Semper Fidelis

Monday, November 27, 2023

Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.  This is the Good News I preach.  And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal.  But the word of God cannot be chained.  So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.  This is a trustworthy saying:  If we die with him, we will also live with him.  If we endure hardship, we will reign with him.  If we deny him, he will deny us.  If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.  

2 Timothy 2:8-13

United States Marines greet each other with the motto, Semper Fi, a shortened version of semper fidelis.[1]  The phrase means always faithful, and is indicative of the character of those who serve a higher guiding principle than self-interest.[2] 

Long before the assembling of U.S. fighting forces, the Apostle Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy, an aspiring preacher of the Gospel, to encourage and admonish him to serve Christ’s Kingdom with an unswerving loyalty.  Paul described the resurrected Jesus as “faithful.”  Dying with Him, we are raised to newness of life by Him.  Enduring hardship, we will reign with him.  Denying Him, we will be judged by Him.  And, in His supreme compassion, when we are less than semper fi He is still faithful.  This could be summed-up in one short verse:

“I am the Lord, and I do not change.  Malachi 3:6a

By comparison, human beings can be remarkably un-loyal.  Our lives typically begin in one direction and, influenced by any of the seven deadly sins,[3] we change our employment, spouse, promises, gender, and a host of all other possibilities.  Despite the call to be faithful, human allegiance is usually sold to the highest bidder.  

I’m reminded of an elder statesman in the Southern Baptist tribe I met in 1981, Vance Havner, who said:  Faith that Fizzles at the Finish was Fickle from the First.  

It’s true!  Most mottos sound wonderful, even noble; most human attempts to live-up to those mottos have holes like Swiss cheese.

So what is the Rx for our Fickle Faith?

I’m glad you asked…and let me point us back to the Apostle’s opening line to Timothy: 

Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.  This is the Good News I preach.  2 Timothy 2:8

If there is anything that can keep us close to Jesus it is the resurrection of God’s perfect lamb, crucified for our sins, raised to conquer death and the grave.  In staying faithful to proclaim that, we also preach Good News to our own souls.

For You Today 

Find a way to proclaim His resurrection every day, in every circumstance, and, as many have said…always preach the Gospel…even use words if necessary.  What that means for each of us is:  nothing will help keep you faithful like engaging in the work of He Who is Semper Fi.

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

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For another post on this text read here:  Gospel Unchained

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

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Wikipedia

[2] See Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[3]  pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger or wrath, and sloth – see The Seven Deadly Sins - LIst

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Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.  Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works.  For which one are you going to stone me?”  They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy!  You, a mere man, claim to be God.”  Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’  And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered.  So  if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’?  After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.  Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work.  But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me.  Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”  Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.  He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.  And many followed him.  “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.”  And many who were there believed in Jesus.  John 10:31-42

Trending is an amazing phenomenon.  Something happens in today’s world and the bandwagon gets overloaded in a hurry.  The trending of people getting ready to stone someone is as old as the fourth chapter of Genesis, when Cain picked up a big rock to teach his brother, Abel a lesson.  That didn’t end well, and it still doesn’t.

Not all stoning, however, is done with a rock.  What’s been trending since I was barely into my teens is the stoning of God’s church, and faith in the church’s Founder, Jesus.  Now, there are many “reasons” (and some would say “excuses”) for this falling away from Christian orthodoxy, which places faith firmly in Holy Scripture, bedrock of which is the Gospel.  But the primary cause for this increase in faith-downward-trending isn’t any different than when people picked up the stones that day in Jerusalem’s Temple to silence the upstart son of a carpenter.  When something is said that rocks the comfort boat, the occupants are going to toss it overboard.

As a reply, Jesus challenged their willingness to send him packing from the church (also not a new occurrence…preachers are very familiar with the exit trending of both members, under their own power of choice, and the preachers themselves by committee vote).  But the bottom line of Jesus’ challenge is common sense.  If what he DID matched what He SAID, and what the Scripture RECORDED as God’s Word and way, why the disbelief?  You’ve heard it before:  If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck….  This passage has a world arriving at the conclusion that, evidence aside, we’d rather have the comfort level of making our independent choices, than the uncertainty of following a God of infinite power, Who disturbs our comfortable nest. 

For You Today

It may be easier (for many people) to follow Jesus in theory, rather than to stand with Jesus once the flinging of the rocks commences.  Then, it’s a whole lot easier to just go with what’s trending.  But there’s coming a trend to end all trends…that moment when you face the one who faced the crowds with rocks in their hands that day in Jerusalem.  He’s going to say one of two things in that moment:

1.    Well done, thou good and faithful servant

2.    Depart from me, I never knew you.

The right choice, or the wrong rock is in your hand!

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

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