God and Suffering?

Message Series: Q & A

Question: How can there be an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good God in light of all the suffering and evil in the world?

When many people consider the excruciating suffering and horrific evil in the world, they conclude God cannot be infinitely powerful AND genuinely good. Some think God is willing to end suffering but unable to do so. Rabbi Harold Kushner, who wrote the bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People, speaks for this group when he writes, "(God) does not want you to go on having this problem, but He can't make it go away. That is something which is too hard even for God." Others think that God is able to end suffering and evil, but He is unwilling to do so. Job's wife believed this, and accordingly she told Job to "curse God and die!" - Job 2:9

The Bible reveals that God is both willing and able to eliminate both suffering and evil. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God declared, "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind," and rhetorically asked, "Is anything too hard for Me?” - Jeremiah 32:27. Jesus asked people prone to worry, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?" and then declared, "Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father” – Matthew 10:29. God is always completely aware of everything and always able to bring His good will to pass. When contemplating the combination of God's kindness and capability, the psalmist wrote, "God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground” – Psalm 147:3-6. Thankfully, Scripture reveals that God is not only willing and able to end suffering and evil, He has committed to do so. “He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken” – Isaiah 25:8. This, of course, begs the question: "What is He waiting for?!"

To answer that, let's first consider our place in the history of God's Kingdom on earth. Generally speaking, we are in the Middle Age(s) of God's Kingdom History. In the First Age, God created a truly good world that humanity corrupted by rejecting God and rebelling against His rule. “God saw all that He made, and it was very good. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” – Genesis 1:31 & 2:9. To give humanity the capacity for volitional love, God gave humanity the liberty to choose against it. God gave our original ancestors paradise to live in, mountains of good options to chose from and one restriction for the sake of choice for the sake of love. Humanity followed the lead of a fallen angel who had apparently forgotten his place and thus lost his place in heaven. So in the first age, spiritual evil seduced humanity to moral evil and paradise on earth was lost. Ever since humanity's fall, everything on earth has been corrupted. We need to remember this when we feel tempted to accuse God of poor workmanship. He created it all very good, and our sin spoiled it all....thankfully not for good.

If I found a spoiled rotten fruit, I would throw it away - particularly if I had plenty m ore,b ut God did not chose to throw away His spoiled rotten earth. Instead He chose to redeem His corrupted creation by subjecting Himself to the very worst suffering and evil His gone astray creation can give. Scripture reveals that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’”- Galatians 3:13. In the First Age of Kingdom history, God gave us the tree of life, and we lost it. Here in the Middle Age(s) of Kingdom history, God took our tree of death to put an end to death, destruction, suffering, sin and evil. Now, God is saving and preparing a people to inherit the paradise He has purchased with Christ's blood. In the Final Age(s) of Kingdom history, God will complete creation’s perfection and His people will inherit eternal paradise. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away"- Revelation 21:1-4.

Now let's look back at the question "What's He waiting for?" Thankfully, God has given us good reasons for this season of suffering. For one, God is being patient with those who are persisting in rebellion and giving them every opportunity to turn from sin to Him. Under the inspiration of God's Spirit Peter explained and warned, "Do not let this fact escape your notice…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up”– 2 Peter 3:8-10. Once the transition from this age to the next has been made, the window of opportunity to be saved will be closed. When the Biblical flood came, people were either on board God's ark of salvation or under the waters of God's wrath. Jesus said that it will be same when He returns. So one reason for the season is that God is graciously and patiently holding open the window of opportunity. During this age, God is also using the difficulties that His rescued people experience to grow our faith and faithfulness, which will result in tremendous blessing upon Christ's return. Writing to people who were suffering greatly, Peter wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ"- 1 Peter 1:3-7.

So, how are we supposed to persevere through suffering and respond to evil in the meantime? I think three things will help us. One, we keep things in God's perspective by remembering where we are in kingdom history. Two, we trust in God's purposes for this season, and three, we rely on God's presence for the comfort, strength and wisdom we need to follow Jesus all the way home. God says to His people, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God…your Savior” – Isaiah 43:1-3. Awareness of God's presence can bring us extraordinary comfort as we walk through difficult days. As King David famously wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” – Psalm 23:4. I think Paul, who valiantly opposed evil and endured tremendous suffering to follow Christ, asked the best question for our closing consideration. “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” – Romans 8:32-37 Amen.

Faith and Science?

Message Series: Q & A

Question: How can I have faith in God’s existence in light of scientific reason?

To answer this question, let's first address the common misconception that faith and reason are opposites. Many naturalists contend that they are not people of faith and some even contend those who trust in God's existence are not people of reason. Both contentions are false. All naturalists are every bit as much people of faith as people who trust in the reality of God's existence. If the following sounds harsh, please forgive me. I share it with people's best interest in heart and as someone who placed his faith in nothing for many years before coming to reasonable faith in God. With that said, naturalists are people of faith who are banking on the false hope that nothing beyond the material exists. This is an often unrecognized escape attempt that is doomed to failure, and it is usually based on false assumptions about the consequences of reckoning with the reality of God. Such avoidance has many tragic consequences, including the distortion of logic and reason about spiritual matters in the minds of those who must twist them to continue hiding from ultimate reality. To help us better understand faith, let's consider the Biblical definition of it in Hebrews.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…By faith we understand the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of visible things…Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”– Hebrews 11:1- 6

In a sense faith is non-sense...that is non-sensory. It is our convictions about things that we cannot perceive through our physical senses of touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. In another sense faith is wishful thinking. By that I don't mean irrational thinking, but that what we believe about non-sensory matters is greatly influenced by our core desires. The Bible declares that "the fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" People convince themselves there is no God because they do not want there to be a God. People think life and freedom are found in independence from God and God's rule -"Free at last...Free at last...Great nothing almighty...We're free at last!" In reality, the exact opposite is true, but our natural disposition since the rebellion of our ultimate ancestors has been to run from God rather than to Him. We do not naturally seek God for the same reason criminals don't naturally seek judges. We are guilty! Though we run and hide, God keeps seeking us and stirring us to seek Him. Contrary to our fears, God is not seeking us to condemn us, but to save us! It is just as Jesus declared, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it" - John 12:47. When we avoid God, we are unwittingly avoiding true life, freedom, peace, joy, comfort, hope and meaning. With all this in mind, please consider the following statements of faith (one in nothing and one in God) from two notable scientists, who are both men of faith and reason, and then let's examine a couple good reasons for faith in God instead of faith in nothing.

“I cannot know for certain, but I think God is very improbable. I live my life on the assumption that He is not there.”– Dr. Richard Dawkins (Oxford, The God Delusion)

“When you make a breakthrough, it is a moment of scientific exhilaration…It is also a moment when I feel close to the Creator.” – Dr. Francis Collins (Director of Human Genome Project)

Good Reason for Faith in God from Without:

The Existence and Exactness of Creation

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness…of men who suppress the truth…because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” - Romans 1:18-22

The Bible declares that creation itself provides enough evidence to leave people without excuse for suppressing the truth about God's existence. If we think about it, we see that every effect has a cause. If we see light, we know there is a light source. If we hear a noise, we know there is a noise maker. If we apply that logic to the universe, we have good reason to expect there to be a universe source/maker. It is difficult to believe that nobody x nothing = everything. Some people ask "well, who made God?" The Bible declares that God is the alpha (first) and omega (last) - the self-existing Creator and self-sustaining Sustainer of everything else that exist. The magnificence and precision of the universe and the irreducible complexity of the life within it are also evidence of intentional design and thus a purposeful designer.

Good Reason for Faith in God from Within:
The Longing and Law in our Hearts

“God has…put eternity into man’s heart.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

“When Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law…show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” - Romans 2:14-16

If we think about it, the things we desire actually exist, though we may be deprived of them at the moment. For example, when I hunger for food, I am longing for something that actually exists - food. This even holds true for non-material things, such as love and peace. I may lack the present experience of real love and thus long for it, but I am not longing for something that does not exists. Real love really exists. I am just deprived of it in that scenario - not in real life, thankfully. So, what if we apply this to God? People in all cultures throughout history have expressed deep desire, even extreme longing, for God. Is God the only thing people desire that does not really exists or does the universal longing for God indicate that God, though people experience alienation from Him, actually exists?

Humanity also appeals to a universal code of right and wrong. Why? If matter is all that exists, nothing really matters in any ultimate sense. There is no real right and wrong or fair and unfair. There is only your opinion and my opinion and his and hers, etc. If there is no actual objective morality, then literally everything is relative and subject to "says who?" debates that set us up to slide down into 'might makes right' morality. The Bible says that we intuitively know that there is actual right and actual wrong and that we are accountable to live accordingly. The existence of universal objective moral law, points to a universal law giver. Please take a moment to watch this interview with Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the Human Genome Project, which mapped the 3.1 billion letters in the human genetic code.

While these external and internal evidences point to God, they do not prove God's existence. As Scripture declares "he who comes to God must believe He exists and rewards those who seek Him”– Hebrews 11:6. I hope you will genuinely seek God with all your heart, and I know from His promises in the Bible and my personal experience that you will find Him when you do.

The Pursuit of Holiness

In our personal and corporate pursuit of holiness, God leads us to walk a narrow road with dangerous cliffs on either side. To the right of God's holy way, legalism seeks to pull us into pits of spiritual pride and to the left, lawlessness entices us to slip into depths of spiritual sloth. The same dangers have faced the church from the beginning. God inspired Paul to warn the church in Corinth about the "leaven of lawlessness" (1 Corinthians 5:1-8) and the church in Galatia about the "leaven of legalism" (Galatians 5:1-14). God warns us that allowing even a little of either will trip us up in our pursuit of holiness. So, with this in mind, let's look at God's narrow way ahead.

God's expectations for His people: Holiness and Fruitfulness

Texts: 1 Peter 1:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Matthew 23:25-26; John 15:16

What would happen if, in an effort to increase enlistment, an army lowered its standards to the point that virtually nothing was expected of soldiers? Imagine the boot camp announcement- "Good morning - We're having drill today, and you are all invited. We would love to have you, but hey, if you're not in the mood this morning, that's okay. Have a great day!" Or later perhaps..."Hey, we're going to battle, but if you want to go the beach, it is okay. It is your call in the new Army." Such a low expectation army might grow larger, particularly if paychecks came no matter what, but would an army like that be able to fulfill its mission in the world? How safe would you feel guarded by such an army?

I am all for growing the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I am concerned that too often, in an effort to grow the ranks, churches lower their standards. This seems more like Satan's strategy to grow the world in the church than God's strategy to grow the church in the world. Following such a course results in churches that look no different, in terms of character, than the world around them, and such churches are unfit to fulfill their mission in the world. God expects, that is requires, His people to live up to His exceptionally high standards of holiness and fruitfulness. He requires us to be without a trace of moral impurity within and without. Thankfully, He does not require us to do it in our strength.

God's provisions for His people: Holy Savior and Holy Spirit

Texts: Luke 1:68-75; Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-25

God knows that our very best falls short of His expectations. Thankfully, Jesus' very best did not. He perfectly fulfilled God's perfect expectations and then in obedience to God's will offered Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. In short, God's perfect love moved Him to satisfy the demands of His perfect justice that He might show His people perfect mercy. So, who are His people? Well, God invites everyone, no matter how relatively good or bad they have lived, to come just as they are to Christ for the forgiveness of and cleansing from all sin. He gives everyone who comes to Christ a right standing before Him. The Bible says that we are "clothed in Christ's righteousness" before God. Our sin and shame are mercifully covered by His goodness and that spiritual reality in the heavens changes our life on earth. We do not behave well enough to earn God's favor, and we never will. God gives us His favor in Christ and receiving that gift changes the way we live. We could say our standing in heaven impacts our walk on earth. It is a bit like Elvis impersonators. Here is what I mean. People who dress up like Elvis sadly begin to take on His mannerisms...thank you very much, and thankfully people who are clothed in Christ and thus indwelt by God's Holy Spirit are inspired and empowered to take on His holy characteristics. This is a patient, at times painful, process, but it is the inevitable fruit of saving grace. Those who sell heaven without holiness sell counterfeit cheap grace. Grace that actually saves lives actually transforms lives. As it has been said many times...God loves us enough to accept us right where He finds us, but He loves us too much to leave us there. So, clothed in Christ and indwelt by God's empowering Spirit, what is our role?

God's conditions for His people: Reliance and Repentance

Texts: John 15:1-8; 2 Chronicles 7:13-14; 1 Corinthians 9:25-27; Hebrews 12:1-14

We are to prayerfully rely on Christ as our Savior and humbly obey Him as our Lord. This includes praying privately, passionately and purposefully for the experiential holiness we lack. This also requires discipline from within and without. The Bible says athletes discipline their bodies for perishable wreaths and honor. We are to discipline ours, individually and corporately, for God's honor and His imperishable purposes. God works within each of us to will and work for His good pleasure, and when we humbly follow His lead the result is self-discipline. When we don't, He works within those around us to prompt them to help us move forward. When those around us follow His lead, it results in loving church-discipline that brings restoration and holiness. When none of that works, God lovingly, though often painfully, disciplines us Himself - not to harm us but to heal us and make us holy. God's love for us is perfect and continuous, even when He is "pruning" us for greater fruitfulness. We are to rely on God primarily and each other secondarily, and we are to repent (turn) from all the sin God brings to our awareness. This is a constant, lifelong process, and we will not cross some holiness finish line this side of heaven. We will never arrive at perfect sanctification (experiential character holiness) until we arrive in paradise, where there is no sin. We need to also keep in mind that this lifelong process is the fruit of God's gift of salvation - not the root (or source) of our salvation. We will always need to fully rely on Christ's finished work for our standing before God - rather than on God's ongoing work in and through our lives. As we do, God will make us increasingly holy as He is holy.

The Presence of Holiness

God's moral perfection is absolute and absolutely incorruptible. God is infinitely holy, and He alone is independently holy. Everything and everyone else depends on God for holiness. In fact, the degree of any thing's holiness is based on it's spiritual proximity to God. Spiritually speaking, the closer something or someone is to God the more holy that something or someone is. Jesus once declared of hypocrites, "These people honor Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me." They were far from God and thus far from holy. Let's look at Isaiah's close encounter with God and learn what we can about true holiness.

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me’” – Isaiah 6:1-8.

The Pull of Holiness: (Show Me!) Because of sin, we all begin very far from God. Thankfully, God does not leave us there. Here is a picture that may help us visualize our spiritual situation. Imagine floating in space far from any source of gravity or light. In that environment, could you feel even a massive load, the equivalent of thousands of pounds on earth, without gravity's pull to make you aware? Could you see any dark stains on you in the absolute darkness? Of course not, and so it is when we are far from God. We do not feel the heavy burden of our sin or see it's very real pollution of our lives. We stay relatively oblivious to our true condition until God begins to draw us to Himself. Once He does, we begin to feel the weight of our sin in the pull of His gravity and to see the foulness of it in the brightness of His light. What seemed like no big deal drifting in the false comfort of spiritual darkness becomes crushing in the light of ultimate reality. God is so fantastic that the greatest known angelic beings in the universe are utterly overwhelmed in His presence. Awestruck, they continually burst forth in praise - not out of duty, but because He is literally an inexhaustible supply of greatness. It is impossible to exaggerate God's worthiness of worship, and once God has us close enough to truly see ourselves in His light, we cry out like Isaiah in our text, "Woe is me...I'm ruined!" In God's gravity, we know we cannot get our crushing sin off of us, and in God's light, we know we cannot get ourselves clean. We are absolutely crushed, completely exposed and utterly helpless to do a thing about it. We are, in Isaiah's word, ruined, but thankfully this is not the last word. In the last word - God's word, we are ready. The pull of God's holiness prepares us for the touch of God's holiness by changing our cry of "Show me!" into a sincere cry of "Save me!" which God is eager to answer.

The Touch of Holiness: (Save Me!) Once God had Isaiah aware of his reality and thus sincerely ready to ask for and receive forgiveness, He relieved his unbearable burden with a single touch. What Isaiah could not have done in a million years, God did in a moment. He sent His heavenly host with a burning coal from His alter to apply it to Isaiah's mouth, the spot where he was most acutely aware of his sin. Interestingly Jesus, who pointed out the hypocrisy of lip service, also said the things that come out of our mouths (the overflow of our corrupted hearts) defile us. It is also interesting to think about the sin-atoning offering on God's alter that was applied to Isaiah's mouth. In the Book of Revelation, John describes a similar scene of God's temple filled with glory, smoke, a censer of holy fire from God's altar and bowls (or cups) of His wrath that angels pour out on the earth to judge humanity's sin. I think that scene has connection to our text and to Jesus' cry the night before He went to the cross to be crushed under God's judgment of sin. That night our Savior cried, "Father, if it is possible, take this cup (or bowl) away from Me. Yet not My will but Yours be done." Here is the connection. Jesus was looking into the mouth of the heavenly cup (or bowl) full of God's burning wrath against our sin when He cried out. Thankfully, He humbly endured the outpouring of undiluted wrath in our place to provide the only holy sacrifice sufficient to atone for humanity's sin on the altar of God, namely Himself. Interestingly the Bible declares specifically that God never found any deceit in Jesus' mouth (1 Peter 2:22). He was and is God's perfectly holy offering, and when God takes of that holy offering and applies it to someone, their guilt, just like Isaiah's, is completely taken away. As King David cried out to God when God made him acutely aware of his sin, "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow...Let the bones You have crushed rejoice" (Psalm 51). What we could not do in a million years, God does perfectly in a moment with a touch of holiness. If God is privileging you to experience the painful grace of conviction over your sin and you have not yet turned to God and sincerely cried out for Him to save you, I prayerfully plead with you to do so ASAP. Just as God's revealing pull prepares us for God's saving touch, the touch of God's holiness prepares us for the push of God's holiness. It changes our cry of "Save me!" into "Send me!"

The Push of Holiness: (Send Me!) Time and again in the Bible and in life experience, I notice that you do not have to work hard to fire up people who have been touched by God's holy fire. Once Isaiah was white as snow, he was ready to go. I know it is corny, but it's true. God asked, "Whom shall I send?" and we get the impression Isaiah was bouncing up and down, raising and waving his hand, exclaiming "Here am I - Send me!" That is an often repeated pattern. God calls people into His fiery presence where they are transformed, and then He sends them out as white-hot ambassadors in His service. In light of this, I think the church wastes mountains of fruitless of energy trying to motivate people to go out in God's service instead of helping them come into His presence. Genuine worship of God transforms and fuels God's people for service. Finding enough people to serve is typically not an issue in churches where worship is truly the primary focus. Where the people can not wait to gather with their brothers and sisters to sincerely draw close to God together, they usually also cannot wait to go out in His service. We do not have to push those experiencing the push of God's holiness. Wherever you are in your life with God - in the pull of His holiness in desperate need of His saving touch or having been touched by His holiness desperately crying "Here I am - Send me!" - we want to be there for you and help you move forward with God.

The Resurrection Life

John 11:1-45

Have you ever experienced difficulty or hardship (maybe an illness, troubled relationship, or financial crisis) and in the midst of it turned to Jesus hoping for deliverance only to be disappointed? In spite of your petitions to the Lord, the financial pinch became bankruptcy, the troubled marriage became the bitter divorce, or the illness did not end until the loved one died. As most of us know painfully well, life can not only be very disappointing – our disappointments can be compounded by wondering why God did not rescue us when we seemed to need Him most. We can be left wondering where was God? Why did not He come when we called? Have we upset Him? Have we lost His favor? If He loves us so and He is all-knowing and powerful, why did He let this happen? Those who don’t believe don’t have this problem. Life stinks then you die, but those who know God need answers. Thankfully, our text has some.

First, let's look at God's big-picture timing. In an outtake from the movie Bruce Almighty, God (Morgan Freeman) calls Bruce's (Jim Carey's) attention to a painting. He compares the dark tones in the painting to the painful life experiences needed to create an overall masterpiece. From Mary's and Martha's perspective, it looked like Jesus arrived painfully late. God was painting a dark stroke in their part of life's big picture. They sent word to the Christ that their brother, His friend, was deathly ill, but Jesus did not show up until four days after his death. It gets worse before it gets better. Our text reveals that Jesus intentionally delayed His arrival in order to let Lazarus die. Why? The answer is that He was up to a greater (more God-glorifying, more faith-building, and more life-saving) good. He not only intended to save Lazarus' life. He meant to glorify God in a mighty way and save many others in the process. God, who did not even spare His only begotten Son the agony of suffering for other's good and God's glory, does not promise to spare us life's dark tones either. He does promise that He is always up to the greatest good and that He works all things, the painful and the pleasant, together for good to those who love Him. We also need to never forget that it is never too late for God. We need to remember time does not control God. God controls time and always uses it for the greatest good. So, when God's painful delays compound our painful experiences, we need to trust the reality that God, who has the whole picture in mind, is up to a greater good that we cannot see. Just as Mary's disappointment gave way to extravagant worship when she anointed Jesus with her expensive perfume, our disappointments give us a way to worship God with expectations of faith in the midst of His apparent delays. If we will seize these disguised opportunities to worship God, He will turn our dark days into beautiful displays for His glory, others good and our best.

Next, let's look at God's heart-rending love. Our text emphasizes Jesus' love for Lazarus and his sisters. His intentional delay had nothing to do with a lack of love, and we don't need to doubt God's love in the midst of our difficulties. God loves us with an everlasting, perfect, continuous love that never lets us go no matter what we are going through. Often times, we shut down and block out our emotions in order to cope with difficulty. We are too weak to emotionally deal with the toughest stuff otherwise. Notice Jesus does not protect Himself in this way in our text. He leaves His heart wide open. He fully experiences their pain, grief, loss and suffering with them. In the midst of the record of Him doing so, we find the shortest verse in the Bible - Jesus wept. Jesus does not isolate Himself from our pain. Instead of saving Himself, He saves us and loves us enough to go through the worst with us. He empathizes with His people so completely that at the Judgment He will say what people did to or for the least of His people they did to or for Him. He says that He will say that He experienced our hunger with us and He experienced our thirst with us and our loneliness with us and our illnesses and our grief with us! So, how else can we worship God in the midst of difficult disappointments? We can worship Him by trusting His unfailing love and by loving His hurting people. We can worship God by not sheltering ourselves from other's pain. Like Mary irrevocably sacrificed the vessel that held her perfume to show her love for Christ, we can be irrevocably sacrificed vessels that unleash a fragrant offering of love for Christ as we allow our hearts to break with others. We can also be living sacrifices whose hands and feet and ears and shoulders become instruments God uses to bring relief and comfort to others. As we worship God this way, He will grow us more and more into the likeness of Christ.

Finally, let's look at God's life-giving power. Again, it is never too late for God! When things look over and utterly beyond recovery, God can still show up and change everything. He is God! Nothing is too big for Him to do or too small for Him to care about. God tells dead people to live, and they live! I'm drawn to the point in our text just after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He told the others to help Lazarus get his grave clothes off so that he could go free. I mentioned Morgan Freeman playing God in Bruce Almighty. He also played a prisoner in Shawshank Redemption. In that role, he was concerned about becoming 'an institutional man'- that is someone so accustomed to life in prison that they come to prefer it to a life of liberty. In probably the most famous line in the movie Tim Robbins' character scolds Freeman's for giving into that pull and says, "I guess that it's then - Either get busy living or get busy dying." God declares that before He gave us eternal life, we were spiritually dead and buried. Like Lazarus, it was over for us until Jesus called our name and raised us from death into life everlasting. This resurrection life is not just for then and there. It is meant to be abundantly lived right here and now! The problem for too many Christians is that we have been 'institutionalized' by the dead lives we knew in sin's penitentiary. We still have our grave clothes (that is our old rotten ways of living) on, and so we still look half-dead to the world around us. We need to worship God by helping each other get our grave clothes off so that we can all live transformed lives of freedom clothed in the righteousness of Christ. When people see God's people living genuinely transformed lives of increasing freedom from the death-grip of sin and fear and isolation, they see the life they are missing and find good reason to put their faith in the One who is the Resurrection Life.

The Son of God

John 10:27-42

Many people live with great insecurity. Life seems so unstable and often with good reason. Marriages, and thus families, fail daily rendering them an untrustworthy source of security. Economic situations can fluctuate wildly ending jobs, careers, and retirement plans. Even nations rise and fall. World maps today look different than they did just twenty years ago. All of this is not to even mention how fleeting good health and life itself can be. The fact is we can not find a solid foundation for true security anywhere in this world. That is not pessimistic. It is reality. Thankfully, there is a deeper reality - one that cannot be shaken or taken. If you are currently finding security in holding onto something that can possibly be lost or destroyed, the security you can enjoy is quite limited. If we will let go of the things of this world and take hold of the truth God reveals in this text, we will find unshakeable ground for true security.

First, Jesus declares that God gives (we don’t earn) His people eternal life. Lest anyone think this is just the quality of life people tap into and experience for a while, He adds the life He gives His people never ends. To drive home His ability to make good on such a remarkable claim, He emphasizes His oneness in purpose and power with God the Father. Since He is in perfect step with His Father's will, to mess with Him is to mess with God. Jesus declares that His people are in the supremely secure grip of almighty God's grace. Once our sin completely alienated us from God, but now in union with Christ God has dealt our sin the death blow, making us inseparable. I used to think of G.L.U.E. to keep this reality fresh in my mind. It stood for God Loves Us Eternally - us being everyone united with Christ and thus sharing the great common destiny of eternity in paradise with God. Of course, those not trusting Christ for salvation, including the religious leaders in the original audience, often find Jesus’ claims to be the eternal Son of God and Savior of the world ridiculous and offensive. In fact, they picked up stones to condemn Jesus for blasphemy. In response, Jesus directs them and all who doubt to seriously consider His works, word, and witness.

First, He directs them to the works, that is the miracles, that He has been doing. They not only authenticate His claims to have supernatural power over the physical and spiritual realms. They are also completely consistent with the goodness of God. Jesus’ works make sick people well, blind people see, hungry people full and even dead people live. Jesus’ works bless people with a foretaste of the future fullness the coming of His kingdom will bring, just as God’s written word declares.

Jesus calls the religious leaders to re-consider the written word they are using to justify their judgmental accusations and actions. He calls their attention to Psalm 82, where God gave the word to set people apart as judges over His people. In that text, He called them ‘gods’ or ‘mighty-ones’ in their positions of service. This is not to say they had any actual divinity - far from it. God who raised them up was about to humble them for failing to judge justly and help the helpless in their midst. In the last verse of that psalm, it is God Himself who will rule and judge. Launching from there, Jesus tells them that if it is acceptable for people who were set apart to be judges by God’s word to be called ‘gods’ how much more it is right to refer to Him, the eternal Word of God set apart as the One through whom God will judge and rule His creation and the One sent into the world to save and redeem it, as the Son of God!

Finally, God uses this text to call our attention to His witness, John the Baptist. John’s main mission was to prepare the way and point people to Christ. Thankfully, many of them took his message seriously and honestly examined Jesus for themselves. They found John’s testimony to be true and put their faith in Christ, who saved them from God’s judgment and gave them eternal life that can never be taken away. How about you? Are you convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal Son of God? Are you trusting Him to rescue you from God's judgment? If so, the security described in Romans 8:38-39 is yours, and if you will rest in that reality, it will empower you to follow Jesus' example in the face of His accusers and share God's Good News with confident assurance when you face opposition. If you are not convinced Jesus is God's Son, I pray that you will prayerfully re-consider the evidence God has given with an open mind and heart. Your security and so much more depend on it.

The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-28

The Bible is not just a collection of disconnected stories and lessons about God and people. While it has many varied stories, overall it is one unfolding story of God’s plan to rescue His creation from the ruin of sin. Hundreds of years before Jesus’ earthly ministry, God revealed the following through His prophet Ezekiel.

1The word of the LORD came to me: 2"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say even to the shepherds, “Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6My sheep were scattered...with none to search or seek for them….11Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep & will seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, & I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered.” – Ezekiel 34:1-6 & 11-12

In this OT text, God told Ezekiel to announce that He was coming in person to save His flock since the pastors who were supposed to take care of His people were too busy caring for themselves to care for others. In John 10, Jesus announces the fulfillment of that prophecy by stating that He is the Good Shepherd who has come to seek and save His own.

Since we don’t do a lot of sheep herding here these days, a little background may help us understand this parable better. Jesus refers to two different commonly used types of sheep pens. One was used for open fields. The other was used in villages. Village pens were communal. Shepherds mingled their sheep in a common pen that was watched over night by a gatekeeper. The mingling was no problem, because in the morning the shepherd would come to the gate and call his sheep, who would only run to his voice. If an unfamiliar voice called his sheep, they would run away. In the field, shepherds built pens that were little more than a circle of rocks, perhaps with briars on the top. They did not have swinging gates. Instead, the shepherd himself laid down in the pen’s opening and thus became its gate. Hopefully, this helps clear-up possible confusion about our text, which has mountains of material to mine. Let’s limit our focus today to motivations, authority, and security.

Jesus declared that His motivation was His love for His sheep and His desire to give them abundant life. He declared that He loved His sheep more than His life, which was the exact opposite condition of the hirelings’ hearts. When the going gets tough, hirelings (fair-weathered pastors in it for selfish gain) get going the other way. Hardship reveals they feel they’re not getting paid enough to loose their lives for sheep. So, Jesus is in it for love and life. Hirelings are in it for themselves, and Satan is only in it to steal, kill and destroy. Yesterday, a few of us got to go crabbing on the Puget Sound. From the vantage point of the crabs, we were acting a lot like the devil. We were only offering them easy access to fresh chicken, because we wanted to steal them from their home, kill them on the shore, and destroy them so we could eat them. Never forget that no matter how tempting the pleasure of sin appears, the motivation for offering it is your destruction and the harm of those you love. I am so glad Jesus has come that we might have life and have it abundantly and that He has the authority He needs to give it to us!

Apparently wanting to emphasize the depth of His love for His people, Jesus emphasizes His authority and the reality that He is voluntarily offering His life to save and protect His sheep. The Good Shepherd is also the sacrificial Lamb of God that takes away our sin, but He is never to be mistaken as a victim of more powerful opponents. He is the victor who conquered death, sin and Satan to save His sheep from the same! This could be legitimately doubted were it not for His authenticating demonstration of His authority over these enemies - His resurrection. He said He had the God-given authority to lay down His life (easy enough to say in the face of enemies who appear able to kill you) and the authority to take it up again (not easy to say and even harder to do).

By assuring us of His great love and authority, our Good Shepherd gives us great security. He goes even further to make sure we know we are safe with Him. First, He says that He knows each of us personally. Next, He says that He always protects His own. Finally, He says He gives us everlasting life that cannot be lost. During His earthly ministry, Jesus called His sheep by name. Matthew, Zacchaeus, and even Lazarus all left their lives (and deaths) and came to Christ in response to Him calling them by name. We believe and follow Jesus home because we belong to Him. So, if we foolishly take our eyes off our Shepherd and get our wool dirty, it does not mean we are no longer His sheep anymore than your children breaking rules means they’re not yours anymore. We are His, and we are going home to be with Him forever. In the meantime, He shields us to come into God’s holy presence without being destroyed by God's holiness and to go out into a morally filthy world without being destroyed by its corruption. Thus, He provides spiritual nourishment and protection as we share His Good News with others so that His lost sheep in the folds around us can also hear His voice, join His flock and follow Him home.

In Her Place (Costly Grace)

John 8:1-11

Have you ever wished you could be in someone else’s shoes at least for a moment? If you like sports and see a great player making a great play, you might think, “man, I’d love to be that guy right now.” We usually have those fleeting (hopefully) ‘trading places’ fantasy moments about someone who is having a highlight moment. We rarely think “man, I’d love to be that guy right now” about the place-kicker who just shanked a chip shot to lose the game. That’s when we think “man I’m glad I’m not that guy right now.” In our text, a woman caught in adultery in a time and place when it was a capital offense is brought into a courtyard, publicly humiliated and threatened with execution. How would you like to be in her shoes at that moment? I suspect not so much, but that is exactly what Jesus chose to do - to put Himself in her place and ours. John Stott once wrote, “The essence of sin is we humans substituting ourselves for God, and the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. We put ourselves were only God deserves to be, and God puts Himself where we deserve to be.” This account shows our need for grace, the cost of grace and the power of grace.

First, let’s look at our need for grace. The woman’s need for grace is obvious. She was caught in an act of lawlessness and facing immediate execution at the hands of legalistic accusers, who were using her to trap Jesus. It was a clever move. They probably felt like a chess player with an opponent in checkmate. My opponent can zig or they can zag, but they can’t win. In this case, if Jesus let the woman go, they could accuse Him of not upholding God’s Law and thus condoning sin. If, on the other hand, Jesus upheld the Law and condemned the woman, His message and ministry of compassion was publicly discredited and open to ridicule. “Oh yea, blessed are the merciful, huh?” Of course, playing ‘outwit the Son of God’ is a can’t win proposition, and Jesus cleverly turned their move back on them. In the process He also exposed their need for grace. No one, and that certainly includes me, knows what Jesus was writing, but I wonder if it was commandments from God’s Law, which acts as a mirror showing us our sin and need for grace. In any event, He gave a condition that forced anyone who threw a stone to declare themselves sinless in front of the crowd and their hyper-judgmental peers. The oldest (wisest), who were the first to know that they had been outwitted, dropped their stones and headed home. Jesus, the only one actually meeting the sinless qualification needed to condemn, chose not to. As He had stated before, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him”-John 3:17. The question is how was Jesus free to let her go free without dishonoring God’s Law and God?

The answer is that He knew He would soon endure her condemnation in her place. As hard as it is to say, this woman deserved execution. So did her accusers, and so do we. We are all guilty of sin, and we all face condemnation in the ‘courtyard’ of heaven, where nothing is hidden. Thankfully, Jesus took her place (and ours) on the cross. That is what true grace, grace that does not condemn sinners or condone sin, costs. God is only free to let us go free, because He paid the full price for our sin. “God presented (Jesus) as an atoning sacrifice...to demonstrate His justice because...He left sins committed...unpunished”- Romans 3:25. John Piper said it well. “If God was unjust there would be no demand for His Son to die. If God were unloving there would be no willingness for His Son to die. But, God is both just and loving. Therefore, His love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.” Anything less than price-paying grace is cheap grace, and if we think about it, true grace always costs the one giving it. Not only does the grace-giver absorb the original losses of the sin against them. They also absorb the pain of forfeiting the consolation of just retribution. When we (or a loved one) are mistreated and choose not to mistreat in return, it can feel like it is killing us not to kill them. This is a taste of the death grace requires, but it is still not the whole meal. Grace not only withholds condemnation from someone who deserves it. It blesses them instead. So, grace costs the giver the pain of the original injustice, plus the pain of not condemning the offender and the pain of blessing them instead. Grace costs a lot, but it is worth its high price, since the death grace requires brings a resurrection of life.

Only grace, true costly grace given free of charge to the undeserving, has the power to break the cycle of sin and condemnation. We can think of God’s Law as legs supporting condemnation. When God’s Law is broken condemnation is sure to fall upon those under it. The point is God’s Law has the power to condemn, but it does not have the power to redeem. This is why “God sent forth His Son...born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law”- Galatians 4:4-5. Since the condemnation due to us fell upon Christ, we are free to leave with our lives and to leave our lives of sin. We are liberated by the reality that there is no longer any condemnation hanging over our heads. Instead of growing worry and resentment, we are filled with gratitude for grace and satisfied in the secure love of God. This increasingly empowers us to answer God's call to "sin no more." Grace also disarms our spiritual accusers. Just like the guilty accusers could not condemn the woman caught in adultery. Our accusers can not condemn us in God’s court. “Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died”- Romans 8:33-34. Grace disarms our accusers, allows us to escape death and frees us to leave our lives of sin behind. It is amazing indeed, and God calls all the beneficiaries of His saving grace to freely give costly-grace to everyone else. This means dropping our stones of condemnation and blessing those who curse us. It may feel like it is killing us to do so, but it will free everyone involved from the guilty cycle of sin and death and the bitter poison of bitterness.

Truth's Freedom

John 8:31-36

Friday a number of us celebrated the 4th with the three F's (Frisbee, football and fireworks) at the "Freedom Fest" on Fort Lewis. It has become something of a tradition, and once again it was a lot of fun. Of course, it is tradition throughout the U.S. to celebrate America's independence and the liberties we enjoy as citizens. Many people around the world long for such liberties, and America is recognized as an inviting liberty hub the world over. In fact, the Statue of Liberty extends the famous invitation "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free." The last phrase, "yearning to breathe free," captures my attention. You see I think there is a significant and often missed distinction between liberty and freedom. I think the best the U. S. or any country can offer anyone is liberty. Consider, for example, a person addicted to a legal substance in our country. They may have the liberty to purchase that substance at will, but they certainly are not free. Their wills are enslaved. Freedom, the true freedom described in our text, is more than liberty, and it is something only God can give.

In our text, Jesus is addressing people who have believed His message up to a certain point but not unto salvation. They are in the same spiritual condition that many people, including many church-going people, find themselves in today. They are not overtly denying Him, but they are not in committed union with Him either. Thankfully, Jesus works to fan such flickering faith, initial sparks insufficient to save, into the bright flames of saving faith that illuminate our darkness, consume our doubts and fuel the perseverance that we need to know true freedom. One of the better stories I know (sort of an oldie but goodie) to illustrate the difference between belief that savingly binds us to Christ and belief that leaves us left behind is the story of James Francois Gravalet, better known in his day as the Great Blondin. He once tight-roped 1,100 feet across Niagara Falls carrying a man on his back. He took him across and back suspended 160 feet above the waters below. When he arrived safely back, he asked a man in the crowd, "Do you believe that I could do that with you?" “Of course, I’ve just seen you do it,” the man replied. “Well, hop on,” said Blondin, “and I’ll take you to the other side.” The man answered, “Not on your life!” That is the difference between believing something enough to honestly say you believe it and believing something enough to stake your life on it. Biblical belief, saving faith that unites us to Christ who carries us across the chasm our sin has fixed between us and God, is committed belief that stakes life on Christ. Have you stepped out like that? Are you putting the full weight of your relationship with God on Jesus? If not, why not? Have you researched Jesus diligently and come to some nagging intellectual questions that will not let you go any further? If so, let’s prayerfully and diligently investigate them. Contrary to popular belief, biblical belief is not blind faith. It is committed trust in truth that God has revealed and authenticated, and it brings many blessings. Jesus gives three in our text: authenticated discipleship (assurance of our acceptance), spiritual insight (spiritual ability to know God’s revealed truth), and true freedom (from sin’s penalty, power, and presence).

Those who hold on to Jesus and persevere with Him by exercising committed faith in Him have His word that they are (prayerfully we are) His true disciples. If we picture Jesus as carrying us on a narrow way across a chasm, much like the tight-rope across Niagara Falls, it is not hard to see that those who try to hop off early or to wiggle their own way back to where they came from will lose their assurance, at least, of making it to the other side, but those who hang on will rest easier and easier with increasing security the further they are carried by Christ. One of Jesus’ first fully-committed followers Peter encouraged us all to seek such security when he wrote, “Make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things (persevere in the behaviors belief produces), you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” - 2 Peter 1:10-11. Persevering faith in our committed relationship with Christ is not effortless, but it's worth it. In all good relationships, the depth of our knowledge of each other grows over time. Many of the blessings in our relationship with Christ are not instant. They come with time and distance traveled and blessed assurance is one of those. So, growing assurance of our acceptance in Christ flows from fully-committed faith, and it is an important key into the freedom of greater delight in God, who comforts us with growing security.

Jesus also promises that His true disciples will know the truth. In a world of confusion and remarkable uncertainty, this is a bigger deal than it may at first appear, and it is not something that we can do on our own. The once spiritually blind religious zealot Paul wrote, after Jesus miraculously granted Him spiritual sight and simultaneously physically blinded him (literally blinded by the light) on the Damascus Road, “We have…received the…Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. We speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. Those without the Spirit do not accept the things from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to them. They can’t understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” – 1 Corinthians 2:12-14. Those who trust Jesus with their lives are indwelt by God’s Spirit. The great chasm between us and God is erased in Christ, and we are reconciled to God so completely that the very Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, illuminates our understanding so that we recognize and resonate with spiritual truth and reject spiritual error. Jesus declared this would happen when He began His public ministry by reading the following from Isaiah - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free those who are oppressed” – Luke 4:18. He not only promised His people spiritual insight in this biblical purpose statement for His ministry. He also promised our next blessing - true freedom.

Jesus’ original hearers did not know that they were not free and many people today, perhaps even particularly in America – ‘the land of the free,’ don’t know that they are slaves. Some of the original audience referred to their heritage as an indication that they were free and some today speak of their Christian heritage as evidence that they are free in Christ. This is not so. While participating in a family of faith has many blessings, biblical belief is not inherited. Each person has their own relationship with Christ. While a right relationship with God in Christ cannot be inherited, inheriting a sinful nature cannot be avoided. We are all born sin slaves, who must be born-again in Christ to be set free. A sinner is not something we become once we commit a sin. We are certain to sin, because that is who we are by nature. That is why no amount of moralizing can permanently free a slave from sin’s power. As Jesus said, “A slave does not stay in the house forever.” As sin-slaves, we may have momentary blessed experiences with God outside of saving-union with Christ, but that does not make us permanent residents of heaven. It just means God is privileging us, as He says He will in multiple Scriptures, to “taste and see” that He is good. Only a permanent relationship with God in Christ can free a person from slavery to sin’s penalty (death), power (progressively) and presence (ultimately). That, and nothing less, is the truth’s freedom, and God alone can give it. Thankfully, He is happy to give it to everyone who gives their fully-committed faith to Christ. That's why as Jesus, God’s unique eternal Son, declares, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Are you free indeed? Do you know that you know Christ is carrying you home to be with Him forever? Though it is rough road sometimes, are you experiencing growing intimacy with God and diminishing oppression from sin? I pray so. If not, you can be. You can begin right now by sincerely turning to God, acknowledging your sin and need for a Savior and trusting Jesus with the full weight of your life.

I also pray that we as a church will honor our “Live the Life” commitment to “Share the Truth” about God, His word and ourselves with humility, kindness and courage. If we will do so, I trust God to bless our obedience and create a liberating atmosphere of integrity that frees people to safely open up and deal honestly with the remaining symptoms of our sin and brokenness. God calls us to confess our sins one to another that we might be healed from sin’s power, and Jesus prayed that God would sanctify us, that is set us apart and make us holy, with the truth, which He declared to be God’s word. Our community groups can provide a great opportunity for you to grow together with other imperfect people, who are being carried home by Christ and progressively set free from sin’s power through the truth of God’s word and honesty with each other. I pray that you will talk with the leader of the group nearest you and take steps to connect and grow. Let’s pray.

God's Dividing Line

John 7

I grew up in Alabama. You may or may not be aware that a cultural dividing line cuts Alabama roughly in half. You see about half of the people in Alabama are Alabama and the other half are Auburn. When I would make a new acquaintance playing as a child, it would not take long for the defining question to be asked: "Are you Auburn or Alabama?" It was never, "Are you for Auburn or for Alabama?" It was, "Are you Auburn or Alabama?" Your very identity hung on your answer. I am not sure if the line is just as defining as it was when I was a child and Bear Bryant was rolling his Tide over my Tigers to repeated National Championships, but I am certain it still remains. Humanity has created many dividing lines to define and group people together. Some are kind of silly (Auburn-Alabama). Some are a little more serious (Democrat-Republican), and some are more serious still (Capitalist-Communist). In John 7, God's dividing line, by far the most serious of all, is becoming increasingly clear. As the spiritual war to redeem creation heats up, apparent neutrality (no such thing actually exist) is disappearing, and it is becoming clear who is 'pro' and who is 'anti' Christ.

In verses One through Nine, we see God's dividing line runs right through Jesus' biological family. Initially members of His own house rejected Jesus' identity as God's Messiah. He said this would be the case and that we should expect the same in our homes (Matthew 10:34-37). Initially Jesus' brothers were giving Him grief, but what a different tone we hear from Jesus' brother James once He had crossed God's dividing line (James 1:1). From his new perspective, Jesus is no longer a liar or a lunatic - He is the one and only Lord! Those really are the only options Jesus gave. He said He was the eternal, sinless Son of God incarnate and that He was God's perfect, exclusive way for sinful people to be reconciled to holy God and that every one's destiny depends on Him. If He was not and did not know He was not, He was a deranged megalomaniac. If He was not and knew He was not, He was a liar of epic proportions. If, however, He was who He said was, He was and is the Lord. As C. S. Lewis famously said, "You can shut Him up as a fool. You can spit on Him and kill Him as demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

So, people can only straddle the Jesus fence for so long. Ultimately we are all either in or out and which side we are on makes all the difference. As John the Baptizer said He would, Jesus baptizes (immerses) all people in either God's Spirit or God's fire (Matthew 3:10-12). Those baptized by God's Spirit live radically different lives. In verses 37-39, quite possibly during the portion of the Feast of Tabernacles when jars of water were ceremonially poured onto the altar, Jesus announced that every one who thirsts should come to Him for living water. He said springs of spiritually-refreshing water would flow from the hearts of all who received God's Spirit by trusting Him, God's Savior. Not only are those who receive Christ refreshed by God's Spirit. They are, hopefully we are, led by God's Spirit. Throughout this chapter, we see Jesus, the Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Christ, carefully following God's timetable. He tells His brothers they can go wherever whenever, but that He must go where God leads when God leads. The same is true of all true believers. We are God-called and enabled to be Spirit-filled (Ephesians 5:18) and Spirit-led (Galatians 5:25). We are also God-called and enabled to ultimately be with Christ in glory, which is impossible for those choosing to remain on the other side of God's line (verses 32-34).

God has extended His open invitation to all. Every one is invited to cross over in Christ, but this requires us to be truth-seekers who sincerely investigate Jesus' claims to be the Christ. Doing so takes more than the passing 'effort' of those whose hearts were already made up against Jesus in verses 41-52. Honestly, how much would it have taken to discover Jesus was born in Bethlehem if they had really wanted to know? I see this same thing with people who throw out dismissals of the Bible as "full of contradictions." Their hearts are made up, and they grab and repeat unverified claims to justify their rejection. If you have sincere doubts, please prayerfully seek the truth and invest the energy needed to dig beneath the surface. God is there, and He assures us that we will find Him, when we seek Him with all of our hearts (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

God is not only there. God is holy. He is perfectly pure and righteous in and of Himself. Every one else depends on God for holiness, because sadly we are all corrupted and sinful. God separates the people in Christ from sin's penalty, power and presence thus making them holy or set-apart from corruption by and for God. So, the big question is which side of God's dividing line are you on? Are you in Christ or out? Holy or not? Spirit-filled or empty? Spirit-led or lost? Saved or Condemned?

Heroic Fatherhood

My son and I recently went to see Ironman. He is at the age where our Father-Son movies often involve superheroes or transforming robots. Anyway, Ironman was better than I expected, and I was struck by a metaphor involving the heart change of the main character, Tony Stark. Without giving the movie away, he was forced to have a power-supply implanted in his chest, which he used to power the armor suit he wore as Ironman. The somewhat ironic picture that played out over the movie was that Tony Stark became more fully human with his implanted power supply (his changed heart) and his mechanized armor suit than he had been previously. He had been extremely self-centered, indulgent and childishly unconcerned about his impact on others. While his transformation was far from complete, he became much more aware, involved and concerned for others, and he began to use his abilities to protect and benefit those he once carelessly neglected and harmed. I think that is a bit like the transformation men need to undergo to become heroic fathers.

While we don't need miniature "arc reactors" in our chests to empower us, we do need new hearts and God's Spirit. Thankfully, God promises to give us just that through His prophet Ezekiel, who wrote “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws”- Ezekiel 36:26-27. When we receive God's gift of saving grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit indwells us and empowers us to live new God-centered lives. Thus, God-centered heroic fatherhood is not something we muster up in our strength. Rather, it is something God does in and through us as we rely on His infinite strength and wisdom. With that in mind, let's look at two short verses Paul wrote to men in the church at Corinth and consider how they apply to fathers today.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love” – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14.

To be heroic fathers, we first need to be on guard or more literally to "watch" our children. Particularly when they are young, our children often say, "Watch me...watch this," and God says the same thing, "Watch them...watch that!" So, from above and below we are getting the same message - give our children our attention. Be aware and get involved. Guard them and guide them into truth and righteousness, which also requires us to stand firm in the faith. We are to stand like dams against the rising waters of worldliness protecting the generations downstream. If we give a bit here and give a bit there rather than doing the hard work of anchoring our faith through serious Bible study, vigorous prayer and sincere obedience, the little leaks that come through our little lapses will soon undermine our integrity altogether and quite likely allow our children to be swept away. So, heroic dads need to be on guard, to stand firm in the faith, and we need to be strong and courageous, which is the same admonition God repeatedly gave Joshua as he prepared to lead God's people into the Promised Land. Fathers need the same qualities to lead our children to take possession of God's best for their lives.

This is written in a passive voice, which does not seem to fit a call to be strong. Here is why. We could translate it "be strengthened" instead of be strong. The idea is that we are to be strong in the Lord and in His might. His strength is made perfect in our humble dependence. As we walk humbly with God and live honestly in His light, He empowers us to live and to parent courageously. As Proverbs 28:1 observes, "The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." We are to father our children with bold courage relying on the Lord's might, which may very well mean taking unpopular stands and consistently enforcing corrective discipline for their benefit, but we are never to do anything that is unloving toward our children in anyway. We need to constantly assure our children that they can never lose our love even when they blow it big time. We are to do everything, even punish, in love, which means at least making sure your children understand why they are being punished and lovingly restoring them in the aftermath. I also find reviewing 1 Corinthians 13 and asking "Am I being patient?...kind?...polite?...gracious? etc." helps keep me on the path. Personally, I have a long way to go to become a heroic dad. I thank God for the privilege of parenting the precious children He has given us, and I pray by His enabling to increasingly become the heroic father He calls all dads to be. I pray the same for you.

Walk on Water

"15So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. (He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side – Mark 6:45.) 16Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. (The boat was in the middle of the lake, and He was alone on land. He saw they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them – Mark 6:46.) 19Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." (Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” – Matthew 14:28-31) 21So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately (the wind stopped and) the boat was at the land to which they were going." - John 16:15-21

[Note: Integrating the Gospel accounts of the same events can sometimes cause questions about the Bible’s accuracy to arise, since there can appear to be conflicts between the accounts. For example, in the accounts of the events above it initially appears three different destinations are referenced - Capernaum, Beth-Saida and Gennesaret. However, once we dig deeper we learn that Beth-Saida and Capernaum are basically side by side towns in the district (or area) of Gennersaret. Therefore, this is much like asking three people where they went and one saying Lacey, another saying Olympia, and a third saying Thurston County or even Hawk’s Prairie or the South Sound. While people from elsewhere may wonder “well which is it?”, locals immediately know there is no conflict, since all are valid ways to reference our location.]

Some of the Seahawks were in town yesterday helping out the Little League baseball teams. It was a bit of a break for the players, who are already in mini training camps preparing for next season. As unpleasant as training camp is for a lot of players, they know going into a season unprepared means almost certain defeat, and Jesus knows that as unpleasant as faith-stretching, spiritual tests can be, being unprepared for the battles ahead is far worse. To help His first followers get ready for the upcoming church season when He would no longer be physically present with them, Jesus put His disciples through rigorous faith tests, including this ‘pop quiz’ on the Sea of Galilee. He had just fed thousands with fives loaves and a couple of fish, and He had previously calmed a storm on the same lake when He was on board with His followers. Now in the boat alone in the middle of the violent windstorm would they trust Jesus was still watching over them, and how would they handle Jesus coming to them in a strange new way?

Jesus still uses surprising figurative and even literal storms to develop our faith, and He still comes to us in unexpected ways that can frighten us. Whether your storm is financial, medical, marital, parental, moral or even just an extra-innings rainy-season blues battle, Jesus has good, faith-developing purposes for our trials, and the reality that we are going through them does not necessarily mean that we have been disobedient. Jesus’ first followers were doing exactly what He told them to do when the storm hit. We want to regularly ask God to reveal our sins to us so that we can turn from them and grow with Him, but we don’t have to cry “What have I done?” in the midst of every trial. Tests and punishment are not the same thing, and there is no condemnation for anyone in Christ. God is watching over you as you struggle against the winds of your storm, and when the time is best, He will end this test.

So, who or what are we relying on as we go through life’s storms? Our strength, our resources, our wisdom? If it is really tough, maybe our friends and their strength? Friends certainly help, but God wants us to learn to trust in and rely on Him even when doing so requires us to go against all of our instincts and sensory understanding of an experience. People give Peter a hard time for doubting and sinking, but I think we need to applaud him for fixing His eyes on Jesus, getting out of the boat and taking at least a few steps of serious, circumstance-defying faith. Of course, he went on to look down and go down, which is what happens when we take our eyes off of Christ. When Jesus comes to us in surprising ways and calls us to come to Him in the midst of our storms, even when it goes against our understanding, I pray that we will be prepared to trust Him enough to leave the safety of the vessels we have known and walk by faith into the future He has prepared for us.

Miracle Math

JOHN 6:1-14

Have you, like me, faced situations where you wanted to help but lacked the resources to make a real difference? Have you ever felt insignificant - not gifted, talented or powerful enough to make much of an impact? If so, I think this text highlighting the reality that God can do a lot with a little has an encouraging word for us.

In verses five through seven, Jesus probes Phillip's faith by asking him where they can buy bread to feed everyone. Phillip immediately starts doing the math and delivers his discouraging assessment that it would take six or more months' wages to give everyone even a little. There are at least a couple of things to notice here. One - Jesus already knows the plans He has for them, and two - He is not yet revealing them in order to probe and reveal the state of Phillip's faith. Whatever situation we face, God already knows His plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), though He may very well wait until we reach our current faith limits to reveal it. Often times, we would like to have the resources we need to serve others nailed down and stored up on the front end, because frankly that does not require us to keep exercising faith, but God is always working to grow our faith in His faithfulness (1 Peter 1:6-7) and times His provision accordingly.

Next, Jesus vividly demonstrates both His mastery over the physical creation and the reality that we do not need to simply look at our available resources and divide them by the need in front of us to determine how much ministry is possible. With God all things are possible, and He is more than able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21)! Five barley loaves and two fish is not much in a young boy's hands, but in Jesus' hands it is more than enough to feed thousands and leave a dozen baskets of leftovers. This is not a miracle of transformation, such as water to wine. It is simply a miracle of multiplication - of doing a lot with a little. It is whose hands the little is in that makes all the difference. Our limited time, talents and treasures often look very insufficient to meet the needs at hand, but in God's hands our little becomes a lot. The key is handing over all we have and all we are to Jesus and letting Him do with us whatever He pleases. Whenever we face a situation that tempts us to feel too insignificant to make a difference, let's remember that God can do a lot with our little!

Bread of Life

JOHN 6:26-58

On the eve of Memorial Day when we honor those who have given their lives for this one nation under God, let’s look beyond political boundaries to focus on our King, God’s Son, who gave His life for the holy international nation to which we, by God’s grace, now belong. In 1 Peter 2:9, we read that we are “a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” Citizens of God’s holy nation, adopted sons and daughters of the ultimate King, that is our eternal identity and deepest allegiance, and our Savior instituted a graphic, symbolic way to memorialize the price He paid to purchase our freedom from the terrible tyranny of sin and death.

In our text, Jesus said that He is the ‘Bread of Life’ given by God to the spiritually starving people of the world. He said that everyone who feasts on Him will find true satisfaction and nourishment for their souls. So, how do we spiritually ingest the Bread of Life and have Him become an integral part of us? Or, as the original audience asked it when Jesus told them to stop working for perishable bread, “How do we do the work of God?” Jesus’ answer is the ‘work’ of God is to believe in, and thus receive the benefits of, the finished work of Christ. Jesus, the Bread of Life that we die without, is the priceless free gift of God that we could never earn and cannot possibly repay. All we can do from our position as spiritually bankrupt beggars with “no life in ourselves” is hold out our empty hands and ask to receive Him. Thankfully, God is glad to give Him to everyone who turns from trying to work their way into His favor in order to get favors from Him to instead trust in Jesus’ finished work in order to find saving satisfaction in God Himself.

Lest our relentless pride find a way to convince us that we deserve some credit for receiving God’s gift of God, Jesus then explains that even our coming to and believing in Him is a work of God that can not rightly be credited to our account. While this God-honoring reality is humbling, it is a source of great assurance to those who feed on it by exercising their God-given faith in it. I think this is a reason Jesus emphasized it during this conversation. He described a secure gift cycle in which God the Father gives helpless sinners to His Son, who gladly receives every one of them as a precious gift from His Father. The Son, in turn, gives His life for the people His Father has given Him and gives them His word that He will raise every one them up on the last day. The security that comes from resting in the irrevocable acceptance we have in Christ and the hope that comes from treasuring our absolutely secure inheritance in God’s Promised Land gives us fresh supplies of spiritual nourishment to strengthen us as we walk with God through the wilderness of this world. We may have 40 years or 40 seconds before God takes us home, but we can trust Him to use whatever wilderness time we have to nourish our faith in His faithfulness and to grow us together toward maturity as we feast on His fresh mercy every day.