faithful have their moments of faithlessness when, rather than trusting God implicitly to keep His promise, they attempt to gain or protect God's blessing through their own efforts, which often amounts to deceit. I read the stories of the lives and I come away asking, "Is no one faithful?"
Throughout this entire first book of Moses, there is one who is always faithful, who makes a promise and keeps it, who never sacrifices his integrity for expediency: God (Elohim), the LORD (Yahweh), God Almighty (El-shaddai). "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring," He said. "He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal," He said.
"I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing," He promised Abram. "I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Through every scene of deceit in the book of Genesis, God, though not always mentioned, consistently works in the lives of deceitful men to accomplish His promise. Not once is He stymied. Not once does His plan fail. Even though we are faithless, He remains faithful.
It doesn't take some legalistic, hard nosed Bible software to see what's happening here. God's plan for the world, God's plan for your country, God's plan for your church, God's plan for your family, God's plan for you moves forward without obstacle as He uses even the deceitful and faithless to accomplish His goals. So why rely on ourselves? Why trust in deceit when God will have His way? Wouldn't it simply be easier to trust God and wait for Him to keep His promise, since that's what He's going to do anyway?
By the way, I really love my Bible software. I've been using it since 1991. Check out the new version at www.logos.com.
Until you miss a day. Yes, sometimes I miss a day. Sometimes I have to read other things. Sometimes the telephone rings, like it did today and I had to get involved in someone else's life for a while. It happens. But not for my Bible software. If you miss a day, when next you open the software, there's a picture of the cover of your default Bible version with a big red banner across the front that reads, "BEHIND." I don't know whether it's a statement of condition or a personal accusation, but I can tell you, I don't like it, not one bit. Imagine getting bullied into reading your Bible regularly by a computer Bible software program. I think if it were so smart it would just read it for me. It's supposed to be helpful and save me time, right?
Well, of course, just to show them, I stopped getting "BEHIND." In fact, I read forward four days. So there! The reading is in Genesis. I've read it many, many times, but this time I'm using the Inductive Bible Study (www.precept.org) highlights that are included in the software. I'm reading slower, making observations along the way, and gleaning a great deal of really amazing truth. For instance, Abraham deceived both Pharaoh and Abimelech. Sarah deceived Hagar. Jacob deceived Isaac . . . and Esau . . . and Laban (who deceived Jacob). . . and Laban again . . . and Esau again. Simeon and Levi deceived Shechem over Dinah. Joseph's brother's deceived Jacob. Potiphar's wife deceived her husband and her household over Joseph. Joseph temporarily deceives his brothers. And of course, the entire book starts with the Serpent deceiving Eve and Cain deceiving Abel. If you didn't know better you would think that every human being after Adam was a son of a deceiver.
But that's the point, isn't it? Generation after generation, situation after situation, circumstance upon circumstance, selfishness and deceit reign in the human heart. Even the most faithful have their moments of faithlessness when, rather than trusting God implicitly to keep His promise, they attempt to gain or protect God's blessing through their own efforts, which often amounts to deceit. I read the stories of the lives and I come away asking, "Is no one faithful?"
Throughout this entire first book of Moses, there is one who is always faithful, who makes a promise and keeps it, who never sacrifices his integrity for expediency: God (Elohim), the LORD (Yahweh), God Almighty (El-shaddai). "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring," He said. "He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal," He said.
"I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing," He promised Abram. "I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Through every scene of deceit in the book of Genesis, God, though not always mentioned, consistently works in the lives of deceitful men to accomplish His promise. Not once is He stymied. Not once does His plan fail. Even though we are faithless, He remains faithful.
It doesn't take some legalistic, hard nosed Bible software to see what's happening here. God's plan for the world, God's plan for your country, God's plan for your church, God's plan for your family, God's plan for you moves forward without obstacle as He uses even the deceitful and faithless to accomplish His goals. So why rely on ourselves? Why trust in deceit when God will have His way? Wouldn't it simply be easier to trust God and wait for Him to keep His promise, since that's what He's going to do anyway?
By the way, I really love my Bible software. I've been using it since 1991. Check out the new version at www.logos.com.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Next Guy In Line
They tried Jesus. Then they led him away to be crucified. They led him away. They led him away.
Strange that it should say they led him away, when typically the prisoner headed the procession, guarded on each side by soldiers and followed by those seeking "justice" in the prisoners death. He led them to Calvary even as they led him to death. Here's this death procession with Jesus in the lead, but who is the next guy in line?
I don't mean the other two criminals that were led out to be crucified with him. I mean who walked immediately behind him; who followed in his footsteps; who kept pace with his tortured journey to the cross? Was it one of the disciples who had pledged their lives to him? Was it one of the women who had followed him, oftentimes funding the Rabbi's travels? Was it a family member? A brother? His mother? A colleague? A friend?
No. The next guy in line was a complete stranger who happened to be coming into the city from the country as Jesus was leaving the city for the cross. The next guy in line, who fell in step with Jesus, was the guy pulled from the crowd to carry the cross. His name was Simon. He was from Cyrene. He had two sons. He was the next guy in line.
As the next guy in line he had to witness first hand the inglorious treatment Jesus received. He had to stifle any sense of justice or compassion that might have welled up from within the image of God that remained in him. He had one job, one task, one purpose: carry the cross. He could not intervene, all he could do was keep step and carry. All he could do was follow as closely as possible so that Jesus could carry out what He had come to do. All he could do was hang on to the cross and walk the walk with Jesus.
We don't know what happened to Simon after he carried the cross for Jesus. We do know that men with the same names as his sons are mentioned in some of Paul's letters. We can speculate that the experience of being the next guy in line made an impact on Simon that he passed along to his sons. All we really know is that Simon carried the cross when no one else would.
What a legacy! What a testimony! What a privilege to be the next guy in line! Christian, where are you in the line that follows Jesus today? I know where I want to be . . . the next guy in line having only one purpose to follow Jesus and carry the cross.
Strange that it should say they led him away, when typically the prisoner headed the procession, guarded on each side by soldiers and followed by those seeking "justice" in the prisoners death. He led them to Calvary even as they led him to death. Here's this death procession with Jesus in the lead, but who is the next guy in line?
I don't mean the other two criminals that were led out to be crucified with him. I mean who walked immediately behind him; who followed in his footsteps; who kept pace with his tortured journey to the cross? Was it one of the disciples who had pledged their lives to him? Was it one of the women who had followed him, oftentimes funding the Rabbi's travels? Was it a family member? A brother? His mother? A colleague? A friend?
No. The next guy in line was a complete stranger who happened to be coming into the city from the country as Jesus was leaving the city for the cross. The next guy in line, who fell in step with Jesus, was the guy pulled from the crowd to carry the cross. His name was Simon. He was from Cyrene. He had two sons. He was the next guy in line.
As the next guy in line he had to witness first hand the inglorious treatment Jesus received. He had to stifle any sense of justice or compassion that might have welled up from within the image of God that remained in him. He had one job, one task, one purpose: carry the cross. He could not intervene, all he could do was keep step and carry. All he could do was follow as closely as possible so that Jesus could carry out what He had come to do. All he could do was hang on to the cross and walk the walk with Jesus.
We don't know what happened to Simon after he carried the cross for Jesus. We do know that men with the same names as his sons are mentioned in some of Paul's letters. We can speculate that the experience of being the next guy in line made an impact on Simon that he passed along to his sons. All we really know is that Simon carried the cross when no one else would.
What a legacy! What a testimony! What a privilege to be the next guy in line! Christian, where are you in the line that follows Jesus today? I know where I want to be . . . the next guy in line having only one purpose to follow Jesus and carry the cross.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Pastor's Conference
The Desiring God Conference for Pastors begins this evening and continues until Wednesday afternoon. I've attended this conference off and on for fifteen years. I'm in Minneapolis now getting ready for this year's conference:The Pastor, the People, and the Pursuit of Joy: The Apostolic Aim of Pastoral Ministry.
Thousands of pastors will be here. They'll sing together, pray together, worship together, learn together, and get charged up together. They will also drink coffee together, laugh together, cry together, and buy books together.
May I ask you to do something for me, in relation to this conference, please? Would you pray for us? Would you pray for the ever present Christ to pour out His Spirit on His servants? Would you pray that "times of refreshing" would come upon these men for God's glory and their joy? The author of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 13 verse 17 that a spiritually vital pastor is good for all of us. Would you ask God to revitalize each and every one of us at the DG conference? And then, would you go a step further, please? Would you take twice as much time and pray for YOUR pastor? Would you ask God to meet with him (or her) in a powerful, soul drenching, spirit cleansing, wound healing, energy filling way? Would you plead with God to be more merciful and present in your pastor's life than even you think he deserves? Would you do that today? Please?
God answers the faith-filled and faithful prayers of his people. I can hardly wait to see what God does in answer to your prayers today!
Thousands of pastors will be here. They'll sing together, pray together, worship together, learn together, and get charged up together. They will also drink coffee together, laugh together, cry together, and buy books together.
May I ask you to do something for me, in relation to this conference, please? Would you pray for us? Would you pray for the ever present Christ to pour out His Spirit on His servants? Would you pray that "times of refreshing" would come upon these men for God's glory and their joy? The author of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 13 verse 17 that a spiritually vital pastor is good for all of us. Would you ask God to revitalize each and every one of us at the DG conference? And then, would you go a step further, please? Would you take twice as much time and pray for YOUR pastor? Would you ask God to meet with him (or her) in a powerful, soul drenching, spirit cleansing, wound healing, energy filling way? Would you plead with God to be more merciful and present in your pastor's life than even you think he deserves? Would you do that today? Please?
God answers the faith-filled and faithful prayers of his people. I can hardly wait to see what God does in answer to your prayers today!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Not Easy, But Simple
Some Thursday mornings are better than others. Those are the mornings when the day planner page is blank until afternoon, when the torrent of activity remains silent, when for a few hours I can sit quietly with the Word and listen. I love mornings like this.
I've started reading through the book of Acts this week. As I read I underline and make notes about thoughts and ideas I want to spend more time with. I've noted so far how often people are amazed at the boldness and power and testimony of the apostles and the new Christians. I've marked that twice in the opening chapters the followers of Jesus are characterized as having "everything in common," a reference to their gracious, selfless generosity.
I've also noted the uncompromising assertions in this book, assertions made boldly and without apology: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus."
"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
In a pluralistic society such as ours that worships tolerance and diversity, these words must fall hard on the heart. We have no access to God, to heaven, to blessing, to redemption except through Jesus Christ and then only through personal repentance and faith in Him. One path. No other. No climbing over the back fence. No entry disguised as someone else. Only by acknowledging our personal culpability and turning away from it to Jesus can we make peace with God and enjoy forever what he has for us.
Really takes a stab at our self-sufficiency, doesn't it? Knocks the props out from under self determination. The whole idea changes the nature of the universe from an individual perspective, since now the universe revolves around Jesus and not our individual self-interest.
Why does the Bible have to be so straightforward and narrow? I can think of at least one reason. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." God's design for us is freedom. God intends for any willing human being to experience freedom from guilt, shame, depravity, and despair (among other things.) God wants us free to know peace and joy, love and holiness, rest and fulfillment. But only when we set down the chains that bind us can we be truly free. And only when we allow God to unbind us will those chains be taken away. The chains are spiritual and they can only be removed by one who is Spirit. And though he makes arrangement for their removal, God will not take away the chains we have come to love and live with until our heart rejects those chains for the falsehood they really are.
So God says to us, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus." It is the same as saying, "Accept the provision I have made for the removal of your chains and be free." God in Christ destroys the power of the chains to keep our spirit in bondage. Through faith in Christ we accept the invitation to freedom. Through repentance we step out of those chains into freedom. There is no other way, and I am glad because it greatly reduces the need to sort through the religions and philosophies of man to find something that works.
One way to freedom. Simple. Not easy, but simple.
I've started reading through the book of Acts this week. As I read I underline and make notes about thoughts and ideas I want to spend more time with. I've noted so far how often people are amazed at the boldness and power and testimony of the apostles and the new Christians. I've marked that twice in the opening chapters the followers of Jesus are characterized as having "everything in common," a reference to their gracious, selfless generosity.
I've also noted the uncompromising assertions in this book, assertions made boldly and without apology: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus."
"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
In a pluralistic society such as ours that worships tolerance and diversity, these words must fall hard on the heart. We have no access to God, to heaven, to blessing, to redemption except through Jesus Christ and then only through personal repentance and faith in Him. One path. No other. No climbing over the back fence. No entry disguised as someone else. Only by acknowledging our personal culpability and turning away from it to Jesus can we make peace with God and enjoy forever what he has for us.
Really takes a stab at our self-sufficiency, doesn't it? Knocks the props out from under self determination. The whole idea changes the nature of the universe from an individual perspective, since now the universe revolves around Jesus and not our individual self-interest.
Why does the Bible have to be so straightforward and narrow? I can think of at least one reason. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." God's design for us is freedom. God intends for any willing human being to experience freedom from guilt, shame, depravity, and despair (among other things.) God wants us free to know peace and joy, love and holiness, rest and fulfillment. But only when we set down the chains that bind us can we be truly free. And only when we allow God to unbind us will those chains be taken away. The chains are spiritual and they can only be removed by one who is Spirit. And though he makes arrangement for their removal, God will not take away the chains we have come to love and live with until our heart rejects those chains for the falsehood they really are.
So God says to us, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus." It is the same as saying, "Accept the provision I have made for the removal of your chains and be free." God in Christ destroys the power of the chains to keep our spirit in bondage. Through faith in Christ we accept the invitation to freedom. Through repentance we step out of those chains into freedom. There is no other way, and I am glad because it greatly reduces the need to sort through the religions and philosophies of man to find something that works.
One way to freedom. Simple. Not easy, but simple.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
"If I've Told You Once . . ."
Did your momma ever say to you, with a loud voice and a raised eyebrow, "What did I tell you?" Usually I heard that line at a moment when I was doing something I really, really enjoyed but obviously was not supposed to be enjoying. I also, usually, knew exactly which lecture to which she was referring and exactly what behavior she was expecting. Funny how the standard answer was, "I don't know? About what?" Unlike my wife, my mother never said, "You know about what and if you don't know I'm not going to tell you." No, mom would always make sure I knew exactly why the forthcoming act of discipline was entirely justified. "If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times . . . (I've heard that since the recession the phase is now "a thousand times.")
There are some things that need to be stated repeatedly in order for us to finally align our thinking and behavior with what we are being told for our good. Jesus, and the rest of the Bible for that matter, repeatedly instruct us to listen, pay attention, take heed, do whatever it is we're being told. It reminds me of a story about an old preacher and the most influential sermon series he ever preached.
The old preacher stood up one day at the pulpit to begin his sermon. The worship choir had prepared the people well. The offering had been taken and once again the people had expressed their thanksgiving for God's provision by giving generously and graciously. The Albrights were smiling, and the Lincolns were happy, and the Mayhughs had that look of simple contentment that made them so likeable. Each family was in its place. Exactly where they always sat. Close enough to be considered friendly but far enough apart throughout the sanctuary to maintain their unique self-identity.
The pastor stood for a moment, hands to the side of the old rubbed wood desk from which he had delivered God's word so many times through the years. He looked out over the congregation, smiled, and said, “Love one another.” Then, without hesitating, he turned and took the several steps back to his chair on the platform and sat down. The organ began the postlude. The people, perplexed, stood, gathered their things and made their way to the foyer, dismissed without another word.
The next week the old man again sat with a calm smile on his face through the other parts of the worship service until it came time for the message. On this day he rose from his chair, laid his Bible open on the pulpit, drew a deep breath, fixed his gaze on one section of the congregation, and said, “Love one another!” Then, again, he sat down and the service was dismissed. Needless to say there was a furor of questions and comments among the congregation, who obviously expected a great deal more sermon for the money they were paying their pastor.
The third Sunday came and again, just as he had the two Sunday’s before, the elderly pastor stood to preach, and with great passion and emotion he instructed his people, “Love one another.”
That was almost more than the deacons could handle. People were asking if the man had finally lost his marbles. Phone lines were clogged with calls, and the rumor mill, oh my, the assumptions and conclusions it produced were legendary. Then came the fourth Sunday and the same message. The Ladies’ Circle wondered if it weren’t time to for a new pastor. The Men’s Coffee Break thought they ought to call in the bishop. The Sunday school teachers union meeting couldn’t help but discuss the negative impact such pastoral conduct might have on the impressionable children. And the outreach committee, they just sat down by the riverside and wept.
The fifth Sunday arrived bright and shining and clear. Word had gotten around about the tizzy going on at the church and lots of folks were there, even people who had never attended the church before. Rumor had it there was going to be a “holy confrontation of speaking the truth in love” if that preacher didn’t do a better job that morning. It was sure to be a service worth attending.
The hymn singing wasn’t quite as loud as usual, and it seemed like no one really wanted to give much time to the prayer requests. Sister Edna increased the tempo of the offertory so much the ushers near about had to run down the aisle to keep up. Everyone wanted to get to the sermon. Through it all, the pastor retained his seat on the platform, mostly with his eyes closed and a calm, peaceful smile on his face.
The last notes of the offertory ended bluntly as Sister Edna hopped off the organ bench and took her seat in the family row where her family had sat in that church for three generations. Edna liked their row because they sat just far enough away from old man Wilson that they wouldn't hear him snort as he fell asleep midway through the message each week.
The old pastor stood. He walked slowly to the pulpit. He set his hands in front of him and bowed his head. The congregation held its breathe. They could not hear the words of his prayer, but those in the closest rows (which were now filled in anticipation of the "confrontation") could see the impassioned look on his face as his lips moved in silent supplication. The old man raised his eyes from his prayer, scanned the capacity crowd and said, “Love one another.” He paused and drew his breath.
"Love one another." He did not raise his voice. He did not flail his arms. he did not pound his fist upon the desk. He simply paused and then he said it again.
"Love one another." He paused once more. You could tell he was done but this time he did not return to his seat. His eyes remained upon the people sitting before him. He paused and he waited.
The people were stunned. He'd done it again. It was too much for one man in the third row. He stood so fast to his feet it made the people around him feel faint. “Pastor,” he shouted loud enough for the entire church to hear. “This is unacceptable!” The “amens” started in the next row back. “For five weeks we’ve come faithfully to church now.” A few more supportive interjections sounded from the back. “We come expecting to hear something profound and inspiring and helpful and practical.” The congregation was fully committed to this brother’s words by this point, some standing and clapping their hands in support. “We pay you and we come here for you to tell us how to live out our lives of faith and how to please God and how to be good Christians and this is all you have to say week after week, ‘Love one another?’”
Silence.
He said it. Perhaps it was the tenor of his voice, or the passion of his plea, or the fact that he was standing three rows back and not in the pulpit, but suddenly everyone in the house knew the man had said more than needed to be said. No. No. They knew he had said exactly what needed to be said. They knew he had put in their language of their hearts what the pastor had been preaching all along. The realization spread like an electric hum through the congregation as each one finally got the message. The man standing in the third row, his face flush from the emotion of his speech, suddenly felt quite uncomfortable standing there all alone, facing the pastor, whose smile of confidence never wavered. He withered and sank into his own pew.
“Thank you, my dear brother. I knew the Spirit would use someone and you would all get the message. Now that you’ve gotten it, go and do it. And when you have done it, I’ll quit preachin’ it. Love one another.”
Why does God keep saying the same thing over and over in his word? Because he’s giving us the opportunity to “get it” and once we’ve got it, to do it, and when we’ve finally done it, then he’ll be able to stop preachin’ it.
There are some things that need to be stated repeatedly in order for us to finally align our thinking and behavior with what we are being told for our good. Jesus, and the rest of the Bible for that matter, repeatedly instruct us to listen, pay attention, take heed, do whatever it is we're being told. It reminds me of a story about an old preacher and the most influential sermon series he ever preached.
The old preacher stood up one day at the pulpit to begin his sermon. The worship choir had prepared the people well. The offering had been taken and once again the people had expressed their thanksgiving for God's provision by giving generously and graciously. The Albrights were smiling, and the Lincolns were happy, and the Mayhughs had that look of simple contentment that made them so likeable. Each family was in its place. Exactly where they always sat. Close enough to be considered friendly but far enough apart throughout the sanctuary to maintain their unique self-identity.
The pastor stood for a moment, hands to the side of the old rubbed wood desk from which he had delivered God's word so many times through the years. He looked out over the congregation, smiled, and said, “Love one another.” Then, without hesitating, he turned and took the several steps back to his chair on the platform and sat down. The organ began the postlude. The people, perplexed, stood, gathered their things and made their way to the foyer, dismissed without another word.
The next week the old man again sat with a calm smile on his face through the other parts of the worship service until it came time for the message. On this day he rose from his chair, laid his Bible open on the pulpit, drew a deep breath, fixed his gaze on one section of the congregation, and said, “Love one another!” Then, again, he sat down and the service was dismissed. Needless to say there was a furor of questions and comments among the congregation, who obviously expected a great deal more sermon for the money they were paying their pastor.
The third Sunday came and again, just as he had the two Sunday’s before, the elderly pastor stood to preach, and with great passion and emotion he instructed his people, “Love one another.”
That was almost more than the deacons could handle. People were asking if the man had finally lost his marbles. Phone lines were clogged with calls, and the rumor mill, oh my, the assumptions and conclusions it produced were legendary. Then came the fourth Sunday and the same message. The Ladies’ Circle wondered if it weren’t time to for a new pastor. The Men’s Coffee Break thought they ought to call in the bishop. The Sunday school teachers union meeting couldn’t help but discuss the negative impact such pastoral conduct might have on the impressionable children. And the outreach committee, they just sat down by the riverside and wept.
The fifth Sunday arrived bright and shining and clear. Word had gotten around about the tizzy going on at the church and lots of folks were there, even people who had never attended the church before. Rumor had it there was going to be a “holy confrontation of speaking the truth in love” if that preacher didn’t do a better job that morning. It was sure to be a service worth attending.
The hymn singing wasn’t quite as loud as usual, and it seemed like no one really wanted to give much time to the prayer requests. Sister Edna increased the tempo of the offertory so much the ushers near about had to run down the aisle to keep up. Everyone wanted to get to the sermon. Through it all, the pastor retained his seat on the platform, mostly with his eyes closed and a calm, peaceful smile on his face.
The last notes of the offertory ended bluntly as Sister Edna hopped off the organ bench and took her seat in the family row where her family had sat in that church for three generations. Edna liked their row because they sat just far enough away from old man Wilson that they wouldn't hear him snort as he fell asleep midway through the message each week.
The old pastor stood. He walked slowly to the pulpit. He set his hands in front of him and bowed his head. The congregation held its breathe. They could not hear the words of his prayer, but those in the closest rows (which were now filled in anticipation of the "confrontation") could see the impassioned look on his face as his lips moved in silent supplication. The old man raised his eyes from his prayer, scanned the capacity crowd and said, “Love one another.” He paused and drew his breath.
"Love one another." He did not raise his voice. He did not flail his arms. he did not pound his fist upon the desk. He simply paused and then he said it again.
"Love one another." He paused once more. You could tell he was done but this time he did not return to his seat. His eyes remained upon the people sitting before him. He paused and he waited.
The people were stunned. He'd done it again. It was too much for one man in the third row. He stood so fast to his feet it made the people around him feel faint. “Pastor,” he shouted loud enough for the entire church to hear. “This is unacceptable!” The “amens” started in the next row back. “For five weeks we’ve come faithfully to church now.” A few more supportive interjections sounded from the back. “We come expecting to hear something profound and inspiring and helpful and practical.” The congregation was fully committed to this brother’s words by this point, some standing and clapping their hands in support. “We pay you and we come here for you to tell us how to live out our lives of faith and how to please God and how to be good Christians and this is all you have to say week after week, ‘Love one another?’”
Silence.
He said it. Perhaps it was the tenor of his voice, or the passion of his plea, or the fact that he was standing three rows back and not in the pulpit, but suddenly everyone in the house knew the man had said more than needed to be said. No. No. They knew he had said exactly what needed to be said. They knew he had put in their language of their hearts what the pastor had been preaching all along. The realization spread like an electric hum through the congregation as each one finally got the message. The man standing in the third row, his face flush from the emotion of his speech, suddenly felt quite uncomfortable standing there all alone, facing the pastor, whose smile of confidence never wavered. He withered and sank into his own pew.
“Thank you, my dear brother. I knew the Spirit would use someone and you would all get the message. Now that you’ve gotten it, go and do it. And when you have done it, I’ll quit preachin’ it. Love one another.”
Why does God keep saying the same thing over and over in his word? Because he’s giving us the opportunity to “get it” and once we’ve got it, to do it, and when we’ve finally done it, then he’ll be able to stop preachin’ it.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Odd Providence of an Earthquake
This coming Sunday, Lord willing, I'll be preaching one of the last passages from the book of Hebrews that we are going to consider in our fourteen month exposition of the book. I have from time to time, as I've prepared sermons throughout this book, reviewed John Piper's sermons on the same book. Yesterday I sat down to study in the late afternoon and decided to look on John's website (www.desiringgod.org) and read his sermon on the same passage I'm going to be preaching. I realized very quickly that the context in which John wrote his sermon had nothing current to do with my situation. He wrote in 1997 just a few days after the earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area that collapsed a bridge. The earthquake and the devastation it caused provided the backdrop for his message the following Sunday but it had little relevance for where I thought we might be headed in Grand Marais, MN in January 2010. So I finished browsing the sermon then set it aside and moved on to other things.
Then, this morning, I woke up to the news of the earthquake in Haiti. I've been in Haiti. Did a six week ministry there in 1984. Had dinner at a restaurant in Petionville. Took pictures of the Presidential Palace. Watched people washing their clothes in the sewage ditch that runs through the center of the city. Visited a hospital. Listened to children reciting their lessons in a school. I've spent today visiting the various internet news outlets trying to get a better look into the very first non-US site God ever allowed me to minister in His name.
A few minutes ago I made the mental connection between Piper's sermon and it's 1997 context and the fact that I'm preaching the same passage and there, in the background, is a devastating, children killing, life-shattering, mortality enhancing earthquake. The passage is Hebrews 12:18-29. The verse of greatest relevance is verse 28: "Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, (29) for our God is a consuming fire."
I'm not ready yet to preach these verses, but I thought you might benefit from reading John Piper's sermon on Hebrews 12:28 written in the aftermath of an earthquake. Here's the link: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/sermons/byscripture/26/695_A_Kingdom_That_Cannot_Be_Shaken. I think you can either read it or watch John preach this message. I believe it us more than well worth the time.
Then, this morning, I woke up to the news of the earthquake in Haiti. I've been in Haiti. Did a six week ministry there in 1984. Had dinner at a restaurant in Petionville. Took pictures of the Presidential Palace. Watched people washing their clothes in the sewage ditch that runs through the center of the city. Visited a hospital. Listened to children reciting their lessons in a school. I've spent today visiting the various internet news outlets trying to get a better look into the very first non-US site God ever allowed me to minister in His name.
A few minutes ago I made the mental connection between Piper's sermon and it's 1997 context and the fact that I'm preaching the same passage and there, in the background, is a devastating, children killing, life-shattering, mortality enhancing earthquake. The passage is Hebrews 12:18-29. The verse of greatest relevance is verse 28: "Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, (29) for our God is a consuming fire."
I'm not ready yet to preach these verses, but I thought you might benefit from reading John Piper's sermon on Hebrews 12:28 written in the aftermath of an earthquake. Here's the link: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/sermons/byscripture/26/695_A_Kingdom_That_Cannot_Be_Shaken. I think you can either read it or watch John preach this message. I believe it us more than well worth the time.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Blogging
I keep reading articles about how to survive in the blogosphere. Authors with a gazillion followers share lists of how to gain a gazillion followers yourself and maybe even make a little money on the side through advertising.
Some of the suggestions have been helpful, like: decide what the point of your blog is and who it will be directed to. I like that one. The point will be whatever point I want to make and I'll direct it to whomever wants to listen. (Which, by the way, I recognize is NOT the point of the aforementioned suggestion.)
I haven't seen this suggestion yet, "Don't blog until you have something to say." I think that would be a good one. I seem to relate to that idea intuitively. I thought blogging would be something I would do weekly. Instead I do it weakly. Sometimes, I don't have anything to say. Sometimes, I have lots and lots to say, but it's not for other people to hear. Sometimes I have things to say that you don't want to hear (trust me on this.)
So here I am today. I just read Joel's blog where he mentioned (or at least implied) that he had not blogged since last April. I love Joel. When he writes, he has something to say. He wrote about how bugs, dragonflies in particular, hatching dragonflies specifically, remind him that all life in this world is dependent on death for life, but how Jesus broke the cycle and now life is dependent on Life once again for life. (My translation.) I just love this.
So here I am today. What do I have to say? Just this: God knows you. He knows where you are in life. He knows what your strengths are and he knows what your weaknesses are. He knows your sins, your guilt, your secret shame that no one else knows. He knows your hopes, your dreams, your ideals. He knows what makes you tick and what gives you fits. God knows your mind, your heart, your habits, and your hangups. God knows your past, yep, every single detail. He remembers stuff you've long ago forgotten. He knows your present. He knows you in the now, and he knows you in the later.
Name something you think God doesn't know about you. Go ahead, name something. Yessir, he knows. Come on, name something, anything you think is a mystery to God. Nothing's a mystery to the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. That's what those names for God are all about. He knows it all.
That knowledge, by the way, does not just make God real smart. It makes him really, really dangerous! How do you know what he might do with the knowledge he has? How do you know how he will respond to what he knows about you as he deals with you? Scary thought, huh!
God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." He loves us above and beyond, and bigger, and better, and wider, and longer, and taller, and higher than all he knows about us. God does not limit himself to what he knows about us in his dealings with us, he relies upon what he knows about himself, that he is love and he loves us with himself in spite of our selfs.
Yes, God will deal with us according to who we are. If we remain sinners bent on rebellion and self-indulgence, then, in love, he will deal with us accordingly. But if, by faith, we accept his evaluation of us, and leave our sin, our wickedness, our spiritual weakness and doubt at the cross where Jesus died for us, then he will deal with us, in love, as beloved children.
When I think about what God knows about me, I, like you, have cause to fear, but I am not afraid. I know that I am loved despite what God knows about me. I know that he chooses to love me first and foremost and forever. I know that if you will let him, he will love you the same way.
And I think like Joel does. The incomparable love of God in Christ Jesus is something worth blogging about.
Some of the suggestions have been helpful, like: decide what the point of your blog is and who it will be directed to. I like that one. The point will be whatever point I want to make and I'll direct it to whomever wants to listen. (Which, by the way, I recognize is NOT the point of the aforementioned suggestion.)
I haven't seen this suggestion yet, "Don't blog until you have something to say." I think that would be a good one. I seem to relate to that idea intuitively. I thought blogging would be something I would do weekly. Instead I do it weakly. Sometimes, I don't have anything to say. Sometimes, I have lots and lots to say, but it's not for other people to hear. Sometimes I have things to say that you don't want to hear (trust me on this.)
So here I am today. I just read Joel's blog where he mentioned (or at least implied) that he had not blogged since last April. I love Joel. When he writes, he has something to say. He wrote about how bugs, dragonflies in particular, hatching dragonflies specifically, remind him that all life in this world is dependent on death for life, but how Jesus broke the cycle and now life is dependent on Life once again for life. (My translation.) I just love this.
So here I am today. What do I have to say? Just this: God knows you. He knows where you are in life. He knows what your strengths are and he knows what your weaknesses are. He knows your sins, your guilt, your secret shame that no one else knows. He knows your hopes, your dreams, your ideals. He knows what makes you tick and what gives you fits. God knows your mind, your heart, your habits, and your hangups. God knows your past, yep, every single detail. He remembers stuff you've long ago forgotten. He knows your present. He knows you in the now, and he knows you in the later.
Name something you think God doesn't know about you. Go ahead, name something. Yessir, he knows. Come on, name something, anything you think is a mystery to God. Nothing's a mystery to the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. That's what those names for God are all about. He knows it all.
That knowledge, by the way, does not just make God real smart. It makes him really, really dangerous! How do you know what he might do with the knowledge he has? How do you know how he will respond to what he knows about you as he deals with you? Scary thought, huh!
God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." He loves us above and beyond, and bigger, and better, and wider, and longer, and taller, and higher than all he knows about us. God does not limit himself to what he knows about us in his dealings with us, he relies upon what he knows about himself, that he is love and he loves us with himself in spite of our selfs.
Yes, God will deal with us according to who we are. If we remain sinners bent on rebellion and self-indulgence, then, in love, he will deal with us accordingly. But if, by faith, we accept his evaluation of us, and leave our sin, our wickedness, our spiritual weakness and doubt at the cross where Jesus died for us, then he will deal with us, in love, as beloved children.
When I think about what God knows about me, I, like you, have cause to fear, but I am not afraid. I know that I am loved despite what God knows about me. I know that he chooses to love me first and foremost and forever. I know that if you will let him, he will love you the same way.
And I think like Joel does. The incomparable love of God in Christ Jesus is something worth blogging about.
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