“To Do List”

I need to…

• do my taxes
• fix my broken garage door
• read several books for a class I’m taking
• work out
• study for and write a sermon
• return a few phone calls
• answer my email
• plan the summer sermon series
• eat
• etc., etc., etc.,

Jesus said to Martha, “There is only one thing you need.”

HHHHhhhhmmmmmmmmmm.

I think I still need to do everything on the bullet list.  The point is, I can’t allow them to press Jesus out of my life.  Knowing Jesus is more important than all of them and needs to be a part of all the these good and necessary things.

What do you think?

Kip

“Glorious and Not-So-Glorious”

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus gave a select few of his disciples a glimpse of his glory.  Moses and Elijah, great men of God who represented the Law and the Prophets, unexpectedly appear, possibly reinforcing the fact that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  God’s promises are fully revealed in a person (Jesus), because truth and grace are personal.  God the Father puts the exclamation point on this scene by thundering audibly his approval of Jesus.  On Mount Sinai, God had revealed his glory by speaking his Name and its attributes.  Now He is fully revealing his glory in Jesus, His beloved Son.   It was an altogether glorious moment.

Yes, it was a glorious moment…accompanied by a well-intentioned but less-than-glorious response from Peter, who felt the need to say something, even if he had no clue what was appropriate.  Awkward!  I feel his pain.  I mean, what do you say when two of history’s most famous dead guys (I know, I know, Elijah was never technically dead) suddenly appear and then God chimes in from heaven?  It’s not an everyday experience.  Peter would have done well to have followed the lead of one of those dead guys.  When God appeared to Moses on the mountain, Moses simply fell on his face and worshiped (Exodus 34:8).  Good thinking.

“Listen to my Son!” was God’s command.  Don’t talk.  Listen!  I wonder if I’m not a lot like Peter, talking when I should be listening.  I’m a terrible listener.  I admit it.  That’s why I preach more than I counsel.  I totally relate to Peter on this score, and I feel the necessary reprimand and command from God.  Listen to my Son!

I completely identify with another character from today’s reading.  It’s the father who cried out, “I do believe!  Help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus comes down from talking with Moses, Elijah, and his Father, he finds a mess of squabbling people.  You can almost sense what a jarring change that was for Jesus when he says, “How long must I put up with you?”

“If you can do anything…” says the desperate Father of the demon-possessed boy to Jesus.  This guy did not have the faith of the Centurion.  He wasn’t sure Jesus could help him.  “If you can?” Jesus repeated, a little taken back by this man’s doubt.  “Everything is possible for him who believes,” instructs Jesus.

It’s at this point that this man, if not a man of great faith at least a man of great honesty, cries out, “I do believe!  Help me overcome my unbelief!” This is not-so-glorious faith; however, I think most of us can fully relate.  I believe in Jesus.  But, there are times when I’m afraid.  There are times when I doubt, not that God can work but that he wants to.  Jesus wanted to heal this boy, in spite of the man’s shaky faith.  I’m sure it was Jesus’ compassion that moved him, but maybe, just maybe, Jesus also appreciated this man’s honesty and the fact that the man turned to Him for help with his unbelief.  There just might be a great lesson in there somewhere for someone like me…and you.

Kip

“Stronger than Meth” Matt. 16:24-28

A very interesting poem in the “Letters to the Editor” portion of the Times Union caught my attention on Tuesday.  If I remember correctly, the poem is called “My Name is Meth…” The poem very clearly and dramatically communicates how the drug Methampthetamine can hook you, control you, own you, and then completely destroy you.  The sobering lines describe eloquently the harrowing prison of addiction.

Meth is powerfully addictive.  It grabs people and then quickly dismantles their lives, leading almost inevitably to either death or incarceration.  It seems to me that this Meth cycle is a grisly, real-life analogy of what happens to all people (only more subtly and at a much slower pace) who “want to save their own life” or “gain the the whole world.”

You see, there is a drug infinitely more powerful than Meth, and it is called “Self.” We’re hooked on it from birth.  As we grow its death-grip just tightens on us, even though we learn to put on pleasing facades to cover it up.  The main ingredients of the “Self” drug are pride, pleasure, possessions, and power.  We mix this deadly concoction in the lab of our hearts and soon it controls our souls.

• Oh, what a high we get when our egos are stroked!
• Oh, how good illegitimate pleasure feels!
• Oh, how possessing things gives us an ecstatic feeling of invulnerability!
• And what a trip power is!

When we have all of these going, we believe we have life by the tail.  The truth, Jesus says, is that “Self” has us by the throat.  The inevitable end for those whose lives are addicted to and controlled by “Self” is the loss of their souls–eternal separation from God.

What is the cure for this global pandemic of “Self” addiction?

Jesus says:  “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

Putting (and keeping) Jesus on the throne of our lives may feel like death at times.  It hurts to say “No” to “Self.”  But it is also incredibly freeing.  With time one discovers that Jesus knows much better than we do how to lead us into the fullness of life.  As Chris Rice wrote, “Freedom from myself will be the sweetest rest I’ve ever known.” I don’t just understand what that means, I feel it.

Meth addicts can almost never free themselves from their addiction without help.  The same is true of our “Self” addiction.  We need the truth of God’s Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, and relationships with believers in the church.  Discipleship is not a solo project.

Let’s learn to let go of “Self” and cling to Jesus together.  I’m not sure it is possible to get through life without addiction.  We might as well make ours “Jesus,” since that is the only one that really leads to life.

Who’s helping you, and whom are you helping, find freedom from “Self” and make Jesus your “addiction”?

Kip

“Happy Ending”

“The people ate and were satisfied.” That’s the happy ending to the story of the feeding of the four thousand.  Everyone got enough to eat.  There were as many baskets of food left over as there were loaves of bread to begin with!

But here’s the tragic part of this happy ending:  most of the people whose bellies were satisfied that day left it at that.  They were happy that their physical need was met.  They talked about the tasty fish and the filling bread, but they didn’t follow the miracle back to its source and draw the necessary conclusion.  That was too much work!  It was easier to simply enjoy the free meal.

When our bellies are satisfied, it can sometimes be hard to remember that our souls are hungry, too.  The One who can feed thousands with a few small loaves of bread certainly must be able to satisfy the need of our souls as well (and the need of our souls is far more serious than the hunger of our stomachs).

Sometimes I allow myself to be satisfied with God’s good gifts rather than learning to find my contentment in God himself.  A meal satisfies for a moment.  God satisfies for an eternity.

I think it is cool that Jesus took delight in giving all those people a meal.  I think we give Jesus even more joy when we learn to delight in Him as the one who really satisfies.

So, here’s a really happy ending:  The people believed in Jesus, followed hard after Him, and were eternally satisfied in the deepest part of their beings. Let’s be the “people” in this ending!

Kip

 

 

“Offensive Words, Life-giving Words” John 6

Jesus offended and turned away a lot of his supporters when he said the following:  “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:53-54).

Why would he say something so graphic, cryptic, and offensive?  Why would he say something that could be so easily misunderstood, misconstrued, and misinterpreted?

There is an explanation.  The reason he said this in such a harsh way is that the majority of those standing around him had stubbornly refused to hear the truth when he said it clearly, normally, and directly.  Previously in the same conversation Jesus had said the following:

• “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (29)
• “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (35)
• “…everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life…” (40)
• “…the one who believes has eternal life.” (47)
• “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (51)

Except for the last line, all the rest are quite clear, and even the last quotation makes sense in the context of the others (the word “eats” is clearly parallel in meaning to the word “believe” in all the other phrases).  Jesus repeated this simple, straightforward message:  Believe in me and you will have life. However, the people refused to hear, understand, and believe this simple message.  Instead, they grumbled and complained about Jesus’ claims.

So, because the people refused to accept the straightforward message, Jesus rephrased the message.  He restated his message in a way that was sure to offend and turn off those who refused to hear and understand his previous words.  When Jesus talked about the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he was saying nothing different than what he had repeatedly said earlier: believe in me.

To those who stuck with him, Jesus reassured them that his words were “spiritual” (63). In other words, he wasn’t talking about literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood.  He was talking about putting our faith in him, who would give his body and spill his blood for us.

There are times when Jesus sounds offensive to people, even today.  However, Jesus’ words are only offensive to those who refuse to accept his message of forgiveness through faith in him.

Later, Paul would talk about the knowledge of Christ as an “aroma.” To those who refuse to believe, it is “an aroma that brings death.” To those who believe, it is “an aroma that brings life.” In John 6 Jesus’ words have this very same separating effect.

“You have the words of eternal life,” Peter confesses, demonstrating that he understood the message.  ^“We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

May we be like Peter, who because of his faith in Jesus had ears to hear him correctly.

Kip

“God is present. How does that change things?”

Having slightly disparaged miracles  in my last post, I now want to offer a balancing perspective.

Jesus was constantly teaching his disciples to view the world differently.  That is, he wanted them to learn to see the world through Him.  God is present.  How does that change things?

This comes out clearly in the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand.  Jesus sees a large crowd coming up the side of the mountain towards him.  Presumably they had been following him around all day.  Now, instead of going home for supper, they were coming to him for more.  Jesus turns to the closest disciple, who happened to be Philip, and asked him this question: “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

John tells us that Jesus was testing Philip with this question.  If that was so, then what was the test?  John simply tells us that Jesus already knew what he was going to do.

Here’s what I think the test was.  Philip, can you see this situation the way I do?  Can you consider this situation with me in view?  Do you know who I am and what I can do?  If so, how does that change the way you evaluate this circumstance?  God is present.  How does that change things?

Philip’s answer was logical, mathematical, precise, reasonable, and WRONG.  He viewed the situation from a human, material, worldly perspective.  He viewed it naturally instead of spiritually.  He didn’t have the faith or imagination to consider what could transpire with the Creator God standing next to him.  Philip failed the test.

If we were honest, most, if not all, of us probably would have failed, too.  And maybe we still do.

God is present in our lives and in our churches in the person of the Holy Spirit.  So do we consider the everyday situations, as well as the extraordinary circumstances of life, with Jesus in view?  Do we have the faith and imagination to dream with expectation about what God could do?

I was visiting an institute of higher learning in another part of the country, where a  former member of our Fellowship of Churches taught.  In talking with this man, he asked me somewhat lightheartedly, “Are the Brethren still focusing more on what God can’t do rather than on what He can do?”  I wasn’t sure how to answer that question.  All I know is that it is a tendency for all of us to think like Philip.  We say we believe in Jesus, but we encounter the choices and challenges of life without really counting Him in, without really considering what the almighty God who is present could do.

I’m still ambivalent about the effectiveness of miracles in producing real faith (even in this story the miracle doesn’t produce the kind of faith Jesus was looking for).  However, I am convinced that those who do confess Christ as Lord need to live each day with a greater expectation of what the Spirit not only can do but wants to do.   Jesus wanted to feed the hungry people who had come to him.  He wants to do even greater things in and through us, if we will count him in by faith.

How are you viewing your circumstances today?  Are you counting God in or not?  Use some Spirit-inspired imagination!  God is present.  How does that change things?

Kip

“Ambivalent about Miracles”

I admit that I’m somewhat ambivalent about miracles.  It’s not that I don’t believe that Jesus performed them.  I don’t doubt that for a second.  My ambivalence relates to just how excited we should get about them.  Clearly, miracles played an important role in Christ’s ministry.  However, the writers of the gospels don’t try to hide the fact that miracles didn’t always produce the result one would expect.

Let’s review the miracles we’ve read about so far this week.

The disciples were appropriately awed by Christ’s ability to still a storm.  Jesus, on the other hand, was not so impressed by them.  “Where is your faith?” he asked them.  It was their fear that had prompted them to wake Jesus.  It’s as if Jesus were saying to them, “Why were you so afraid?  Why didn’t you trust God?  Did you really think God would let this boat sink?  Why did you need to wake me up?  Why did you need a miracle?”  It seems almost like Jesus would have been happier NOT to have performed this miracle.  Faith, in this instance, might have precluded the miracle.

Jesus casts multiple demons out of a man who had become a local nightmare, restoring him to his right mind, and this is the result this act of divine power produces:  “all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them.”

The word “faith” is often used in connection with miracles, but the relationship is tricky.  Jesus calmed the storm in spite of (or even because of) the disciples’ lack of faith.  It would certainly be a stretch to say that Jesus freed the demoniac because of his faith.  Jesus did that out of his own compassion, not in response to anyone’s faith.  On the other hand, Jesus tells the woman with the bleeding problem: “your faith has healed you.” No one’s faith is mentioned in the resurrection of the dead girl, but one can safely assume that if faith were involved, it was the parents’, not the girl’s.  My point is this: one is hard pressed to establish a strict faith formula when it comes to Jesus’ miracles.

If the purpose of miracles is evangelistic or to give God glory, then why does Jesus command the blind men whom he healed:  “See that no one knows about this.” Strange!  It sounds like Jesus doesn’t want anyone to know.

Here’s how the Pharisees evaluated Jesus’ miracles, particularly his power in casting out demons: “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.” That’s not complementary.

“What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?” wondered the people in Jesus’ home town.  Were they proud of their home town miracle worker?  No!  Mark records:  “They took offense at him.” Mark also tells us that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith.  Because of this lack of faith, Jesus was only able to perform a few miracles.

So, what are we to make of all this?

Miracles do not necessarily produce faith.  The gospels record way too many instances where they do the opposite.  Nonetheless, faith, it seems, is important for miracles (although one should avoid turning that into a formula or trying to measure it).  Grace is ALWAYS involved when Jesus does miracles.

The most important miracles are the miracles related to the PERSON of JESUS himself.  The incarnation and the resurrection are two miracles in which one must believe in order to be redeemed.  These miracles were not the result of our faith but rather of the unconditional love of God.  These miracles are the foundation and substance of our faith.    I’m not ambivalent about that.

Here’s the bottom line.  Faith in Jesus is what pleases God and leads to eternal life.  Faith in Jesus may very well lead to miracles; however, faith in miracles does not necessarily lead to saving faith in Jesus.

Miracles are good.  But Jesus is even better.  Let’s put our faith in Him.

Kip

 

 

 

“Calling God the Devil” Matthew 12:22-37

Sometimes Jesus says strong things that strike fear into our hearts.  In this text Jesus makes this statement: “Cursing the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this world or the next.”

Sweat breaks out my forehead when I read this, and I wonder if I’ve committed an unpardonable sin.  Have I consciously or unconsciously cursed the Spirit?  I know for a fact that I have knowingly,  rebelliously, and stubbornly disobeyed His voice on many occasions in my life.   Where do I stand?

Well, what does Jesus mean?

It’s always good to start with the context.  Jesus was curing some demon-possessed people.  His power over the spirit world caused some to think that he may, indeed, be the Messiah.  The Pharisees, who were not ready to accept Jesus as the Messiah, quickly jumped on this.  They came up with an alternate explanation of Jesus’ power.  They claimed that Jesus cast out demons with the power of Satan.  In other words, the Pharisees claimed that the power behind Jesus was the Devil.

We know from this text and many others that the power behind Jesus’ miracles was, in fact, the Holy Spirit of God.  Jesus didn’t do his miracles out of his own deity but rather in dependence on the Spirit.

So, in essence, what the Pharisees were doing is attributing the work of the Spirit of God to a demon.  In other words, they were calling the Spirit of God a Devil.  When you understand this context, Christ’s strong response makes more sense.

First of all, Jesus points out the irrationality of this claim.  Why on earth would Satan cast out his own demons?  That strategy doesn’t even make sense!

Then Jesus tells the Pharisees that any sin can be forgiven except this one–you can’t call the Spirit of God the Devil and make it into the kingdom of heaven.  If, when you see the obvious work of the Spirit of God, you consider it the work of the Devil, then you are lost.  That kind of hard-hearted viewpoint, if held on to, can only lead to judgment.

This hard-hearted viewpoint eventually led the Jewish leaders to crucify Jesus for claiming to be God.  They continued to maintain that Jesus’ power was demonic rather than divine.  They, however, were the ones who actually committed blasphemy by claiming that the work of the Spirit through Jesus was actually the work of the Devil.

Jesus ends this encounter by completely turning the tables on the Pharisees.  They accused Jesus of doing his works in the power of the Devil.  Jesus turns this right back on them.  By their evil disbelief and blasphemy, Jesus said, the Pharisees demonstrate the evil in their hearts.  They, not Jesus, were the ones being led by demons.

Jesus challenges us to think through the consequences of our words.  It was no light thing to dismiss Christ’s power by calling it the work of Satan.  The end of that line of thinking is death.

I breathe as sigh of relief once I understand the context.  I don’t think I’m in danger of calling the Spirit of God a demon.  Nonetheless, I live in a world that very consciously calls good evil and evil good.  Buying into this worldview gets awful close to blaspheming against the Spirit.  So, though we don’t need to live in fear, we do need to be alert and sober.

Kip

 

“Forgiveness and Love” Luke 7:36-50

This past Sunday someone mentioned that it sounded in the Sermon on the Mount like Jesus  raised the standard of moral expectation.  How then could this be helping us move from legalism to love?  Doesn’t it just add up to an even more stringent legalism?

Good question!

I was pondering this question when I read the story about the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and dried them with her hair.  That Jesus would allow this notoriously immoral woman to touch him appalled Simon the Pharisee who was hosting Jesus at a meal.

Knowing his thoughts, Jesus told Simon a short story and then asked him a question.  In the story two men owed a moneylender a sum of money, one owed a very large sum whereas the other owed very little.  The moneylender cancelled the debt of both men.  “Who do you think will love him the most?” asked Jesus.

Simon wasn’t dull, so he correctly answered, “The one who had the largest debt cancelled.”

Jesus then went on to make this point: He who has been forgiven much loves much, but he who has been forgiven little loves little. The woman had demonstrated great love for Jesus because she not only knew the gravity of her great guilt but also had experienced Jesus’ even greater forgiveness and grace.  Simon loved Jesus little because he neither understand the depths of his own sinful heart nor had experienced the forgiveness and grace Jesus offered.

Let’s relate this back to the initial question.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that we are to love our enemies.  That is great love, indeed.  However, this great love is predicated upon or based in an experience of God’s even greater love for us in Christ.  While we we yet sinners–dead in our transgressions and enemies of God–Jesus died for us.  Through faith in him, our sins are forgiven, we receive the righteous standing of Christ, and we are reconciled forever with the Father. Our great sin debt has been cancelled!  When we grasp the glory and grace of this reality, it motivates us to pursue the life God wants us to live.

Yes, the Sermon on the Mount reminds of us God’s righteous standards.  We are asked to love much.  However, we are asked to love much in response to God’s infinite love which he showered upon us in Jesus Christ.  We love because Christ first loved us.

At the end of the encounter between Jesus and the sinful woman in Luke 7, Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her.  Her faith was not void of actions; however, it was not the actions that saved her but the faith and gratitude that motivated them.

Again, it all comes down to an inner, spiritual experience of God’s grace in Jesus.  Once we know His forgiveness and love, the high standard of Jesus doesn’t seem like an insurmountable obstacle but rather an awesome privilege and a reasonable response.

It’s great to see how Christ’s life and actions demonstrate and illustrate his teachings.

Kip

“Poor in Spirit, Great in Faith” Matt. 8:5-13

Jesus had just finished saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and now we get an example of what that looks like from the least likely source.

The Centurion, an officer in the Roman infantry, had power and lots of it.  What he said went.  I mean, who’s going to say “No” to a hundred armed soldiers of the empire?  We say, “The few, the proud, the marines.”  Certainly there was no dearth of pride and glory among the centurions.   A Centurion was not a likely candidate for “poor in spirit.”  Or?

This particular Centurion says to Jesus, “I don’t deserve to have you come into my house.” WHAT?!  A Centurion just said, “I’m not worthy.”  Jesus sensed someone who was genuinely poor in spirit.  Jesus was encouraged, but he was about to be amazed.

You see, being poor in spirit is not at odds with great faith.  In fact they may be the most natural twins.  In his next line, the Centurion demonstrates an insight into Jesus’ divine authority that few others during Christ’s life figured out.  Basically, the Centurion said to Jesus, “You have the same authority and power over creation and the spirit world that I have over the soldiers I command.”  WHAT?!  That is about as close as you can come to saying “Jesus is God” without using those exact words.  And this from a Roman!!!

Few things impressed Jesus, but this was one of them.  Evidently, Jesus is impressed by faith.  He was impressed by the persistence of a Canaanite woman whose faith wouldn’t allow her to take a “No” from Jesus.  He was impressed with the faith of a prostitute who washed his feet with her tears.  He was also impressed by an old widow who had enough faith in God to give all she had to him.  In his dying moments, Jesus was impressed by the thief on the cross next to him who, in the middle of his own pain, believed.

A Roman Centurion, a Canaanite woman, a prostitute, a poor widow, a convicted criminal.  Talk about a motley crew.  They all had two things in common.  They were poor in spirit and they had faith in Jesus.

I wonder what Jesus is looking for in us?

Kip