We Walk Because He Walked First

Monday, June 12, 2023

We love each other because he loved us first.  1 John 4:19

For many years in American culture, love has been portrayed as a feeling that overcomes you.  It includes weak knees, unexplainable loss of appetite, head-in-the-clouds, and that goofy look on your face.  That is not really love, but rather it is romance, a kind of lust-driven drunkenness. 

Love is also not doing things for other people because you have the means and they don’t.  That is simply what many nice people do out of compassion, at best.  A lesser motive is that we fear being like the poor folks; our generosity is to appease whatever gods control the distribution of stuff.  Christian love is doing what other people need most, simply because truth and integrity demand it.

Football great Bubba Smith has sworn off booze. Not drinking it, but selling it. Bubba never did drink, but he sold tons of beer by making cute television ads. Not anymore.  Bubba kicked the habit….Here's how it happened (in his own words):

I went back to Michigan State for the homecoming parade last year, I was the grand marshal and I was riding in the backseat of this car.  The people were yelling, but they weren't saying, 'Go, State, go!'  One side of the street was yelling, Tastes great' and the other side was yelling Less filling.  Everyone in the stands is drunk.  It was like I was contributing to alcohol, and I don't drink.  It made me realize I was doing something I didn't want to do.  I was with my brother, Tody, who is my agent.  I told him, Tody, I'll never do another Lite beer commercial.  I loved doing the commercials, but I didn't like the effect it was having on a lot of little people.  

Everything that makes a believer act unselfishly, truthfully, and compassionately is motivated by the Master’s love.  We love because he first loved us: 

He could hear the crowds screaming "crucify, crucify".  He could hear the hatred in their voices.  These were his chosen people.  He loved them, and they were going to crucify him.  He was beaten, bleeding and weakened; his heart was broken, but still He walked.  He could see the crowd as he came from the palace.  He knew each of the faces so well.  He had created them.  He knew every smile, laugh, and shed tear, but now they were contorted with rage and anger...his heart broke; But still He walked.  Was he scared?  You and I would have been, so his humanness would have mandated that he was.  He felt alone.  His disciples had left, denied, and even betrayed him.  He searched the crowd for a loving face and he saw very few.  Then he turned his eyes to the only one that mattered, and he knew that he would never be alone.  He looked back at the crowd, at the people who were spitting at him, throwing rocks at him, and mocking him, and he knew that because of him, they would never be alone.    So for them, He walked.  The sounds of the hammer striking the spikes echoed through the crowd. The sounds of his cries echoed even louder; the cheers of the crowd, as his hands and feet were nailed to the cross intensified with each blow.  Loudest of all was the still small voice inside his heart that whispered I am with you, my son.  And God's heart broke.  He had let his son walk.

Jesus could have asked God to end his suffering, but instead he asked God to forgive.  Not to forgive him, but to forgive the ones who were persecuting him.  As he hung on that cross, dying an unimaginable death, he looked out and saw, not only the faces in the crowd, but also, the face of every person yet to be, and his heart filled with love.  As his body was dying, his heart was alive; alive with the limitless, unconditional love he feels for each of us.  ^{(author unknown)}

For You Today 

When I forget how much My God loves me, I remember his walk.  When I wonder if I can be forgiven, I remember his walk.  When I need to be reminded of how to live like Christ, I think of his walk.  And to show him how much I love him, I wake up each morning, turn my eyes to him, and I walk.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Condemned in the Shadows  and  Table Talk                                          

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

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

Ready...FIRE...Aim!

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing.  I was sick, and you cared for me.  I was in prison, and you visited me.’  “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality?  Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’  Matthew 25:31-40

Sometimes people confuse the order of things.  The old order was ready…AIM…fire.  Firing first, and then aiming (and even arming) a modern weapon demanded a new order.  This would have been unthinkable to the bow and arrow age, but, technology…eh?

Theologically, the guided-missile approach plays well.  Under the old order we would point-out the target first, aim at it, then pull the trigger.  The target was being a Christian (when you get there you’ll do this, and this, and that…and not do those other, nasty things).  That’s what you do to get to the bullseye, be a good person, do good stuff, and you hit the center.  And God smiles.  Right?

Well, if you were listening to Matthew’s account of what Jesus said about the bullseye, the blessed sheep never even knew they were hitting a bullseye with feeding, clothing, visiting, and caring for others.  They found it out on judgment day.  Their common statement was:  So, Lord, when did we…?

 Just as launching a missile is first, and the programming then takes over, with signals sent to “aim” the missile’s guidance control from the satelite to show it the way to the target, pulling the trigger on your faith in Christ will open your heart (your guidance system) to receive direction from above.  It’s called prayer, and it moves us beyond being a loaded gun, ready to explode anywhere it lands, to a need-seeking force of good, doing those things that will really cause God’s smile in that final accounting day.

For You Today

There are more than enough destructive forces in our day; God wants to turn your guidance towards lifting and building His kingdom of peace and joy.

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

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts on Rocky Road Devotions. 

To dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text:  Creator Savior Judge and Judgment Day

[1] Images:  Wikimedia Commons  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Nexus of the Heart

Monday, May 16, 2022

Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria.  They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.  However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.  The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.  When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.  Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith.  And many people were brought to the Lord.  Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.  When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch.  Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people.  (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians).      Acts 11:19-26

Barnabas seemed to always be in the middle of good things happening.  He is what I would call a Nexus of the Heart, that connection that brings kindness, mercy, and the seeds of love to bear on any situation.

While it was God at back of all the events, orchestrating, and moving people by His Spirit, Barnabas was the nexus God used to hold it all together and cross-pollinate goodness, joy, and obedience throughout the process.

From Acts 10 through 15 we find Barnabas continually cooperating in bringing believers together, as well as leading unbelievers to believe.  The Holy Spirit chose Barnabas to work with Paul on his missionary endeavors, starting churches all over Asia Minor, especially at Antioch (in today’s southern Turkey).  When there was difficulty or disagreement on methods or what to do, it was Barnabas who helped people reconcile and get along[1].  Doing that God was glorified by Barnabas’ life!

Not all of us will have that kind of pivotal public life of building the church, or being instrumental in changing the world.  But we all can (and should) be part of that work; it is our calling to work in God’s vineyard.  You may be the one who cleans up after the master brewer gets done with the grapes, but, if you’ve invited Jesus to be your savior, you’re part of His business.

For You Today

If you take just a moment or two to consider the kind of love and care Barnabas had for bringing people into the fold, and then think about the people that you encounter in your neighborhood, work, shopping, school, or any other activity…those are the kinds of people Barnabas would embrace.  And Jesus would say:  Go, thou, and do likewise!

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^©  

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[1] Compare Acts 15:37-39 and 2 Timothy 4:11

Good Medicine - Part 2; HOPE

[1]

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.  Hebrews 10: 19-25^(NLT)

Thomas Merton wrote:  We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope.[2]  Fr. Merton points us to the reality (according to Matthew’s Gospel[3]) that Jesus Christ, the hope of the world, is our hope only when he’s our only hope.

There is a phrase in our text that evokes a picture.  That phrase is through the curtain.  The sky was clear the morning they led Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha, but it didn’t stay clear!  Near mid-day the sky went dark; three hours later it was still dark when Jesus breathed his last agonizing words:  it is finished. 

At that moment the earth began to shake like a bad California day.  Matthew^[4] tells us the earthquake was so violent huge rocks were split in two.  Tombs were opened when this happened; corpses were raised and they were seen walking in the cities nearby. 

Notice what else happened:

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  Matthew 27:51a^(NRSVA)

This is the curtain Paul mentioned when he wrote to the Hebrews of how Jesus made a way for us to enter God’s presence.  The curtain was a separation in the Old Testament temple.  It separated everyone from the holy presence of God.  The reason for the veil was sin; that veil separated the place of God from the place where man stood.  The veil represented the darkness of having no hope to approach God.  Sin takes our hope away, because it separates us from God, which makes life unbearable. 

Author Lee Stroebel talks about hoping for success in explaining Easter.  He tells how his brother-in-law tried to do that with his 5-year-old son Sean.  They were sitting in church on Easter, and just before the service began, my brother-in-law pointed to the cross and said, See the cross?  The people put Jesus on the cross. The people killed Jesus.  Sean looked around very nervously, then asked cautiously:  These people?^[5]

That is always the reaction; we are astonished that we have the capability to put God to death – yet the very presence of the curtain said so!  And when that curtain was torn in two it was because the sacrifice of blood on the cross was final; it was a victory over sin and death.

Our text tells us to do three things in light of that veil being torn down…

1.   Enter god’s presence

Entering God’s presence is possible because when Jesus died for our sins, he proved the truth of what he said in His teachings:  for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.…^[6] 

I don’t have to be encouraged to draw near to the ones I love.  Sometimes I need a reminder, because I get distracted doing things.  But the normal thing to do when you love someone is to hang-out together.

The how of hanging-out with Jesus is found in the word trusting.  We have been cleansed by His blood, so we can draw near to God, trusting, in full confidence that our faith has brought us into God’s Forever Family!

Why should we do that?  His sacrifice makes our salvation certain. 

To be saved is the most important reality in life.  We live on this planet for less than 100 years in most cases…150 would be astounding.  Eternity is a lot longer than that! 

The conclusion here is simple; if our lifespan is relatively short, and eternity is really long, you should do what you need to prepare for the long run.  Draw near to God…join with His household…be adopted into the family. 

The second command is to hold fast to the faith. 

2.   Hold Fast to God’s Faith

Paul says:  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm

One of the reasons true Kingdom families hold together better is that we were designed to be people of faith.  The how of holding fast to our “confession of hope” is without wavering. 

It is certainly easy to get sidetracked these days.  I see it every year when the Nominating Committee attempts to enlist people to serve.  Holding fast to God’s faith has more to do than just being convinced in your mind that Jesus saves, saying a little prayer and then living like you used to; it has to do with serving consistently. 

Every believer who draws near to God’s house should hold fast to the faith with serving God.  The why of this is found in what Paul said about the promises of Jesus – they’re faithful; they always come true. 

Jesus promised rewards to His followers who serve Him faithfully – it is a true promise!  He also promised chastening (the woodshed) for those who are less than faithful servants; that is no less a true promise.

First draw close to God, then hold fast to God’s faith, and lastly…

3.   Plan to Make an Impact on God’s World

Paul said we should:

     …think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 

That’s making a plan for impacting each other and the world. 

In addition Paul gave us the how to do that in two simple ways that you will recognize; he said we should continue with God’s plans by meeting together and by encouraging each other. 

This is walking it and talking it!

I am only vaguely aware of how God fits everything together.  But, often looking back we see more clearly.  I was searching through some old papers and came across a note from Sarah.  Sarah was our youngest daughter, Carrie’s friend when we served a church in Jacksonville, Florida.  She rode our van to church each week even though her parents never came.  I had the privilege of baptizing Sarah. 

One Sunday little Sarah came to me with a two-fold request.  She wanted me to pray for her uncle and his wife; that was no problem!  But she also wanted me to go see them to baptize their baby. 

When I met Sarah’s uncle and his wife it was clear they had very little church background.  What they had was worried hearts over a very sick, premature baby in an incubator.  They wanted me to baptize their baby; the doctors said he was going to die within a day or so.  My heart went out to them.  As a Baptist pastor I couldn’t baptize this infant, but I offered to pray for him with everything I had. 

I was fearful of the trust that couple placed in me as they asked me to talk to God for their son.  I told them the little kitten-sized child was in God’s hand.  I held their hands and we prayed.   

That was in 1990.  Five years later Sarah wrote me this note:

…I still remember the day you prayed for Scott (my cousin) and gave his parents faith and helped them believe.  On the 28^th of this month he turns 5 year[s] old.  Today is his party.  Thank you for giving me the faith and hope.  Thank you, Sarah.

Sarah remembered that day as a time when her pastor gave her hope.  To be completely honest, at the time my main thought was frustration over a 10 year-old putting me in an awkward situation about baptizing a baby.  I’d never even laid eyes on his parents.  I went because I was her pastor and she asked.  But I went mostly because I couldn’t deny Sarah’s pleading eyes. 

Looking back, I know, (and Sarah also probably knows) it was God who gave her faith and hope.  In the end, God used a pastor doing his job to build faith and hope in a little girl.  And God used a 10 year-old kid’s faith to spur a forty-something, Christian pastor into good works.  Sarah impacted my life with her faith, and my faith was strengthened because of her impact. 

Our hope is all about drawing near to God, holding fast His gift of faith, and making plans to impact each other for good…that brings  the good medicine of hope to the soul!

I believe God has given us a few questions through this text, and He wants us to wrestle with them until there is an answer formed in each of our minds about what it means to truly go through the veil…to truly come right up alongside the throne of God, holding faith without wavering, and in so-doing, encourage each other to good works. 

Those questions:

·       Have I truly entered God’s Sanctuary…Am I saved?

·       Am I truly holding fast…is serving through my church a priority in my life?

·       Am I impacting the lives of others for Jesus Christ?

You wrestle with those this week, beloved!

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

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[1] Title Image Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island, (NY & London, First Harvest Books, 1955), p.14

[3] Matthew 12:21  And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

[4] Matthew 27:50-55

[5] Lee Strobel in "Jesus is Alive -- True or False?" a sermon on SermonCentral.com

[6] John 3:16