Next, The Son

Posted on by November 30, 2013
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Philippians 2:5-11 — Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I knew, when I started these pieces on God that I was taking on a challenge that was too great for me. Yesterday, when I finished writing about the Father I was saddened at how little I could say. But there are consolations! Charles Wesley wrote many of our finest hymns. One of his was “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” which starts “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee.” Well nobody can deny the greatness of Wesley’s hymns … But pretty much every hymn writer that I can think of has the same challenge — it is impossible to describe Jesus is all His complexity in one hymn.
There are more aspects to Jesus than I could cover in a hundred of these pieces. But one that should never be missed is the picture that Jesus Himself paints for John in the Revelation (19:11-13): “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.” Not exactly “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”!
When I see the Man who was a carpenter, and a friend of fishermen and tax-gatherers, who am I seeing? When I look at the Man who put His Father’s will first, even when it meant a cruel death on the cross, who am I looking at? Who was it who healed the sick, forgave sinners, tenderly blessed children, compassionately fed thousands. It was the one of whom Isaiah said, (Isaiah 53:2-3) “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” I am looking at the one shown to Daniel in his dream, “one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)
Jesus is God, man, warrior, king, priest, shepherd, healer, teacher, savior, redeemer and friend. He is also Son of God. His sonship speaks of His uniquely obedient relationship with God the Father and of his mission to enable people to become adopted children of God by accepting who He is, admitting who they are, and placing their faith in Him.
There is too much, by far, for one person to say. What will you add?

First The Father

Posted on by November 29, 2013
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Malachi 1:6 — A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

God, by His own word, is a Father. Now, one of the great mistakes this can lead to is for us to take our earthly father as the model for our Heavenly Father. Now maybe, like some lucky people I know, you had a wonderful father with whom you had a great relationship. Or perhaps, like some others, you had a father who was physically or emotionally abusive. Or, like me, maybe you had a Father who was absent for long periods of your childhood and young years. No matter. God is not modeled on your father, but your father should be modeled on him!
When we think of God, as Father, if we are to adopt any human perspective, perhaps it should be one that considers the relationship between an Old Testament Jewish father and his children. The father, it should be noted, had many responsibilities — especially to provide for the child. The child had a responsibility so great that it was one of the Ten Commandments : “Honor thy father and thy mother.” The Biblical command us reinforced by stern warnings — “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son … all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) and “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” (Proverbs 30:17)
We should make no mistake — God the Father is to be feared as well as loved. There is a foolish modern tendency to seek to play down the terrible power of the God of the flood, of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the driving out of the Canaanites. Not for nothing does Psalm 33:8 say “Let all the earth fear the Lord : let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” It is but one of many scriptures to be found, especially in the Psalms, that make clear how dangerous the Father can be … And yet …
And yet, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2). God has given us such a kind of love, unknown amongst men (that is the force of “what manner of love”) that we are like the children if His body. So great is that love that, although it cannot yet be seen, we are being transformed into the likeness of His firstborn Son, Jesus.
Understanding what the Father does for us — loving Him, and paying Him due. Modern research says that an involved earthly father has a positive impact on a child beyond that of any other person. How much more is the impact of our Heavenly Father, and how important that we acknowledge His person in the Trinity!

We Need To Talk About God

Posted on by November 28, 2013
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Matthew 28:19 — Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

This will be the first of (I think) four devotions on a most perilous subject. I am driven to consider God. It’s been bubbling up for a while. Yesterday, in considering worship I was reminded that God is Spirit, and a reading in Psalms today focused my mind on the terror of God and I was reminded of something A. W. Tozer said in his wonderful book “The Attributes Of God”:
“Christianity is decaying and going down into the gutter because the god of modern Christianity is not the God of the Bible. I don’t mean to say that we do not pray to God; I mean to say that we pray to a god short of what he ought to be.”
Tozer wasn’t talking about the blasphemous trivialization and taking in vain of the Lord’s name that is so common amongst non-Christians today. He was talking about us. So we need to talk amongst ourselves about our view of God. I don’t know about you, but I find that a little scary — because I know my eyes don’t open wide enough to see all of Him that I should see. But I’m going to try to say, in these few short pieces, a little of what I think and believe — and hope some of you will add what you know. Maybe between us we can pray to a God who is a little closer to what he ought to be.
Let me start with what might be the hardest and most disputed precept in all of our theology, that of the Trinity. The Baptist Faith and Message says:

“The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

Those words pull together intimations of the nature of God from the whole Bible, and represent the best conclusion of four or five hundred years of fierce debate amongst the brightest and best of Christian theologians. And it is still mysterious to most of us. How can one God be three persons? But it is so … There is one God of one essence. But there is the Father, who is neither the Son nor the Spirit. There is the Son, begotten of the Father, who is neither the Father nor the Spirit. Finally, there is the Spirit, who proceeds from the Son, and who is neither the Son, nor the Father. There is a logical order — but we must not infer any inequality between the persons of the Godhead.
This mystery is beyond me, but as I consider it one truth was revealed — I think. When I thought of three persons, it seemed to me that I needed three relationships! How can I relate to an awesome Father, a loving Son, and a wonderful guiding Spirit in the same way? And if I mix them up, how do I pay due honor to each if those three persons. And if I don’t give them due honor, Our God will never be what He should be.
So here’s the first thing I want to offer for this discussion. Let’s remember the separate persons of the Trinity, and their separate works, and give them each their proper due.

Worship Again

Posted on by November 27, 2013
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John 4:23-24 — But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

When I finished writing about worship yesterday, I discovered there was something else to be said. I realized that I hadn’t said what worship is. So here goes — worship happens when we seek to meet God in His realm, instead of asking Him to join us in ours. Wow! What does that mean?
When I pray, I’m trying to line up my will with God’s (“Thy will be done”). But I’m trying, I suppose, to influence — or at least express how I feel about — events that happen on earth — in what I might describe as “where I live”. Worship is different, and what Jesus is saying to the woman at the well is critical.
God is a Spirit. He is not a physical body, restricted in time and place. Our worship is our Spirit, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, responding to his holiness, love, and wisdom.
Jesus stops to talk to the woman at the well. It seems He saw in this seemingly disreputable lady a spirit ready to worship. Of course there were plenty of “religious” people prepared to worship in elaborate ceremony, but it seems He saw one who might become a genuine faithful believer.
There were many amazing things about the meeting at the well – but perhaps nothing more amazing than the announcement of a new age of worship. “Look”, He said, “now is the time for the focus of worship to change — where you worship will be much less important than Who you worship, and how you worship will be much less important than why you worship!”
“God is Spirit”, Jesus says, “He doesn’t live in the temple, though He has placed His name there — He is everywhere. He is not a thing, not some material idol. He is not some universal energy. He is a spiritual being! God must be worshiped in Spirit and truth!” Of this, Matthew Henry says “The spirit or the soul of man, as influenced by the Holy Spirit, must worship God, and have communion with him. Spiritual affections, as shown in fervent prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings, form the worship of an upright heart, in which God delights and is glorified.”
The great old commentator reached into the heart of worship when he chose the word “fervent”. Worship is spiritual — and passionate. The word most used for worship in the New Testament actually speaks of the idea of a dog licking its masters hand, it carries the oriental idea of bowing, face to the ground, and the Lord’s feet.
Next time you worship, let your Spirit fly … let it go to it’s Master, in His spiritual realm. Let it bow down … and worship.

Worship

Posted on by November 26, 2013
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Psalm 96 — O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord : for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

I was prompted to write about worship today. The psalms are full of wonderful verses about worship. Psalm 96 is one of my favorites. Perhaps I should have shortened my extract — but I love every word!
There are two attitudes about love that I think are quite wrong headed. The first is the notion that “worship” is something we all do when we congregate together in church. Now please don’t mistake me … that certainly can be worship, when we do it right. The Spirit-filled worship leader who takes us to the foot of the cross guides into that true worship.
The second wrong-headed attitude is the one that says “worship is holistic — it’s how you live your life, not something separate”. That’s such a good “spiritual’ sounding perspective – but it’s wrong. I have seen Jesus’s statement of the greatest commandment — “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;” used to “prove” this notion — but if Jesus had meant “worship” He would have said “worship”, not “love”!
Psalm 96 tells us a lot about how to worship: Worship should be:
— “new” — Every time we worship, we should turn our hearts to God and refresh our understanding of why we worship Him.
— expressed out loud
— daily
— publicly shared
— with a confessing heart, in the beauty of holiness
— reverent — fearing The Lord
And what is the subject of worship? It is the wonder and glory of The Lord — as best we can. Francis Chan, in his book “Crazy Love” says:

“Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”

We cannot ever worship God as He deserves — but this wonderful Psalm gives us some great
clues about how to get started … and demands that we witness through worship. O sing unto The Lord, declare His glory among the heathen!

Gratitude

Posted on by November 25, 2013
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Psalm 92:1-2 — It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

It was a blessing to be in our chapel yesterday evening with hundreds of others who wanted to come together and give thanks to God for all his goodness in the last year. It was a necessary corrective to the sadness I felt, and wrote about, a few days ago. There’s a real difference between those at the heart of the church and two other groups. There are the many people who are not Christians, to whom Thanksgiving is an occasion for a good meal, a family gathering and — perhaps — some bargain pre-Christmas shopping. Then there are those who are sure they are Christians but whose hearts are not really filled with gratitude for all God has done for them.
The twentieth-century Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, defines gratitude wonderfully:

To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us — and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not be hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes the difference.

This is a great litmus test for faith. Or maybe it would be better to see it as a barometer. We all, I suppose, have our good days and bad days. If you are never grateful for anything you might well wonder if you are a Christian. But perhaps a better question to contemplate for most of us is “How often do I give thanks unto the Lord, and sing praises unto His name?” If it’s not very often, what should I do about it. I have come to believe that gratitude, like love, is not just something you are, but also something that you do. More, it is something that you decide to do. Habakkuk 3:17-18 expresses this determination:

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Many of the people gathered in the chapel last night have been through some hard things in the last twelve months. It would have been easy for them to stay at home and be depressed. Many of them can see no clear path into the future. It would have been easy for them to stay at home and worry. But instead …
Instead a good number gathered together to bless The Lord in song and prayer. They obeyed the exhortation of Governor Bradford’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation which I quoted in that earlier piece, “gather at ye meeting house, … there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.” Together we recognized the love of God in everything God has done for us. If you weren’t with us, never mind! Every day is a good day to praise The Lord!

Yet I Must Be At Home

Posted on by November 24, 2013
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Ezekiel 11:16-17 — Therefore say, Thus saith The Lord; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith The Lord; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

Yesterday I talked of my longing for the home that I have never seen. Today I am reminded that, as John Doberstein comments about Dietrich Bonnhoeffer in his introduction to Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together”, I am a citizen of this world, where God has placed me. I must be at home where I am placed.

For too long, perhaps, Christians in America have been comfortable living in communities insulated from many of the challenges of oppression, enmity and isolation. It was not so for Jesus and his disciples, nor for the early church. It is not so for many Christians today in other countries, and it may not be so much longer for us. What of it? The longing to be gone from this world, and to be at home with The Lord was not strange to Paul — and he had plenty of reason:

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

They never tried to hide. Paul and Peter, James and John — all the apostles — they stood firm in the places where God had placed them.

There is another side to all of this. Do you sometimes feel you have it soft — and think about whether you should be somewhere else, doing one thing tougher, more significant? Well, you might be right — but you might be wrong too! Unless you know beyond doubt that you have a definite call you might be seeking to fill someone else’s shoes!
As a Christian I don’t get to choose when to stay and when to go. I don’t get to choose where I am to serve. Wherever He puts me, until he moves me, the mission of a citizen is clear. In “Life Together” Pastor Bonhoeffer expresses it perfectly. I am to minister by managing my tongue, by thinking little of myself and putting my neighbors will and honor ahead of mine, by being a willing listener, by being actively helpful, by bearing others burdens, by proclaiming the word and by wearing the mantle of authority when I must.

If we carry out the duties of a citizen wherever we are scattered, God has promised us a reward. He will be a “little sanctuary” for us, and we will be assembled together in the Body of Christ. … And wherever the Body is, I must be at home.

I Am Far From Home

Posted on by November 23, 2013
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1 Chronicles 29:14-15 — But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

I am far from home. I have a longing for home, a home that I have never seen.

Unlike many people, I have no home town to which I long to return. Stu Weber talks about the idea of hometown in his book “Infinite Impact”. Though a fair part of my childhood and youth was spent in one town, we had no legacy, no heritage, no kin. It is a good town, I’m sure, but it was not good for us, and it is not home for me.
Once I left that town for college I did not go back. I lived in a few places until I came to Naples with Myra. This is as near to a home town that I will ever have. I have lived here longest. There are more people here that I care about than anywhere else. I have come to know a Lord and Savior, and here I have come to know where my home is.

In his wonderful prayer for the dedication of the temple, David declares his knowledge that, no matter where we live, we are in transit. We have no hope, no future, no substance except as we are His people.

I try to love all parts of the Bible equally, but I cannot deny that I love some of the people in it more than others. Peter is one of my heroes. He understands the same truth. When he addresses his first letter to the chosen ones, living for a time scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia his words reflect the ideas of God’s providence both in the scattering and the transitory nature of their present accommodations. Later in the same letter he qualifies the context of their pilgrimage: “I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles:” It is not just as Jews that they are scattered, but as Christians. And as Christians we are all strangers and pilgrims.

It’s an odd business this pilgrimage. From time to time we meet someone and recognize another pilgrim. From time to quiet time we catch an echo of something from another place. And some, like me, are blessed with a fellow pilgrim — “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow:” — but we know we are on a journey to another place, far away.

I am far from home. I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ.

I Must Decrease

Posted on by November 22, 2013
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John 3:29-30!– He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Some time ago I wrote about the contradictions between Christian and secular beliefs. Here is another one. Great men of God have no doubt that they should be content when greater men grow in influence and success — even if their own influence seems diminished because of it.

I was reading something by John Philipps today that triggered this thought. In commentary in Peter he mentions Peter’s obvious affection for Paul despite their early history. He goes on to comment that Peter might have converted a thousand, while Paul had converted tens of thousands. But that’s how it is with the great spiritual leaders. John was the greatest example. People knew John was the real thing — but as soon as his cousin Jesus came on the scene John stepped right back.

Not all “leaders”, even in Biblical history, show that humility. Remember how Saul reacted when the women of Israel said, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”? “Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.” Saul was not going to be content to decrease while David increased!

This line of thought connected with some others today … I happened to be chatting with a Godly young man while we worked on something, and we shared the thought that the miracle is not so much that Jesus saves millions, but that He saves individuals — that He reaches into the hearts of individuals, sees their sins, and wipes them away.
Then I stumbled across a piece of research (admittedly not new) from the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development (FASICLD) about declining church membership. The analysis contained this splendid quote — “It is imperative we understand that growth statistics are just one aspect of an indicator of a healthy church. True success is being obedient to what God has called us to do and realizing that although we are responsible to serve, we are not responsible for the results. Our surrender to the will of God over our will and desires equals success; we are called to have the focus that God has and the passion and prayer to follow through. These are the marks of a successful church leader.” That’s a long way of saying, I think, that a good pastor understands that he must decrease and that He must increase.

Now, I’m pretty sure he’s not going to see thus, so it’s safe to brag on our pastor. He is one who isn’t on an ego trip — and our church is growing. But it seems so many churches are going the other way. So many seem to be looking for better structure, or better programs … Anything rather than surrender, let God lead, and let Him increase!

What No Thanksgiving?

Posted on by November 21, 2013
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2 Corinthians 9:15 — Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Myra and I thought it would be nice to put a Thanksgiving sign on our front door this year, so we went to one of our local craft stores today to pick one out. “Thanksgiving? Oh yes, we have some dining stuff on an end cap at the back there”. Somehow the stores have skipped straight from Halloween to Christmas and passed on Thanksgiving . And it seems it’s not just the stores. We seem to remember some very nice yard decorations in previous years. This year they seem to have gone straight from ghosts and graveyards to snowmen and reindeers — let us, at least hope the nativities are to come!
What has happened to Thanksgiving? I might be fanciful, but I think that it’s just one more sign of the way God is being driven out of so many lives. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American faith-based festival — consider it’s origin:
Governor Bradford of Massachusetts is believed to have made the first Thanksgiving proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth. In it, he said “Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of nine and twelve in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty-Three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.” How is that going to sit with an increasingly secular society — “Forget the football, bring the wife and kids, meet with the minister and thank The Lord!”
2 Corinthians 9 talks of the joy of generosity and the wonderful gift of redemption. Sometimes it seems that those joys are being driven out of so many lives in favor of possessions, “rights” and image. We need gratitude leaders!
“Gratitude leaders” — does that sound far-fetched? Well the notion appeals to better minds than mine. Dr. David Jeremiah comments – “certain Israelites were assigned to give thanks before the Lord as part of the worship. I wonder what would happen if we had a Pastor of Gratitude on the staff of our churches whose full-time job was to remind members of the congregation of all they have to be thankful to God for.” I think it ‘s a wonderful idea! Sports teams have cheerleaders. Churches have worship leaders. Time to get ourselves some thanks leaders — and take gratitude to the streets.