Author: Kirk Lewis

Feeling Plutoed?

Background Passages: Romans 8:31-39; Galatians 2:20; I Peter 5:9

A recent visit with our granddaughters to Houston’s Museum of Natural Science ended in the museum’s gift shop. They each gathered a puzzle, a dinosaur painting kit, a rock and some rock candy among their treasured mementos.

The difference between the souvenirs gathered by our granddaughters and grandsons on our museum outings is that the girl’s get the same things. The boys studiously avoid getting the same things.

This time through the shop was a little different though. My wife bought her own memento of the museum. She bought a set of plastic dinner plates, each painted with a picture of a different planet. When we opened the package at home, I was saddened to see that Pluto didn’t make the cut.

As a child growing up through the dawn of the Space Age, I had a hard time choosing my favorite planet. It always came down to most distinctive Saturn or the most distant Pluto.

Poor Pluto. After some heated debate, The International Astronomical Union in 2006 stripped Pluto of its planetary status, defining it instead as a “dwarf planet.” The change in status added a new word to the American lexicon. In 2008, the American Dialect Society named “plutoed” its Word of the Year.

To be “plutoed” means “to demote or devalue someone or something.” As in, “The Houston Astros World Series championship was plutoed by the trash can cheating scandal.”

It begs the question. Do you ever feel plutoed?

Genesis tells us that God created all of humanity in his image. If we truly understand that idea, no one should ever be made to feel devalued. To be created and loved by God grants us favored status in the eyes of our Creator and should never leave us feeling plutoed.

She walked alone to the well in the heat of the day. Her choice, but not her value preference. She would have much rather tackled the daily chore among a gaggle of friends in the cool of the day, sharing stories of the family and dreams of tomorrow. Her past, though, caught up to her. Marginalized by neighbors who deemed her damaged goods, she came to the well feeling plutoed…until Jesus asked for a drink.

They pushed their way through the forest of legs and limbs. Curious. Inquisitive. Just wanting to catch a glimpse of the miracle working teacher about whom their parents marveled. Just as they reached the front door, rough, fishermen hands, grabbed them by the collars of their robes and pulled them to the back of the gathered crowd, shooing them away. They hung their heads feeling plutoed…until Jesus hugged them.

She hung her head in shame, embarrassed by the public accusations leveled on the Temple steps. Caught in the act of adultery, clinging to the tattered fabric of her cloak, she recoiled at their angry threats. Folding into a fetal position with her eyes closed, she waited for the stones, feeling plutoed…until Jesus challenged her accusers and touched her heart.

He lay near the pool’s edge, waiting for the stirring of the healing waters, knowing he would never be fast enough to feel it’s restorative power. A daily habit of perpetual frustration. His limbs forever useless, making him worth less to his family and friends, a plutoed member of a heartless culture…until Jesus told him to rise up.

It doesn’t take much for us to feel devalued or marginalized. The influence of an evil world creates the environment for it.

Jesus saw a woman at the well comfortable in her isolation. Feeding off her resentment. He offered something different…a chance to put aside the bitter cup and drink from a well of everlasting water. “I can give you water and you will never thirst again. I can give you a life where you will never feel alone. You belong to something bigger than yourself. You belong to me.”

When others saw the children as an annoyance to be pushed aside, Jesus offered a smile and a hug. Blessings that changed the lives of the little ones and their parents for years to come. “God has plans for you, little ones. Live up to his call.”

To a woman scorned and steeped in sin, Jesus offered acceptance, not of the sin, but of the one who sinned. He challenged her to change. “Don’t worry about the Pharisees or the stones they like to cast. They have sins of their own, equally worthy of death. Know that you are loved by a God who forgives. Go home. Be better than this.”

Jesus looked into the empty eyes of an invalid with little hope of life beyond helplessness. Trapped in his frailty and cast aside, entertaining a miracle beyond his reach. “Get up and walk away from this. Start now and make your life a testimony of God’s grace and power.”

A careless word. A hurtful act. A sarcastic put-down. A parent’s disregard. A spouse’s betrayal. A teacher who never looks your way.

A lost job. An illness or disability. A promotion denied. Credit for a personal accomplishment that’s awarded to someone else.

It doesn’t take much to leave us feeling plutoed. Demoted. Devalued. Marginalized. When something happens that erodes your sense of self-worth, just remember that you are a person of worth created in the image of God. Loved so much that he gave his only Son to die for you and called and equipped you for his purpose.

After his experience on the Damascus road where he encountered a persecuted Christ, Paul must have struggled with who he was and what he had done. Face to face with the one he persecuted he could have crumbled beneath the weight of his sin. Yet, God chose him. Allowed him to see that whatever happened in the past was history. God called him to live by faith in a crucified savior who loved him personally and gave his life for Paul’s life. Hear it in Paul’s own words.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

It’s the same thought that occupied Peter’s mind as he called God’s people to belief and trust in Jesus as Lord. We are worthy of God’s love and called to praise him.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (I Peter 2:9)

In God’s heart, you will never be plutoed. If we are to be used by God for his purposes, we cannot allow the world around us to declare us somehow less valuable to God’s kingdom work.

We have a choice. We can listen to those who tell us we are somehow unworthy of God’s love based on their own over-inflated feelings of superiority. We can let others steal our joy and devalue our existence. Or we can rest on the restorative power of God’s grace that screams of the value he places on our lives.

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31,35, 37-39)

You are worthy of God’s love. If that doesn’t keep you from feeling plutoed, I don’t know what will.

 

Trusting is Harder

Background Passages: Acts16:6-10; Isaiah 55:8-9; Habakkuk 2:3, and Proverbs 16:9

As my wife and I sat in our seats at Houston’s Hobby Center, my old, addled mind struggled to keep up with the fast-paced lyrics of Hamilton: An American Musical. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton was a mesmerizing combination of rap, R & B, pop and even a few more traditional show tunes as it told the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton.

Miranda filled the musical with memorable songs and dialogue. I found it impossible not to walk away from the show without remembering Aaron Burr’s desire to be “in the room where it happens” or to hear Burr’s advice to Hamilton to “Talk less. Smile more.”

As I thought about the events of this week, one scene from Hamilton kept resurfacing. Hamilton, as an aide to General George Washington, wanted desperately to get into the fight. To command on the battlefield, even if it meant becoming a martyr to freedom. Washington, though needed Hamilton’s ability to write to convince both the public and a reluctant Congress to stay together during the difficult times of war.

After one particularly vociferous outburst, Washington dismissed Hamilton with this. “Dying is easy. Living is harder.”

In a week when things didn’t quite turn out the way I had hoped, I found God reminding me, “Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.”

You see, we can work really hard deciding what God’s will is for our lives in every situation. We can try to make God’s will a pre-determined certainty in both place and time…in other words, to inflict our will on God by doing what we think we’re supposed to do without listening. “Talk less. Smile more.” But, if we want to be “in the room where it happens,” we must wait on God’s perfect will. God’s perfect timing.

Doing is easy. Trusting is much, much harder.

Paul discovered this on his second missionary journey. Paul tells us in his testimony to King Agrippa in Acts 26 that he was a Pharisee among the Pharisees. He lived his life by the rules. I suspect spontaneity never found its way into Paul’s vocabulary. I picture him as a man who had his life mapped out in great detail. Every jot and tittle.

His blinding conversion experience on his way to Damascus had to be disorienting for a while. He spent several years learning a new reality about life in Christ before setting out with a mission to share Christ to all he encountered. I still suspect Paul planned out his missionary journeys in intricate detail. Knowing where he was going. How long he intended to stay. What he was going to say.

On his second missionary journey, Paul spent productive time in southern Galatia in the cities of Lystra and Iconium where the people “spoke well of him.”

“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.” (Acts 16:6-8)

While it’s impossible to know for sure, Paul had planned to head west from Galatia through the southern region of the province of Asia, possibly toward Ephesus. God had other plans and kept him from going where he planned.

Paul turned north at Pisidian Antioch with new plans to journey into Bithynia (toward modern day Istanbul). When he reached the border of Bithynia, the Holy Spirit again closed the door, pointing Paul back to the west to the port city of Troas, the gateway to Macedonia.

After a vision calling him to Macedonia, Paul boarded a boat and found his way to Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, eventually circling back to Ephesus. We know of those cities because of the letters he wrote them. I’m grateful that Paul listened to God’s spirit and followed where it led him.

Paul could have pushed through that tug of the spirit and continued the way he planned. Who knows? Paul’s plan might have taken him to Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica and Philippi in reverse order and a slightly different time frame. God may have known that if Paul went to the places God wanted him to go, but in a different order and a different time, the people would not have been ready to hear his message.

Paul might have done nothing differently during his time in those places, but because he arrived before God had prepared the way, his message might have fallen on deaf ears.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

I serve on the Pastor Search Team for our church with seven other amazing men and women. We’ve tried over the past eight months to discover the one God has called to be our next pastor. After months of listening to sermons, conducting interviews and prayerful consideration, we felt a strong pull toward one individual. We had done the work. We felt the connection. We felt we were where God wanted us to be.

As we stood poised for the next step, the pastor removed his name from consideration. Too many things still to be done in his current church. I believe he was genuinely drawn to our church. I believe his heart was torn. I think he knew he could come and be content in that decision, but now was not God’s time.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

Though disappointed, our Pastor Search Team mourned for a few moments knowing how much work had led to that point. We’ve seen over the last months how God opens and closes doors to guide our path. From this side of those doors looking back, we are grateful for his work in our lives and in our process. We learn new lessons each day about trusting where he leads.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

This passage teaches valuable faith lessons. Lessons I need to hear from time to time, especially when I think I’m doing what God wants me to do.

God knows what he’s doing, even if I don’t. Isaiah 55:8-9 remind us,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I may think I know better than God what is best for my life or my circumstance. I really don’t. He wants what is best for me and I will do better when I put my faith in God’s plan. That requires me to be flexible and adaptable to God’s leading. To pray for discernment and clarity in my approach to all things. And, most importantly, it requires me to submit to God’s agenda and to God’s timing.

I can push myself as hard as I want to, but if I’m heading in the wrong direction, I won’t accomplish nearly all that God had planned for me.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

None of that means I should sit back and do nothing until God’s voice is clearly heard. I don’t know about you, but God’s voice is seldom clearly heard. I find, for me, his voice is usually that loud slamming of the door that closes out the option I was intent to pursue.

I know God wants us to plan our lives. We make our plans under the authority and guidance of God’s spirit. God’s ways are not my ways. (Thank the Lord.) Wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs,

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

Nineteenth century theologian Charles Bridges’ commentary on Proverbs says it clearly. “Inscrutable indeed is the mystery, how he (God) accomplished his fixed purposes by free-willed agents. Man proposes, God disposes. Man devises and the Lord directs.”

So, we plan the courses of our lives and our decisions subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Willing to bypass Bithynia if God calls us elsewhere. It is a matter of trust.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

Finally, the passage reminds me that God’s plans are always greater than my own. This is the attitude of our Pastor Search Team. As one door closes, we know God will open another to even greater possibilities. Our task is to keep doing the work and listening to his voice.

Paul had the door to Bithynia slammed in his face, he didn’t fret or fear. He listened.

“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately he sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:9-10)

The rest, as they say, is history. Jonah had a call to go to Nineveh. Instead, he initially boarded a ship and headed in the opposite direction. Paul had a vision and went where God called him. See, the choice is ours when God closes a door. We can get frustrated. We can tell God he doesn’t know what he’s doing. We can try to do things our way.

When we push back on God, we usually spend a little time in the belly of a big fish, ready to walk the direction God wanted us to go in the first place only after we’ve been vomited up on the beach. Trust allows us to head to the nearest harbor and find our boat to Macedonia.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk grew bewildered by the rise of evil in the world and the spiritual decline of God’s people. He preached a message of repentance, and no one seemed to hear. He did everything he felt God called him to do and nothing changed. He prayed for God’s help. Begged the Lord to intervene and set things right. It was as if God didn’t hear or didn’t care.

It got to the point that Habakkuk said, “it was too painful for him, until he went into the sanctuary of the Lord.” The words he heard from the Lord did not announce the coming changes. He did not hear God tell him not to worry because judgment was coming. Rather, he heard God tell him to keep doing what he was doing and have faith.

“For the revelation (of God) awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

There’s the final key, I think. God moves in his time. When it’s time to call a new pastor, we’ll find him. When it’s time to do the thing you planned, the door will open at a time appointed by God. When you hear his voice to move in a certain direction, it will always be the right move. Even when it seems the answer is not forthcoming, wait for it for it will certainly come.

Doing is easy. Trusting is harder.

 

A Question of Honor

Background Passages: Malachi 1:6-8, I Chronicles 16:25-29, Matthew 4:10, and I Peter 3:15

Two sons were born to a family named Taylor in England in the early 1800s. The older son set out to make a name for himself in Parliament. The younger son gave his life to Christ.

Hudson Taylor, the younger of the two brothers, wrote about his decision, “Well do I remember, as in unreserved consecration I put myself, my life, my friends, my all, upon the altar. I felt I was in the presence of God, entering into covenant with the Almighty.”

Taylor journeyed to China and the obscurity of life as a foreign missionary. As a result, he is known and honored by Christians on every continent for his faithful service and the founder of China Inland Mission. This verse is etched on his tombstone.

“He that does the will of God abides with him forever.” (I John 2:17)

The older son gained none of the fame and prestige he so desired. There are no monuments in London or elsewhere in Great Britain portraying his likeness. No verse scribbled on his tombstone. He is listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica only as “the brother of Hudson Taylor.”

Our culture talks a great deal about “honor” as a noun. Hudson Taylor received many honors (noun) for his life’s service. Yet, it is because of his life and commitment to God that he is honored (verb).

James McMenis, pastor and founder of Word of God Ministries, wrote in an 2020 blog that he was taught that honor goes “down, out and up.” He said, “It does not matter what position you hold, how hard you have worked or how much authority you think you have. Honor is essential at all times. If honor to our heavenly father is not executed, you cannot (possibly) honor those beside or below you. That idea begs some interesting questions.

Maybe I’m picking nits, but as I read the story of Hudson Taylor, I wondered, is God honored (verb) by our worship? Does he feel our praise and receive our tribute? Do we, through our worship, give God the honor (noun) due him? Do we approach him through our worship in sincerity and reverence?

How do we honor God through our worship?

Let me begin by saying God is worthy of our worship and our honor. As the creator God who made all things…as our father who loves unconditionally…as the provider God who gives us all we need…as author of our salvation through his son…he is worthy of worship and honor is due him.

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” (I Chronicles 16:25-29)

God is worthy of worship and we are commanded to honor him by his own son. In response to Satan’s temptations, Jesus declared, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Matthew 4:10)

As Christians, we gather for worship every Sunday. The opportunity is there. Sadly, much like those Malachi addressed in the Old Testament, just sitting in the pew doesn’t equate to worship. Just because we attend church regularly doesn’t mean we are honoring God with our presence.

Malachi, the last of the minor prophets in the Old Testament and the author of its last book, spoke at length about the question of honor.

Malachi came forward at a time after the Jewish exile and after the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel. The Persian king Artaxerxes let his cupbearer Nehemiah return from captivity to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. After completing his task, Nehemiah returned to his king. During his absence, the people of Israel rebelled once again, turning from God to do what was pleasing in their eyes.

When Nehemiah came back again to Jerusalem, he found that everything he taught them to do had been abandoned. No tithes filled the coffers. No Sabbath remained unbroken. The priests had become corrupt.

Malachi began to call out the corruption and to call them to a worship that honors God.

“A son honors his father and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.’ But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name.” (Malachi 1:6)

Certainly, there were those who divorced themselves from God and refused to worship at all just as there are people like that today. Malachi speaks to a different group, though. In this passage, Malachi is speaking to the priests…those responsible for worship.

God, through Malachi, asks them where is the respect and reverence due the father and master?

This is what stands out to me in this passage. This is the shot across our bow as we prepare for worship Sunday. As we prepare to honor our father through our worship.

In response to the accusation levied by God through his prophet, the priests are dumbfounded. They can’t believe what they’re hearing. See how the conversation plays out in Malachi 1:7-8.

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’”

“You placed defiled food on my altar.”

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’”

“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? says the Lord Almighty…Oh that you would shut the temple doors so you would not light useless fires on my altar!” I Chronicles 16:7-8)

The priests had taken so many shortcuts in worship for so many years, they didn’t even realize their hearts were no longer in it. Worship had become so commonplace, so routine, they didn’t even realize they were no longer genuinely worshipping God. They didn’t know their worship was void of honor. They were there. They were in the temple. They were doing the things they were supposed to do. God could not see their sacrifices or hear their words as worship.

Worship was no longer their primary aim or purpose for coming to the temple. They simply took for granted the opportunity to praise and worship the Almighty God.

Taking things for granted is easy to do, no matter how important they can be to life.

I’ve watched with amazement as my oldest son, Adam, worked hard to recover from the debilitating effects of his stroke. I am grateful for the prayers of many and thankful to God for his answers as Adam continues to improve weekly. While his recovery is slower than any of us would want, Adam’s hard work, the assistance of the therapists and your answered prayers are making it happen.

As he worked through therapy, Adam told me how he had to tell the synapses of his brain to fire to get his fingers to grip anything or his leg to move even a step. I can only imagine what that feels like. We do a lot of things without thinking about how to do them.

When was the last time you thought about picking up a pencil with your left hand? Most of us just pick it up without having to tell our fingers to close around it. When was the last time you had to think about taking a step? Most of us just get off the couch and start walking without willing our left leg to move.

We tend to take things for granted until they are stripped from us.

So, it begs the question. When was the last time you thought about worship? We get up on Sunday and come to church, with the world heavy on our minds. We sit by each other without speaking. Sing a song or two without hearing the words. Listen to a sermon, carefully prepared and delivered, without letting the message sink in.

Trust me. Even as I write this next sentence, I know the “we” is equally “I,” for I am equally guilty. I suspect as we sat in church last Sunday pretending to worship, we might have heard God telling us, “You have shown contempt for my name.”

I also suspected we’d be as surprised as Malachi’s priests. Looking back into the sanctuary to the pew where we sat for the last hour, we’d be flabbergasted and stunned at the accusation.

“When did we show you contempt?”

When we sat there, going through the motions of worship without really turning our eyes to heaven, we showed contempt for God.

Man, that’s a harsh word I have to speak to myself far too often. I can easily get caught up in the things happening around me, get caught up in the things I’m doing…even when they are good things to do…that I forget to truly open my eyes and my heart to God in worship.

I think of those Christians in countries of the world so hostile to the Christian faith that they must gather in secret or face imprisonment or death. I saw a photograph this week of Ukrainian Christians kneeling in the snow praying for God’s protection of their country in the face of an impending military invasion from a country that would forbid their open worship. That’s worship that is honoring God. It shamed me for taking for granted the worship I can so freely experience.

So many of us take the opportunity for worship for granted that we stay away from church when going is inconvenient. I suspect we know we can always come next week. Yet, the more we stay away, the harder it is to return next week.

I suspect far too many of us will find our place in the pews this Sunday and immediately and spiritually check out of the service, lost in the burdens of the week behind or issues of the days ahead. We check out without understanding that the answers to those burdens or issues may well reside in the fellowship enjoyed, the songs being sung, the Bible verses shared or the message being delivered. Let’s not miss the chance this week to honor God by our presence and active participation in worship.

You see, worship is our way of honoring God. As McMenis reminds us, “Only by honoring God can we honor and serve those around us.” It is a thought echoed by Peter.

“In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (I Peter 3:15)

Let’s do something different this week. Let’s walk into church with a heart ready for worship. With purpose and intent to honor God for his love and grace for he is worthy of worship.

 

By Our Love

Background Passages: John 13:31-35; I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

As Christianity entered its second century, the faith was spreading throughout the Roman Empire, especially in some of the largest cities like Rome and Carthage in North Africa. Though spreading rapidly, Christians were still held in suspicion by neighbors and ruling officials because they had abandoned behaviors associated with the prior pagan lifestyles.

Confusion about Christian teachings and political rumors designed to discredit this new faith caused Tertullian, a church leader in Carthage, to write a document explaining Christian practices and debunking the rumors against them. Tertullian wrote that the Roman government was so unnerved by the growth of the Christian movement that they sent spies into Christian meetings.

The spies, according to Tertullian, reported the following:

“These Christians are very strange. They meet together in an empty room to worship. They do not have an image. They speak of one by the name of Jesus, who is absent, but whom they seem to be expecting at any time. And my, how they love Him and how they love one another.”

After reading this historical footnote this week, I found myself wondering what spies from our government would say about the church today? Would they make the same declaration?

“My, how they love him and how they love one another.”

*****

Jesus had just stunned his disciples by confirming a close betrayal. He then dismissed Judas from the upper room near the end of the Passover feast.

“What you are about to do, do quickly.”

As the door closed, a somber silence filled the room. Seeing the confusion and anxiety on the faces of those he hand-picked to carry on his work, Jesus began to teach his most important lesson.

“Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the son in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now. Where I am going, you cannot come.

“A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, If you love one another.” (John 13:31-35)

What a defining moment! It’s as if Jesus took out his copy of the 10 Commandments and scratched a new word at the bottom of Moses’ list.

“A new command I give you.”

This was no subtle suggestion. No vague hint of something they might try. It was a God-given command written as indelibly on their hearts as the God-etched words inscribed on stone tablets.

“Love one another.”

The idea of loving others was not a new concept or even a new command. Recall the Pharisee who came to Jesus and asked him to identify the greatest and most important of Moses’ commandments.

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Jesus had taught his disciples to love God and to love others. In the hours before his death and his going to a place they “could not come,” Jesus knew they would need each other. He knew that in order to survive the persecution and scattering to come, his disciples and followers would need to love each other. Holding on to their fellow believers for support and aid.

“As I have loved you, love one another.”

How, then, did Jesus love them? How was he asking them to love each other?

Jesus’ love is sacrificial.

Just minutes prior to his declaration, Jesus demonstrated the kind of love they would need. As he took off his tunic, grabbed a bowl of water and a towel, Jesus took on the role of a servant to minister to their needs.

Christ washed the disciple’s feet, as a clear example of Christ’s humble, self-sacrificing love for them.

Then, just hours later, Jesus paid the ultimate price for his disciples and all humankind by dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus’ love for his disciples and for us was born of his humility and self-sacrifice.

What greater love can we learn than by following his example, as Paul proclaimed in Ephesians 5:2.

“Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Jesus’ love is forgiving.

The sacrificial love of Christ brought forgiveness of sin to all who would repent and receive his mercy and grace. Unmerited. Undeserved. Freely given.

If we love like Christ, we can forgive anything that anyone does to us. Nothing someone does to us is so heinous that we cannot forgive if we are acting with the same love with which Christ loved us.

I love this illustration from Baptist pastor and Christian author Wendell C. Hawley on forgiveness. He wrote about a group of Moravian missionaries who spent time among the Inuit tribes in Alaska. In attempting to explain the gospel, the missionaries found no word in the Inuit language for forgiveness. So, they invented one by combining words into “Issumagijoujungnainermik.”

This string of Inuit words strung together shares a beautiful expression of forgiveness that is roughly translated, “not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.”

To love each other as Christ loves us means that the hurt and emotional pain caused by others must be set aside as meaningless. Forgive and forget. Love means not being able to think about it anymore.

“By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus’ love is evident to all.

This is exactly the distinguishing love that Tertullian spoke about. “My, how they love him and love one another.” Such real, self-sacrificing, and forgiving love ought to be the mark or brand of a Christian. So evident in our expression of love to one another that others cannot help but note the difference in our behavior and those of the world around us. Because of what God has done for each of us, his love ought to overflow our hearts, naturally expressed to one another. It must be a love deeply felt and plainly seen.

This love is an overflow of what God has done in our hearts. This is to be the distinguishing mark of Christ’s followers. All people will know those who follow Christ if true love is always displayed by Christians. You must be known by your Christ-like love for others.

If loving one another is a command, listen to how Paul says such love is best expressed.

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…And now, these three things remain: faith, hope and love. but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13)

One wonders what the world around us thinks when the church does not reflect those things even to other believers. What does the world think when we lose our patience with one another? When we get easily angered by our brothers and sisters? When the world sees us ticking off all the wrongs that have been done against us by a fellow church member?

What must the world think when love fails?

My church is studying a book by Russell Moore entitled Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel. He begins with the premise that the United States is no longer a Christian nation to and think otherwise is burying our heads in the baptistry. Though we may have once lived in a world that believed the culture should conform to the church, we now live in a world that believes the church should conform to culture.

It makes me wonder if our culture looked at how we treat each other within the faith and decided it could do better without us? If believers in Christ chose to love each other every day as Christ loves us, would our witness in the world be stronger? Could we then engage our culture without compromising or losing the heart of the gospel?

I suspect it took only a few moments after Jesus’ death on the cross for his disciples to realize the truth of his words. Their ability to carry on his ministry and their hope for the days to come depended on their love for one another.

I don’t think it is much different today. Our ability to carry on his ministry today and our hope for the days to come depends on our willingness to love one another as Christ loves us.

“A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Let’s let the world know to whom we belong.

Let them say about us, “My, how they love him and how they love one another!”

Shine Like Stars

Background Passages: Philippians 2:12-18; Philippians 1:9-11; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 4:5-6

The eye-opening clarity of images from space captured by the Hubble telescope fascinate me. Every new image of a star cluster or galaxy speaks to the wonder of God’s creation.

On Christmas Day last month, NASA launched the long-anticipated James Webb Telescope which is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble. I watched its launch and subsequent deployment with rapt attention. Larger than a tennis court, the Webb had to be folded in upon itself in multiple layers in order to fit inside the spacecraft fairing.

Once on its way to its orbital position one million miles from earth, the telescope began to unfold. NASA officials said that there were more than 344 single points of failure, any one of which would cripple and render useless the $10 billion project.

This week, the last of those 344 points unfurled successfully. All that remains is for the spacecraft to settle into its orbit.

Once the telescope is carefully calibrated, the infrared telescope will enable us to see more deeply into the universe than we’ve ever seen before. Collecting light from the infrared spectrum, the telescope will see the formation of stars and galaxies almost as old as the universe itself. It promises to teach us much about the universe God created.

Watching the deployment over the past few weeks reminded me of how stunning it was to see the night sky on our farm when I was growing up. On those nights when there was no moon in the sky, the vast number of distant stars making up the Milky Way staggered the mind.

Scientists tell us the Milky Way is 120,000 light years from end to end with more than 200 billion stars. On those clear nights, I wanted to count every star.

I came across a passage of scripture this week in Philippians that encouraged believers in Christ to “shine like stars in the universe.” With that thought, I spent some time looking into what Paul was trying to tell us.

The Apostle Paul found himself under house arrest in Rome. While detained, he received a love offering from the believers in Philippi. Paul took the time to write a letter thanking them for their financial support and give an update on his situation. Then, despite his personal circumstances, he encouraged them to stand firm in their faith in the face of persecution. To rejoice regardless of the circumstances in which they may find themselves.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” (Philippians 2:12-18)

I wonder today how well do I shine? Is my light strong enough to be seen in the darkness that is our world today?

The focal passage begins with one of my favorite biblical words. “Therefore…” If you read the Bible enough, you begin to understand that anytime you see the word therefore it’s time to sit up and pay attention. You’re about to read a word you need to heed.

Our therefore in this passage refers to the preceding verses.

“God exalted him (Jesus) and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

“Therefore…“Paul begins this passage by reminding the Philippian church that because they obeyed the call of salvation and placed their faith and trust in Christ and because they confessed him as Lord of their lives, they must keep on working out their salvation.

To be clear, this does not mean they are to earn their salvation strictly by continued obedience…by works. Rather, it means that the expression of that confession and belief in Christ must be a process of continuous spiritual growth.

Though salvation is a grace gift freely given, a once and forever decision that cannot be stripped away, it should express itself through our lives as an ongoing learning process toward spiritual maturity. To “continue to work out your salvation” is an encouragement to work until our faith is complete…to bring your salvation to fruition.

The Chinese philosopher said every journey begins with the first step. That moment when we give our lives to Christ is the first step of salvation. Paul reminds the believers that salvation is a continuous process of growing in spirit and truth, daily putting into practice all that Jesus taught us through his words and his deeds.

No Christian should remain unchanged by his or her salvation experience. You cannot accept Christ, making no effort to be obedient to his commands, and shine as you ought. Life abundant comes in learning and doing God’s will and “good purpose” for your life each and every day.

In another time and place, Paul said it this way:

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. (Ephesians 4:1)

That thought which Paul expressed to the church in Ephesus dovetails well with his thoughts in verse 12. Paul praised the Philippians for their faith and steadfast obedience even when Paul was no longer with them.

Their spiritual growth would enable them to withstand the pressures and persecutions of a “crooked and depraved generation.” Lest we get too high on our own horse, our generation is no better. The world around us is just as crooked and depraved.

The words he spoke to Timothy ring true today.

“For a time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:2-5)

Paul’s encouragement to Timothy and to those first century believers is no less of an encouragement to believers today.

When confronted by the wickedness and twisted and convenient doctrine of our world, we must arm ourselves with greater knowledge and understanding of God’s word. Keep working out our salvation. Keep on growing in his word. Keep moving toward spiritual maturity. Keep shining like the stars.

How do we shine like stars to a crooked and depraved generation living in our world? What does living as a child of God look like?

Paul was clear. Look at what he says to the Philippians.

“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”

Paul always chooses his words carefully. The word he uses to express complaining is a word used to describe the people of Israel who murmured against Moses while wondering in the wilderness. It is the utterance of a discontented mob, unhappy with life’s circumstance. When he speaks of arguing, Paul describes useless debates and a life of doubt.

When the world is filled with such discontent, the Christian ought to stand out from the crowd, filled with peace and serenity regardless of life’s circumstance. Trust in the presence of God removes debilitating doubt and useless conversation.

And Paul’s encouragement extends to every activity of life. Note the words, “Do everything…” Every act. Every word. Every relationship. In every circumstance of life Paul says, be at peace with God, with others and with yourself. Be like Christ.

“Be pure and blameless.”

Paul also extends a call to purity. To be above reproach. The Greek word for pure in this passage suggests being unmixed or unadulterated. It was used in Paul’s day to talk about wine or milk that had not been diluted with water. In people, it implies sincerity and honest motives. An absence of guile or deceit. To be blameless in this context is not as much a reference to how others see us, but to how God sees us.

In the Old Testament, it spoke to the quality of the sacrifices offered to God; that they were without blemish, spotless. So, Paul is saying to the believers be an unblemished sacrifice (holy and set apart) in the eyes of God, a word he also spoke to the Romans.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:1-2)

The reason for God calling us to a higher standard of living is the idea behind the old hymn:

“Let others see Jesus in you.
Keep telling the story.
Be faithful and true.
Let others see Jesus in you.”

In other words, be like Christ.

That is how we shine like stars in a darkened world. that is how we live a holy and distinctive life of witness to the saving grace of God to a wicked and depraved generation. This is how we “hold out the word of life.”

The call of God to live differently, to shine like stars, isn’t just to bask in the glow of each other’s light as a body of believers. It is a call to missions. Paul wants the lives of all believers, in word and deed, to draw men and women to him. To draw the world to the abundant life he offers all who believe. It is a missional experience.

In this I hear the words of Paul again directing the Corinthian church to live distinctive lives that point toward Christ…

“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said, ‘Let light shine in the darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6)

Live your life differently than the world around lives. Stand out in the crowd for your positive and loving attitude. Quit fighting. Speak in love. Treat others equitably. Don’t give anyone a reason to dispute your motives or your methods. Be a light in the darkness.

Again, be like Christ.

Wherever you are tonight, walk outside. Turn your face to the heavens and count the stars. Let them serve as a reminder that God has called us to be like Christ…a light in the darkness.

May the joy and peace that God gives his children light the flame within us so we can help but shine like the stars.

 

Choose One Chair

Background Passages: Joshua 24:14-15, Matthew 6:21, 24, Luke 10:25-28

In one of those humorous snippets in the Reader’s Digest a few years ago, a woman shared about flying on a small airplane. The lone flight attendant came down the aisle and asked the man in the row in front of her if he would like dinner.

He said, “What are my choices?”

She smiled sweetly and replied, “Yes or no?”

On one hand, we’d like life to be that simple. The choices limited and clear-cut. Most of the time life is not that simple. In our chaotic world we face multiple decision points daily that impact the way we live and relate to one another and to God.

Too often, we straddle the fence, holding on to the ways of the world on one side and trying to please God on the other. In reality, in the question of a choice between what the world offers and what God requires, the answer is a simple “yes or no.”

Famed tenor Luciana Pavarotti once talked about the influence of his father upon his life. The star of the Metropolitan Opera said his father, recognizing his gift, urged him to work hard to develop his voice. Pavarotti studied under Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in Modena, Italy. Covering his options, Pavarotti also enrolled in a teacher’s college.

When he graduated, he asked his father if he should be a teacher or a singer.

“Luciana,” his father replied, “if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.”

Pavarotti said, “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it is laying bricks, writing a book…whatever we choose…we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”

I marvel at the father’s wisdom. It is difficult to split our focus if we want to find success in anything. It is especially sage advice as we enter a new year in faith and service to God.

When it comes to our faith commitment for 2022, maybe it’s time to say “yes or no.” Maybe it’s time to choose one chair.

It had been a period of rest for Israel. The pitched battles fought to conquer the Promised Land, were now a part of their history. They had lived for years in the land God promised in relative peace. Joshua, their leader during this tumultuous time, had grown old.

Knowing his time on earth was ending, Joshua called together the leaders of every tribe. He took the opportunity to remind them of God’s promises fulfilled. The battles he fought for them. The victories he had secured on their behalf. He told them to remember it all.

Joshua reminded them of God’s unfailing presence, provision and protection. Then, he challenged them to live out their lives in service and worship to the one true God.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether it be the gods your forefathers served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

Joshua said, for all intents and purposes, “Choose one chair.”

He laid his challenge clearly before them. Do what you will, but I will serve the Lord.

Joshua chose his chair.

In one way Jesus also talked about choosing one chair.

Jesus warned his followers that…

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:21, 24)

Jesus taught that the things we value reveal our hearts. If all the things we value and set our hearts upon are of this world, then our only interest will be in things of this world and not on the things of God.

William Barclay wrote, “Jesus never taught that the things of the world are unimportant; but he said and implied over and over again that its importance is not in itself, but in that to which it leads. Therefore, a man should never lose his heart to this world and to the things of this world for his eyes ought ever to be fixed on the world beyond.” In other words, yes or no. Choose one chair.

Jesus reminded his disciples that splitting our loyalties between two worlds never works. The passage in scripture suggests that no one can serve two masters, but that meaning is not nearly strong enough. The Greek word translated “serve” means “to be a slave to.” The word for “master” equates to “absolute ownership.” The more literal translation is that no man can be a slave to two owners.

Barclay emphasized our relationship to God. He, and he alone, must be the absolute and undisputed master (Lord and boss) of our lives. It is never a matter of what I want to do, but what God desires of me.

Jesus declared to his followers, “You cannot serve God and money.” The Hebrew word for “money,” is better translated “material possessions.” It speaks in some ways to the way we allow other things to take hold of our lives. Do we put our trust in God or in the things of this world?

We enter a new year with a world of chairs…a world of choices. It has been that way since Adam and Eve tasted the apple. We determine the God or gods we serve by the decisions we make. By those things we choose to chase.

I ended last year knowing that I didn’t always make the best choices in my service to God. I ended last year knowing I often tried to hide parts of myself from God. I ended last year recognizing how often I held back certain aspects of life, unwilling to completely surrender my life to him.

Those aspects of my life are the gods beyond the river to which I tend to cling. They are the choices I made to serve a different master while claiming to serve God.

Nicodemus, a devout Pharisee, came to Jesus under the cover of darkness, to ask a probing and penetrating question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Not the standard trick question asked by so many of the religious leaders who wished to silence and discredit Jesus. Nicodemus approached Jesus sincerely, with a desire to know.

Jesus asked him to clarify what the law said. Nicodemus replied with words from the Torah.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:25-27)

Jesus’s reply was straightforward. “Do this and you shall live.” What came next was a rich discussion about being born again. Reprioritizing one’s life. Choosing one chair.

This verse, along with those in Joshua and Matthew remind me that when I get attached to my things or my desires, when I put my focus somewhere other than God’s will for my life, I cannot serve God with all my heart, mind, strength and soul. There can be no fence straddling. No neutrality. Those verses draw a line in the sand. I am called each day…each hour of the day…to choose whom I will serve. Yes or no. I must choose one chair.

Joshua made a radical, public statement: “I have chosen the Lord!” I must be willing to state the same.

A new year is a time for resolutions, those internal promises we make to eliminate the bad habits and embrace a higher version of ourselves. Maybe you face the same choice in this new year.

Joshua invited the people of Israel to make their choice. Choose one chair.

God extends this same invitation to us and we must decide. Choose one chair.

Will we love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Choose one chair.

Once we choose God’s chair, we put our decision into practice. We choose to come to him. We choose to serve him daily.

Joshua’s passionate choice was personal and permanent. As I look to the new year, I join him in his commitment. I ask you to do the same. Only then will we change our lives, our families, our church, our community, our country, our world.

Today, I make this my new year’s resolution, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Together in 2022, let’s choose his chair.

The Cradle, The Child, The Change

Background Passage: Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-52; Matthew 1:20-21, John 3:16-17, Romans 12:2

The Christmas story of the Bible remains one of the world’s most cherished stories for more than one-third of the world’s population. We find a measure of comfort that we are somehow not alone in this world…that God is with us.

I wonder if the story has grown too familiar. Sometimes, it feels as though the luster of God’s amazing gift is dimmed by time and diminished in its telling and retelling. To keep God’s grace gift fresh, I urge you to look beyond the familiar and find…

The Cradle

Crudely cut and hastily made, the innkeeper long ago fashioned a stable from the small cave cut into the limestone behind his home. An afterthought. A casual convenience for travelers who needed a place to livery their animals for an evening.

Within the rocky cave, he chiseled a manger from a protruding slab of rock, hollowing out the stone as a roughly cut and casually built feed trough. The man was no craftsman. He took little time to measure its dimensions or smooth its sides. He left it crude and rough around the edges. A coarse creation, suitable only, it seemed, for one insignificant purpose.

A manger.

A feed trough.

A construction scarcely given a second thought. Invisible to the world around it.

Until this day.

Inside the stable, despite the chill of the evening, a young woman lay drenched in sweat, exhausted by days of travel and hours in labor. Her husband, a young carpenter, paced outside the shelter. Though sympathetic to the pain she bore, like most fathers, he was clueless to its intensity.

He heard a midwife urging one more push. With a guttural groan that made the nervous animals scatter in their stalls and pull against their reins, the woman delivered her son. Tears and laughter comingled with each exhausted breath.

The midwife cleaned the baby as he shivered and cried in the night. The old woman rested the swaddled child upon the mother’s chest. The baby’s cries calmed as he heard the reassuring rhythm of her heart.

While Mary sang a lullaby to her child, Joseph quickly swept the stable of its filth-stained dirt. As he pulled the animal-stained hay from the manger, he noticed its sharp edges. A stone mason and carpenter, Joseph pulled a mallet and chisel from the knapsack. With practiced hands, he smoothed the sharp edges and rough bottom, added new hay and a soft blanket. In the glow of that first Christmas morning, the manger, no longer a rough-hewn feed trough, became a cradle.

In one moment beyond comprehension, God entered his creation as a baby born into a world that had grown as spiritually cold as the cave in which he was born. A world as morally crude as the manger in which he rested.

When filled with God’s love personified in the Christ-child, the unsightly manger became the cradle of Life Abundant, transformed in its purpose by the presence of Emmanuel.

God with us.

Perhaps the manger and its crude construction mirror the mess we’ve made in our lives. We hurriedly chisel our life from the stone, giving little thought to the purpose for which we were created. Whether we live a life of irreverent insurrection or one of unintentional indifference, we find our spiritual edges a little too sharp, a little too crude, a little too rough around the edges. A coarse creation, suitable only, it seems, for insignificant purposes.

Yet, in one miraculous birth, in one divine delivery, God changed everything.

When the manger became a cradle, God came to His world as one of us. To offer himself as the perfect portrait of Godly living.

Because the manger became a cradle, the baby would grow into a savior, to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for a world that lost its way.

Because the manger became a cradle, Christmas means more than the tinsel and trimmings that the world celebrates.

Because the manger became a cradle, the Christ-Child gives us the chance to turn our empty lives into Life Abundant. God smooths the rough edges and transforms our hearts and our purpose through the constant presence of Emmanuel.

God with us.

Then, to keep God’s grace gift fresh, I urge you to look beyond the cradle and find…

The Child

Born to human parents, but also divine. It is a difficult concept to grasp. Impossible to truly understand. So, we who believe accept it by faith just as his earthly parents did.

Though implanted with God’s DNA, to understand the full measure of what it meant to be Savior did not come instinctively to Jesus. He learned. He learned at the feet of Joseph who surely shared his dream.

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

He learned on the lap of his mother who surely shared the angel’s words.

“Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

As he grew, he learned from the teachers of God’s word. When he turned 12-years-old, he journeyed to the Temple with his parents. The child immersed himself in his father’s word, failing to join his family for the trip home.

“They found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions…” (Luke 2:46)

Jesus spent time learning more about “his Father’s business.” Eventually, he returned with his parents to Nazareth where “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:41-52)

God continued to prepare the child for the purpose for which he was sent. This child, who heard his parents’ stories, who studied scripture with the learned men of his day, constantly felt the tug of God’s voice revealing to him who he was and the purpose for which he was sent. This same child, born in a manger, stood as a man at a wedding feast in Cana, looking into the eyes of his mother telling her, “My hour has not yet come.” This same child read in his mother’s eyes and heard her tell the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Her way of saying, “It is time.”

From that day forward, Jesus went about doing his father’s business, drawing others to him, performing miracles and teaching them about repentance and the depth of God’s love…teaching them about grace.

That child from the manger sat in an olive grove answering the probing questions of Nicodemus about the path to eternal life. Jesus surely reflected upon his own birth when he said, “You must be born again.”

That child from the manger told that religious leader that he had come to take on the sins of a world because “God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

That child in a cradle was God’s grace gift of salvation. The man he grew to be…became a savior.

Understanding our relationship to God and his will for our lives is not implanted naturally into our DNA just because we are born to Christian parents or attend church regularly. Our understanding of what God requires of us comes from listening to God’s spirit and following Jesus’ lead.

We learn. We grow. We spend time sitting among the teachers, studying scripture and asking questions with a heart’s desire to grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men…just as Jesus did. We see the child in the cradle and are reminded that God loved us so much that he sent his son to save us and the world around us through him.

Then, to keep God’s grace gift fresh this Christmas, I urge you to look beyond the cradle, see the savior and commit to…

The Change

As Christians, we get pulled into the celebration of the Christmas holiday. We delight in the lights, the decorations and the excited faces of the children opening Santa’s presents. We enjoy our parties with friends and visits with our extended families. It’s easy to be lost in the business and busyness of Christmas.

Those of us who celebrate the birth of Jesus ought to reflect upon its meaning, using the day as a reminder of God’s plan and purpose to bring the world back into relationship with him by sending is Son. It is far too easy for many of us to revel in the birth of the child and forget that God expects more from us.

What do we do after we read that beautiful story for the last time this year? After we snuff out the Advent candles? After we sing the last carol? After we dismantle the Nativity scenes? What do we do after we celebrate the birth of the Christ child? What do we do when Christmas is over? What change does it bring to our lives?

You see, the Christmas story does not end with the birth of Jesus. It doesn’t even end with his death and resurrection. Once the baby is born and a savior’s act complete, the story and its impact should serve as a catalyst for God to change our lives.

Christmas is a reminder that God will work in our lives, but only to the extent that we allow him. Christmas must change our hearts and our minds, not just on the surface, but from the inside out.

Though he didn’t celebrate Christmas as we do, the Apostle Paul would be the first to tell you about being changed. In a blinding revelation on the road to Damascus, he saw before him God’s plan of redemption evidenced in the life of Christ…from his birth to his resurrection and his ever-present spirit. It was a life-changing encounter. It’s one reason he could encourage the Christians in Rome to set aside the ways of the world for the life Christ offers.

“Do not conform to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

You see, Christmas is just a holiday unless we let God chisel away the rough edges of our lives to make our hearts a comfortable place for the Christ child to rest. It is just a holiday unless we see Jesus as more than a baby in a manger and accept him as a savior and Lord. Christmas is just a holiday unless we allow the child who became savior to transform our hearts and minds in such a way that we are ever obedient to his will in all things.

“You shall call him Jesus, Emmanuel…God with us.”

That’s Christmas to me.

Behold, The Wonder of Christmas

Background Passages: Matthew 1, Luke 2, John 14:27, and Philippians 4:7

I am not sure how I ended up on their email list. Like other unwanted SPAM messages, the first one just appeared. Maybe Alexa overheard a conversation I had with Robin about the definition of some obscure word. When the first email for Word Genius arrived, I opened it.

The daily emails give a “word of the day,” tell its origin and its part of speech, define it, and use it in a sentence. Then, it will show a line graph revealing its height in popularity of usage over the years.

For example, today’s word was illation.

Illation is a noun. It comes from Latin, originating in the 16th century. It’s definition: “An action of inferring or drawing a conclusion; an inference.”

The chart shows that the word illation had its period of highest usage at the turn of the 19th century. It has fallen out of favor over the last 221 years.

If you’ve come to the illation that I decided not to unsubscribe to the Word Genius emails, you are correct.

Other new words I’ve learned from Word Genius recently. Tellurian. Craquelure. Hypocoristic. Precator. I could tell you what these words mean, but if you look them up, you’re more apt to remember. (I just had a flashback to my high school English teacher Mrs. Brown.)

Today, however, I have two much more familiar words for you that come from the story of that first Christmas. Behold. Wonder.

Now, I can’t remember the last time I used the word behold in a sentence before today unless I was quoting the Bible. It just doesn’t come up much in today’s conversation. Take it out of its context in the King James Bible and behold is a rather obscure word in today’s English.

Behold derives from the Latin observo, to keep. Its definition is “to fix the eyes upon, to see with attention, to observe with care.”

Think John 1.

“Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

It can also mean “to fix attention upon an object, to attend, direct or fix the mind upon.”

Think Revelation 3

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Terry Sellars, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ludowici, GA, wrote about the significance of behold in the Christmas narrative. We see the word used most often in the Bible as a directive, expressing command or an exhortation.

I think that’s why the word caught my attention as I read the Christmas story. When we think about the importance of the Christmas story we must first go back to the Old Testament prophets. This whole idea was not a last-minute course correction by God to the world’s troubles. It was part of his plan from the beginning. Isaiah told us so.

“Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

As the events unfold centuries later, we hear Gabriel breaking the news to Mary.

“And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:31)

After momentarily processing what Gabriel had revealed to her, Mary responded to the frightful, but delightful, good news.

“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)

Next we hear the praises of the busy angel who appeared to the shepherds, declaring the wondrous news of the savior’s birth.

“And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

We hear the word again in the testimony of Simeon who had waited his whole life for this one moment.

“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.”

Behold isn’t just an exclamation. It isn’t God saying to us, “Listen up, please!” It is an imperative. A command. It is a “fix-your-heart-and-mind-upon-this-above-all-else,” moment.

We get so busy doing things at Christmas that the “behold” comes across as a whimpering whisper of a suggestion when it ought to be shouted from the mountaintops with clear authority. For this is that historical moment when God’s love came down with heavenly intent. It’s not just Christmas. It’s the beginning of God’s gift of salvation to a lost and confused world.

Here comes the second word. Wonder. Because we no longer hear the behold as an imperative, we’ve lost the “wonder” that is Christmas.

Wonder is not an archaic word by any means. I often wonder where I left my keys. I wonder when this pandemic will ever end. I wonder why bad things happen to good people. I wonder a great many things.

I am not talking about that kind of wonder. I’m talking about the wide-eye sense of amazement that was so much a part of our lives at Christmas when we were kids. As secularized as Christmas has become over my lifetime, I do remember the absolute wonder of laying out that old Nativity scene under the tree. The wonder inspired by the familiar Christmas carols: Away in a Manger. Silent Night. O, Little Town of Bethlehem.

Those times of being agog and filled with awe of the aura surrounding Christ’s birth was a time when we believed with all our being that God had entered the world for one purpose. To love us so much that he gave his only Son that whoever chose to believe in him would have life abundant and eternal.

We tend to lose that sense of wonder during the hectic moments of life. I find myself struggling to find wonder at a time when my family is hurting. I know others who feel the same worry and angst. Sellers also wrote in a separate piece that in such times as these, we need to remember that even as their worlds turned upside down…

Mary wondered.

Joseph wondered.

The shepherds wondered.

The angels wondered.

The wise men wondered.

While they may have wondered in the sense of trying to figure out what the things they experienced might mean, I think they also experience a sense of wonder…marveling at how blessed they were to be a part of God’s great story. We are a part of God’s great story.

Maybe it’s time to get it back, despite the issues we face, to the wonder of what Christmas means. The Christmas story doesn’t end with the baby in a manger. It doesn’t end with a cross. It doesn’t end with an empty tomb.

It lives on in the faith of those who believe God’s love is strong enough to overcome life’s darkest moments. It lives knowing that, even when life is a struggle, we are not alone. The wonder of Christmas is that God, through Jesus Christ, not only shared his gift of salvation, but also the gifts of his presence and power in the most brutal of times.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

In those moments of clarity amid the struggles, I no longer wonder in the context of being uncertain. Instead, I marvel in wonder at the work of God and the peace he can bring when I entrust everything to him.

Behold the Wonder of Christmas.

 

Encounter with a Prayer Warrior

Background Passages: I Samuel 1:10, Daniel 9:3-4, and James 5:13-16

I’m almost a week late with this Bible study. I sat down several times last week to study and prepare. My heart wasn’t in it. The words wouldn’t come.

I wish I could attribute my delay to writer’s block, but the reason was far more personal. My oldest son was in St. Luke’s dealing with the aftermath of a stroke. The tension of those early, uncertain days hit with full force every time I sat still for any length of time. Clearing my mind sufficiently to write a coherent sentence bordered on the impossible.

Before I go further, I’ll share a praise to God and the doctors and physical therapists he placed in Adam’s life. Our son is home now with his family, his condition and situation vastly improved over this time a week ago. Physical therapy will continue, but the prognosis is incredibly positive for full recovery.

Adam and Jordan dealt with the immediate impact of his situation while we could only stand at a distance, help take care of our grandchildren and pray. As those not directly and immediately impacted by the crisis, we discovered again what we knew to be true, but chose to forget from the last family crisis we experienced. Life goes on. It doesn’t respect our need to process the situation. It keeps coming. That’s not always a bad thing when God is at work.

As a part of my volunteer work in the community, I chair the Steering Committee of the McDonald’s Texas Invitational Basketball Tournament. The role carries with it a responsibility to be present and engaged with sponsors, coaches, officials and volunteers during the three-day event. Unable to go to the hospital due to Covid restrictions, Robin and I attended the games with our hearts troubled and our brains in a deep fog.

The two of us grabbed dinner and sat at an empty table in one of the hospitality rooms. Neither of us said much. Lost in our own thoughts. A woman entered, picked up her dinner and sat at an empty table next to us. Robin invited her to sit with us. She picked up her tray and sat next to me. We began to visit, my mind doing its best to focus on the conversation.

Nzinga Rideaux told us she was a board member for the Houston area Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was helping man the organization’s booth at Phillips Fieldhouse. The conversation turned to family and I shared with her about Adam and his condition.

In a room filled with 35-40 volunteers, coaches and referees, she pushed her plate aside, grabbed my hand and said, “Let’s pray right now.” The words she spoke for the next two minutes were both heaven sent and heaven directed. The power in her spirit flowed as eloquently as her words. With that final “Amen,” I recall thinking, there is no way God could ignore that petition. So powerful were her words, it seemed God now had little choice but to make Adam well. How could he refuse that woman?

Chinese pastor Watchman Nee might have had a woman like Nzinga in mind when he said, “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without the rails.” In my life last week, Nzinga drove the Golden Spike into God’s trans-spiritual railroad. She lifted my heart from its despair and renewed my hope.

I know Robin and I had prayed fervently for God’s hand upon Adam. I know God heard our prayers. Nzinga, however, is the pure definition of a “prayer warrior.” I’m pretty sure he sped up the process when Nzinga prayed.

A prayer warrior is someone known for regularly interceding before God on behalf of others. Someone who stands between you and the trouble afflicting your life, calling down the presence and power of the Lord. A prayer warrior is someone who knows God’s blessings and knows without doubt those blessings are ours to claim.

Think Hannah.

Barren for years, she prayed for a child. Though years passed, she continued to pray, despite her aching heart. She continued to pray even when she reached the end of her rope.

“And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” (I Samuel 1:10)

Hannah prayed intently and purposefully with tears of frustration and sorrow. She prayed persistently and passionately until Samuel was born. It’s nice to know God is not offended by our questioning, our frustrations and our confusion.

Think Daniel.

When God revealed to Daniel as a young man that Israel would be taken into captivity and exiled from their land, Daniel interceded on behalf of his people.

“I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him, and with those who keep his commandments. (Daniel 9:3-4)

This was the prayer of a man who recognize the path he was on and claimed the blessings promised by a faithful father. Daniel’s path would not be easy. Neither will Adam’s path be without challenge.  Still, Daniel knew the path would be paved with the promises of God. Adam knows that as well.

Nzinga’s prayer that night was Hannah and Daniel personified in the presence of an African-American woman with a deep, abiding faith. Intense. Purposeful. Persistent. Passionate.  Confident in the promises of God.

It’s Thanksgiving.

We have much for which to sing praises of gratitude to our God.

When we gathered today as an extended family around our table for our non-traditional Thanksgiving meal of beef and chicken fajitas, Adam sat among us. How could you not be thankful in such a moment?

In the moment of our Thanksgiving prayer, I silently thanked God that we were all together. I thanked him for Adam’s life and his prospects for a full recovery. I thanked God for Adam’s wife, Jordan, who was and is his rock throughout their crisis. She reminds me so much of my Mom. I thanked God for Robin who was my anchor in the storm.

I thanked God for the doctors, physical therapists and caregivers who tended to my son. I thanked God for every word of encouragement and hope they offered.

I thanked God for our church staff and congregation who lifted our family in prayer, interceding on our behalf. I expressed my gratitude for friends at work and at church who wrapped their arms around Adam and his family. I thank him for those individuals in my life whose words and touch sustained Robin and me during our days.

I thanked God for my new friend Nzinga. I know he put her at our table with heavenly intent. I also thanked him for the other prayer warriors I know who stood in the gap between our family and the troubles we faced as they called down the power and presence of God.

This journey for Adam and his family is not over. The extended outpatient therapy will hopefully lead to full recovery in a matter of weeks or short months. I continue to covet your prayers for the days ahead…for stamina, endurance, patience, hope and end result that will give God all the glory.

James spoke about the prayers of the faithful.

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:13-14,16b)

I still don’t know if I strung together a cogent sentence today. Forgive a father for his incoherent ramblings and let God share with you what I’m trying to say.

I do, however, know this one thing. I know today how powerful and effective the prayers of a righteous person can be. And, I know without a doubt that God is good.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Distinctive Living

Background Passages: Matthew 5:13-16, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:22-23

It’s still one of the most impressive devotionals I ever heard. Standing before the deacons at our regular monthly meeting, Dan Cain began speaking, without reading, without notes. Words he not only memorized but internalized.

“Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them…” (Matthew 5:1)

What followed was beautiful recitation of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew. Word for word. As if we were sitting on the hillside, hearing our Lord speak.

That’s the way to read and hear scripture. Not in the dull monotone of the mind, without life or feeling, but as if you were present in the moment, hearing the words…just as the disciples heard them. That’s when the words jump off the page with meaning that changes everything.

I read that passage of scripture again this week. When I did, I heard those words in the voice of Jesus…who suddenly sounded remarkably similar to Dan Cain’s Texas twang.

Let’s take a look at one thought from Jesus’ greatest sermon. I find it as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago.

_____

During the first year of his ministry, Jesus moved from village to village in Galilee teaching in the synagogues and preaching wherever he found an audience to listen. We don’t know a lot about the content of those early teachings except Jesus seemed to pick up where John the Baptist left off. The gospel writer tells us in Matthew 4:17…

“From that time on, Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

At some point in this time frame, he called his first disciples, taking them with him as he taught and healed. So popular were his teachings and so miraculous his healing that large crowds began to follow wherever he went. The people came, not just from Galilee, but from Jerusalem, Judea and the land east of the Jordan River to hear his voice.

At one point, Luke tells us that Jesus drew criticism from the Pharisees for healing a man with a deformed hand. After that rather heated debate, Jesus left Capernaum and went up the hillside to pray. The following morning as he and his closest disciples walked back toward the town, they encountered a large crowd eager to hear his message. Desperate to be healed.

Jesus found a spot on the hill and began to preach.

Taken as a whole, the Sermon on the Mount is the nearest thing to a manifesto that Jesus ever shared. He described what he wanted his followers to be and do. It is an explanation of kingdom living at its best. Writer John Stott said the teachings within this sermon “describe what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God.

“And what do they look like? Different! Jesus emphasized that his true followers, the citizens of God’s kingdom, were to be entirely different from others.”

The Sermon on the Mount then is a call to be distinctive, drawing a constant contrast between the life lived by those of the Word and the life lived by those of the world. Jesus simply said,

“…do not be like them…” (Matthew 6:8)

You hear a similar word of caution from God to the Israelites in Leviticus 18:3 as he spoke about the pagan practices of the Egyptians and the Canaanites.

“You must not do as they do.”

An echo of the idea reverberated in Paul’s admonition to the church in Rome.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:2)

God calls us to live differently than those who do not know him. To relate to one another differently than those who don’t know him. To testify by the way we live to the transformative power of a life committed to Christ.

A pastor said recently that God’s church once existed as the heart and soul of every community. The church and its people defined the culture of the community. The pastor lamented that God’s church today no longer serves as the driver of our culture. Instead, it surrendered its responsibility as the conscience of the community and found itself pushed to the periphery. Its influence marginal at best.

Decades ago, someone once asked Methodist missionary and author E. Stanley Jones to name the biggest problem of the church. His answer short and to the point. “Irrelevance,” he said. “Three-fourths of the opposition to the church stems from disappointment. We promise to make men different, but the promise goes largely unfulfilled.”

Some 50 years later, the pandemic dealt another blow to the church’s relevance. Before we blame the church as an institution, we need to remember that we are the church. You and I, as individuals, are the church. We must ask ourselves the tough question. Is the church less relevant because its people are no longer different enough from the world around us? I suspect there is more truth to that than any of us would care to admit.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount speaks to kingdom living. About living the life God calls us to live. Jesus expects us to have a profound influence on the culture of the world. Yet, we have become less different, less distinctive.

Jesus spoke words to us that still echo off the waters of the Sea of Galilee. These words tell us what we ought to be.

“You are the salt of the earth! But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

Jesus finds truth in the simplicity of ordinary living. He offers no cryptic parable that demands explanation. If you’re sitting with Jesus on the hillside in the first century, you get it. It’s just as clear today.

Salt flavors and preserves. So, what you’re saying Jesus is that we must live in such a way that we don’t leave a bitter taste in someone’s mouth. We are to preserve in our culture that which is holy and sacred and pure and right so that it still sustains those who will partake of it. When we lose our saltiness, our testimony and witness fade. Our lifestyle begins to look the same as our unchurched neighbors. Our influence in the community gets trampled underfoot and lost to society.

If you’re sitting with Jesus on the hillside in the first century, you get it. Another easily understood illustration that made as much sense to a Galilean as it does to a Texan. Light serves as a beacon to the lost, drawing them to safety. Light makes clear the path of righteous living that seeks to serve rather than condemn.

To be salt and light is the calling, but they are not the purpose. Allow me to paraphrase:

“Let your salt flavor all of life with the sweet taste of God’s love and your light illuminate his teachings…so that…they, the world beyond the walls of the church, will see the difference in the way you live and embrace and exalt the God of salvation who is our Father in heaven.”

That’s a huge “so that.” We live the life God calls us to live every day, not so we can stand on the street corner and express openly our gratitude that we are “not like other men.” A holier than thou attitude that drives a wedge between the church and those we are called to serve.

We live the life God called us to live so what we say and do points the lost to Jesus. For when we flavor life with the sweet taste of his love and the clear light of his goodness and grace…when we are truly different…all humanity will be drawn to him.

What does that look like?

Being salt and light is the byproduct of kingdom living. Paul described it to the Galatian church.

“…the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Such traits are rare and precious commodities in our world today. When Christians decide to be salt and light, to demonstrate love, peace, patience…the world feels our presence. When we demonstration kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, the world pays closer attention to what we say and do. That distinctiveness makes a difference. The church, our faith, becomes relevant again.

How do we get there?

Those glow-in-the-dark toys only glow in the dark when they are held next to the light for an extended period. We get to the point of distinctiveness when we stay close to the Light of the World. Spending time in his word and having those deep, rich, prayerful conversations with the one who takes joy in hearing from us. We get there by making a conscious effort to be different.

Our faith cannot be timid nor secret. We cannot hide our light beneath a bowl or bushel. The light must shine. Let us work to make our faith both vocal and visible. Only then will the church find its place again in the center of the community.

God calls us to influence the world. Imagine what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God led by those who are both salt and light. It’s time to make a difference. That’s what being salt and light is all about.