Monday, January 11, 2021

Good News

Sing to the Lord; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.  Psalm 96:2

This advice from the Psalmist is hard to hear while 2020 is still ringing in our ears.  After all, how do you say Good News when people are being carted off to the hospital and the morgue is so full there’s a waiting list?  On top of that the November election results are, according to whichever extreme point of view you choose,

a.     A fraudulent stealing of the presidency

b.     Under attack by unscrupulous liars

Now, before your eyes glaze over with O man, I can’t stand to hear one more bad thing about Coronavirus or the election mess…this verse has much more Hallelujah than Hell for us today.  The last two words the Psalmist offers should give us a hint:  he saves!

So, what does that have to do with the mess that characterized 2020, and seems to offer little hope for 2021?  Where’s the good news?  If He saves, to what are we being saved?  The short answer is, we are being saved from ourselves, our selfishness, and (to call a spade a spade), we’re being saved from our sin, and being saved to His presence, where there is safety, peace, and joy forevermore. 

Now, short answers are always, by nature, somewhat simplistic, or surface, and we need to dig a little deeper.  So here’s a thesis-bone for us to pick on this morning, about the kind of mess this world is in:

2020 was/is a test

…and that’s Good News

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  James 1:2-4

Jesus warned his disciples that in this world we’d always have trouble, even if we stick closer to him than a shadow.  Jesus probably gave that an eyeroll when He said it, because, sometimes, we have trouble because we are following Jesus. 

But here’s the good news about being that kind of follower who gets clobbered by COVID19, elections that seem to be controlled by Darth Vader, a jealous co-worker who lies to the boss about you, or a bully who picks on you for being a Christian.  Jesus knew it would be that way, and He’s already made a pathway for the Good News to travel your way:

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

So, knowing we are always being tested in one way or another, we have a strong hope in which to face 2021.  And, that being settled, we should let our endurance, our patience, grow in any opportunity for great joy. 

The question for the follower of Jesus isn’t what’s happening, and why do I have to suffer like Job; it’s more a matter figuring-out of how I can recognize tribulation, or testing, and live so my walk with Christ will bear fruit!

And isn’t it grand that we have that question before the house this morning?  Because my very good friend, Apostle Peter has more than political talking points for that; he has a few life-handles for us to grab-on and grow in our patience.

Here are three of the handles:

Life Handle #1 in troubled times - Humility

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.  1 Peter 5:6-7

If there is one person who knew something about learning humility it was Peter.  You remember him; he was always the one speaking-up, messing-up, and giving Jesus a case of indigestion.  Peter eventually learned humility when he stood before Jesus after the resurrection and found out he was forgiven.

The reality about this in troubled days like we’ve seen recently is that the power of God is ready to go to work on what ails us in our homes, businesses, schools, and government…if we’ll just get down on our knees.  Remember the formula:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Life Handle #2 in troubled times – Spiritual Warfare

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.  1 Peter 5:8-9a

Spiritual warfare is a matter of trust and worship.  I know people who worship fishing; everything else comes second.  The same can be said for many other things, but when anything comes before God, a follower of Jesus Christ is not really a follower or disciple, he’s merely a fan.  He likes Jesus, but not enough to worship Him.  And that sets us up for that prowling evil one who’s looking for a Christian dinner. 

If you’re going to be ready for spiritual warfare in troubled times, your prayer life, study of Scripture, worship patterns, and sacrificial love of people will have to look more like first century, not twenty-first.

Life Handle #3 in troubled times – Family Strength

Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.  1 Peter 5:9b

This last life handle is connection with God’s people…particularly the ones in your own home, and church, and community – but also the church around the world.  The church is taking a huge hit in the organizational sense…buildings are closed, programs are on-hold, and the budgets are getting tighter.  But the worship and witness of the true church is unaffected. 

Here are two principles about that:

·       You can take the believers out of the buildings – they won’t miss a beat worshipping and serving the King of Kings

·       If you take make believe believers, pretenders out of their buildings and programs, you’ve taken away the only Jesus they know.

Anyone who knows me knows I love words.  I love reading and learning ways to communicate, so I can do a better job of sharing God’s Word.  I even belong to several websites devoted to helping your vocabulary.  I get a new word every day.  One day this past week I got a new word that (I’m certain) most of you have never encountered.  It is a slang expression heard mostly in Great Britain.  Are you ready for this?  The word is coddiwomple.  It’s so alien to the U.S. brand of English my spell checker didn’t recognize it.  It means to travel purposefully toward an as-yet unknown destination.

This is exactly what Paul wrote to the Hebrew believers about serving without seeing first:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

An example of this word would be the meaning of faith.  It was by coddiwomple Abraham obeyed God.  God told Abraham to go offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  What did Abraham do…he coddiwompled…loaded the backpack with firewood, a sacrifice knife, and headed out for Mt. Moriah!  It wasn’t an easy time of it, but his faithful moving towards the mountain (coddiwompling) meant the power of God was carrying him through.

Peter’s life-handles for troubling times, humility, staying on alert in spiritual warfare, and counting on the family of God…these are the ways you do what the Psalmist said, to sing to the Lord, praise His name, and proclaim the Good News each day, building your endurance and experience the assuring peace and joy of God’s presence each day.

Listen to what Peter said would come of all that:

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.  All power to him forever! Amen.  1 Peter 5:10-11

Beloved, while COVID and the Political and economic crises are cleaning everyone’s clock in the U.S. and around the world, believers who have learned to coddiwomple to God’s will are excited and looking forward to His next chapter.  For us, that is Good News!  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Our Prayer

Father, help us to never lose sight of the direction to which you’ve said we’re marching…all the way to Zion, that city on a splendid hill, where there is a temple made without hands, and the doors are open and unguarded, and the light of your welcoming glory are always on!

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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