Taft's Gospel Blog

Rest

 February 26, 2012

Rest…

“Rest,” he said. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Paradox ‘rests’ upon these verses. He promises rest, and then speaks of putting his yoke upon us, and giving us a burden that is light.

The paradox comes only because of our modern understanding of rest as the end of all labor. That is not the rest he is speaking of. In a very human sense, I can be free of labor, yet rest-less because of unrepentant sin, or because of oppression by others, or because of fear of the future, or because of the regrets of the past, or…many things. ‘Rest’ is a condition of the heart as much as of the body.

Rather than promising inactivity, Jesus is offering to enter our lives as our partner, our ‘yoke brother.’ He calls us to live as God has designed us to live, and offers his abiding presence and help. ‘Rest’ becomes the consequence of right living and right relationships.

When I think of Old Testament personalities, It comes to me that they experienced God’s rest in many different ways.

                Abraham, hearing the voice of an unknown God call him to a promised land, ‘rested’ by                believing and obeying. His obedience became sweet and God blessed him greatly.

                Joshua stood at the brink of the Promised Land, about to lead the people of Israel in to conquer                               it, and I think he more than a bit intimidated. He had not been resting well. So God spoke to            him and said, “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or        discouraged. For the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.” So he ‘rested’ by obeying God,        discovering that God indeed went before his people as their mighty warrior, giving them     success.

                How about David, whose life was filled with conflict, betrayal, and failures…but who relied on    God through it all and ‘rested’ by singing most of the book of Psalms into being.

                And his son, Solomon, who wanted to rule well, and so asked God, who had promised to give   him whatever he asked for, for wisdom. God was so pleased that he gave him wisdom, and also riches, safety, and prosperity for the land. Solomon ‘rested’ by ruling with wisdom and great           success, his gift from God.

                Then came Jesus, who said that his rest was to do the will of God who sent him.

‘Rest’ is doing what God desires, living in partnership with him, following him, and leaving the results up to him.

DENOUNCEMENT!

 

February 25, 2012

The following words of Jesus do not fit well with the contemporary image of Jesus as a warm and wise teacher, eager to take care of us and lead us to heaven, but not to be taken too seriously. These words follow directly on the heels of Jesus’ words about John the Baptist. The first sentence is the key to the passage.

“…But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. ‘What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you. And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

Again, Jesus talks about the linkage between belief and action. It is a linkage missing for many people of faith in America. So many of us go to “church” each Sunday, listen to the sermon, or study the Bible in classes and small groups, go to seminars on “gifts” and other spiritual matters, go to retreats for spiritual refreshment…and remain largely unchanged. As Neil Cole has observed, we are educated beyond our level of obedience.

Somehow we must make the change from spiritual consumers to sold-out followers of Jesus. It is tempting to embrace the easy believerism of this age, or even the everythingism that has infected the spiritual conversation of this age…the belief that all roads lead to heaven, that the same God is behind all the world’s religions, that our goodness is all that is required for his acceptance. I have heard those beliefs articulated many different ways in the past 50 years, almost always by people who have neglected to take the time to intellectually explore their validity. Under the lightest weight of scrutiny those statements are exposed for the sophomoric foolishness they really are.

Jesus had little time for such silliness. He went to an area; he preached clearly the good news about the Kingdom of God; He validated his teaching by his miracles and healings; and he called for the people to believe and follow him, to live as his disciples. It’s the same today. Scripture has preserved his message and the witness of his life. The believers of the ages have validated his continuing, life-changing influence. The call to repent, be baptized, and to receive the Holy Spirit continues to be issued. And the life of faith, a life of obedience lived in the community of other believers, continues to shape individuals, families, whole communities, and even nations.

Christianity is not a faith we just believe, it is a faith to live by. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it see everything else. Anything less is insufficient for this grand enterprise we call life.

Prayer: “Father in Heaven, I am like the apostle Paul, wanting to do right, loving the law with all my heart, but infected with a sin so powerful that it makes me do the very things I do not want to do. I desire to believe and to follow you in all my ways. I want your heart to be glad when you look at me and see a life devoted to you. But if this is to happen you must help me with my weakness and heal me of my contrary nature. I know that faith is a day by day process, that I can’t suddenly become pure and noble and good. But I know too, that as I resolve each day to live as your disciple, I move closer to that happy end.  I know that you are my greatest advocate. I know that, even when I fail (especially when I fail!) you are there to pick me up and point me in the right direction. I am grateful that you never give up building eternal life in me, and I know that the day is coming when all difficulty will be taken away and I will rest forever in your presence. I am glad and I pray this in your name, Amen.”

DENOUNCEMENT!

 

February 25, 2012

The following words of Jesus do not fit well with the contemporary image of Jesus as a warm and wise teacher, eager to take care of us and lead us to heaven, but not to be taken too seriously. These words follow directly on the heels of Jesus’ words about John the Baptist. The first sentence is the key to the passage.

“…But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. ‘What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you. And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

Again, Jesus talks about the linkage between belief and action. It is a linkage missing for many people of faith in America. So many of us go to “church” each Sunday, listen to the sermon, or study the Bible in classes and small groups, go to seminars on “gifts” and other spiritual matters, go to retreats for spiritual refreshment…and remain largely unchanged. As Neil Cole has observed, we are educated beyond our level of obedience.

Somehow we must make the change from spiritual consumers to sold-out followers of Jesus. It is tempting to embrace the easy believerism of this age, or even the everythingism that has infected the spiritual conversation of this age…the belief that all roads lead to heaven, that the same God is behind all the world’s religions, that our goodness is all that is required for his acceptance. I have heard those beliefs articulated many different ways in the past 50 years, almost always by people who have neglected to take the time to intellectually explore their validity. Under the lightest weight of scrutiny those statements are exposed for the sophomoric foolishness they really are.

Jesus had little time for such silliness. He went to an area; he preached clearly the good news about the Kingdom of God; He validated his teaching by his miracles and healings; and he called for the people to believe and follow him, to live as his disciples. It’s the same today. Scripture has preserved his message and the witness of his life. The believers of the ages have validated his continuing, life-changing influence. The call to repent, be baptized, and to receive the Holy Spirit continues to be issued. And the life of faith, a life of obedience lived in the community of other believers, continues to shape individuals, families, whole communities, and even nations.

Christianity is not a faith we just believe, it is a faith to live by. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it see everything else. Anything less is insufficient for this grand enterprise we call life.

Prayer: “Father in Heaven, I am like the apostle Paul, wanting to do right, loving the law with all my heart, but infected with a sin so powerful that it makes me do the very things I do not want to do. I desire to believe and to follow you in all my ways. I want your heart to be glad when you look at me and see a life devoted to you. But if this is to happen you must help me with my weakness and heal me of my contrary nature. I know that faith is a day by day process, that I can’t suddenly become pure and noble and good. But I know too, that as I resolve each day to live as your disciple, I move closer to that happy end.  I know that you are my greatest advocate. I know that, even when I fail (especially when I fail!) you are there to pick me up and point me in the right direction. I am grateful that you never give up building eternal life in me, and I know that the day is coming when all difficulty will be taken away and I will rest forever in your presence. I am glad and I pray this in your name, Amen.”

The Baptist's Angst

 

February 24, 2012

It’s hard to overstate the impact of John the Baptist on the nation of Israel. After 400 years of silence, God finally unleashed the prophetic voice of John, who then set about doing what prophecy said he would do. And he did those things in dramatic fashion. He turned the attention of the nation from political/economic matters to an assessment of its relationship with God. Speaking to a people whose spiritual heart was dry, dusty, and barren; he called for repentance as preparation for the Messiah. And he laid on the nation the fact that God’s preparation was accomplished, that the Kingdom of God was at hand, and that the Messiah was immediately due. He then identified Jesus as the promised one and began to fade into the background. His impact was as great, or greater, than that of the major prophets of the Old Testament.

Given his critical role and his effectiveness, it is sad to see John’s life end with confusion and disappointment because of Jesus.

By the time we hear of John again, he is already in prison, put there for publically speaking out against the immorality of Herod Antipas and Herodias. His life is in danger. Even in prison John continues to have contact with his disciples. “The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”

Do you see the angst in that question? John’s life will be taken in a matter of weeks. Once the focus of huge crowds, he is bound in a small prison cell. Having announced Jesus as the Messiah, he is confused. Where is the promised deliverance from the hated Romans, the restoration of the spiritual life of the nation, the elevation of Jewry amongst the nations? Where is the champion of God, riding before the armies of heaven, bringing the world under subjection to him?

Jesus did not fit comfortably into John’s (or the nations) image of what the Messiah was to be. But I love Jesus’ answer to John. “At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, ‘Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.’”

Let me close this entry with this observation: God rarely adapts his actions to fit my expectations. I have often been guilty of loving God and having a wonderful plan for his life. If I could just get him to follow my agenda, all would be fine. But I have discovered that I don’t do well until I set my agenda on the shelf and follow his instead. He is more interested in the quality of my character than in my comfort, and that has led me down some difficult roads.

It is easy to be disappointed in God, or to be confused by his lack of attention to the things we consider important. His greatness is not found in all the grand things we want him to do for us, but in our willingness to be obedient to him. I have found that the Father can be well pleased in that child of his only who adheres to him when apparently forsaken. The fullest grace can be received by those only who continue to obey during the dryness in which all grace seems to be withheld. Obedience is the key to all doors; feelings come and go, but obedience is the road to freedom, and humility the road to pleasure.

We do not know how John the Baptist received Jesus’ answer, but we do know that John was obedient to God. Even in his cell, he was free.

Prayer: “Free my heart of my own tyranny, Father of hope. Turn my eyes from the worthless things I spend so much time thinking and worrying about. Set my gaze on your road. Lead me home. I am yours to direct and keep. I am willing. Amen.”

Life's Foundation

LIFE’S FOUNDATION

February 22, 2012

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

If there is one word that our culture dislikes, it is “obedience.” In my many years in the ministry I have had countless conversations about the faith. One objection I heard over and over had to do with the clear call for repentance and obedience. People talk about all they are afraid they will have to give up. They would “like” to be Christians, were it not for the demand of Jesus to forsake pleasures or relationships they hold dear. Somewhere in their conversation would come these words…”I just want to be free to do my own thing and to follow my own heart.”

That desire sounds so right and good; how could anyone object to it?

Question: Have you always done well…have you always done good when you followed your own heart? The synonym for “heart” in America is “desires.” I remember following my own heart, my desires, into some of the most painful and sinful episodes of my life.

Our heart…our desires…can be so strong that the thought of following Jesus in Life, of being obedient to him, actually becomes repellent. But think with me for a moment about what the Bible says about obedience.

First, the word translated obedience is of interest. It is “akuo.” It means, “To hear.” Obedience is, “effective hearing/listening,” and links the process of taking in information to using it effectively. The emphatic form of “akuo” is always translated, “to obey.”

Illustration: I have a son who is mechanically gifted. When he was late in high school and early in college he kept bringing home beat up cars, usually of the 4 wheel drive, really big, and really needy ($$$) variety. He would drive one of these rolling wrecks up the driveway before buying and exit with that big smile to ask my advice. “What do you think, dad!?” I would try to tell him that the rusting heap of potential he saw was an open door to the poor house, which he could little afford. I would cite my not inconsiderable experience. I would share stories of my misadventures with cars…misadventures that became very costly. I would advise him strongly to get something smaller, less used, more practical to get him through his college years.

Do you think he heard me? Do you think he listened effectively? Do you think he relied on my experience and concern as he made his decision?
Oh my, no!

Yet our age is full of people who have set aside the satisfaction of the moment, or the week, or the month, or even of years, in order to gain a greater prize or serve a greater cause. I know of no great endeavor of life, no great dream or vision, that does not require sacrifice and discipline.

Learning to listen to God, and then to follow him, is the worthiest of goals and the greatest of enterprises. We wish to live a magnificent life. By every step of listening and then following we build a solid foundation on the rock solid promise of God that the end of our building here will open the door to his magnificent house forever.

Prayer: “Great Master Builder, I know you’re not done yet, not with me and not with creation. Take the wax of self-will out of my ears so that I hear your voice, listen, and follow. As surely as you led Abraham to his promised land, and then his descendants to their promised land; as surely as you David to might and Solomon to wisdom; as surely as you led Daniel to Babylon to be your voice and John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus…and then as surely as you led Jesus through sacrifice so that I might live…as surely as all that I ask you to lead me in all my ways. Help me to hear you so effectively that I obey your will, both in this life and in the next. In Jesus name, Amen.”

miracles

 

MIRACLES

February 23, 2012

After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus became mobile again. But before leaving Capernaum, on the NE corner of the Sea of Galilee, he met a Roman Centurion who was concerned for his valued young slave. The young boy was, as Luke records, sick and near death. The Centurion (leader of 100 foot soldiers) asked Jesus to heal the boy, but with a twist. When Jesus said, “I will come and heal him,” the Centurion demurred, telling Jesus, “Lord; I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus was amazed at the Roman’s faith, telling his disciples that he hadn’t found such faith in all Israel. “Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, ‘Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.’ And the young slave was healed that same hour.”

It’s amazing what Jesus is willing to do in our lives when faith is present.

Having healed the young man, Jesus took his disciples, a large band by this time, to Nain, about 28 miles to the SW, about a strong day’s journey. Luke gives us the detail that a large crowd followed him from Capernaum. (Luke was a physician, a trained observer. As such, Luke’s gospel is full of such details as the time of day, the weather, the size of crowds, and crowd reactions to the words of Jesus. When healings are being recorded, Luke often gives a diagnostic aside. The other gospel writers often miss these little details.)

As Jesus and his accompanying crowd began to enter the village, another crowd was coming out, a funeral procession. A widow’s only son was being carried to the place of burial, and most of the village was going with her to share her grief. “When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. ‘Don’t cry!’ he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. ‘Young man,’ he said, ‘I tell you, get up.’ Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

Do you believe in miracles? I’ve seen too much of life not to. Every mythology records miracles of some kind. That being so, how are the miracles of Jesus any different from those spoken of in Greek mythology, or Buddistic events, or Hindu mythology? Good question, and one we should not shy away from.

While I’ll not put forth an extensive discussion of miracles, I’d like to make this observation: In all the miracles of Jesus the incarnate God does suddenly and locally something that God has done or will do in general. Each miracle writes for us in small letters something that God has already written, or will write in letters almost too large to be noticed, across the whole canvass of nature. The miracles of Jesus focus at a particular point either God’s actual, or his future, operations on the universe.

The fitness of the miracles of Jesus and their difference from mythological miracles lies in the fact that they show invasion of nature by a power which is not alien. They are what might be expected to happen when she (nature) is invaded not simply by a god, but by the God of nature; by a power which is outside her jurisdiction not as a foreigner but as a sovereign. They proclaim that He who has come is not merely a king, but the King, her King and ours.

In both the healing of the Centurion’s son, and the healing of the widow’s boy, Jesus acted with compassion, compassion so visible that the gospel writers must include that detail. So, as the King of nature and the King of us all, in these small events Jesus wrote the heart and action that would grow to include the cross, then the resurrection, and through them, his compassion and healing for all of his creation, even for you and for me.

Prayer: “King of creation and King of me, I place my life and loyalty at your feet. I choose to be your subject in this life and in the next. I know that this small miracle which I call my life will be swept up in the incredible miracle of a new creation and that I will then lift my voice in a shout of joy. Take the blinders from my eyes and my mind so that I might see your presence in all the moments around me. I rest in your compassion. Amen.”

Kingdom Ethics

As Jesus continued the Sermon on the Mount, it got even scarier…harder and harder to live up to. Touching on a broad reach of subjects he delivered one-liners like:

“If you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

“But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment…and if you curse someone you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

“But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away.”

“But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.”

“But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone claps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.”

“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven…give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth…wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be…No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and money…Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need…Do not judge others, and you will not be judged…Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for…Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you…Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter…Just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions”

“When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.”

And with that he ended the Sermon on the Mount and traveled back to Capernaum. But when I reread the above list of sayings, and then compare them to my past behavior and thoughts, there is absolutely no way I can measure up. But perhaps that is entirely the point…without Jesus, and without his good life in place of mine, I am lost. And I readily admit that. When I reflect back on my life, there were large tracts of time when I was determined to do everything my way and I became so lost that I had to give up entirely and confess my failure to live rightly before I could begin moving again in the right direction. I am nothing if not hard-headed. So I developed this rule of life based on those reflections: The less I listen to the voice of Christ, the more I pursue my own way, and the more I listen to my own counsel…the more my life is filled with drama and difficulty. BUT, the more I follow him in all my ways, do what is right in his eyes and live by his teaching…the more satisfying my life is, along with being much less complicated and easier on the people around me. And it only took me 54 years to realize that.

Prayer: “Why, O Lord, is it so hard for me to do the right thing!? There is a part of me that looks at a decision that needs to be made, knows what the right thing is, and then does something entirely the opposite! And invariably, that decision leads to disappointment. I do not want to live from difficulty to difficulty, or from crisis to crisis. Please take my crazy way of thinking and deciding and straighten me out! Impress the ethics of your Kingdom deeply in my heart. Calm my self-centered heart, and put me back on the path of trust. Again, today, I give you my life. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Kingdom

 Jesus follows the teaching of the beatitudes and that of salt and light with a series of vignettes on life as citizens of the Kingdom of God. I promised a few blogs ago that I would clarify the meaning of the Kingdom of God, used in the gospels synonymously with “Kingdom of Heaven.” Here goes.

The Kingdom of God is not found in the Old Testament or in Jewish literature, but its source is to be found there, especially in the Psalms and apocalyptic prophets. The Old Testament Messianic promises foretold a king who would reign. The apocalyptic prophets stressed God’s reign as something which would break into the present world order and establish a new one, a new order. Hold that thought for a moment.

It has been tempting in the Christian movement to institutionalize the Kingdom of God by identifying it as the church. That does not capture its meaning. It is greater than that. Another temptation is to identify it with a realm, with physical borders, within which all citizens are unified in faith. This is the way some Islamic nations are structured today. That’s not it. During the middle ages, in the age of “Christendom” the Kingdom of God was understood to be the unified faith of all believers, united under political and ecclesiastical structures…i.e. with a king who was the ‘defender of the faith’ and the church as source of authority. But the events of history shattered “Christendom.”

If it is not those things, then what is it? It is quite uncomplicated. The Kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of God in the hearts and minds of his people, irrespective of their political or geographical environment, irrespective of their association with Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist…(ad infinitum) movements illustrating the foolish and divisive nature of man, and irrespective of one’s level of theological sophistication. If God rules our hearts and minds, we will be the light and salt of society, and we will be blessed because of his presence in all our circumstances of life.

As Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount it served as a description of the social, relational, and spiritual economy of the Kingdom of God, impossible to bring about without God’s rule in our hearts and minds. In fact, and this is my opinion, impossible for us to fully realize in this life, waiting for the life to come for its fulfillment, for only there and then will the rule of God be complete and unchallenged.

In talking about the Kingdom Jesus was at his best when describing it in parables.  It’s like finding a million dollars in the field he says, or a jewel worth a king’s ransom. It’s like finding something you hated to lose and thought you’d never find again—an old keepsake, a stray sheep, a missing child. Once found, it is the most precious thing you can imagine.

Prayer: “Great King of my heart, rule in me today and forever. Root out, relentlessly, obstacles to your unchallenged rule. You are my sovereign and my God. I gladly place my allegiance completely in your care. For Jesus, Amen.”

Salt & Light

 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

I’m not going to engage in preacherese here and talk about symbols, the use of salt in the ancient world, light as a metaphor for goodness, and all that stuff. Who cares?

The point, I think, is to understand what Jesus wants us to do with the idea that we hold a transformative role in culture. America is in the grip of tremendous changes, and believers have a wonderful opportunity to live in a way that will bring meaning and direction to this great, but rudderless, nation.

We are the salt of the earth. We are that because we have a radical understanding…we believe that Jesus really is the way and the truth and the LIFE! His gospel has given us life, and we would follow him and him only. He has ‘salted’ us.

In this age of sexual permissiveness, of crimes against children, proliferating addictions, latch key kids, greed, and fallen heroes we are desperately in need of the salt of the earth…those who follow Jesus so completely that they point a stable and consistent way to God and to heaven.

I watched a sampling of reality shows this past week, for laughs and curiosity. They are an example of the truth that modern man has both feet firmly planted in mid-air. Reality shows purport to celebrate the human drama, and to legitimize the lives of people in real life. They do not. They trivialize the human experience and distract from the great questions of life. In their endless parade of the tragic, erotic, depraved, melodramatic, and sensational is completely lacking the element of asking, “What is the meaning of all this…how does it affect our lives…is it right…does it promote the greater good?

The salt and light offer a new way of thinking, a changed set of values, and a clear standard of what is right and helpful. We must, at every opportunity, both teach and stand for: Purity Vs immorality…honesty Vs. deceit…generosity Vs selfishness…innocence Vs worldliness; Unconditional love Vs looking out for number one…forgiveness Vs corrosive grrrrrrruuuudge.

God calls us to stand against the corruption of life. We do that by exclusively following Jesus, who is the way, truth, and life.

Mostly, what I’ve said so far is in the realm of ‘salt.’ Light is a bit different. As I understand it, light is for making clear the truth.

The hardest truth for us to accept is the truth about ourselves. In today’s culture we allow our greed and arrogance to color even our search for spiritual truth and meaning. Newsweek magazine, secular to the core, highlighted the narcissistic nature of today’s spirituality.

“Today’s spiritual consumers are not interested in what the church stands for, but in the              fulfillment it can deliver. Unlike earlier revivals, the aim this time is for support, not salvation, help rather than an authoritative guide. A group affirmation of self is at the top of the agenda, which is why the least demanding churches are now in the greatest demand.”

The gospel of Jesus is a jarring note in this pursuit of self-fulfillment. The gospel teaches us that our hope is not in finding our true self, but in losing our selves in Jesus. The gospel never calls for an accommodation to self; it calls for repentance. The object of the gospel is not to make people able to with themselves; it is to make them able to live with God.

To be the light of the world is to tell and show the truth of what it means to be totally sold out to Jesus. Totally. To be called light is the greatest of compliments, because Jesus said that HE was the light of the world. He’s saying, ‘Be like me!’ We really need make it no more complicated than that. So we would do our very best to study him, to understand him, to talk with him, to follow him, and to stand for him. Just as he spoke the truth and illustrated it with his life, we are to do the same.

We have been invited to be a part of God’s great city of light set in this world. But remember that a lone Christian is not a city set on a hill, nor will a single candle light the world. Take your stand with God’s people, citizen of his holy Kingdom.

Prayer: “Great Father of light, help me to live so that my witness does not bring a dimming of the light, but so that it strengthens it. Please help me eliminate all barriers until it is clear that I am your disciple because of my capacity to love. Strengthen me so that I might encourage those around me with the example of a generous spirit and a selfless life. Help me to be like Jesus. In his name I pray, Amen.”

It's War! (part 2)

Jesus took it for granted that his followers would be mocked, lied about, and persecuted. As I said in yesterday’s blog, we are experiencing that negative reaction in today’s world. I don’t think the issue when we face such resistance is how to escape it, but how to respond to it.

I want to include a passage from I Peter 1. It’s not directly about responding to persecution, but it contains the elements we need to focus on. Remember that by the time Peter wrote these words both he and the church had faced a persecution on both the personal and national level that was growing in severity.

“Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God. Now you can have sincere love for each other as brothers and sisters because you were cleansed from your sins when you accepted the truth of the good news. So see to it that you really do love each other intensely with all your hearts. For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living God.”

Let’s trust God.

And if we trust him, we can live for him. There is a caveat in the last beatitude. It does not say that all Christians will be persecuted. It says God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for him. You can trust God. He has life and history and the end of all things in his grasp. So follow him.

I will never forget the night in Bob’s house in Anaheim when I sat with him and Debbie and told them the gospel. I invited them to become Christians and to get ready for baptism. I invited them to follow Jesus. Bob knew what that meant for him. He asked me to follow him to his bedroom and he and I carried out five large boxes of pornographic magazines. Debbie watched us and wept with gladness. Bob knew that the call of Jesus was a call to a new life and he trusted God to follow through on his promise that he would bless purity.

In all these years in the ministry I have come to understand that all of us have things that we must give up if we are to follow Jesus. Both men and women wrestle with pornography, bitterness, self-centeredness…the list of liabilities would be as long as there are people. My point is this: the time is long past when following Jesus was as uncomplicated, as acceptable, or as encouraged as it was in the past century. A clear and unambiguous stand for Jesus in this age will produce behavior and priorities that are in conflict with contemporary culture. That being so, we can trust God, for he has raised Christ from the dead for us and has demonstrated his power over the forces of the world. We can be pressed, we can be crushed, we can be persecuted, but he will always triumph, and in him, we will triumph as well. We can trust him.

And if that is so, and it is, let’s love outrageously.

Jesus said that people would know that we were (are) his disciples by the love we show to each other. In the face of growing opposition, love is the power of God in its most winsome form. We could react to attacks on our faith with the responses of the world…anger, dismissal, hatred, or even violence…and we often do, but why use the tools of the world to show the excellence of the Kingdom of God? We are called by Jesus to love each other in terms that the world would call outrageous. To love each other this way is to love the truth that love is the best foundation for life. To love each other is to build each other up and never tear down, or whisper behind backs, or be condescending. But it goes much further than what we will not do. It means that WE WILL, AS GODS’ PEOPLE, BUILD A WHOLE NEW CULTURE WITH THE VERY TOOLS THE WORLD HAS TOLD US TO HOARD TO OURSELVES.

Let me cite some of those tools. If the church in America is to get its act in order, these are the things it must major in

• We will give each other our financial resources, counting the work of the Kingdom of God and the care of his body, our brothers and sisters in faith, as a higher calling than constantly guarding our own security. We will develop a holy generosity of heart, giving, and pocketbook because of our love for each other and for the common work of growing the family of God.
• We will give each other our time, understanding that time spent in fellowship with each other will produce benefits far greater than the constant pursuit of entertainment the world calls us to. We will invest our time, our care and our energy in small gatherings wherein we can learn faith, grow in obedience, and support each other’s growth, and we will teach our children to do the same.
• We will care for each other’s needs, so that the basic needs of food, housing, and clothing will not be missing for any of our family of faith. We will do so knowing that sometimes we will be taken advantage of, but knowing also that the strong must support the weak so that the weak might become strong.
• And we will never miss coming together to worship, realizing that a fundamental commitment to worship God together will build a community of such power and imagination that it will shape our children as it opens our hearts, minds, and souls to reach for goals of nobility and grace.

Those things sound so simple, but they are put to little practice in the world we live in. If practiced we would find them to be revolutionary. In America the church needs to stop talking so much and begin putting its faith into action.

If we can do this; if we can trust God, and if we can love outrageously, then let’s give them something to talk about!

We are born again. And we struggle with that. We accept Christ, we are baptized, and then so many of us go on to live the same basic life that we lived before. But it does not have to be that way. It is not that we were all wretched criminals before we accepted Jesus and therefore have dramatic changes to make. But it is not that we are perfect and have no changes to make either. I have been working at my calling long enough to realize that even the best of us have changes to make that will demonstrate a life that is fit for the eternal Kingdom of Heaven rather than for a life taqht is for this world.

Let’s give them lives that are lived completely for the glory of God and the expression of Love. Is that just religious talk? No, that’s the realization that we will be our happiest, our most joyful, our most noble, and our most fulfilled when we live life only as God intended it to be lived. Life lived that way may invite persecution, but it will overcome it, and then transcend it.

Prayer: “Father of life, do not let us wilt in the face of opposition or scorn. Make us strong with a winsome faith that will not be shaken. Turn our eyes in the direction of wisdom and love and lead us each day. Deliver us from our obsession with ourselves so that our hearts might be open to others. Help us to live in your strength and not in our weakness. We are yours and we are born again as your children. Grant that we will bear your likeness each day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”