Life Lines

Gospel Clarity

2009-10-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

I had, and I have heard from many others, a lot of misconceptions about the possibility of enjoying a right standing and relationship with holy God. I hope these points will be clarifying and helpful to you, and I pray God will bless you as you honestly consider them and seek Him.

I. The Gospel (God's Good News) is NOT about being and/or doing good enough for God to accept you.

We cannot earn a right standing with God. All of our attempts to merit His favor through religious endeavors, good deeds, and high morals fall short. So, in the matter of gaining a right standing with God, it may surprise you to learn that it does not matter whether you have been religious or irreligious or even relatively moral or immoral. All of us begin at the same starting point relative to God. The Bible declares that we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23.

II. The Gospel is about God being SO good that He has done everything required to accept us just as we are.

In spite of our rebellion against God (sin) and God’s perfectly just condemnation of it, God’s love moved Him to pay the highest price ever paid (the death of His only begotten Son) to purchase our full pardon and offer us eternal life with Him as an absolutely free gift. God’s Son Jesus lived the sinless life that we have not and voluntarily paid sin’s penalty on our behalf, so that in union with Him we can enjoy God’s fellowship and favor forever. The Bible declares “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”- Romans 6:23.

III. This Gospel must be believed to be received.

God wants to give people eternal life. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid…your Father has gladly chosen to give you the kingdom”- Luke 12:32. In light of this, God has made receiving His gift uncomplicated. The most famous verse in the Bible states that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”– John 3:16. God loved and gave. We believe to receive. By ‘believe’ the Bible means more than merely thinking something is true. It means trusting in and relying on that something or someone...betting your life on them.

IV. Accepting God’s acceptance in Christ will transform your life forever.

When a person receives God’s gift of life by trusting Jesus to be their Savior and Lord, they are not just receiving something from God. They are receiving God. The Holy Spirit indwells every true believer’s heart and transforms him or her to increasingly live a life of love and faithfulness that honors and pleases God. The Christian life is not a ‘white-knuckled’ experience of trying to do good enough to repay God for this kindness. Rather, it is a Spirit-empowered life of increasing freedom from sin’s reign and ruin. The Bible states “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law”- Galatians 5:22-23.

I hope you will turn to God and trust Him enough to save you from sin, self-rule and His condemnation of both. This requires trusting Him enough to turn your life over to Him. The move from self-rule to God's rule may be frightening and difficult, but it is infinitely worth it. Life with God, under His loving rule even in the most difficult circumstances, is truly life - one filled with faith, hope and love. Life, even in the best of circumstances apart from Him, is empty no matter how we try to fill it. Please earnestly turn to God and put your faith and hope in Christ. He will forgive your sin and give you true life with Him.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Thame

God and Suffering?

2008-11-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-10-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-07-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T17:06:00.001-07:00

"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

2008-06-01T16:03:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-28T20:52:00.001-07:00

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.

Life Light

2008-05-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

JOHN 5:31-47

JOHN 8:12-30

Twice in a fairly short span of John's Gospel we find Jesus detailing and defending God-given witnesses that testify to His divine identity. Given their similarities, I thought we would consider them together.

Jesus boldly declares to the offended religious leaders of His day that He is "the Light of the World" and that whoever follows Him will "not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." That is quite a claim. We have had time to grow accustomed to thinking of Jesus as such, but imagine being in the original audience and hearing an ordinary looking man declare "I am the (not a) Light of the World." Naturally, they wanted some supporting evidence and thankfully Jesus gives them some. He tells them to look at God's witness, works, and word.

First, Jesus directs them to John the Baptizer. He tells them that, unlike them, He is not looking for the praise that comes from men, but nonetheless John had it right when he declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It is interesting to note Jesus' purpose in directing them to John. He specifically said that He was doing it "so that (they) might be saved." That is important for us to remember when we who by God's grace are being saved by trusting Christ are discussing our Savior with those who currently reject Him. We are not debating to win an argument. We are presenting and defending truth with love for our lost neighbors, even the combative ones, in the hopes that God will grant them exit from death's darkness and entrance into Life's Light.

Next, Jesus calls their attention to His miraculous works. It is one thing to say that you are God's Messiah. It is another to publicly tell people known to have been lame for more than thirty years to get up and then after they do so to claim to be the Messiah. Jesus told the weather what to do, and it obeyed Him. He told sick people to be well, and they obeyed Him. He told demons to leave people, and though they protested, they obeyed Him. He even told dead people to live, and they obeyed Him. Jesus told the unbelieving religious leaders to take a long, hard, serious look at His works, which demonstrated His divinely given authority over the spiritual and physical realms, and most of them foolishly disobeyed Him. Why? Jesus said the main hindrance was their vain glory. "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" - v. 44. How much religious performance flows from our desire for other's approval and admiration! We need to regularly seek God's humbling illumination to see our hidden motivations more clearly, and when He shows us our vanity, we need to sincerely repent to enjoy His restoration.

Finally, Jesus directs them to God's written word. They were quite familiar with God's written revelation, but they were missing the proverbial forest for the trees. To avoid doing the same, we need to be aware that the entire Bible is God's unified revelation. It is not just a collection of disjointed accounts of God's interventions. It is the unfolding story of God's redemption, and His redeemer, Jesus, is centrally featured throughout both testaments. After His resurrection, Jesus walked with two disappointed men on their way back to the town of Emmaus. In Luke's account of their walk with Christ (Luke 24:25-27), we learn that Jesus began with Moses and explained the many Scriptural references to Him. I would have loved to have heard that Bible study! There are many, many Old Testament references to Christ, but let's close by looking at just one - Isaiah 53, and let's help others see the life-saving Light of the World there too.

A Mother's Care

2008-05-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Psalm 127 reads, “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him…Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” Well, Jim Bob Duggar is a very blessed man. He and his wife, Michelle, are currently expecting their 18th child! If being a good mother is strictly based on quantity, Michelle wins. Of course, it's not just the quantity of children cared for that determines a mother's excellence. The quality of care a mother gives each of her children makes the difference. Let's look at a difficult moment in Jesus' mother Mary's life and consider a mother's care.

“Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.” – John 19:25-27

First, let's look at a mother's care for her child. As a parent, it is extremely difficult to see someone insult, exclude or bully your child. It is even more painful to witness a group of people do so. We want others to love and accept our children like we do. With this in mind, try to imagine what it was like for Mary to watch a mob publicly humiliate, torture and murder her Son. It is difficult to do. Additionally, it appears that Mary was a single mother by the time Jesus was an adult. It is speculation, but most Bible students suspect this because Joseph is completely absent from the gospel accounts of Jesus' adulthood. So again attempt to put yourself in the place of a widowed single mother watching her firstborn Son, the man of the house after the father's death, undergo such extraordinary cruelty and rejection. I am asking us to do so to help us appreciate the depth of a mother's love. A godly mother's love is so great that she knows her place is with her child no matter what it cost. "Standing by the cross of Jesus (was) His mother...." - v. 25. What an example Mary provides, and what an expression of unfailing love God shows us through loving mothers who are there for us no matter what!

As excruciating as it was for Mary to go through this with Jesus, we have no record of her working to prevent Him from faithfully carrying His cross. As parents, we rightly want to protect our sons and daughters from pain, but we cannot allow our desire to protect them prevent them from faithfully following God's sometimes painful path. That is over-protection, and it undermines growth in Christ-likeness. We are called to go through providentially ordained pain with our children when following Christ gets them teased or even tortured, but we are not to spare them or ourselves the discomfort of faithfulness by encouraging them to just quietly go along with a wayward world. Not that she could have, but where would we be if Mary had talked Jesus out of going to the cross?

A mother's care for her child is not all we see in the scene recorded in our text. We also see a Son's care for His mother. Even in the middle of offering Himself up as the atoning sacrifice for humanity's sin, Jesus is not too busy to take care of His mother. I think this has implications for us, particularly in light of His call for us to "take up our cross and follow Him." Think of how His heart must have gone out to His mother as He looked out from the cross and saw her there witnessing His execution. In that moment, He made arrangements for her to live with one of His disciples, likely John who wrote this Gospel, and apparently she did so from then on. Sons and daughters, we have a divine obligation to care for our parents, who have cared so much for us. All of our parents, and all of us as parents, have fallen short in some ways, but no matter what, we are called upon to rise to the occasion and take good care of our mothers and fathers. In our culture, we often think of that as involving assisted living centers and such, but it does not have to. I was privileged to see my mother take great care of her mother by moving her into her home after my grandfather died. Caring for her mother required significant sacrifice on my mother's part. We can not all do exactly what she did, but we can do everything in our God-given power to care for our aging parents, no matter the sacrifices it requires of us. Here again, we are not called upon to avoid discomfort, but to grow in Christ-likeness by denying our selves for our mothers' care.

100 years ago Anna Jarvis, who did not marry and had no children of her own, honored her mother, who had died three years before, by championing the first official Mother's Day at a church where her mother taught Sunday School. They celebrated simply by giving each mother a single white carnation to symbolize the pure, unfailing love of mothers. I pray today our appreciation for our mother's care will grow and show. Thank you Father for our mothers - In Jesus' name.

Healing Faith

2008-04-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

If you had to choose one or the other - would you rather have excellent physical health or extremely healthy faith in God? Many people see God as a means to the end of good physical or emotional health. For them, good health is the goal, and God is the way to get there. There is some truth in their position. God, in fact, guarantees everyone who is in life-saving spiritual union with Jesus Christ perfect wholeness in paradise forever. However, temporal good health is not the end. Reconciliation with God is the end, and God uses health, good and bad, to win people to it.

John 4:46-54

In the second miracle John records in his Gospel, we see Jesus winning a household to saving faith in Himself as God’s Messiah by mercifully restoring a man’s critically ill son to full health. This is not so much an account of ‘faith healing’ as it is an account of healing faith. Healthy faith is unconditional, active trust in God expressed through faithful actions. Our actions reveal what we actually believe. For example, if you tell me that you are going to pretend to hit me, and I tell you I have absolute faith that you will not actually hit me. Then I flinch, duck and cover when you swing. My actions indicate that my faith is not so absolute after all. I may doubt your motives or your eye-hand coordination, but I doubt something. Likewise, we can say that we have faith in God, but our actions sometimes demonstrate that we do not. In those moments, we may doubt that God is good all the time or that He is almighty, but we doubt something. Healthy faith acts according to the reality that God is always willing and always able to do the ultimate best for His glory and our good.

So, how did God use physical health to bring spiritual health to the household in our text? Well, what motivated the official to run to Jesus in the first place? It was not his desperation for reconciliation with God. He was driven to Jesus by the painful reality that his son was in the middle of a medical emergency. God can and does use such emergencies to turn us to Him, and I am glad He does! Many of you know my dad’s story. I would not wish the physical suffering he endured during his final years on anyone. It was a brutal combination of amputations and complications that eventually brought my dad to his breaking point. My dad was an extremely independent, self-reliant man, who was hardened to the gospel. That is until God met him at his lowest point and providentially used 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 to win my dad to Himself. I do not wish illness on anyone, but if that is what it takes to get a person to turn to God, I prefer them to find eternal wholeness through difficult means than to temporarily enjoy good health on their way to eternal destruction.

Jesus’ first sign was a miracle of transformation, water into wine. This was a miracle of restoration, illness to health. God promises everyone who turns to Him to save them from sin’s penalty, power, and presence both transformation and restoration. He transforms everyone who turns to Him into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and He promises to restore everything we lost in the Fall, including paradise and the eternally healthy bodies perfectly fitted for it (Revelation 21). You and I have a certain date with death unless Jesus returns first. No matter how we try to preserve it, our health is going to fail. A right relationship with God, not health, is the end. Jesus is the Way. Healthy faith in Him will never fail you.

Satisfaction II: Work for Food

2008-04-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Last week we looked at quenching our spiritual thirst for God through worshipping Him in spirit and truth. This week, let’s look at satisfying our hungry hearts with the spiritual nourishment that comes through accomplishing God’s work: JOHN 4:27-42

Have ever noticed that for us to enjoy something completely we need to share the enjoyment with someone else? We see a magnificent sunset by ourselves and think, “I wish_____ was here - they would really enjoy this.” We go to a great game or event but a friend or loved one can’t be there, and while it’s great, it’s just not complete without them. If the Miami Dolphins are ever great again, I’ll enjoy it, but not as much as I would if my dad, who got to play a season with them, was here to enjoy it with me. I think we are made that way. We are meant to be joy spreaders and even if we are enjoying something or someone immensely our joy is incomplete until it is shared with others. This is especially, even ultimately, true about our delight in God.

Genuinely delighting in God - feasting on His infinite excellencies - is the key to losing our appetite for sin’s dumpster scraps, but our enjoyment of God is incomplete when we see empty seats at His table and recall our starving friends still foraging for leftover bits of Big Mac in the dumpster of sin. For the worship feast to be complete we need to share the delight we have found with those who are still starving for love and settling for scraps.

That is exactly what the woman from the well immediately went to work doing. She left her waterpot behind - perhaps symbolically - and went to invite everyone she knew to meet the Way to the banquet. Notice how she used a question and an invitation to get people to investigate Jesus for themselves. She did not go to them arguing a case. She told them about her personal experience with Christ and invited them in an intriguing way to investigate Him for themselves. We would do well to follow the example of God’s ambassador to the Samaritans.

By the way, isn’t it wonderful how God heals and turns lives around?! God chose to save the believing Samaritans through the woman whose search for love once left her so alone that she went to the well at noon instead of in the cool morning or evening when women went together. In an instant, He took her from town tramp to town treasure! God knows just who needs what and He knows just how to work everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. He also delights in putting the seemingly foolish and discarded things of this world to great, God-glorifying use. Wherever you have been - whatever you have done - whatever kind of reputation you have - turn to God, the master of turning trashed lives into treasure.

Much as Jesus used the well’s water to help the Samaritan woman discover the eternal spring of living water, He used the disciples’ food to help them and us find our spiritual food. He helped them see beyond the physical realm to the spiritual situation in their midst. He told them that it was harvest time and that He had already nourished His soul when He sowed new life into the woman, who was now working for Him reaping a harvest of new worshippers for God. It may seem ironic that we get nourished by expending energy in God’s work, but we can’t out-give God, who feeds our souls as we work to bring worshippers to Him. Finally, notice Jesus said His food came not just from knowing God’s will or from starting God’s work but from completing God’s work. So as Paul, one of God’s greatest harvest workers, once wrote “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”- (Galatians 6:9) So, never give up. Give yourself to God! Give yourself to treasuring Him and to finishing His work, and He will make you a spiritually satisfied treasure to those He brings to His feast through you!

Satisfaction I: Worship for Water

2008-04-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

If life came with a label it might say "Satisfaction NOT Guaranteed." We often feel empty, unfulfilled and dissatisfied. For most of our hungers and thirsts there is some earthly solution. If I am physically hungry, there is food to satisfy me. But, to varying degrees of awareness, there is an often undefined, underlying dissatisfaction deep within every human heart that nothing on earth can fill. We sing about it. Write novels, plays and movies about it. We look here, there and everywhere for the solution to it, but no amount of substances, sex, success, or stuff can satisfy our hungry hearts. In our text, we meet a spiritually parched woman who has been desperately seeking satisfaction in the wrong wells just as she meets the physically thirsty Savior seeking sincere worship for His Father. Let's look at JOHN 4:1-26 and focus on the relationship between God's desire for worship and our need for satisfaction. The two definitely go together.

In our text, we see Jesus intentionally making His way across social barriers to a divine appointment with an important person. Of course, no one would have guessed the Samaritan woman who was making her way to Jacob's well in the noon sun was a VIP. It is very likely that she was a social outcast. It is a tragic irony that this woman's efforts to find love, acceptance, and relationship were the very actions that resulted in her social isolation. The wells we turn to in our efforts to satisfy our thirsty souls seem to work that way. We go somewhere to cope and try to fill the void, and the places we go often take matters from bad to worse. The first key to finding satisfaction for your thirsty soul is to look in the right place and that place is in a right relationship with God. You and I were created to enjoy a living relationship with God and without that relationship, we are spiritually dead inside. Romances, reruns, and religions about God all eventually run dry, but a real living relationship with the real living God never does. No wonder God pleads with us in places like Isaiah 55:1-2 to seek and find our satisfaction in Him.

We not only need to look in the right place - a real relationship with God - we also need to look in the right way. Sadly, many people who have experienced genuine reconciliation with God, by turning from sin to Him and trusting their lives to the care and control of Christ, still fail to enjoy the abundant satisfaction that is available to them. Why? I think much of the answer is found in Jesus' and the woman's discussion about worship. God's glorification and our satisfaction are mutually complimentary. John Piper has done a great job broadcasting his phrase, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." That is true. When we are so abundantly satisfied in God that the world's wells no longer hold any appeal to us, people can see that we have found something superior in God. Filthy food scraps by a dumpster don't look appetizing unless you are starving to death, and in the same way, sin's pleasures don't look nearly as appealing when you are spiritually feasting on the richest fare in the universe by delighting yourself in God. God tells us over and over again in Scripture...Rejoice! Delight! Celebrate! These are not burdensome commands. God works to wean us off of the world's dumpster scrap pleasures not to starve us of pleasure. He knows we need to enjoy beauty. He knows we need to express appreciation for excellence. He weans us off the world's pleasures so that we can enjoy the vastly superior pleasures of delighting in all that God is and in all that God does. God is infinitely splendid and His excellencies (Psalm 103) are an inexhaustible source of celebration!

To genuinely honor God and enjoy soul satisfaction, we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Both must stay together for genuine worship. Truth without spirit is just dead orthodoxy. We have the information correct, but we are unmoved by it. How honored would you feel if I knew a great deal about you but could not care less? On the other hand, spirit without truth is just ecstatic inaccuracy. In that case, we dishonor God by celebrating something He is not. Imagine meeting a famous singer-songwriter and going on and on about how much you love one of their songs only to discover another artist actually wrote and performed that song. The artist you were meeting might be amused, but they would not be honored. We must really delight in God as He really is. When we do, He will be worshipped, and we will be satisfied.

Less is More

2008-04-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been disappointed with ministry results? Have you ever believed that the Lord called you to participate in a good work that you had high hopes for and that you zealously invested your time and energy into only to have the results fall well short of your expectations? I know I have. I also know that many of you recently worked hard to prepare and distribute more than a thousand very cool Easter Egg Invitations only to see very nasty weather and very few guests show up for Sunday’s Easter service. First, thank you for your hard work and faithful service. Second, let’s look to God’s word to learn from an exceptionally faithful man of God whose ministry was actually shrinking for the advance of the gospel.

John 3:22-36

In our text, John was tempted to discouragement and self-pity. His ministry had been huge, but now it was declining. Why? Would he take the bait and buy the lie that God was upset with him? Would he think he was no longer blessed or even loved? No! He stayed secure in his relationship with God, and rejoiced to see Jesus’ ministry grow. John was not in a baptism competition or a popularity contest. He was on a mission. John’s ministry was not about John. It was always all about Jesus as all of our ministries should always be. That’s the first thing meant by the “Less is More” message title.

In terms of motivation, our ministry must be less about us and more about Christ. We need to honestly examine our ministry motivations. We need to ask God to search our hearts and reveal our underlying motives. Do we need numerical success to feel important, impressive or loved? If so, that’s got to go. God has already said He loves us as loud as it can be said when He offered up His only begotten Son to save us from sin’s penalty, power, and presence. If you know, love, trust and treasure Christ, nothing in all of creation is able to separate you from God’s love. As it says in our text, those who have the Son have the life. Of course, it also says those who don’t trust and obey Christ remain under God’s wrath. Jesus is God’s Way out of death and into Life. And we must be less and less motivated by our needs and more and more motivated other’s need for our Savior.

Churches can easily fall into a business mindset. They think of starting and growing a church much like building a business. The bigger it grows the better it is, but it might help us to think of starting and growing a ministry more like providing health care. Health care comes to us through everything from huge regional medical centers to small local offices. I think what matters most to most people is not the quantity of people served but the quality of care provided. Similarly, I think the quality of the spiritual care we provide for people may be a better measure of ministry effectiveness than exclusive focus on the quantity of people in attendance. So, let's focus a bit less on quantity and more on quality.

Finally, in terms of the means we use to minister, we need to be less self-reliant and more God-reliant. As John said a person can receive nothing except what is given from above. Consider the effectiveness of Jesus' ministry and the following comments Jesus made about His ministry:

"The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself" - John 5:19.

"My teaching is not My own" - John 7:16.

"The word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's" - John 14:24.

If Jesus said He could do nothing without His Father, how much can we do without Him? The answer of course is nothing...at least nothing of any actual spiritual value. We need to be less and less reliant on our programs and processes and more and more reliant on prayer. Prayer is God's ordained means of effective ministry. I wonder how much ministry empowerment and wisdom we miss simply because we do not ask. As James once said, "We have not because we ask not." John and Jesus humbly relied on God and expressed their reliance through frequent fervent prayer. We need to be less impressed with our programs and more impressed with God, and we need to express that by relying less on ourselves and more - much more - on prayer.

Life in His Name

2008-03-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." 3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb...(Peter) entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there….9they did not yet understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10So the disciples went away again to their own homes. 11But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 16Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (Teacher)….18Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," 19So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."20And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord…24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came….He said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 27Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." 30Many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these have been written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. - John 20

Faith matters. Faith is not just believing something, though it involves it. Faith is entrusting yourself, or at least some aspect of yourself, to the care of something or someone else. Life regularly requires such faith of each us. For example, anyone who invests with a financial institution must entrust at least some of their financial health to that institution's care. Hopefully, none of us banked on Bear Stearns, whose value recently went from $170 to $2 a share. If we had, our misplaced faith would have cost us. Faith is certainly required whenever we go in for an operation. Once we are under the anesthesia, our lives are literally in our surgical team's hands. That is faith - believing in and banking on, and I truly believe your eternal destiny depends on whether or not you trust your life to the care and control of Jesus Christ. I know believing in and banking on the historical reality of Jesus’ bodily resurrection can be challenging, and I pray God will use this message to help overcome obstacles between you and saving faith in the resurrection.

I see three categories of obstacles to saving faith in our text. First, I see Mary struggling with naturalistic faith assumptions. She saw the evidence, immediately jumped to a plausible conclusion, and in her mind that’s the way it was - grave robbers stole the body. The problem was her reality was not really reality and that is the case with all who preemptively rule out the resurrection, simply because they are closed to even considering the possibility of a supernatural event. So many people fall for a false dichotomy between faith (supernatural/resurrection) and reason (natural/robbers). One of the most relentless purveyors of this myth is the biologist Richard Dawkins, who wrote the bestseller The God Delusion, but like all of us, Dr. Dawkins is a man of faith. Consider his quote from a recent NY Times interview: “I cannot know for certain, but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life according to that assumption.” That is faith. So, how do we overcome our naturalistic assumptions? First, we must realize that they are faith-based. Beneath every doubt is a belief. Disbelief in ‘this’ is actually belief in ‘that’, and it helps to realize we are comparing two faiths rather than faith vs. reason. Next, we must be open to the reasonable possibility that if God can create all life from nothing at all, this God can also create life from death. Then we must consider the evidence for Jesus' resurrection honestly in light of that possibility.

The next obstacle to saving faith that I see in our text comes from Peter and the beloved disciple, who had a lack of Scriptural awareness. They did not realize they were witnessing exactly what the Bible promised. The Bible is like no other sacred book, which are usually the product of a single ‘enlightened’ author. The Bible is 66 books written by at least 40 human authors from various cultures and walks of life over a period of 1500 years. It was written about the most profound and often divisive issues of life and yet there is thematic harmony and factual consistency throughout. In fact, it is literally the unfolding of a single, non-contradictory story, and I do not believe that just happens. Still, even during Biblical times, Jesus fulfilled numerous, highly detailed Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah right in front of people, and they missed it. How? He once said to those who did not believe in the resurrection, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). I think that still applies. Knowing God and the Scriptures goes together. The more you know the Scriptures - the more you will be awed by God’s power and the more you will be able to trust in and rely on His resurrected Christ.

The final obstacle to faith in our text is evidenced by the most famous skeptic of all, Thomas, who lacked tangible personal experience. His close personal friends’ experience was not enough for Thomas, and I get that. One of the things I love about Jesus is His willingness to do whatever it takes to overcome our sincere obstacles to saving faith. The One who let Thomas reach his hand into His side will do what it takes to reach you, if you truly want Him enough to sincerely seek Him. Everyone who sincerely seeks Him, like Mary (the first person to see Jesus after His resurrection), finds Him. Mary was seeking Jesus before dawn, and she stayed after everyone else went home. She sought Him with tears, and when He finally called her by name, her tears turned to joy. Yours will too. More than 500 people saw Jesus alive after His death. His first followers went from cowering in fear to boldly giving their lives to proclaim His resurrection. These things and so many more are written that you may believe in Jesus, the living Son of God, and through believing in and banking on Him, may have life in His name.

Hosanna!

2008-03-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD, even the King of Israel." 14Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15"Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”16These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. 18For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him." - John 12:12-19

Imagine the scene: Thousands and thousands of people are making their way into Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration. Most of them are bringing lambs to be sacrificed. A famous historian from that era, Josephus, reports a census that recorded 256,500 lambs slain during a single Passover! It is tough to imagine such a scene, but it was an annual trek for faithful Israelites, who were following God’s directions from centuries earlier. God instituted the Passover when He used Moses and miraculous plagues to free His people from slavery in Egypt. At that time, He told each family to sacrifice their best lamb, eat it, place some of it’s blood over their doors and be ready to leave Egypt. That night deadly judgment fell on every house that was not covered by the lamb’s blood, and in an instant, God’s people were set free to follow and worship God.

So, back to our scene in roughly A.D. 30, Jesus is making His way into Jerusalem to offer Himself up as the Passover Lamb of God (John 1:29). On the way, a crowd of people who have heard that Jesus miraculously brought a dead man named Lazarus back to life is waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna!” - meaning “Save!” or “Save now!” That sounds promising until we realize that many of the same people were shouting “Crucify Him!” by the end of the week. What happened? In part, I think many of them were looking for a different kind of salvation. They wanted salvation from Roman occupation. They wanted an earthly “King of the Jews,” and once it became clear that was not Jesus’ agenda, they rejected Him. The same thing happens today. So many people come to Christ looking for salvation from something different, and actually less, than what Jesus has come to save us from. Jesus has come to save us from God’s condemnation. He has come to set us free from sin’s penalty (death), and it’s enslaving power over us. Just as the Israelites were hopelessly trapped in Egypt and utterly powerless to free themselves, all people - including each and everyone of us - are hopelessly trapped in sin until God miraculously saves those covered by the blood of His spotless Lamb, Jesus.

It is tragic when people come to Christ for financial salvation or marital salvation or some other salvation and use that as their basis for accepting or rejecting Him. A right relationship with God can and often does help with all of those matters. People following God’s lead become better stewards of their resources and experience improved financial health, for example. But - God invites us to receive peace with Him on His terms - not ours! He sets the agenda. In Luke’s account of this event, he records that Jesus wept over Jerusalem and lamented that they were not receiving God’s terms of peace. Here He was - the Prince of Peace - the King of kings - riding in on a colt (a custom for kings coming in peace vs. coming on war horses), and they were missing their God-given opportunity to escape spiritual bondage and ultimate condemnation. It was then, and it is now, a heart-breaking tragedy.

So, how does a person accept God’s terms of peace? Well, first we must understand them. God has graciously revealed in the Bible that He is the Creator, Sustainer, and rightful Ruler of everything that exist. He has also revealed that He created us to love us forever and to enjoy life under His benevolent rule and care. He calls all people to respond to His perfect love by loving Him and all other people all the time. What a world this would be if we did! Of course, we have all fallen extremely short of that mark. Most people have utterly ignored God and His right to rule their lives. Some angrily protest His rule. A few try to deny His existence, but all fail to always love Him and to love our neighbors the way we love ourselves. This is sin, and it destroys our peace with God, each other and creation. Thankfully, God is destroying sin and restoring His creation, and He is doing so in a way that frees even the guiltiest sinners who accept His terms of reconciliation.

Here they are: Each of us must recognize our guilt and need for a Savior. God repeatedly reveals in the Bible that we all are not only guilty of sin - we are all helplessly trapped in sin. So, first we admit our guilt and need. Next, we turn from sin and self-righteous attempts to earn God’s favor, and we turn instead to God to ask Him to forgive our sin against Him and to free us to live new lives for Him. So, second we beg for saving grace. Finally, we trust in and rely on the reality that God loved the world, including each of us, so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone, including you, who believes in Him and receives Him to be their Savior and King will not perish but will instead have everlasting life in His name! So, understanding the term and the salvation Jesus (the sinless Son of God who bore sin’s penalty in our place) is offering, I pray you turn to Him now and cry, “Hosanna!”

Live the Life

2008-03-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

Picture a cross being plunged into still water and sending out concentric waves. Consider everything inside the waves to be inside the Body of Christ and everything outside the expanding context of the waves to be outside the Body of Christ. Within the context of the outermost wave, the leading edge between the Body of Christ and the spiritually lost world, there are multiple other waves - each creating a smaller context within the other.

The point of the picture is this: I believe that God works in and through the church to create contexts that help people move forward in their relationship with God. It is God's work, but we are active participants in that work. We work by His empowerment under His direction to fulfill our role in creating these concentric contexts of spiritual growth.

With this in mind, SoundLife desires to be a growing God-centered church where:

Love Leads (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Truth Frees (John 8:31-32)
Hope Heals (Romans 15:13)
Faith Works (James 2:14 & 26)

Love is the proper leading edge between the church and the world. Everything that happens in the Body of Christ is meant to happen within the context of love. Consider truth. Truth frees within the context of love, but outside the context of love, truth can be devastating. If I know you love me and have my best interest at heart you can share difficult truth about me with me, and I will listen and prayerfully experience increasing freedom in that area. The same truth used against me outside the context of love will likely raise my defenses and drive me away. Tragically, too many churches lead with truth rather than love, and it drives people away from their only true hope. Speaking of which, briefly consider hope in it's proper context - truth. Just as truth belongs in love, hope belongs in truth. True hope heals, but the only hope outside the context of truth is false hope, which does not help anyone in real life. Finally, God-given faith works with joyful perseverence within the fueling context of hope, but it chokes in an atmosphere of hopelessness.

So, let's look at the commitments we need to make to fulfill our roles in creating these contexts of faith, hope, truth, and love. In order to "Live the Life" (that is the God-centered life that we believe God calls us to live), we commit to....

SHOW THE LOVE by reaching out to, welcoming and serving people from all backgrounds and stages of life.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."- John 13:34-35

SHARE THE TRUTH about God, His word, and ourselves with humility, kindness, and courage.

“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.”– Ephesians 4:15

BUILD THE BODY by actively giving our time and treasure to church and community group ministries.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope…He gave…the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” – Ephesians 4:4, 11 & 16

SEND THE SERVANTS by going and helping others go to serve our neighbors and the nations for the advance of the Gospel.

“‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him they have not believed? How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?”- Romans 10:13-15

If we will truly worship God and consistently show the love, share the truth, build the body, and send the servants, then I believe we will truly live God-centered lives together and fulfill the great mission God has given us. So, let's 'Live the Life' and watch in awe as God grows us into the God-exalting, life-transforming church that He is calling us to be!

Losing My Religion

2008-02-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" 10Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." - John 3:1-21

The title of this message may bring the REM song by the same title to mind. Have you ever read those lyrics? Here’s a couple/few lines:

"That's me in the corner - that's me in the spotlight-losing my religion …Every whisper of every waking hour I'm choosing my confessions …like a hurt lost and blinded fool/Oh no I've said too much I set it up"

I don’t think I know all that the song is about, but I think I hear someone who simultaneously feels cornered and exposed and who is struggling with what to reveal and what to conceal. I read an interview with Michael Stipe, who wrote the lyrics, and he said it was based on a southern expression that loosely equates to reaching your wits end. I am from the south and have never heard the expression. So, I dug deeper and discovered it can mean coming up against something or someone that so profoundly challenges your core convictions and view of the world that it changes them. You “lose your religion” and are unable to look at life and the world the same way again.

I think that is what happened to Nicodemus when he met Jesus. He came out under the cover of darkness and met the Light of the world, and I don’t think he was ever able to return to life as he had known it before. It is no wonder he came out at night - the original Nick at Night. After all he had a lot to lose. He was not only an elite of the religious establishment. He was also a politically powerful ruler - a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal of the Jews, and he was a respected scholar and teacher in Israel. Losing his religion would cost, but keeping it was costing more. For all of his religious knowledge, prestige and power, he did not have an intimate, real relationship with God. He had a photocopy of a dollar bill rather than the real deal and maybe you do too.

So many professing Christians have a religion about Christ rather than a relationship with Him. Like Nicodemus, you know the Scriptures and the rituals and how to get things done in church, but you don’t know Christ. I know about Barak Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. I don’t know any of them personally, and they don’t know me, which is not a big deal. Coming face to face with Christ one day and being surprised to hear from Him then the words “I never knew you” is the biggest deal anyone will ever face. The good news is that we can know Him personally now. That is why He came - not to condemn the world, but to bear the world's condemnation so that "the world might be saved through Him."

So, how? How do you trade in your old religion for a new relationship? As Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again (or from above).” Acknowledging we have to start life over sounds good to those of us who know we made a mess of our lives, but it is more difficult for those who, like Nicodemus, have done relatively well. Relatively hard or easy, it is absolutely essential. Flesh (our natural, fallen, sinful nature) only gives birth to flesh, and no matter how we dress it up with religious garments and such, it will always remain spiritually-dead flesh. You, me and everyone else must be supernaturally born from above to enjoy a reconciled relationship with God. Like our natural birth, we do not cause or control our spiritual birth. God, the Holy Spirit whom we do not cause or control anymore than we cause or control the wind, moves as He wills to give us a new life under His control - a life in which He will move us in often unexpected ways. Our place under the control of God’s Spirit, His Divine Wind, is something like that of a sail boat moved by natural winds. We simply raise our sails into position to be moved by exercising God-given faith in Christ.

Natural religions, even ones that use Jesus’ name, involve some means of working your way into God’s favor. To receive the relationship God is inviting us to enjoy, we simply need to look to Jesus Christ, who has finished all the work required for us to be reconciled to God, and put our faith in (trust in/reliance on) Him - the One God lifted up. Part of you may feel like “that’s too easy” or like asking “where is the honor in that?” The answer is that all the honor and glory for accomplishing our salvation are with God where they belong. Jesus has lived the God-pleasing sinless life that we have not, and He has absorbed God's punishment for our transgressions. The work is finished. The invitation is open. The question is will you trade in your religion, which will strand you in the darkness of self-righteousness and self-condemnation, for a new life-saving, soul-freeing, real relationship with God that will move you His way all the way home to paradise?

Cleaning House

2008-02-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." 17His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your House will consume Me.”18The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" 19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"21But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. - John 2:13-25

Imagine your walk into church this morning was a little different. Imagine the first person you met this morning, the greeter, politely handed you bulletin and said, “That will be one dollar please.” The polite greeter then directed you to an offering exchange table where you exchanged your currency for official SoundLife offering chips. Let’s say the exchange rate was about 2 to 1, so your $200 in cash became one hundred dollars worth of chips with a church logo. Next you discovered we were observing communion today as you paid $5 for a Chicklet sized piece of unleavened bread and another $5 for a thimble full of official fruit of the vine. Would you have felt blessed and ready to worship or something else? I suspect something else, and you would be in good company. When Jesus, who was the true Passover ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ and the true Temple of God (His body was God’s dwelling) arrived at the representative temple during the Passover and found profiteers making a buck off God’s name rather than the prayers of worshippers honoring God’s name, the tables were bound to turn. Jesus knew well the inspired writings of Isaiah that expressed God’s intent for His temple, and He was passionate about the purity of worship. “Foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship Him….these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer….For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" - Isaiah 56:6-7.

That was not happening and Jesus was good and angry. He was not out of control in a sinful rage. He was passionately purifying God’s house from the polluted practices that were defiling it and dishonoring God. He continues to do the same today. God graciously reveals to us in His inspired written word that we, the body of Christ, are now the temple of God, and the Spirit of Christ, who indwells every true believer, zealously works within us to clean out the clutter and greed that defile us and choke out the living word implanted in us.

Jesus said “stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” Let’s look at that, because I fear Jesus would overturn the tables in a number of our churches if He walked into them this morning. Here’s the deal. Christians in America, the world’s largest free market economy, rather than buying into dreams of greed need to convincingly communicate that some things are just too precious to sell. Some things are necessarily ruined when you sell them. Hillary Clinton was rightfully upset a couple of weeks ago when David Shuster from MSNBC accused her of “pimping out” her daughter Chelsea. I know he was just trying to use street vernacular and sound hip or whatever, but he struck a nerve and rightly so. A mother selling her daughter, pimping her out, is unthinkable to any mother with any decency, because children are too precious to sell. Likewise, love is a gift to be given. It gets ruined when it is sold. We arrest people for selling or purchasing ‘love’, because we intuitively know selling love ruins love. It takes something beautiful and makes it ugly.

As beautiful and precious as children are and love is, God is even more beautiful and more precious, and He and His bride, the church, are not meant to be for sale. We should think of selling God’s Gospel and of making a buck off God’s name, as if it were just another brand name, with the same disgust that we think of selling ‘love’ or selling children. It is no coincidence that God refers to the apostate church of the end times as a harlot. God’s church is the ultimate, supernaturally-instituted charity offering the ultimate Gift, God, to the needy, namely everyone - absolutely free of charge. It needs to be clear to all that the church is not just another business with something to sell. Toward that end, we need to carefully avoid using manipulative marketing techniques in the name of relevance. Such practices alert people to protect themselves against attempts to take from them. We should only use straightforward ways to assure people we are a true charity with something wonderful to give.

So, if we do not sell anything, how are we to be financed and continue ministering? God’s answer is pure and simple - giving. Churches are set-up to be exclusively funded through the generosity of cheerful givers, who freely give without being manipulated or coerced in any way. Let’s turn the tables in a society obsessed with siezing every opporunity to capitalize and honor God by operating under the banner of true love “Not for Sale.”

Wedding Wine

2008-02-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

"1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4And Jesus said to her," Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."5His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." 6Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. 7Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim. 8And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him. 9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." 11This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him." - John 2:1-11

I recently read that when the Roman Emperor Claudius could not recruit enough soldiers for his campaigns he blamed it on men not wanting to leave lovers and families. So, he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine was a priest who secretly married couples. When he was caught and jailed, many visited and showered him with notes and flowers. One such visitor was the prison guard’s daughter. Before being hauled off to be executed, the priest left her a note of thanks and signed it ‘Your Valentine’. The day of his martyrdom is celebrated as Valentine’s Day. I am not sure of the historical accuracy of that account, but it sounded good.

An account I am much more sure of - certain of in fact - is the record of Jesus’ first miracle, which fittingly in light of Valentines, took place at a wedding. Most weddings are occasions for joy, and as we look to learn from this wedding account, let’s focus on keys to life-transforming joy. Christ gave His life in part to give us His joy! Joy is a fruit of God’s Spirit, and far too often too many of us who call Christ Lord lack it. A quick note - in Scripture wine is often associated with joy. In Psalm 104:15 we are told that God makes “wine that gladdens the heart of man.” In Ecclesiastes 9:7 we read, “Go...drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” In Luke 7:31-34 Jesus asked, "To what can I compare this generation? They are like children calling: 'We played the flute, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of "sinners." God always commends sobriety and condemns drunkenness (in fact self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit), but with that said, I think the prayerful wise use of wine in moderation is a matter of Christian liberty. Of course, you are free to disagree. That is the beauty of liberty. Now, let's look at keys to Christian joy.

The first thing I notice in this text is that Jesus, His mother and His first followers were all invited to the wedding, which brings up a couple of different points depending upon where you are in relation to God. If you are just beginning to even consider inviting Christ into your life, you may have the misimpression that doing so will mean the end of all your fun. That is simply not true. Jesus is ‘the Life’ your life is missing. He may cost you sin’s fleeting pleasures Hebrews 11:25, but He will replace them with God’s vastly superior pleasures.“In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever”- Psalm16:11. For those of us who have been privileged to know Jesus for a while, this is a reminder to stay in a position to be invited to all of our friends’ events. Jesus was not a killjoy who was jealous of people having a good time. He was a life-filled, joyful, welcomed guest, and we should be too. I think a key to this is to avoid moralizing unconverted people. Like all of us, they need the new life transformation that only God can give. So instead, show them God’s love and then in God’s time introduce them to Jesus, who is the Way to and the Life of the ultimate wedding feast.

If you are a Christ-follower who is finding joy elusive, Jesus’ mother Mary has great advice for all of us. “Whatever He says to you, do it.” This is a primary key to enjoying the abundant joyful life available to every one of Christ’s servants. Knowing this is not the key. Doing it is! Knowing I should eat right and exercise doesn’t make me healthy. Eating right and exercising does! Notice also that part of this key is doing “whatever He says.” Partial obedience, only doing whatever He says that aligns with what we were going to do anyway, holds no promise of joy. Doing whatever He says, even if it sounds as ridiculous as carrying some of the roughly 150 gallons of water you poured into water-pots to a headwaiter to taste, releases God’s overflowing joy into and through you.

Speaking of overflowing, consider the quantity and quality of the transformed interior contents of these symbolic jars of clay that were once just put to ceremonial use. The quantity is lavish - Six twenty to thirty gallon jars filled to the brim! This paints a great picture of the contrast between the ‘wine running out’/'diminishing return' empty life without Christ and the abundantly full life with Him. Next, notice the quality is the best. After Jesus transforms the contents of these vessels and it is presented to the headwaiter, he judges the transformed brand new wine to be excellent. So it is with everyone whom Jesus transforms. We are taken to God, who declares us “good” - something He certainly would not have done in our unconverted washing water state.

The final key to joy is faith in Christ. It was not His time to 'go public’, but it was time to grow His followers’ faith. So, He allowed them and the servants involved to witness His first miracle. God reveals the right amount to the right people at the right time for His purposes. You may not know the duration of or God's purposes for your current circumstances, but you can know unquenchable artesian joy in any set of circumstances. They key is always trusting Christ, not circumstances, for joy. Thankfully, God wisely uses changing circumstances to teach us to trust the unchanging Christ for our joy in all circumstances. Getting weened off of circumstantial joy and onto Christ-dependent joy can be difficult, but it is a step of faith that is well-worth taking.

Friends and Neighbors

2008-02-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). 43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50Jesus answered, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." - John 1:35-51

How can we help our friends and neighbors come to know and love Jesus? Three keys that help us help others - preparation, investigation, and invitation - are revealed in this account of Jesus gathering His first followers. Let’s go through this text together and consider each key plus some side notes as we come to them.

The first thing we see is John intentionally losing two disciples to Jesus. Here is an important side note for us. We need to be Christ-centered not church-centered. What if John had been ministry-centered instead of Christ-centered? Would he have been free to gladly lose two of his best to Jesus? I think not, and we might have been without a Gospel of John, because John was likely one of the two disciples who left to follow Jesus. Churches are to be co-laborers for our Savior not competitors saving our ministries.

Next we see Jesus’ first words in John and get our first look at the interlocking keys of investigation and invitation. Notice how Jesus engages them with a question and then uses their response to extend an invitation. “What do you seek?” opens His investigation. They answer to know where He is staying, which brings Jesus to His invitation, “Come and see.” Notice that their answer to Jesus’ question did not express the depth of their desire. They were not just after His travel plans. They wanted to travel with Him. Jesus was investigating to draw out their desire to be with Him in order to satisfy that desire with an invitation to do so. We would do well to ask people, “What are you seeking?” They probably will not say, “a Savior to rescue me or reconciliation with God,” but they may say, “purpose or peace or joy, etc.” Of course, we know those to be some of the fruits of a relationship with Christ. They will not ask for the root (Christ). They will ask for the fruit (meaning, love, peace), and when they do, we can invite them to “come and see” just how fruitful a life-saving relationship with Jesus Christ can be.

Next we read they stayed with Jesus for a day, which brings up the key of preparation. There is no substitute for investing in time with Christ. Time with Christ grows confidence in Christ. It was after they had spent time alone with Jesus that they went out declaring Him to be the long-awaited Messiah. What hinders your time alone with Christ? TV? Computer? Busyness? We habitually fill time with the same noise as those without a relationship with God! Why? We do not have a void to drown out, and it is definitely harder to hear God’s “still small voice” with our music so loud our ears are ringing. We need to fast from the noise that keeps us from enjoying soul-refreshing, heart-preparing, time alone with God.

After spending time alone, start close to home. Andrew first went to his brother. When he brought Simon to Jesus, Jesus forecasted encouraging change when He told the impetuous Simon, “You shall be called Peter (a rock).” It helps to keep our focus on what people can become in union with Christ (Peter the rock) rather than on who they are outside of Christ (Simon the impetuous).

Finally, let’s notice how this works when dealing with skepticism. Philip announced to his friend Nathanael that they had found the Christ. Nathanael -“a true Israelite”- had a hang-up with Jesus being from Nazareth. Instead of arguing, Philip says, “come and see.” People like to be invited. They don’t like to be corrected. So, don’t fight - invite! When your investigation uncovers hang-ups (those who never hear, bad things to good people, etc.), don’t stall in endless debate. Agree to deal honestly with honest questions, but invite them to investigate further. Invite them to “come and see.”

Point Person

2008-01-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Would you like to be more effective in pointing other people to Christ? If we will learn from John the Baptist’s example and humbly apply the principles we see in him, God can and I believe will put us to greater use winning people to faith in Jesus Christ. With that in mind, let's look at John and his response to investigators sent to him by some religious leaders, who were curious about the attention he was getting.

6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" 19This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ." 21They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said." 24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27"It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' 31I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." 32John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33"I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' 34"I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."

God was drawing so many people to listen to John’s message that people were beginning to think he might be the long awaited Messiah. Even after Jesus’ ministry, there were still people who had to be moved from belief in John to belief in Jesus (Acts 19:1-5). I think that is at least part of what John, the human author of this Gospel, is doing here. He is reminding people that John the Baptizer himself said he was not the point of all the attention he received. His point was to point people to Christ. He was there to prepare the way for the Way and then get out of the way.

Let’s look at a few of the things that made John so effective. First, He was truly God-sent. "There came a man sent by God." John was keenly aware that God had called him and sent him out on mission. That same awareness is essential for anyone who wants to point people to Christ. As God’s ambassadors, we will feel the resistance of a gone-astray world, and we will feel tempted to compromise the Gospel that Jesus is the Way. He is not a way that is fine for me and maybe you will find some other way that will be your way one day. Jesus is God’s perfect Way to God and all other ways are deadly dead ends. Knowing that God has called us to Himself and sent us out in His service and that He is watching over us today and that we will answer to Him for our faithfulness on the Day helps keep us from compromise in the face of opposition and temptation. Awareness of God’s call is the first key to being an effective point person.

The next thing I notice about John is his awareness of God’s purposes. Look at his commitment to the role God had for him to play and how he found his identity in pursing God’s purposes - “He came as a witness…so all might believe through him...he came to testify...this is the Son of God.” His role (and ours) is that of a witness - not a prosecuting attorney and certainly not a judge. He is a witness on the world’s stage, and he does what witnesses do - He testifies. He literally tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help him God. I know its corny, but its accurate. Moving on - notice his testimony is out of personal experience. “I myself have seen and have testified.” You don’t need a theology degree to direct someone to Christ. You do need real life experience with Him and to be ready to share your story about His impact in your life.

Finally, let’s notice John’s awareness of God’s glory. John does not have a self-esteem problem and he is not feigning humility when he says that Jesus is One “the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” True intimacy with God produces true humility in the one experiencing it. Bob Dole once said something like “Bob Dole grew up in Kansas and felt his smallness standing before the big wheat fields.” I am sure he said it better than that, but you may recall the speech to which I am referring. My point is this - if standing before an open field makes one aware of the relative measure of a man, how much more does standing before a holy God. In fact, you simply cannot stand before Him. All you can do in the gravity and brightness of His glory is bow low. When we truly feel God’s worth, we feel our relative unworthiness and in humbled gratitude we get to truly feel the genuine privilege of doing even the most menial services in His name.

So, aware of God’s call, God’s purposes, and God’s glory we boldly point everyone He brings our way off us and onto Christ - the Lamb of God, who alone can save them and who alone is truly worthy to be the center of everyone's attention.

One in the Son

2008-01-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” - John 17:20-23.

The United States honors Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the peaceful means he used to promote his dream of equality and unity each year with a holiday in his name on the third Monday of January. Since that is tomorrow, I thought today would be a good time to focus on Dr. King’s King, the ultimate peacemaker Jesus Christ, and His prayer for unity among believers. It is a blessing to know that shortly after Jesus had shared His last meal with His first followers, He prayed for you and me - specifically for us. After washing His first followers’ feet and transforming the Passover into the Lord’s Supper and just prior to heading to the Garden of Gethsemane on His way to the cross, He prayed for Himself, His disciples and everyone, including us, who would come to believe in Him through their word. As we examine His prayer and an excerpt from Paul to the Ephesians, let’s look at (1) what is requested, (2) what is at stake, and (3) what is required.

Jesus prays that everyone under the Son - that is everyone living under the saving protection and righteous reign of God’s Son - would live as one. First He prays that all of us would be one with God, just as He is one with His Father. Could the Father and Son have any more perfect communion? Could they be any more one? The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. They are so completely united that we rightly say there is one and only one God, and Jesus requests that we might likewise be in Him and He in each of us, so that we all might enjoy true holy communion with God. Next He prays that all of us who are privileged to have such oneness with God will also be one with each other. Three times in this brief section He prays "may they all be one...that they may be one...that they may be perfected in unity.” There is no missing His heart for our unity here, and knowing this - how the lack of unity too often found within and between churches bearing His name (but not enough of His image) must break His heart. He wants and has provided everything we need to enjoy intimate fellowship with God and one another and the stakes could not be any higher.

God’s glory and people’s salvation are on the line. Jesus repeatedly states that unity between believers is vital because the credibility of the gospel hangs on it. He repeatedly prays for unity so that “the world may believe that You sent Me...that the world may know You sent Me and loved them.” It is no surprise the gospel of peace and reconciliation loses credibility when it comes through divided people. If the Great Physician can’t do any more healing than that for His bride why would any one else go to Him? The world has division and brokenness. What it lacks and longs for is unity and wholeness. Jesus prays we will become convincing evidence for God to present to the world to validate His claim to be the Savior of the World. This is a big reason Satan constantly sows discord between believers and attempts to keep our focus on superficial matters. The common bond we share is a spiritual reality at the core of our being, and we must dwell at that depth rather than the level of personal tastes and petty differences to enjoy the unity available to us in Christ. Jesus maintained His oneness with His Father through perfect humble submission, and His oneness was so complete that He could say that anyone who looked at Him could see the Father. Would that His church - His body, His bride - was so fully submitted to Him on this point that the world could truly see Christ revealed through us.

To more clearly see what this requires, let’s look at Ephesians 4:1-3:

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

To help us have more than a 5-cent response to a priceless salvation, Paul calls us to diligently preserve our God-given unity. The unity is supernatural. Uniformity, which is usually what humans create, is superficial. See military haircuts and uniforms for an example. God's unity does not require such external conformity. God weaves together everyone from tattoo artists with pin cushion faces to yuppies with sweaters around their waists into one body of Christ. Preserving this unity requires the development of Christ’s character in us, which once developed makes Him all the more visible through us. For unity to be maintained we must grow in Christ’s humility (full of God’s Spirit instead of ourselves), in patience aka long-suffering (since there is no such thing as microwave maturity), in tolerance (this virtue’s reputation has been damaged by those using it to condone sin -we can reclaim it by properly employing it), in grace (take off our fault-finding glasses and put on fruit-finding ones) and above all in love. If we will do these things, prayerfully relying on God’s Spirit to empower us, the world will see that Jesus is the Way to God and the wholeness they lack. What a great answer to Jesus’ prayer that will be, and what a dream come true for Dr. King.

In the Flesh

2008-01-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

“The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.” – John 1:9-18

Last week a telescopic view of the universe helped us appreciate the grandeur of the eternal Word of God, who created and sustains it all. This week a microscopic view helps us appreciate the humility of God’s Word, who condescended to become a man. John’s Gospel may be the most helpful in grasping the theological significance of Jesus’ birth. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us!” In Jesus, Divinity and humanity exist in perfect indissoluble union. Jesus was not ‘faking it’ when He placed Himself into the limitations of human flesh. He got tired, sore, thirsty, hungry, tempted and everything else just like we do. Why? Let’s look at a few reasons.

The first and most obvious was to die. The One who is the Life could not pay the death penalty for us without first becoming one of us. The incarnation was a required step on Jesus’ journey to meet us where we all once lived spiritually, namely “dead in sin” Ephesians 2:1-5, which amazingly is exactly what He willingly became on the cross. Jesus went the distance to meet us at our horrible spiritual address, so He could take us to live with Him forever in paradise.

A second reason the eternal Son of God became a man was to express the fullness of His empathy with us. In Hebrews we read, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are” - Hebrews 4:15. I think God has always had perfect empathy with us, but now we know that He knows what it is like to feel the pull of temptation and pain of betrayal. When we experience rejection, we know we can go to One who has been there. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

A third reason the Word became flesh and dwelt among us was to give us an example. If we built a building according to a poor model, the building would be less than it could and should be. Jesus went through all sorts of situations with all sorts of people to show us how it is done - to leave His people the perfect model on which to build the new lives He has given us.

So, let’s look at how to become a child of God and thus experience these and all the blessings that come with adoption into God’s eternal family. It is right in our text. Anyone who receives Christ receives the God-given right to become a true child of God. So how do we receive Christ? This and many other texts tell us that we receive Him by believing on Him. That is...we place our faith in the reality that God loves us enough to give His only begotten Son to pay for humanity’s sin by living a sinless life as a human (fulfilling the requirements of God’s Law in our place) and then offering Himself to God on a cruel Roman cross as an atonement for sin (enduring the penalty of breaking God's Law in our place). We must also trust the reality that God raised Jesus from the dead and that He is very much alive in heaven interceding for us even now. We believe Him to receive Him, and we receive Him to become children of God.

So, how does Biblical belief come about? Are we born into Christianity? According to this text and others, the answer is “no!” We can be born into nobility or poverty, but we cannot be naturally born into God’s family. Do we emotionally work up saving faith or will it into being volitionally? Again, our text says “no!” It is “not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor the will of man.” If neither our parents nor even our selves can generate it, where does saving faith come from? The answer is from God. Most people did not recognize that Jesus was the Christ in spite of the evidence. God repeatedly reveals that only He can overcome our spiritual blindness. The Bible goes on to say that we are not only spiritually blind - we are spiritually dead. Thankfully, God awakens us from spiritual death and gives us 'eyes to see' that we might turn to Christ. Think about our physical birth. We all experienced our birth, but none of us caused it. Likewise, we all participate in our spiritual birth (we cry out to Christ like we cried during physical birth), but like our first birth, we are not the source of our new birth - God is. He unites the seed of His Word and His Spirit in our hearts creating new life as we are born again, believe in Christ and become children of God!

This new life we receive as a gift from God is much more full and abundant than anything available through God’s Law. I love how God paints humanity pictures of His Gospel using people as His brushes and history as His canvas. For example, Moses was able to lead God’s people to the Promised Land, but he was not allowed to take them in. It was Joshua, (Yeshua -‘YHWH saves’) who followed Moses after living under his leadership, who took God's people into the Promised Land. Likewise, God’s Law given through Moses can lead us to the edge of receiving God’s promises but only Jesus (Yeshua), who followed Moses and lived under God's Law, can take us in to possess the fullness of God’s promises. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."

In the Beginning

2008-01-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”– John 1:1-5.

Science can help us grow spiritually by growing our appreciation of the dimensions of the universe that God created and sustains. Until the 1920s, the Milky Way was thought to be the entire universe, but now we realize there are billions of galaxies. The universe is incredibly wonderful, so how much more wonderful must be the One upon whose purpose and power it depends! The inner-geek in me also finds it interesting that when looking at telescopic images of distant galaxies, we are actually looking back in time, since those galaxies are light years away. That is where John’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry begins, not at His birth like the others, but all the way back before any stars or galaxies or any matter at all (for that matter) existed. Jesus’ story begins before the universe began.

“In the beginning…” is an obvious allusion to the Bible’s first four words “In the beginning God” and that is John’s point. Jesus is God, but it is not that simple. From the start, the Bible interchangeably uses singular and plural pronouns to talk about God. For example, in Genesis 1:26-27 we read, “Let Us make man in Our image...God created man in His own image...male & female He created them.” In our text the reason becomes increasingly clear. There is one & only one God, but He is & has always been a perfect community of sorts - a tri-unity or Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see both the distinctness and unity of Father and Son in our text. The Word was with God (distinction) and the Word was God (union). John drives the message that Jesus is divine home by emphasizing that absolutely everything that exist was created through Jesus, the Word. John prefaced Jesus’ role in creation with the direct statement that the Word was God in case anyone might think the Word was God’s first created being through which He created the rest. No -The Word was God!

Let’s look a bit closer at the word ‘Word’ as it was understood by the original audience to which John was writing. The word he used was ‘logos’, and it was rich with meaning to Greeks and Jews alike. To the Greeks ‘logos’ meant something similar to divine or ultimate reason. Here is why. A philosopher named Heraclitus taught that we can “never step into the same river twice.” He meant that everything was completely dynamic - in a constant state of flux. When asked why then everything is not in a state of chaos, he replied that controlling the constantly changing universe was an unchanging divine mind or reason that he called ‘Logos’ - the Word. He had passed off the scene prior to John’s day but his teaching permeated the Roman Empire's Greek culture. To the Jews God’s Word was packed with meaning, since God had been communicating His written word to and through them for years. They understood God’s word to be absolutely authoritative and creative. They knew God’s word was concrete - a deed done. They knew Isaiah 55:11: “My word which leaves My mouth will not return empty without accomplishing what I desire.”

Like many, you may have thought our relationship with God seems one-sided: We pray. We sing. We obey. We worship. God is silent. That is false. Jesus, the Word, is the eternal revealer of God. God’s Word reveals God generally and indirectly through creation. Through this we can know His power. God’s Word reveals God specifically and directly through the Scriptures -1 Peter 1:10-11. Through this we can know His plans. God’s Word reveals God supremely & personally through His incarnation. Through this we can know His personality & heart. Jesus is like a window opened in time through which we can look back into eternity and know what God has always been like - Like Father...like Son. Does the Father hate sin? So does Jesus! Does Jesus love sinners? So does the Father!

We have talked about Jesus as Logos. Let’s look at Him as Life & Light. Life and light go together like death and darkness. Think about plants. I had a plant once that I gave a near death experience. It was a depressing season in my life, and I kept this hanging plant in the dark with me. After a kick start woke me up, I went to work on the plant. I removed all the withered death from it leaving only a sprig. I gave it plant food, water and light. Whichever direction I wanted to the plant to grow determined where I put the light, because life reaches for light. They go together, and in Jesus we see the perfect combination of the two. Life - the eternal, ongoing, vibrant life of God is the power source fueling the Light of the world. The powers of death and darkness are not as strong as the Life and Light which created all things, including those principalities which used their God-given freedom to corrupt themselves and the world. The principalities of darkness seek to keep truth hidden. Jesus brings Life to Light, and He has proven invincible by proving to be incorruptible. He came into a totally corrupt environment dominated by the devil, death and darkness and came out still spotless - shining bright. That's Good News! The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it!

The Gospel of John

2008-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Introduction:
The Gospel of John is the fourth book in the New Testament. Not surprisingly, this first-hand account of Jesus’ ministry written by one of His first and closest followers is one of the most beloved and revered books in all of Scripture.

It has many favorite texts, including the most widely known of all (thanks to the informal ‘sports fans with signs’ campaign) - John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John’s account also contains many beloved stories, such as Nicodemus (Nick at Night) and the woman at the well, and it chronicles numerous miracles, both miracles of transformation (water into wine) and multiplication (thousands fed with a few loaves and fish) plus many more.

Additionally, John’s Gospel is one of the most theologically profound books in the Bible. Martin Luther once wrote, “Should a tyrant succeed in destroying the Holy Scriptures and only a single copy of the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel according to John escape, Christianity would be saved.” So, this gospel is packed full of the nourishment a growing believer needs to mature spiritually, but it is also a great introduction for those who are just beginning to explore the claims of Christianity.

Some believe that Christianity is a call to blind faith. That is inaccurate. Biblical faith is sincerely placing your trust in God’s revealed truth based on an honest examination of evidence. That is why John wrote his Gospel - to provide the evidence people need to believe in Jesus Christ. As John said, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” - John 20:31.

Wherever you are in your faith journey, we pray and trust that God will bless you as we journey together through the magnificent Gospel of John!