Of Colliding and Cooperating

Friday, January 20, 2023

Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too.  I went there because God revealed to me that I should go.  While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles.  I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing.  And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.  Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in.  They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.  They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations.  But we refused to give in to them for a single moment.  We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.  

Galatians 2:1-5

It is said that opposites attract.  My bride and I would tend to validate that thought.  Invariably we have different tastes, opinions, and ways of completing tasks.  That was certainly true of Peter and Paul.  Peter was driven by his heart, and working with his hands, rough-cut, decisive, and bold.  Paul was (excuse the irreverance) an egghead, the Harvard scholar-type, more prone to be the president of the chess club, more a quarterback than lineman.  Both apostles were more suited to what God had called and gifted them to be and do.  One trait they held in common was their hardliner devotion to Christ’s Kingdom.  Neither of them would back-off an inch on the issue of Jesus being Lord.  Of that, there could be zero-capitulation…end of story.

Among the few similarities of these Christ-servants was their willingness to accept God’s way of doing new things.  Peter, the Jewish believer understood God’s way would include the Gentiles, but it took an extraordinary vision to convince the fisherman.  Paul was also Jewish, and had to be knocked to his knees and blinded – then healed, to be convinced of God’s seriousness about God’s mercy being extended to every human being on earth.[1]  Both Peter and Paul tended towards inflexibility, but once that wall crumbled, they were not likely to rebuild it.  The egghead and the warrior had both been released from their sins and prejudicial ways, and they would not rest until that message was the theme of their lives.

John Wesley was a hybrid Peter and Paul.  He was more than educated, and a superb thinking-leader, committed to the faith, and leading the interested to become faithful.  But Wesley could also see the middle-way, not compromise, but meeting of minds.  He knew there could not be any progress, on any front, when a collision-course is chosen.  But, when hearts are willing to be open there can be cooperation.  Peter, Paul, and John…they all knew Jesus was Lord…they all became excellent models of what it means to serve Christ, and they all had their flaws.  And God used them in magnificent ways they never dreamed to bring about God’s purposes in their days, and God’s ways.

For You Today  

You and I are not Peter, Paul, nor John.  But this is our time, our days, and the Lord God is the same God of the Jews, Gentiles, and whomever else, to the uttermost ends of the universe.  Despite all our differences, God is looking for the high, low, and middle-ways kinds of people, with whom He will bless and proclaim his Good News.  Some ways will be the old ways; some new.  To be God’s servant means learning to cooperate with what He’s doing, not colliding with each other.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

The God of ALL Favorites  and  Hand-Wringing Methodists

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Read Acts 9-11 for both accounts

Why Schindler Got It

Friday, December 2, 2022

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  Psalm 72:1-5

Adolph Hitler was a king (of sorts).  He did nothing as holy as rescuing children of the needy; rather, he had them killed in concentration camps, and shot in the streets by his ruthless SS officers.  Oskar Schindler was a German businessman, capitalizing on the Nazi need for military weapons and supplies.  He used cheap Jewish labor to make a fortune.  Then one day he saw the little Jewish girl in a red coat.  The next day he saw her corpse loaded on a truck with many other bodies.  Schindler’s whole life became a mission to protect people from Hitler’s obsession with exterminating Jews from the planet.  In the end Schindler saved nearly 1,000. 

There is nothing that evokes compassion that will move most humans like seeing what Schindler saw.  A greedy businessman does not mend his ways when confronted with difficult social conditions, caused by, or exploited by his business practices.  He is unmoved by ethics or morality.  But the stark reality of a human life, barely embarked on breathing, has the embryo of change for even the most hardened of souls.  Schindler got it (the compassion to do right) because life’s most poignant reality, our human connection with God, pierced his hard heart.

King David prayed the prayer recorded in Psalm 72 near the end of his life.  He had lived long enough, sinned big enough, and learned life’s lessons well enough, to understand the God-connection we all have.  As part of the created order, all human beings are “children” of the Almighty.  We’re related.  David’s prayer was that the wisdom, courage, and compassion he’d learned, would now be passed along – and take hold – in his son, Solomon.  It would be necessary to see the nation through lean times, and help the nation be humble before God in their high times. 

Adolph Hitler, baptized as a youth into the Lutheran Church, did his best to stamp out the image and lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David.  And it was done in the (supposed) holy name of preserving the purity of God’s created order.  It took a momentary confrontation of a child in a red coat with a Nazi-supporting, hardened businessman, to engage the holiness of God on a nightmare against humanity.  As King David had a prophet (Nathan[1]) who confronted him with his sin, and as Adam and Eve in the garden, Schindler heard the still small voice of God from out of the whirlwind of war’s madness saying …where are you…what are you doing?  He had to answer.

For You Today  

Oskar Schindler overlooked a lot to get to the top of the business world.  One day he could not get a little girl in a red coat out of his mind. 

What have you seen lately, or what will you see today, to remind you who, and whose you are?

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Choosing   and   What to Do

Images:  Title Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=723965   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Read 2 Samuel 12 for the account of Nathan the prophet confronting King David with his sins.

When Your Dog Just Won't Hunt Anymore

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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel.  As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs.  I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.  And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.  The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so.  For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.  “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.  I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’  “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.  “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’  The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.  “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’  “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’  “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.  A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.  He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’  And that very moment I could see him!  “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.  For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.  What are you waiting for?  Get up and be baptized.  Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’  Acts 22:3-16^(NLT)

Saul thought he had it all going in the right direction; he was wrong.  As the chief persecutor of Jesus’ followers he was simply following the established tradition of two thousand years of Abraham’s tribe.  Outsiders were only welcome if they worshipped like Saul had learned to do at the feet of Gamaliel.  You have to follow the rules!

But then Jesus appeared in a blinding light on the Damascus Road and sent Saul’s life spinning and crashing in a completely different direction.  Meeting God face to face will do that!  Saul got up from that meeting with a new name (Paul), and a new direction; the chief persecutor of Jesus became His most ardent and effective missionary.  Paul went from being a go-along, up-and-coming star in the ranks of the system, to a thorn in the side of the establishment.  In a few years Paul’s resume’ included turning the theological world on its ear:

Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.  Acts 17:6b^(NLT)

It’s a somewhat easy life if you simply bow to tradition.  All the thinking has been done by smart people, and it’s in writing…all you have to do is follow that yellow brick road, and you’ll be safe.  The problem with that is God does not call us to live a safe, easy life; God calls for disciples who will be courageous, willing to die to self so the world will always be confronted with the difference between dying in a worldly established system and living victoriously in God’s Kingdom of Christ. 

And that’s the rub for me; I hate confrontation with a passion.  But that is exactly what Christ calls us to be for him, confronters of sin, hatred, greed, and wherever the oppression of evil rears its head.  To paraphrase Kermit the Frog who said it isn’t easy being green…frankly, it ain’t easy being His sometimes.

For You Today

If you hate confrontation as much as I do, but you love Christ and want to serve Him, buckle-up; it’s going to be a long, bumpy ride, because learning to serve a God who confronts evil will never happen in the schoolhouse of your comfort zone!  That dog never did hunt!

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

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com

When Kings Must Bow

[1]

Monday, December 18, 2017

Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab.  Tell him that I will soon send rain!”  So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.  Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria.  So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace.  (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord.  Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves.  He put fifty prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water.)  Ahab said to Obadiah, “We must check every spring and valley in the land to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules.”  So they divided the land between them.  Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.  As Obadiah was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him.  Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low to the ground before him.  “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” he asked.  “Yes, it is,” Elijah replied.  “Now go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”  “Oh, sir,” Obadiah protested, “what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death at the hands of Ahab?  For I swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation and kingdom on earth from end to end to find you.  And each time he was told, ‘Elijah isn’t here,’ King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you away to who knows where.  When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will kill me.  Yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life.  Has no one told you, my lord, about the time when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets?  I hid 100 of them in two caves and supplied them with food and water.  And now you say, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’  Sir, if I do that, Ahab will certainly kill me.”  But Elijah said, “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”  So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah.  When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”  “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied.  “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 1 Kings 18:1-18^(NLT)

Scripture’s account of the confrontation between Ahab and Elijah is more than a skirmish between a king and a prophet; this is a clash between the living God and a man’s ego.  If you’ve never read the account of how it all turned out, suffice to say it does not turn out pretty for Ahab; it never does when you dig your heels in against God!

There are only two possible outcomes when humans go to war against the Lord:

1.     The human recognizes foolishness and repents, surrendering

2.     The human recognizes foolishness and presses on in pride…and gets toasted!

The conclusion is always:  fighting God is a fool’s errand.

For You Today

Whether called by the title of King, Sultan, Mullah, Sheik, Sha, Raja or President, it usually means there is more than enough pomp and circumstance to inflate a ruler’s ego.  And any ruler would do well to remember that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

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

Confrontation With God

[i]

Friday, April 7, 2017

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress.  Tears blur my eyes.  My body and soul are withering away.  I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness.  Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.  I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors—even my friends are afraid to come near me.  When they see me on the street, they run the other way.  I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.  I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror.  My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.  But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!”  My future is in your hands.  Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. Psalm 31:9-15^(NLT)

“Be silent now and leave me alone.  Let me speak, and I will face the consequences.  Why should I put myself in mortal danger and take my life in my own hands?  God might kill me, but I have no other hope.  I am going to argue my case with him.  But this is what will save me—I am not godless.  If I were, I could not stand before him.  “Listen closely to what I am about to say.  Hear me out.  I have prepared my case; I will be proved innocent.  Who can argue with me over this?  And if you prove me wrong, I will remain silent and die.                                         Job 13:13-19^(NLT)

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.  But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.  So I really don’t know which is better.  I’m torn between two desires:  I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. Philippians 1:21-23^(NLT)

Six years ago I felt like King David; my years were being shortened by sadness.  I’d had an interview with the Board of Ordained Ministry and was deferred for a year.  The reason given me was that I had too much sadness in my life; really?

I was angry at their decision for obvious reasons; their decision was a blow; I was being treated like a broken pot, set aside; oh, brother, can we say victim?  You get the drift! But in hindsight, after some years of reflection I see things a lot more clearly.  My mother had recently passed and, like King David, I’ve realized that when I’m sad, even my friends want to cross to the other side of the street when they see me. 

In my angry grief at having my career delayed and feeling sidelined unfairly, like Job I learned to snip at those closest to me.  The result was the church I was serving objected to a snippy preacher and our relationship suffered.  (Spouses of snippy preachers aren’t all that thrilled with them either!).  Eventually, like Job, I found myself emotionally alone, drowning in trying to figure-out what God was up to.

The apostle Paul found himself in a Roman jail under sentence of death by beheading.  He had trouble figuring out if God wanted him dead or alive.  And Paul didn’t know which was better.  Frankly, I also wanted to quit; if God wasn’t going to use me like I thought He should, well…again, you get the drift!

There is one reality I shared with King David, Job, and Paul; eventually all four of us learned to place the whole mess we’d made of our attitude firmly in God’s hands and wait for the answer.

Folks…that ain’t easy!

Well, there is an up-side to this tale of woe.  God used the circumstances to teach me an even greater trust with the smallish details of my life, and to accept where He is taking me as a man, husband, father, grandfather, (dare I say great-grandfather?) and as God’s servant.

I like that about God!                          

For You Today

Those of you who live below the Mason-Dixon Line understand the meaning of the word, mess.  Making a mess of greens means you’re going to also have cornbread for dinner.  So, for you, today…if you’ve made a mess of your attitude, friendships, and other relationships and circumstances, give that mess to God; He will make a meal out of it that will surprise you!

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

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NOTES

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 ^I Title image: By Artist: Chaim Koppelman (Chaim and Dorothy Koppelman Foundation), via Wikimedia Commons