The Terms Of Peace (Palm Sunday)

You can listen to a podcast here. You can also watch a live stream of most of the service below.

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This is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem (as found in Matthew 21, with some details in bold print added from Luke 19.) 

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her that no one has ever ridden. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

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Worth noting: Riding on a donkey was something a very particular kind of King did.

“In the ancient Middle Eastern world, leaders rode horses if they rode to war, but donkeys if they came in peace. First Kings 1:33 mentions Solomon riding a donkey on the day he was recognized as the new king of Israel… The mention of a donkey in Zechariah 9:9-10 fits the description of a king who would be ‘righteous and having salvation, gentle.’ Rather than riding to conquer, this king would enter in peace.”  (gotquestions.org, “Why would A King Ride A Donkey Instead Of A Warhorse?”

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A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds (of disciples) that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, 

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”0 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

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Their chant is probably a reference to Psalm 118, which describes a king entering a city to ascend to the altar and offer sacrifice: “Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar!" (Psalm 118:27). This time, the king is the sacrifice.

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When Jerusalem came into view, He looked intently at the city and began to weep.

Jesus: Oh, Jerusalem, how I wish you knew today what would bring peace! But you can’t see…”

Jesus used the phrase “what would bring peace” elsewhere.

“What king going to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.” (Luke 14:31-32)

"Terms of peace" is the same phrase translated "what would bring peace." The king will bring peace, but it will be the King’s peace, on the King’s terms, and in the King’s way.

• Then Jesus drives out the money lenders in the Temple

• Then Jesus curses a leafy fig tree for not bearing fruit.

• The he tells the chief priests and the elders that tax collectors and the prostitutes would the kingdom of God ahead of them before telling them the parable of a landowner with a vineyard who sent his son to collect the harvest, and the tenents killed him. “ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

It’s an interesting way for the Messiah to start his Kingship.

The crowds cheered him as The Messiah – and by that, they meant a zealot warrior who would overthrow Rome.[1] That’s why there were palm branches. It was the sign of the Zealots. They wanted bloodshed from a Messiah with a sword. I have to imagine they weren’t too excited about a King on a donkey instead of a war horse.

The religious leaders were looking for Temple messiah, one who would purify the Temple and restore its reputation and influence in the world.

Well, Jesus purified the Temple, but not in the way they expected. He overthrew the hypocrites in the temple, then demonstrated the uselessness of a tree that does not bear fruit it is meant to, and told the chief priests and elders that that tree was them: fruitless; barren. He goes on to tell them they actually made disciples on behalf of hell (Matthew 23:15).

He refused to start an uprising against Rome. He actually told people to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s, and to repay evil with good. He told them that his Kingdom was not of this world, so his followers shouldn’t use force to spread His kingdom.

To get an idea of just how unsettling this was, think of John the Baptizer, while in jail awaiting his death, sent a message to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” This was John the Baptist, who once announced Jesus as, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He needed to know if Jesus was the real deal.

Jesus replied by quoting Isaiah (35:5 and 61:1): “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. And blessed are those who do not take offense in me.” (Luke 7)

That last line seems odd, but remember that the Jews were expecting a Messiah with a sword, not just a healing touch. Jesus is basically saying, ‘Don’t let this trip you up. This is what a real Messiah does.”

“Oh, Jerusalem, how I wish you knew today what would bring peace! But you can’t see…”

So what is the peace the Messiah was bringing, and where do we see it?

It was Jesus, and we see it in Jesus. 

• “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

• “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

• “… and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood…” (Revelation 1:5-6) 

• “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14) 

• “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

I don’t know what you expect from Jesus, but let’s look at the life and mission of Jesus.

If you expect that peace will come to the world (and to you) when the King takes care of the things around you, you will be disappointed. He didn’t make the Romans go away; he told the people how He would help them live in the presence of Romans. He didn’t confront others in answer to the hopes and prayer of the Pharisees; he confronted them.

They wanted a Messiah who would set everyone else right, as if the problem was only around them rather in them. This is why they couldn't see it. They assumed that God needed to deal with others.

But the problem was them. They were the source of sin in the world. They were the ones for whom the Messiah had to come.

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And Jesus did just that, and He set the terms of peace: He came to make things right between sinful, fallen humanity and a holy God, and he would do it by paying the price of reconciliation. He would satisfy the requirements of a just God while showing the heart of a loving God.

“God did not, then, inflict pain on someone else, but rather on the Cross absorbed the pain, violence, and evil of the world into himself… this is a God who becomes human and offers his own lifeblood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that someday he can destroy all evil without destroying us.” (Tim Keller)

Justice must be served because God is just; to save just one of us, it would have cost him a crucifixion. This should always humble us, because it reminds us that we are more sinful than we want to admit.

But mercy must be offered because God is merciful. To save just one of us, Jesus was willing to do this. This should always encourage us, because it reminds us that God’s love for us is so much deeper than we can ever imagine.

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[1] A short list of Messianic Kings who had tried and failed:

• Judas (of Galilee), Zealot, led revolt against Romans AD 6 (Acts 5)

• Judas Maccabeus 160's BC, considered on par with David/Gideon. He entered Jerusalem at the head of an army, purified the temple. His reconstitution of the temple is the basis of Hanakuh. He destroyed altars to Ashdod, but was eventually killed in battle.

• Menahem ben Judah, (grand)son of Judas the Galilean led a revolt against Agrippa II.

• Simon bar Kokhba 135), founded a short-lived Jewish state that he ruled for 3 years before being defeated in the Second Jewish-Roman War. 580,000 Jewish people died. He went from Kokhba,“Son of a Star” (Numbers 24:17) to Kozeba, “Son of the Lie.”

• Theudas (mentioned in Acts 5:36) died in AD 46. He claimed to be a Messiah, and led about 400 people to the Jordan River, where he said he would divide it to show his power. He didn't. He was stopped and executed.

• The Anonymous Egyptian (Jew). 55, (an allusion to Moses), with 30,000 unarmed Jews doing The Exodus reenactment. He led them to the Mount of Olives, where he claimed he would command the walls around Jerusalem to fall. His group was massacred by Procurator Antonius Felix, and he was never seen again.

Baptized Into Death - And Life

I have a short list of things in the Bible that seem unusual to us today that need a context in order for us to understand.

1. The woman washing Jesus’ feet with a tear bottle (Luke 7)

Context: In the first century, tear bottles were sealed shut and kept prominently, then buried with you as a sign of how hard your life was. Some of the wealthier Romans would even hire mourners to cry and fill bottles. In death, there was finally peace. So when she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears she was giving up her hard earn right to be pitied, and in a sense was saying she had found the peace for which she longed.

2. Salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-15)

Context: Salt was a precious commodity for money (Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt); it obviously also gave flavor to things which were otherwise bland.  Pure salt never loses its flavor, but salt like the salt from the Dead Sea could, because the salt was impure. It was often then thrown on roads because it was useless except to be trampled on.

3. John records an interesting promise from God: “He who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.” (Revelation 3:12)

Context: At the time of the early church, Asclepius was the god of healing.  In many cities were Asclepions, or hospitals. One daughter was Hygieia (hygiene) and another Panacea.  They would only accept people they thought they could heal, then put an inscription on a tablet or a marble pillar that described the cures and the healed parts of the bodies.  These were testimonies to the apparent power of the gods.    John may well have been saying, “Your lives will show God to be the true healer, the Great Physician.”

I think baptism needs a similar context because it’s not something for which our culture has a shared story around which to unite. It’s a symbol that still haunts our culture – there are baptism scenes in the Matrix and the latest King Arthur movie – but it’s not embedded into our lives, and when we see it symbolized in our cultural stories there is only some vague sense of change, not a real concrete idea of what this means.

Then people come to church, and we say, “Hey, you know you are going to need to let someone dunk you under the water.” Hmmm…

The ancient world was full of ritual of baptism of water and blood, even among the pagans.[1]  No one needed an explanation about why one should be baptized when they joined a religious group. They grew up in a world that understood this was the public pledge of allegiance to that being which you worship.  No one joining the church was surprised.

Over time, baptism become one of several sacraments that the Protestant churches practice. A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward seal that reminds of what God has done and what God intends to do to help us grow in grace. (2 Peter 3:18; Titus 1:4)

• Sign: I’ve seen it compared to the Batsignal: by our participation we are sending a message to God: “We need you. We are in a situation in which we cannot succeed without your help.” Obviously, God is already there, but it’s a reminder to us.

• Seal: An ancient king would use a ring to put a seal on a glob of wax on an important letter as a way of saying to everyone who saw it, “Property of the King.” In observing sacraments, we publicly accept the seal of Jesus: “I am the property of Christ the King.”

Sacraments humble us by reminding us of our need for God, yet at the same time they encourage us by reminding us that God has placed His seal on us, and we are under His protection, guidance and Lordship. And when we ask God for help and accept his seal, that humility and surrender is fertile ground for God’s ongoing work of grace in our life.

I want to focus on baptism so that  we understand the rich history of this sacramental symbol. To do that, I need to talk about a story involving water that began at the beginning of time and has been retold for all of human history.

Genesis 1, Creation

Jews were desert nomads; they were not at home on the water. And ancient cultural stories depicted the sea as a monstrous beast and a place where Baal would battle with Yam, the sea god (Yam is the Hebrew word for “sea”). 

• Leviathan lives there (Job 9.13; Psalms 89.8-10; Isaiah 27.1)

• Those in distress feel like they are being drowned in deep water (Psalms 69.1,2; Lamentations 3.54)

• Being saved from an enemy is like being pulled out of the waters of death (Psalms 18.16)

The ocean before creation, the “tehom” or the deep, was unsettled and chaotic. Even the pagans thought that. It was to be feared. But out of the water of chaos and death and formlessness God brought life, and it’s good.

The Flood, Genesis 6-9  The same word used Genesis 1, “tehom,” refers to the waters of the deep that flooded the earth. Once again, on the other side of chaos and evil is new life.  All ancient cultures recorded this. Peter late compared the water of baptism to the waters of the great flood that God used to save Noah and his family (1Peter 3:20 – 21) 


"In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

The Exodus and Promised Land  (Exodus 14) 

 “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Corinthians 10: 1-2)

Note here that they didn’t actually get wet as they passed through the waters that saved them; there was something about the experience of this ‘baptism’ that placed them into the life and legacy of Moses. I could also add here that under the covenant with Moses, baptismal ceremonies were a huge part of become ritually purified.

Jesus himself was baptized (Mark 1: 4-9)

“And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Jesus Taught The Importance Of Baptism

Jesus then says to his disciples, “Go into all the world, preach the gospel, and baptize…” (Matthew 28:19-20) [2]

Paul commanded it. He wrote in Hebrews 10:22:

"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Paul also wrote that Jesus sanctified the church, “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” (Ephesians 5:26). Note how one washed by water with the word.  There is clearly something symbolic happening that is not connected to some specific magical property of the water itself. 

The audience of Jesus’ time understood the story in which they were being asked to participate.  God brings order from chaos, life from death, purity from dirtiness, and God illustrates this spiritual reality with an earthly metaphor His people understood.

Let's apply all this to today. What does it mean when we get baptized now?

1. It's a public testimony to our salvation. Baptism is not a marker that we have arrived spiritually and now worthy of being initiated into the kingdom because we are so awesome. It’s a public alliance with the only one who can and has saved us.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

2. It's a spiritual uniting with Christ into His death and resurrection.    

“Remember that all we who are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ are baptized to die with him?  We are buried with him by baptism, for to die, that likewise as Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in a new life.  For if we are like him in death, even so must we be in the resurrection.” (Romans 6)

If we are going to walk in new life, we have to die first. In baptism, we see the death of the old as we go under the water, and the arrival of the new as we come up. Now we publicly bear the seal of Christ. (I wish there was someway we could stamp you when you come up: “Claimed by Jesus.”)

“We may never be martyrs but we can die to self, to sin, to the world, to our plans and ambitions. That is the significance of baptism; we died with Christ and rose to new life.”     - Vance Havner

3. It's the beginning of a life-long immersion in Christ.

Historians have found a recipe for making pickles that dates back to 200 B.C.  In order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. The first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, takes longer, and produces a permanent change. Genuine baptism ‘pickles us’ into the life of Christ.

This, I think, is what we must remember. We don’t walk away from a sacramental moment and forget about it. They are moments that pledge our lives, and in that outward sign we have participated in the reality of an inward work of the Holy Spirit that is part of our life constantly.

We have publicly said, “I give myself to you,” and that means we are in a process by which God transforms us for the rest of our lives into the image of Christ.

Here, by the way is where the community aspect of baptism comes in. Baptism is more than just you and God; it’s a public and formal alliance with God’s people, specifically the church you are in.

• It’s an act that gives permission: “You may now hold me accountable as a child of God and a brother or sister in Christ.”

• It’s an act that states responsibility: “And now I must do the same for you.”

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A FEW RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

 “Water Baptism In The Early Church.” http://www.churchhistory101.com/feedback/water-baptism.php

“Sacraments” (Theopedia) http://www.theopedia.com/sacraments

“That Great Day” (Jonny Lang song)

“Water Grave” (Imperials song, but plenty of others sing it!)

“Baptism” (Randy Travis song)

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[1] “Baptism: A Pre-Christian History.” http://www.bible.ca/ef/topical-baptism-a-prechristian-history.htm

[2] The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:36-38) is a great example.

From The Great Physician To The Great Commission (Part 5)

• A Labor Foreign Secretary (1966-68) named George Brown got this response from another guest at a diplomatic reception: “I shall not dance with you for three reasons. First, because you are drunk, second, because this is not a waltz but the Peruvian national anthem and third, because I am not a beautiful lady in red; I am the Cardinal Bishop of Lima.”

• When Barbara Bush, the wife of then Vice President George Bush, Sr., was on a diplomatic visit in Japan, she attended a lunch with Emperor Hirohito at Tokyo's Imperial Palace. In spite of her best efforts to start a conversation, the Emperor would only smile and give very short answers. She finally complimented Hirohito on his official residence."Thank you," he said. "Is it new?" pressed Mrs. Bush. "Yes." "Was the palace just so old that it was falling down?" “No, I'm afraid that you bombed it."

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It’s embarrassing when a leader or an ambassador poorly represents something of which you are a part. They are supposed to be a compelling face for something or someone, and it’s hard. At times they fail, sometimes hilariously and other times more seriously. We tend to think of this in politics or schools or sports teams, but Paul wrote to the first followers of Christ,

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

As followers of Christ, we are His ambassadors to a world that is not our home. We represent another King and another Kingdom. "Our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20).

As ambassadors for Christ, we have the same kind of responsibility as the previous spokespeople I mentioned. But now we are going to the Kingdom of the Earth on behalf of the Kingdom of Heaven, and things of eternal import are at stake.  We’ve been talking about spiritual health for the past six weeks. It’s worth noting that we don’t become healthy through Jesus just for our sake. We are made healthy as part of preparation for evangelism and discipleship.

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others...not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell [people] of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison).

We are made new with a purpose: to fulfill the Great Commission.

We represent Jesus whether we like it or not. We don’t stop representing Christ … ever. We will be an ambassador for better or worse.

When I was in high school, I worked at a restaurant, and I talked with my non-Christian friends about Jesus. One day a girl said to me, “I notice you say X about your faith, but then you do Y. How does that work?” (I don’t remember what the issue was.) That was a really uncomfortable conversation.

People can’t see God, but they can see us. They can be drawn to or pushed away from the One we represent based on how we, as ambassadors, represent God. I gave one verse from Paul earlier. Here is the broader context:

“ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17- 21).

It is in this light that we need to understand 2 Corinthians 6:1:

“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain…”

Paul is not saying that God’s grace is unable to save us. He’s not saying that the people reading the letter aren’t Christians. He refers to them as co-workers!  He’s just pointing out that we can be healed and be made new…and watch an opportunity for bringing others to the Great Physician slip through our fingers.  

So, how can we make sure that doesn’t happen?[i]

KNOWLEDGE

First, an ambassador must have some basic knowledge. After I had my second blood clot, I went to my doctor to find out what to do. He said some stuff I knew, then said we were done. I said, “Should I be taking shots until the Coumadin kicks in?” He agreed that would be a good idea. “Should I rest and elevate my leg?” Sure. Why not? I basically walked him through my treatment. I didn’t go back. He did not have saving knowledge – or if he did, he didn’t know how to communicate it well. Knowledge isn’t the only thing, but it’s a crucial thing. And as some of you have experienced, a doctor who lacks knowledge can have a very real impact on how you view the medical profession in general.

An ambassador for Christ needs two kinds of knowledge: factual knowledge and experiential knowledge.

By factual I simply mean never stop learning more about what you believe and why. Knowledge can’t save you, but it can ground and stabilizes you.

• I was glad I had already wrested mentally with the problem of pain and evil before I wrestled with it experientially when by Dad died and when I had my heart attack. [1]

• I have found that the more I study God’s plan for marriage and human sexuality the more I am strengthened in the face of temptation. [2]

• When I hear challenges to the existence of God from atheists, the nature of God from other religions, or the character of God from well-meaning Christians who have non-biblical views of who God is and how he works in the world, I am glad for the solid theology of my Mennonite upbringing, and the Christian voices that have filled me with truth.[3]

By experiential I mean commit to walking in the footsteps of Jesus and committing to life in His Kingdom.  We are called to explain the hope that lies within us. We are going to need to talk about the transformational nature of discipleship. I can talk about being in the military, but I don’t know what it’s like to be in the military. I can talk about football, but I don’t know what it’s like to play football. Ask me about basketball, crossfit, pastoring, teaching or marriage – I’ve experienced it. In all of those, I immersed myself in it for a while. They weren’t just passing fancies. I didn’t dabble. I entered in as fully as I could.

As Christians, we can’t dabble. We can’t pick and choose parts or pick and choose times and expect to be able to tell people what it’s like to really be a sold-out follower of Jesus.  G.K Chesterton is famous for saying:

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

I’m not talking about perfect knowledge or perfect discipleship. That’s impossible on this side of heaven. If someone expects that level of expertise, everyone on earth is going to fail them. I’m talking about the process of being committed to that process of learning and growing within the framework of the gifts, talents and opportunities God has given you.  

TACT

This knowledge must be deployed in a skillful way with wisdom and persuasiveness.  Paul notes all the ways in which he “becomes all things to all people” in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 “so that I may save some . . .”

It isn’t possible to never give offense as an ambassador for Christ, because the message of the cross can be offensive (Luke. 6:26; 1 Corinthians 1:23). But we must do our best to take away needless offense.

“We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way…” (2 Corinthians 6:3)

The message of the Gospel is difficult enough without us giving people additional reason to turn away. We must pray for the wisdom to know how to connect and genuinely enter into the lives of those around us without compromising our morality or faith. It’s part of being “in the world but not of it.” (John 17:15-16). [ii]  I'll explain this more fully in my final point, which is...

CHARACTER

Because ambassadors bring themselves along in everything they do, their presence can either make or break the message. After talking a about tact, Paul talks more about his character, or what it is about his life that has  “commended” him to them. After he describes the suffering he endured for the sake of the gospel, he writes the following about how to live:

“…in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God…” (2 Corinthians 6:5-7)

“Purity” is used here probably to refer to sexual purity, but it has a broader meaning that encompasses all of life. We are called to be pure from the inside out – morally clean, able to live without fear of what others may find out about us. Think of this as free transparency. Can someone check your internet history right now or your business’s books? If there is a video of how you interact with people throughout the day, would you be embarrassed if someone saw it, or would you be willing to say, “Sure, have a look!”

“Understanding” refers to an in-depth understanding of the Christian worldview (2 Timothy. 2:15). It’s what I talked about earlier.  It doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers, but you are constantly seeking in some way to understand your faith more fully. Study…listen carefully…think and pray and talk with others about your life….learn to process your life with Christ so that when others ask you to talk about what it means to be a Christian, you can draw from past experiences.

 “Patience.”  This is staying power; being long tempered instead of short tempered. Not easily provoked.  We can listen to or see things hostile to our faith without getting immediately angry and defensive.   If someone says, “I think Christianity is stupid,” and starts to rant, can you listen patiently, trying to understand what they are saying?  Or do you get angry and tense and lash back as soon as you have an opening?  When someone posts a comment that challenges your faith or a position that you hold because of your Christian worldview, do you start a fight, or do you patiently engage for the sake of their salvation?

“Kindness” refers to cultivating a high view of other people and treating them with respect.  It’s meeting real needs – not just spiritual, but relational, financial, emotional…. It’s treating people in God’s image as if they bore God’s image.  In talking with those who are skeptical of Christianity, I have fielded questions like this:

·      The Bible is just an old book with a lot of errors. Why would any intelligent person pay attention to it?

·      Believing that Jesus was a God who died and came back to life is like believing in the Easter Bunny. 

·      You are so judgmental about sex.  Why don’t you want other people to be happy?”

So do I respond with anger and defensiveness?  Do I quote, “The fool has said in his heart there is not God” and stomp away, content to have struck a blow for the Kingdom of God? I need to relate to others with patience and kindness. It’s how God treats us, and it’s intended to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  My goal is not win the argument, though that would be nice. My goal is that they be reconciled to Christ, and God forbid my attitude get in the way.

I’ve realized over the past number of years that people skeptical about my faith expect me as a Christian to attack or belittle them.  Somewhere in their lives, they have seen Christians either act like that or be portrayed like that. Whether fair or not, it’s the impression that's out there.  We need to change that impression one person at a time.

“Sincere love” – This is the ‘agape’ we talked about several weeks ago – “deliberately living in a way that shows esteem or value of something or someone as a precious, beloved prize.” If we don’t have this, we are just obnoxious noise makers even if we could speak the language of angels (1 Corinthians 13).

“Truthful Speech” - We can’t compromise on the reality, and we must be willing to defend it even if it is offensive.  Remember, God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), and neither should we. 

 “The Holy Spirit…the Power of God” - We depend on the power of God to take God’s word, our words, our lives, and point people toward Christ.  We don’t have to force the issue.  We “plant and water,” but God brings the harvest. Be content to be faithfully present, looking for opportunities to plant and nourish God’s truth.  At the right time, speak up. At the right time, challenge and encourage. Just always remember that the Holy Spirit is at work, which is good news indeed.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-38)

We, the community of the healed and healing, takes the Good News of the Great Physician to a world in desperate need of the redemption offered by Jesus alone. May we are do this with sincere lover, and with the power and protection of the righteousness of God.

[1] So, there’s this book, Learning To Jump Again, that explains my journey through this :) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005H11AHO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[2] I recommend the following (out of many good options)

• Real Sex, by Lauren Winner

• The Thrill Of The Chaste, by Dawn Eden

• Fill These Hearts, by Christopher West

• The Mingling Of Souls, Matt and Lauren Chandler

• The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller (youtube speech given for Google employees)

• Sexual Morality in a Christless World by Matthew W Rueger

[3] I recommend the following as good starting points that give the Big Picture

• The Story Of Reality, by Greg Koukl

• The Reason For God, Tim Keller

• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

• How Shall We Then Live? Francis Schaeffer

• How Now Shall We Live? Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey

[i] I am indebted to Grek Koukl at Stand To Reason (str.org) for a lot of teaching on three characteristics of a good Christian ambassador.

[ii] How can we tell the difference between tact vs. fear or compromise?

• Someone who is tactful does not compromise the truth; they simply remember that “well-spoken words are like apples of gold in pitchers of silver.”

• Someone who is tactful does not avoid confrontation; they confront with respect, care and love, remembering that everyone is created in the image of God.

• Someone who is tactfful seeks to build bridges, not burn them. Tact does not post mean mean or mocking memes. Tact does not name-call. Tact isn’t defensive. Tact listens, engages, seeks to understand even before being understood.

• Someone who is tactful enters into accountability so that others observe and weigh in on how they are doing.

From The Great Physician To The Great Commission (Part 3)

Here is today’s leading question: how do we reorder our loves and experience what David called ‘the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ (Psalm 27:13)? I would like to offer general principles about what I think is the God-ordained path by which our hearts flourish in their new life – and by flourish I mean our hearts increasingly begin to resemble that heart of Jesus.

First, pray for God to do the work only God can do.

He must create a new heart in you (salvation and regeneration), and he must be the foundation of our ongoing heart health (sanctification). I hope my list last week didn’t drive you to despair. It was meant to drive you toward Jesus. Even if we have a sliding scale that showed us how close we were to the right side, it would always remind us of the need for Jesus. No matter how close we get, we will fail. This reality is not meant discourage us. Godly sorrow is intended to bring repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

I am reminded of the times when it is clear to me that I fail my wife or friends. I have two choices: I can retreat in frustration and depression (maybe even anger), or I can appreciate how much they must love me to continue to do life with me. So my failure, properly processed, increases my awe at their faithful love. It is often when I am most aware of my sin that I am in awe of God’s love. When I am most aware of my weakness, I marvel at His power. When I am asking others and God to forgive me, I see the cost and beauty of their love as they forgive and remain faithful.

Let your failures increase your awe of God’s love and inspire you even more to press toward the kind of heart that loves like that.

Second, repent of your disordered loves and commit your ways to Jesus.  

To understand this, we need to talk about the biblical definitions of “love” and “repent”.

LOVE

I talked last week about loving the world or loving God. Love, in the Bible, is not usually used in the sense that we use it in 21st century America.[i] We think of falling in and out of love, of passionate feelings, of overwhelming emotions. We use love to mean like, lust, enjoy, approve…we use it far more widely than the Bible does. The Bible is far more pointed.

We often talk about agape, phileo and eros, three Greek words that show up a lot to define different kinds of loves.[1] Agape is the word most often used for how God loves us; it’s also used a LOT to tell us how to love God and others. It has to do with a commitment to self-sacrifice for the sake of the other. We almost always use it to talk about our relationship to God or other people, but it is used in other ways in the Bible as well.

• I John 2:15 “Do not love (agapao) the world.”

• 2 Timothy 4:10 “Demas has deserted me, because he loved (agapao) this present world…”

• Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters…he will love (agapao) the one…”

• "…men loved (agapao) darkness rather than light." — John 3:19 

• "For they loved (agapao) the praise of men more than the praise of God." — John 12:43

This is a usage of agape (the verb form is agapao) that is often overlooked. In this kind of context, there is a different emphasis that emerges (which is true of many Greek words).

• “Agape has to do with the mind: it is not simply an emotion which rises unbidden in our hearts; it is a principle by which we deliberately live.” – William Barclay

• “Agape is called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the object loved. It is a love of esteem, of evaluation. It has the idea of prizing.” https://www.mcleanbible.org/sites/default/files/Multiply-Resources/Chap3/GreekWordsforLoveWS_Chapter3.pdf]

• Agapao is a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection." (biblehub.com)

So when I talk about love in this context, I’m talking about deliberately living in a way that shows esteem or value of something or someone as a precious, beloved prize. Here are some (admittedly weak) analogies:

• I have some Michael Jordan cards that I value. I take good care of them; I protect them. I also have cards of no name journeyman and I don’t care a bit about them.

• I have a puzzle in my office – a picture of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling - that I shellacked and framed and have it sitting where I can see it every time I walk in to the office.

• I have family photo albums at home. If there is a fire, I want those first.

I deliberately live in a way that shows esteem or value of a precious, beloved prize. In terms of my lifestyle, there are things I love in this sense as well.

• I value my health, so I go to the gym regularly. I spend money for a membership. I buy clothes and accessories that help me. I study. I get advice from other lifters (#AJ).

• I value this job, so I study the Bible, I prepare, I pray, I live submitted to others for accountability, I rest, I listen to podcasts, I buy books, I ask for wisdom from others when I’m in over my head.

• I value my marriage, so I invest time, energy, and money in my marriage constantly. We spend money on dates nights, on counseling, on vacation together. We listen to sermons and podcasts. We've been to conferences. We seek counsel from others.

In all these things, I am deliberately living in a way that shows esteem or value for something I prize. And the Bible is clear: We can do this for the things of God or the world. We can deliberately make choices to value pornography over purity; wrath over gentleness; gossip over self-control; greed over generosity; hatred over love; resentment over forgiveness.

I’m sure we don’t think of these things as a something we prize, but when we choose them - or when we choose to stay in them - we deliberately live in a way that shows that we esteem or values that over something else.

You might say, “But I don’t like that I use pornography; I don’t like that I keep giving in to gossip; I don’t like that I nourish resentment.” I hear you. We do things we don’t like or that makes us dislike ourselves all the time. That’s because this isn’t about what we like (an emotional response). It’s about what we love (a purposeful choice to value one thing over another).

What we habitually do reveals who or what we consistently love. Our habits reveal our hearts.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are not a slave to sin (Galatians 4:7; Romans 6:18). In other words, God is stronger than habitual, ongoing sins. The process of living in God-given freedom may be a long and arduous journey as you deal with influences that have formed you (and sometimes formed you deeply), but you don’t have to be stuck in repeated, habitual patterns of sin.

God did not make you a puppet; He has given you the agency to decide what you value more: the freedom that comes from serving Christ, or the continued bondage to habitual patterns of sin. And you will choose a path, and that path will show what you value. It will show what you love. Joshua told the children of Israel:

“Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”(Joshua 24:14-15)

You will choose a path for your life, and that path will show what you value. Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband was killed while on mission work (read Through Gates Of Splendor) once wrote:“When obedience to God contradicts what I think will bring me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love him.”

This isn’t a word about perfection. It can’t be. Look in the Bible: David was “after God’s heart” and he was at times a hot mess. Peter denied his faith at one point. Abraham was willing to let Abimelech add Sarah to his harem to save his skin. But they repented, and re-committed themselves to esteeming and valuing God as their precious, beloved prize. So this is not about the perfection of every moment. It’s about a direction, a trajectory, a commitment of your life in spite of times of failure. 

Agape love describes a chosen commitment and focus. It’s about habits and patterns. It’s about taking up our cross, dying daily, and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice because we believe in Jesus and we want to give our life to him as an act of honor in worship.[ii] And if we are who we love (or we become like that which we love), we are in the midst of the life-long process of being transformed into the image of Jesus.

REPENTANCE

Loving God is deliberately living in a way that shows that we esteem or value Jesus and righteousness as a precious, beloved prize. It means we orient our life around Jesus (“What did Jesus do? What would he have me do?”)

Repentance is a call to transfer our agape love to God from anything else and keep it there. It’s turning from sin, shifting our gaze, focusing on Jesus. It means we value and prize not just the person of Jesus but also the path of Jesus. In the Bible, obedience to God and love of God are very tightly connected.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you…

He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him… If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  He who does not love me does not keep my words…” (John 14:15-24, excerpted)

I don’t know how many times I went up to the altar to rededicate my life to Jesus when I was in my teens and 20’s. I think the reason I kept going back was that I never really repented. I felt sorry in an emotional moment, which is a different thing. I never turned around from following my own law and kept God’s commandments – or I did for a couple weeks, and then slipped right back into those old habits. My life was changed when I realized how closely intertwined repentance was with obedience, that love could not be separated from the orientation of the habits of my life. 

We say “I’m sorry” pretty casually at times. If we really mean it, we stop doing the thing that we said we were sorry for. Or at least – imperfect people that we are – we commit our lives to turning the ship. We pray, we get counseling, we put ourselves in accountability, we study, we do the hard work of repentance. It doesn’t mean we will be perfect, but we demonstrate the reality of our repentance by our re-commitment to obedience to God. We can’t do it alone; we will stumble along the way. Be at peace. God, who is rich in mercy and full of grace, will be faithful to keep doing the things only God can do in our hearts and minds.

Third, focus on Jesus. Read the gospels. Study the person and work of Jesus. Sing about Jesus. Pray in worship of Jesus. Commit yourself to living in the path of life that Jesus has laid out for us. That must include filling yourself with truth, which is can be found not just in Scripture but in teachings, books, podcasts, counseling, and mentoring. [iii] I hope this is something you see happening at CLG consistently, but we can’t do it enough. You are going to need to “feed yourselves” too.

One thing that stands out to me: a life characterized by love of God looks very, very compelling: responsible, open, forgiving, humble, self-controlled, loving, generous, content. That’s why Jesus said his yoke of obedience is easy, and his burden of sacrifice is light (Matthew 11:30). It brings abundant goodness and life (John 10:10).

God’s desire is that we flourish as His children in His Kingdom for His glory. His path is for us; it is the ‘after care’ plan that leads us ever more deeply into the spiritual healing and transformed life that only Jesus can bring. I will close with David’s encouragement: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good (really dive in and experience it!); blessed are those who trust in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

________________________________________________________________

[1] There’s more but these are the big three!

[i] Read a book called Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes for more examples.

[ii] Obedience is ideally meant to point us toward the goodness of the one to whom we are obedient.

• My Crossfit training pointed me toward my instructor’s wisdom.

• Following a coach’s instruction reveals a coach’s good plan. ‘Buying in’ to the coach’s system is the same as ‘buying in’ to the coach.

• Following the directions and creating a tasty dish – especially when I am skeptical about the combination of ingredients - points me toward the creative wonder of a good chef.

There is something about the process of obedience that points us to the one who gave the commands. Walking in the path of Jesus helps us to appreciate the person of Jesus. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8) carries with it the idea of experiencing God, and in the context of the Psalms it so often has to do with obedience.

[iii] I really recommend starting with Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew.

From The Great Physician To The Great Commission (Part 2)

The classic vampire claim is that they can’t come into your house until you let them.  Kept outside, they can do nothing. Left inside, they will drain your life.  Though Hollywood has turned most vampire stories into gory bloodbaths, this wasn’t always the case. Some of the earliest stories (such as Bram Stoker’s classic work) were deeply connected with Christianity, with the vampire as the figure of Satan or at least of sin. It was meant to shock the reader into recognizing the seriousness and horror of what sin does.

This doorway metaphor echoes biblical imagery. Right before Cain killed his brother, God reminded him that “sin crouches at the door; its desire is for you, and you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7) Sin is the ultimate vampire, the one that wants in to drain our souls.

These spiritual vampires that crouch at the door of my heart want me to be harsh in my home; they want me to love money and fame; they want me to ignore God; they want me to reject the guidelines of the Bible; they want me to overlook my friends and hate my enemies; they want me to objectify people and love things. They want me to shame the name of Jesus in my testimony.

Thanks to Jesus, the most it can do is crouch at the door of my life. But I still have my free will, and I can still choose to whom I open the door of my heart.  

This isn’t the only time the Bible uses this image: When John records in Revelation 3 that God says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” he was talking to the church – the Christians - of Laodicea. They needed to continue to open the door of their heart.

I need Jesus as much after my salvation as I did before. That’s what I want to talk about today: how, after salvation, God has a plan in place for us to help us resist the ongoing temptation of the sin that so easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1).

After we visit our local hospital or doctor for a particular ailment, we learn about ‘after care’; that is, what we need to do so that what the doctor has made new will continue to flourish. This is called compliance:

“Accepting life-saving treatment.  The extent to which a person’s behavior coincides with medical advice. Adaptation or adherence to medical advice.”(d3jonline.tripod.com)

We can undermine our newfound health. In medical terms, this is called non-compliance.

• “A patient who does not follow the doctors' orders is called a non-compliant patient.” (from Wiki Answers)

• “We eat foods that kill us, we don't stick to our exercise regimens, and we don't follow our doctors' orders, even when we remember what they tell us. If you ask people whether it's smart to get a colonoscopy if the doctor says you need one, no one's going to say no… but no one wakes up and says, 'Yes, today is a good day for a colonoscopy.'"  (“Mind Your Body: Doctor’s Orders – Without Distress.” (www.psychologytoday.com)

Granted, some people have had bad experiences with doctors whose diagnosis or after care were deeply flawed. For the sake of this analogy, let's assume we are talking about a doctor who has given an accurate diagnosis and a true course of after care (we are moving toward our involvement with the Great Physician after all...gotta keep this analogy on track!)

 Non-compliance is a huge problem because obedience is hard!

Assume that the doctor gave a blueprint for ongoing health. For whatever reasons, we just have a hard time following even if the advice is spot on. “I’m not that sick…My doctor doesn’t understand…it’s so complicated…but fried food is the nectar of the gods.” So even though we were freed from whatever ailed us and are given new life, we can flounder when we could be flourishing. 

We do the same thing spiritually. “I’m not that sick… it’s so complicated…surely God wants me to be happy, and THIS makes me happy.” So even though we were freed from the sin that was killing us and were given new life, we can flounder when we could be flourishing. 

Why?

“Where do you think your fighting and endless conflict come from? Don’t you think that they originate in the constant pursuit of gratification that rages inside each of you like an uncontrolled militia? You crave something that you do not possess, so you murder to get it. You desire the things you cannot earn, so you sue others and fight for what you want. You do not have because you have chosen not to ask. And when you do ask, you still do not get what you want because your motives are all wrong—because you continually focus on self-indulgence. 

You are spiritual adulterers. Don’t you know that loving this corrupt world order is open aggression toward God? So anyone who aligns with this bogus world system is declaring war against the one true God. Do you think it is empty rhetoric when the Scriptures say, “The spirit that lives in us is addicted to envy and jealousy”? You may think that the situation is hopeless, but God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own interests. That’s why Scripture says, ‘God opposes the proud, but He pours out grace on the humble.’

So submit yourselves to the one true God and fight against the devil and his schemes. If you do, he will run away in failure. Come close to the one true God, and He will draw close to you. Wash your hands; you have dirtied them in sin. Cleanse your heart, because your mind is split down the middle, your love for God on one side and selfish pursuits on the other. (James 4:1-8)

There is a dance between what God does for us and what God asks us to do. David asked God to create a clean heart in him (Psalm 51:10); here, James tells people to cleanse their heart. We know that God helps us resist temptation (“Deliver us from the Evil One" – Matthew 6:13), yet we have to fight too (“God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own interests”).

There is a war of love that rages in our hearts. Proverbs tells us to guard it, because everything in our life flows from it (Proverbs 4:23). I read a book last year by James K.A. Smith entitled You Are What You Love. It was a deeply challenging book in many ways; here’s one snippet of what he had to say.

“To be human is to be animated and oriented by some vision of the good life, some picture of what we think counts as “flourishing.” And we want that. We crave it. We desire it. This is why our most fundamental mode of orientation to the world is love. We are oriented by our longings, directed by our desires.

We adopt ways of life that are indexed to such visions of the good life, not usually because we “think through” our options but rather because some picture captures our imagination. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince, succinctly encapsulates the motive power of such allure: “If you want to build a ship,” he counsels, “don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

What if you are defined not by what you know but by what you desire? What if the center and seat of the human person is found not in the heady regions of the intellect but in the gut-level regions of the heart? It’s not just that I “know” or “believe” [in some end design to life]. More than that, I long for some end. I want something, and want it ultimately. It is my desires that define me. In short, you are what you love.”

What we do with what crouches or knocks at the door of our heart will depend a lot on who or what we love. How we experience the new life that God offers us through Jesus is going to be deeply influenced by how much we work with God in doing the hard work of re-ordering our loves. Since James talks about loving the world and loving ourselves, let’s contrast that to love for God.

LOVE OF SELF/WORLD                 LOVE FOR GOD

Pleasure                                                 Sacrifice

Rights                                                    Responsibilities

Individualism                                        Community

Hiddenness                                            Openness  

Choice                                                   Obedience

Rebellion                                               Submission

Eye for an Eye                                      Forgiveness

Self-sufficient                                       Asks for Help

Boasts in self                                         Boasts in Christ

Loves the Stage                                     Loves to Build It

Power                                                    Servanthood

Pride                                                      Humility

Indulgence                                             Self-control

Blame                                                    Ownership

Winning Arguments                              Winning people

Self-justification                                    Christ’s justification

Self-righteous judgment                        Compassionate love

Greedy                                                   Generous

Envious                                                  Content

Lustful                                                    Loving

Mocking                                                 Respectful

Angry                                                     Gentle

We know what we love by our thoughts, our daydreams, our fears, our time and energy, our money.  It’s what we think is part of the good life, so we order our lives around those things. We adopt a way of life that centers on its fulfillment.  And we get incredibly defensive when some calls us out, because it shakes us. We can’t imagine life without it.

Time for an honest self-check: In the following list, what do you love more – I don’t mean in your words, but in how our order your life? What do you long for? Which one do you think represents the good life? For which one of these have you adopted a way of life that centers around its fulfillment?

One thing that stands out to me: a life characterized by love of God looks very, very compelling. That’s why His yoke of obedience is easy, and his burden of sacrifice is light (Matthew 11:30). It’s hard, but it’s easy and light because it brings goodness and the life more abundant that Jesus promised (John 10:10).

So, how do we reorder our loves and experience the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13)?

First, pray for God to do the work only God can do. He must create a new heart in you.

Second, repent of your disordered loves and commit your ways to Jesus. Walk in obedience.

Third, focus on Jesus. Read the gospels. Study the person and work of Jesus. Sing about Jesus. Pray in worship of Jesus. Commit yourself to living in the path of life that Jesus has laid out for us. That must include filling yourself with truth, which is can be found not just in Scripture but in teachings, books, podcasts, counseling, and mentoring.

When we hear those competing knocks on the doors of our heart, let’s let the right one in.  

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btfz9qKXUIk[/embed]

From The Great Physician To The Great Commission (Part 1)

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mark 2: 15-17)

Jesus is often called the Great Physician because of this claim.  He took a common experience (doctors are trained to help the physically ill) to describe a spiritual reality (Jesus came to help the spiritually sick).

The Pharisees were angry because Jesus was more focused on the “sinners” or the “sick” than he was on them, the healthy non-sinners (or so they thought). It was as if the Pharisees were saying, “Look, we are all cleaned up. Wouldn’t you rather hang out with us?”  And Jesus said by his actions and his words, “Oh, well, if you’re that fine without me, carry on. I will find those who see themselves honestly – they are the ones who are ready for me.”

We, the followers of Jesus, came to him as the Sick.

• We accepted His diagnosis (sin), cure (salvation), and ‘after care’ plan (sanctification), and we celebrate our health by promoting the doctor (evangelism).

• We became part of the Fellowship of the Healed (once for all for the eternal punishment for our sin) and the Healing (the good work Jesus has begun continues).

• Now, we have the privilege of paying forward what happened through the presence of the church, in which more of the sick in desperate need of The Great Physician can find healing and hope. 

This is an image that has guided CLG over the last number of years: when people follow Jesus here, we want them to experience our church as a place where the spiritually sick find healing through the work of Jesus, the power of his Word and Spirit, and the presence of His people. I want to revisit that over the next several weeks.

Assuming that Jesus was very purposeful with that analogy, what can we learn from our experiences with medical hospitals as we help to participate in the spiritual hospital that is our church?

We must decide to trust. We have to have confidence that our doctor cares about us and knows what he or she is doing. Jesus is the doctor for the spiritually sick, and it’s important that we understand that he is the spiritual doctor in whom we have every reason to place our ultimate allegiance. We do this by embracing the person and understanding the purpose of Jesus.

“For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  (John 3:17)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew11:28-30)

A medical doctor desires to bring health, stability and hope to those who are hurting. Jesus offers to save us in ways a medical doctor never can: to bring stability and rest to our souls and to take even those who are dead in their sins and bring them back to life (Ephesians 2:5). It is CRUCIAL that the Jesus to whom we cling and whom we present to the world through our words, attitudes and actions is the trustworthy Jesus of Scripture.

We must give and accept an honest diagnosis. If you go to a doctor, you can’t say, “It hurts here” when it actually hurts “there” and expect the appointment to work. You shouldn’t lie if the doctor asks you background information. You have to tell the doctor what the problem is – which means honesty and humility. In our case, when we come to Christ for healing, we have to be honest about the problem: we are in the kind of trouble that will land us in hell if we continue our current path. Yes, we bear the scars of what others have done to us, but we are deeply sick people whose mortal wounds come from ourselves.

“I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night…I have done what is evil in your sight.”  (Psalm 51:1-4)

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper...” (Proverbs 28:13)

Sin “reigns in our mortal bodies” (Romans 6:12)

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - -of whom I am the worst.” Paul, in 1 Timothy 1:15)

Nobody makes us sin. We are ‘drawn away by our own lusts. We so easily deflect the blame:

• “I’m sorry I snapped. Bob, at work, was such a jerk today…” 

• “I can’t help how sarcastic I am. My family was sarcastic.”

• “Sure, I’m judgmental and critical, but my parents…”

No, what you do is on you. Your history forms you but it doesn’t finish you. YOU finish you. We must be honest about the heart of our sin – our heart.

This is not meant to bring despair. Once the problem is identified, healing can begin.  There is hope to be found on the other side of honesty.  Typically, this involves a medical doctor saying something like, “I know what you have. I can offer you this. I can make you better.” Once again, Jesus, the Great Physician, offers us so much more:

“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.” (Ezekiel 18:31-32)


”Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Acts 3:19)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

That’s good news, but what does this mean, exactly? Does it mean suddenly all the accumulated baggage of my life disappears? In a spiritual sense, yes.  When we engage in honest repentance, God does supernatural work in which the eternal penalty for our sins are wiped out.  He breaks the dominating power of sin and takes upon himself what would have been our eternal punishment.

But we have established patterns, habits, ways of thinking and living that require “after care.”  There will be follow up appointments – not because the physician has failed, but because God has allowed us to keep our free will, and we tend to undermine our own spiritual health. We reap what we sow, not because God hates us, but because that’s the way the world God has created works. This kind of “after care” happens best in an environment where the following things are in place:

The church embraces the spiritually sick with the compassion of Jesus. Jesus’ critics mockingly called him a friend of sinners because he seemed to be where sinners were. The NT writers embraced that: indeed, sinners knew that Jesus was their friend. He didn’t enable their sin – look at what he told the woman caught in adultery – but he loved them in the midst of it. When you walk into a hospital, they aren’t shocked that you need help: they expect it. They don't hear your problem and despise you. They hear and they respond with compassion.

Christians offer ongoing diagnosis carefully but honestly (“speaking the truth in love”). Those in the health care business do no one any good if they refuse to diagnose. There must be truth, and it ought to be offered with grace.

Christians must be honest about the work Jesus has done and continues to do in our life. We haven’t “arrived” just because we left triage. We are a healing project. We must share our stories of how the Great Physician continues to work in our life. It’s one way we build trust in Jesus at times when trust is hard. 

Christians walk patiently and hopefully together as we “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). There’s nothing worse than being sick alone. We may not want someone hovering over us, but we want someone nearby. Church community is meant to be a place of proximity for all of us. Someone pushed us in our spiritual wheelchair or helped us hobble up and down the hall or held a conversational bucket while we puked our guts out. The least we can do is return the favor for someone else.

3) We must embrace a change of life (discipleship). Often, after a doctor makes you whole, you are given a set of instructions: “If you would like to enjoy this new health, you will need to participate with me in your new life.” This could include diet, exercise, medications, support groups, etc. After Jesus brings in the new to replace the old, we, too, are told that there will be a change of direction in our lives.

We will need to participate in our new-found spiritual health. The Apostle Paul wrote: “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Think of the example of the woman caught in adultery, where at the end of story Jesus says, “Go now and do what you want!” No…. "I don't condemn you either. Go! From now on don't sin." (John 8:11).

If we want to fully participate in this new life in the Community of the Healed and Healing, we must participate in the after care program.

4. We must recognize that we are all now part of the hospital staff. That’s a slightly different conclusion than what happens after you visit a medical hospital. They might actually frown on that J But in the church, the hospital where the spiritually ill are nursed back to health, we are all staff.  And what does hospital staff do, exactly? The Code of Ethics for Nurses (American Nurses Association) includes the following principles:

Respect for others, commitment to the patient, advocacy for the patient , accountability and responsibility for practice, duty to self and duty to others, contribution to healthcare environments, advancement of profession/ promotion of health

I wonder if the code for a church is that much different?

Compassion for others, Commitment, Advocacy, Accountability and Responsibility, Duty to God and Others, Contribution, Advancement/Promotion of the Kingdom of God

If we at CLG want to fully participate in this new life in the Community of the Healed, we must realize we –all of us - are on call. The original Florence Nightingale Nursing Oath closed with the following: “With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”  

 Once again, a slight modification gives us a goal for our church:  “With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the Great Physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to His care.” 

How will this happen?

We must take it upon ourselves to engage people. If you walk into the ER, someone will come up to you immediately and ask how you are doing. You are there for a reason; something has not gone well. You are aware you are in need of the doctor.  If someone walks into our church, God forbid that no one greets them – and I don’t mean just greeters. Just…people. You and me. It’s such a basic way of showing that you see them, that you want to connect with them. A handshake and a smile is value laden. It matters. Then there’s lunches, and an evening of games, and potlucks, and fire pits…

We must be willing to talk about what the Physician has done for us. It’s not polite to ask someone in a waiting room, “So, what bring you here today?” That might not be what we want to lead with here either (though there is a time for it). Rather, why not lead with stories about the Great Physician’s work in our life?

Yes, we will have to explain why we need Jesus: addiction, pride, lust, adultery, theft, anger, violence, greed, meanness, selfishness. The symptoms and the cause aren’t always pretty, but I can’t talk about the doc who fixed my shoulder without telling you what my shoulder was like, and I can’t talk about the cardiac doc who saved my life without talking about the state of my heart before and after the heart attack.

I can’t talk about the state of my heart before and after the work of Jesus without talking about my heart before and after the work of Jesus. The doctor is glorified through his patients. The Great Physician is too (Isaiah 48:9–11;  Ezekiel 36:21–32.; John 15:8; Romans 15:9)

This is why our church needs to be a hospital – so that the spiritually sick find a place of healing and hope, and so the Great Physician is glorified.

The Days We Celebrate (Easter 2017)

1 Corinthians 15The Voice (VOICE)

 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; 2 and through this gospel, you are liberated…. 3-4 For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story. 

5 Afterward He appeared alive to Cephas (you may know him as Simon Peter), then to the rest of the twelve. 6 If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep in Jesus. 7 Soon He appeared to James, His brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, and then to all the rest of the emissaries He Himself commissioned.  8 Last of all, He appeared to me…

13 Friends, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then even the Anointed hasn’t been raised; 14 if that is so, then all our preaching has been for nothing and your faith in the message is worthless. 15 And what’s worse, all of us who have been preaching the gospel are now guilty of misrepresenting God because we have been spreading the news that He raised the Anointed One from the dead (which must be a lie if what you are saying about the dead not being raised is the truth)…

Friends, 17 if the Anointed has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worth less than yesterday’s garbage, you are all doomed in your sins, 18 and all the dearly departed who trusted in His liberation are left decaying in the ground. 19 If what we have hoped for in the Anointed doesn’t take us beyond this life, then we are world-class fools, deserving everyone’s pity.

20 But the Anointed One was raised from death’s slumber and is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. 21 For since death entered this world by a man, it took another man to make the resurrection of the dead our new reality. 22 Look at it this way: through Adam all of us die, but through the Anointed One all of us can live again. 

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We live in a world in desperate need of peace.

Terrorism, rumors of wars, persecution, genocide, human trafficking, tension between police and citizens, political fighting, social media frenzies of name-calling and insults. It hits closer to home, too: our families, our workplace, our friendships, our church. Then there is the lack of peace deep inside – the depression, anxiety, despair and shame. We live in a world in desperate need of peace.

I want to talk about how Jesus’ death and resurrection makes peace possible.

There is a Hebrew word, Shalom,that refers to peace with God, within, and with others. In many ways it takes us back to the Garden of Eden, at a place and time when everything was good. We have wandered far from that place of peace and rest, and the history of the world shows that we do a terrible job re-creating peace on our own. The prophet Jeremiah lamented the people who say, “’Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace”; Luke records that Jesus wept for Jerusalem: “If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”

The prophet Isaiah said that one day there would be a Prince of Peace; Paul wrote that Jesus is our peace; Jesus said he came to bring a peace that was unlike anything the world could give. When he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, one of the first things he said was, “Be at peace.”

This promise of peace through Jesus Christ is our hope in a fallen and broken world, and that’s our focus today.

Peace With God

We were created to be at peace with God – pure, holy, unstained by sin. Genesis talks about the close communion of God and Adam; it’s that kind of peace that is the goal. Unashamed, guiltless, not covering or hiding our sins or ourselves.

But sin ruined that kind of peace. And lest we blame Adam, we all contribute. We all choose to do that which appalls a righteous and holy God. Everyone is directed by their conscience; Christians are directed by the Bible and empowered by the Holy Spirit – and yet we still at times choose to willfully choose a path of spiritual, emotional, relational and sometimes physical destruction that we know offends  the God who created and loves us and hurts those around us. We don’t just ignore God or make mistakes; we are rebels. Some of us are just more obvious about it than others.

It not that we are totally unaware. If nothing else, our stories betray us. We want a line between good and evil, a really clear demarcation: “There are evil people and things; there are good people and things.” We want Sauron vs. Gandalf; the Lion vs. the Witch; Captain America vs. the Red Skull; Ohio State vs. anyone else, really.

While those stories are instructive and good, it’s not what we experience in real life. Even the writers of Scripture knew this. Look at any primary character in the Old Testament and find one whose life was a pure as snow. They don’t exist. The line between good and evil runs right through the center of our hearts. It’s why we are awesome parents one day and horrible parents the next. It’s why one day I’m the husband my wife dreamed about when she was a kid and the next day I’m not even close. It’s why our friendships struggle, and our families fight, and even church can feel like a battleground.

The whole world is in a war between sin and holiness, and at times the epic heroes arise and defeat the classic villains, and we cheer (as we should), but more often than not we see that murky middle battleground where the Boromirs and the children who visited Narnia and the Tony Starks struggle to embrace the good and reject the evil. And even then that just reminds us that the epicenter of this battle is in our heart.

We see in the Old Testament how God instituted a plan to begin a restoration project that pointed toward Jesus. It starts with Abraham.

God made a covenant, an agreement with Abraham,  that Paul alluded to in the passage we read today (“ the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was the climax to God’s covenant story”). God promised that he would bless the world through Abraham and his descendants, who would become the children of Israel. Abraham just needed to be obedient and follow God. To seal the covenant, it was typical at that time for the two parties to kill an animal, dismember it, and walk through the middle as a way of saying, “If I break the covenant, may this be done to me.” In a vision, God appeared to Abraham and walked through this dissected animal alone. In other words, God said, “If either one of us breaks the covenant, may this be done to me.”

Eventually, God renewed this covenant relationship through Moses (the 10 Commandments and all the extra details), and gave his people an incredible amount of instruction on the kind of life that pleases God.

So all the Israelites were now in a covenant with God – they occasionally re-read the Law publicly and reaffirmed that yes indeed, this was the plan. This covenant was a little different in that there were some conditions: if they did good, they would be blessed. If they did bad, they would not. This led to trouble, because the Jewish people were terrible at keeping the Law.  

God initiated a temporary substitute through the sacrificial system, but they had to keep repeating this (for good reason.) It didn’t matter how much or how often the rabbis added more and more laws to try to make sure they could live perfectly. They couldn’t. If anything, the more detailed they got, the more it became clear how far they were from holy.

To make it worse, the cause-and-effect penalties of their sin caught up with them. The conditions of the covenant had to be honored and they were. The wages of their sin were conquest and enslavement. One Old Testament prophet recorded that they sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept as they remembered what they have lost – and what they could have.

They longed for a Messiah, a deliverer, and bringer of hope and peace. It appeared that these people - who were supposed to be the means by which God blessed the world -  had sold their spiritual birthright in exchange for their sin. They had failed to live up to God’s standards even when God had made them clear through Moses.

Now they were scattered, dying, convinced God has abandoned them.

But God had not.

God did bless the world through Abraham’s descendants – but not in a nationalistic sense like the Israelites expected. It was through the lineage of the Jewish people  that Jesus was born. That was the plan all along.

Enter Jesus, God in the flesh, sent to earth to fulfill the demands that God made on himself in his covenant with Abraham. God did not break the covenant; Abraham did. Yet God would pay the price for that sin by taking upon himself the penalty. He would be killed. He would also offer one sacrifice once and for all to fulfill the obligation of the sacrificial system under the law of Moses. On the cross, Jesus was torn for the sins not just of the Israelites, but of the world. Jesus satisfied the requirements of both those covenants while establishing a new one, one that all of us can be a part of.

Why is this important? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Without Jesus, we are dead in our sins. Our peace with God is broken, and without Jesus there is nothing between us and His wrath. No matter how good we think we are, we have shaken our fist at the heavens and said, “Not your will, but mine be done” over and over again.

But on the cross, the justice and mercy of God meet. God initiates a covenant fulfillment with us even before we are aware of the need for it. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, our war with God can end, and we can be at peace with Him. Our sin does not have to condemn us or separate us from God.

We can be forgiven, loved, embraced, even adopted into God’s family so that we are called ‘children of God.’ We are offered forgiveness and hope in this life and an eternity of joy in the presence of God in a New Heaven and New Earth, a reality in which, as Tim Keller says, all that is bad will be undone.

Peace Within

I mentioned a number of things earlier that rob us of peace within: depression, anxiety, shame. We could add anger, bitterness, jealousy, hopelessness, unforgiveness…

Some of those things can be caused by medical issues that a doctor can help (our biology is fallen too). Some of those things we can bring on ourselves because of our sinful choices. Some of things can arise because of sin that has been done to us. I believe the presence of Jesus gives us hope in the midst of all of those things, but there is one primary reason Jesus died and rose again when it comes to peace within. That is to address our guilt and shame for our sin.

Here’s the reality.

On this side of heaven, I will sin because I am not perfect. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the guidance of God’s word and the community of God’s people, I will be remarkably better than I would be without those things. God miraculously frees us from the overwhelming power of sin. Because of Jesus, I am not doomed to be chained by the power of sin. However, the cross and the empty tomb don’t remove the presence of sin. Not yet. I am no longer enslaved to sin, but I can still choose it.

And I do. I’m not perfect. Ask anybody. Neither are you. If you aren’t sure if that’s the case, ask your family. They will fill you in. So what do I do with that?

I could become consumed with perfection and working on my own power – and run myself into the ground trying to achieve the impossible. Then, I will become either insufferably arrogant the more I am successful or sadly self-loathing the more I fail. That’s the kind of righteousness the Bible says is filthy rags. It’s gross. Self-righteousness is not pretty.

Or I can turn to Jesus, the “author and finisher of my faith,” who sees me in my imperfect sinfulness and loves me anyway – and that love includes not letting me stay where I am, but changing and renewing me so that I increasingly become like Jesus. 

Because I have Jesus, I will have a strength I would never have on my own. In my times of doing good, I am driven to worship God, not my own willpower and work, so I avoid arrogance. In my times of failure, I am driven to throw myself at the mercy of a God who is faithful even when I am faithless, and that reminder of the love and tenderness of Jesus moves me out of my self-loathing as I remember that that Jesus knows and loves me, gave His life for me, and is transforming me into His image.

With Others

This changes everything is our relationships. The more we understand how the love of Jesus brought about peace with God, the more determined we will be to pass on that love. And when we see how his death and resurrection show His love – truly see it – we will love Him in return, and it will change us.

What kind of love is that? A radical, self-sacrificing commitment to the good of those around me. It’s what the Bible calls agape love. Jesus died so that I could live; why would I not in some way choose to ‘die’ to myself so that those around me can live? It’s how I honor my Lord. It’s how I pass on the legacy of Jesus.

 In some ways we commemorate this during communion: “This is my body which was broken for you …do this in remembrance.” We can’t die and bring salvation for our sins or the sins of others – we must have Jesus for that. But we can honor what Jesus has done by being broken and spilled out as we show the love of Jesus.

 As followers of Jesus, we ‘die’ to jealousy, envy, anger, pettiness, meanness, pride, selfishness. The Bible insists that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, that we climb up on the altar and sacrifice everything in us that needs to die. We could never do this on our own power, but we are not alone. We have God’s spirit inside us, his Word in front of us, and His people around us.

 We can do this, because God is with us.

 This is the peace the Resurrected Lord offers to us.

• Through Jesus, our relationship with God can been repaired so that we are no longer rebels. We are servants, friends, children, kings, priests. As a church we are the bride of Christ, and the bride will be made glorious in preparation for the glorious return of Jesus.

• Through Jesus, our peace within can be restored as we surrender and then commit our lives to the love and grace of a Risen Savior who is greater than all of our sins. We do not have to live in shame and fear; we can be transparent, bold and loved.

• Through Jesus, our peace with others flows from this reality. We will want to go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples. We will  want everyone so see how the love of a Risen Savior transforms our lives, not for our glory but for the glory of the One who makes this possible.

The Days We Wait (Easter 2017)

I mentioned last week that the Bible is full of ‘three day stories”[1]: Jonah in the big fish; Joseph’s brothers in jail in Egypt; the plague of darkness in Egypt; Rahab hid the spies for three days. Jesus was in the tomb for three days. On the third day is when the bad stuff ends. That’s the day we celebrate, and rightly so. But Third Day stories aren’t clear until the Third Day. On Day One and Day Two, it’s not yet clear how the story will end. The First day of Third Day story is often a brutal one.

Crucifixion Friday was the First Day of a Three Day story.  We talked last week about how Jesus understands our First Days. His entrance into the human condition showed that God is not a distant, uncaring and cold God. God understands us. But there is still Saturday before Sunday. It’s not the day when the tragedy occurred; it’s not the day that Resurrection brings hope and life. It’s that troublesome (and often very long) middle day. Here’s what the Bible records the followers of Jesus were doing between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday. (This is a combination of the details as they appear in Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20).

At the rising of the sun, after the Sabbath on the first day of the week, the two Marys and Salome came to the tomb to keep vigil. They brought sweet-smelling spices they had purchased to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Along the way, they wondered to themselves how they would roll the heavy stone away from the opening…

[They encounter the Risen Jesus]

They brought this news back to all those who had followed Him and were still mourning and weeping. They recounted for them—and others with them—everything they had experienced. The Lord’s emissaries heard their stories as fiction, a lie; they didn’t believe a word of it until Jesus appeared to them all as they sat at dinner that same evening (Resurrection Sunday).

 They were gathered together behind locked doors in fear that some of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were still searching for them. Out of nowhere, Jesus appeared in the center of the room and said, “May each one of you be at peace.”

What do we see the closest followers of Jesus doing?

• Keeping a vigil of mourning

• Planning how to perfume the body of the dead Messiah

• Hiding in fear

• Mourning and weeping

• Refusing to believe that Jesus was alive

It’s not a great resume builder, really. You would think that the biblical writers might want to put a better spin on what happened here. “As the disciples were praying and rejoicing over Jesus’ impending Resurrection, Mary returned and told them the good news. And they said, “Of course! We knew it all along!”

No, they were mourning the death of their long awaited Messiah. They thought he was gone. They thought he had failed – and in that failure shown that he was not, after all, the promised deliverer. As far as they knew, he was never coming back.

Crucifixion Fridays are hard, but Silent Saturdays may be even harder. Funeral days are hard, but they are at least full of adrenaline and crisis management and we are surrounded by support. But then the next day, when family drifts back home, and friends go back to their routine…that’s when Silent Saturday sets in. The loneliness and the emptiness…

It’s hard enough when it involves earthly things. But what about when our relationship with God is best described as a Silent Saturday kind of relationship? What if there is a spiritual loneliness and emptiness, a sense that God is aloof at best and gone at worst. What about the times when the heavens seem empty, and our prayers just seem to drift off into a void? What about the times when God is silent?

John Ortberg tells the following story:

“From the time she was a young girl, Agnes believed. Not just believed: she was on fire. She wanted to do great things for God. She said things such as she wanted to "love Jesus as he has never been loved before." Agnes had an undeniable calling. She wrote in her journal that "my soul at present is in perfect peace and joy." She experienced a union with God that was so deep and so continual that it was to her a rapture. She left her home. She became a missionary. She gave him everything. And then he left her.

At least that's how it felt to her. "Where is my faith?" She asked. "Deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness …. My God, how painful is this unknown pain … I have no faith." She struggled to pray: "I utter words of community prayers—and try my utmost to get out of every word the sweetness it has to give. But my prayer of union is not there any longer. I no longer pray."

She still worked, still served, still smiled. But she spoke of that smile as her mask, "a cloak that covers everything." This inner darkness continued on, year after year, with one brief respite, for nearly 50 years. God was just absent. Such was the secret pain of Agnes, who is better known as Mother Teresa.

So what do we do with the Silent Saturdays of our lives? I want to offer a number of suggestions not so that you will be immediately aware of God’s presence, but so you can be purposeful and grow from this kind of season of your life.

1. Be honest with God. The Bible gives us permission to voice our hearts during Silent Saturday. Look at a few of the Psalms:

• Psalm 6:2–3  “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is greatly troubled, but you, O Lord, how long?”

• Psalm 13:1–2 “How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”

• Psalm 90:13–14 “Return, O Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.”

• “I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.” (Job 30:20)

A friend sent me a psalm of lament, full of anger and frustration, that she had written as part of her process of coming to grips with why God had allowed what He did in her life. It was raw and beautiful, and it was bold. Those are good things. God knows your heart and mind; he already knows your deepest internal struggles. Voice them. God is big. He can handle it.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw9Fp6XWq7w[/embed]

2. Keep the vigils

In the spite of the pain of their loss, the Marys did what they had always done, which was part of the ritual life of living in Jewish community. What Jewish people believed and what they did in almost every aspect of life were so intertwined that it’s hard to imagine that the vigil was not considered part of what God called them to do. There is something to be said for keeping the faith through an active commitment to obedience and faithfulness. I would like to offer four vigils I believe are helpful.

A. Pursue Church community. Don't forsake gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). The disciples did at least one thing right: they hung together in the midst of their grief. It’s important that we remain connected and not withdraw. In community, others came back and reported their experiences with the Risen Christ. Even in the midst of doubt, there was hope. We stay in community so that we can be challenged, encouraged, and held close. We need to feel the nearness of God’s people when God feels distant. We need the hope that lives in others when our sense of hope is gone.

B. Pray and Read Scripture. I don’t know that there is a formula for the best way to do this. There are all kinds of cool ideas about how to read through the Bible or how to pray. I don’t think they are bad; I just don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all kind of approach.

• Listen to or read the Bible.

• Pray alone - or get together with others.

• Pray for a block of time - or throughout the day.

• Sing. There are theologically rich songs that are good reminders of the hope we find in Jesus.

C. Dive Into Devotionals (podcasts, books, teachings). This is one way to experience the community of the church. It’s also a good way to find clarity about the Scriptures and to hear the testimonies of others. What did they do when they were in the First and Second days of their stories?

D. Practice Obedience. One of the greatest dangers we face is giving up and saying to God, “You know what? If I can’t feel your presence, I am going to live as if you’re not there.” We shake our fist at the heavens and begin to sow sinful things that can be forgiven and healed but will nonetheless be harvested (Galatians 6:7).

The Bible describes the way of obedience as “the path of life” (Psalm 16:11). There is something about faithful obedience that is not just healthy; it is wise and stabilizing. This, too, is sowing actions that you will one day reap – but this time it won’t be the wages of sin. It will be the fruit of righteousness.  Also, I believe obedience is one of the ways we are conformed to the image of Christ – and in that conforming – as we begin to see what it means to ‘be like Jesus’ -  we begin to appreciate the wisdom of the One who guides our life.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6csM0TLZIs[/embed]

3. Learn to wait

• Psalm 37:7  “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way.”

• Psalm 27:14  “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.”

I’m not good at waiting. I want problem resolution. Give me a task! Sometimes that is what God calls us to do, but many God does not work that way. I like what Jon Bloom wrote in an article entitled, “When God Is Silent.”

Why is it that “absence makes the heart grow fonder” but “familiarity breeds contempt”? Why is water so much more refreshing when we’re really thirsty? Why am I almost never satisfied with what I have, but always longing for more? Why can the thought of being denied a desire for marriage or children or freedom or some other dream create in us a desperation we previously didn’t have?

Why is the pursuit of earthly achievement often more enjoyable than the achievement itself? Why do deprivation, adversity, scarcity, and suffering often produce the best character qualities in us while prosperity, ease, and abundance often produce the worst?

Do you see it? There is a pattern in the design of deprivation: Deprivation draws out desire. Absence heightens desire. And the more heightened the desire, the greater its satisfaction will be. It is the mourning that will know the joy of comfort (Matthew 5:4). It is the hungry and thirsty that will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). Longing makes us ask, emptiness makes us seek, silence makes us knock (Luke 11:9).

Deprivation is in the design of this age. We live mainly in the age of anticipation, not gratification. We live in the dim mirror age, not the face-to-face age (1 Corinthians 13:12). The paradox is that what satisfies us most in this age is not what we receive, but what we are promised. The chase is better than the catch in this age because the Catch we’re designed to be satisfied with is in the age to come...

It’s the desert that awakens and sustains desire. It’s the desert that dries up our infatuation with worldliness. And it’s the desert that draws us to the Well of the world to come.

Sometimes, the best way to hand over the weight of the world is to wait on Christ.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRMNiZtj5s[/embed]

4. Don't confuse what you feel from what is real

I heard a wise man say once, “You will either judge truth by your feelings, or you will judge your feelings by what it true.” What is true is that God may feel absent, but He is not. God is with us always. Why does He feel absent? I don’t know. It could be that you are in rebellious sin. It could be that you are tired. It could be that God has removed the sense of His presence as part of transforming you into the image of Christ. It could be that you are distracted. I don’t know.

But I know that God is near and faithful no matter how we feel.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RL42uub19E[/embed]

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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

• “Three Lessons to Learn When You’re Stuck in the Hallways of Life”  - Sarah Coleman


• “When God Seems Far Away”  - John Ortberg

• “When God Seems Silent” -  Jon Bloom

[1] I got this idea from a brilliant teaching called “Saturday: Living Between Crucifixion and Resurrection,” posted by Richmont Graduate University on youtube. I don’t know who the speaker was. You can access the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U90EKNZPKCU