hope – Dr. Kirk Lewis

Choose to Remember

Background Passages Lamentations 3:21-26,40; Romans 15:13

If you opened my Bible, you’d find the margins dotted with editorial comments of lessons learned from personal Bible studies and notes taken from sermons preached by my pastors over the years. It is study method I learned from my parents who both taught Sunday School. I watched them make those margin notes and began to follow their lead.

It got me in trouble with my pastor when I was 10 years old. I sat with some other children near the front of the sanctuary listening to the sermon. The pastor said something I thought was significant so I jotted it down in the margin of my Bible, just like my Dad often did.

After the sermon the pastor fussed at me for writing in my Bible. I needed to treat it more reverently, he said. I remember being near tears as he scolded me. I’m pretty sure my Dad had a “come to Jesus” meeting with the pastor after I told him what happened. He had that look in his eye.

Dad just told me to keep taking notes as long I was writing things that I felt like God was teaching me. He said, “I’m quite sure God won’t mind.”

Today, the margins of some books in my Bible are a jumbled mess of handwritten notes and lines drawn from one verse to another. A few books in my Bible are dotted with little more than a scattering of comments notated in the margin.

Lamentations is one of those books. Obviously, I’ve not spent a lot of time in Lamentations and, frankly, not many of my pastors over the years delivered a sermon with Lamentations as its source.

Most Bible scholars believe Jeremiah wrote Lamentations. As a witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586 B.C.E., his grief over Israel’s loss was palatable.

The name of the book in Hebrew is “ekah,” literally “How…,” the characteristic beginning of a funeral dirge. It makes sense as Jeremiah’s sorrow expressed his laments as he witnessed the political and spiritual death of his beloved nation. The word Lamentations derives from the book title as it appears in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible.

A lament is a crying out…a song of sorrow. More than simply crying, a lament is a form of prayer. A conversation with God about the pain you’re experiencing. The hopeful outcome of a lament is trust. A recognition that God hears your sorrow and remains present throughout the experience.

Mark Vroegop, a pastor in Indianapolis, said “Laments turn toward God when sorrow tempts you to run from him.” He said there are four essential elements to a lament. Turning to God by laying your heart at his feet. Sharing your sorrows and fears. It is the moment when a person who is pain chooses to talk to God.

A lament brings a complaint to God and asks boldly for his help in finding a path through the circumstances. Sorrow is when we give in to despair or denial and find no hope. A lament dares to hope in God’s presence and promises.

The final element of a lament is a sense of renewed hope. It is an invitation to renew our trust in God amid the brokenness we feel.

The first verse of Lamentations sets the stage for the prophet’s internal suffering.

How deserted lies the city once so full of people! How like a widow is she who once was great among the nations! (Lamentations 1:1)

Jeremiah’s feelings run downhill from that somber beginning. As you read through the verses, you hear the shock and despair in the prophet’s voice. The devastation he witnessed was real.

To make matter worse, Israel brought this destruction upon itself, by its own rebellion and sin. That’s the burden heard in the prophet’s lament. The author knows that the Babylonians who conquered the people of Israel served as human agents of God’s divine punishment because of the sinfulness of the Hebrew people. It is a bitter pill.

The value of Lamentations to modern day Christians is its underlying belief in God’s redemptive and restoring work in our lives. The hope of a lament recognizes that God is both sovereign and good. Vroegop said lamenting is one of the most “theologically informed things a person can do.”

Life is messy and hard. Most of us have witnessed the destruction of our metaphorical Jerusalem. Circumstances and events don’t turn out as we planned. Relationships fracture as bridges burn in the background. Physical suffering saps our strength. People we love die. The hurt we feel drills deep into our soul.

Under those circumstances it might be far easier to feel embittered and angry. Expressing pain and confusion to God rather than becoming resentful and cynical requires a spiritual strength we can’t always muster. Laying our troubles at the throne of God and asking God repeatedly for his help requires a faith grounded in his word.

After reading through Lamentations this week, I found Jeremiah’s words both instructive and encouraging. Knowing that I can lay the cries of my heart at God’s feet, even when I am responsible for my circumstances, provides a sense of comfort. Hearing the words of hope and promise from Jeremiah’s own heart gives me hope that my cries will be heard.

Jeremiah struggled with the things he witnessed. The destruction. The suffering. The confusion. The judgment that came as God allowed Israel to suffer the consequences of their spiritual rebellion. He detailed his misery in verse after verse until he gets to my favorite verses in the entire book.

This I call to mind and, therefore, I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself: “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26)

Hear the beauty of the passage. That which the prophet remembers gives hope. What he remembers is not all he reported in the previous verses. What gives him hope is the truth he shares next.

He remembers “God’s great love.” Other translations use “God’s steadfast love.” Steadfast suggests something that is firmly fixed or immovable. Something unshakable.

This steadfast love keeps Jeremiah from feeling consumed. With all that happened, every step Jeremiah takes is labored. It would be easy for the prophet to feel as if he hangs precariously at the end of his rope. Unable to go on. God’s unshakable love does not lead him into a dark place that overwhelms, but to a hope that endures. It is the silver lining in the storm clouds over his head.

Jeremiah’s life experience tells him that God’s compassions…his mercies…his grace…never failed him in the past. He sees no reason why they would fail him now, even in this most personal loss.

In the beauty of passage, Jeremiah says that God’s compassion renews every morning. Every new day is a reminder of God’s faithful love and his desire to extend his grace and mercy to all who seek him. God is a faithful and fair even when it is unmerited.

As a result of this understanding, Jeremiah knows God is sufficient in all things….his portion. It allows him to wait, even in his distress, for God to reveal himself…for God to bring an end to the suffering. For God to bring him through. He rests his hope in the promise of God’s goodness, trusting that God will cover him through his sorrow and trouble.

That’s the truth I often need to hear. You can find example after example of God’s extended love, compassion and grace toward those who are hurting in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

I think the key in this is what Jeremiah says in the beginning of this passage. Do you see it?

“This I call to mind…”

After all the horror and pain he shared from his opening words until this point in Chapter 3, Jeremiah said, “This I call to mind…” or “This I choose to remember…”

What is he calling to mind?

His declaration points forward to God’s great love and mercy. To God’s faithfulness and goodness. To his sufficiency and salvation. This is what he chooses to call to mind.

There isn’t a Christian among us who hasn’t dealt with tears. Our world is broken and brings its own special brand of hardships that we all must bear…believers and non-believers. It often consumes our thoughts. Darkens our spirit. Often our sorrows make us feel we cannot take another step.

It seems the difference is what we choose to remember. What we choose to call to mind. You can dwell on the sorrow or you can dwell on God.

Dealing with the struggles and trouble of life will always be easier when we choose to remember God’s steadfast love and his mercy that renews itself with each new day. When we choose to remember God’s faithfulness instead of dwelling on our sorrow, we will find hope, as Jeremiah did, instead of bitter despair.

I love the truth this teaches. Life’s circumstances may make us feel as if we can’t go on, but God is not done. He is not finished. You will not fail because his love and compassion never fail.

I don’t know where your heart is today. If it is breaking…if it is filled with sorrow and despair. As real as that pain may feel, choose to trust in God’s great love and compassions that renew every morning. Choose to wait on him to work his will in your life. Trust his timing. Choose to remember God’s faithfulness.

As you make that choice, even in the middle of life’s most troublesome times, you will find hope in a Creator God who loves you without reservation.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13)

But God

Background Passages: Genesis 50:16-21; Romans 5:6,8; Ephesians 2:1-7

Every English teacher I ever had in school harped constantly on the use of strong, active verbs, almost to the point of sucking the joy out of writing.

I can still see that smattering of red ink circles drawn around certain verbs in my essays with a line to the margin indicating, in no uncertain terms, that my teacher was disappointed in my verb choice. I measured the quality of my paper less on the grade and more on the number of times I had to read Ms. Falks’ scribbled note in the margin that just said, “weak.”

I will come out of the closet today and admit that I have always enjoyed grammar. One of my favorite parts of speech is the lowly conjunction. In case you need a reminder, conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases or clauses together. Conjunctions allow a writer to form complex, elegant sentences by avoiding the choppiness of multiple short sentences.

My favorite conjunction is the word but. Its most common usage introduces a phrase or clause that contrasts with another phrase or clause which has already been stated. For instance, “He stumbled, but did not fall.”

But always makes a bolder and grander statement in a sentence than does and, if, or so. When it comes to these statements like these, the bigger, the better.

My thoughts this week germinated during last week’s Sunday School lesson about Joseph and his brothers. Near the end of that biblical narrative in Genesis 50, Joseph’s father Jacob had died. His brothers, who sold him into slavery when he was young, feared that Joseph would seek revenge on them now that Jacob was no longer in the picture.

They concocted a lie, putting words in Jacob’s mouth. Read what the Bible says about it. Look for that conjunctive phrase.

So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died. This is what you are to say to Joseph: ‘I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they have committed in treating you so badly. Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.’” When the message came, Joseph wept.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. (Genesis 50:16-18)

Joseph responded to their deceitful plea in an unexpected way.

Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid, I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19-21)

Did you see it? “You intended harm, BUT GOD…”

What a big but! The words written after but God suggests a biblical truth written in a slightly different manner in the New Testament.

For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

It’s a great lesson, but not today’s lesson.

As I reflected on that lesson last Sunday, those two words kept resurfacing. But God. We see the use of but God or but the Lord at least 61 times in scripture. One thing unfolds, but God uses it to reveal his character, to teach us something we need to learn or accomplish, or to bring about his will or his purpose.

The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, but God remembered Noah… (Genesis 7:24-8:1)

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)

Similar instances occur in the New Testament.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. (I Corinthians 10:13)

He said to them, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.”(2 Timothy 2:8-9)

Study those passages on your own if you choose but notice how the phrase that comes after but God reveals so much about who God is and what he desires for us. The more I find that phrase mentioned in the Bible, the keener I am to pay attention to the words that follow. In every instance, there is a truth I probably need to hear.

The phrase, time and time again, introduces the gracious and compassionate intervention of God. He redeems. He resurrects. He makes all things new. He instructs. He is strength. He provides. He is faithful. When we erect a façade as a barrier to keep the world away, he sees straight into our hearts.

I said all of that to say this. This weekend is Palm Sunday, leading up to our celebration on Easter. There may be no greater use of the phrase but God among Christians than what you find in the Easter narrative.

Here’s the message of Easter in one simple but God statement.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6, 8)

The message of Easter is one big but God. All hope seems gone. All seems lost. Then, we see this but God moment on the cross and in the empty tomb. Those words should have been the sign Pilate inscribed for his cross…not “He claimed to be King of the Jews,” but God.… It is the crux of his redemptive work and Paul knew it.

God waited until just the right moment when we could understand the depth of his sacrificial love. When the time was right, he sent his son, even though we were powerless to do anything about it on our own and ungodly in our actions.

This inconceivable act of love was in the mind and heart of our omnipotent creator from the beginning. Even before God brought those first molecules of creation together, he knew his most precious creation would rebel against him. He knew you and I would be steeped in sin and in need of a way back to him. And he provided the way.

Paul testified as much to the church in Ephesus when he wrote these words.

As for you, you were dead in in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But God, being rich in mercy and because of his great love for us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Through an act of unmitigated love and mercy, through an act of grace, you and I, as believers in Christ, experienced our but God moment at some point in our past. We find that the celebration will continue forever, according to Paul’s next words.

But God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in the kindness in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7)

This is the ultimate reason for sacrificing his son on the cross. This is his reason for emptying the tomb. He wants us to one day experience his eternal grace…the joy of which is indescribable.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. These are thing revealed to us by his spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:9-10)

“…But God…”

Maybe that’s the message some need to hear today. A simple paraphrase of one of the Bible’s most cherished verses.

But God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Maybe today can be their “but God” moment, making this Easter even more special.

For those of us who have already claimed that eternal promise and experienced our personal but God moment, what about here? What about now?

Because they reveal to me the character of the God I serve and the life he demands I live, every but God statement in scripture calls me to live a Christ-like life…even when I’m overwhelmed by the circumstances in which I’m living.

Claiming the promises of God is never easy, especially when overwhelming circumstances put us at wits end. You and I will struggle as we try to live as a disciple of Christ. While I don’t always follow through, it has been my experience that we can trust in those but God lessons we find in scripture.

In a recent blog, Lisa Appelo wrote, “But God brings hope when we can’t see a way through. But God means ashes aren’t the end of our story. And but God, not our circumstances, always gets the last word.”

In other words, go back to Joseph’s story, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done…”

That’s the story of Easter. Every but God is his grace gift and promise of eternity in heaven, but it is so much more. It is life abundant. Here. Now. But God is the peace that surpasses our understanding. It is knowing that God walks with us through the good and bad times of life, actively working in all things for the good of those who love him. But God is knowing that he has a plan for us and will actively work in our lives to see it happen in our lives.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Wow! Just wow!

But God.

Can These Dry Bones Live?

Background Passages: Ezekiel 37:1-10; John 4:13-14, Isaiah 42:5

When my sons were children, we enjoyed visiting my parents on the 1,000 acres Dad farmed for much of his life. My boys loved going to the farm to visit their grandparents and to go on their “explores.”

Once they were old enough to be on their own, we told them they could wander the farm wherever they wanted to go as long as they could still see the house. In the broad reaches of the Texas South Plains, that gives two boys a fair amount of freedom.

My Dad kept about 20 head of cattle on a 30-acre grassland pasture, sloping down a modest hill. At the far end of the pasture was a playa lake. For those not accustomed to West Texas, a playa lake is a low spot in the surrounding countryside, typically dry, that collects run-off from those occasional West Texas rains. Most of them were formed when vast herds of buffalo that once grazed the grassland would wallow in the mud to cool down from the oppressive heat.

My boys would walk the pasture in search of artifacts they could collect. Usually, they would come back to the house with an odd collection of bolts, tin cans and rocks.

It was an exciting day, indeed, when they uncovered the dried bones of some long-dead rabbit, skunk or snake. They were most proud the day they returned with a cow’s skull that probably belong to poor Bessie who died at some point during my childhood.

If you spent any time at all walking in that dry playa lake, you could spot the bleached-out cow bones strewn across the dried lakebed by rain or coyote. A graveyard of white, dry, dusty bones.

Think Ezekiel.

For over 100 years, the Jews, the chosen people of God, endured captivity in Egypt. Through a series of miraculous events, God brought them into the Promised Land and gave them a home and a king. He made them a nation again. As they always seemed to do, Israel rebelled, turning against their heavenly father.

As a result, God allowed them to be conquered again. Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian horde invaded Israel. They defeated its army, reduced Solomon’s Temple to ashes, and took many of the Jewish people back to Babylon as captives.

The nation of Israel was dead, a valley of dried bones. God did not want them to stay that way. When our spiritual marrow is dry, God doesn’t want us to stay that way either. There is a lesson to be learned from Ezekiel’s experience.

“The hand of the Lord was one me and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and sat me in the middle of a valley. And it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great number of bones in the valley, bones that were very dry.

“He asked me, ‘Son of Man, can these bones live?’

“I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.’

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to them, ‘I will make breath enter you and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and you will come to life. Then you will know I am Lord.’

“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and the tendons and flesh appeared upon them and skin covered them, but there was no breath among them.’

“Then, he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of Man and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says, ‘Come breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied the way he told me, and breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.’” (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision reflected the spiritual condition of God’s people. Their defeat at the hands of the Babylonians left them discouraged, down and defeated. In verse 11, they cried out to God saying,

“Our bones are dry. Our hope is lost and we ourselves are cut off!”

The hopelessness grew less from their current condition and more from the fact that they long ago lost their passion for the things of God. They were at the end of their rope, blind to the possibilities of what God could do for them. There was no future. Only a today, filled with misery and hopelessness.

Once so full of vitality and vigor, a picture of God’s presence and power, they took their focus off God. Did their own thing. Drifted away from the father. Their bones were dry.

It’s not unusual as God’s people to find ourselves in what feels like an endless spiritual desert…our faith feeling dry and lifeless. Most of the time, these dry spells don’t come out of nowhere. Circumstances beyond our control dry our bones, leave our faith parched. Choices we make that lead us into the desert, sap our souls of strength, making our trust in God waver and wither.

Sometimes, we get so busy doing things, even good things, that our worship becomes rote and routine, half-hearted and half-felt. Complacency overtakes us, leaving us thirsting for what we’ve lost. In times like these our prayers never seem to rise above the roof. We stare blankly at the pages of our Bible, if we open the pages at all. Our spiritual lives gather dust as the moisture is sucked from our marrow and our bones lay drying in the wilderness.

How closely does this match your life experiences? You look into your life and it’s messy. Every outcome you can see just adds to the confusion and hopelessness. Each wrong step leads to another. Whether caused by random chance or personal choice, it feels like everything has gone wrong. Now, you find yourself blind to the possibilities of what God can do. Your bones are dry.

When you look at your circumstance and all you see is an arid valley of dead, dry bones, it’s hard to imagine life beyond the desert. Hear God ask you the same question he asked Ezekiel. “Can these bones live again?”

What is your answer?

Ezekiel’s response was an honest one. “I don’t see how, but if there is any hope at all, it comes from you, God.” And, that’s as much as God needs to turn things around…just a glimmer of faith in his compassion and love. In the middle of the turmoil in our lives, can we say, “Lord, it’s up to you. I put my life in your hands.”

It is an act of surrender to the will of God. Easier said than done, I know.

God tells Ezekiel to preach a message to the dry bones…our dry bones. The first thing he asks the prophet to tell them…to tell us…is to “Hear the word of God.”

When we’re struggling, when our faith seems dry and stale, we need only to hear the word of God. I don’t mean just sit in the sanctuary while the preacher preaches. I mean really hearing what God is telling you. Listen and obey. When we’re spiritually thirsty, we need to swim in the water of God’s word.

“So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Jesus sat by a well in the heart of Samaria in deep conversation with a woman in need of living water. He told her,

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

God’s word gives life. It gives clarity. It gives peace. All we must do is listen and obey the will of the one who loves us enough to die in our place. Drink it in. Refresh our bones.

Ezekiel gives us one more thought to consider. Beyond hearing the full word of God, he tells us to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. It is the spirit of God who gives our dry bones breath. Listening to God’s word is a great start at bringing our bones together, but we need the spirit within us to bring us to life. It is the Holy Spirit who takes the word of God and gives it the power to give life to a broken heart and a struggling soul.

Allowing the spirit to live within us, lets God give us the chance to be a living instrument to share is grace and to be his hands at work in a hurting world. To be an oasis in a desert of dry bones.

“Thus says God, the Lord, ‘the creator of the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth and all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I have called you to righteousness…” (Isaiah 42:5)

Breathe it in. Be right with God. Maybe it’s time to begin living again.

I believe that is a great word of encouragement for those who are struggling today to live out the life God has planned for them. Whether that person is you, me or someone you know. The answers lie in God’s word and in the presence of his spirit in the heart of those who believe and trust in Jesus.

Can these dry bones live?

I believe they can. I’m living proof.

He’ll Leave the Light On For You

Background Passages: Revelation 3:7-12, Isaiah 22:17, Matthew 23:13, John 10:7-10

Holiday Inn-Express is our hotel of choice when we’re traveling in the United States. We’ve stayed in that chain often enough that we generally know what we’re going to get when we arrive.

These smaller, convenience hotels began to spring up about 15 years ago. Now, if one opens in your area, you can almost be assured others will build within a three-block radius.

As one with a background in advertising, I know you measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign by sales and market position. While they didn’t sway me, I always enjoyed the Motel 6 ads.

Motel 6 is a motel franchise with over 1,000 locations that started in Santa Barbara, California, in 1962 as a lower cost alternative to Holiday Inn. Motel 6 may be best known for its series of commercials that aired beginning in the mid-1980s. I’m sure you remember them.

The motel chain hired National Public Radio personality Tom Bodet to read the commercial script because of his warm and friendly vocal style. When he made the first commercial, Bodet extolled the virtues of the motel’s hospitality and warmth. Then, he ad-libbed and unscripted line, “We’ll leave the light on for you.”

The slogan was an instant and lasting success, winning the grand prize at the Radio Mercury Awards. More importantly to the franchise owners, it boosted sales and market share.

There was something comforting in the slogan. “We’ll leave the light on for you” reassured travelers that they would be welcomed and accepted. That there would be a room for them.

That’s one of the joys about being a Christian. When you put your faith and trust in Christ, you know where you’re going and you know Jesus will be there to welcome you. Still, it’s nice to hear a word of reassurance from time to time.

I’m near the end of my study of the seven churches to whom Jesus spoke in the second and third chapters of Revelation. The brief letter to the church at Philadelphia is all about reassurance. It’s as if Jesus is telling us, “We’ll leave the light on for you.”

It’s a good word to hear. Let’s look at the passage.

“These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have but a little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious will make a pillar in the temple of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and I will also write on them my new name.” (Revelation 3:7-12)

Philadelphia, founded in 150 B.C. by King Attallus of Pergamum, whose nickname was Philadelpius, meaning “lover of a brother.” The king was noted for his deep affection for his brother Eumenes. Oddly enough, driven by a king’s ego, he named the city after himself to honor his love for his brother.

The church in Philadelphia is a little unique from the seven churches because it is the only one for which the Lord levels no complaint. Despite some serious attacks from the local synagogue, they remained faithful.

The Jews from the “synagogue of Satan” made life miserable for the Christians in Philadelphia. The Jews in the city had unwittingly aligned themselves with Satan and had little use for this offshoot religion of the one they felt was a false Messiah.

The Jews claimed to be spiritual descendants of Abraham, worthy of the blessings of God, when they were only ethnic descendants. Their attitude toward the truth of God and his new revelation in Christ was far removed from Abraham’s unwavering faith.

The Jews had Moses and the Law. The Jews had David. The Jews had God’s promises. To the Jews, these Christians were unclean Gentiles, pretenders and corrupters of truth.

Undoubtedly, these Philadelphia Christians experienced the same personal and economic hardships inflicted upon them by the Jews as did other early congregations. They were ostracized from the community, pressured and slandered, and labeled as political enemies of Rome because they would not worship Caesar.

Despite the opposition they faced, they endured. Jesus praised them for their perseverance while acknowledging their situation. Look at his words.

“I know your deeds…I know you have but a little strength.”

Jesus was not condemning them for being weak in faith. He was proud of them for remaining faithful when they were almost powerless to do anything about the opposition that confronted them. Small in numbers and influence, they had little ability to counter the hostility they faced. No political leverage. No social standing. Everything was stacked against them, yet they endured it all without sacrificing their faith.

These Christians from Philadelphia were hammered day in and day out by the Jews saying they were God’s chosen people…That God loves the Jews and them only…That God has no place for those who profess a faith in Jesus.

Though they never denied their faith in Christ, don’t you imagine these early Christians needed to hear a word of reassurance?

“You have kept my word and not denied my name.”

Don’t we all hope Jesus could write those words about us? The Philadelphian Christians heard that word. It’s as if Jesus was whispering in their ears, “I know you. You made your reservation when you believed in me. And, even if you’re not sure right now, I know where you’re going. I’ll leave the light on for you.”

That’s what all that verbiage about holding the key of David and the open and shut doors means. Jesus reminds them that he is the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 22:17 says,

“I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open.”

During the first Jesus and his followers battled the Pharisees about the true faith. Jesus used a similar thought to condemn the Jewish religious leaders.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matthew 23:13)

The Pharisees acted as gatekeepers to God’s kingdom. While they would not allow others to enter the kingdom, they never walked through the door either.

Jesus called himself the door in the third of his “I am” statements in John.

“I am the door (gate) for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the door (gate); whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:7-10)

Jesus offers reassurance to the battered souls of Philadelphia. Jesus has the key to the house of David. He sits on the throne. When he opens a door neither the Jews nor Caesar can shut it. If Jesus shuts the door, neither the Jews nor Caesar can open it. Jesus tells them, “I know you don’t have the political clout to stop the harassment, but, in the end, I hold the key. I’m at the door.” They are powerless against him.

I’d like to say I’ve never needed to hear God’s calm reassurance in my own life. I’d like to say I’ve never had others throw up arguments against my faith that left me questioning my eternal destiny. I’d like to say that, but it would not be true. Those who argue against faith can be convincing at times.

When pressured by opposing forces to abandon our faith, when it feels we wield so little influence against those whose influence seems so powerful, our hope is that we would respond as the Christians in Philadelphia responded…by keeping his word with absolute obedience to the teachings of Christ and by never denying the name of Jesus.

Jesus holds the key and stands at the open door. Nothing man can do or say and no one with earthly power and influence can hinder those who believe from entering the kingdom of God. That’s a word of reassurance we all need to hear at times.

How do we feel that sense of reassurance when everyone else is telling us we’re wrong? Jesus told the Christians in Philadelphia and he tells us, I think, three things.

“Since you have patiently endured, I will keep you from the hour of trial…”

Trials will come. All of us get to experience them. When we keep his word and honor his name, when we persevere through tough times, God keeps those tough times from being worse than they could be. He walks beside us and with us. He protects us from some of the ugliness of life because our eyes are focused on him.

“I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have so no one will take your crown…”

I’ve never worried too much about the second coming of Christ. He will come when he comes. In God’s eternal time frame “soon” is a relative term.

My task is to “hold fast.” To hang on to his teachings and live life accordingly. I am to be so grounded in his word that no one can persuade me to abandon my faith (take my crown).

“The one who is victorious will make a pillar in the temple of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and I will also write on them my new name.” (Revelation 3:7-12)

None of that makes as much sense in this context without knowing the whole of Revelation. Near the end of the book, John is sharing more of his vision of God’s kingdom as his temple and the New Jerusalem. It is a vision about being sealed within his protective care for all eternity. Jesus promised the church in Philadelphia. He promised us. Every believer has a home waiting for them. We are citizens of this heavenly city.

So, we find comfort when we endure the trials with him beside us. We find encouragement when we hang tough in the face of spiritual opposition. We find hope and reassurance when we understand that he has promised us a place in his kingdom.

When I read this passage in Revelation, that’s the line that kept jumping into my head. Jesus, speaking in that warm and friendly vocal style, reminds us that he his holding the door open. He praises the faithful for being obedient and never denying his name. Then, he urges all of us to hold on until he comes again, whenever that may be, with a simple reminder, “I’ll leave the light on for you.”

It is the promise that I know where I’m going. I know I’ll have a warm room waiting for me. I thank God I can see the light.

No Where Else To Go

Background Passage: John 14:23-27

I spent the bulk of my professional career trying to put the right words together to explain things. I always felt I did it fairly well. Today, I’m at a loss to explain what’s happening in our country.

It’s not that the events of the past year have caught me by surprise. It’s just that it all seems so senseless. The ideologies and actions of a radical left and radical right keep tearing at the fabric of our republic.

I have no words to ease the angst of my adult children who wonder what kind of world their children will inherit. I certainly have no words to adequately answer the questions of my nine-year-old grandson whose innocent heart cannot comprehend hatred and bitterness.

I am at a loss. All I can do for them is listen and love.

We’ve become a people who call others blind because of the sawdust in their eyes without paying heed to the plank obscuring our own vision. A people unable to see that spiritually an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” gave way to “turning the other cheek” or “walking the extra mile.”

An essay published by the Lincoln Home National Historic Site shared information about President Lincoln’s thoughts on the eve of the Civil War.

Step back in time and travel the world in 1860. Visiting every continent, every country, you would find monarchies, dictatorships and authoritarian rule. When you return home and set foot on American soil after all your travels, you would have found only one republic established on democratic rule. The United States of America.

France tried shortly after the American Revolution, but mob rule and the guillotine determined outcomes more than the ballot box. If we are honest with ourselves, it is a startling comparison to our present circumstance when taking over a downtown or storming our Capitol building are accepted as necessary by factions of our population, each declaring that the end would justify the means.

President Abraham Lincoln led our nation at a time when the world’s monarchists and tyrants watched our Civil War with glee, hoping to see the end of this unnatural democratic experiment in the dissolution of the United States.

Lincoln understood this well. It was not simple political rhetoric when he described America as “the world’s last best hope.” Lincoln believed if the war were lost, it would be the end of America. If America ceased to exist as a united nation, it would end the hope of people everywhere for any form of democratic government.

I suspect there are foreign nations today dancing with joy at the discord so prevalent among our people.

When he was most overwhelmed, Lincoln found the only answer available to him. It’s the only answer I can find to my current inadequacies. Lincoln turned to prayer.

During the worst days of the Civil War, Lincoln met privately with his friend and journalist Noah Brooks. The president told him, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

“Driven to my knees…” When the politics fail, when our own understanding fails us, maybe it’s time to hear those words from President Lincoln. Maybe today, we have “no where else to go” except to our knees in prayer to our Father in heaven.

On March 4, 1861, at his first inaugural address, with his nation divided and on the brink of Civil War, Lincoln offer this prayer for peace.

“Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage;
We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves
a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will.

“Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion,
from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.

“Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people,
the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

“Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name
we entrust the authority of government, that there may be
justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.

“In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness,
and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail;
all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It was the perfect prayer for an imperfect era of discord 160 years ago. It’s a good prayer for this day of uncertainty. I claim it for our nation today and ask you to join me in praying for our country, our leaders, our people and our future.

Prayer is something I can do. It is prayer that will bring me the peace I need to feel.

As a politically divided nation, peace is at a premium. Trying to find peace in the events of this world is a fruitless effort. Life’s circumstances and events might bring a welcomed calm, but, ultimately, nothing that happens around us will ever bring peace. We must look upward and inward for that.

Jesus’ words to his disciples in the Upper Room hours before his arrest and crucifixion offered instruction, hope and encouragement. He knew the disciples were about to have the rug pulled out from under their feet. He knew how dark their days would grow and how burdened their hearts would be. He knew exactly what they needed to hear.

What I know in this moment is that God knows my struggles and burdens of my heart. He knows how dark these days feel to me at times. That’s why his words to his disciples bring comfort to my heart. He knows what I need to hear.

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching…but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom my father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:23-27)

Don’t worry, he says, about what is happening around you. Just stay true to all I’ve taught you. Be who I have called you to be. Remember all I’ve taught you and don’t be influenced by others to abandon your faith and your hope.

In the middle of life’s turmoil, trust me. Trust my peace, not as the world understands it, but peace as you have experienced in the past. Do not be afraid.

I don’t know about you, but it is God’s peace we need as a people and a nation. It is a peace that comes only on bended knee.

What Now?

I’m sitting here tonight with my arm in a sling following surgery to remove bone spurs and reattach a torn rotator cuff tendon. I share that with you not to garner sympathy, though sympathy helps, too.

I share it with you simply because the surgery limits my typing to a ponderous, one-fingered hunt and peck that tries my patience and stifles my creativity. The prospect of typing my regular Bible Study blog this week is one hunt and one peck too much.

My uncle, Les Lewis, is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Slaton, TX. He writes two brief devotional thoughts each week to share with his congregation, family and friends.

Once on a snowy day in West Texas when I was in elementary school and Les was in high school, he carried me home on his back for more than a mile through a foot of snow (uphill both ways, I’m sure.) Les regales our family with stories, each with the Lewis gift of embellishing the truth to make things more interesting. He makes me laugh.

When it comes to his faith, he is a spiritual thinker and often presents a new thought that challenges my own thinking. The following is one of my uncle’s devotionals. As I think of the number of family and friends dealing with personal moments of grief in the past weeks and months, his message resonates with me as one whose hope is in Christ. I hope you find it helpful.

I Thessalonians 4:13-18

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have not hope.”

The young first century church was still struggling to find itself; deciding where it stands on issues of the day. This is was especially true of the church at Thessalonica having only recently been established by the itinerant apostle Paul.

Since the day of Pentecost, the church had been inundated with odd beliefs, theories, superstitions, and speculations about God’s organization. Leaders were forced to deal not only with each of these notions but also with those who introduced them to the church.

High upon the list of topics of discussion was the belief that the Lord Jesus would be returning to earth to redeem His Church and take His followers to ever be with God in heaven. The people of the church were in a constant state of waiting anxiously for His return.

But this very issue was disturbing for some of the people, for their loved ones had died, and they feared that the dead would be left behind when the rapture came. The letter of Paul to the Thessalonians addressed the issue. He introduced them to his own doctrinal theory, “by the word of the Lord,” to give it divine authority.

The text for today very clearly lines out in orderly fashion the event of the second coming that includes all of God’s children. It’s impossible to say for sure whether or not Paul’s discourse put the matter to bed, but I imagine it was very comforting to those grieving members for whom it was intended.

Grief has received bad press in that it tends to be looked upon as a sign of weakness, or a lack of faith. Grief is autonomous! It forces us deep into our very souls to meet with us there even as we struggle to follow the advice of well-meaning friends who tell us we “must be strong for the kids.”

The dark silence of the soul may be strange territory for many of us for it is the place where deep processing takes place; where all phony business is pushed aside leaving only the pain of reality.

We will feel as if grief is going to utterly consume us, but HOPE is the solvent that softens our grief and ultimately makes us feel human again. Hope does not get rid of grief, it only makes grief, OUR GRIEF, bearable, thereby blending “our” grief into our personality enabling us to be present for “others who have no hope.”

Paul’s image offers hope to all who are in grief. “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Les

*****

Thanks, Les. I add only one thought and one verse.

With every loss comes grief. It’s arrival and departure are rarely in a confined time frame or orderly progression. Just when we think grief has finally taken its last breath from us, another wave breaks over our heads threatening to drown us once again in our sorrow.

That’s why we fight it. Try to ignore it. Try to push it away only to find ourselves lost again in our brokenness. Grief is the life process God uses to put our pieces back together again, different to be sure, but whole. It is his presence, his hope, that sustains us.

I find comfort in the following verse from Psalms.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

That has been my experience and is the basis of my hope.

Somewhere in Your Silent Night

Background Passages: Psalm 69; Luke 15:1-6; Ephesians 3:14-19

On the one hand…

You can see the anxiety in the eyes behind the masks. You can sense the anguished emotions in social media posts announcing the hospitalization or death of a loved one or friend from the coronavirus.

You can feel the desperation as you drive past empty businesses, stores and restaurants representing the livelihood of people who own the establishment or work within the organization.

There is palpable unease among educators and parents at the prospects of in person school or another semester of online learning.

On the other hand…

A foreboding sense of frustration exists among those who struggle with the restrictions imposed during this time of pandemic. Their hearts, not personally touched by the tragedies caused by the virus, long for a return to normal. A cacophony of mixed messages create distrust of any word that runs counter to their hopes. They find it hard to believe in anything.

It doesn’t take a long look at social media to see that a great many people are at their breaking point. Two sides of the same coin. Both struggling for answers.

The Psalmist would understand these feelings of distress.

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold…I am worn out calling for help. My throat is parched. My eyes fail looking for my God…Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love. In your mercy turn to me. Do not turn your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. Come near and rescue me…I looked for sympathy but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69:1-3; 16-18, 30)

In a world experiencing such uncertainty, a roiling tension simmers just beneath the surface threatening to consume us. In such a place it is easy to feel out of sorts. Isolated. Lonely. Agitated. Anxious.

His undying hope in the Lord was his answer.

“I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving…you who seek God, may your hearts live!” (Psalm 69:30,32)

Have you noticed that we tend to revive our hope during Christmas? Despite the issues we’ve faced during the year, the celebration of that day when hope came to live among us, changes our perspective. Sadly, for far too many, the feeling dissipates with the aging of the new year. It seems to be the case in 2020.

Maybe we need a little Christmas this July.

I’m trying to exercise more amid the weirdness going on around me. I listen to music as I walk or swim as a way of breaking up the repetitive nature of my workouts. I usually set my player on “shuffle” to get a variety of tunes. This week, for the first time, one of the songs that popped up was from a Christmas album by Casting Crowns.

When the music began playing during a recent walk, I started to click past it. It’s way too early for Christmas, I thought. For whatever reason, I let it play. I heard a song with a message too beautiful for one season.

Listen to Somewhere in Your Silent Night.

It is not hard to imagine a great many of us laboring with our thoughts as we lie in bed in the middle of the night. Minds racing. Unable to sleep. Amid the stillness and quiet, our hearts are troubled by the circumstances in which we find ourselves. A country that feels like it’s tearing itself apart. All authority questioned. People at odds with one another. A deadly and debilitating illness threatening every family. Our lives turned upside down.

In the escalating tension of our lives, it’s hard to find life’s joy and peace. As the song says, “you feel too far gone and too far out of reach.” Like the Psalmist, our broken hearts cry out for relief. We long for comfort.

The lyrics remind us that in the middle of the silence, heaven hears our broken hearts. Hope is here. Love comes to find us in the form of the baby in a manger who grew to be the man on the cross.

Here are the words that spoke so clearly during my walk.

“From heaven’s height to manger low,
There is no distance the Prince of Peace won’t go.
From manger low to Calvary’s hill
When your pain runs deep his love runs deeper still.

“Lift your head. Lift your heart.
Emmanuel will meet you where you are.
He knows your hurt.
He knows your name.
You’re the very reason that he came.”

The Bible tells it in a beautiful story in Luke of the shepherd tending his flock. As he frequently did, the shepherd counted them all to make sure none were lost. This time he found one sheep missing. Immediately, he scoured the hillside. Crawled through the gullies and crevices. Tore through the thicket of thorns. Braved the lion’s den.

He searched through the night until he found the one who was lost. Tending to its needs, he carried the animal in his arms, ensuring that no harm would come. When he placed the lamb back into the fold, he rejoiced.

God is there for his flock, but he will go to great lengths to find the lost and broken.

This is an unusual time, but none of this weirdness caught God by surprise. No matter how deep your hurt, God’s love is deeper still. No matter how lost you feel in the moment, he will never stop calling your name. In the middle of your anxiousness, his love will find you.

No. It’s not Christmas. If, however, Christmas is a time to remember our hope in the God who is ever-present in this hurting world, then now is as good a time as any to put out the Nativity and sing a few carols of joy and peace.

Now is as good a time as any to celebrate that he came and that he remains with us. Now is as good as time as any to allow God to find you where you are because you are the reason he came.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Just call on his name and…

Love will find you.

Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus seems appropriate today. It is my closing prayer for you.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father…I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how long and wide and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Amen and again, Amen.

Finding Hope Amid the Hopelessness

Background Passages: Psalm 31:24, Psalm 33:18, Romans 5:3, Isaiah 40:31, Romans 12:12, Jeremiah 29:11

If our coronavirus, racial-tense, economically stricken world has taught us anything, it’s that the things of this world will confound and confuse us, rust away and lose their luster, or fizzle out and fade away.

Maybe we can handled one or two of those things happening at the same time. When we are hit with a tsunami of negative news and issues seemingly without solution, the feeling of hopelessness can overwhelm us.

I’m a generally optimistic person and I admit I’ve felt it at times during the past five months. We wonder: “Will we survive this?” Or “When will this ever end?”

Two verses provide a message for our worrisome day.

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:24) “The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him; on those who hope in his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:18)

The verses beg the question. What is our source of hope?

Several years ago, psychologist Dr. Shane Lopez began to ask those he encountered what they meant when they talked about hope. To get the conversation started, he asked his friends and clients to take the Head-Heart-Holy test. It starts, he said, by asking the question, “Given your background and all life experiences, where does hope originate?”

The analysis determines whether one’s hope comes from one’s head (That which you believe and think you can control), heart (The emotions that respond to events and guide your actions) or whatever one finds sacred (the belief in God or some higher power at work). Lopez says that most people ascribe hope to the heart…a feeling that comes and goes depending on life events and circumstances.

It seems to me if you’re dependent upon life circumstances as a basis of hope, much of your life will be spent in a frenzied foxhole, hoping to avoid what feels inevitable. For those of us who put our faith and trust in Christ, the origin of hope is found in a leap of faith, especially in the darkest times.

Growing up on a farm 22 miles from the nearest decent sized city, I took for granted the stars in the night sky. I remember looking up late at night and seeing the clear band of the Milky Way spreading across the night sky amid a universe of galactic pinpoints of light. After living almost all my adult life in the suburbs of Houston, it’s a rare night outside when I can see more than a handful of the brightest planets or star clusters.

Stars are amazing and beautiful, but you can only see them at night. The deeper the darkness, the brighter, and more plentiful, the stars.

The stars prove to be an interesting metaphor for Christian hope. We rarely call upon it in the light of prosperity and peace. We hold onto it, but don’t draw upon it. No, we discover hope in the dark night of adversity. Famed pastor C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “Hope is like a star. Often, we only see it when we are facing suffering.”

The point he was trying to make, I think, is that difficult times cause us to call upon our hope in Christ. Paul told the Roman church that the persecution they faced would eventually lead to hope.

“…We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3)

If we truly believe that God can find a way to bring about good even in the most difficult circumstance as he tells us in Romans 8:28, then the dark days of pandemic, turmoil and financial stress should elicit the hope within us. It is a trust that God is at work in our lives and in the world and that the final outcome, the final victory is his…and by extension…ours.

If suffering is a part of life, which our experience tells us it is, we get to choose whether or not it will overwhelm us. Our security comes from the one in whom we believe, not from our own feelings or emotions which tend to weaken our knees. The difference between the Christian’s response to trouble and that of one without Christ is hope.

This verse in Isaiah stands to me as one of the most uplifting and poetic passages in all scripture. It speaks to the natural outgrowth of Christian hope.

“…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

When fear and worry begin to gnaw at my soul, that verse echoes off the walls that seem to surround and trap me. I hear it and the difficult steps I have to take get easier, less heavy-footed. My whole demeanor and attitude change.

Troubled times have a season. They will come and go. Ebb and flow. My approach to the trauma of the day becomes one of joyous hope as I try to wait upon God to answer prayers. Yet, this is what is required of me.

“Be joyful in hope; patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

For most of those Dr. Lopez surveyed, hope was conditional, framed by the circumstances in which they found themselves or the people with whom they were surrounded. Our hope as Christians is not grounded on circumstance, people or our own personal choices. Hope is found in Christ alone. It is a refrain pronounced by Edward Mote, a 19th century London cabinetmaker turned minister. In 1863, he penned the words of one of the great hymns of all time.

“My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

“When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.

“On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest storms. If your experiences in this messed up world give you a sense of foreboding, helplessness and hopelessness, know that God’s hope shines brightest in the darkest storm. He is the only solid rock in a quicksand world.

The hope we have is not based on circumstances, people, or even our own choices – hope is found in Christ alone. What a comfort this is to our lonely and hurting hearts! God is faithful and will not disappoint.

Rest your heart upon this word.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Somehow, that makes me feel better. May we all test positive for hope this week.

Passion Week-Sunday: Risen Indeed

Background Passages: John 20:1-16, I Corinthians 15

The universe and all that it will be was little more than a glint in the eyes of Creator God. His hand poised over an empty void like the conductor of a massive orchestra, God scripted the placement of each galaxy and star…every ocean and mountain on every planet…every molecule of life. He harbors in his heart the highlight of his creation…man and woman. God created us in his image. Even as he conceived us perfectly formed, he gave us free knowing we would fall short of his desire for us.

Armed with that knowledge, he built into his creation a plan of perfect redemption. A way to bridge the distance between a sinful me and a sinless God. Before the universe was formed, he made the call to send his son into the world to die on a cross for my sin and to be resurrected. He timed it perfectly.

“When the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:4)

“For he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him so your faith and hope are in God. (I Peter 1:20—21)

That seems an odd place to begin on this Resurrection Sunday, but I find it incredibly consequential that Good Friday and Easter were not a back-up plan for a God who didn’t see the need coming. Rather, the cross and the empty tomb were slipped into history as intentional acts of sacrifice and love offered by a God who deeply desires a relationship with you and me.

The crucifixion and the resurrection go hand in hand. One without the other makes little sense. One without the other doesn’t work. Together the cross and the empty tomb serve as the very foundation of the Christian faith…central to what we believe. The heart and soul of the gospel…the good news of Christ.

Look first to the cross. Sin separated us from God. We had no way of working our way back to him. No way of reconnecting once we distanced ourselves from him. Jesus took on himself my sin and yours as he hung on the cross. A sacrificial lamb whose blood erased our sin so we could again enter again into right relationship with him as we were intended…reconnected by God’s grace, through our faith in Jesus Christ. The cross is our salvation.

His resurrection sealed the deal. Locked it in place. The events of that day confirmed it.

*****

Mary Magdalene and a few other women who followed Jesus rose early on Sunday morning intent upon finishing the burial process which could not be completed before the Sabbath. They arrived at dawn to find the heavy stone rolled aside.

Timidly and fearfully, they peeked inside. The only items in the tomb were a few hastily spread spices and ointments Joseph and Nicodemus had placed on Friday and the neatly folded linens in which Jesus had been wrapped. Jesus was gone.

One of the women scurried back to the disciples with a frantic report. Peter and John raced to the tomb. After a quick inspection, the men confirmed that Jesus was missing. As most of the morning’s visitors returned home, some of the women stayed behind.

Two angels sought to comfort their crying and their fears. Confounding them by letting them know that Jesus had risen from the dead. Mary Magdalene, shocked and disoriented, turned and almost ran into Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener.

“Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will go to him.”

Jesus replied to her, “Mary.” (John 20:15-16)

At the sound of her name, Mary knew. The tomb was empty because Jesus was standing before her. Alive! Well! Risen!

*****

Over the course of the next 40 days, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people, according to scripture. Five hundred people who could testify to his resurrection. Five hundred people who could declare with certainty, “He is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

So, in our belief in Jesus as savior and Lord, the question is not do you believe in the resurrection? The questions are: What does it mean to you? What are you going to do with it?

Here’s my take on this continuing miracle in our lives.

Firstly, you and I can have the relationship we have with God because of the resurrection. He planned it that way. He made it happen. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins…past, present and future. It is the only way our sins can be erased.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)

The resurrection of Jesus confirmed that God accepted Jesus’ death as our substitute. We don’t have to pay the price because Jesus did. The resurrection is validation of Jesus’ work on the cross and a promise to us that once we put our faith in Jesus we no longer face the ultimate consequence of our sin. Hallelujah!

Secondly, the resurrection is our hope.

Physical death is the enemy of a sinful man. The mortality rate is, for all practical purposes, 100 percent…give or take Elijah and Jesus. No amount of medical technology or wealth changes that immutable fact.

It does not have to be the case with spiritual death. Christ rose from the grave because God is more powerful than death itself. Jesus’ resurrection shows that death has lost its grip on us. We do not need to fear it because, through Christ, we have been raised to new life.

“O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? But, thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:55-57)

Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians explains that eternal life is ours. Whether we meet a physical death before Christ returns or whether we are present when he comes, Jesus will gather us all to him for eternity in the presence of the Father.

This is the basis for Christian hope. The world uses the word hope to express a desire for something to be true. “I hope she loves me.” “I hope I get that new job.” For Christians, hope in Christ is an assurance. An absolute. Hope in Christ guarantees life beyond our physical death, without question or pause. Everlasting life in the arms of God is assured.

Thirdly, the resurrection confirms that we serve a living savior.

No other faith tradition makes such a claim. In every other faith tradition, the principle head of that faith died, was buried and remains in the grave to this day. Only Jesus lives. The many witnesses of the risen Lord testified to his resurrection. They saw him alive. They touched his nail-scarred hands and pierced side. They saw him breathing. They saw him eating. They heard him speak. They heard him laugh.

Those witnesses are hard to refute. However, the greatest witness to his living presence is the Holy Spirit whom he sent to be with us in his place. In the hours before the cross Jesus offered comfort to his disciples. Sharing with them that he must return to the Father, but he would not leave them alone. He told them,

“I will ask the Father and he will give another Comforter to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth…You know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will be with you.” (John 14:17-18)

It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that testifies to the living presence of Jesus in our lives today.

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.” (John 15:26)

The old hymn declares the promise. “We serve a living savior who’s in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he’s always near. He lives!”

Finally, if the resurrection means we have an eternal relationship with God…one that gives victory over death and a hope that endures forever…that we serve a living savior who lives within us through his spirit…then we bear a great responsibility to be faithful.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (I Corinthians 15:58)

Our Passion Week closes. The dark days replaced by the eternal light of God’s love in living Lord.

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Author’s Note: I hope you’ve found as much meaning in this week’s Easter series as I did during my study. May God bless you all.

Our Season of Uncertainty

Background Passage: John 20:19-21

Easter lies just around the corner. I began this week reading the extraordinary verses about Jesus’ journey to the cross, his death and his resurrection. The meaning of this time of year goes straight to the heart. I found something new as I read about the days between the cross and the resurrection. A word that has a message for us in this most unusual time of life…the season of uncertainty.

As we’ve moved from a period of self-quarantine to mandatory stay at home, we have seen the Covid-19 virus continue to spread across the country and across the world. The number of cases rise every day. The situation leaves us…

…uncertain

…isolated

…troubled.

…no longer in control of our circumstances.

Everything that is routine in our world has been turned sideways and upside down. Such disruption impacts each of us differently, depending on our personalities and our life situations. We know one thing for sure. Nothing is normal.

Those of us who profess faith in God know in our hearts that he is still in control. That while our lives have been temporarily and, in some cases, tragically changed, God has not changed one iota…the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

We have spent the last several weeks trying to figure out how to response and live faithfully amid this pandemic. Join me in the upper room. There are lessons in its shadows.

Jesus followers found their life irrevocably changed after they laid Jesus in the tomb. Everything that was routine in their world was turned sideways and upside down. Some of them claimed they had seen the risen Lord, scarcely believing their own eyes. The others dared not hope.

They heard rumors that the Jewish authorities were preparing to arrest any follower of the man they had crucified. So, they locked the doors. Shuttered the windows and rarely ventured outside the walls of the upper room.

The situation left them…

…uncertain.

…isolated.

…troubled.

…no longer in control of their circumstances.

What we know from scripture is that nothing that was happening was normal.

“On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews…”

Does it sound familiar? In the days following Jesus’ death most of the disciples found themselves in self-quarantine, huddled together in the upper room with a few other faithful followers of Christ. It was not a comfortable time for any of them.

I find my first lesson in this description, “…when the disciples were together…” They were able to quarantine together, locked away in the upper room…but, they were together. They found some comfort in contact with each other.

Certainly, the same applies to us. While we’re isolated in our homes, physically separated from friends and family, we have the great luxury of technology that keeps us connected…that allows us to stay in touch with one another. Telephone calls. Cards. Social media posts, Facebook messaging. Text messages. Facetime.

The point is there are many ways to reach out to friends and family other than through work, play, social gatherings or church. We can sit back and fret over our lack of touch or we can connect differently. No person within our community should go without some contact on any given day. Think about those who are truly alone. Make that a priority in your life to find ways to “be together.”

“…Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’…”

Jesus appeared to the disciples because they needed to see him. They needed to feel his presence. They needed the peace that only he could give them. Imagine how calming those words were when uttered by their Messiah.

It should come as no surprise to us that Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, stands in our midst during our most trying times. How easy it is for us to forget this central truth of the Bible. God is with us. His presence brings peace in the middle of any storm…or pandemic.

“After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”

Peace brings joy. When Jesus came into their midst, a sense of calm came over them. In that moment, sorrow and uncertainty became pure, unadulterated joy. When they were in the presence of their Lord, their worries disappeared.

It’s hard to imagine in today’s circumstances that we can find joy. We find joy in the presence of the Lord. We bask in the inner contentment knowing that we belong to him.

“Again Jesus said, ‘…As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Jesus did not want the disciples to let fear overwhelm them. He knew they could not stay locked away in the upper room forever. He needed them to do the things he called them to do. They had a purpose and he needed them to get on with it.

I know this take away from John is not what was intended. It is a message that reminds us that we serve a resurrected and living savior who died as an atonement for sin for all who put their faith and trust in him. That’s the gospel…the good news…of Jesus Christ.

I also know that the Holy Spirit can bring a secondary application to even the most straightforward of passages.

Being sequestered in our homes for a time undetermined does not mean our ministry ends. I suppose it might even open doors we might never have seen. Jesus stands with us, offer his peace and tells us he is sending us still to do his work.

I don’t know where or how God will use me and you during our unusual season, but I know he is sending us to bring a sense of certainty to the uncertain…to be a point of connection to the isolated…to offer a virtual hug and a word of comfort to the troubled.

God calls us to remind those who feel they have lost control of their lives that God is still on his throne…that he remains in control and will continue to work through us to bring good from the bad that threatens us.

And to that I say, “Amen.”

*****

Author’s Note: When we can do little else, we can pray for the strength and safety of the health care workers and all those who continue to work those jobs that provide needed and necessary services to the rest of us. Pray for those who have lost loved ones and for those who are sick. Pray for the families who cannot visit a loved one who is in the hospital. That time of separation makes everyone anxious. Pray for wise decisions and solutions to resolve and lessen the impact of the coronavirus and the economic burden it brings. Pray for anyone you know who lives alone. Pray that God’s church emerges on the other side of this with a renewed enthusiasm for being the heart, hands and feet of God in our world.

Reach out through any means available to you to stay in contact with one another. Love one another.