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Friday: A Day of Signifiance

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6187141-crown-of-thorns-hung-around-the-easter-crossIf you could travel back in time to history’s most important Friday and relive that day in 33 AD, what would you hear as you walked the streets of Jerusalem? The city had swelled in size because it was Passover, but the conversation was not the annual rites at the Temple.  No, that significant sacrifice was overshadowed by the crucifixion of Jesus.   As people contemplated the events, they exclaimed:  Finished!  Epic life ended!  Last chapter of a miraculous life has closed with a tragedy!

The Messiah you have been following has been nothing more than a grandiose dreamer with Messianic aspirations, and your dream has ended in a nightmare.  In stunned silence and in a state of shock, you wonder:  What now?  How could all of this happen?  How could so many people have believed a lie?

A cloud of despair hangs heavily on your doubting heart as you try to make sense of the disaster that has disrupted your life.  Friday has been an arduous day, but at least there has been a lot of activity.  When you woke up Saturday morning, you hoped that yesterday was just a bad dream; however, when you looked into the sunken eyes of your fellow disciples, reality buckles your knees:  Your Hope has been crucified; Jesus is dead; and, Saturday drags on and seems like it’ll never end.

From that Friday of 33 AD, to the Friday of today, there is a perceptional gap that is every bit as deep as it is wide in years.  All the disciples of 33 AD had was a form of spiritual PTSD and the stench of death, but you have the benefit of history.

You know the story doesn’t end with that dramatic death on the cross. You know there is an encore to what the disciples thought was the final Act, and it was announced to those few devoted women who went to the tomb:  He is not here; He has risen!

The fact of the resurrection turned men of cowardly hearts into courageous soldiers of the cross, and in a few short years the infant church shook Rome.  This is the mobilizing power of the resurrection and the proof of what can happen when a group of people are infused with hope . . . people just like you.

I encourage you to share the hope and live the message as you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this Sunday.

Who is Jesus?

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easter01This is a momentous week in the life of the church.  Because it has been framed by two monumental events of history, it is the week traditionally referred to as “holy week.”

It’s a week that began with Palm Sunday, and it will end this Sunday with the celebration of Easter.  Palm Sunday is associated with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and Easter is the joyful recognition of His resurrection.

There’s a three word question that was asked by those who observed Jesus on Palm Sunday. As He rode a white donkey through the narrow and dusty streets of Jerusalem, they asked:  “Who is this?”

The Gospel of John presents a group of witnesses that offer a line of testimony that answers this question:

  • John testifies that Jesus turned water into wine at the marriage supper of Cana.
  • The nobleman gives a detailed account of how Jesus simply spoke and his dying son was healed.
  • The man who had been crippled for 38 years jumps in the air and clicks his heels together to show the miraculous manner in which Jesus healed him.
  • The little boy holds up an empty lunch pail and says: “It had just enough food for my dinner, but Jesus blessed it and there was enough to feed 5,000 people.”
  • The seasoned fishermen relive the moment when they thought their boat was going to sink and they were going to drown: “The Master appeared out of nowhere, walked on the waves, commanded the water to be still, and we were saved.”

After listening to all the testimony, a man rises and says:  “May I speak?  I think my evidence is conclusive.  You see, I was dead, but somehow I heard the clear and loud voice of Jesus:  ‘Lazarus come forth,’ and I shook off the chains of death.  I’m living proof of who Jesus is.”

Who is this?  Jesus is:

  • The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
  • The Bread of Life.
  • The Light of the world.
  • The Good Shepherd
  • The Way, the Truth, and the Life.
  • Resurrection and the life

Who is Jesus to you?

A Joyful Heart

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Beautiful smiling cute babyMy concept of God might be different than yours.  I believe God is loving, caring, and full of joy.  God gave us our sight so we can have the pleasure of seeing rainbows,  butterflies, and majestic mountain ranges.

I thank God that He blessed me with the sense of smell, so I can enjoy the aroma of a freshly baked cake; and I am overjoyed that He created me with taste buds, so I can savor the flavor of apple pie topped off with a big dip of vanilla ice cream.

On my journeys into the wilderness, I’ve enjoyed the solitude of silence that is only interrupted by the chirping of a bird, the whistle of a quail, or the refreshing sound of a flowing river.

I’m glad that God wants His people to experience the wonder of joy and the fruit of happiness.  Solomon wrote of this in the Proverbs: “A joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit . . . a cheerful heart has a continual feast (15:13, 15).”

A couple of chapters later, Solomon draws a contrast between the joyless and the joy-filled:    “One with a twisted mind will not succeed, and one with deceitful speech will fall into ruin. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones (17:20, 22).”

Since a joyful heart is good medicine, here’s a medicine chest full of quotes:

  • The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
  • I think I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others. ~ Booker T. Washington
  • If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it. ~John Templeton
  • You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, Your God has anointed you with the oil of joy. ~Hebrews 1:9
  • I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. ~John 15:11-12

The key to living a life of joy is found in the words of the Psalmist:  “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” ~Psalm 16:11

Three questions come to mind when I think of the verse above:

  • Since God reveals the path of life to you, why take a detour?
  • If abundant joy is found in His presence, what do you have when you refuse it?
  • If eternal pleasures are in God’s right hand, what is left? Temporary and unfulfilling worthless worries?

I’ll close with the words of Paul:  “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” ~Philippians 4:4

Good Deeds in a World of Evil

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While standing in a line waiting to place an order, I overheard a couple of men talking about the word “good.”  One of them said:  “If you shot a person at a distance of 100 yards, you might be a good shot, but would you be a good person?”

Although I did not wait to hear the reply to the question, it did remind me of Proverbs 3:27:  “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.”

Matthew Henry offered this comment on doing good:  “Wherever the Providence of God casts us, we should desire and endeavor to be useful; and, when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can.”

The Bible is full of statements that associate “good” deeds with the Christian life:

  • Ephesians 2:10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
  • Galatians 6:9-10: So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

When Paul wrote to the Christians living in Rome, he encouraged them to do the good they could, and he provided them a list (12:9-21):

  • Be sincere in your love.
  • Detest evil and cling to what is good.
  • Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
  • Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.
  • Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
  • Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble.
  • Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Paul summarized and ended his list with these words:  “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”

Think about the way you live your life:  Is it defined by evil or good?   Do you impede with your greed and mislead or is your life characterized by good deeds?

I’ll close with these words from Saint Basil:  “A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

The Memory Book of Life

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If you use Facebook, you have probably seen the offer to tell your life story through photos you’ve posted during 2014.  The social media giant has bruised shins due to people kicking-back because the program has caused them to relive unwanted memories.

Facebook’s memory-making-methods pale in comparison to the life-in-review process that God has designed for each of us.  Let me shatter any feel-good, party-time thoughts with three words: the judgment seat.

The thoughts of the most stalwart among the faithful turn sober when they think of standing before the Righteous Judge, and He reviews each moment of our lives.  Think I’m kidding?  Here’s the proof:

  • Hebrews 9:27: It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:10: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
  • Romans 14:10: We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

The good news is that God is not just a God of judgment, but He also a God of mercy and grace:  “. . .all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!

Since you know what the future holds, why not get a grip on the present.  Live 2015 with the resolve of the Apostle Paul:  “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”

Paul: Judaism to Jesus

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church-of-christA person’s concept of Christ often undergoes a dramatic change from the first time he thinks about Him to the time he trusts Him as Savior.  This was the case with the Apostle Paul.  He started his life as Saul of Tarsus and sought out Christians with a raging hatred similar to that of mad dog infected with rabies. When Saul first heard of the “hope of the resurrection,” it sounded like empty rhetoric and a powerless promise.  After he encountered Jesus on the Damascus road, he experienced the transforming power of Christ’s salvation and his name was changed to Paul.

By developing a dynamic relationship with God, Paul came to know Him in several dimensions.  When he wrote to the Hebrews, Paul said God “is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”   Paul also spoke of this in 2 Timothy 4:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.

To know God as a rewarder, you must first know Him as a redrawer.  Paul had been the rising star of Judaism, but he walked away from the Law to a life of grace:

As far as keeping the Law is concerned I was a Pharisee, and you can judge my enthusiasm for the Jewish faith by my active persecution of the Church. As far as the Law’s righteousness is concerned, I don’t think anyone could have found fault with me. Yet every advantage that I had gained I considered lost for Christ’s sake . . . I considered it useless rubbish compared with being able to win Christ. God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ. How changed are my ambitions!

For whom have you lived—Devil or Jesus?  You will be known for either the good way you live or evil will define you.

When you meet the Gateman will you be wearing his nametag?    If so, you just might hear Him say: “You have fought the good fight; you have finished the race; and you have kept the faith.”

 

Note:  I enjoy playing with the English language.  Go back and find the single words I have italicized in a couple of sentences.  Forwards and backwards, what do you see?

Who’s Your Daddy?

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ar131489176261418“Liar, liar, pants on fire” is a childhood chant that challenges the integrity of a story-telling individual. Some people are so prone to lying, they can be labeled as a mythomane: A person who has a strong or irrestibile propensity for exaggerating. pinocchio

The fictional character most often associated with telling a lie is Pinocchio, and Charles Ponzie is a good example of bad business practices. His deceitful methods gave birth to the phrase “Ponzie Scheme.”

Lying and deceit was a problem long before Charles Ponzie and Pinnocchio. Jesus addressed the issue in John 8:44: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

The words of Jesus in which He just identified Satan as the father of the lie is a strong contrast to God the Father and Paul’s description of Him as the One who “cannot lie (Titus 1:2).” Lying is inconsistent to any discussion of God because it would be a corruption of His holy nature.

Lying and deceitfulness are questions of integrity. Because your life is scrutinized by others who are watching for inconsistencies, honesty is the best policy.

When you examine your life, does truth reign or are you a mythomane? This may be a clue to the question: “Who’s your daddy?”

Resistance Measures

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6C8299885-1307017-magicphoto-hmed-0220p-filesTo say that my skills as an electrician are poor would be a gross understatement of my ability—I have almost none.

I remember an incident in a house in Texas that needed some wiring in the attic. After I had applied my talent to the problem, I flipped a switch and there was a momentary flash of fire. After that experience, I decided it was cheaper to call an electrician.

Even though I don’t know much about electricity, I do know a little about the function of a resistor. It’s used in a circuit to control the flow of current to other components. As an example, if too much current flows through an LED it’s destroyed. A resistor regulates the current, so the LED can shine without getting fried.

As I was reading the book of James, I thought of the importance of resistors. James said: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you (4:8).” James knew that by resisting the devil, you can control the flow of a negative current to the various components of your body.

Think about it: To be the salt of the earth and the light (LED) of the world, you have to be a resistor for Jesus. James gives several instructions in the building and maintaining of a powerful resistor (4:7-10):

• Submit to God
• Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
• Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
• Cleanse your hands, and purify your hearts
• Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

I hope these last ten words will help you remember everything written above: James insists that you resist, so your light will persist.