Stay

1/4/2017

Luke 4.42-43 42 Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. 43 But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.”

At the end of His earthly ministry Jesus told His men He was leaving. They were bummed out over the news. He reassured them that when He left, He would leave His Spirit with them, but I’m not real sure if they understood what that meant. The lesson is a lesson of faith. They wanted: Stay Jesus stay! He said, I will; but just not in the way you think…

Jesus did ascend. He left them physically, but He said He stay with them by His Spirit. He left, but He stayed. Jesus did what He said and His Spirit is here ever since.

The people in Luke’s gospel were looking for someone to care for them and meet their needs. Funny, that is the very business God is in. Those people in Luke, wanted someone to be their benevolent king. They weren’t looking for a Savior they were looking for a welfare check. And an endless one at that. No work, just preaching, teaching, and partying. Sounds like a cool gig. Sounds like a lot of people in church…

Our lives were not made for ease, we were made for work. Now that’s not that we were made to be machines, but we were made to work and produce and conduct ourselves in this world in a manner befitting our calling and our God. We were made for work and we were made for worship, but we confuse the two. We worship when we should be working and we work when we should be humble at God’s feet.

I think the Father prefers we worship in our work, and we work at our worship. I think life would be easier if we could keep the two in proper perspective, but not mutually exclusive. Jesus came to set us free, not to build dependency: He does all the work, and we party.

Yes, we are to be dependent upon Him (apart from Him we can do nothing) but we are also to do our part and that is cooperate with Him. Cooperating with Jesus is both work and worship. I don’t need another Jesus-led feeding of the five thousand, what I need is Jesus, in me, leading me to do the same; trusting He is with me and in me, and expressing His heart of love to others through me. When people look at me they ought to see Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t sent as a babysitter to a small group of people; He was sent as a Savior to all people. And He was sent as an Equipper to all who would receive Him. And He was sent as a Freer teaching all of us, that in all we do, He is with us. And that ought to be evident to others around us.

Lord Jesus, it’s not about me. Help me to quit thinking that way and learn to cooperate with You in what You are doing in the whole wide world, not just my little sphere. Like You Lord, may I know why I was sent, and then may I go and do because I am sent. In You, with You, and for You, amen

How

1/1/2017

Luke 1.18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” – St. Luke

How is a big question; I’d say it’s only dwarfed by why. (Just listen to a 3-year old…) But in the story told by Luke about Zechariah the priest, ‘how’ is the question; how can what you are saying to me be true!? I’m an old man! Zech, we got it, you’re an old man, but you’re also a priest, and you’ve just been visited by an angel. You’re supposed to believe because, as a leader, you’ve just heard from God’s emissary…)

Mary, some eight verses later, was approached by the same angel. Mary, you’re going to have a baby! “How can this be, I’m a virgin!?” God’s spirit is going to overshadow you and you will become pregnant by the Author of life! Whatever…

The difference in how, is Mary was just a peasant girl. Mary was not faithless, but she was just a peasant, girl, an unknown: faceless in the crowd. Peasants aren’t unimportant to God, it’s just that they’re culturally less believable than God’s chosen leaders – priests, like Zechariah. It’s not supposed to work that way, but in society, peasants don’t hold as much verbal clout as priests. Mary believed; Zechariah didn’t.

Zechariah got what was promised (and I think it was more because of his wife than him) despite his reluctance to accept his angelic visit. How does one get messages from God anyway? Is there a special way God is supposed to show up? You’d think an angel showing up in church would get some attention. And you would think an angel showing up in church and talking to the pastor would get some more attention – it’s the way we think: the leaders always get the good stuff…

God isn’t intimidated by pastors, priests, politicians, or the popular. Those who come to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11). But God will also do what He says He will do. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: [has] he said, and shall he not do it? or [has] he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23.19 KJV)

Zechariah, perhaps, had become cynical. Ministry can do that. Mary on the other hand, minding her own business, had found grace. And in that grace, she later found her espoused, Joseph, was looking into divorce. God calls us to believe whether anyone else does or not…

And what am I supposed to believe God for? His presence, His power, His passion, and patience for me as His creature. When God speaks, I am to listen, and obey; no matter. That’s what I am trying to do…

Father, in all that I am asking you for, may I listen for the answer like an old man wishing for a son, or the young peasant-girl who found out she garnered Your favor. May I be quick to listen, quick to believe, and quick to obey the things You say to me, and the things You tell me to do. It’s not the how, it’s not the why; it’s I need You God! Amen

Money Blood

12/28/2016

Revelation 5.9 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. – St. John

If you want to purchase something, you have to have some medium with which to pay. Duh, Paul! Everyone knows that! Yes, but did you know that Jesus bought people from every tribe, language, and people, and nation with His blood? Think about that for a moment. Jesus used His life-blood to buy me. I am His. He purchased me. He owns me.

That ought to shed new light today on who I am and what I do. That ought to shift my thinking about how I live. I have been purchased by Jesus to serve God. Revelation 5.10 explains that those who were/are purchased will reign on the earth. There was/is a purpose to the purchase.

I looked up the term, blood money. I found that blood money is money that someone gets from the death of someone else. Blood money is not a pretty term; it tends to be toward profiting from someone’s death. Like money paid to someone to kill another. Murder for hire. That sort of thing.

Judas Iscariot profited from the murder of Jesus Christ. He went to the religious rulers of the day and asked for money in exchange for information about Jesus. It worked, they paid him thirty pieces of silver for his work. He earned blood money.

But little did Judas know that Jesus Himself was offering up blood money for His own death. Jesus knew what He was doing. Judas didn’t. Jesus was buying people back from death by offering up Himself to die.

I think one of the things that turns people off about the Gospel story is the blood. I think we think we’re too advanced for stuff like that. We don’t quite know what to think of bloodshed. I think we think it all could have been done some other way. I think we underestimate things of old and why what was, was. You don’t take down a fence before you know why it was put up.

Blood is the nth. There is nothing on earth more valuable than blood – just ask the one about to die. But human blood does only some; God’s blood does it all. The magnitude of Jesus doing what He did ought to make us sit down in wonder and exclaim in amazement: Huh! The value of a life is in a life. In Jesus’ case the value of His life was the value of His death and why He did what He did – allowing Himself to be subjected to the foolishness of man so that He could bring some of them to the wisdom of God.

Today, I said, Huh! I said it all over again as I pondered what (and why) Jesus did for me by pouring out His blood – His life – for me. And I thought again of what it takes to bring someone from death to life – it takes blood. In amazement and wonder: Huh!

Father, I am purchased, I am owned. Someone did for me that which I could never, ever do. Thank You. Amen.

Ladyship

12/26/2016

2 John 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. – St. John

Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain was known as the Iron Lady; the old girl was unbending in her administration of her job, ideology, and rule. Maggie, as she was informally known, was one tough broad in a world full of men and the slimy world of politics. It takes a certain kind to be a politician, and to be a woman, in the midst of that world, requires a toughness that defies belief. The Iron Lady fought against an ideology beyond an Iron Curtain. Tough times require tough leaders.

Alas, Thatcher, merely a woman, a human, eventually, like all humans do, passed on and away.  She faithfully served her monarchy and the British people, and despite the attacks from without and within, she prevailed. Perhaps being iron-willed is a necessary ingredient in leaders of both genders.

John the apostle (acquainted with iron himself) addressed a letter to a church in an undisclosed ancient location as: Dear Lady. John may have been using some sort of code language, but it’s important that we note that of all the stuff written in the Scripture, only here in 2 John is a church addressed as a Lady.

Lady-ship is mostly lost on modern western culture. That isn’t to say there aren’t ladies, but it is to say that lady-ship isn’t as admired these days as it once was. Beauty, wit, and charm are sought after, but lady-ship is somewhat dusty, musty, and underutilized. I do have a question: do you think of the Church you go to as dear Lady? John would have. The Church is a Lady supposed to be adorned with truth, grace, and love. Hmmm… If our churches don’t have that, what do they have? What do we call them?

Lady-ship ought to be grace, and elegance in a world desperately in need of something other than what our world holds forth as something to be admired and aspired. The Church ought to be that which is set apart to where the world takes notice and wonders what makes her, her.

Modern men aren’t really into the Bride-of-Christ thing, they get squeamish at the bride concept; however, they seem to have no problem calling warships and other machines (no matter their size or use) her. The greatest group of people on the face of the earth ought to at least garner the nickname Lady. The world is in desperate need of ladies (and we don’t mean the kind you find on the backstreets of cities or in the truck stops…)

A true lady is a leader. She is endowed with wisdom, grace, truth, love, godliness, and all the virtues of virtue. But lest we throw our pearls to pigs, we need to remember that no matter what John called the churches he was aware of, the rest of the world has little use for church-ladies as it strives and hurtles downward toward the lowest common denominator.

Try as I might, I’m going to accept my local Lady full of broken and fallen people in search of a Savior to meet their needs and equip them for ministry. I will pray that we rise to the moniker Lady despite who we are, and how we are. The Church isn’t perfect, she is, however, called.

Father, may we be the Church and may we display Your grace and truth to the world around us no matter what they think of us; or call us. May I be part of the solution in helping a lost world see the light You have called Your Church, Your Bride. Amen

Arresting God

12/23/2016

John 18.4-6 4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” 5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. – St. John

It’s not like John was a Bible scholar; he was just a man who possessed a deep and unique relationship with Jesus. To my knowledge, John never went to seminary. He probably was only schooled as a boy in the rabbinical offerings of his local synagogue, but other than that, he was just a fisherman, along with all of what comes along with that trade: smelly hands and clothes, tolling long hours through the night in search of a catch, trying to make a living as a business man. Competition. Customers. Compensation.

But John, knew Jesus. John knew Jesus and saw Jesus and presented Him to us by what he experienced with Jesus. John saw Jesus differently.

John was there that night Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane; and John heard Jesus say, “I am He.” We note that in the narrative there is no exclamation point: Jesus didn’t say “I AM HE!”; He simply said, “I am He.” John said when Jesus said this, all of the men who came to arrest Him, drew back and fell to the ground. When you come to arrest God, better be careful what you seek to do.

John is the only gospel writer to address the issue of the, drawing back and falling down. Matthew omitted it. Mark (Peter’s gospel) doesn’t mention it. And Dr. Luke, Mr. Detail, didn’t include it either. But John did and he did for good reason: John, defends the deity of Christ. It’s not that the others don’t, but John is the only gospel writer to overtly deal with the deity of Christ. The others deal with His messiah-ship to Israel; and His human ancestry. John is the only one who says:

“In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” (John 1.1)

The mere humans who came to do Jesus ought that night, had no idea who they were dealing with. John, and only in hindsight, got it – Jesus was not only God’s Son, He was God. That makes people uncomfortable and that makes lots of people draw back and fall down in their understanding of Who God is and what it is He desires to do with us.

Our belief is acceptable to us when we’re comfortable with it: a baby in a manger, wise men, a star, angels and shepherds. But when God shows up as He does in the life of every human, every day, one of two things happen: either (a: we draw back and fall down in disbelief; or (b: we step forward and fall down in worship… Our attempts to arrest God are futile.

You know though, what does arrest God is: faith. What pleases God is: faith. What brings all of God into all of us is: faith. It isn’t Christmas – or Easter; it’s faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Hebrews 11.6) To arrest God, one must come armed with faith…

Father, we silly humans think we have such power and strength but in reality we are poor and naked, wretched, and blind. Give us faith today to see You, to know You and to trust You. May my faith, arrest You in Your heavenly governance to come alongside me and help me. I pray this in Your holy, and unarrestable Name! Thank You for what You are doing! Amen

Live Believingly

12/21/2016

John 11.25-26 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

John 9,10, and 11 are pivotal passages in the gospel. In chapter 9 Jesus gives sight to a man born blind. Lot’s of hoopla around that one – especially since He healed on the Sabbath. Chapter 10 is Jesus describing who He is and claiming the He and the Father are one. More hoopla and the selecting of stones to throw. And in Chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Wow.

One quick side note: Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus himself would raise Himself from the dead. Resurrections always requires God…do the math.

Now, Jesus also says some astounding things in these three chapters. In chapter 9 He tells the man to whom sight is given, when he asked who the Messiah was: “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” (John 9.37) In chapter 10 He says: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10.27-30)

And in chapter 11 He says the above: I am the resurrection and the life…But here, He also queries Martha: Do you believe this?”  It’s a powerful question and one I think all of us should ponder in our days, ways, and societal haze: Do you believe this? Well, do we?

Belief is the cornerstone of our faith. We either belief and are saved, or we don’t, and are damned. Jesus said: The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. So, death isn’t the separator; belief is. Death is a symptom of unbelief. Whoevuh doan believe: die. The Scriptures asked me again this morning: Do you believe this? My answer makes all the difference.

I’m not only to believe, but also to live believingly. Jesus said that: whoever lives by believing in Me… So, belief is not only a noun, but also a verb. Belief requires us (me) to live a certain way. Belief requires me to behave according to what I hold in my heart. My behavior doesn’t cause my belief – that’s Pharisaic; legalistic. My belief causes my behavior: I do what I do because of what I believe. That’s relationship.

Father in Heaven, fill me with Your Spirit today as I walk in my belief in Jesus the Messiah and live believingly. May all of who I am and do spring from my belief in the One who said: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  Lord, I do! Amen

My Food

12/18/2016

John 4.34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

When reading Scripture, there is a balance between what is written and what to do. The good news is the Scriptures were written by the Holy Spirit as He moved upon the lives of those who wrote them. So, then, two things: 1, we’re to seek what to do by what is written, and 2, and what is written will give us direction as to what to do.

I read Jesus’ words today and asked myself: what is my food? Now, Jesus wasn’t saying He never ate food, but He was saying that the true purpose of His life went way beyond the consumption of food and drink. By contrast, my life tends to be toward my next client meeting, and what we’ll eat or drink; Jesus however, was so focused on His Father, and His will, that He always kept His concentration there.

Where is my concentration? What is my food?

Jesus could say that His food was the will of the Father because He knew where He was from and what He was supposed to do. I haven’t reached that degree of focus; but I want to.

It doesn’t have to be that difficult. It simply boils down to the thoughts and intents of the heart. And today, in all my ways, can I, will I, keep my acknowledgment on God? What is keeping me from doing that? When or how do I get to that place where I too can say, my food is to do the will of the Father. Is there even an expectation that I do so?

I think the answer lies in the words, ‘my food’ and how I live out my moments my day. I don’t think there is an expectation that I do what Jesus did, but I also don’t think there would be objection from my Savior if I did. My food is my food. And My food is whatever it is that keeps me centered and focused on the will of the Father. A good friend of mine quoted Galatians 6.4-5 today out of the Message paraphrase:

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

In other words, My Food is my food but it’s not about performance, it’s about friendship. It’s not about emulation, it’s about love. God, how can the expression of my love for You today feed that part of me that wants to do what You’ve given me to do and to sink myself into just that? That I think is the question.

I don’t eat my food from your plate or even Jesus’ plate. But I do eat from that which satisfies my soul in the quest of knowing God and serving Him. My food is that which energizes me to live for the will and sake of Him who called me, and Him who took my place so that I can serve Him who called me… no rocket science necessary…

Father, in things great or small today, may I keep my focus on You and even my small ways may I find my true fulfillment not in food or drink or things of this world, but in the ‘consumption’ of doing what it is You’ve called me to do, and finding pleasure in that alone. Amen