Thursday, December 31, 2020

When the Light Dawns

 

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself!  Such testimony is not valid.”  Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself.  For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.  You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.  And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone.  The Father who sent me is with me.  Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact.  I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”  “Where is your father?” they asked.  Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is.  If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”  John 8:12-19

There is, undoubtedly, a disconnect between knowing about someone and knowing someone.  I know a lot about Abraham Lincoln.  However, despite what my grandchildren think about how old I am, I never knew him.  In the same way, I never knew George Washington, Copernicus, Nero, or Adam. 

This disconnect, between knowing about and the intimacy of knowing is the hinge upon which much misunderstanding hangs, and particularly so in the church of Jesus Christ.  Many people know about Jesus and have read about God.  Less know Him intimately.  The Pharisees were religious leaders and common sense says they should have had an intimate knowledge of God.  Yet, Jesus’ final words to them in this exchange is an indictment of their religion ABOUT God attempting to replace relationship WITH God.  It speaks of the Pharisees’ spiritual blindness., which was at the foundation of why these religious leaders were an ill-fit for their job. 

Everything, literally, in matters of faith, is dependent on knowing God intimately.  You cannot pray, give, work-for, worship, or be a witness in any adequate sense until there is a vital and growing relationship with God.  This is “first base” in having a walk which is worthy of being called a child of God. 

In baseball it is elemental to step up to the plate and be ready for the pitcher to throw the ball in your direction.  Being “ready” means you’re committed to swinging your bat at the ball to hit it onto (or over) the playing field.  That is the first “step” in being a hitter, as surely as it is the basic understanding about stepping up to a relationship with God.  Just as a player makes himself available to enter the game, one who would begin to know God steps up to the place where God throws the ball of relationship.  God did that with Moses, calling from a burning bush; Moses stood on holy ground that day.[1]  God did it with young Samuel, calling him in the middle of the night; Samuel answered, speak LORD, your servant is listening.[2]

All the people we read about in Scripture who got to know God intimately did so because their hearts were open to God’s ways, and their minds focused on staying ready to be used.  Because God does not change in character it is no different today for you and me. 

For You Today

Getting to know God (and not just about Him) is all about starting with Jesus.  He is the one who stands at home plate, waiting for your appearance.  Knowing God comes from investing your life (past, present, and all eternity) in knowing Jesus.  That’s when He who is the light of the world will begin to make sense to your heart and soul.  You won’t be just another Pharisee knowing about God; you’ll know him as one friend knows another.

And here’s the bottom line:  It’s your turn at the plate; are you ready?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title imageRussell Brownworth (own work)  W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on this text see An Uncomfortable Answer from the Whirlwind and Heart's Desire  



 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Heavens on Fire

 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends:  A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.  But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.  2 Peter 3:8-13

We are extremely near the end of time for year #2020, but that is nothing compared to the end of time for time.  And the comparison is the same for the events of both 2020 and the events that will flood God’s day of Judgment; 2020 has been more than challenging, but Judgment Day will have no parallel in its consequences.

Peter’s description of the heavens on fire and the elements melting away in the flames pictures a conflagration, the size of which is unimaginable.  For those who are unsure of what the future holds this is a painful, dangerous thought to entertain.  It’s not just the matter of death, or some pain, but the unknowable future; what if there really is life following this existence?  What if God really does hold us humans accountable?  What if?

Well, the what if is a certainty for those who know Jesus Christ as Lord, says the big fisherman, Peter, and we look forward to the new heavens and earth God has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. 

So, preacher, when will all this take place?  Have you got a prediction like that nutcase standing on the street corner downtown, waving his sign?  No, I don’t have a sign, and God has not chosen to tell us the ETA on our GPS.  But what God has chosen to tell us is to be prepared so, when it does happen, we won’t be like those surprised and losing all hope of eternity.

There are those who argue that, since it hasn’t happened for thousands of years, its not a concern for this week…or even their lifetime.  But that is just a matter of Biblical ignorance.  Peter tells us that God is not a slave to clocks or calendars.  God is on His own schedule, and the reason for this time of awaiting Christ’s return is God’s patience.  God wants all humans to be saved, sins forgiven, souls secured for eternity.  But the very mention of judgment, of the heavens on fire, is that there are those who reject, and will continue to reject God’s offer of forgiveness.

God is patiently waiting, but that will end at some point.  Frankly, if you die before the Lord returns, Scripture tells us there will be resurrection day.  And, more precisely, there will two resurrections(see Revelation 20).  The first resurrection will be of those who died faithfully believing in Christ.  The second resurrection is of those who rejected the offer of salvation by simply refusing to confess their sins and the fact that they are estranged from their Creator.  Listen to how the Apostle John describes that first and second resurrection:


And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it.  The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.  I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne.  And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead.  And all were judged according to their deeds.  Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire.  This lake of fire is the second death.  And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:11-15

For You Today

The promises of God in Scripture (not what you feel, or think is right, but God’s Word), are certain.  Some are difficult to hear, such as judgment day.  But that is only so if you haven’t accepted Christ; to those who have the promises are life!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!


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Title imagevia Pixabay.com   W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this text see End of the Road and Faith or Terror?   



 

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Reason to Sing; the Comforter is Near

 

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Sing for joy, O heavens!  Rejoice, O earth!  Burst into song, O mountains!  For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.  Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”  “Never!  Can a mother forget her nursing child?  Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?  But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!  Isaiah 49:13-15

Most preachers are always on the verge of saying too much (at least, this preacher).  And, contrary to the stereo-mistype, it isn’t due to being in love with the sound of their own voices; rather it is the excitement and urgency of communicating eternal truth to those who are eager to hear it.  What God’s people want is a word from their Lord, and it matters little the messenger.  Hearing from Heaven is the point.

For the past 9 months I’ve felt a little pregnant; the ever before us specter of COVID19, with all its’ malevolence, has been a foreground, growing fetus from Hell.  It is impossible to feel “normal” or have a routine worship service.  Those of us who are impaled on the Spirit of God’s pulpits, called to speak His Word, are compelled to face the uncomfortable truth in the room.  The Virus is one of those uncomfortable, but unavoidable truths.  And, like Paul, woe to the preacher who speaks platitudes and placebos when he should be proclaiming, thus saith the Lord[1].

The good news in this is that God is near to those who will hear of the uncomfortable truth, heed the words of faith, and respond to the call of the hour.  

According to Isaiah, God’s people felt forsaken, but God reassured them they were like a babe in his mother’s arms with their Lord.  Babies can get frightened at a loud sound or the discomfort of a diaper long overdue to be changed.  But the comforting, loving touch of an infant’s mother can soothe a troubled little one. 

That is the prophet’s message; God is nearby.  God’s comforting Holy Spirit is watching over every jot and tittle of His promises.

In the final analysis there is one aspect of this pandemic season that is comfort for this uncomfortable truth:  no sickness can bring enough darkness to extinguish the light of God’s love. 

And, for me, despite the discomfort within this preacher at having to talk about the conditions of the day, the Comforter is near enough to keep that truth whispered in my ear…and He does!

For You Today

If you’ve really had it, up to your ears and overflowing with 2020’s COVID grim reaper, and you’re so looking forward to getting on to 2021, remember, the virus doesn’t have a calendar.  But God does!  And when it comes to keeping His promises about comforting His people in their troubles, He’s right on time!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title imagevia Pixabay.com   W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this text see Forgotten   



 

Monday, December 28, 2020

Beauty for Ashes

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.    He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.  To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.  In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.   Isaiah 61:1-3

If there was a poster child for the year 2020 it would have to look somber, depressed, hopeless, cynical, frustrated, broken, homeless, jobless, penniless, and wearing a mask to cover it all.

The first century was much like our year in 2020.  It was a dark place which held little righteousness; evil seemed to rule the day.  The whole idea of goodness and a life of joy seemed to be on lockdown.  The restaurants of hope and joy had the doors locked and windows barred.  And it seemed to grow darker by the moment.  And then, to Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men, and even Herod the Great, the heralds of Heaven, bathed in thunder, and clouds of light announce:  Good News! 

Isaiah predicted it seven centuries before Jesus was born.  Then, when Jesus stood in the synagogue[1] reading that same prophecy of Isaiah, He concluded his reading, not with, the word of God for us the people of God; rather He said, He who stands before you right now, is the fulfillment of every bit of Good News you could have hoped for – I Am is here.

What Isaiah predicted Jesus offered to the small group gathered at the synagogue in Nazareth.  The kind of Good News Jesus held forth would be like a miraculous cure for all diseases, including COVID-19 and old-age.  It would be complete pardon for every prisoner.  It would be recompense for every loss, sorrow, or fear.  This Good News is release, freedom, life, and abundance of joy.  It is blessing, rather than mourning, and praise instead of despair.  It was Good News because it was God’s promise of a crown of beauty given in exchange for the ashes of our grieving.



He seems to be looking in different directions at the same time, both forward to the coming new year, and backward to peruse the events of the year just past.  Those who are more cynically-minded perceive Janus as
In just a few days we will turn another corner.  Some will want to trash their 2020 calendar; some might want to blow it up with a stick of dynamite.  I think I will treasure mine.  I say this because I want to be a little like Janus, the mythical god for which January is named.  Janus has two faces, one looking East, the other West.  

He seems to be looking in different directions at the same time, both forward to the coming new year, and backward to peruse the events of the year just past.  Those who are more cynically-minded perceive Janus as two-faced, unable to truly speak his mind, only offering mixed messages.  Those who would see this in a more positive sense would see the backward-look as learning the lessons of the previous year, while looking forward is a better hope for next year.  Lessons learned, and wisdom applied for life.  I will choose that for my memory of this year’s legacy.

And that may be the whole issue for the spirit of heaviness in which 2020 has been bathed; how will we see it, and how will we choose to remember what to do with it?  Is there anything positive that we will take from this year’s hard lessons?  Well, apart from pop-psychology hackneyed phrases, the truth of one such cliché does come to mind:

It is always darkest before dawn

I have no idea where that saying comes from, but I know (on a first-name basis) some people who could testify to the truth of its message.  It’s a long list, but let’s just share several:

Adam…must have experienced a deep valley of depression and questioning the 2020 kind of darkness when he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.  He’d never really been on his own before, and now the produce came from the ground only by the sweat of his brow[2].  Adam’s darkness revealed life can be tough!

Noah…spent the better part of a year in a dark, smelly boat, cooped-up with fifteen thousand animals that made the ark smelly.  Genesis (Ch 8,9) tells us that after it was over Noah stepped out into a world without people.  He and his little family were totally alone.  That’s a good simile for living in the quarantine of 2020 darkness.

Abraham  …had several periods darkness.  God had promised an heir.  But Abraham kept getting older and older.  He was approaching 100, and his wife was no spring chicken either.  What was God up to?  You don’t have children when you’re in the old folk’s home!  Didn’t God know there are no nursery websites to help with giving Senior Adult baby showers?  And then, when Isaac was finally born, God told Abraham to take the boy to the mountain and kill him for a sacrifice.  Talk about darkness!  (you usually don’t think about sacrificing kids until they’re teenagers!)

Jonah…was disobedient about fulfilling his prophetic ministry role.  He got a holy submarine ride and several days in the darkness to think about his vows.

Israel(Joshua 7) the whole nation kicked back in shock after being whipped at Ai. They didn’t know Achan had sinned.  They only knew they were out in the dark.

Moses…was no stranger to the darkness syndromeAfter being raised in a king’s castle he spent forty years as a convicted murderer, working for his father-in-law, tending sheep on the back-side of the darkness of nowhere(Exodus 2).

David(1 Sam 22) the boy-king slept in the caves of Adullam while King Saul hunted for him.  He had spent his life trying to serve God and king…now the king wanted him dead, and God seemed nowhere in sight; it was all darkness.

Solomon…spent a lifetime searching for ways to get past the darkness of a life of affluence.  He couldn’t do it.  In frustration he recorded Ecclesiastes, the definitive key to how to live a frustrated life in the darkness of materialism.

Elijah…had his darkest moments after defeating the false prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel.  He was outnumbered 850 to 1, and God gave him the victory over the wild bunch.  It was one of the greatest spiritual victories of his career as a prophet.  The next instant we find him sitting under juniper tree pondering suicide (1 Kgs 19)

John the Baptist…found himself in a dark pit too; John 11 tells us he was wondering if he’d made a mistake in baptizing Jesus.  Was He really the Messiah?   He needed to know; John was living in the darkness of doubting his entire ministry.  

Judas…was a bad guy to us (who names his firstborn Judas these days?)  Nevertheless, Judas was chosen to come alongside Jesus with the other 11.  Judas had his toughest moments trying to understand Jesus’ motives.  As a zealot, waiting for the kingdom to be established, Judas must have been severely frustrated, proving that fighting God tooth-and-nail is the darkest of darkness.

The Disciples…(bless their little misguided hearts) spent seven long weeks in the upper room after the resurrection.  Jesus told them to wait, and then he disappeared in the clouds.  What a wonderful way to change the world, eh? 

Waiting – doesn’t that describe the darkness of 2020?

Peter… was the original action figure, always acting (especially before thinking). Toy makers of action biggies like G.I. Joe, Power-Rangers, and The Hulk, could make an Apostle Peter doll and market him to Christian parents.  The only problem is he’d have his foot in his mouth.  MatthewCh26 has Peter denying the Lord three times the night of Jesus’ arrest.  That had to have eaten-away at the walls of his stomach.  His darkness was from trying to figure out why it didn’t go like he thought it should.  His darkness was clothed in the question, why?  And every time he heard a rooster crowing it was like somebody locked on his midsection with a set of vice grips.

John Mark…left to go on the Great Adventure with Paul & Barnabas, an exciting mission trip to establish churches, and preach the gospel.  But John Mark chickened-out when the going got tough; he went home to Momma.  John Mark had a heart for God, and I am certain there were many times he awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, remembering his failure.  It would be many years before light came to put away that darkness and he would write his Gospel.

John…was the Apostle whom Jesus loved, and who leaned on Jesus’ side during the Last Supper.  He became the beloved Pastor at Ephesus.  He preached the Word with boldness and effectiveness.  At age ninety he got to retire, but not to a condo in Miami beach!  John was imprisoned, exiled to a rock quarry on an island off the coast of Greece.  He spent his golden years hauling lime rock for the emperor. 

Darkness hardly describes this agony!

            And then, there was the New Testament Jeremiah……

Paul…who, when converted, immediately began to experience opposition – from within the church.  He spent 14 years in the desert seminary learning about God’s plans for the church.  Then came times of severe darkness

·       He was beaten (as Jeremiah). 

·       He was called a traitor (as Jeremiah). 

·       He was imprisoned and died for the cause (as did Jeremiah). 

Paul’s life was spent on mission, filled with times of battling the darkness.

Now, I do not consider myself worthy of even being mentioned with the previous bunch.  However, all the guys in that previous bunch lived two thousand years ago, and I’m still breathing, standing here before you as an appendix to what I’ve been trying to say about this exchange of beauty for ashes.  I want to share with you that there is meaning in what all of us have been forced to focus on this past year; it is the exchange of 2020 darkness for God’s Heavenly Blessing!

I’m not Peter or Paul, but here’s my darkness:

I’m simply a pastor, having served 9 churches in the last 4 decades.  None of those churches were even remotely perfect; it’s a good thing, because each of those churches also had an imperfect pastor.  It’s like that in all of life.  Life is exceedingly NOT PERFECT…it is messy, fun, disorderly, exhilarating, and painful, and you hardly ever know what it’s going to be when you wake up in the morning.

It was that way twenty years ago when we moved to North Carolina from Florida.  We were called to serve a church in Thomasville (messy, fun, exhilarating, disorderly, and, at times, painful).  That ended 15 years ago shortly after Christmas. 

My season of darkness started shortly after because I was a pastor without a church.  If you’ve ever meet one of those creatures, be kind, because they’re treading dark waters.  (I could add, be careful…they may bite when disturbed).

Months into seeking God’s will for where (and if) I would ever serve again, the problem was evident and predictable; each time a place seemed to open-up, it closed faster than a slap in the face. 

I was living in the darkness of questioning, wondering if I’d ever pastor or preach again.  Russell felt like Jeremiah in the pit, and I wanted some answers.  I wanted some sense of purpose during what seemed like wasted time.  (Can we say 2020?)  Give me some rhyme and reason, Lord!

I must confess that may have been one of the darkest times of despair in my soul.  When a person has been assured time and again that the calling upon your life is to serve God, having no place to serve is like drinking sand when you’re dehydrated.  Now, I never got to Elijah’s pity party…never wanted to end it all…but the darkness did make me wonder if God was just ready to bring me home.

And then, a spiritual version of 6° of separation kicked in.  Elizabeth had a position as Administrative Assistant to Pastor Don Lloyd in High Point.  The D.S. was a frequent visitor to that church, and, six-months into my blackout of darkness, the dots began connecting.  God provided a place for me to serve…and here we are in the 16th year of being a recovering Baptist-now-Methodist.

Helen Steiner Rice sometimes connects with what ails my soul in times of darkness:

And Oh!  What a blessing

To know there are reasons

And to find that our soul

Must, too, have its seasons.

"Bounteous Seasons"

And "Barren Ones," too.

Times for rejoicing

And times to be blue.

But meeting these seasons

Of dark desolation

With strength that is born

Of anticipation

That comes from knowing

That "autumn-time sadness"

Will surely be followed

by a "Springtime of Gladness."

Considering all the Biblical examples of the darkness-turned-light in the lives of David, Paul, John, and others, it would be difficult not to see how it is always darkest just before light.

And, so, to the point…what is there about the darkness of 2020 that suggests what the light of 2021 might be like?

Is it just that, in the darkness of so much COVID-19 sickness and death, injustice, hatred and fear, it can’t get any worse?  Is that the light?  I trust that’s not the case; hanging-on to shaky ground is not moving towards the light; it’s just another kind of darkness.

Is the light of 2021 that, in the darkness of evil, we might be compelled into the light of world-wide revival?  Could be!

Is it that, in the darkness of days like Noah, it might be time for the light of the coming of Jesus Christ’s return to finally set everything that was wrong…right?

None of us is prophet-enough to predict what will happen next; only God knows when Christ will come.  But, like understanding the fields white unto harvest, we can say this:  we are ready for a little light…and when it’s been so dark, that light God gives will be one beautiful exchange for the heaviness of our grief, a crown of beauty for a garment of ashes!

Let’s give Isaiah the last word to this moment:

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.  For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.  Isaiah 9:2

It’s been dark for far too long; are you ready for a great light?

Our Prayer

Father, God of Heaven’s Armies, we are a people walking in great darkness for far too long.  Come, shed light on our spirit of heaviness; grant us a garment of praise, exchange our ashes for your crown of beauty.

We wait upon you, O Lord,

If you tarry so that the darkness must prevail for a little longer, our lives are in your hands; may You fill up the darkness until the dawn breaks.

If it is that your light will begin to reveal renewal and revival, let our lives so shine that others may see.

If your holy Child, Jesus will return now, so the entire world may be clothed in your glory and splendor, and darkness be ever banished, then, with the Revelator, the Disciple you loved, we cast our petition, even so, come, Lord Jesus.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father. 

Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 

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