Grab your Easter basket, put on your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it, and don your Easter duds. Hop in your car and head to the nearest church, but stop a moment along the way and reflect. You can go through all the motions of Easter and fill yourself with Easter goodies and still be carrying perfume to a hole in a rock if you do not believe that this celebration is more than a seasonal exercise in dead ritual.
Life began and ended in a garden and it is in a garden that life began again. It can for you today as well! The tomb is empty and the earth is full of the glory of God. Messages and indicators of death surround us, but this day, and all who have met Him alive in the garden testify to this reality: Life overcomes death
Come to the garden!
“If a man die, shall he live again?” (from Job 14:14)
The age-old cry of humankind is for eternal meaning. Is there anything beyond this world of pain and tears that brings meaning to these moments while transcending them? Is there a life beyond the grave or is all futile?
Perhaps Job did not really know the answer, but he did have a glimpse. We do know that, unlike most men and women, Job was willing to serve God for nothing. He was willing to worship the Lord with or without reward or promise of life.
Job’s God was not running for office. His status did not depend upon human referendum. He was God and that was that. Because He was God, He deserved praise. Job would come into a deeper understanding of God’s Sovereignty, but the seeds were present even before his testing.
As is true of Job’s pressing questions, the answers come fully in Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the final statement of death’s final defeat. For the one who follows Jesus, there is hope beyond death. John said that he was writing his gospel so that we might know we had eternal life.
There are countless men and women in our communities yearning for answers to the ultimate questions of life. God sets Job up as the ultimate example of an earnest seeker. He records Job’s search so that we might identify and be led toward a relationship with Jesus Christ. Job’s story is our story. His yearning is our yearning. His needs are our needs — not to be free of pain and discomfort, but to see God face to face and find our answers in Him.
“ For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven …” II Corinthians 5:1–2
The point of Saturday is that God enters our darkest darkness, our most silent silence, our deepest sorrow, our most fearful horrors, our harrowing despair, our relentless guilt and self-loathing loneliness.
God enters boldly, willingly, humbly, and moved by nothing more nor less than love.
He enters having checked one more time to see if there is another way.
God in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, God in Christ, suffering, God in Christ, buried and laid aside, this God in Christ, is preaching to the dead.
And in that timeless, timely entering into the realm of the dead, He still preaches and draws those who are dead toward a glimmer of hope of life when only a glimmer is all that is needed to open the door of faith and hope.
God has entered my darkness and your darkness, our lonesome solitary darkness and our collective darkness and … in our bleakest moment, we see enough light to calm us and cause us to wait one more day.
One more day … the dawn.
If a man die, shall he live again? ( from Job 14:14)
Yahrtzeit candle, a candlee, lit on the Hebrew anniversary of a loved one’s death. Thanks to Epilongo.
The age-old cry of humankind is for eternal meaning. Is there anything beyond this world of pain and tears that brings meaning to these moments while transcending them? Is there a life beyond the grave or is all futile?
Perhaps Job did not really know the answer, but he did have a glimpse. We do know that, unlike most men and women, Job was willing to serve God for nothing. He was willing to worship the Lord with or without reward or promise of life.
Job’s God was not running for office. His status did not depend upon human referendum. He was God and that was that. Because He was God, He deserved praise. Job would come into a deeper understanding of God’s Sovereignty, but the seeds were present even before his testing.
As is true of Job’s pressing questions, the answers come fully in Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the final statement of death’s final defeat. For the one who follows Jesus, there is hope beyond death. John said that he was writing his gospel so that we might know we had eternal life.
There are countless men and women in our communities yearning for answers to the ultimate questions of life. God sets Job up as the ultimate example of an earnest seeker. He records Job’s search so that we might identify and be led toward a relationship with Jesus Christ. Job’s story is our story. His yearning is our yearning. His needs are our needs — not to be free of pain and discomfort, but to see God face to face and find our answers in Him.
“ For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven …” — II Corinthians 5:1–2
Easter Sunday Reflections on a Dark and Holy Saturday
Posted on a Saturday night, years ago, with a call that perpetually continues into Sunday and Monday.
Incarnational embodiment of the missional cross-call of Jesus requires a movement through the laments of Saturday and a daily dying to again take up the cross of the burdens of suffering humanity.
There is no room for an ethic of self-preservation and self-satisfaction at the cost of the marginalized, the wounded, the sinner, or those who most represent that ugliness from which we most desperately hide our eyes.
It demands that we seek to hear the voices of those whose attitudes and arguments we believe we have processed and refuted.
It is a call to stand beside the discredited, the disenfranchised, the disinherited, and yes, the disrespectful as well as the disrespected.
It requires of those who would follow Jesus, something more.
We cannot be satisfied to be right.
We cannot be comfortable that we are justified, sanctified, verified, certified, or codified in the validity of our positional righteousness.
We must step into the sorrow of another and go beyond what is expected.
We must become vulnerable enough to stand beside those whose presence may place us in danger of being misunderstood and maligned.
Our chief identification on this earth must be with whom Jesus sympathized, empathized, and called to be brothers and sisters. We must stand with compassion before the Syro-Phoenician, the leper, the tax collector, the adulterer, the demoniac, the Samaritan, the woman of questionable standing, the enemy centurion, and unclean woman with an issue of blood — the hungry, imprisoned, poor, and naked — the company of beloved souls, the lost and found of the Kingdom of God.
It is a bias of the highest order and the most radical sort.
It is the demand of discipleship, the cost paid by one crucified between two thieves to enter into the dark realms of death and lead captivity captive.
Despised, rejected, and defiled and we ask to be excused in favor of a more respectable, dignified, and comfortable religion.
And what of truth telling?
I have nothing to say to my neighbor from afar that is worth saying or hearing.
But if I stand with him or her and can look into that one’s eye, soul to soul, there is no truth I cannot speak in love. And if I weep over my neighbor, my neighbor can hear and perhaps, receive.
We are called to have the mind of Christ, the compassion of Christ in these closing hours of Dark Saturday as we lament and sit and wait through the Requiem of supreme sacrifice.
Amen.
Visiting with Peter in the Vortex of Time, Looking Backward, Inward, Forward.
Before the rooster crows, three times thou wilt deny. Three times you’ll disavow my name and swear by earth and sky. Three times, not one or two or three, you’ll vow we’ve never met Three times you’ll protest, shout, and curse, three times, three times, and yet …
And yet I know your love is real as real as fear, and as this night. I know that you’ll return to me. I know you’ll see the light.
I know these things and know know them deeply and you were meant to follow. But this is the pill of bitter pain that you must somehow swallow.
Three times you will deny me now though now you vow to stay the course. I know that you believe your strength but this you cannot win by force. Three times you’ll drink the cup of failure and choke upon its grief. The cock will crow and you will weep But there will come a moment of relief.
I will meet you in a morning when your head is hung in shame. I’ll meet you by the seashore and you will call my name.
I’ll meet you where your pain meets mine and walk the miles with you once more. I’ll ask you once again, my friend, “Do you love me, like you said before?”
This time, Peter, don’t you know that love is calling ever stronger? It calls the servant who feeds the sheep. It calls to walk a little longer.
Three times you nodded, “No. No. No.” Though just before you were so brave. Today I tell you, “Go. Go. Go.” Your “yes” will take you to a grave. But you will go, though bound and tied to bear a cross in a distant place. You choose the path for you choose me. I go with you … No more disgrace.
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. “ – John 13:1
Jennifer was on the phone with her best friend, Lillian as her mother, Sue, decided to eavesdrop. The subject was the love lives of their friends and acquaintances. Amidst the giggles and gasps, hearing only one side of the conversation, a tapestry of love found and lost began to be painted. John was in love with Sally even though he was in love with Myrtle last week. She told him that she was no longer in love with him, so he had to find someone new. Sue blushed and considered the “talk” she would be having with her daughter later that evening.
Jesus was no faint-hearted lover. He was not subject to likes, dislikes, and mood swings. He did not start things and leave them dangling. He understood that human love could be flighty and fleeting. But His love was eternal and unconditional. He wanted His disciples to understand that and internalize it. If there was one message He wanted to leave with them, it was the message of His love.
So, he took a towel and washed their feet. It was not only a menial task, but one that could be tedious and disgusting. In the moments that followed, He taught them more about how to receive and give His love than they could absorb in one sitting. They would reflect upon His words and deeds for the rest of their lives as we do today.
Whenever we come to the Lord’s Table, it is a table of love. It is a reminder that having loved us, Jesus’ love continued to the cross and, from the cross, through the resurrection and into eternity.
O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be. (George Matheson, 1882)
Knowing What Jesus Is Doing
“What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know thereafter.” – from John 13:7
The great wonder of the Christian life is that we can come to know what our Lord is doing. We don’t start out knowing; we come to know “thereafter.”
There is a bowl at Jesus’ feet and a towel in His hand and He is doing the unthinkable, taking on the role of a common house slave and scrubbing the filthy feet of His disciples. Peter is resistant. He cannot cope with the indignation to the Master. After all, there had been some terrible oversight that no servant had been scheduled for this task. He is offended for Jesus that this menial role had seemingly been thrust upon Him, but He was, as yet, unwilling to take it upon Himself.
He did not know then that Jesus had thrust it upon Himself. He much less knew why. He could neither know nor imagine that He would take the bowel and towel himself in the days to come and embark upon the life of a servant.
None of it makes sense in the old way of thinking that says a person must assert himself or herself and claw a way to the top of the heap. None of it figures for the man or woman trapped in the faded notions of superiority, rank, caste, or position-endowed significance.
What was Jesus doing? He was teaching, leading, demonstrating, and modeling a new way of thinking and a fresh lifestyle that had to be caught more than taught. He was introducing His disciples to another way of looking at leadership and meaning for life. He was elevating the lowest to the highest, the last to the first, and the spirit of servanthood to the place of greatness.
It was a preamble to the cross and only by reflecting on the cross would Peter or any of us, ever begin to know at Jesus was and is doing.
Master
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” - John 13:13
“… The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” - John 11:28
“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.” - John 13:14
“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” - John 20:16
He is our Master, who so identifies Himself. But he is also the Master who calls us by name and washes our feet as a lesson to us that the true Master is he who serves. He is our Master and Lord and example. If any could demand mindless obedience, it is he.
From the beginning of His ministry as He began to call out disciples, He was recognized as the Master-Teacher of life. When he came to Bethany for Lazarus and called for His sisters, it was as the Master. When he gathered with His friends in the upper room (for he had come to call them friends), it was the Master who bent down to perform the role of a slave.
Then, at the garden tomb, the one who had endured the indignity and pain of the cross called for Mary. And she recognized him as Master.
It is not our knowledge of Him or recognition of His position that makes Him the Master, but His knowledge of us and His call in our lives. The Risen Christ stands before you. He is calling your name. Can you see him? Can you hear him? What shall you call him?
Acknowledge Him today as the only rightful Master of your life.
Glorified
“Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in Him.” – from John 13:31
You must take it all as a package or there is no glory. Jesus understood that these final days were one great redemptive event – from mingling with the crowds and teaching them, to provoking the Sanhedrin with His very presence, to the upper room, the washing of feet, the prayers in the garden, and on to the cross. It was the process of God glorifying Himself in His Son. It was all part of the package: His life, death, and resurrection were one magnificent demonstration of the power of God.
Jesus had spoken similar words when some gentiles had come looking for Him. He responded that the coming of these men was an indication that He was soon to be lifted from the earth and to draw all men unto Him. Lifting could mean exaltation or crucifixion. In this case, it meant both. He moves from tragedy to triumph in a split-second intersection of time and eternity.
This time he speaks of being glorified as He confronts the one who will betray Him. This is strange to our warped thinking. But this is Jesus who donned the apron and wiped His disciple’s feet. This is the one who taught that the path to greatness is servanthood. This is the Master of great reversals.
Our Lord never lost sight of the big picture. He didn’t stop with cross in His panoramic view of His mission. He didn’t even end the story with rising from the dead. He taught His friends that He was going to the Father through this path of glory and that He would come to them in a new way to indwell them, that they might do even greater works. He promised further that He would come again visibly to introduce a grand new eternal day. It was about glory. It is still about glory.
Take a walk in the garden this morning where there is an empty hole in a rock, a barren place where death once dwelt. What do you notice but emptiness? He is not there. He is risen! The work of redemption is done. It was worth it all. The pain and the suffering have accomplished their ends. He is alive and we can live also. What name do you give to your pain of the moment, your struggle of this hour? Call it suffering or call it glory. It all depends upon whether you view it from the present or from resurrection.
Now is the Son of man glorified
Urgency
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. -Exodus 12:33
Immature people act upon urges and are, thus, moved by a spirit of urgency. It is the inner prompting of the flesh to act in haste or panic. Like the Egyptians, we are tempted to react in horror to the manifestations of God’s power rather than respond in faith and obedience.
Urgency is a poor substitute for priority. When we establish an understanding of what is truly important based upon God’s abiding principles and mission, we need to stick with it. The reality is that the moment we prioritize our ministries, diversions will emerge, distractions will appear, and urgency will shout in our ears, “Stop and take care of me NOW!”
We need to be able to say “no” to urgency any time it steps outside the boundaries of our priorities. Yes, there will be emergencies that must be faced as they arise. There will be extraneous details that must be handled. The problem arises when every urgent matter presents itself with the same emergency motif and ministry life becomes one great series of emergencies. We have fire departments to put out fires.
What is your focus? Make sure it receives a prominent place on your calendar and that you do your best to follow your calendar. Leave time for incidentals. Leave cushion for emergencies. Live by grace because you won’t meet all of your goals. But, know this, if you heed every urgent cry, you will meet none of them because your life will be controlled by something far less than your God-given priorities. Let us live lives that are driven by God’s purposes through us. Let us patiently and with great determination, allow everything else to fall away.
Unspeakable Gift
“What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” – Psalm 116:12-13
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” - II Corinthians 9:15
Listen to the cry of the psalmist: “How can I give anything to God that would come even close to expressing my gratitude for all His blessings. What can I bring Him that He has not first given me?”
“I cannot even describe the matchless gift He has given,” Paul seems to say, “but I thank God.”
Here is the power of our commitment to give of our resources and our selves: God's indescribable gift. It is His gracious "givingness" that informs, inspires, and infuses us with the wherewithal to be giving people with the capacity to make and keep commitments. In fact, any commitment we make to God is in the form of a trust. We know that we are incapable of the necessary follow-through, but He is and is faithful to continue His work in us as we express the desire of our hearts to Him in commitment. First, He gave and then He lights a fire of grace within us that makes us giving people who are committed to Him.
What shall we give Him? Let us bring Him hearts that are prepared to receive His grace. Let us offer our old lives in exchange for His new life. Let us take the gift of salvation and call upon His Name. We can bring Him no greater gift than our willingness to receive all that He offers through His love.
We cannot begin to speak of His saving goodness, but we can give Him thanks in spirit and in word. On this Thanksgiving, thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
The Hour I First Believed
“I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted” – Psalm 116:10
“ We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” – II Corinthians 4:13
When did believing begin for you? Can you trace its progression through the stages of development? Can you identify a moment or an hour when all came to fruition and declare that as the hour you first believed?
For most of us the progression is a series of disjointed memories, but we can go back to a time when we made a statement of faith, a profession of our belief. That was, for us, the hour we first believed, and in that hour, grace was most precious.
Let us return to that hour and renew our faith. Let us return to that moment and reaffirm our commitments.
Let us return to that time and recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. Let us go back and remember how precious that grace appeared.
Let us gaze upon the beauty of grace as we once beheld it.
Let us receive grace anew with joyful hearts.
Let us be thankful again, as we once were, for the marvel of it all. Undeserving, unlovely, unrepentant, unbelieving as we were, grace invaded our lives. Everywhere we turned, we encountered grace. We sought to flee from its pursuit only to be hunted down at every turn by the Hound of Heaven.
And then we stopped running. That was we hour we first believed. And as Francis Thompson testified, we heard His voice:
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He Whom thou seekest! Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
And we joined in the song of Charles H. Gabriel,
“How marvelous, how wonderful! And my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior’s love to me.”
We Show Forth
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” – I Corinthians 11:26
As we eat and drink earthy elements of simple substance, we proclaim an eternal truth that transcends all formality and exalts the lowliest of deeds to the loftiest meaning.
Every day, we take a little nourishment to feed our bodies and drink a little something to refresh us in our thirst. Without food, we have no energy and our cells cannot reproduce. We die. Without water, we quickly dehydrate and our bodies cannot sustain life.
Jesus said that when we eat the bread we are to think of His body and to do so in remembrance of Him, His life giving, life affirming, and yet lifeless body on the cross, given for us. Certainly we do so in anticipation of His resurrected body on the third day and His living body on earth beginning at Pentecost. But nothing erases the image of His broken body given for us.
We drink the cup and the sweetness of the grape does not cloud the memory of His poured out blood. We are to “drink ye all of it” as a reminder that He poured out all of His blood for us. Without the shedding of blood, sin remains. Without blood in our veins, we have no life. We drink willingly and reverently and remember Him with gratitude and love.
But Paul says that every time we do this, we are making a visible announcement to the world that He is coming again in His glorified body. He promised to come to us and He has in the Spirit and He will in person. He promised to never leave us and He never has. He promised to prepare a place for us and come again and receive us to Himself and that is what we show forth every time we celebrate His presence at His table.
Everything is a prompt to prayer, every observation, every thought, every event, every circumstance. Laught, tears, disgust, appreciation, sinsults - I could go on - All of these shout in my ears, "It is time to pray! God is here wand waiting for you to start.
God comes ... into the scattered dust of our existence and there is something metallic in us and magnetic in Truth that draws us from randomness to reality and purpose.
Sometimes, it is an angel voice that calls and sometimes our own random seeking that draws, but always, always, always, there is an invasion of divinity into our little conclaves of humanity that speaks with clarity ....
If we will hear, we will hear.
"Good when He gives, supremely good;
Nor less when He denies:
Afflictions, from His sovereign hand,
Are blessings in disguise." = Brother Lawrence
And, On Another Topic ...
Is it urgent? If so, what is the source of the urge? Is it essential? Then of what is it the essence? Things are not always as locked in as they seem. This is the soil in which I will prayerfully dig at the crest of a new day. Perhaps I will hit bedrock
"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
(Psalm 82:3-4 ESV)
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It is in finding the message and meaning in our circumstances that make them most worthwhile.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” -Zechariah 9:9
It was Palm Sunday. No one knew it was Palm Sunday. Only years later would it be called that, but years before, the day had been foreshadowed.
The King would come; the donkey would bear His weight; the daughters of Zion would rejoice.
And when He came, He would be just and lowly, but with Him, He would bring salvation. And that is exactly what happened so many years ago. Jesus climbed on the donkey and rode into Jerusalem welcomed by the Hosanna shouts of the people. They lined the path and spread the palm branches and he rode on.
Cheers accompanied His grand and humble entry accentuating the contrasts of his passion. Cheers would become jeers, and welcoming would give way to rejection. Coronation would take place on a cross of pain. His crown would be made of thorns. His scepter would be the rod that tore into his flesh. His throne would be Golgotha, the hill of death. The announcement of his reign would be nailed above his head on the cross by His executioner. Contrasts abounded.
Judgment would look a lot like forgiveness and forgiveness would be accomplished as God judged his own Son for the sins of the world.
It is Palm Sunday again and we cannot celebrate it in its fullest meaning without looking beyond it to the cross and beyond the cross to the resurrection. The great cause for rejoicing we have, as Zechariah predicted, is that on that beast rode the salvation of the world. He came willingly of His own accord to the place where he knew he would die a horrific death.
He came humbly to the city where he ought to have been acknowledged as King to be put on trial, convicted, and crucified.
It is Palm Sunday again and we understand these things. We have much to remember, much to grieve, and much to celebrate. The contrasts are still with us, but his humble mission has been accomplished.
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary … – Isaiah 50:4
As we celebrate the beginning of spring, we do so with hearts ready for a change. We have grown weary of winter and anxious for a change of seasons.
Spring is the season of hope and new life. It is a season of encouragement.
God’s Word reminds us often of the power of the tongue to build up or to destroy.
What a gift to be able to use the tongue of the learned, as a gift from God, to encourage and strengthen a weary brother!
He goes on to exclaim that God awakens him every morning with new instructions and wisdom.
You can have the tongue of the learned as well if you will listen to God, read His Word, keep an open heart and mind, and be willing to share a word of blessing with those who have grown tired of living.
The greatest privilege in the world is found in lifting someone else up and moving them forward on their road to spiritual success. There is no greater honor or joy than to be a part of someone else’s life story of God’s blessings through grace.
Often, all it takes is a word to bring springtime to someone’s winter of discontent. To give it, we must be willing and ready to receive it from God, to listen intently, and share generously.
The God We Worship
“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” - Psalm 24:1
Everything belongs to God. We have known this most of our lives as a theological truth. It is in the dimension of application that we are challenged to confront our ignorance on this subject. We have constructed exception clauses to make room for self-ownership and control over this and that. We want to think that some little ditty of a thing is ours and that we can have power over it. To this deception, the voice of God speaks clearly and forcefully, “No. It is mine. It always was and always will be.”
“For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.” - Psalm 24:2
For starters, it is all His because it was His idea from the drawing board to the factory. He thought of everything, planned everything, made everything, and retains sovereignty over – you guessed it – everything. He made the world and all that it contains and filled it with wonder and surprise. He is the owner, but that is not the whole story. He is a generous God who shares all that He has and is with us and invites us to discover the wonder of it all and celebrate creation with Him.
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? ” - Psalm 24:3
When a soul discovers the wonders of God and His Sovereignty in creation and stands amazed at the glory of His Lord, there is but one response that rings true: worship. “I must worship this great God,” is the heart cry of the honest seeker,” I must know Him! I must come into His presence! I must some how get connected with the source and object of my being.” And things, brings for the question of the ages, “Who can come before Him? Can I?” You can, but you must come His way.
The People Who Worship
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” - Psalm 24:4
There is a lifestyle connection to worship. We cannot tolerate inconsistency in our lives that draws an arbitrary wall of separation between our relationship with God and those that we maintain with others. Nor can we divide our loyalties between false gods that give us temporary gratification and the only True God who has rightful claim to the world and all that is. Our hands are dirty and our hearts are divided. We are in dire need of the mercy and grace of God and His power to transform us into worshippers.
“He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. ” - Psalm 24:5
When one is qualified by God through grace to enter His presence, a blessing follows. In a moment of immediate transformation, we are fashioned into pure hearted worshippers with clean hands, and we enter a new era of our lives that makes all that came before moot. God’s vindication covers our record, and we simply stand before Him in awe. Our voices are lifted in worthy praise, and we are blessed.
“This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. ” - Psalm 24:6
There is something powerful that happens in our lives when we seek God. Jesus promised that all those who truly seek will find Him. This requires an open heart. Purity of heart and cleanliness of hands means that we bring no other motive or agenda, nothing in our hands or hearts, save the yearning to know God and worship Him in His fullness. Seek His face today as you begin and as you continue. In every face you encounter, seek His, in every circumstance, in every thought, word, and deed.
The Way We Worship
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” - Psalm 24:7
Expectancy calls for preparation. If our awareness of God’s glory is deep and our desire to worship, desperate, we will be anxious to lift up our heads to behold His face, to open the gates of our hearts for His anticipated entry. We will welcome Him wholeheartedly into the center of our lives and will exalt in His coming. The spirit of celebration and joy characterizes Old Testament worship, likewise, authentic Christian worship. The presence of God calls for singing and dancing. Lift up your heads!
“Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” - Psalm 24:8
“Who is this King of glory?” We tend to grow smug as we “mature” in the grace and knowledge of God. We hear the questions that we ought to be posing ourselves and point to the pages where we answered them in our notebooks years ago. We have gone shallow and are settling for yesterday’s encounter with God. If we think we really have a grasp on God, we are far, far away. Let us keep seeking and, as we seek, meet God in worship where the encounter is always new.
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” - Psalm 24:9
It is a refrain, and we could simply overlook it and move to the next verse for commentary, but that would be an exercise in shallow worship. Something has changed in the last few days. We have a new way of singing this song, a fresh encounter with the Living God. We have deeper insights into what it means to lift our heads and open the gates. We have a more intimate relationship with the King of Glory having sought Him. We can never sing the same song twice the same way and call it worship.
“Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. ” - Psalm 24:10
Don’t assume that you know the answer just because you read a few sentences of devotional comment or thought the matter over. The Lord is Almighty – we shall never begin to fathom the riches of who He is or plumb the depths of His character and love. Glory annotates weight – a weight so heavy that is transcends gravity and displaces everything that comes across its path. He defies definition and demands reverence. When given the choice between shallowness and depth today, choose to go deep.
The Form of a Servant
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. - Philippians 2:5-7 -
To have the mind of Christ is to think like He thinks. And Jesus was and is always thinking “service.” Everything about His coming, from His humble birth to His lowly life to His sacrificial death was wrapped in humility much as He was wrapped in swaddling clothes,
What Jesus knew about His rights was that He was God – coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, deserving honor, reverence, and worship, and owing nothing to anyone. The angels worshipped Him; the shepherds bowed low; the Magi honored Him with gifts, and He humbled Himself.
He was not deluded and did not suffer from an inferiority complex. In His thinking, He knew that He would be perfectly justified in assuming His role on earth as God-come down.” But it was also His thinking that caused Him to empty Himself of His prerogatives and take on a different form and role as He walked among us – one of us – and not just one of us, but also the lowliest of us.
It takes a pretty healthy self-concept to lower oneself. You have to be very secure to be a servant. And Jesus was. And we can be too.
You are a child of the King. You have princely prerogatives. For instance, you have a standing invitation to enter the throne room of Heaven in prayer at any time of the day or night. Yet, if you take the mind of Christ, you will not assert those privileges as a way of lording over others, but as a reason for service.
He became as we are to lift us up to His level that He might bring us back with Him into the fields of service as servants of His to our fellow human beings. This is a reason to celebrate. This is a reason for Christmas. Have this mind in you this season and enjoy the wonder.
He Humbled Himself
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.-Philippians 2: 8
John could not help but notice that the “new” tie he opened from Aunt Myrna was not as “fashionable” as those he had been seeing on the racks at Sam’s Fine Men’s Clothiers this season.
We judge the term from a human perspective with other people as our standard for fashion. God’s ways are different. For God to be found in fashion of a man meant to be humbled. Rather than flamboyant, Jesus was simple in His style and mannerisms.
Whatever our outward pretense, “fashionable” for the sons and daughter of Adam means brokenness and sorrow, weakness, and temptation, pain and grief. It means the frailty of flesh and the inevitability of death. He took on that fashionable form knowing that it was not His ultimate reality or destiny.
For Jesus to be found in fashion as a man meant servanthood and obedience to the point of death. Death meant a cross and for that reason He came and to that end He set His compass.
What then does it mean for us since we are to have that mind in ourselves?
For one thing, it means shedding our pretense of “having it all together.” It means being vulnerable, transparent, and humble. That is hard for most people. We want to project and ideal image of ourselves and live in a state of denial about our humanity. It means service and obedience and it means confronting our own mortality.
We must face the reality of death in our lives and live with the understanding that we have a temporary lease on life in this world. With that in mind we must live with purpose as Jesus did and align ourselves with His cross. We do not have to do what He did; we cannot. But we must allow His cross to do its work in our lives and take up our crosses and follow Him.
What gifts did you receive for Christmas? Some were no doubt fashionable and some were out of fashion. As you watch the old year pass and enter into a new year, consider Him who was found in your fashion that He might, through His death, resurrection, and indwelling Spirit, fashion you into something new as you conform to His way of thinking. Commit to that and be truly fashionable.
Exalted
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Philippians 2: 9
“Wherefore” takes us backward and forward. It is causal and resultant. Because He humbled Himself, He is now exalted in a new way. Because of His inherent glory, He was able to humble Himself.
He is exalted and He has a name above every name. These two statements of faith rally us to loyal devotion and invoke a chorus of praise and adoration.
It’s not that He wasn’t already exalted and it is not that He didn’t already have a high name. Yet, somehow this invasion of time and space that we call the incarnation with all that it entails calls the sons of earth to worship at a new level. What we once acknowledged as theological truth, and affirmed as a philosophical construct, we now shout from the heart.
The humility and sacrifice of Jesus translate “the Name” into a present, approachable reality for human beings. Jesus gives God a human face and God gives His Son a name that we can pronounce, unlike when He told Moses His Name and it was thought to sacred to say out loud. God-fearers would come to that Name in the sacred text and substitute the word, “Lord,” in Hebrew. Now we gladly affirm that, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
It is above every name and He is exalted.
The mysteries of Trinity and Incarnation are beyond the capacity of the human mind to contain or explain. Our response is not to understand, but to worship. God lifts up Jesus Christ in our midst as the center of all Christian worship and draws us to Him by His Spirit. As we begin a new year, may it be a year of praise. Let us join the Father in exalting Him with our words and our deeds as we call upon His high and wonderful Name.
Let Us Bow
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Philippians 2: 10- 11
At the name of Jesus we bow – now or later. We will all confess Him as Lord – eventually. God will be exalted – before all is said and done.
The question is, “Will you do it now with wiling joy or later under the duress of inescapable truth?”
This is what God desires: that His exalted Son be worshipped by those He came to save. He wants every living creature to recognize His preeminence, and acknowledge His Lordship. He purposes to gather all things in Heaven and earth around Him for Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of all history and all creation.
There are three categories of “things” that will bow to Jesus Christ who humbled Himself obediently unto the death of the cross. There are those manifestations of God’s created power that dwell in heaven – spiritual beings that inhabit the presence of God for certain, and of course the material forces that constitute the universe, known and unknown.
The second is all that is in the earth. That includes us. You can stubbornly resist His claims upon your life for now. For a short season, you can avoid His grace, and ignore His authority and love, but not forever. To acknowledge Him as Lord today is a saving act of faith. To wait too long is disaster – but you will confess Him. Do it today; you are not promised breath tomorrow.
Finally, all that is under the earth will confess Him. This most likely means the realm of death. The book of Revelation says that death and hell will give up their dead and that all will stand before God. And that means that there is no escaping the truth. Even the grave cannot hide you. Let us bow down now and give Him the glory He deserves and enjoy His presence forever.
A Memorial
“Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, [this] also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” - Mark 14:9
God wants us to remember some things. Some memorials are mandated in scripture, but the principle is always active. Lessons from life that are worthy of learning once are worth remembering and revisiting again and again. We remember because in remembering we grow in grace and in character.
This woman did what she could in remembering Jesus. For that, Jesus said she would be remembered. Hers was an act of simple devotion and profound love. We remember her because she reminds us to remember Him.
“Greater love hath no man …” Those who have laid down their lives on the battlefields of the world for friends and country need to be remembered for their sacrifice and because their sacrifice points to His.
We take courage from them as we take courage from Him. They challenge us as He challenges us. The values for which they died, freedom, justice, peace, are the values that we cherish to this very hour. If the call came, would we lay down our lives for them … from Him?
How great is our love? How great was theirs? How great is His?
Let us set aside some silence for remembering and reflecting. Let us remove us from the noise and madness of the world to a quiet place of gratitude. Let us renew our own commitments to the things that count. Let us ask our God what we can do today to love our neighbor more and preserve the freedom for which so many died.
"... Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." - John 12:13b
In Judaism, to shout "Hosanna," was a call for help. It was a cry for salvation. It was deep and guttural.
While Christians sing it in songs of praise, for the Jews, it was an utterance of both faith and desperation.
Yet, John paints a portrait of the shout as one of jubilant hope and praise. It is the sound of a people who believe that their cry for help has been heard by God and that God has sent his very own representative to deliver them.
So, on this day, as the multitudes of those who had come to Jerusalem for the feast heard that Jesus was arriving, they went out to meet him.
They waited for the one who would arrive on a donkey as foretold by the prophet. They took palm branches to welcome the conquering hero. They incorporated an age--old song of victory and sang with full voice, "Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name do the Lord."
It was a suitable welcome. It suits him. It is a recognition of who he is.
It was appropriate. Rocks and hills and trees and all nature would cry out if the people remained silent.
It was prophetic. It was the fulfillment of promises made centuries before,
This Palm Sunday, we know the whole story. We know the rest of Holy Week and beyond.
We know the story of the teachings of that week, the last supper, the prayer in the garden, the betrayal, the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection, his appearances, his commission, and his ascension into Heaven.
We have the whole narrative and still, we can enter into the celebration of that moment as we wave our palm branches and sing our praises to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
"... Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." - John 12:13b
In Judaism, to shout "Hosanna," was a call for help. It was a cry for salvation. It was deep and guttural.
While Christians sing it in songs of praise, for the Jews, it was an utterance of both faith and desperation.
Yet, John paints a portrait of the shout as one of jubilant hope and praise. It is the sound of a people who believe that their cry for help has been heard by God and that God has sent his very own representative to deliver them.
So, on this day, as the multitudes of those who had come to Jerusalem for the feast heard that Jesus was arriving, they went out to meet him.
They waited for the one who would arrive on a donkey as foretold by the prophet. They took palm branches to welcome the conquering hero. They incorporated an age--old song of victory and sang with full voice, "Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name do the Lord."
It was a suitable welcome. It suits him. It is a recognition of who he is.
It was appropriate. Rocks and hills and trees and all nature would cry out if the people remained silent.
It was prophetic. It was the fulfillment of promises made centuries before,
This Palm Sunday, we know the whole story. We know the rest of Holy Week and beyond.
We know the story of the teachings of that week, the last supper, the prayer in the garden, the betrayal, the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection, his appearances, his commission, and his ascension into Heaven.
We have the whole narrative and still, we can enter into the celebration of that moment as we wave our palm branches and sing our praises to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
The thirst thought I have is to eliminate the "and" because an adequate definition of "shalom" includes "well-being" of all and that includes justice. Furthermore, an adequate definition of justice implies well-being and the righting of wrongs.
Peace is not the absence of conflict. That is an inadequate definition of peace. There is plenty of conflict on the road to and in the quest for peace. It is how we manage conflict that shows whether or not we are at or in peace.
Peace is not at odds with truth and justice. It is a byproduct of both and a means to both.
We cannot let detractors define what peace is. Real peace is a spiritual reality first, but it is also a social reality and both dimensions are the concerns of God and God's people.
Peace is hard, complex work. The easy road does not lead there. The militaristic road does insure it. The political process does not fully facilitate it. I am not denying the place of simple thinkers, politicians, or military powers in the process or at the table. They are just not the ones who will get the hard work done of sorting out the complexities.
It is hard work because, usually, everyone is right and everyone is wrong. All interests are valid and some interests can be laid aside. All parties are human and all are endowed with dignity as a gift from their Creator. It is complicated and it is simple.
Peace is a goal because peace is just and comprehensive. Peace protects all people's rights to life and liberty as well as the pursuit of happiness as long as peace is properly understood and defined.
Peacemaking is a calling for followers of Jesus and cannot be denied. It is a primary calling that we have in the ethical realm. When we speak the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of peace is part of the package. We speak of and offer peace with God through Jesus, we declare a Kingdom message as well.
Did I mention that peace is hard work? It is, but it is also a grace-gift. The capacity for peace is available to all individuals and peoples.
Peace and peacemaking align us with a cause greater than ourselves and place us in the realm of the miraculous where all things are possible, even those things that are un-imagined and unimaginable. When we actually follow Jesus and obey His lifestyle demands in our relationships, things happen that defy logic.
Of course, we could get beaten up or we could die ....
... but our survival (I speak now only in the context of following Jesus) is not an ultimate value for our lives and choices. We have died already and the life we now live is by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. So, if our bodies are sacrificed along the way, we have gained.
That is not to say we invite abuse.
It is to say that we shall not abuse in order not to be abused.
Peace and Justice are not two sides of the same coin. They are both on the same side of the same coin.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. - Jeremiah 31:3.
Sentimentality suggests that human love can be eternal. In the genre of romance literature, film, opera, and popular music, the theme is often repeated with lyrical style and sweet harmony. We come to believe that “true love” lasts forever without great effort, commitment, or struggle.
The fact is that human love is fickle, self-serving, and often lazy. Separation may not make the heart grow fonder; it may in fact, make it wander. Hard times often drive a wedge between even the most starry-eyed lovers. Many a marriage, friendship, business relationship, or family tie has been severed over some petty disagreement. Harsh words have been the precipitating cause of animosity between people. Even churches have split over selfish and petty disagreements. Where is this everlasting love?
Only God’s love is eternal for God is the ultimate lover who, though spurned, loves on.
“God is love,” and “God so loved the world …” These are expressions of His very nature and yet, it cost God to love so profoundly and so persistently. We see some of that price paid on the cross. It is expressed in the real-life allegory of Hosea’s life and God taught the prophet the meaning of unconditional, relentless love.
If we are going to experience long-lasting love, we have to connect with the source. A relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ is essential to building life-long relationships that can weather the storms of life. From God we learn that real love is a commitment of time, energy, and faithful service to another person. It is work, but it is worthy of all our effort and stubborn perseverance.
We are amazed that God would love us as He does. We are encouraged that He can teach us to love. The man we know as St. Valentine is one of about three historical characters who performed many, many weddings – but it is God Himself who can make a relationship stand the test of time. Trust Him and His everlasting love and let His love be the endless supply of love, through you to others.
The Grand Courtship
Everlasting love. It is as much of a quality as it is an expression of duration. In fact, what makes God’s love endure is that it is durable, patient, passionate, and aggressive. That is the character of His love. God actively pursues the object of His love in the way described by Francis Thompson in his immortal poem, “The Hound of Heaven.”
God appears to us of old with this romantic word of wooing, He has been loving us all along. It is new only by its freshness. “Yes, I have loved you …” He affirms with conviction and passion, “and my love never ends.”
Not only does He love us, but He courts us. With loving kindness He reaches out to us and draws us to Himself. Loving kindness is an inadequate English translation of a Hebrew word, which is best translated, “covenant love.” It means that God’s own character, word, and integrity are at stake and that He loves us simply because He has chosen and committed to do so. He will not back down. He is relentless in loving us. It is about who He is that He loves so deeply.
God is a jealous lover—not in the immature sense of one who is insecure, but with the confidence of one who knows that He is the only one for us and that all other suitors are bent on our destruction. The jealousy of God is selfless and generous. He will settle for no less than the best for us.
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbéd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
“All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.”
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followèd,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to:
Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clangèd bars:
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o’ the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden—to Eve: Be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover—
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot ’thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o’ their feet:—
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbéd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat—
“Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.”
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children’s eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
“Come then, ye other children, Nature’s—share
With me” (said I) “your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine you with caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mother’s vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured dais,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring.”
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one—
Drew the bolt of Nature’s secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spuméd of the wild sea-snortings;
All that’s born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the day’s dead sanctities.
I laughed in the morning’s eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven’s grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak—
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o’ her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noised Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet—
“Lo! naught contents thee, who content’st not Me.”
Naked I wait Thy love’s uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenceless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o’ the mounded years—
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist.
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Ah! must—
Designer infinite!—
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou can’st limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i’ the dust;
And now my heart is as a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpséd turrets slowly wash again.
But not ere him who summoneth
I first have seen, enwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man’s heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields
Be dunged with rotten death?
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
“And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught” (He said),
“And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited—
Of all man’s clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!”
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
“Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.”
Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Psalm 119:9
By living according to God’s Word a young man can keep himself pure. That is no small thing. If there is any creature on earth prone to impurity, it is a young man. For that reason, Solomon spends no small amount of energy and no few words in the Proverbs instructing young men on this very matter.
The psalmist asks the question with the intention of learning and complying with the answer and God inspires the answers that flow in the verses that follow. All revolve around the one great call to live according to God’s Word.
By seeking God wholeheartedly, verse 10 assures us, we will avoid straying from His commands.
By hiding God’s Word in our hearts, verse 11 promises, we will not be as likely to sin.
By asking for guidance with praise, according to verse 12, we will have God Himself as our teacher.
By speaking the Words of God, according to verse 13, we will be voicing what He has first voices.
By rejoicing in God’s statutes, as stated in verse 14, we shall be adopting a positive attitude which will recognize the immense treasures of His truth.
By meditating on God’s precepts, as commended in verse 15, we will be considering His ways.
By delighting in what He has said by decree, verse 16 suggests that we will not neglect His Word.
It is really a rather simple matter. We can pursue purity in our lives by living according to the Bible, seeking God in it, absorbing it into our hearts and minds, asking God’s guidance through it, speaking it with our lips, rejoicing in each new nugget of truth, meditating deeply upon it, and delighting in everything it says.
Temptations abound, but God’s Word is always available to purify our hearts as we seek Him with all that we have and all that we are. If it is a young man’s or young woman’s intention to live a holy and pure life, the way is provided.
Jesus could not shrink from his hour because his purpose in living was wrapped up in his hour of dying.
We die to all that is not our purpose and His purpose in us when we follow.
We empty ourselves of all we perceive to be self-honoring to receive the greater honor of the Father.
Jesus explains it so much better than I do:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."
"“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” - John 12:24-32 (ESV)
My tribe has a checkered history with forced conversions, violent power-grabbing, and militaristic exercise of religious dominance. To deny that is to deny history.
To not care is to ignore scripture.
We are flawed in our common humanity and sin with a lust for power that we are willing to exercise with violence and coercion.
Our religions, no matter how legitimate or illegitimate can be illegitimately co-opted as an excuse for that power-lust and every evil methodology we can muster to acquire what we want and think we deserve. At the moment, the world is experiencing extreme and frightening expression and demonstrations of this.
It is not the first in history and probably will not be the last.
Everyone has a different name for it and the names are debated, but it is all one thing throughout history.
There are political and military battles that shall be waged, but the most important battle is unseen; it is timeless; it is the most real. It is waged in the secret place of prayer, the public place of speaking truth in love, and the relational place of living the life of faith to which we have been called - to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” – I Corinthians 11:26
As we eat and drink earthy elements of simple substance, we proclaim an eternal truth that transcends all formality and exalts the lowliest of deeds to the loftiest meaning.
Every day, we take a little nourishment to feed our bodies and drink a little something to refresh us in our thirst. Without food, we have no energy and our cells cannot reproduce. We die. Without water, we quickly dehydrate, and our bodies cannot sustain life.
Jesus said that when we eat the bread we are to think of His body and to do so in remembrance of Him, His life giving, life affirming, and yet lifeless body on the cross, given for us. Certainly, we do so in anticipation of His resurrected body on the third day and His living body on earth beginning at Pentecost. But nothing erases the image of His broken body given for us.
We drink the cup, and the sweetness of the grape does not cloud the memory of His poured-out blood. We are to “drink ye all of it” as a reminder that He poured out all of His blood for us. Without the shedding of blood, sin remains. Without blood in our veins, we have no life. We drink willingly and reverently and remember Him with gratitude and love.
But Paul says that every time we do this, we are making a visible announcement to the world that He is coming again in His glorified body. He promised to come to us, and He has in the Spirit and He will in person. He promised to never leave us, and He never has. He promised to prepare a place for us and come again and receive us to Himself and that is what we show forth every time we celebrate His presence at His table.
"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple….So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions." - Luke 14:26, 33
It is a provocative statement.
Did it work? Did it get your attention? Is it hyperbole? Doesn't it contradict almost everything else Jesus said?
Many "yes" answers emerge, but there is also a "yes" to the unasked question. What is the unasked question?
What does it mean to turn one's back on everything to focus on one thing? What kind of hate is this that is absolutely compatible with unconditional love? What kind of dying is this that culminates in eternal living and what kind of emptying is it that fills us?
Everything is redefined in Jesus.
Every value is reordered.
Every love is reoriented.
What looked like love is revealed as dysfunctional, self-serving, enabling much-mush when compared to the true love that transforms us and causes us to live out the Great Commandment -- not only better, but from a new perspective.
This sort of hate and abandonment is the gateway to true love and fulfillment.
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them.
Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves, and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I say to you, stand up, take your mat, and go to your home.”
And he stood up and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
In what President Theodore Roosevelt called, a stain on the frontier that will not wash away,” on March 8, in 1782, the Gnadenhutten massacre took place.
Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, were killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.
It was also known as the Moravian massacre. The ninety-six victims were pacifist Moravian Christian Indians (primarily Lenape and Mohican).
The act was carried out by U.S. militiamen from Pennsylvania.
Since Moravians were pacifists, they did not take sides in the American Revolution.
Under the command of David Williamson, they were tricked into be rounded up with a false promise of relocation. Then, they were sentenced to be executed. On the night before their deaths, they prayed and sang hymns all night.
They next day, still praying and singing, they were executed one by one.
Though they pleaded for their lives, they maintained their commitment to non-violence and offered no resistance or defense. Before murdering them, the captors raped with girls and the women.
Eighteen on the militia members objected to this crime but were outvoted.
These souls were declared Christian martyrs and they are remembered as such to this day in the Moravian Church.
It is true that both the British and the Colonialists sought alliances with indigenous tribes and some branches of the martyrs’ tribe ad sided with the British. Soldiers in the militia that committed the murder held vivid hurtful memories of loved one who had been slaughtered.
They blamed all indigenous people for their losses.
War and tragedy fuel bigotry, hatred and more war and tragedy and this is the only perpetual motion machine that does not defy the laws of physics.
Following the war, Williamson was elected to several terms as sheriff of Washington County, Pennsylvania.
We are not always noble. We are not always right. Yet, truth always sets us free. That is not just a promise; it is an accurate observation.
The urge to preach is strong, but this is a sermon you can develop on your own.
When the colluded powers sent their collaborating messengers to warn Jesus he was in trouble and that he was likely to be killed, his response was four-fold:
I am doing works of mercy and deliverance.
I will continue to do them until I am done. I will not be stopped. I will not be intimidated.
I won't die here, but I will keep moving toward the place of my death.
But there is a third day coming and no matter what anyone does or thinks they can do to me, I will move past it toward that day ... and then, and only then, my work will be complete.
Luke 13:32 : “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’”
"I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life." - Philippians 4:2-3
How tragic. How sad. How disconcerting it is to see brothers and sisters at odds with each other and unwilling to find areas of agreement.
It breaks the heart of Paul to know that two special women, each occupying a special place in his heart, each of whom has meant so much in his work and in the growth of the church, are in conflict.
It is not that conflict is bad; it is just that unresolved conflict becomes a hindrance to Christian joy and witness. Euodias and Syntyche needed to work things out, but somehow, the challenge was greater than their resolve. They needed help.
Around you in the church are some folks who need that kind of help. They may or may not know it, but the help is needed nevertheless. It is needed for their spiritual health, for the sake of the relationship, and for the health of the church. They may not even realize how their stubbornness, selfishness, hurt feelings, or coldness is damaging the cause of Christ. In refusing God’s healing for the relationship and for their own pain, they are causing a festering wound that impacts the whole ministry of the church.
They need help. Sometimes that help comes in the form of a wake up call. Sometimes it is gentle prodding. More often it is loving mediation and prayer where everyone has a chance to be heard and love is restored.
Our names are written together in the book of life and we can allow no breach to continue in the fellowship. God’s love brings us together whatever our differences and there is seldom an issue worthy of dividing us that invades our ranks.
It may not be enough to say, “Get over it,” but that is what we all must do. It’s just that we may need a little help.
A few years ago, I was preparing a message on judgment when I was struck with a surprise - It was a message of hope.
--- Even when there are no signs of life in the tree, the Gardener gives another year --- and lovingly tends the tree to eek out the life that no one else sees but He still believes may be there.
In a message of judgment and destruction, imagine this main message is:
God still believes in you.
Perhaps you'd consider returning the favor!
That being said,
C.S. Lewis observed, in "The Great Divorce," that at the end, there are two kinds of people:
1. Those who say to God, "Thy will be done." and
2. Those to whom God say, "Thy will be done."
And remember,
"Harsh judgement is based not on the sternness of the Holy Ghost, but on my refusal to bear someone else's burden." --Oswald Chambers
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And Entirely "Other" Thought.
Time passes ... slowly at first ... and picks up speed ... progression ... until it cascades!
And then, we wake up and know that whatever we must do, we must do now.
We have now and, in the precious now, is atomic potential for ...
We bring all of our yesterdays and all of our tomorrows into the explosive present ... the pregnant now and ...
WOW!
We live!
If we choose to do so!
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (KJV)
"Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom." (NLT)
- Psalm 90:12
and ... as The Message translates it ...
"Oh! Teach us to live well!
Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak;
then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you’re best at—
the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
confirming the work that we do.
Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!" (verses 12-17)
The parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of unspeakable worth all lead to the question.
Matthew 13:44-46, New International Version
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Everything must go?
What does that include?
What is best? What does your heart desire most? Who are you made to be? What are you made to do? What is worth more than everything else in your life?
What is in the way of you becoming who you really are?
It is one thing to say that I sell it all and divest myself of all my other treasures. That I do in the most generalized possible way. It is a broad stroke, without any threat.
But then I start digging into the piles of specificity and it hurts to part with old ideas, false concepts of who I am, preferences, amusements, possessions, attitudes, and patterns of living. These have been my treasures for a long, long time.
Whether you are a faith walker or a just an honest lover of truth wherever it is found, there is a principle that can aid you in your journey. There is only so much you can carry with you toward your purpose, goal, and ultimate destiny. You have to let some things go in order to gain what you most desire and require.
You have to give up a great deal of good on the quest for the best.
For Jesus followers, this is the kingdom of God. For everyone, it is something and it is right in front of you.
“our need will be the real creator” - Plato, The Republic
Necessity may indeed be the mother of invention, but it has, at times, been the mother of injustice.
William Pitt observed:
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
Pitt spoke as the ally of Wilberforce in their quest to end slavery in England. Against their efforts were all sorts of arguments including those of necessity.
"We have no other choice."
"We must."
"We have to protect ourselves."
"We know it is wrong, but now is not the right time to correct things."
"If we do this now, everything will collapse."
There has never been a convenient time in history for doing the right thing. It has always been against the tide to stand for the rights of others. Liberty has never been practical. Freedom has never been feasible. Truth has seldom seemed profitable. Justice has never been easy. Light has never been appealing to those whose eyes have grown accustomed to the dark.
Our shortcuts can always be justified by expediency. In business, public affairs, and personal relationships, we can make our case for walking over other people and nations if we can establish that it is in pour best interest do do so.
When we do, we ultimately lose.
It is as if we have created a Greek god, named him "Necessarius," and bowed to him without knowing he is no god at all and will keep none of his far reaching promises.
Only what is right and true and just and compassionate will last beyond the moment. All else is as fleeting as our notions of necessity.
