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A Week Like No Other

Posted on 3/22/16 by On the road with Jesus.

Christ died for our sins,
He was buried,
he was raised to life -I Corinthians 15:3 & 4

This week is different than any other time in the Christian calendar. It is the only time when several specific events are directly connected to form a whole.

There are seasons in which the emphasis looks to a specific event in the God story. Advent looks ahead to the birth of Jesus. Pentecost is a season where an event is celebrated. Even Easter has a season, Lent, connected to the actual event.

But this week is different. From the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), to the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday), the crucifixion (Good Friday) and the resurrection (Easter) historical events are uniquely joined. They are all components of The Passion. The events of that week in Jesus’ life clearly are the focus of God’s action for our salvation. Notice how much of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are dedicated to telling about that week. Beyond that think about how much of the rest of the New Testament is predicated on it. I don’t mean to imply that all history is not in some way the stage for God’s work. But this is where it all comes together.

I challenge you to read it this week. Then be “mindful” of it and all that includes. Think about it, absorb it and live in response to it.

What an amazing message—“He died for me (you) and my (your) salvation.” And He lives.

Filed under: belief, Cross, Discipleship, Easter, How to start, Jesus, The Journey | Tagged: , , , , | Comments Off on A Week Like No Other

Jesus Could Not

Posted on 7/9/15 by On the road with Jesus.

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. -Mark 6:5, 6a (NIV)

“He can do anything, anything.” Those words, applied to Jesus, were the words of a song in one of the most powerful children’s musicals I remember from my years as a pastor. It is a sentiment you’ve probably heard repeated many times if you’ve been around Christians for any length of time. I would guess you’ve probably expressed it yourself or at least thought it. I know I have.

The only trouble with that is, the Bible says differently. In a text, that “stops me in my tracks,” whenever I read it, we are told, “He [Jesus] could not do any miracles there, except” heal a few sick people. “Could not” is not a phrase we connect to Jesus/God. It took a while for that to register.

My initial reaction to that text was focused on the “except” heal a few sick people. That’s not an absence of miracles. It is a powerful expression of God’s power. And it was done in spite of opposition and lack of faith. How we would rejoice to see that. Only after thinking about that for years did I begin to hear “could not.”

The implications of that are sobering to say the least. I don’t understand all it means. But for sure, in some important way, human beings who resist Jesus, who lack faith, hinder His work. Of course I believe that God is sovereign and that His ultimate plan will be fulfilled. However, it surely means some things God wants to do are limited by people just like you and me. And that probably explains why it took so long for that text to really sink in. I am responsible for preventing some of what God wants to do for me and through me. I don’t really want to hear that.

But the good news—you, I can make a difference, in the church, in the community, in the world by cooperating with and trusting Jesus.

What does God want to do where you are?

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Strangers in Town But Members of the Household

Posted on 2/20/15 by On the road with Jesus.

Now you are the people of God -I Peter 2:10b

Alfred North Whitehead once wrote: “Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness.”  That is when no one is looking, and not trying to impress anyone.

While that is true in a sense, it is certainly not the fundamental truth of the Christian experience.  Because as John Wesley said, Christianity is a social religion.  An essential and primary ingredient in the Christian experience is community.

In this letter Peter is not addressing “isolated individuals but a community. It is nothing less than the continuation of the OT “Covenant People”.  In this short passage Peter uses several terms for this community.  He calls them:

obedient children
temple
spiritual house
priesthood
race
nation
God’s own people

Even though strangers in the world, they do not loose their identity because they are members of a community. This community, which the New Testament calls the church is to provide the environment for growth and spiritual health. It is also to be the primary witness to God’s work in the world through Jesus.

Because we are strangers in a hostile world, we can only maintain our identity as Christians/survive in community.  This community gets its value and identity by belonging to God and its purpose by worshiping and witnessing to His excellencies.

Are you trying to go it alone as a follower of Jesus? If so, find a group of other followers and join them. Churches like Messiah will welcome you with open arms.

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Some Old Bones + A Breeze=An Army

Posted on 5/4/10 by On the road with Jesus.

a valley;…full of bones…. and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet–a vast army. -Ezekiel 37

“Some  Old Bones + A Breeze=An Army”

In an article about a reunion of old time aviators, the lead read: “Two veteran aviators met here yesterday for the first time in 40 years and discovered that of all the things that fly, time is the fastest.” (RD,2/89,p.114)

A human being has dreams, hopes, aspirations.  It is the soul and substance of life’s meaning.  It is, in fact, part of the definition of human.  This is best seen in the young before the corrosive effects of time take’s its toll. Lorraine Frontain, a kindergarten teacher, told about a little girl named Gina, whom she had warned several times, to pay attention.  It was to no avail.  Finally in desperation,  she asked, “Gina, why are you so excited?”  “I can’t help it,” she replied.  “My daddy said I could have a horse when I’m 35.”1

The anticipation of the young.  Dreams, hopes, plans are laid for life.  But as surely as we have dreams, we also have failure of dreams and hopes, set-backs and reverses.  Dreams and hopes can be lost, abandoned and not replaced.  It may be hard for youth to identify with that.  For them, hope is easier.  But few escape defeat which can lead to lowered expectations and hopelessness (loss of dreams).  Sometime ago an article on social workers quoted one as saying,  “I wanted to make a difference for the kids. Now I realize it was a totally unrealistic expectation.”  Lost dreams, cynicism.

There is an interesting and mysterious story in the Bible which tells about a vision given to a strange man called Ezekiel.  In the vision, Ezekiel sees a valley full of old dry bones.  As he speaks God’s word to them, flesh and breath are restored and they come to life—a vast army.

It is a vision symbolic of a people discouraged, defeated, hopeless as bleached out bones in a desert.  But God says he can and will bring life back to dead bones of shattered dreams and lives.  When we lose, when we fail, when a dream goes up in smoke, when life throws us a wicked curve, what can we do?

We can pick up the pieces because what left is usable by God, even old bones.  We can learn, we can adjust, we can “roll with the punches.”

In 1920, a young man by the name of Oswald Smith had a dream to be a missionary.   He had   prayed and dreamed for the opportunity and now stood before a board selecting missionaries.  He was turned down.  Did not meet qualifications, failed the test.  Decided if he couldn’t be a missionary, he would build a church that could send missionaries.  That church, People’s Church, Toronto, Canada became one of the greatest resources for missionaries in history,  sending hundreds to share God’s good news about Jesus.

Nothing given to God is lost.  A Christian, who gave money to build Baylor University,  later lost everything he had.  Someone asked him, “Don’t you wish you had the money back that you put into that school?”  “Not at   all.  It is all that I have saved.  If I had kept that money, I would have lost it too.”

We just need to let God breath life into what’s left.  When you do, life is an adventure(not easy, comfortable, predictable) but adventure.  We are too focused on winning or loosing, success or failure.  We miss the pure joy of living.  Gene Stallings tells of an incident when he was defensive backfield coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

Two All-Pro players, Charlie Waters and Cliff Harris, were sitting in front of their lockers after playing a tough game against the Washington Redskins.  They were still in their uniforms, and their heads were bowed in exhaustion. Waters said to Harris, “By the way Cliff, what was the final score?”2

When you love and are immersed in the game, the score doesn’t matter all that much.

Walter Peyton was one of greatest running backs in National Football League history.  During a telecast of Monday Night Football, one of the announcers remarked that he had gained over 9 miles rushing in his career.  The other said, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!”  That’s 3443 times!

Life will knock you down, wreck your dreams, but God is not foiled by that.  Just remember WHEN YOU’RE DOWN, THE WAY OUT IS UP.

God’s word to Ezekiel was “Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

1Reader’s Digest, Jan., ‘89, p.80
2 Penney F. Nichols, Leadership

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A Burned-out Florescent Tube

Posted on 3/23/10 by On the road with Jesus.

          Theologian Myron Augsburger once told a story about a man who wanted to discard a burned-out florescent tube from his office.  Past hours, he planned to dump it at a construction site on his way home. “He carried the seven-foot tube down the street, into the subway station, onto the train.  But how do you sit down with a seven-foot tube in your hand?  So he remained standing, holding the tube upright.
          When the train stopped at the next station, five people go on, and four of them grabbed hold of the tube.  Now what?  Pretty soon, it occurred to him that all he needed to do was to get off at his station and leave the pole.”1 That could be a parable of many of our contemporaries. We’re all looking for something to hold on to for some stability.  However, sometimes what we grab, like that burned-out florescent tube, only has the illusion of support.
          Archimedes,  a Greek mathematician and engineer, said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth.”  Blaise Pascal, considered to be one history’s greatest minds, left notes on a book intended to tell about a “center of stability” he had found.2  Rick Warren, author of best selling book of all time (outside the Bible), The Purpose Driven Life, wrote, “You need an unshakable center.”
          Something to hold on to, a place to stand, what we can depend on—stability, certainty, trustworthiness are all necessities for meaningful life.  In our chaotic world, the good news is that Jesus provides what we need for this life and eternity.  Place your faith in Him and hold on for dear life.

1Marguerite Shuster
2 Elton Trueblood, A Place To Stand

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When Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Posted on 3/9/10 by On the road with Jesus.

Luke 5:1-11
v11  So they … left everything and followed him.

Empty nets
It has been a long frustrating, fruitless night for Simon and his two partners, James and John.  All night long they have fished.  They have let down their nets, time and again and gone through the back-breaking process of drawing the nets to shore—empty!  They have tried different angles, different places, everything they can think of, every trick they know after many years fishing this lake.  Nothing worked.  Finally as the sun rises, exhausted and in a poor mood they pull their boats up on shore and begin the job of washing their nets—a final blow to their spirits—washing the nets which have remained empty all night.

Some nerve
As they go through the motions of this difficult and monotonous routine, out of the corner of Peter’s eye, a crowd appears by the lake.  In the center is a man surrounded by people pressing to get as close as possible to hear what he is saying.

As they watch and strain to hear what he’s saying, he walks over to Simon’s boat and gets in it.  “He’s got some nerve, Simon thinks to himself.”  Then he realizes who it is.  It’s the man Jesus he has been hearing about.

“Simon, could I trouble you to put your boat into the water and move out a little way from the shore?”

I’ll do it
For some reason, Simon does what he asks.  And he listens to what he says.  And he has never heard the likes of it before—no one every spoke like him.  Nice words, but just words!  Then he finishes speaking and Simon hears him speaking to him.  “Go out into deeper water.  Over there, cast your nets.”  Simon is too tired to argue and senses the easiest way to get out of this is to humor him.  Still he can’t resist protesting.  “We’ve fished all night and caught nothing, but I’ll do it.”

Fish and more fish
And then as they begin to draw the nets in they see fish—more fish then they’ve ever seen in a net.  It’s more than they can handle.  Some of the strands of the net begin to break.  The call for help—the second boat comes and the weight almost sinks them but finally they get the catch to shore.  They are astonished, frightened, elated, mystified.  Suddenly they realize they are in the presence of the holy and they are reminded of their Un holy lives.

Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch people.
And they left everything and followed Jesus.

This story reminds us that GOD OFTEN INTERUPTS OUR LIFE—“Can I borrow your boat?” God gets our attention often in the middle of something else.  It is not always when we would expect—in church, a Bible study, or even during prayer.  It may be on the job (like here), on a journey (The Apostle Paul) or maybe in the midst of our sleep.  A cousin of mine was on a business trip in a hotel room when God called him to ministry.

So it can be a little inconvenient.  I don’t have time right now.  Can’t this wait until later?  Inconvenient, perhaps, but not all that difficult or earth-shaking—it’s something that stops us just long enough— for God to make Himself known—“Try again.”

I can imagine Peter thinking,  “This won’t work.  I’m a life-time fisherman, for goodness sake.  I know how to fish.”  I know how to live my life.

“Try Again.”

“For most people the disaster of life is that they give up just one effort too soon.” Carl F.H. Henry

There is no perfect set of circumstances.  To wait for that is to never begin.  Jesus often asks us attempt the impossible.  This is the first step and when we take it, we find out THIS IS GOD.  We have met the Almighty.  And when we do, like Peter, we realize how unworthy we are.

Now the invitation…
Leave it all.
Nothing less will do. The issue is not everyone leaving your occupation or residence but making your self available to God. For most of us it is about living a new way where we are—job, school, neighborhood.

But make no mistake, God’s call is not to ease and comfort but to adventure/challenge/meaning. Some time ago I read this story:

The great explorer, Sir Francis Drake, was attempting to recruit a number of young men for an upcoming exploration. He gathered them around and told the group that if they came with him they would see some of the most marvelous things their eyes could ever behold—sandy white beaches, juicy fruits, foreign peoples, priceless treasures, and gorgeous landscapes. And he told them that this wild adventure could be theirs if they came with him. Not one of them enlisted for the journey.
The next day a different group came out. Drake told them that if they came with him they would encounter storms that would terrify them into tears. Tiger winds would hammer them and blow them off course for months. Water would frequently be scarce. At times they will be so thirsty that their very souls would cry out for simply one drop of water. In short, danger would always be their constant companion. Drake concluded by declaring that if they could handle these things, the joys of exploration would exceed their wildest dreams. Every single one of them in the group joined Sir Francis Drake that day, some did not even go home to say goodbye to their families, they just boarded the boat eager for the journey.

This is how God calls us. Jesus promises not ease and comfort but a cross and, in the end, incredible joy. He says, “Follow me.”

Picture from the Web Gallery of Art

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His Eye Is On the Sparrow

Posted on 1/27/10 by On the road with Jesus.

In the two weeks since the earthquake in Haiti we have heard so many words–sorrow, anger, courage, hero, fear, weary, shock, miracle, unbelievable.  We have heard explanations, promises, assurances, warnings.  Some of them have been wise, some foolish, some sinful and evil.  In these words there have the words from God, but also from fallible humans, and some straight out of the mouth of Satan himself.  Sometimes it is hard to know which are which.

The Bible helps us put things in perspective.

First, we are reminded that we cannot rid the world of suffering.  Someone has said, “This is a world where robins die, and sparrows, and people: the ones we love, the ones Jesus loves.”  The Peanuts characters put it this way:

Charlie Brown: “I have a new philosophy…’Life is like a golf course.’
Snoopy: “And ‘a sand trap runs through it.'”

The Biblical view says that God’s original creation has been damaged.  It is defaced, messed up. And earthquakes happen.  We can endlessly debate the philosophical and theological issues here, but the reality is clear.  This is a world where people, innocent people, get hurt.

However, in the midst of this, God is paying attention.  God listens, God sees, but most importantly God cares.  In the Old Testament God promises Soloman and the people just that–My eyes and my heart will always be here. (II Chron 7:16b-NLT)  Jesus says that even the fate of sparrows is not lost on God (Matt. 10:29).  And in the defining text of the Bible He says, For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only son. (John 3:16)

God is not just an observer, but, in fact, is in the midst of all this—in the Salvation Army relief worker, World Vision, UMCOR and scores of other Christian groups and individuals.  But, also in secular groups—the Red Cross, Chinese disaster teams, American military units—any one there with the will to help is doing God’s work whether they know it or not.

Finally, hope is intrinsic to the Christian message.  Along with faith and love, hope makes up the triangle of the Christian’s attitude.  A pastor dying of cancer took a leave from his church.  He was able to return and in a sermon he said, “We want to worship God in this church, and for our worship to be real, it doesn’t have to be fun, and it doesn’t have to be guilt-ridden.  But it does have to be honest, and it does have to hope in God.”

Hope is the future tense of faith.  Though we cannot deny what God has done and is doing, we must keep our perspective.  In our lives and those around us, much of  the Gospel is promise of what is yet to be.  But God is here, God is at work and is preparing a better place for us.  It is called heaven and without it, disasters/tragedies cannot be reconciled with a loving God.

Sisters, brothers keep the faith.

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The Faith of Our Father

Posted on 11/10/09 by On the road with Jesus.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, … to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

What is faith?  More specifically, what is Biblical faith?  Faith can be a tricky and sometimes illusive concept.

When the Biblical writers want to talk about faith, they most often talk about one man, described as “the father of those who have faith.”  His name is Abraham.  His descendants are described in this passage as those who “share the faith of Abraham.”  What can he teach us about it?

First, Abraham knew his own insufficiency. All faith begins with a sense of need.  It is an awareness that God has something more for us, something which we do not yet have and cannot attain by ourselves.  It may begin with a sense of longing, a vague sense that something is missing or there may be some specific vision of what we could or should be.  And there is always the realization of our own inability to achieve it.  God came to Abraham and Sarah with an utterly crazy idea (humanly speaking).  In their old age Sarah would have a son, an heir.  Impossible, they knew and yet God said it was his plan for them.  He hoped against hope.

What does God want for you?  What sin does he want to deliver you from,  what quality does he want you to have in your life?  Yes, I know.  You’ve tried all too often–it’s impossible.  You can’t do it.  And sometimes you even wonder if God is able to do that too?

Well, Abraham had his doubts too, but he overcame them and became strong. If you’ve never had questions, you’ve probably never faced yourself and the real issues of life.  One of the reasons for our inability to get over doubts is sometimes that we try to believe certain things, rather, than believing God.  The difference is crucial–it is not so much what we believe but who we believe.  One of my favorite Peanuts scenes, repeated periodically, features Lucy, Charlie Brown, and a football.  Lucy tells CB she will hold the football for him to kick it.  But CB has seen this before and knows that just as he is about to kick it, Lucy will pull it away and he will fall flat on his back.  So He refused.  But Lucy is persuasive and finally convinces him to try again.  Of course with the same result.  Then she says, “I admire you CB.  You have such faith in human nature.”

To act on our faith is a lesson Abraham had learned early in life and that becomes the real secret.  To live by our faith rather than our doubts.  When Abraham did this the Bible says he “was strengthened in his faith.”   Just as physical exercise increases physical strength so “faith” exercise strengthens faith.  Then follows a critical step–Abraham “gave glory to God.”    What we want from faith is sometimes an unworthy goal and it fails.  We want success, or health, or happiness.  But in the phrase Rick Warren made popular “it’s not about you.”  We should understand that the goal of faith is always that God be honored and glorified.

So– Abraham believed what God said,
did what God asked,
received what God promised.

May it be so with you.

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Signs of Growth

Posted on 11/1/09 by On the road with Jesus.

One of the hardest things to do is to evaluate spiritual health and growth.  It is impossible to look into a person’s heart, or into the “heart” of a congregation for that matter.  However, it is important to try and there are certainly indicators, evidence which helps us to do that.

Perhaps the most important sign is an inner sense that God gives to his people.  Outward signs are important but an awareness of God’s presence, and a sense that God is at work are vitally important.  Explicit witnesses to the fact that God is working in lives are necessary indicators of God’s work.  Not only that, individual testimony to what He is doing is also a means by which He works.

Another sign is the beginning of new opportunities for ministry. That is vitally important to continued growth and faithfulness.  There are three key ingredients for that to happen:

1-     We need to keep our spiritual house in order.  We must keep close to God–praying, listening, and following Him.

2-     We also must keep our relational house in order.  It is imperative that we love one another and not allow those ordinary kinds of things that erode personal relationships, like personal agendas, petty differences, jealously and personality conflicts.  Be sure that Satan will try to exploit anything to sabotage God’s work in our midst.

3-     We must have people who are willing to step forward and provide leadership in ministry.  We cannot grow beyond our ability to produce new leaders.  As one example, right now, our small group development is pretty much “on hold” as we wait for new leaders.  Church consultant, Carl George says, “The creation of pastoral, ministry-capable leadership must become the core value of the church of the future, second only to listening to God in prayer.”

Folks we live in a time of great spiritual hunger and need.  I believe that God can greatly use this church to fill some of that hunger and meet those needs.  Would you please covenant with me to pray about these matters on a regular basis and then ask God what He wants you to do?  It is an exciting time to be part of His church

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The Best Is Yet To Be

Posted on 9/30/09 by On the road with Jesus.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you. I Peter 1:3-4

The Best Is Yet To Be

Robert Browning’s  words, “The best is yet to be” did not refer to heaven.  And that hardly seems to be the attitude of many Christians when thinking about heaven.  More typical I suspect is that expressed by 9 yr. old Ellen in a letter to her pastor:

Dear Pastor,
I hope to go to  heaven someday but later than sooner.

Love,
Ellen

Heaven is a place we want to go only when we are forced to, when we have no choice–when   the more desirable “life” is no longer an option, when death comes.  Heaven is, of course, better than hell but our expectancy for it is a little like that expressed by Charlie Brown:

Linus-“What would you say you want most of life Charlie Brown…To Be Happy?”
Charlie Brown-“Oh, no…
I     don’t expect that…I really don’t
I     just don’t want  to be unhappy!

We don’t expect so much to be happy in heaven, just not unhappy like hell.  It is sort of the lesser of two undesirable options.

It is not surprising then, that for 20th cent. Christians, heaven has, at best, been relegated to funeral sermons, the periphery of life.  Salvation has primarily come to mean “self improvement”, “success”, or the way to a “more efficient and psychologically sound,” “good life.”

But that is not   the NT.  Heaven is the glorious and ultimate goal of our faith.     It is the culmination of our salvation, the end of our journey.  It is the linch-pen of the Good News.  Take it out and it all falls apart.  Don Hunt is right: “…nothing is more important in shaping how life on earth is lived…than a person’s attitude toward the life to come.”

The importance of heaven is not just to provide comfort about death but to make a difference in how we live–our goals, methods, priorities, ministries, all our life.

Heaven has, perhaps, its greatest impact on our values. The only ones which really matter are those which retain their appeal in the face of death. There is the story about two men walking through a cemetery who happen upon a funeral. A gold-plated Rolls Royce with all the toys—stereo, TV, built in bar, etc. is being lowered into a grave.

One asks, “What’s happening?” and is told, “They’re burying J.B., the multibillionaire.”
He stops to watch in amazement and then exclaims, “Man, that’s what I call really living!”

Without heaven our values can get just as mixed up.

God’s people have always seen this. In Saint Augustine’s classic, City of God, he says human-kind has become so earthly minded, the heavenly vision has been lost. The Apostle Paul saw it clearly when he wrote that the sufferings of the present do not compare to the glory to be revealed. We are told Moses chose to suffer in order to receive his reward. C.S. Lewis wrote that something so absolutely beyond all we have is necessary to the Christian spirit—and happiness. It is heaven which fills that need and gives us perspective.

For the Christian, heaven is our true home. The Bible says we are strangers and aliens here—our citizenship is in heaven.  It is important we remember this is a temporary residence.

Charles Dutton spent years in prison for manslaughter.  Hardly preparation for becoming a star in the “Piano Lesson” on Broadway.  He was once asked how he overcame such obstacles. He said, “Unlike the other prisoners, I never decorated my cell.”  He refused to think of his cell as home.

C.S. Lewis reminded us, “I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country…I must make it the main object of my life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”

Contrary to popular notion such people don’t become so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good.  They, in fact, accomplish much more on earth.

Finally, the outcome of Heaven is indescribable joy. The Bible gives us a hint this way: “things beyond our seeing, beyond our hearing, beyond our imagining.”   It is something so wonderful that even the Biblical writers can only point to it.  We may be inclined to let our minds wander over “gold streets,” no pain, no sorrow or death.

But as important as all that is, one thing is clear.  The greatest joy of
heaven is to be in the “unhindered” presence of Jesus.  The old song writer had it right—“Where Jesus is ‘tis heaven there.”

“When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.”  All the greatest of the good and more has been prepared for those who love God.
The Best really is yet to be!

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