Time to Wake Up

Monday, September 4, 2023

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis.  This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Revelation 3:1 

In Great Britain, each year since 1974, an average of 85 churches closes their doors for the last time; they go out of business.  As a result, there is an abundance of church furnishings being sold to commercial enterprises.  Christening fonts are sold as bird baths.  Pews and screens are used as restaurant decorations, and stained-glass windows are now household ornaments. 

We shake our heads at 85 British churches closing; and then stare in amazement when we are told that more than double that number are closing each year in America.  We should not be surprised.  Nearly 90% of America's churches are either plateaued or declining in membership.  You cannot decline without somehow decaying, and, eventually deceasing!  Some would suggest that the Christian Church is dying for the lack of Christian living. 

Our text tells us that Christianity in the church and the individual Christian can die.  The programs and services can be staffed and performed, but without life.  The blower in the furnace is on, but the fire has long since been extinguished!  Someone has said that if the Holy Spirit left most churches today, she wouldn't be missed.  Let's look at a church that had that very problem.

A reputation for being alive suggests vitality and authority.  Sardis was built on the top of a  90^o cliff that was totally inaccessible from three sides.  There was only one gateway into the city; the residents felt safe.  They were prosperous, and lived in an impregnable fortress.  However, the city was conquered and destroyed twice in its history.  In BC 549 the Medes under Cyrus came right through the front gate while the guards slept.  The same thing happened in BC 218.  Antiochus the Great caught the guards napping, and waltzed right in the front door.  This ancient city had a reputation for being impregnable to military conquest, but it went to sleep, and the fall was great.  In the same way, Jesus speaks to the fellowship of Christians at Sardis – a group without financial hardship, or persecution – a church of successful people, and he says:  "Your reputation is that of being strong, impregnable -- you are badly mistaken!"

Jesus then cautions them to wake up:

Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.  Revelation 3:2-3

If you have ever pulled guard duty in the Army, you know it requires considerable effort to keep the eyelids in function-mode for four long hours.  There's just something about someone saying, "Stay awake!" that just makes you want to immediately go to sleep.

The sense of these verses is that ministry which was ongoing and vital at Sardis had waned; it was fading fast, and would soon die altogether.  Jesus warns them to shake-out of the lethargy and turn around. 

For You Today 

The message of Jesus to Sardis rings as strongly today as it ever has in history. 

If you had a heart on-fire for God, it’s time to rekindle it; blow on those embers before it’s too late!  If you were an evangelistic soul-winner, get busy in the neighborhood knocking on doors.  Don't let the ministry die! 

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Pixabay.com        Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

NEW!

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January 1, 2020

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.  And the sea was also gone.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.    I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever.”  And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”  And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”  And he also said, “It is finished!  I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End.   To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.  Revelation 21:1-6

There is a sense within that resonates with new.  Everyone loves the thought of replacing the old clunker we drive with something that smells fresh off the assembly line.  We would prefer a fresh hairstyle instead of the bad hair month in which we dwell.  A new recipe, new friend, new space, new job, or a new anything gives a sense of getting a chance to start fresh; who doesn’t love having a clean slate (as long as we can keep the good stuff we gained with the old slate).

If you look at John the Revelator’s metaphors, new soars out from the throne in every direction.  The “old” heavens and earth are history.  The sea (representing chaos and danger) are gone.  In their place we see the gift of New Jerusalem, a holy city, as fresh, innocent, and beautiful as a new bride.  The city is a gift from God Himself, Who is in the center of the city, guarantee of His desire to live with the people who dwell there.  It is a new thing, and it plucks the strings of joy for anyone who has seen the reality of the fading nature of earthly beauty and strength…and even breath.

New is something to which we all aspire; yet we cling to the old with a ferocity of which lions and wolves can only dream.  It is fear of the unknown that makes us cling to what we know, even in its present pain, rather than face uncertainty.  But even our clinging link with the past is a wisp of smoke that vanishes when we lean our full weight on it.  Nothing in this life outlasts death.  But the promise of God is that nothing in death can persist in His presence; even death gives way to new life. 

So the promise of all things new is a change, not merely (or even) of location from planet earth to some ethereal, heavenly cloud-walking, harp-strumming tedium of unsmiling, unfeeling, tea party-like formality of servitude around the throne; this promise is the one always new reality of joy unspeakable and full of glory! 

That’s how the apostle Peter described God’s new life:

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.                1 Peter 1:8

For You Today

Even just contemplating the notion of stepping out of the familiar into the unknown causes one to draw a deep breath; it’s hard to let go of what gives us comfort and stability.  But it’s hard to receive anything new if our hands are locked in a death grip on what we think we possess.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Laundry Time

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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.  “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.      I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light.  I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.  I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.  But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.  Hosea 6:4-7[2]

Robert Dale wrote in To Dream Again about the tendency of humans to take a deep breath and return to being sedentary once a crisis is in the rear-view mirror.  It’s part of the lifecycle of things.  Churches have life cycles, beginning with a dream God has placed in a heart, shared with others, and then becomes a reality.  The building phase (accumulating supplies, funds, and help) is the most exciting part of it all, as energy flows, a structure emerges, and then the final cherry on top – the day the new church is dedicated.  All the pews are in place, new paint on the walls, carpeting, pulpit and baptismal font ready to go!  The dedication service is followed by dinner on the grounds with speeches, and great hope for tomorrow. 

You really can’t hear it, but something happens when a crisis is resolved, or a great effort has produced a satisfying result…there is a collective group sigh…a deep breath of whew…there were times it looked like an impossibility…but here we are…it’s finally done!  The inevitable connection with the phrase finally done is the sound of a death knell for any church, business, family, or nation.  The truth is, accomplishments like building, membership campaign, meeting a budget, or any success, is merely an invitation to begin the next phase, to re-dream the dream!

Resting on laurels of past achievements is despising the purpose of the original dream.  In the case of Israel, Hosea pointed to God’s family perfunctorily going through the motions of serving/loving God, but ultimately having other things on their minds.  They said the right words, but there was no music in their hearts. 

A mentor of mine once said that the difference between failure and success is that successful people are willing to do those things failures want to avoid.  Hosea was a prophet who hung out Israel’s dirty laundry, and God was ready to teach them just how much they’d been avoiding the business of getting on with the dream of being a Godly people on mission to share the love of God with the rest of the world.  They’d been too busy building their own kingdoms to serve God.

For You Today

There is a temptation to pay more attention to life’s little urgent demands than engage in the eternal work of God’s kingdom.  Perhaps it’s time to re-dream the dream of serving.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com        Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] For another devotion on this topic see Broken Covenant or Latte Salute - Scottie Salute - Sermon Salute

The Frog Gets a Wake-Up Call

 

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Thursday, May 2, 2019

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea.  This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:  “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold.  I wish that you were one or the other!  But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!  You say, ‘I am rich.  I have everything I want.  I don’t need a thing!’  And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.  So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire.  Then you will be rich.  Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.  I correct and discipline everyone I love.  So be diligent and turn from your indifference.  “Look! I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.  Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.  “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”  Revelation 3:14-22

You know that old saw about finding the good in anyone?  It’s not in here.  In this vision of Revelation Jesus is dictating letters to John to the seven churches of Asia Minor.  When it comes to the church at Laodicea he’s got nothing good to say. 

The sticky part here is that when Jesus didn’t find something good to say about them, He didn’t follow my mother’s advice; He didn’t just keep his mouth shut.  Instead the letter is a scathing rebuke of a proud, content group, prancing around in their miserable wretchedness. 

There’s nothing good about lukewarm faith.  The story about the Frog in the Kettle is evidence enough; lukewarm water may feel comfortable to a frog placed in body-temperature water in a pot on the stove.  If the water was boiling he’d jump out like a rocket going off.  But if you raise the heat ever so slowly, the frog’s body will adjust to the temperature until he just sits there and cooks to death. 

Such is the picture of the church at Laodicea, cooking to spiritual death in their comfortable complacency.  They’ve got what they think they need, and no longer have any desire to engage in hot pursuit of following Jesus.  Like the fable about the emperor who was convinced his new invisible suit of clothes was the height of fashion, and pranced around naked for everyone to admire, the church at Laodicea was blinded by materialism and power bought with earthly riches.

So, what does Jesus do…cleans their clock, right?  He slashes and minces them up like a frog in a blender.  No…not at all.  Jesus, in a matter-of-fact tranquil tone informs them they’re on the wrong path, and warns them to repent, get hot for the Kingdom; He wants them to change their ways.  His crowning touch of mercy is to offer them friendship.  He tells them they’ve put him on the outside with their attitudes, but he’s standing at their door, knocking to come inside.

This is the kindness of our Lord…one who is patient and loving, willing to have open arms for the sinner-saint gone astray.  The invitation is always extended to come back!

For You Today

It’s easy to slip-into complacency.  There are a million excuses (I’m too old, too young, not trained, things in the way, fear, comfort, sickness…et al).  Every one of the excuses is tied to temptation, and each one raises the temperature of the water in the cooking pot.  So, wake up; it’s later than we think! 

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

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

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How to Wreck a Homecoming in One Easy Lesson

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Wednesday, November 14, 2018

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.  The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.  He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”  He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.  All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.  Then he began to speak to them.  “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”  Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.  “How can this be?” they asked.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb:  ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’  But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.  “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land.  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them.  He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon.  And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”  When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.  Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built.  They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.  

Luke 4:16-30(NLT)

It was the first time the hometown crowd saw the little boy they’d known, who was a carpenter-apprentice, now-turned preacher.  For someone who was accused of being a party guy Jesus really knew how to throw a wet towel over a homecoming!  And all it took was 11 words:  The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!  What Jesus said lit the crowd up, and they resorted to mob-violence, wanting to push him over the cliff.  He had simply announced that He, Jesus, Joseph and Mary’s son, was the Messiah – the one for which they’d been waiting.  Sermon, truth, and Lord…rejected!

I rained on a homecoming one time, but it took many more words than Jesus used.  I preached on how Jesus didn’t want to close the church down, even though it was happening all around us; hundreds of churches closing their doors every year.  And if we wanted the fine history of our old church to end with a whimper, all we had to do was sit back and rest on our laurels; the rest would take care of itself.  

The church had been declining for years, a history of squabbles, fired ministers and other terminal signs.  A lady who hardly knew me said as she was leaving after the service:  Well, I hope you’re happy; those people didn’t need to hear THAT!  I asked her what she would have said.  She replied:  Well, I’m not a preacher.  It was YOUR job to say something nice.  I replied as kindly as I could muster:  Ma’am, I’m supposed to say the TRUTH; “nice” has nothing to do with it.  I wish I could say she never spoke to me again, but she kept it up for the whole time I was pastor there.  It was an interesting 6-year minefield, trying to do the best, truthful thing for one who obviously despised the ground upon which I walked!

I’ve only just recently discovered what I missed those many years ago; there are some people you weren’t sent to reach…only endure.  That lady would have been part of Jesus’ lynching party if she’d been there.  (Come to think of it she did seem that old!).  Accordingly, she wouldn’t have heard or sensed anything positive from the likes of me, unless it was the kind of flattery that told her just what she wanted to hear – a lullaby that wouldn’t rock her religious cradle.  I wonder these days why I tried so hard to help her understand.

But Jesus certainly understood his words were going to cause trouble amongst the entrenched power brokers; he knew, if he told them the truth, it would cause trouble.  That’s what Isaiah said would happen to the Messiah, rejection from his own:

He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.  We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.  He was despised, and we did not care.  

Isaiah 53:3(NLT)

In some measure the people of Jesus’ hometown DID care; they cared about shutting-down the truth that hurts.  And, as Sonny and Cher Bono once sang, the beat goes on!

For You Today

Advent is nearly on our doorstep.  It’s a time for clearing the way of the LORD and opening the doors of our hearts to hear truth and receive the genuine message of hope for all peoples.  And this truth will come to us no matter how we may look to others, no matter how big we’ve messed it up with what we’ve done, or how messed up, prejudicial, selfish, or angry our thinking has been…if we have ears to hear.

So…don’t worry about whether your preacher says it like you wanted to hear; hear like Jesus is preaching truth to you; He IS, you know!   

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

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Learning to Be Out of Your Mind

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One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again.  Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat.  When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away.  “He’s out of his mind,” they said.  But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons.  That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”   Mark 3:20-22^(NLT)

It’s not hard to imagine the aloneness Jesus experienced.  The Pharisees thought he had a demon, and his family thought he was daft…out of his mind.  The family wanted to take him home for rest…the Pharisees wanted a more permanent solution.

And what was Jesus’ crime?  Doing the work of the Father with all his heart!

There are several motives here that are all related and tied together that caused both the religious leaders and Jesus’ family to want to get him to chill-out.  There is fear, apathy, complacency…all of which are crippling to ministry. 

While fear may not be the kind of evil we normally associate with the Pharisees, it is still the opposite of faith in God, and therefore just as damaging to our spirit.  It all says Jesus was wrong…and that is blasphemy.

As we learned last week, there is a pathway connected with sin (the opposite of faith).  It starts with a decision against God’s will – like Jesus’ family figuring Jesus was out of His mind – or the Pharisees diagnosing Him with a demon.  The decision is disobedience to God’s will and results in deeds which you shouldn’t do…but also the lack of deeds that you should do.  Whether it is complacency, apathy or fear, the pathway ends in the same place…death.  It is spiritual death…the disconnect between you and God.

Your spiritual life can stand a lot of assault; God has promised much strength through His Word, Prayer and the support of fellow believers.  One thing the Christian’s individual spiritual health cannot live with is our own apathy, fear, or complacency.  Here’s how the medical community describes a person steeped in apathy, they have the:  lack of will to go on and the inability to care about the consequences[2]

Apathy’s spiritual death looks like giving up, and not caring about it at all!

Now for the hard part – churches can grow apathetic as well.  The excuses are so many it just wouldn’t do to list them all…I’ve used them, and so have you.  The point is, if you can’t imagine why anyone would give up on Jesus when he was deep into His Father’s work, just look around and tell me about the people who have given up on Jesus’ church.  And then tell me how that apathy, fear, and complacency has crippled the church you love.

There were two apathetic churches in the final chapters of Holy Scripture to which Jesus spoke a particularly harsh word of condemnation; the first was the church at Sardis:

“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.  Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead.  I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.  Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly.  Repent and turn to me again.   If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. 

Revelation 3:1b-3^(NLT)

That was a dead church…they had lived on their reputation for so long they couldn’t even tell they were as lifeless as an empty sea shell.  Then there was Laodicea:

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold.  I wish that you were one or the other!  But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!  Revelation 3:15-16^(NLT)

This group of believers had grown so cold and indifferent, their complacent apathy was sickening to Jesus.

I have found in my own life that discouragement, tiredness and having plenty of excuses at my fingertips will lead to apathy and giving up. 

But that is not the way of Christ.  Rather than being complacent, living on yesterday’s memories, chewing on today’s excuses, we ought to be out of our minds in the same way Jesus was; we should be about the Father’s business, stop complaining and give everything we’ve got for the work of the Kingdom, no matter what anyone else is doing.

Out of our minds?  Yes, exactly…out of ours, and into the mind of the One who died for us.  Paul put it this way:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 2:5^(NLT)

Let the church say “Amen”!

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[1] Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] What is the Example of Apathy ^©Answers.com

Glory

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Thursday, June 7, 2018

The end of the world is coming soon.  Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers.  Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.  Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.  God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking?  Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.  All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.  1 Peter 4:7-11^(NLT)

Did Peter miss it?  He wrote that the end of the world was coming soon; did he misspeak himself?  Was he wrong?  Is Scripture somehow untrustworthy because the head of the Apostle’s group failed to prophesy accurately?  After all, in the days of ancient Israel the penalty for a prophet, one who spoke the Word of God, but didn’t have a 100% accuracy record…was stoning to death.  So, do we pick up a stone and bring Peter to the edge of town? 

Or is there an explanation we haven’t considered?

Well, for one thing, literally every person that was alive when Peter wrote those words is dead now – that happens in the course of 2,000 years.  For each of them, their world didn’t last more than several decades past the ink drying on Peter’s letter.  So, for each of the believers to whom Peter wrote, the world did end rather quickly; quickly in the sense that when they breathed their last (for some, perhaps that same day…others within a normal lifespan), it was over too quickly.  And it’s always too quickly, isn’t it?  Just ask anyone over 60 how quickly life seems to have slipped away.

But for all those to whom Peter wrote in the first century, the difference between the last breath, and the next moment is an instant, quickly, the twinkling of an eye.  One moment the body is alive, pulsating, experiencing – the next moment the spirit is gone!

The whole point with Peter’s prophecy about the world coming to an end IS a reality for every human being; we will all die someday.  But, lest I evade the point altogether, someday the world’s end will be a cataclysmic reality for everyone.  At some point of God’s choosing this world will pass away, and there will be, according to Revelation ^(21:1) a new heaven and a new earth.  And, for those who trust in Christ, there will also be new bodies, and an indescribable new life with God forever.

While this is the fondest, grandest theme of our Christian hope, there is also that part of our Christian experience that must be lived-out in the here and now.  Peter does not ignore that.  He reminds us to pray and love deeply, and to be hospitable, using our gifts to serve each other.  And to do all of it with every bit of strength we possess.  In the doing, our lives bring glory to the One we love and serve.

In sum, the Apostle is bidding all believers to leave behind a ho-hum, lackadaisical approach to our Christian faith, in favor of a vibrant, energetic, all-in embrace of the Spirit of Christ.  He is calling for our heart and soul, not just a body occupying a pew.

For You Today

With the dawning of each new day there is an opportunity to bring glory to God or contribute to the stagnant pool of unbelief; your choice…always.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com