Writing on the Wall

Day One Bible in 90 Days

2010-08-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Now that the Bible in 90 Days has kicked off here at Jackson Woods both the reading and the excitement can begin in earnest. The first day covers a huge swath of time, from creation all the way to the calling of Abraham.

Last night, we provided 3 frameworks for scripture as a whole from Genesis to Revelation. Those three frameworks were:

Law and Gospel: the two "words" God is always uttering

Redemption History: the "Greatest Story Ever Told"

Covenantal Scheme: the relationship and means of God's love revealed

And in our very first day of reading you could find all three in those 16 chapters of Genesis. If you were paying close attention you would see them all three present in the story of Noah!

What has fascinated me about the story of Noah for some time is the fact that God doesn't recreate humanity. There isn't Humanity 2.0, or even 1.1 , there is just a family that God declares to be righteous even though they aren't (as revealed in the events after they exit the Ark), a family through whom God will continue to contend with our sinfulness.

Noah's story begins with the declaration that God was sad that he had made humanity because all our thoughts and our hearts were committed to evil all the time. At first, you and I may recoil at this idea, but then all we really need to do is turn on the television or surf the web. Shootings, robbery, political corruption, child molestation, pornography, murder, rape, and incest are quickly found with just a scanning of the headlines. And that is just today! It doesn't include greed, gossip, lying, infidelity, cheating on tests, or good ole fashioned manipulation even! When we are honest with ourselves we can see how a just and holy God might grow tired of our antics and ways of being. Even we grow tired of it and despondent for change and we aren't anything close to God!

Law and Grace are present in the declaration that our wickedness will not go unpunished. God will flood the Earth. The law part of that is present but where is the grace component? Two places actually. Grace is unmerited favor. Noah is spared the fate of the rest of humanity. This is an act of Grace. God declares him worthy and spares him even though Noah must have been at least a little guilty of sin. He may have walked with the LORD, but their is no indication in the text that he is pure and righteous by his own right. Grace is present in his salvation and through him humanity will be given another opportunity. Grace.

The Redemptive History elements are easy to see. The whole story is ultimately an episode in the ongoing drama of redemption. The Redemptive History is the broadest theme of scripture, the scarlet thread, as it has been called, from our time in the garden all the way through to the glories on Revelation Chapter 1 where Jesus Christ tells us to not be afraid for he has the keys to death and Hell. The story of Noah is just one part of that broader whole. It is from the descendants of Noah that Abraham will come, it is from the descendants of Abraham that Jesus will eventually come.

Finally, Covenantal Scheme. Our God works through covenants. Covenants are sacred promises that God makes with his people. The story of Noah ends with a sacred promise between God and all of creation: never again. Never again will such a devastation at the hand of God come about. And as a sign of that covenant God's bow is put up in the sky.

As you continue to read through the Bible be on the lookout for these three frameworks or themes playing out. Take note of the mighty acts of God and the promises made. As you read you will begin to see connections in places you didn't know about before and you will find that this is a God that fulfills those promises.

Thoughts on Salvation

2009-08-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

Recently during a discussion of Calvin and Baptism, questions about the relationship of salvation to baptism came up. It occurred to me that some of you may have misunderstood something that I said with regards to salvation and profession of faith.

I made the comment that it is not the profession of faith that saves you and I am afraid that some of you heard in this that profession of faith is either unnecessary or unimportant. That is not at all what I intended to convey.

Faith is the act of believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. Those are the words of Donald McKim a contemporary theologian. I agree completely in that statement. Faith is a trust put into something or someone else. In the Christian world, faith and hope are intertwined so that they are very nearly indistinguishable. We have faith and hope in Christ.

What do we mean when we say that? It means that we are acknowledging our great need for Christ in our life. Outside of the saving work of Jesus we are hopeless — lost in sinfulness as Paul might have said. When we profess a belief in Jesus we are saying that we place our trust for our eternity in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Presbyterians are Christians who hold to the “reformed faith.” This means that the primary way we interpret our Bible and talk about God and who God is (that’s theology) is with words and images that are similar to those of John Calvin and a host of other reformers of the Catholic Church in the 16^th and 17^th century.

In the reformed faith, salvation was effected decisively once and for all for all peoples in every time and place in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. His death on the cross is the payment required for sinful humanity (Romans 3) and because of his completely obedient and sinless life God raised him from the dead and through him judges the world (Philippians 2). Before the beginning of time, God elected you and I to benefit from the this merciful, gracious act of Jesus so that we might be children of God and live our lives marked by the doing of good deeds which God laid out for us to do before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1).

The action of God in Christ is the very thing that saves! It is not of our own doing but it is the loving action of God (Matt 1:21; Luke 2:11; John 3:16-17; Rom 5:8-10; this list could go on and on…J) and is an objective truth. That means the atonement (payment for our sin) and justification (being counted as righteous even when we do not deserve it i.e. psalm 32:1-2) that Christ effected for us on the cross is a truth like things dropped fall to the ground and 1+1 =2. Or as I said the other day, even if every single person on the planet denied the gospel it wouldn’t be any less true because its truth is not dependent on our belief.

And that is the key point in this discussion. The question is not whether or not people should make public professions of their faith in Christ. They should. The question is not whether or not believers should be baptized as a sign of their commitment to Christ or have their children baptized as a sign of their faith in Christ. They should. The question is does the prayer of the person effect / cause their salvation? It does not.

For Presbyterians, what is happening when a person professes faith in Christ is that they are publically professing that they believe and trust in what Christ has already done for them. We part company with our Christian brothers and sisters who imply that the means of grace are accomplished when the person and not until the person says some sort of sinner’s prayer.

This isn’t to say that there is anything wrong with people saying a sinner’s prayer. In doing so they are professing some core Christian truths: people are sinful and they need Christ to be saved. The issue is the language of “the moment that Christ came into my heart” or “the moment that Jesus saved me.”

Jesus saved you on a Friday afternoon 2000 years ago.

The Holy Spirit has been in your heart working and willing you to faith in Christ since long before you were born.

In short, none of this was your doing but it was all the act of God.

Quick aside: We also part company with our Christian brothers and sisters who say that the means of grace are accomplished only through the taking of the sacraments. Baptism and Communion are signs given to us to help convey what God has done for us: Washed us clean from sin bringing us into new covenant relationship with God and reminding us we are nourished by more than bread alone, we also need that new covenant sealed Christ talked about at his Passover meal. In both cases they point to what God has done.

So, whether you grew up in the church and slowly came to a deeper more fuller appreciation and understanding of the “mighty action of God in Christ Jesus” or you were moved to a moment of conversion by the realization on your part of what the Holy Spirit has been trying to tell you all along , you are saved.

Profession of faith and baptism are different ways in which we proclaim this simple truth of the gospel: “God’s amazing love is this while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Amen.

All We Can Know About God Must Be Revealed

2009-06-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Calvin explains “What We Must Know About God.” He begins with “since the majesty of God in itself goes beyond the capacity of human understanding and cannot be comprehended by it, we must adore its loftiness rather than investigate it…” In short, we can only know so much about God. God is too great for us to comprehend. Karl Barth summarized it this way: “Only God knows God.”

That is true. We are finite and limited in our ability to comprehend the One who has created everything. Even the ancient writers in our Bible understood that our ability to fathom God was limited. Recall these words of scripture: ‘My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.’

But know something of God we do. There is limited knowledge provided by considering the inestimable wonders of creation itself. We can go further considering what those wonders reveal. As Calvin points out, such reflection shows God to be majestic and wonderful and worth knowing. “His power has created such a great system and now sustains it; his wisdom has composed with such a distinct order a great complex of beings and things; his goodness is the reason all these things exist… his mercy which endures our iniquities with great kindness in order to call us to amendment… all this should abundantly teach us of a God that is necessary to know.”

But our sinfulness keeps us from recognizing all this in the world around us. We tend to focus on the ways that creation is not how we would have designed it. Or see “bad things” happening and wonder where that reveals this loving God. We overestimate own wisdom looking for other explanations for how this all came to exist. And we find other reasons for our behavior besides the “sin that clings so close.”

Calvin encourages us to overcome this “perversity” in viewpoint by turning to the scriptures. These become spectacles by which we see more clearly the God who is revealed to us. And he is right. In the scriptures we have a special revelation of God. Not just the revelation that comes from marveling at the beauty of the Earth, but a revelation that says among other things: “I am the LORD there is no other!”

What we should know about God is that the One, True, Living God is a God who speaks, who reveals; and all that we can know about God we can only know because God tells us. We learn who God is by what God tells us.

The ultimate revelation and telling of this God to us is the person of Jesus Christ. In his life and teachings we are shown the very nature of God. This is the point of what Christians call the Incarnation. In Christ Jesus we see who God is more clearly than we can ever see it on our own. Not only that, but in Christ we also have a mirror by which we can see the reflection of God. When on our own we develop a concept of God, if that concept does not correspond with the image of God we find in Christ, then our concept is flawed.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Colossians 1:15

What does it mean for you that in Jesus the One True, Living God is revealed?

True Devotion

2009-05-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

If we are "hard-wired" for God then what is the nature of true devotion

Ben Franklin is reported to have said to Thomas Paine once in an argument about the nature of humanity, "If man is this way with religion imagine what he would be like without it?"

There is a lot of wisdom in that statement even if the underlying assumption, that religion is a human created experience, is somewhat troublesome. Still, Ben Franklin seems to at least hold an appropriately cynical attitude about humanity's ability to get things right. Historically this conversation happens right at the dawn of the Enlightenment. The later thinkers of the Enlightenment would accept the idea of the "inherent perfectability of human beings." They believed that we could improve ourselves into perfection. This runs counter to the Christian idea that there is no perfection for people outside of the grace of God.

But I digress.

Calvin wrote that everyone agrees that without religion people are not much better than brutish animals. This is no longer true. Today there are many people who feel that everyone would be better off without religion and there are some who even question the value of faith. We will stick with Calvin's point. Even though many people agree that religion is good for people, "there is a great difference in the way of declaring one's religion." In short, people demonstrate their love for God in different ways and the practice of their faith in different ways, too.

Some folks live as best they can to ensure that if God is real they will have a sufficient number of "gold stars" on their chart to make sure they still qualify for eternal life. This manner of devotion is less than full devotion because it isn't motivated by love of God or relationship with God so much as a selfish desire to get by with just enough "goodness" to keep God off their back.

Those who approach God with the "earning their gold stars" approach really exhibit a great deal of courage in their own estimation of who God is and what it takes to make God happy. Calvin would say that they are really just worshipping a God that they have estimated on their own. They don't respond to the revealed God but to a God that they can feel comfortable worshipping. Bottom line they are motivated out of fear to meet at least the minimum expectations to avoid God's wrath.

True devotion is different. The person who really "gets" who God is doesn't fear God's judgment as a motivation to escape it, but rather fears God's judgments because of the certainty that escape is impossible. The Apostle Paul puts it well in Romans: "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Once we recognize that we are "sinners" and in need of grace and mercy we are prepared to devote ourselves to God with a pure motivation and zeal. We are then sinners who have experienced forgiveness and can love God because of the restraint and mercy shown to us and to others without our even having earned it. As though we could do such a thing at all!

As Calvin points out those who experience this God and this devotion seek to understand this God more and more and refuse to conceive of God in a way that is counter to the revelation God has given us through Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture.

#1 People are "hired-wired" for God

2009-05-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

Jean Calvin produced a catechism for people in 1537 called "Instruction in the Faith." As an experiment I am crafting an updated version. Comments and reflections are welcomed.

#1 People are “hard-wired” for God.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many different expressions of spirituality in the world? People attend church, synagogue, and mosque to worship their God. While some Buddhists are not really believers in a Supreme Being, others follow the teachings of Buddha and meditate with the thought that he is divine. Hindus worship many expressions of the divine. And even those people who seem to have no God spend time practicing “spirituality” through reflection time, special diets, and yoga. Even atheists, including the ones who are the fiercest critics of religion and faith, extol a higher governing principle: reason. People seem almost hard-wired for belief in a “higher power.” Perhaps it is because people like to make order out of things and having a “higher power” promotes order out of chaos by giving meaning to the world and our lives.

Some scientists have suggested that it is in very structure of our brains to respond to prayer and meditation and other practices that connect us with the divine; hence the phrase “hard-wired.”

Christians have been saying something similar for many centuries.

John Calvin wrote that the very fact that so many people, including those who were not believers in God, had thoughts about God was proof that we were made to know God. St. Augustine begins his Confessions by commenting that “our hearts are restless until they find rest in you, God.”

If you open your Bible to Romans 1, you can read the way the Apostle Paul described people and their natural desire to think about God: “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For ever since the beginning of the world, God’s character though invisible — his great power and even greater nature — have been made visible by looking around us at the things that have been made.”

Put another way, Paul might have said take a look at yourself and the world around you. Can you be so quick to say there is no God? John Calvin spend less time speculating about the natural world as proof of God and said that the very fact that there are so many people who consider God a reality that they are proof that there is a God for us all to be thinking about.

What do we do with this knowledge? Well, here is the first step in a greater faith in God. Recognizing that there is a God means also accepting that God might have some claim upon you as your creator. Spend some time thinking about what it really means to believe there is a person that created you. Then you may begin to see this life as less about you and your wants and more about how you and this God can know one another and work together. Years and years ago, there were a group of Christians who wanted to put together a short series of questions and answers to teach people about the Christian faith. The very first question / answer that they wrote summarizes this idea that there is a God and we are led naturally to think about God, delight in God, and learn from God. Here is what they wrote:

Q: What is the main purpose of all people? A: To know God and to glorify God forever.

Spend some time thinking about what it could mean for your life to live with this idea in your heart.

Ash Wednesday at Jackson Woods

2009-05-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Ash Wednesday at Jackson Woods

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Last night we held Ash Wednesday services. For those who are not familiar with what Ash Wednesday is about it is the first service of the Lent season. Lent is a time set aside for Christians to consider the journey of Christ to Jerusalem and ultimately his death on the cross.

Lent is considered a penitential season. Christians reflect on their own sinfulness and the need / fact that Jesus came to pay the price for our sin. Paul summarizes this whole idea nicely in Romans: “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

We did something different last night. All the music was prerecorded. And there were two “secular” songs incorporated into the worship service for the gathered pilgrims to consider. Some folks were curious about the lyrics of the songs and may have wondered why they were chosen.

The opening music, what would have been a prelude was a traditional song used during the season of Purim in Jewish synagogues. The language you heard that may have sounded arabic was in fact Hebrew. I must admit that I played the wrong track last night. I intended to play a different Jewish song (with no lyrics) but played Chag Purim instead.

Here are the lyrics of Chag Purim:

Purim time
Purim time
A big festival for the Jewish people

Masks, noisemakers
songs and dances.

Wind your noisemakers - it sounds like “rash rash rash”
Purim time
Purim time
we send gifts to one another
Treats, sweets
and other nice things.

Wind your noisemakers - it sounds like “rash rash rash”

The Festival of Purim is when the Jewish people celebrate their deliverance from the Persians. The Book of Esther in our Old Testament tells the story. The lyricsare silly and simple probably so that children can learn them quickly and participate in the fun.

Although it wasn’tthe song i intended to start with last nigh, Ithink that the Holy Spirit was at work because it set a different feel. Chag Purim is a festive tune. People are happy and dancing and making noise. There is a sese in which we come to worship on Ash Wednesday (and perhaps every time we come to worship) blissfully unaware of the nature of our heart wound. We are sinners in need of repentence and the grace of God. Our revelry buts up against the truth about who we are prior to being made new by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The first song for reflection was Down Their By the Train. The style is traditional gospel but the song is a modern one. Written by Tom Waits, we listened to a recording by Johnny Cash. Here are the lyrics:

There’s a place I know where the train goes slow
Where the sinner can be washed in the blood of the lamb
There’s a river by the trestle down by sinner’s grove
Down where the willow and the dogwood grow

You can hear the whistle, you can hear the bell
From the halls of heaven to the gates of hell
And there’s room for the forsaken if you’re there on time
You’ll be washed of all your sins and all of your crimes
If you’re down there by the train

Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

There’s a golden moon that shines up through the mist
And I know that your name can be on that list
There’s no eye for an eye, there’s no tooth for a tooth
I saw Judas Iscariot carrying John Wilkes Booth
He was down there by the train

Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
He was down there where the train goes slow

If you’ve lost all your hope, if you’ve lost all your faith
I know you can be cared for and I know you can be safe
And all the shamefuls and all of the whores
And even the soldier who pierced the side of the Lord
Is down there by the train

Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

Well, I’ve never asked forgiveness and I’ve never said a prayer
Never given of myself, never truly cared
I’ve left the ones who loved me and I’m still raising Cain
I’ve taken the low road and if you’ve done the same
Meet me down there by the train

Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

Meet me down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there by the train
Down there where the train goes slow

The way Johnny Cash performs it the song is at once haunting and beautiful. Traditional gospel in the African American tradition often uses the symbol of the train for salvation. There are a couple of reasons for that (i suspect) one is that the train was a modern miracle. It could take you places that you wanted to go to and could get you there quicker and safer. The train had the allure of freedom and mobility in the same way that a car does today for the teenager or a plane may have for adults. The second reason I can speak to with more confidence. The underground railroad was the metaphor used to describe the system of people and homes that runaway slaves could use for the journey to liberation. It seems natural to me that that same metaphor could be appropriated for the salvation we are offered from God through Christ Jesus.

Hence, ”down there by the train” becomes a description of people loading ad getting ready to journey to salvation. But the song goes far beyond somethign that simple. The folks described throughout the song are folks who are guilty of what we might call great sin or at least socially unacceptable ones. Prostitutes are mentioned and so are killers and betrayers like John Wilkes Booth and Judas Iscariot. But the imagery is unmistakeable. All of them can find forgiveness and salvation if they will just go down there to the train to that place where it is leaving so slowly, slow enough for anyone to catch it.

In the end the narrator of the song puts themselves and their “more minor” indiscretion into the throng gathering by the train. Even a sinner such as I, whose sin may seem smaller but is really the equal of those others can be forgiven.

It should be obvious now why that song was chosen. Lent is a time to reflect on our own sinfulness which is always much greater in God’s eyes than in our own. Lent is also the time to reflect on the amazing unfathomable limitless grace and mercy of God to forgive even us and anyone else who learns to trust in Him for their redemption and salvation.

The second song we listened to was a little harder to hear the lyrics of because it was a live recording. The artist might surprise you: Pink Floyd. They are a fully secular group. Make no mistake, they are not even remotely Christian but several of their songs make wise comment on society. This song in particular though, speaks to a latent hope in people everywhere, and one that will find its realization in what Christ is doing for us.

That by the way is why i chose the song. As we come through a time of repentence and reflection on our sinfulness we do well to remember that the actions that God has taken on our behalf are not simply personal although that is a huge benefit. In Christ, God is reconciling the entire world to himself. There is a new creation underway and the resurrected Christ is the first fruit of that new life and new world and new reality. There is so much more going on in the death and resurrection of Jesus that simply redeeming you and I from our sinfulness.

Here are the lyrices to “On the Turning Away”

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won’t understand
Don’t accept that whats happening
Is just a case of other’s suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away

Its a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we’re all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
Its not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?

In this song, Pink Floyd (they are a group and not one person) describe how the world so often turns away from the pale and downtrodden, the weak and the weary, etc. We do this because we believe the that their suffering is brought upon themselves. We turn from them because we pursue the dream of the proud and therefore can ignore the plight of the needy.

Even as the song longs for the day that this is no longer the case it does have the limitation of not knowing where to find the solution. Like much of th esecular world (oblivious to the condition of sin that we all share) the assumption is that if we simply all agreed that this is a world that we all must sahre we would live peaceably with one another. We could avoid all the injustices and pain in this world if we all just thought differently.

Lent reminds us that we must turn toward God. The Christian knows that apart from God there is no way to change. The core problem, our heart wound, our sinfulness must be addressed. Then we can begin to think differently about the world around us and the way we live. ONce a person has acknowledged their sinfulness and called upon the mercy of the Lord then they can begin to change through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. We can be taught to rend out hearts and not just our garments which is to say we can practice true repentence, a fundamental change in who we are and how we live.

It is not just a dream that there will one day be no more turning away. But we won’t get there on our own merit. We will get there through the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully this will help you understnad better why I chose those songs for Ash Wednesday. I hope reflecting on them will provide another means for the Holy Spirit to will and work for the change in your heart that God most desires.

See you Sunday

Pastor Michael

Something Happened in the Vineyard

2009-05-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

Something Happened in the Vineyard

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Read Mark 12: 1-12

The parable of the vineyard is the name that has been given to this story Jesus tells. The story is very straightforward and the if you read the passages that come right before you find that Jesus and the Pharasees are arguing about where he gets the authority to teach and cast out demons and do all those other amazing things that he is doing. This is why the story ends with ”Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.”

The thing is though, the parable waas not just a cleverly concealed jab at the Pharisees or anybody else in the moment. The parable was also an indictment of all of us collectively. The parable is about the attitude of humanity towards God.

Take another look: “A man planted a vineyard… then he rented the vineyard out to some farmers.” Often times in Jesus parables “a man” equals God. This is not always true, but certainly makes sense in this case. The man in the parable sets up a vineyard (a lush place of life that will bring forth bountiful blessing) and then intrusts it to some hired folks (stewards) while he goes away. Does this sound familiar? If you had flashbacks to the story of the garden in Genesis you are hearing this parable the way I think Jesus intended us to hear it.

The Man sends repeatedly emissaries to bring in a portion of the harvest (Moses, King David, and various prophets come to mind) and all of them are treated mightly shabby. Beaten or killed. Finally the man decides to send his own son to reclaim the garden. ”surely they will respect my son.”

Instead the men decide to kill him. But look at there reasoning: ”This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.”

In the garden, what posesses Adam and Eve (representative of humanity) to break God’s law in the first place?

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. ”For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4

“And you will be like God. “

“The inheritance will be ours.”

And there it is at the root of our problem. We want to be a law unto ourselves. Although we don’t always realize it, much of what we do is centered on our wanting to have control over our lives and the world around us. We almost subconsciously put ourselves (individually and together) in the place that God alone gets to occupy. This attitude is at the very heart of sinfulness. It is a self-centered outlook that leads to a break down in our relationship with God and with others.

A lot of our personal pain and societal pain can be related to people looking out only for themselves.

God of course shows us a different way. Living for others and (opposite from what we would expect) finding a more abuindant life.

The parable does end with a solid reassurance. The action that the people take backfires in the end because of God. Jesus quotes a psalm reminding people that those things which people intend to thwart God can always be turned by God into something beautiful.

” ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
¹¹the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

It is indeed beautiful in our sight. We who would reject Jesus, including those people then who cruified him, are utlimately made whole by the very action we sought to use against God. In the resurrection Christ Jesus conquers sin and death for us all. The evil unleashed in the garden has its moment of great triumph (the death of God) reversed and robbed of all its power. The new creation has begun. All of its benefits now and in the not yet are ours to experience through faith by the Grace of God in Jesus Christ. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes!

Being Put Up for Adoption

2009-05-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Being Put Up for Adoption

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Read Galatians 4:1-7.

Have you ever known a family who has adopted a child? Or have you known a person who was adopted? The first family that I met with adopted children had 3 kids. 2 of them were adopted and the 3rd was a surprise blessing from God.

I learned about the older children being adopted when the youngest one mentioned that her special day, Andrea Day, was coming up. It was April Fool’s Day. Confused I asked her what she meant. She said that in her family all the children have a birthday and a day where they celebrate joining the family. You see for her adopted brother and sister they each had a birthday and a day when they came to the family. My friend’s parents chose April Fool’s Day to be the official “Andrea Day.” They thought it was appropriate since they had been convinced that they could not have children of their own.

That family was so close and full of so much love. I was always really impressed with them. And had my friend not told me that her brother and her sister were adopted I would have never known.

That is often the way it is in adopted families. The adopted children and the natural children cannot be told apart. The way the parents act toward them is identical. In families where there are only adopted children, an outsider can seldom guess about the adoption unless the children look strikingly different from the parents.

Paul uses adoption to describe our place in The Family. God’s son was born under the law in order to redeem those of us who were under the law (everyone) so that we might receive adoption into the family of God.

An adopted child is not a child by birth right, but by the law.

Likewise, we are not God’s children by virtue of birth, but by the action of Christ to make us blameless before the law. As a sign that we have been put into the family through Christ, God has sent his Spirit to us that calls out from our hearts ‘Abba, Father.’

Elswewhere Paul writes that it is only through the Spirit that we can make the proclamation: “Jesus is Lord.”

If we belong to Christ, through faith, we belong to the family of God. We are entitled to all the benefits of the family. Though adopted sons and daughters we are treated as though we belong, celebrated as true heirs to the kingdom. You might even say that Easter is our own special “Andrea Day.”

Thinking about how my friend’s familiy with adopted children and natural children wrapped in love with no distinction between them gives me a glimpse into the depth of love that God has for those of us who are committed to Christ and adopted into the family by faith.

The joy I have seen in adoptive parents must reveal at least in part the great joy of God the Father for each of us.

Advent is the time when we remember backward and forward to Christ acheiving our adoption and returning to welcome us home.

Mary and Zechariah

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Mary and Zechariah Contrasted

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Read Luke 1:26-38.

There is something appropriate about reading this encounter betwen Mary and the angel Gabriel on the heels of yesterday’s encounter between Gabriel and Zechariah. The contrast between their reactions to the Angel’s news could not be more striking. (This by the way is also the text for Sunday’s sermon.)

Yesterday, when we read the story of Zechariah and Gabriel we encountered a deeply religious man, a Levite priest of the Jewish people, who was told that God was going to bless him with a child. Zechariah had trouble accepting this news because he was old and Elizabeth, his wife, was well past child-bearing age. Recall that these folks lived long before fertility clinics and envitro. For Elizabeth to conceive a child was an outright miracle not simply a “miracle” of modern science.

For his disbelief of the good news brought to him, Gabriel strikes Zacharias mute until the prophecy of John’s birth comes to pass. Do you remember that when Zacharias finally speaks again he sings loud praises to God.

Mary’s response to her own miraculous pregnancy is utterly different. While she is afraid of the angel and perplexed as to how this will happen, she eagerly accepts the message. ”I am the Lord’s servant,” she says.

Maybe age had somethign to with their different responses. Mary is young and perhaps naive so she willingly accepts what angel tells her without thinking about the possibilities. Zechariah is older and wiser. His skepticism is not driven by lack of faith so much as depth of experience.

I suspect that each of us can put ourselves in these respective places. There have been times when we, like Zechariah, see the possibilities that God reveals to us as too difficult to accept. We may even find ourselves “struck dumb” by the consequences of not following the leading of the Lord. But, there have been times when we, like Mary, have eagerly received the leaning of God and replied with an open and obiedient heart.

The thing is that Mary was asked the harder thing to do. She was asked to face public scorn and carry a baby. Zechariah was asked to believe that he would have a son. How often do we take Mary’s posture in our own lives when the thing that God is leading us to do is difficult? I suspect that more often than not we have Mary’s accepting outlook only when the road ahead looks easy or fits within our plans.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ tell us that the path to the kingdom of God begins in the same spot: repentence.

At its most basic level repentence literally means to “turn around.” Sometimes this is easier said than done. Praise God that we serve a Lord who is willing to meet us where we are and take whatever repentence we can muster at this time and use it to transform us through the Holy Spirit into children of God. God is in the business of saving all the Marys and Zechariahs of the world.

If you read all of Luke 1, you will find that both Mary and Zechariah end up in the same place: joyful with a song to the Lord on their hearts.

Whether we are Mary and throw all of ourselves into God’s care or we are Zechariah and we have to be dragged along; whatever we can muster for God during this Advent season, we will get to that moment of profound praise, too.

May it be so among us.

Praise Be To The Lord

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Praise Be To the Lord

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Read Luke 1: 67-80.

In this reading we see Zechariah proclaiming with joy the impending salvation of his people. Beginning in v 76 he addresses his son, John, directly. It is a beautiful song of praise to the Sovereign Lord. It becomes more beautiful, even spectacular, when you consider that these are the first words from Zechariah’s mouth in months.

Earlier in the first chapter of Luke, we are introduce to Zechariah as he sets about to fulfill a once in a lifetime assignment: tending the incense burner of the temple. While in the temple to perfrom this honor (you were selected by lots to do this task and then pronounce the blessing on the people and a person could only do it once in their lifetime) Zechariah meets the angel Gabriel who tells him of the fact that his wife will conceive a child and they arer to name him John. He is told that the boy wll be a great joy to them both and that he “will bring many of the people of Israel back to the Lord.”

Zechariah is an older man as is his wife. He does not believe what the angel tells him. Apparently the depth of Zechariah’s doubt was significant because the angel tells him that he will not speak until it comes to pass. When Zechariah left the temple to proclaim the blessing he had no voice.

Our text today, shows that the first words from Zechariah’s lips after all this time (months of being quiet I am sure is difficult) are fittingly a praise to the wonders of God.

Not just a praise to God. But a proclamation of what God is doing in the world.

So the question for you and I becomes… is this us?

After we have been through a difficult time (even one brought about because of a crisis of faith) is our first instinct to praise God for what he has done? Even if our first instinct is to offer praise, would it be totally centered on God and his action or just on the action that effected us?

I suspect not. I suspect that most of us would be centeredon how we were feeling, and what God had done for us, and how great God was because he had seen fit to act on our behalf.

Zechariah’s response shames us all.

Perhaps this Advent, we would all do well to ask the Spirit to help teach us that ultimately everything is about the purpose God is up to and only secondly, perhaps thirdly, or even tenthly, is it about ourselves individually.

The Cornerstone... The Straight Post... The True Foundation

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The Cornerstone… The Straight Post… The True Foundation

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Read 1 Peter 2:4-10.

We do not build with stone much anymore. Most buildings today are made from steel and concrete and so we do not see cornerstones very often. If you go downtown in any good sized town or city there is usually still at least one building that has a prominent cornerstone. The cornerstone sets the first two sides of the building. It is known to be square and by building off from the cornerstone the resulting walls will be true. If the cornerstone is not set well or is misshapened the whole building process becomes a waste of time.

While we do not have cornerstones so much anymore we can still get the concept by watching someone building a fence. That first fencepost to be set in the ground is crucial. For the whole fence to turn out right that first post must be set at the right depth and must be straight up and down. If it isn’t true then the fence attached to it will either lean in or out. Same concept as the cornerstone.

Presbyterians are a part of the Reformed Faith. All that means is that our immediate ancestors in the faith are churches that came out of the Protestant Reformation about 500 years ago.

One of the hallmarks of the Reformed Faith has been a high view of scripture. The reformers used a two word phrase to capture the spirit of this view of scripture, Sola Scriptura. It means “only scripture.” Reformers like Calvin believed that the Bible was sufficient ground for understanding our faith. The Reformers also said Sola Christus – “Only Christ!” For the reformers these were two of their most fundamental concepts.

In our reading today the two ideas come together. As the writer of 1 Peter attempts to explain the faith to a new group of Christians, more ancient scriptures (Isaiah and the Psalms) are reread with the knowledge of Christ as a filter. Suddenly the language of cornerstones and rocks take on a new meaning. God is in the process of building a spiritual house, with a new people, and the cornerstone is his own son, Jesus the Christ.

This Spiritual household that is being built out of us (living stones) will have walls that are straight and true, because the cornerstone we are working from is Jesus Christ. How does the author know that Christ is the cornerstone? Because through the eyes of faith he has begun to see that Christ was being referred to by those ancient writers. When we read that a precious cornerstone has been chosen and laid in Zion, we like Peter can say “now I see. Yes of course, Christ.”

The building process is complicated and time consuming, but the Church (the people of God all over the world) will be perfected in the end - a flawless spiritual house with walls that are straight and true because of the all important cornerstone who is straight and true.

Whats true for us as a collective is also true for the individual. When we base our understanding of God on who we see revealed in Jesus Christ then we can trust that our faith will be well constructed because Jesus Christ is our reliable cornerstone.

This weekend pray that the Spirit will show you how to trust the revelation of God found in Jesus Christ.

Joy and Hope

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Joy and Hope

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Read Romans 15:4-13.

The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as Gaudette Sunday or “joy” Sunday. For many years in the hostory of the church, Advent was a time of penitent preparation before the festival of Christmas (which began on Christmas Eve and lasted for 12 days) in the same way that Lent is a season of penance and preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Over time society and the church shortened Christmas from 12 days to just one day. This trend continues in some ways today where all the Christmas music and themes of Christmas are handled in the build-up to Christmas. It is safe to say that for Americans, Christmas ends on the 26th. I suspect that very few people are contemplating and celebrating the riches of Christ’s birth as they stand in line at the Macy’s return desk or battle the good people of Wal-Mart at 5 AM for bargains.

But back when Advent was a time for repentance and preparation, the third Sunday marked an uplifting reminder of the joy the believer in Christ experiences. That is why the candle color on this Sunday is pink.

Here in the 15 chapter of Romans, Paul is finishing up his masterwork. He has carefully explained through out Romans why the gentiles (non Jews) need the grace of God offered in Christ. He has meticulously laid out the way of salvation through Christ’s death. And he has explained how all along God intended for the day to come where he brough Jew and Gentile together into one family of faith through the bond of Jesus Christ.

All this comes about so that we might have hope. There is that word again so prevalent through Advent. The Christian life is a life based on faith, centered in love, and demonstrated by hope. The hope we have that God is in charge and orchestrating the renewal of all creeation even in the idst of suffering. The hope we have that despite our deep sinfulness and unworthiness before a Holy God that in Christ we are forgiven and justified to be in God’s presence. The hope we have that the Spirit can bring us together with our neighbors and forge us in to the people of God despite any and all our differences.

And the emotion that characterizes this hope played out in us is Joy. Not a blissful pollyanna type happy feeling that disregards real pain and suffering. We are not a people who ignore suffering and pain. Christians recognize the pain and suffering in the world around us. Not only recognize it but can call out its source… ourselves and our sin.

But, we are a people who know the love of God. Who know peace in teh midst of turmoil and pain. We are most blessed because we have heard and believed through the power of the Holy Spirit the truth about us in JEsus Christ. As Paul writes elsewhere in Romans, “the truth of God’s amazing love is this that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is a profound life-changing truth. When we believe it, then we begin to know that great promise that the Holy Spirit reveals to us. The promise laid out by Paul in chapter 8 of Romans:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is this sort of hope and thinking that lies behind the end of our reading for today: May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As this Advent continues in the midst of lots of uncertainties we should all pray for a double dose of the Spirit that turns faith in to hope and acts of love.

One Thing

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One Thing

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Read Psalm 27:1-4.

At first glance we may read verse 4 of this psalm and wonder of all the things to say is the one thing that we will seek you really choose dwelling in the house of the Lord all your days?

Most people are seeking after somethign and asking God for it. For some it is a child. For others it is a life-partner. Still others are seeking professional success. And many are looking for permanent financial stability. A host of people are simply seeking after pleasures and desire.

The Bible consistently reminds us that few are seeking after the Lord. One of the reasons the scriptures have to remind us to “seek the Lord while he may be found” is because our natural inclination is to seek after the desires and wants of our own heart regardless of when they are good desires or foolish.

Psalm 27 picks up a theme that is introduced in the psalms in the very first chapter. Happy (or blessed) are those who walk in the way of the Lord. True happiness and contentment are not found in the things that we naturally seek after. Money, love, pleasure, power, and all the other sources of strength and happiness that we can possibly think of are ultimately empty pursuits. In proverbs we are told that the way that seems right to a person leads to death. Jesus said that the way that led to destruction was easy with a wide gate than many people enter.

Psalms are poems or songs. They are written by artists. The songwriter who wrote psalm 27 was wise. Seeking after the house of God all the days of your life is a much better course of action for happiness and contentment. A more modern sosngwriter captured the spirit of this with a different well-known hymn: “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these thigns shall be added unto you.”

Jesus said that the way to life was straight with a narrow gate. We often avoid narrow, straight, difficult paths. Jesus also promised us that this particular straight path led to abundant life and a peace that passes all understanding.

Remember the movie City Slickers? Jack Palance’s hardened cowboy tells Billy Crystal that the secret of life is one thing, but dies before he reveals it. Psalm 27 reveals the one thing: seeking after God to dwell in the house of the Lord.

Take the time to read the whole psalm. At the end you will find one of the joys that comes from seeking the Lord first:

I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Eyes of faith, see the Lord and his goodness at work in the world around them. The one who seeks after God develops such a vision through the Holy Spirit.

The final words of the psalm are an admonition to everyone, but could also be the whole theme of Advent:

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Not If, But When.

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Not If, But When.

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Read Isaiah 11:1-10

Many of us have oak trees in our yards. If you do then you are familiar with the concept of a tree shoot. They pop up in the lawn from deep within the root system of the oak tree. Through them the tree is strengthened and grows. In some cases even if a tree is chopped down shoots can form all new trees, even stronger trees, from the stump.

Isaiah probably had never seen an oak tree, but he knew a thing or two about tree shoots. When God gave Isaiah words of comfort to speak to the people in exile he described the future coming of the Messiah in terms of a tree shoot.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Jesse is a reference to the family of King David. From this stump a fruit bearing branch will come. Christians see this proclamation fulfilled in Jesus Christ whose family came from the House of David. Isaiah goes on to describe the sort of Spirit that will dwell within this branch.

Unlike people, who judge only by what they see or through hearsay, this one will judge with righteousness. Here we find true justice. Not only that but this leader does not coerce such law through armies or tax policy but rather uses the power of his word.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Could any person be able to rule so effectively and without corruption? No. We are all sinners and our self-made efforts had perfecting the world and executing justice will always come up short. Our best efforts at law and peace will always be open to corruption.

But the one who is the stump of Jesse, will rule from righteousness even to the point that lion and goat can be side by side. A child could play with a very posionous snake. This vision of peace and harmony is beyond the reach of human beings (despite the best efforts of a great many people) but is not only possible from God, this future outcome is the promise of God. The reconcilling work of the person described will be so effective that the world will best be described as filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

In Advent, we name Jesus as the stump of Jesse and we await his return to finish enact a world so filled with righteousness and faithfulness.

Oh and those oak tree shoots that spring up in your yard are a good reminder of the trustability of this promise. There isn’t anything you can do to stop those shoots in your yard from coming back up after you mow them. They are going to grow and grow. Trying to eradicate them can only hurt the main tree also. This future that God has planned for the world is as reliable a promise as those shoots popping back up through your lawn overr and over again. It isn’t a question of if, but a question of when.

Just Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

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Just Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Read Mark 13:33-37.

A lot of energy is expended by people trying to figure out when the end of the world will come. For example, many teenagers today are enthralled by an idea they picked up on television that the world would end in 2013. The way I understand this is that it is based on an ancient calendar system that the Mayans developed. The world progressed through regular cycles. Following this model the current cycle is due to end in 2013.

There is a natural instinct in us to fear the end of the world. We are finite people, meaning our time is limited, so the idea of the world suddenly ending before we get to do some things we long to do seems unfair and causes anxiety.

It isn’t just teenagers watching the Discovery channel that focus on the end of time. Many Christians do, too. I can remember when I was a kid watching Jack Van Impe (i think that was his name) looking at current events and explaining to me how these were playing out Biblical prophecies. And it is a lucrative business, the end of time, when you consider how many books Hal Lindsey sold in the 70s and how many books the Left Behind series has sold this decade. There is always a market for certainty.

Advent is an appropriate time to consider the return of Christ. Today’s reading issues the warning to be alert because we have no way of knowing when the return will happen. We do not know when the Lord will appear among us.

Among us. Hmmm. So much energy is expended in predictions and calculations (Jonathon Edwards was convinced the world would end in the 1860s) but little time is spend considering the admonition that Jesus actually gives us.

We aren’t told to predict or second guess God. In fact, just a few verses before this Jesus tells his disciples that noone knows the time and day of the return. Noone. Amazingly, not even Jesus!

We are told to keep watch and be on the alert. Jesus explains the situation to be like a man who leaves for a time and entrusts his workers with certain tasks.

Ever leave your children at home for a few hours? How often before you walked out the door did you tell them certain things that needed to get done. “Pick up your shoes. Fold the laundry. Empty the dishwasher.” Remember how you used to think, I better make sure I have done those things before Mom gets home?

That is exactly what Jesus is talking about. Dad has left for a while and we have certain chores to take care of individually and collectively. We wont know exactly when Dad gets back, but we should make sure that we are working on those things. We don’t want to be caught watching television and the laundry still be in the hamper.

During this Advent season, worry less about when Jesus will come back and worry more about doing the things that God has left us to do. Spent some time this weekend praying that the Holy Spirit reveal to you those things that God has assigned to you.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)”