Running Down the Stairs

Galatians 6:17 – From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen

I used to go to a church that had a very large sanctuary. There was an upper level and a lower level and on either side were shorter pews that filled out the sides along a staircase. Due to the seating, the stairs alternated between normal depth stairs and deeper ones to accommodate the pews. When I was old enough to know better, my friend and I thought it would be fun to run down the stairs and skip all of the small ones. It was a fairly long set of stairs and I picked up a little too much speed. When I reached the bottom, I smacked into the wall and slid down like I was in a cartoon. On the way down I cut my knee on the baseboard leaving a small scar that you can still see if my legs get tan. It was a dumb way to get injured however it’s a funny story to tell.

I’m sure we all have similar stories—one bad decision ends up leaving a lasting impression. Every scar has a story: some are funny, some are scary, and some are unbearably sad. Nevertheless, the marks we bear are evidence of our past. 

Paul in his letter to the Galatians is calling people to accept the grace that has been given through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Many people had been coming through saying, “to be a true Christian you must first become a Jew.” These false teachers were putting extra work between people and the good news of the Gospel. When the truth is, if we come without a thing, we’ve come with all we need.

Paul was bruised and beaten for the sake of the Gospel. He had a rich and impressive history and the scars to show the results of his devotion. And he wants us to know that we don’t need to follow that same path. The grace of God is free and easy and available to everyone. We just need to accept that we are loved. 

Remember, It's Christmas

Matthew 28:18-20 - “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It’s Christmas afternoon. The presents have been opened. Food has been eaten or is being prepared. Someone you know is realizing that their kid is more interested in the box than the expensive toy that came inside it. Extended family is commenting on how much someone has grown, and the weird uncle turns it into a self-deprecating fat joke. And today is the day to really settle in for a long winters nap.

Or maybe your day has been different. Maybe you’ve been so caught up in preparing for Christmas you forgot to celebrate it. Today is the day we celebrate the birth of our savior. An unimportant family had a baby in a cave and set Him in a feeding trough (if you had the same nativity set I had as a kid then you know that this made the donkey look very concerned). This birth that should be trivial, another kid to throw on the pile that is humanity, instead sent a shockwave through time. This is the point where everything changed.

An angel told some shepherds who were working in the nearby fields to come check out the big event that just happened. Shepherds who were pretty low on the social hierarchy ladder got to be the first witness to a turning point in history. Then a few months/years later some smart dudes came from far away to meet Him because they understood how important He was and would be.

Now 2019 is almost done. The next time you get another one of these emails we will be 1/5th into the 21stcentury. Time is flying and we are busier and more distracted than ever before. So, if you have spent too much time preparing this year take a minute for yourself (60 literal seconds), and just reflect on all the great things that God has done this year. Sure, you’ve faced challenges but for now what has gone right? Even if it is just for you, just for now, take a moment to celebrate.

“…behold, I am with you always…”

Merry Christmas

Rejoice!

Isaiah 25:9 It will be said on that day “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

This is part of a prophesy found in Isaiah 25. The whole chapter is focused on how the Lord will protect His people and destroy those that would seek to harm them. He will gather his people on a mountain to feast on rich food and well-aged wine. He will swallow up death forever and will wipe the tears from our faces.

With imagery like this it’s easy to see how Jesus’s appearance on the scene would confuse people. They all thought that the prophesies all pointed to this Superman™ type character that would be holding a sword and lead an army to destroy all their oppressors. They thought the coming kingdom would be royalty with vast land and fortresses. An Earthly kingdom of might and power crushing all who would oppose them with an iron fist!

However, what arrived was a baby. Not even a royal baby, or a kid born to a connected family. From the outside Jesus was just a normal kid born to a normal family. Maybe people close to them knew the “scandal” of how Mary was with child before the marriage, but many people could chalk that up to “kids these days” shenanigans.

An unremarkable kid born to an unimportant family would change the world. The people who heard the prophesy of Isaiah were thinking about a revolution of might and power. But Jesus came to start a revolution of the mind, a revolution of the heart, and a revolution of the spirit. The world doesn’t change, people change.

Jesus commandeers expectations. Anytime we want to put Him in a box and say, “this is how I’ve always done, and this is how I always will do it,” Jesus comes along and tells us that we’ve been called to more. Jesus came as the savior of the world, but he didn’t come in the way anyone expected it. He came with love instead of the sword.

How can we be glad and rejoice in his salvation?

Matthew 1:6 - And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah…

A hilarious suggestion popped up on my news feed the other day: extending the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The rationale was that there needed to be more than one month between family get togethers.

We can probably all relate to that sentiment, at least for a couple of weeks following one of these events. Of course, the hope is that over time the bad memories will fade and only the good ones will remain. Most of the time we forget about the fights and the political discussions (disagreements) and who did what to whom and we end up remembering that, when it comes right down to it, we really do love these crazy people we call family.

Over a long period of time, we tend to scrub our history of negativity even further. I recently went down a family-tree rabbit hole on ancestry.com. The old boat manifests and birth certificates that the software could find didn’t really give me much info other than that a former-relative existed; I had to fill in the rest of the details myself. With each new connection the program found, I imagined that the person lived a life filled with adventure and intrigue, faithfulness and righteousness. It probably wasn’t true, but I certainly didn’t want to consider that I might have a few bad seeds in my family tree.

Matthew does just the opposite when he is recording Jesus’ family tree. He makes a special effort to include the bad seeds. This remark about David is case-in-point: in case anyone had forgotten, David’s son Solomon was born to Uriah’s wife. How did that happen? Well, long story short (Matthew is reminding us) David abused his power and impregnated another man’s wife before killing that man to cover it up. Yeah, that’s what Jesus’ ancestors were like.

Matthew is so intentional to include details like this because he wants us to know that these are the types of people that Jesus comes from and comes to, but I think there is another reason as well: he wants us to think about how even the people who screw up the most are still used by God for his redemptive purposes. David, despite all his flaws, was the King “after God’s own heart.” Solomon, the offspring of that otherwise hugely embarrassing error, becomes the son of the promise.

Yes, our families are probably messed up, and so are we. Matthew reminds us that Jesus’ family was not much different, and if they can be used for God’s redemptive purposes, then so can ours. Maybe that’s the reminder we need before we do it all over again and get together with them in just a couple of weeks. And that is really good news.

Finding Shiloh

Genesis 49:10 (KJV) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the unexpected, largely because that’s the title of this coming weeks sermon (teaser). I’ve also been thinking a lot about the word Shiloh, largely because that’s the name of the dog our family recently acquired. (I promised myself I wasn’t going to be one of those people who was always talking about their dog, but I digress.)

When the Israelites moved into the land of Canaan, God told them to put the tabernacle in the city of Shiloh. Excavations of the site in Israel have revealed that it was heavily fortified prior to the time of the Israelites, but by the time they got there the walls had crumbled and it was a relatively nondescript location. Shiloh has been translated in a lot of different ways, but basically it means a place of peace or tranquility (Think “Pleasantville”).  It may have seemed like a strange location for the very dwelling of God, but it wasn’t the city that gave the dwelling significance, it was the other way around: Shiloh meant something because it was the place of the Lord’s presence.

The other time Shiloh is mentioned is as a proper name. Jacob is giving his final blessings to his sons and the word Shiloh is used in his blessing to his son, Judah. Don’t get me started on the irony here: the dog we got for Judah was named Shiloh before we got her (providence?). A sceptre is the mark of royalty; what Jacob is saying is that the royal line will not pass from the line of Judah until Shiloh appears. In most of our English bibles it is translated as something like “to the one to whom it belongs”. The point is that long before the monarchy in Israel, when David (from the tribe of Judah) would be crowned king, Jacob prophesied to his sons that there would be a Shiloh.

That Shiloh, the Messiah, was also quite nondescript. He wasn’t much to look at. Isaiah’s prophecies essentially tell us that he won’t be much to write home about. It was the fact that Jesus was the place where God dwelt among his people that gave him significance. And so, it is the thing that gives us significance.

We can either choose to think of ourselves as relatively nondescript, maybe not that special, or not that important. Maybe more of us should take that humble attitude. Yet when we remember that we are now the temple of God, that we are now the place where God dwells, we are given a significance far beyond what our humanity might suggest.

I might even say that it is indeed unexpected.

Dallas House 3

Hebrews 12:12-15 12  - Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled…

Happy Thanksgiving! A few times while living in Dallas, either I wasn’t able to make it home, or my parents were out of the country during Thanksgiving, so a friend introduced me to a new tradition: Steaksgiving. Steaksgiving is similar to Thanksgiving except you skip the turkey and most of the sides, get the best steak you can afford as a poor student, and grill it to perfection. It was a great tradition. 

The year of the house was different, the thought of putting even a small grill in that jungle of an overgrown backyard sent headlines like, “Thanksgiving Ruined for An Entire Neighborhood as Blaze Enters Second Day,” to my mind. So, we improvised. We gathered our steaks, plates, and equipment and headed over to our friend’s apartment complex to use the community grills there. Our friend was out of town, but I knew the gate code. Maybe meals taste better when they come with a small hint of trespassing.

If I’m honest I don’t remember how good the steak was or what we had on the side. I just remember the fun I had spending time with friends, hanging out, and eating in a random community space. 

Tomorrow and for the rest of the year, you will probably be spending some time around a table sharing food, and stories, and laughs with friends and family. Wherever you find yourself, do your best to remember who you are. As the people of hope we should strive for peace with everyone. Even the people who think family meals are the best time to talk about politics or take passive-aggressive digs at your life situation.

See to it that no one fails to see the grace of God from you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dallas House 2

As I talked about last weekl, the house I lived in my last year in Dallas was pretty bad. Another problem was that we had rats. Big, fat, gross rats. We learned this after two events. First my roommate had a flat of Gatorade on the floor of the pantry/laundry room, a rat chewed through the plastic bottle and spilled liquid electrolytes all over the floor. He thought the bottle just broke when he put it down, so he didn’t tell anyone until later. Second, and the sign that we had a real problem, I went into the pantry to get bread to make a sandwich. However, my bread was not where I left it on the TOP shelf, it was on the floor with a chunk eaten out of the side.

I walked out and told my roommates that we had a problem. At first, we thought it was mice. Small, cute, and easy to trap. But my small humane trap failed so my roommate got the biggest old school trap I’d ever seen. Again, we were young, this was the first time we had ever faced a home invasion problem like this. After a week, he had taken out three big ones. As bad as it was it gets grosser from there but if you want that part I can tell you about it some other time.

In all the time we lived there, the only rats we saw were the ones we trapped. We saw the evidence, but we never saw the cause. CS Lewis uses rats to describe our own sinfulness. Most of us know the difference between right and wrong, and when we sin it is often out of choosing selfish desires over what is right. 

Lewis describes his sin this way, “When I … try to reckon up the sins of the day, …the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered…. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself.” Often it is all too easy to find an excuse for the wrongs we’ve done when we are caught off guard. But Lewis suggests that when we are caught off guard is when we are our truest selves. 

When we stomped into the pantry, the rats heard us coming and scurried away. To catch them we would need to use caution and precision. It’s the same with our own sinfulness. It’s something that will always be there, and we must take the time to slow down and address it if we ever hope to improve the people we are when we are caught off guard.

Let us honestly pray Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Dallas House 1

The last year I lived in Dallas, my roommates and I lived in a house that, to put it kindly, had seen better days. It wasn’t our first choice but the house we wanted fell through and we needed a place to live so we signed the lease. The rent was affordable, and we learned that it was because the management/landlords didn’t care about the property at all: the yard was overgrown, we learned that the roof leaked (after the first thunderstorm), the heat didn’t work downstairs (not something you check in Dallas in June), and we had a hole in the window next to the front door that you could reach through to open the door.

Before we signed the lease, we were assured that the management company was active and that the property would be taken care of while we lived there. It wasn’t. If I knew then what I know now about renting and leases and the rights of tenants, we would have never moved in, but we were young naïve students who still kind of trusted the world. 

In the time we lived there the lawn only got mowed after five phone calls, the leaky roof “repairs” only moved the leaks to other parts, and when we moved out, they basically stole our deposit citing all the things like the leaky roof and the hole in the window. By the time I got word that they kept our deposit I was 2000 miles away and left it for my former roommates to deal with.

Through it all, however, we still had fun and stayed great friends. There is something about going through adversity together that creates strong bonds. You have this understanding, a shorthand, that is hard to explain to other people. As Christians, we are supposed to be empathetic to others going through hard times because we know of the suffering that happened on our behalf.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, puts it this way, 

“7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

If you are a Christian, you carry with you the understanding of what has been sacrificed for you. And even when earthly promises end up unfulfilled, you know that though you may be battered you won’t break because you carry inside you the love of Christ.

The Gospel According to a Jets Fan

When I was in third grade, I decided that rather than remain a NY Giants fan like the rest of my family I would make a change. I determined that green was more my color and switched allegiances to the NY Jets—I really couldn’t tell you why. Some benefits of being a Jets fan include tickets are always available and memorabilia is generally less expensive. I had a couple Jets hats over the years and was in need of a new one. I had to order it online because at this point in the season no stores are stocking new Jets stuff. I can admit that their season tends to end before playoffs. But it made me think about something. Becoming and remaining a Jets fan, even through rough seasons (basically all of them), I can never be accused of being a ‘bandwagon’ fan. 

Romans 5:8 reminds us that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Talk about the opposite of ‘bandwagon’! Jesus did not save us because of our stats or even our potential. Jesus essentially gave his life for a rival team. We should be His enemies, our sin put Him on the cross. Boy am I glad that God is not a bandwagon fan. My merchandise would be below bargain basement prices. 

One of my favorite songs we sing on Sundays at Restore is In Tenderness. There is a verse that goes,  “He died for me while I was sinning, needy and poor and blind / He whispered to assure me: ‘I've found thee; thou art Mine’ / I never heard a sweeter voice, it made my aching heart rejoice.”

Being a Jets fan is rarely rewarding. Rooting for the underdog is fine, and when they are victorious it is thrilling to say the least, but all of the kindhearted ribbing gets old. I wore my Jets hat and was instantly mocked as the Jets lost this weekend. My response was that we (the Jets) were being benevolent by giving the Dolphins their first and only win so far this season. I added that we don’t need ALL the glory. 

We humans are the underdogs. Humankind is broken and we cannot win on our own. We are recipients of God’s benevolence, giving us our only victory by the sacrifice of His Son. This is what I have learned as a Jets fan.

Lesson from the Ivy League

Matthew 25:19-21 – After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

I was at a dinner last week and the guest of honor shared that he was visiting his grandson at Dartmouth College. Among many interesting facts about Dartmouth he told us that each class is known and referred to by their graduating year. His grandson and grandson’s classmates are ‘23’s’. Obviously, there are times when that name needs alteration for one reason or another, but the overarching idea is that they are known by their finish lines. He summarized his thoughts in this way: “I want to be known by my finish line I want my word to be ‘well done.’”

For me this brings up a few questions. When I meet my master, how will I be known or called? Am I living in consideration of my finish line? I want to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren. It reminds me of our current sermon series as we are learning what God’s design is for His people and the discussion of personhood as we seek to understand distinction in oneness.

If you continue the Matthew passage, each of three servants were trusted with a certain amount of their master’s gold sometimes translated as talents. Similarly, we have each been given gifts and abilities designed for us by our master. The two servants who used this opportunity and invested their talents, saw growth and got to share the master’s happiness. However, a third servant, out of fear, buried his talent and gained nothing. Are you burying your talents? How could you better use your God-given abilities?

Think about what means to be known by your finish line. Live with your legacy in mind. We as believers have been called according to His purpose and He has uniquely gifted us for such a task. When our master returns, I want to hear Him say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant…come share your master’s happiness.”

You Got This?

I sat down to write this week’s devotional trying to think of something that might be worth saying. It was sort of a gloomy day and I was feeling a little tired. Ideas generally don’t pop out of thin air on the best of occasions, let alone when it’s difficult to concentrate.

Looking for inspiration, I opened the web browser and went to esv.org, cruised a couple of devotional guides, and checked for a verse of the day. One of them caught my interest was Matthew 11:25-30. One of my favorite passages. A great place to start.

The part I love and remember is the section that says, “come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Very few verses summarize the Gospel for me more than that verse and the ones following. The good news of Jesus is that we can rest in his grace towards us. Following Jesus can be a way of living lightly; a way to unburden ourselves from the expectations that we or others have placed upon us. That said, this wasn’t the line that stuck out to me as I read the passage again.

The verse that struck me this time, particularly given the context, was

“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

This section of scripture, and Jesus’ entire prayer and quotation, takes place immediately after Jesus’ condemnation of several cities filled with supposedly “wise” people who had rejected his message; instead he thanks God that the message has been revealed to those who don’t have wisdom and are like little children. Then he says that the only people who can know the Father are the ones to whom Jesus reveals it.

So why didn’t Jesus reveal the Father to the wise people?

Because they didn’t think they needed Him.

How often do we wait to run to Jesus until we absolutely need it? Even if we know that his way is better, even if we know that his burden is lighter, our tendency is to think, “I’ve got this.”  Jesus is standing there with an offer of rest, and we ignore him, because…well…because we don’t think we need it.

When we recognize our own need, however, suddenly that offer of rest becomes a lifeline. We run to Jesus, and what we discover is not just a friend, but we discover God the Father. Behind the Savior’s offer of rest is a Father who will accept us unconditionally and never place more of a burden on us than we can bear.

This is what Jesus wants to reveal to us, and this is the good news of the Gospel. 

Look What God Has Done

Exodus 20:1-2 - And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

I’m a big fan of Alexander Hamilton. Or at least, the version of Alexander Hamilton portrayed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the Broadway Musical. Truthfully, I don’t know much about the guy apart from the play.

There is a scene in the musical where Alexander meets his future sister-in-law, Angelica Schuyler, for the first time. She asks him where his family is from, and he responds with a line that is foundational to who Hamilton is supposed to be and what drives him in life: “Unimportant. There’s a million things I haven’t done.” In other words, my past isn’t important. What’s important is what I’m going to do in the future. If you know anything about the rest of the musical, that attitude of always seeking to move on to the next thing (or conquer the next thing) not only shapes his choices but often ends disastrously for himself and those he loves.

Despite that, the line resonates with me. I have a very hard time thinking about what has already been accomplished and prefer to think about what still needs to be done. The idea of rehashing something that happened even just yesterday often feels unnecessary to me. I’d rather talk about what we’re going to do tomorrow.

The more I reflect on God’s interactions with his people, however, the more I realize how deficient that view of the world is. God is constantly asking his people to remember what he has done. Nearly every time there is a new and important interaction where God is speaking to his people in the Old Testament, he prefaces his comments with a reflection of his past victories in the life of his people. He takes the time to remind them of who He is.

God doesn’t want us to live in the past, nevertheless he doesn’t want us to forget it either. Our desire to avoid the past may be because of a pain that someone caused us, a moment of shame that we can still feel, even years later, or just a general discontent with our circumstances that makes us long for a better future. Failing to reflect on what has occurred in our lives, however, often leads us to miss the fingerprints of God. How he is moving and working in our lives in a way that we didn’t notice in the moment.

Take a moment to reflect on what God has done in your life, so that you can remember that your present and your future belong to him.

Building for the Future

Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

I have often equated building a church to building a house. I’m no contractor, but I’ve driven past enough houses being built in North Jersey to have a general idea of the process. First you build the foundation; then you add the frame; later you add a roof, walls and internal components like plumbing and electric; and finish with sheetrock. Add some paint, flooring, and finishing touches, you’ve made a house your home.

Obviously, that’s a very simplified view on what it take to build a house, but it demonstrates some very important parallels to building a church, not the least of which is that for most of the process the house may not feel like a place you’d want to live. Unless you happen to be building your own house, the builders never even get enjoy the finished product. Building a house, like building a church, requires that everyone contributing to the project knows what they are working towards. They must hold that vision in mind for the people who will come after them and call that place home.

Of course, there is one significant difference, which is that unlike a house that is being built, a church does have occupants during the building process. The church-builders are working and living in the church as it’s being built. Yet our vision must never lose focus that the benefit of our work will be for those who come after us.

At our staff meeting on Tuesday we talked about the start of Restore’s GEMS and Cadets programs. We are so excited that Restore is at a place that we are able to provide these ministries for our boys and girls! And we go into it with tempered expectations. We know there will be bumps along the way, but we also know that it’s worth it to take the time to figure those things out.

The first night of Cadets exceeded those expectations. The boys who attended were excited and had a lot of fun with our project for the night. But the boy who had the most visceral reaction was the one who didn’t get to participate. At three years old he wasn’t old enough to stay, and when it was time for him to head home, he broke down in tears. He wanted to be included! I was reminded that we started this program not just for the boys who can attend this year, but the boys who will attend next year, and the year after, and in a few years, for this young boy to be able to attend himself.

This is the burden and the joy of building. The burden is that we need to be willing to work on projects, even if we won’t always reap the rewards. The joy is that, someday, people will enjoy the fruits of our labors who may never know how much work the builders put in. They’ll just know that the house feels like a home.

Comfort and Trust

Many, many years ago my best friend said, “I don’t know what God has for my life, but it probably sucks.” This was most likely an off-handed response to a chapel speaker sharing how a difficult season resulted in a closer walk with God. This is not a foreign sentiment. C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

I was reading through a devotional series last spring focused on comfort. The author broke the word down and explained that it meant ‘together-strength.’ The point being that God’s comfort, His strong company, gives us the ability to face tough situations. We have all heard people try and tell us that every X, Y, or Z situation is to teach us something. However, we must be careful with how we view the difficulty in our lives. We can always learn something, but when negative things happen, we can’t just shrug it off as God testing us. Sometimes the hard times we face are the consequences of our own past choices.

Understanding that God’s comfort, His strength, is with us and that hard times can make us stronger can help us answer a more difficult question. I have often asked myself this question: “God how could you let that happen?” Circumstances arise that cause me to question. I often cannot understand why or how God could allow struggle in my life. What I need to hold onto is that regardless of how or why I am experience tribulation, God is still with me. When I think about those times, I remember how God sustained me, it doesn’t matter where the trial came from. All that matters is that my Heavenly Father was with me.

We still live in a fallen sinful world in need of a savior. Paul writes in Romans 8, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” God knows far more we do. 

You can just trust Him.

Are You Listening?

When I was in school and I got my report cards, there was a common thread in the comment section throughout the years. The observation from my teachers was, “excessive talking in class.” In grade school this did not matter as much because my grades weren’t suffering. However, as I got older, the talking made it harder for me to hear what was being taught and my grades were sliding. It is difficult to hear when we can’t stop talking.

James reminds us that everyone should be quick to hear and slow to speak. (James 1:19) I’ve heard countless pastors and teachers remind students that they have “two ears and one mouth.” Echoing the idea presented in James. What a concept though! 

When you really evaluate yourself, are you the type of person that actually listens or are you just waiting for your turn to speak? I’ve seen this in my youngest daughter. I will be giving her correction or instruction and I can tell that she is not paying attention. She may be looking at you, but no processing is taking place, yet as soon as you are done speaking (or maybe even before that) she is giving her response. As we enter election season again, I am reminded of her as I watch the debates. I cringe watching these people talk at each other and over each other in hopes of getting a soundbite that goes viral—no one is listening!

It is important for us to be quick to listen. Listening is the only way we can really move past our preconceived notions and understand someone else’s position or ideas. And it takes effort (sometimes a lot!) to pump the brakes on our own desires to be heard.

I read in a recent article, “In our social media age, where someone stands on an issue is rarely seen in the context of why they believe what they believe. The dynamic has led to families, communities, and churches polarized by division…many of us see the world only through our own perspectives, relegating ourselves to societal echo chambers that only reinforce our views while essentially dismissing seeing things another way.”

We can get so much more from listening to people with differing opinions than our own. I know I learn so much more that way. Jesus never shouted down an idealistic opponent. He listened and responded in a way that his opponent could hear and understand. My daughter can respond without really listening, but she comes by it honestly. I can find myself ready to talk before I’ve taken the time to listen and process.

How about you? Are you listening?

Go Your Own Way?

The other night I attended a night of worship with some of the staff ahead of our classis meeting. We split off into groups and discussed Mark 8:34-35, which says, “34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” We were asked to share a word that stood out to us and something that challenged us in the verse. For me the word that stood out was deny. As I said that, a number of heads nodded. Most of us felt the same way.

In this passage, Jesus is telling the crowd that in order to follow Him they had to first deny themselves. One thing that you know, if you’ve been in it for a while, is that the Christian life can be hard; sometimes agonizing. It's hard because denying our fallen selves is hard, we want to be comfortable but know we must answer to a higher calling. Any death is hard, some much more than others, and we grieve those losses. However, it's how life is designed to be. Our lives are so precious and so fleeting. Nothing displays the worth of Jesus more than our willingness to give away one of the only things we really have—in small and large ways—for his sake.

When I let my “self” take too much control, I start to rely on my own ability. This leads me down paths that God is not directing me. Pride is stirred up and I lose my way. I get caught up in what I want for my life and not on where God is calling me. The only things that Jesus asks us to deny ourselves of are what will rob us of eternal joy. The more time I spend relying on my own ability, the longer I miss out on God’s perfect will.

This week, think about that concept. Think about what it means to deny yourself, to take up your cross and follow Jesus. What is God asking you to deny? Ask him and he will show you. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 

Trust that the reward of denial outshines the temporary satisfaction of doing it your way.

Mercy

1 Timothy 12-15 -12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Timothy was an evangelist that from a young age put his whole heart into chasing after God and sharing the good news of the gospel with other people. It is likely that he came in contact with Paul during Paul’s first missionary journey. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he urges the young evangelist to fully embrace the doctrine of grace giving full credit to God for any good work he has done. 

Grace is something that many of us have a difficult time applying to other people. Too often we have a mindset of revenge and punishment. Someone cuts you off in traffic and our reaction might be, “That person is driving like a maniac, I hope their car explodes!” However, we could be far more forgiving if we knew the whole story: maybe their wife is in labor, maybe their kid got hurt, or maybe they just really need to go to the bathroom.

We pass by so many strangers every day on the road, in a store, at work and we will most likely never get to hear their whole story. And that’s when we need to turn our accusing eyes back onto our own lives. We have all sinned in one way or another. And we are saved and forgiven because our Lord and savior overflows with faith and love.

Ask yourself who you need to forgive. Ask yourself what you can release because you know how much you have been forgiven. We all have had times that we have acted ignorantly, and we have all experienced grace beyond measure that we have not deserved. Forgiveness allows you lay down a burden you were never meant to carry in the first place

Lord have mercy on me a sinner / The biggest sinner of them all / Lord have mercy on me a sinner / A sinner since the day that I was born

This I Know

Jesus loves me! This I know / For the Bible tells me so / Little ones to Him belong / They are weak, but He is strong. If you went to church as a child you probably sang this song, maybe even did a few hand motions to go along with it. The message is simple and direct, and when the chorus says, “Yes, Jesus loves me!” three times it’s hard to miss the writer’s point. We should remember that we are loved by the creator of the universe.

These days if a worship leader were to bust this out on a Sunday morning many of us would smile nostalgically as we sing along wondering why we were singing a kid’s song in big church. What we need to remember though, is that this song contains truth that doesn’t change just because you got a little taller.

Ephesians 2 tells us, “…God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

It’s easy to lose focus in our modern world. It seems like everything wants our eyes and attention: buy this, click here, come to this meeting that should have been an email, and the list goes on an on. Even when the world is so noisy, we can still hum this little tune and be reminded of what is really important.

You are, and always will be, a child of God. You are loved even when you think you don’t deserve it. When you are deep in the muck and mire of life God comes over and says, “you can sit with me.”

Jesus loves me still today / Walking with me on my way / Wanting as a friend to give / Light and love to all who live.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Come All You Weary

Matthew 11:28-30 -  28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Where do you feel the safest? Who allows you to be the most authentic you? In Matthew 11 Jesus says, “come to me.” No conditions are set. He doesn’t say get your stuff together and then come find me. He doesn’t say get your life right and then we can talk. He simply sees your heavy burden and says let me help you with that.

In linguistics there is a concept called code-switching and it means that you change the way you talk based on who you’re talking to. For example, you’re not going to ask your toddler to check the specs on the end-line for the rotary girder, just like you’re not going to ask your boss if they went pee-pee in the potty. Code-switching usually serves the purpose of instructing us on how to meet expectations and be functioning members of society. However, it all goes awry when we don’t just change the way we talk, we try to change who we are.

We are communal creatures. We want to be loved and accepted. Unfortunately, this desire leads us to hiding who we truly are, and worse who we are called to be. We work so hard to be liked that we forget that we are loved. Jesus in Matthew 11 is letting us know that He wants us to understand that we can come to Him. Even when we’ve screwed up the most, we are welcome in His presence.

So, what do you do when you are taken by a weariness of the soul? Do you put on a mask and just pretend that everything is okay? Or do you reach out to the one who sees you just as you are and loves you deeply? 

Slow down. Take a breath. Find rest for your soul. 

FIGuring Out Prayer

Matthew 21:19 - And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

I was searching through my sermon archives, thinking about prayer. I knew that I had done a series on prayer recently; I could have sworn it. Of course, “recently” is relative and in this case, it meant six years ago, with a series called “Bold Prayers”. That’s how I came across this passage from the Gospel of Matthew.

Jesus was walking into Jerusalem with his disciples and decided he wanted something to eat. Nearby was a rather unfortunate fig tree, which had failed to produce any fruit. (Mark’s account of this story tells us that it wasn’t even fig season!) Jesus curses the tree, and it immediately withers. 

At first glance, the passage appears to have nothing to do with prayer. Even his disciples didn’t think so. They were unfazed by Jesus’ apparent outburst and wondered instead how he made the tree wither. They probably wanted to know if it was the sort of trick that they could learn and potentially perform themselves. (One can imagine a motley crew of disciples wreaking havoc across the countryside, cursing out-of-season fruits and vegetables.)

Jesus explains the situation to his disciples. Far from being a magical incantation, the power that Jesus demonstrated over the fig tree is the same power that his disciples have access to through prayer. They could even say to a mountain, get up and throw yourself in the sea, and if they asked in faith, it would happen.

Whenever Jesus teaches on prayer, he teaches us to pray expectantly. Prayers in the Kingdom of God are not done half-heartedly, as if, given the right combination of words, phrases, and desires of God, He may respond. Rather, we are taught to pray boldly, with the expectation that God willrespond, and he will respond by doing what we had asked.

So how do you pray? Do you pray boldly, expecting God to move? Or do you pray measured, reasonable prayers, hoping–but not expecting–that God will respond?

Perhaps there is a better diagnostic question: have you ever prayed for that mountain to move, or do you avoid it, because you are certain that God doesn’t care about that type of thing?

It seems to me like that’s exactlywhat Jesus wants us to be praying about.