Stan...

Friday, November 4, 2022

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:  to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Stan Bingham, a friend and church member.  Only time and the unfolding of life’s mystery and purposes of God will tell the total of Stan’s doing right, loving mercy, and walking humbly with his God.  However, I strongly suspect the talley of all that will not do his memory any harm in his new home, a place not made with hands, where he sees clearly what he has meant to the countless people his life and kindness touched, as well as the love with which his Savior, Jesus Christ, embraced him.

I’m writing this on Thursday (the day before you read it, and the day after the gathering of saints and sinners to say that goodbye…and I am as exhausted as I’ve ever been – maybe more).  Being in a sizeable crowd, and responsible to lead a service for someone who is a legend in North Carolina’s legislative chronicles, well…my supply of energy isn’t grand to begin-with…yesterday ran the tank dry.    I feel a little like one of Stan’s dogs from a story posted in Lexington’s Dispatch, about the VW Stan had converted to run on used cooking oil.  

Whenever the Senator would arrive home from an event where he drove the Bug, the hounds would come running to the scent of french fries.  Stan said he feared he’d not get to them in time to keep them from killing themselves on fry-fumes.

From saving his old dogs from themselves, to more than 170 bills passed in the legislature over 16 years, Stan was always shooting for doing right, loving mercy, and being humble enough to not care who gets the credit.

One of the speakers at the service[1], Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, shared that story in his eulogy, and it helped continue the theme of a joy-fillled homegoing for a much-loved, larger-than-life, prank-loving legislator, who was taken home so suddenly.  It was a grand send-off.

As a personal note of observation, tempered by 75 years of watching people, more than 40 of those years being a people-watching pastor, I can say I was most impressed by a mother and her four daughters, Stan’s closest family, long used to the press, and the fishbowl of public life, but less-mindful of the presence of all the trappings of that life, rather focused on celebrating the joy of a man who loved, and lived his life working for justice and mercy, all the while walking humbly with his God.

For You Today ,

You might be a good-sized cog in the wheel of life, or, like me, a rather smallish cog, who gets worn-down easily amongst the bigger cogs; either way, remember this:  you’re a cog that God loves, and has you in the right place on His wheel. 

So take that as seriously as my friend, Stan, by loving God with your whole heart, poured-into doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with He who gave you that first, and every breath you take on this planet.

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 libraryI.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Do What?   and   Resetting the Compass

[1] Images: Title image courtesy of The Denton Orator, Used with permission by Bingham family   

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

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[1] You can watch the entire homegoing service for Stan Bingham on YouTube HERE

James the Just - Part 11 - The Way of a Servant

[1]

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Choices are like friendships; there are options.  In an airport choice, you can either get on the plane – or not; you simply cannot do both.  The same can be said of friendship with Christ – you can go to Him, or you can live a worldly, comfortable, selfish life…you just cannot do both!  If you choose Christ and His way, here is the pathway for the rest of your life:

The Priority of a Servant Attitude

I want to share with you a few principles about how to have a servant attitude – which is about as far opposite from a selfish attitude as you can get.  Here are three pieces of the discipleship puzzle:

Puzzle Piece #1.  In Human Relationships Conflict is normal

Genesis to Revelation is all about conflict.  From the time Cain killed his brother…to the Corinthian Christians who sued each other in the courts…to Euodia and Syntyche, sisters in the Philippian church who were constantly sniping at each other, probably over who was going to wear the purple dress on a given Sunday…right down to today…conflict is normal.  The question is, How are you going to deal with the inevitable conflicts in life?

Puzzle Piece #2.  In Christian Discipleship Dealing with Conflict as Believers is Critical

In God’s economy there are only two ways to deal with conflict, selfishly or as servant.  Cain was the selfish example.  He didn’t like the approval his brother got from God, so Cain got rid of Abel; he killed him, the first murder in the history of humankind, recorded on the pages of Genesis.

The servant model is found in many places; the prototype for us, however is Jesus.   In John’s Gospel ^{(Chapter 13)} we find Jesus dealing with the selfishness of the disciples.  Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, so he was preparing the disciples for life without his physical presence to comfort and guide them. 

What were the disciples doing?  They were dividing up the executive perks – arguing over whom was going to sit in the seats of power in the kingdom.  Jesus got up from the table, put on a towel, and, to the amazement of his followers washed twelve pairs of dirty, stinky feet, even the feet of Judas! 

You say, I can’t do that!  I say, You’re plumb on target!

Puzzle Piece #3. You need GRACE to live like that, and grace only comes to the humble.

And he gives grace generously.  As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  So humble yourselves before God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.   James 4.6-7(NLT)

Humility isn’t an easy thing.  The word humble in the language of the New Testament comes from a few words linked together which mean, literally, face in the dust.

During the latter stages of World War II Harry Truman was thrust into the presidency, by the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn took him aside and gave him some advice on being humble:

From here on out, you're going to have lots of people around you.  They'll try to put up a wall around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs.  They'll tell you what a great man you are, Harry.  But you and I both know you ain't.^[2]

For You Today

There’s a human tendency to hide our low-down ways, and exalt our more noble attributes.  Where I was raised we had a good, old fashioned term for that – braggin’.  To receive grace is to put your face in the dust.  It is to turn everything upside down from the way the world gives its approval.  It is to recognize the truth about you and sin…and agree with God.  So, the questions before the house, then, are;

·      am I ready to follow Christ all the way? 

·      am I ready to exalt my low ways (confess my sins), and hide my good points (not depend on my self-goodness)? 

·      Am I?

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker)

When Faith Leads to Trouble

"CaravaggioSalomeLondon". Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah.  John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork.  Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”  John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.  John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done.  So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others.    Luke 3:15-19 (NLT)

John knew at least three things:

He knew he was NOT the Messiah.

He knew Jesus WAS the Messiah.

He knew a servant must KEEP both of those facts in plain view.

John, as a servant of Jesus, was willing to hold to that truth no matter what it cost him.

And it did cost him…everything.  

John the Baptist was a preacher of righteousness who talked of fire and threshing floors, where the wheat is taken violently out of the chaff.  He didn’t fear telling the truth, even to a wicked king like Herod.  This prophet was fierce and unwavering in his devotion to the Kingdom of God.  In the end they cut off his head to say thanks for your ministry!

How inconvenient! 

Not exactly a gold retirement watch and Hallmark Channel finish to John’s life.

I am quite often amazed, particularly compared to the Baptist’s fate, at how comfortable my life has been.  Compared to John the Baptist I have hardly had troubles.  That’s not to say there hasn’t been pain and heartache over personal losses and family difficulties – everyone experiences that. 

But, in the wee hours of the morning, I’m faced with the question of why John suffered as he did, and not Russell.  (Now, stop peeking over my shoulder….I could have used your name here too, you know; we all have to answer this question…has Russell, have you been as committed to Jesus as John the Baptist…and if not, why not?).

Why is it that the greater the devotion to the Kingdom and King Jesus, the less you’re likely to experience comfort?  Could it have something to do with picking up a cross? 

By the way…that was Jesus’ plan; when you give yourself fully to the service of King Jesus others will get ticked, just like Herod fumed over John’s stand for truth.  Contrary to some contemporary preaching of the “prosperity gospel” Jesus did not come to provide the comfortable life of the American way, with two cars, 401K, lake houses and time share travel vacations.  And Jesus knew that people would bristle over the cost of picking up a cross…

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth!  I came not to bring peace, but a sword.  ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  Matthew 10:34-35 (NLT)

Here’s a dose of reality at 5am:  If you want to follow Jesus, closely, devotedly, obediently, get ready for surrender!  Get ready to surrender all thought of comfort and ease.  Living a life of following Jesus Christ is joyful and peaceful in the heart, but it’s liable to get you in trouble everywhere else!  Including family, friends and kings.

For You, Today…

A question:  If it was going to cost you everything you possess, would it be your choice to stand and loudly proclaim Jesus as King?

Neglect

Friday, December 13, 2013

Then the LORD sent this message through the prophet Haggai:  “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?  This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says:  Look at what’s happening to you!  You have planted much but harvest little.  You eat but are not satisfied.  You drink but are still thirsty.  You put on clothes but cannot keep warm.  Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!  “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says:  Look at what’s happening to you!  Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house.  Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.  You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor.  And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away.  Why?  Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.  It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops.  I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”  Haggai 1:3 - 11 (NLT)

Not much is known about Haggai, except that he and Zechariah were partners in the task of rebuilding the temple in the 6^th Century B.C.  There was opposition to the project from neighboring communities, and the rebuilding work had long since stopped when the Lord began to speak through this prophet. 

And God wasn’t happy!

Frankly, when you’re on God’s short list for disciplinary action, there isn’t much about life that is satisfying or filled with hope.  The Psalmist says God’s discipline is like a moth in the closet:

When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us.  Each of us is but a breath.    Psalms 39:11 (NLT)

Was it really about the Temple?

God did really fine without a Temple for many generations before Haggai, way back to David, and even Abraham.  He did fine without a Temple in the Garden of Eden.  Why was neglect of this Temple such a “bone to pick” with Israel?

The message was pretty clear – God said:  You’ve neglected my House; I’m taking that as a sign you’re neglecting Me, and it’s going to affect everything that’s dear to you!

So…….

If you draw the parallel lines from Israel then – all the way to us, now – the lesson is hard to miss – it matters where God is on your “To-Do” list.  

God has never settled for anything less than first priority.

In the United Methodist Church we have five promises we keep as a sign of not neglecting our Baptismal Covenant as faithful servants of God:

       ·        Prayers – to undergird all peoples and the Kingdom of God constantly

       ·        Presence – to be consistent in worshipping with the covenant people

       ·        Gifts – to be faithful stewards of what God has placed in our hands

       ·        Service – to be active in service to others as we would to God

       ·        Witness – to live in word and deed in such a way to bring glory to God.

Today

We all have a big enough “To-Do” list; we need to be careful what we add to it.  

Perhaps the list above needs to be at the top of our list.  It is, after all, the way God builds His house IN us.

And that project never stops!