Thursday, March 31, 2016

Adoption and Multiplication

John 1 :12-13
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Dear Jesus,

I have a deep craving to know You.  I want to experience the kind of intimacy with You that characterizes healthy family relationships.  

I am thankful for my earthly father.  I admire him and want to emulate him.  His example models holiness, perfect love, integrity.  He has shown me You. I cherish a phone call, a visit in the living room, a conversation around the dinner table.  I am strengthened by His words of affirmation, comfort, and guidance.  My father gives my life a certain kind of predictability, order, and direction.  

And You tell me that You want me to become Your son.  You offer to be my Father.

William Barclay observes that "There can be contact without communion; there can be relationship without fellowship. All men are the sons of God in the sense that they owe to him the creation and the preservation of their lives; but only some men become the sons of God in the depth and intimacy of the true father and son relationship. It is the claim of John that men can enter into that true and real sonship only through Jesus Christ... We cannot make ourselves sons of God; we have to enter into a relationship which God offers us. No man can ever enter into friendship with God by his own will and power; there is a great gulf fixed between the human and the divine. Man can only enter into friendship with God when God himself opens the way... It is so with us and God. We cannot by will or achievement enter into the relationship of fellowship with god, for we are men and God is God. We can only enter into it when God, in His totally undeserved grace, condescends in love to open the way to Himself."  (William Barclay in The Gospel of John, 1955, pp. 41-43).

I am thankful for an earthly father who has modeled my pathway into the heart of my Heavenly Father.  I embrace the intimacy of communion to which You are calling me.  I embrace Your call to adoption and sonship.  Thank You for obeying Your Father's will, thus opening the way for me to become a child of God.

"But there is a human side to this. What God offers, man has to appropriate... God offers us the right to become sons, but we need not accept that right. We do accept it through believing in the name of Jesus Christ... It is what Jesus is that opens to us the possibility of becoming the children of God" (ibid., p. 43).

You have given me an invitation to become Your brother, Jesus.  You show no jealousy in welcoming me to Your Father's love.  Now, He is my Father too.  

I remember when my sister and brother-in-law adopted their first child.  This once childless couple were now parents.  Miraculously, You opened my sister's womb and she subsequently bore two more children.  Adoption begat multiplication!  

That is Your challenge to me.  Even as Jesus, the Son of God, opened the way for me to be adopted as a child of God, I am responsible to open that avenue of grace, straight into the Father heart of God, for others.  Adoption begets multiplication.

So, I worship You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I thank You for the wonderful reality of adoption.  I thank You for my earthly father who modeled Father God to me.  I thank You for my earthly son and many spiritual sons who have stirred my own father-love, providing me a glimpse of Your own.  I thank You for my nephew who teaches me a beautiful lesson of Your doctrine of adoption.  

In the Name of my Heavenly Father, my elder brother--Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Blinding Light


Matthew 28:1-8
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

Dear Jesus,

Blinding light. Earth-shattering. Quaking. Disappearing. Astonishing. Questioning. Empty.

Resurrection.

You are alive. Your resurrection is the hope of Your church and our world today. Resurrection transformation changed the dead to the living, the temporal to the eternal, the flesh to the spirit.

The hope of the resurrection. Your mortality took on immortality. My hope in the resurrection is the same. Recently, I have lost some dear friends. The hope I have in heaven is the hope of resurrection transformation–new bodies–“Like unto His own glorious body.”

Resurrection light shatters death’s darkness. “He was the real light, who, in His coming into the world, gives light to every man” (John 1:9). “There are still the partial lights; and there are still the false lights; and men still follow them. Jesus is the only genuine light, the real light to guide men on their way” (William Barclay in The Gospel of John, 1955, p. 32).

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sang: “And His resurrection power is moving in this hour that Jesus might be glorified.”

You are alive! Blinding light! Illumine my life today and help me to shatter someone else’s darkness through the power of your name. 

In the Name of my Resurrected Lord,

Amen.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

A Servant Boy’s Passover Story--John 13

I watched in wide-eyed wonder as Jesus entered the room for Passover. I had seen him in the temple courts on a few occasions.  Once, I even heard him teaching there. All of the talk had raged about him for three years. Now, I am face to face with this mysterious man who seemed to made children glad and Pharisees mad!

I had worked all day with my mother to prepare the room. One of Jesus’ followers had arranged our upstairs room for their Passover dinner. Mother was still in the kitchen when they
arrived. My job was to set the table and serve the food.

The warm expression on His face gave the room a special glow as He entered. Jesus’ men milled about for a bit. They noticed the wash basin, but no one seemed interested in washing. I looked at them. Not too dirty, I suppose. Oh well. I had heard that these men were outdoors men and not always attentive to some details of the Law.

Hesitant, they seemed to be waiting on something. The men milled about in conversation.  No one seemed ready to sit down on the dining couches. Suddenly, it dawned on me. I ran to mother in the kitchen.

“Mother, Jesus and His men are here. They are waiting for a servant to wash their feet.”

Immediately, mother responded, “Never mind that now. I have something for you to do.”

Knowing better than to object to my mother’s assignment, I set about completing the task which she needed doing.

Once completed, the kitchen and serving duties began to accelerate. I forgot all about the men’s need of a servant to wash them.

My first delivery to the tables was the wine. I carried the carafe into the upper room where the men were dining. I was astonished. They were already seated at the table. The wash basin and towel appeared untouched.

I scurried back to the kitchen.  “Mother, Jesus and His men did not wash for dinner!”

“Never mind that now” was mother’s familiar response to my urgent declaration.

“The bread,” mother directed, pointing her chin. Her hands were full with carving the lamb.

I turned to the bread and lifted it from its place on the counter  I placed it in Mother’s favorite bread basket and headed to our upstairs room where the men were visiting. As I placed the bread basket upon the table near the wine, I sensed tension in the conversation. The men on the end of the table were talking about the washing. No one wanted to do it. I knew it needed done, but mother needed me more. I could delay no longer. I returned to the kitchen.

Mother was completing the final carving of the lamb. She had arranged the steaming meat upon a large platter. She wiped her hands with a towel, lifted the sagging platter from its rest and placed it in my waiting arms.

“Quickly,” she urged. “Serve the table.”

As I rounded the corner, and stepped to the doorway, the lamplight flickered in our upstairs gathering room. I paused, frozen in astonishment. Jesus had already risen from his seat. I watched as he untied the sash about his waist.  He removed his coat and laid it aside. Twelve pairs of eyes, plus mine, were riveted upon Him. Wearing only His tunic, He stood by the washstand and poured water from the pitcher into the basin mother had prepared for washing.  He wrapped the towel around His waist, tied it loosely, and lifted the basin. Then He turned to His disciples.

The twelve flinched almost as one at the realization of what their leader was about to do. My feet felt rooted to the floor.   stood behind the threshold of the doorway, watching the drama unfold. My arms ached with the weight of the platter of lamb. But I could not turn my eyes from the scene before me.

Jesus knelt first at one, then another.  He tenderly released the latch string that held the sandals and bathed and dried each foot. The men were silent, embarrassed, ashamed. When Jesus came to a great big barrel-chested man, the voice from within the burly beard defiantly insisted, “Not me. Go to the next one.”

“You don’t understand what I am doing. If I don’t wash your feet, you cannot have any part with me. Someday I will explain it to you.”

Shattered bravado proclaimed the corruption of character as the man within the bushy beard blustered, “Then just give me a bath!”

“No, you already bathed. Just your feet.”

And Jesus washed his feet too.

As Jesus completed the washing and replaced the towel and basin, He spoke, “Not all of you are clean.”

The men looked at each other, questions etched their faces.  What did He mean?  He was often making mysterious statements that they did not understand. Shrugging their shoulders, they began to relax.

I felt life return to my numb legs. I crept across the room and placed the platter of lamb at Jesus’ place. He was just returning to his seat. He looked at me, a child, and smiled.  Then Jesus reached his work-hardened hand across the wide table and tussled my hair. Teeth gleaming in a warm expression, He said, “Thanks, son,” and announced, “We’re ready to eat!”

I left the room to return to the kitchen. I heard Jesus begin to speak, so I paused in the dark shadows beyond the doorway, where moments earlier I had watched the foot washing unfold.

“Do you know what I have just done?”  His voice stilled the chatter.  “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:14-17 NKJV)

Embarrassed for spying, I hurried to Mother.  We worked in silence in the kitchen. Throughout the evening, I could hear laughter and lively chatter from the gathering room. Mother soon prompted me to return to the gathering room and clear the table.  As I came to the entrance, I again peered inside. The men appeared nearly finished with the meal.

Jesus spoke. His voice sounded sad. “One of you is going to betray me.”

The men looked around the table, shocked expressions on their bearded faces. The youngest looking fellow was leaning against Jesus. He turned to look Jesus squarely in the face. “Who is it?” he asked directly.

Jesus said, “The next one I feed.”  Then he took a piece of Mother’s bread, and sopped the last drops of broth from the serving bowl.  He handed it across the table to one of the men and tersely commanded, “Go. Do it.” The man immediately left the table and went out into the darkness.

Sensing a momentary pause, I entered the room and began clearing the table of plates. Jesus restrained me and asked me to leave the remaining bread along with his wine glass. My arms were already full with the plates of the 13 men. My shoulders ached as I carried the dishes to Mother in the kitchen.  She sent me back to the gathering room to retrieve the serving bowls.

By now, I had learned to pause and observe the men, lest I interrupt something important, before entering the room. In the doorway, I again heard Jesus speak.  “I will be with you just a bit longer, then I have to go. You cannot go with me. Love each other.”

The voice from within the bushy beard asked Jesus, “Where are you going?”

“You cannot come with me.”

“Why not?  I will die for you if you need me to!”

Jesus turned to the bushy beard. “Will you really?  Before morning you will deny me three times! But relax. I am going to Father’s house to get things ready for you.  I am the only way to Father’s house. I am the truth and the life.”

The words were strange to me. The men looked at Jesus with interested ignorance. Blank looks on their faces revealed that they did not understand the mysterious words of the Teacher, but none of them admitted it.

Back in the kitchen with mother, I heard singing. I slipped back into the gathering room as the men were leaving. I heard them proclaim their destination as the Mount of Olives and the Gethsemane Garden. A prayer meeting, they said.

Sleep came fitfully. I tossed and turned until I awoke with a start around midnight. Mother was still sleeping. I immediately thought of Jesus, his men, and the prayer meeting. Concern and curiosity consumed me. I wrapped my bed sheet about my naked body and walked to the door of my Jerusalem home which led out onto the street. The night air was cool and moist. I stepped across the threshold and into the street.

I wound my way through the streets of Jerusalem. Now quiet and empty, they had thronged with Passover worshipers just a few hours earlier. I walked through the city gate and down the Kidron slope. Moving East, I found myself on the Mount of Olives.  The shadowy shapes of ancient olive trees of a garden were in front of me. I slipped beneath their dark embrace.  In the stillness, I listened for voices. Silence. I moved deeper into the garden named Gethsemane.

In the stillness, I saw some shapes I recognized as human. They were on the ground, sleeping. I hunkered beneath the old olive tree, waiting. A dark shape moved toward the sleeping men.

“Wake up.” I recognized Jesus’ voice immediately. “It’s time. They’re here.”

“Who? What?”

“My betrayer has come.”

Suddenly, torches illuminated the garden. Temple guard with stony faces surrounded Jesus’ disciple–the one Jesus gave the bread. Then the disciple kissed Jesus. The guards were on Him, yelling and cursing.

Torch wielding guards turned from Jesus to make a quick search of the garden. I heard running.  I started to run too. I heard footsteps behind me. A burly temple guard was closing the gap.  Suddenly, he reached for me. I could feel my bed sheet tear from my body and into his grasp. Naked, I fled into the night and to the security of my home.

Terror gripped my trembling form as I lay in my bed. The events of the night raced through my mind. Toward morning, I drifted into brief and fitful sleep, haunted by images of torches, temple guards, and the sound of pounding feet racing through a tangle of olive trees.

It was already light when I awoke from my slumber of terror.  The sound of a crowd gathering in the street stirred me.

“Passover,” was my first thought.

I rose and clothed myself. I moved toward the front door. My eyes were momentarily blinded by the morning light. As my vision adjusted, my eyes confirmed what my ears heard. This was not a peaceful Passover crowd, rather a riotous mob crying “Crucify him.” The volume intensified as I stood frozen in the open door of my home.

Then I saw Him moving up the street. Bloody. Naked. Beaten beyond recognition. Jesus.  Carrying a cross!  Convicted? Crucified? At Passover?

As the throng moved past my house, I felt myself caught in its tide of motion. I knew the destination, Skull Hill–the place of crucifixion.

It was gory beyond description. I watched from afar. Hours earlier,I had served Mother’s Passover dinner to this kind, mystical man. What could He have done to deserve this execution reserved for the worst sub-human creatures?

Sabbath was lonely. Scary. Subdued.

The first day of the week dawned. My homeland sky was illuminated first with a dim glow followed by threads of light. As the sun rose in the heavens, brilliance captured the arrival of a new week.

It was afternoon when the man I recognized as “the beard” appeared at our home. He asked for mother  In hushed, secretive tones he asked her about the gathering room. Arrangements made for a secret meeting that evening, “the beard” covered his head and slipped into the crowded Jerusalem streets.

At dusk, the group of men began to arrive at our house. The young one, the beard, others. Their expressions confused me. Then men looked confused. Their faces were stained with tears. Their eyes were puffy and swollen from weeping. Their voices were hushed and hoarse. Excitement, surprise, hope, and shattered grief co-mingled in voice and countenance.

Once they had gathered, mother asked me to serve them water to drink. I took the appointed pitcher and made my way to the doorway. I walked into the room and delivered water and glasses to the table. I was unnoticed as the men spoke energetically to each other. I turned and left the room. As I crossed the threshold on my return trip to mother, I heard a gasp, then silence. I paused, motionless.

Then I heard it. It was His voice.

“Peace to you.”

I turned to gaze through the open doorway. There He was. Unmistakable. It was Jesus.  He was alive!

“Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Hesitatingly at first, they touched Him. Then they laughed, embraced, and began talking rapidly. Jesus lifted His hands to slow their talk. His next words brought laughter. “I’m hungry! Do you have anything to eat?”

I popped my head through the open doorway. “I’ll get you something!”

The men roared with laughter at the exposed spy!

I raced to mother’s kitchen, grabbed a piece of broiled fish from dinner, and hurried back to Jesus. He ate it with gusto, and then he taught them.

“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:44-48 NKJV).

Then he was gone, just as quickly as he had come. But His coming had forever changed me.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Friends Like You

Luke 24:13-25 NKJV
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?”
So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for Your friendship.  Yours is not a "warm fuzzy" sort of friendship that always makes me feel good.  Yours is not a friendship that tells me what I want to hear, placates my weakness, flatters my vanity, and props up my sinfulness.  Your friendship is one that speaks truth.  You challenge my assumptions.  You expose my sin and convict me of how wrong I have been. You point me to hope in Your Word--in You.  You draw me to confession and repentance.  You transform me by Your grace.  I'm new in You!

Thank You for being the kind of friend I need.  I know myself well enough to know that I deceive myself.  I can con myself.  I can fake it.  You never allow me the egocentric luxuries of self-deception.  You live truth. You speak truth. You are truth.  William Barclay wrote that You are "not simply a model for life," rather You are "a living presence to help us to live" (In The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 307).  

Thank You for being the kind of friend I need.

I love the way You showed up on the Road to Emmaus.  You taught Your friends from the Law and the Prophets.  You explained Your resurrection from the dead.  You accepted a simple invitation to dinner, and there You revealed Yourself.  Your hands.  Breaking bread.  A prayer.  God, made flesh, revealed in the ordinary.  

Thank You for being the kind of friend I need.

And now I share You with people like me.  People who need the truth, the honesty, the intimacy, the instruction of a simple walk on a country road... a meal... a prayer... "It is the glory of the Christian that he lives in a fellowship of people who have had the same experience as he has had" (ibid., p. 310).  You bring us together.  You create among us bonds that are closer than kin.  You are the kind of friend we need.

In the Name of Jesus, the kind of friend I need,
Amen.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Alive in Me!

Luke 24:1-12 NKJV
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”
8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.


Dear Jesus,

You are alive!  You live in my heart.  I have seen you in the face of a child.  I have watched You live in the energy of a teenager.  I have seen You in young adults, men and women, and senior saints.  You are alive.

You are God.  You are the very Son of God, eternal and co-equal with the Father.  You existed from eternity past.  There never was a time that You did not exist.  You are Creator of the worlds.  You will never cease to exist.  

You are man.  Incarnation.  God made flesh.  You were conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a Galilean virgin girl, Mary.  You were born.  You lived without sin. You died a sacrificial death upon the cross for the sins of the whole world.  You are the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.  

William Barclay wrote: "There are those who regard Jesus simply as a man whose life must be studied, his words examined, his teaching analysed. There is a tendency to think of Christianity and Christ merely in terms of something to be studied. The tendency may be seen in the quite simple fact of the extension of the study group and the extinction of the prayer meeting. Beyond doubt study is necessary but Jesus is not only someone to be studied; he is someone to be met and lived with every day. He is not only a figure in a book, even if that book be the greatest in the world; he is a living presence." (In The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 306).

Bodily resurrection.  You are alive.  Not a ghost or an apparition.  Flesh, bones, body.  Alive.  Before Your ascension to the Father in Heaven, You appeared in Your resurrected body.  You ate.  You drank.  You laughed.  You touched and were touched.  

You are alive.  Live in me today.  And help me to live in You.

In the Name of my living Lord Jesus,
Amen.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

So Ordinary

Luke 22:14-23 NKJV
14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. 21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

Dear Jesus,

The Sacrament.  Bread and wine.  So ordinary.  Yet eternal.

"The bread which we eat at the sacrament is common bread, but, for him who has a heart to feel and understand, it is the very body of Christ" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 277).

At first glance, the invitation to bread and wine seems almost mundane.  Daily.  Ordinary.  Such was the staff of life in Your first century world.  You came through the ordinary.  You transformed ordinary into extraordinary.

Barclay put it this way:  "In the rush and press of things you will forget me.  Man forgets because he must, and not because he will.  Come in sometimes to the peace and stillness of my house and do this again with my people--and you will remember" (In The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 278).

Certainly, these words capture Your invitation into the extraordinary.

Thank You for Your call to Your table.  I have celebrated Your gift of sacrifice with a group of teenagers on a mountainside in Pennsylvania, an altar at church, with 39 Kenyan pastors being ordained into Your ministry, with my own family, and more.  I feel the choke in my throat.  Tears sting my face.  My heart breaks at the consideration of Your sacrifice.

Dr. Bill Ury wrote: "We are made for a Mediator. We have no answers to the stark pain of life without Another bearing our anxiety. All of us need the blood of Jesus to remove our sin." (The Bearer: Forgiving as Christ, 2015, p. 45).

Humbled. Broken. Penitent. Loved. Inspired. Thankful. I rise from the communion rail. Each time, I am changed.
Draw me again into Your presence.  Invite me to the table.  Bring me to the foot of the bloody cross. Make me new in You.

Thank You for changing me in Your holy presence.

In the Name of Christ, my Lord,
Amen.


Tuesday, March 8, 2016

MORE

The devil came to me disguised as more,
One more good thing I could do,
Should do,
And then another,
And another.
I was seduced and misguided.
The more sapped my energy, my joy, my delight.
There was more  harshness and impatience
In my voice and my presence.
And the devil grinned,
While God sighed patiently
Knowing that when I get worn down enough,
I'll come home to my true self,
To being my true self in God.

"More" by Clarence Heller

Monday, March 7, 2016

Make Me a Servant

Luke 22:26-27 NKJV
"Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves."

Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 20:25-28 NKJV
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Dear Lord Jesus,

Make me a servant. 

Thank You for coming to earth as a servant.  You served freely with generosity and self-sacrifice. You exchanged up the glories of heaven, relinquished Your reputation as God, and took on human flesh. Theologians have tried to plumb the depths of the mystery of Your incarnation, but each attempt is inadequate.  Unbelievers have stumbled at the incongruity and impossibility of Your coming to earth as "God made flesh."  Mockers have ridiculed Your being conceived by the Holy Spirit. The vulgar have profaned Your virgin birth.  Infidels have refused to trust the reality of Your death atoning for the sins of world.

Yet, You came to be a servant.

From the cross, You call me to serve.  Make me a servant.

Servants get abused and taken advantage.  "I demand service!" is the watchword of the impatient.  At a restaurant, parts counter, or at a stop light, "I demand service!"  Our self-centered agenda sees self as the center of each universe. 

William Barclay pondered the need for servants.  "What the world needs is service.  The odd thing is that the business world knows this... The strange thing is that there is more argument about precedence, and more concern about people's 'places' in the Church, than anywhere else.  The world needs and recognizes service... It is only the man who will consent to serve more than anyone else who will really rise high... It is a law of life that service leads to greatness; and that the higher a man rises the greater the servant he must be."   (The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 279).

In the midst of a "me" generation, You came to serve.  And from the cross, You ask me to follow Your lifestyle of servanthood at home, at work, and in the marketplace of life.

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).  Make me a servant.

In the Name of my serving Christ,
Amen.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

"Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!"

Luke 21:5-37

Dear Jesus,

I had an interesting conversation yesterday by the coffee pot.  A couple of colleagues were in earnest exchange about Your soon return when I approached.

I enjoyed embracing the discussion.  But as I consider the topic now in prayer, I realize that I often have faced the subject of Your return as a theory to be proved or disproved.  I have become frustrated with those who are certain of their expectations and theories as to the precise timing and sequence of last things.  I think that I should rather consider Your return as an expectant and anticipated reality.  I want to live with a hope of Your return!

"The Christian conception of history is that it has a goal and, at that goal, Jesus Christ will be Lord of all.  That is all we know, and all we need to know... The Christian must never come tho think that he is living in a permanent situation.  He must be a man who lives in a permanent state of expectation... We must live forever in the shadow of eternity, in the certainty that we are men who are fitting or unfitting themselves to appear in the presence of God.  There can be nothing so thrilling as the Christian life" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 272).

Protect me from a misguided attempt to control You through speculation and theorizing about details of Your return that You have intentionally onscurred.  Check me when my God-given motivation for order and prediction reaches beyond the ordered or the controllable, and attempts to manipulate You into my will, rather than submitting to Yours.

Help me to long for Your return as the Early Church did.  Help me to look expectantly for You.  All the while, help me to engage the reality of this life with the vigor, passion, gusto, planning, and doing that makes life on earth productive, meaningful, and fulfilling.  Help me to live out the purpose for which You placed me here.

"Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

In the Name of my soon returning Lord,
Amen.


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Give Until it Feels Good!

Luke 21:1-4 NKJV
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

II Corinthians 9:7 NKJV
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Dear Jesus,

I can imagine your standing there in the Court of the Women.  You saw a widow woman approach the Trumpets, the 13 collection boxes stationed there.  Each worshiper who came by the Trumpets cast their offering with a clatter.  But when the widow dropped her two thin coins, they made barely a sound. 

So much of Your Kingdom work has been accomplished by the widow's mite.  I know this woman.  She lives in Brooklyn, New York and in Cruger, Mississippi.  She lives on Social Security in a rented apartment or a family home.  She has little, but she gives with generosity.

"The only real gift is the gift which is the inevitable outflow of the loving heart, the gift which is given because the giver cannot help giving it!" (William Barclay, in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 266).

Help me to give not to be noticed, honored, or recognized, but out of a heart of worship to you.  Help me to give not for the clatter of heads swiveling to see what the ruckus is all about, but as an act of love and worship to you.

The sacrifice of worship was a feature of the burnt offerings of the temple.  I often think in terms of sacrificial giving.  Some people tell me, "Give until it hurts."  I suppose I understand the truth of that admonishment in the broader context of sacrifice.  But You seem to want me to get past the hurt, and give until it feels better!  "For God loves a cheerful giver."

So I worship.  I give.  I love You.
Amen.

It’s the Thought that Counts
by
Dr. John E. Neihof, Jr. 
9-24-2007

She put in a penny. It was all she had.
She gave the biggest gift; that’s what Jesus said.
The poorest of the poor, she gave what she could,
An example to us, to give what we should.

My wealth is small, my gifts aren’t great.
I can’t do much, and the time is late.
Can you use me Lord in any way?
Here’s my little gift for you today.

I want to give from my heart.
I want to please the Lord as I give my part.
I will give for eternity,
Precious souls to lay at His feet.

It’s the thought that counts! A gift from the heart.
It’s the thought that counts! I’ll do my part.
It’s the thought that counts! I’ll give my all.
It’s the thought that counts! No matter how small.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

We don't need a president. We need a Messiah.

Luke 20:41-44
41 And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? 42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'
44 "Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”

Dear Jesus,

The season of a presidential election in the United States of America always stirs Messianic hopes and dreams in the populace.  Every four years, we find ourselves looking for a savior.  Four years later, we continue looking.

The Jews had done the same thing throughout their history.  The difference is that God had promised them a Savior.  A Messiah would come.  But when He came, they imagined a Messiah of a different sort.  They did not want the Messiah God gave them.  They could not construe a Messiah who was a son of David, yet his Lord.  They could not construe the incarnate Son of God, come to be the Savior of the world.  They wanted a political, economic, and military leader, not a Savior.  They wanted an earthly nation, not a spiritual kingdom.

We don't need a president.  We need a Messiah.

"I'll vote for the person who can fix this mess!"

"The next leader had better control our borders.  If you don't have a border, you don't have a country."

"China is buying up our $19 trillion national debt.  Pretty soon the capital of the USA will be in Beijing!"

The Jewish Messianic hope is the hope of all nations.  However, we distort our need for a Messiah into a temporal military, economic, and political leader.  A king, a fuhrer, a despot, an emperor, a new Congress, a president. The cycle of disappointment, frustration, and hope continues.

The Jews did not need a king.  They needed a Messiah.  And when Messiah came, the people crucified Him.

Help me not to misplace my Messianic hopes in flawed humanity.  Only the Word made flesh is worthy of such adoration.  Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, can clean up this mess; and You require eternity, a new heaven and a new earth to accomplish Your purpose.

We don't simply need a president.  We need more than political and international stability and prosperity. We need a Messiah, and a president does not qualify!  Lord, guide the path of our nation. Preserve us from the judgment we deserve.  Spare us from the tyranical, evil leaders we deserve.  Protect our land, and grant us another opportunity to repent and experience revival.  Help us, the church, to place our deepest hopes, longings, and aspirations in Jesus, our Messiah, rather than in an elected official who will change in four more years.

In the Name of Jesus, our only Messiah,
Amen.