Daily Java: Romans 8:9 says You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
We forget that perfection does not mean blandness. Jesus was perfect, yet he had passion and anger and love and wit and a strong directness. There is no way all those people, including a lot of women, would follow anybody that looked like our conventional picture of Jesus. That picture is of a bland, washed out wimp.
Jesus was a carpenter and stone-mason (both went together at that time), so he was strong physically, and he had charisma leaking out of every pore. He was a guy worth following.
In Luke 20, Jesus does something that is totally out of what we consider his character. While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
Jesus never suffered fools gladly. He also didn’t care who he made mad. If I did that, would I be Christ-like?
I follow a guy who got real tired of idiots, even to the point of turning around and pointing them out to everybody in public.
This really doesn't jibe with the picture of the sweet little Jesus who never tanned and never made anybody mad. The one who didn't eat meat so he wouldn't offend the vegetarians and would drive a Prius so he wouldn't harm the environment and all that junk. The real Jesus was no one to mess around with. That is my Savior. I want to be like him.
We forget that Jesus had emotions, that there was a strong human side to him. Yet he did not sin using these emotions. The apostle Paul said the same thing when he wrote, In your anger do not sin (Ephesians 4:26). Nothing wrong with anger. Jesus was angry a lot when he saw stupidity in the name of God.
Interesting picture of a strong man.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
daily java
Daily Java:While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." (Luke 20:45-47)
I saw this passage this morning on my morning Bible reading website and it startled me. It seems in direct contrast to the picture so many have of Jesus.
In this passage Jesus comes across as trying to antagonize the leadership of the Jewish system. He is sticking it to the Man.
While all the people were listening… He turns from telling the religious leadership a problem they couldn’t answer and tells everybody that these same spiritual leaders were self-important twits.
His question? How can the Messiah be the Son of David if David, the King of Israel, calls him King. How can the Son of David sit at the right hand of the Father and use the earth as his footstool (in a metaphorical way) and still be David’s son?
Of course, they had no answer. Their picture of the Messiah, like ours, was wrapped up in too much interpretational theology. They had figured out some stuff and tried to shoehorn the Messiah into it all.
Jesus says here that it doesn’t work. And he says that it just shows their ignorance. And he says it in front of everybody – all the people.
It is hard to reconcile the picture of this antagonistic Jesus with the Lamb of God, with the man who was meek and gentle. This Jesus was not considerate, and it seems, did not care about the sensitivities of his listeners.
It also sounds as if he just plain got tired of their stupidity and decided that he was not going to put up with it anymore.
If I did that, people would claim that I was not Christ-like in my attitudes.
Of course, one could say that Jesus was the Son of God and knew when to say such things, but I don’t think so.
I believe the human side of Jesus just got tired of foolishness and decided to not suffer fools gladly.
What if I did that?
I saw this passage this morning on my morning Bible reading website and it startled me. It seems in direct contrast to the picture so many have of Jesus.
In this passage Jesus comes across as trying to antagonize the leadership of the Jewish system. He is sticking it to the Man.
While all the people were listening… He turns from telling the religious leadership a problem they couldn’t answer and tells everybody that these same spiritual leaders were self-important twits.
His question? How can the Messiah be the Son of David if David, the King of Israel, calls him King. How can the Son of David sit at the right hand of the Father and use the earth as his footstool (in a metaphorical way) and still be David’s son?
Of course, they had no answer. Their picture of the Messiah, like ours, was wrapped up in too much interpretational theology. They had figured out some stuff and tried to shoehorn the Messiah into it all.
Jesus says here that it doesn’t work. And he says that it just shows their ignorance. And he says it in front of everybody – all the people.
It is hard to reconcile the picture of this antagonistic Jesus with the Lamb of God, with the man who was meek and gentle. This Jesus was not considerate, and it seems, did not care about the sensitivities of his listeners.
It also sounds as if he just plain got tired of their stupidity and decided that he was not going to put up with it anymore.
If I did that, people would claim that I was not Christ-like in my attitudes.
Of course, one could say that Jesus was the Son of God and knew when to say such things, but I don’t think so.
I believe the human side of Jesus just got tired of foolishness and decided to not suffer fools gladly.
What if I did that?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13.
Bob Dylan wrote a song that said, You’ve got to serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna serve somebody.
It always struck me as really strange that Bob Dylan would write something that was so incisive. After all, he is not the go-to guy for theology.
But it is true. You are going to serve somebody in your life. The point is to make it God.
In the same way, you are going to be filled with something. It may be despair, it may be lust, it may be greed, it may be joy. There is something that will be important to you in your life. And it will fill you because it is important.
If God is important, he will fill you. And his filling will be with joy and peace.
Are your filled with fear? It isn’t from God if you are. Because 2 Timothy 1:7 says that isn’t from God.
Power, love, self-discipline – those are from God. Lust? It is hard to even walk around the mall today without running against things that 50 years ago would have been pornography. The Spirit of God gives you the ability to replace that with peace.
Being filled with the Spirit isn’t magic, it is surrender.
You give yourself over to him and he fills you with what he wants you to be filled with. Leave him, and something will fill you. After all, nature abhors a vacuum and something is going to come in.
You are going to be filled with something. Your choice is what it will be.
You can be filled with God or you can be filled with evil.
Your choice.
Bob Dylan wrote a song that said, You’ve got to serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna serve somebody.
It always struck me as really strange that Bob Dylan would write something that was so incisive. After all, he is not the go-to guy for theology.
But it is true. You are going to serve somebody in your life. The point is to make it God.
In the same way, you are going to be filled with something. It may be despair, it may be lust, it may be greed, it may be joy. There is something that will be important to you in your life. And it will fill you because it is important.
If God is important, he will fill you. And his filling will be with joy and peace.
Are your filled with fear? It isn’t from God if you are. Because 2 Timothy 1:7 says that isn’t from God.
Power, love, self-discipline – those are from God. Lust? It is hard to even walk around the mall today without running against things that 50 years ago would have been pornography. The Spirit of God gives you the ability to replace that with peace.
Being filled with the Spirit isn’t magic, it is surrender.
You give yourself over to him and he fills you with what he wants you to be filled with. Leave him, and something will fill you. After all, nature abhors a vacuum and something is going to come in.
You are going to be filled with something. Your choice is what it will be.
You can be filled with God or you can be filled with evil.
Your choice.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
rebel without a cause
We are watching Rebel Without A Cause right now. The old movie with James Dean and Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and the guys who played Chief on Get Smart and Paul Drake on Perry Mason.
It is a fascinating movie on several levels.
For one thing, it was a good movie. It is still watchable today.
For another, it is a great study of a young man being torn apart by loyalty and his own desire to be his own man.
His father is a hen-pecked man who just wants to get along with people and for people to like him. His mother is a well-meaning shrew who wants to control both his dad and him. Her greatest desire is for her husband to show her that he is in control. And her mother is terrible: a judgmental, spiteful woman that you would like to see hit on the head with a brick.
Unfortunately, her daughter takes more after her than is good.
The girl, Natalie Wood, only wants her father to love her. However, he is afraid of her since he became a beautiful young woman, and refuses to touch her. He also does not want anyone else to touch her. A bad situation for a father to be in.
On top of it all, there is several metric tons of 1950’s teen angst around. Every kid shown is full of problems of some kind. There are absolutely no normal kids shown. To see this movie one would think that the kids of the 1950’s were basket cases: all unruly and hoodlums.
Good movie. But like a lot of movies, not very realistic. Not that it matters a lot. It is still a good movie.
Three teens, all from dysfunctional families. One is the child of absent rich parents, raised by a maid. The second is from distant parents. The third is from parents that try to be friends.
As they are going through an old house, they are talking about children. “Nobody talks to them, they just tell them.” Each of them comes from a family in which they are treated as possessions.
Of course, it ends tragically. These movies always do.
But I still like it.
It is a fascinating movie on several levels.
For one thing, it was a good movie. It is still watchable today.
For another, it is a great study of a young man being torn apart by loyalty and his own desire to be his own man.
His father is a hen-pecked man who just wants to get along with people and for people to like him. His mother is a well-meaning shrew who wants to control both his dad and him. Her greatest desire is for her husband to show her that he is in control. And her mother is terrible: a judgmental, spiteful woman that you would like to see hit on the head with a brick.
Unfortunately, her daughter takes more after her than is good.
The girl, Natalie Wood, only wants her father to love her. However, he is afraid of her since he became a beautiful young woman, and refuses to touch her. He also does not want anyone else to touch her. A bad situation for a father to be in.
On top of it all, there is several metric tons of 1950’s teen angst around. Every kid shown is full of problems of some kind. There are absolutely no normal kids shown. To see this movie one would think that the kids of the 1950’s were basket cases: all unruly and hoodlums.
Good movie. But like a lot of movies, not very realistic. Not that it matters a lot. It is still a good movie.
Three teens, all from dysfunctional families. One is the child of absent rich parents, raised by a maid. The second is from distant parents. The third is from parents that try to be friends.
As they are going through an old house, they are talking about children. “Nobody talks to them, they just tell them.” Each of them comes from a family in which they are treated as possessions.
Of course, it ends tragically. These movies always do.
But I still like it.
daily java
Daily Java: Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That's in John 8:32.
Knowing the truth will make us free, Jesus says. Someone else says, what you don’t know won’t hurt you.
The movie character says, you can’t handle the truth. Someone else says, truth hurts.
All of which are true to an extent. I would rather know what is wrong than not and have it surprise me. I think we can handle the truth, and sometimes, yes, it hurts.
And truth will give freedom. When it comes down to it, ignorance is enslaving. People keep things from you many times to control you. As a bumper sticker I saw said (to the effect), the government prefers ignorant unarmed peasants.
That may or may not be true, but it is true that ignorant people are more easily controlled.
What Jesus wanted was an informed people, a people who know what is what and still choose to serve him.
He wants us to know him, to know his word, to know his plans for us.
He says that when we know him, we will be free.
I still remember the day in Germany when some of the signs began to make sense to me. It was 1970 and I was in the army. It was so strange to be in a place where you couldn’t even tell where the restrooms are. You can’t order a Coke or hamburger or anything.
Then one day it made sense to me. I always had a gift for languages and when it kicked in, I felt so free. All of a sudden I could read stuff.
God gives us that same freedom. When we know his word, we know what he wants, how he is, what pleases him – all those things.
We are not some ignorant rabble worshipping a god in the dark with special secret incantations. We worship a God into whose presence we can go boldly.
Know him. Use a new and good translation of the Bible, listen to the pastor when he speaks, check out what he says, accumulate knowledge and wisdom and know God.
Then you will be free.
Knowing the truth will make us free, Jesus says. Someone else says, what you don’t know won’t hurt you.
The movie character says, you can’t handle the truth. Someone else says, truth hurts.
All of which are true to an extent. I would rather know what is wrong than not and have it surprise me. I think we can handle the truth, and sometimes, yes, it hurts.
And truth will give freedom. When it comes down to it, ignorance is enslaving. People keep things from you many times to control you. As a bumper sticker I saw said (to the effect), the government prefers ignorant unarmed peasants.
That may or may not be true, but it is true that ignorant people are more easily controlled.
What Jesus wanted was an informed people, a people who know what is what and still choose to serve him.
He wants us to know him, to know his word, to know his plans for us.
He says that when we know him, we will be free.
I still remember the day in Germany when some of the signs began to make sense to me. It was 1970 and I was in the army. It was so strange to be in a place where you couldn’t even tell where the restrooms are. You can’t order a Coke or hamburger or anything.
Then one day it made sense to me. I always had a gift for languages and when it kicked in, I felt so free. All of a sudden I could read stuff.
God gives us that same freedom. When we know his word, we know what he wants, how he is, what pleases him – all those things.
We are not some ignorant rabble worshipping a god in the dark with special secret incantations. We worship a God into whose presence we can go boldly.
Know him. Use a new and good translation of the Bible, listen to the pastor when he speaks, check out what he says, accumulate knowledge and wisdom and know God.
Then you will be free.
Friday, April 23, 2010
preaching tothe whole congregation
I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story. (Psalm 40:9-10)
I have always tried to preach the whole counsel of God. I have told my churches what God wanted me to tell them. The problem is that it is rarely ever accepted.
People really do not want to hear what God has to say. They want to hear what they think God has to say.
There is a big difference in the two.
One is the will of God manifest to people. It is his word, and his plan for their lives, his instruction, the two-edged sword piercing into the heart.
That is not always welcomed.
The other is what people feel or want God to say to them. Most of the “words” from God in public assembly are like this: mostly stroking and gratification.
In the Old Testament, words from God were strong and usually dealt with people getting the fire slapped out of them if they persisted in disobeying God. You very rarely heard of one that was encouraging at he level that so many today are.
The preacher’s job is to make sure the people hear the word of God whether they want to hear it or not, the whole story.
As God told Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8-10:
Let me be the same. Here I am, send me. I will go where you want me to go and do what you want me to do.
I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story. (Psalm 40:9-10)
I have always tried to preach the whole counsel of God. I have told my churches what God wanted me to tell them. The problem is that it is rarely ever accepted.
People really do not want to hear what God has to say. They want to hear what they think God has to say.
There is a big difference in the two.
One is the will of God manifest to people. It is his word, and his plan for their lives, his instruction, the two-edged sword piercing into the heart.
That is not always welcomed.
The other is what people feel or want God to say to them. Most of the “words” from God in public assembly are like this: mostly stroking and gratification.
In the Old Testament, words from God were strong and usually dealt with people getting the fire slapped out of them if they persisted in disobeying God. You very rarely heard of one that was encouraging at he level that so many today are.
The preacher’s job is to make sure the people hear the word of God whether they want to hear it or not, the whole story.
As God told Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8-10:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"God knew they wouldn’t want to listen, but Isaiah told them anyway.
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
Let me be the same. Here I am, send me. I will go where you want me to go and do what you want me to do.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
a squirrel looked at me while ago when I was walking to the church
A squirrel looked at me while ago when I was walking to the church.
It isn’t often that a wild animal looks at you. Usually they look at you from the corner of their eyes. Squirrels, rabbits, birds – usually they just give you their peripheral vision.But this one just looked at me straight on. And I wondered what it was thinking.
Did it wonder what I was doing there? Or maybe it was thinking, what an exceptionally human. Probably not.
Maybe it liked my shirt. I have on a bright one with red and yellow fish on it today.
Who knows. But it was a bit disconcerting to have that happen.
In books I read about Indians, it always bothered the guy when an animal would look at him. Many times he figured that it knew something he didn’t. So he would begin to worry.
There are things that surprise you when you are walking around, and I am kind of glad that one like this can still touch me in some way.
It isn’t often that a wild animal looks at you. Usually they look at you from the corner of their eyes. Squirrels, rabbits, birds – usually they just give you their peripheral vision.But this one just looked at me straight on. And I wondered what it was thinking.
Did it wonder what I was doing there? Or maybe it was thinking, what an exceptionally human. Probably not.
Maybe it liked my shirt. I have on a bright one with red and yellow fish on it today.
Who knows. But it was a bit disconcerting to have that happen.
In books I read about Indians, it always bothered the guy when an animal would look at him. Many times he figured that it knew something he didn’t. So he would begin to worry.
There are things that surprise you when you are walking around, and I am kind of glad that one like this can still touch me in some way.
daily java
Daily Java: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. – John 10:28-29.
I used to think that we went in and out of God’s love depending on what we were doing at the moment.
That is absotively not true.
It is a lot harder to leave God’s care than we think. God holds on to what is his.
And he loves us. After all, we do the same with our kids. Just because they mess up, we do not throw them away.
“I broke a vase, Dad.” “WHAT?! Get out. You are no longer my son.”
If that is your response, you need to pray to God for forgiveness and maybe to your kids too.
The word says that we are able to do good things for our kids and we are just flawed human beings. If that is true, how much more would God be able to do for his children.
Matthew 7 says, Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
God gives us the ability to love our children as he loves us. And we do not desert our kids. Neither will he.
And no one can take them from him.
I used to think that we went in and out of God’s love depending on what we were doing at the moment.
That is absotively not true.
It is a lot harder to leave God’s care than we think. God holds on to what is his.
And he loves us. After all, we do the same with our kids. Just because they mess up, we do not throw them away.
“I broke a vase, Dad.” “WHAT?! Get out. You are no longer my son.”
If that is your response, you need to pray to God for forgiveness and maybe to your kids too.
The word says that we are able to do good things for our kids and we are just flawed human beings. If that is true, how much more would God be able to do for his children.
Matthew 7 says, Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
God gives us the ability to love our children as he loves us. And we do not desert our kids. Neither will he.
And no one can take them from him.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
daily java.
Daily Java: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57.
Fear of death is so strong, even in people who shouldn’t fear it. It is the way God made us, part of the survival instinct that everybody has.
The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that the Christian recognizes that God is in control, and that when he dies, he goes to be with God.
Death is not the end, it is the beginning.
The ancient Egyptians had that part right. They made their tombs with special doors so that the departed could go to the afterlife and do stuff. They gave him food and clothes, furniture and even slaves, freshly killed to serve him in the afterlife.
The problem with their view, though, was that it was wrong. I would imagine the slaves would tell you that, too. They viewed eternal life as just an adjunct to this life, another place to go.
In Jesus, eternal life is the end result of our physical lives. If we have served God in this life, we serve him in that life, too.
We don’t need a bunch of stuff when we go to be with God, because God has all we need. And besides, as Jesus pointed out several times, the afterlife is not like this life.
Relationships will be different, food will be different, there will be an absence of pain and sorrow, of suffering and sickness. In other words, it will be a perfect life, living only to worship the God who made us.
To those outside of Jesus, that sounds horrible and they cannot imagine it. When Hollywood or TV portrays heaven, it is just a white area with people flying around with no real purpose or point.
When you look at it this way, it is no wonder that people tend to romanticize hell.
Hell would be the opposite of heaven, pain and sorrow, suffering and sickness. In all, it would be the absence of the love of God – nothing but cold contempt and suffering.
I suppose that is the problem. If you do not love God now, you really can’t imagine spending an eternity with him.
But with him, death is empty. As a friend of mine said one time, when I threatened (jokingly, of course) to kill him, “Go ahead. Threaten me with heaven,”
That kind of takes the sting out of the threat. Death has no sting, death has no victory when you are in Jesus.
When Jesus died and rose again, he gave new meaning to life. As long as we are in him, we do not have to be afraid of what might happen when we die. He gives hope.
Fear of death is so strong, even in people who shouldn’t fear it. It is the way God made us, part of the survival instinct that everybody has.
The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that the Christian recognizes that God is in control, and that when he dies, he goes to be with God.
Death is not the end, it is the beginning.
The ancient Egyptians had that part right. They made their tombs with special doors so that the departed could go to the afterlife and do stuff. They gave him food and clothes, furniture and even slaves, freshly killed to serve him in the afterlife.
The problem with their view, though, was that it was wrong. I would imagine the slaves would tell you that, too. They viewed eternal life as just an adjunct to this life, another place to go.
In Jesus, eternal life is the end result of our physical lives. If we have served God in this life, we serve him in that life, too.
We don’t need a bunch of stuff when we go to be with God, because God has all we need. And besides, as Jesus pointed out several times, the afterlife is not like this life.
Relationships will be different, food will be different, there will be an absence of pain and sorrow, of suffering and sickness. In other words, it will be a perfect life, living only to worship the God who made us.
To those outside of Jesus, that sounds horrible and they cannot imagine it. When Hollywood or TV portrays heaven, it is just a white area with people flying around with no real purpose or point.
When you look at it this way, it is no wonder that people tend to romanticize hell.
Hell would be the opposite of heaven, pain and sorrow, suffering and sickness. In all, it would be the absence of the love of God – nothing but cold contempt and suffering.
I suppose that is the problem. If you do not love God now, you really can’t imagine spending an eternity with him.
But with him, death is empty. As a friend of mine said one time, when I threatened (jokingly, of course) to kill him, “Go ahead. Threaten me with heaven,”
That kind of takes the sting out of the threat. Death has no sting, death has no victory when you are in Jesus.
When Jesus died and rose again, he gave new meaning to life. As long as we are in him, we do not have to be afraid of what might happen when we die. He gives hope.
Friday, April 16, 2010
an angry kitten
Ella lost her old cat, Mordecai. He just disappeared, so we have no idea what happened to him.
However, we have a new kitten. She couldn’t stand it any longer so she got another. His name is Gamaliel.
If you remember, Gamaliel was the great rabbi in the first century that was Paul’s seminary teacher. He was also the one that said that it was worthless to try to punish the Christians out of existence (Acts 5:34). He reasoned that if they were real, you couldn’t stop them. If they weren’t, they would soon fall apart.
There is no connection between the great Pharisee of the first century and our kitten. We just liked the name.
What is funny is when he becomes indignant over something. There is nothing funnier than an angry kitten.
In the mall the other day, there was a little girl who was angry that she didn’t get something she wanted. She stomped over to her mother (rather ineffective on concrete floors) and had a frown on her face. It made me laugh, because she looked like the kitten when he doesn’t get his way.
In another mall a couple of years ago, there was a young couple with a small child who decided to throw a temper tantrum. The child did, that is, no the young couple.
He fell to the floor screaming and rolling. The mother walked off and the father just stood and looked at him on the floor. After a minute, the father reached out his foot and kind of prodded the child, as if he were just some interesting curiosity. After a minute or two, he walked off, too. The child realized he was alone, got up and went after them.
I felt like applauding them. Too many people let their kids rule their lives. When that happens, the children grow up to think they are the center of the universe.
We are like that when we get angry. When Job got angry at God, God never really reprimanded him, but just kind of ignored him. It was as if God was saying, there are some things out of your pay scale, that you don’t understand.
Most kids don’t, and the kitten sure doesn’t. They’ll learn.
And I hope we do too.
However, we have a new kitten. She couldn’t stand it any longer so she got another. His name is Gamaliel.
If you remember, Gamaliel was the great rabbi in the first century that was Paul’s seminary teacher. He was also the one that said that it was worthless to try to punish the Christians out of existence (Acts 5:34). He reasoned that if they were real, you couldn’t stop them. If they weren’t, they would soon fall apart.
There is no connection between the great Pharisee of the first century and our kitten. We just liked the name.
What is funny is when he becomes indignant over something. There is nothing funnier than an angry kitten.
In the mall the other day, there was a little girl who was angry that she didn’t get something she wanted. She stomped over to her mother (rather ineffective on concrete floors) and had a frown on her face. It made me laugh, because she looked like the kitten when he doesn’t get his way.
In another mall a couple of years ago, there was a young couple with a small child who decided to throw a temper tantrum. The child did, that is, no the young couple.
He fell to the floor screaming and rolling. The mother walked off and the father just stood and looked at him on the floor. After a minute, the father reached out his foot and kind of prodded the child, as if he were just some interesting curiosity. After a minute or two, he walked off, too. The child realized he was alone, got up and went after them.
I felt like applauding them. Too many people let their kids rule their lives. When that happens, the children grow up to think they are the center of the universe.
We are like that when we get angry. When Job got angry at God, God never really reprimanded him, but just kind of ignored him. It was as if God was saying, there are some things out of your pay scale, that you don’t understand.
Most kids don’t, and the kitten sure doesn’t. They’ll learn.
And I hope we do too.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
new kitten
My wife got a new kitten yesterday.
Mordecai, her cat of 12 years, has gone missing. We don’t know what happened to him. Probably he got hit by a car or some such.
So yesterday, she got a new kitten, Gamaliel. A great rabbinical name, Gamaliel.
Maybe he will be a great moderate voice for catdom everywhere. The great rabbi cat Gamaliel. He will bring wisdom and influence into the feline world. Cats everywhere will look up to him for teaching.
Or he may just drink a lot of milk.
Probably the latter. There is a good reason you never hear of a cat rabbi.
For one thing, cats aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Lions, tigers, I think, but not cats.
In fact, I don’t think animals are ever mentioned in a pet way. I don’t recall an affectionate remembrance of an animal. In the world of the Bible, they are beasts of burden or objects of derision. “Beware the dogs.” That sort of thing.
For another, of course, full-grown cats have a brain the size of a golf ball. They really are not capable of the thought we ascribe to them. They feel hunger, pain, ridicule and embarrassment (to a point), loyalty, pack awareness, sexual drive – but those are about it. I really don’t even think they necessarily feel love, as we see it.
So probably, Gamaliel will never pontificate on things he doesn’t understand.
Or he could be like a lot of church folks and speak most vociferously on things he doesn’t understand. Lack of understanding never stopped church folks. They are their loudest talking about stuff they don’t understand.
Of course, that is a good thing about a cat. He doesn’t know he doesn’t know. And it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about his lack of wisdom. He doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about anything.
As long as he is fed and has water and someone to play with, he is happy.
When he doesn’t, like everyone else, he can get indignant.
And there is nothing funnier than an angry kitten. Impotence incarnate.
I miss old Mordecai. He was a good cat, very even in his disposition.
I look forward to getting to know rabbi cat Gamaliel. We will have some interesting discussions. Maybe we will discuss the nature of the universe as seen by a cat, or maybe we will talk about views of eternity when looked at by a creature with a 15 year or less life-span.
And Ella can hold her little kitty and give it treats.
Each to his/her own.
Mordecai, her cat of 12 years, has gone missing. We don’t know what happened to him. Probably he got hit by a car or some such.
So yesterday, she got a new kitten, Gamaliel. A great rabbinical name, Gamaliel.
Maybe he will be a great moderate voice for catdom everywhere. The great rabbi cat Gamaliel. He will bring wisdom and influence into the feline world. Cats everywhere will look up to him for teaching.
Or he may just drink a lot of milk.
Probably the latter. There is a good reason you never hear of a cat rabbi.
For one thing, cats aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Lions, tigers, I think, but not cats.
In fact, I don’t think animals are ever mentioned in a pet way. I don’t recall an affectionate remembrance of an animal. In the world of the Bible, they are beasts of burden or objects of derision. “Beware the dogs.” That sort of thing.
For another, of course, full-grown cats have a brain the size of a golf ball. They really are not capable of the thought we ascribe to them. They feel hunger, pain, ridicule and embarrassment (to a point), loyalty, pack awareness, sexual drive – but those are about it. I really don’t even think they necessarily feel love, as we see it.
So probably, Gamaliel will never pontificate on things he doesn’t understand.
Or he could be like a lot of church folks and speak most vociferously on things he doesn’t understand. Lack of understanding never stopped church folks. They are their loudest talking about stuff they don’t understand.
Of course, that is a good thing about a cat. He doesn’t know he doesn’t know. And it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about his lack of wisdom. He doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about anything.
As long as he is fed and has water and someone to play with, he is happy.
When he doesn’t, like everyone else, he can get indignant.
And there is nothing funnier than an angry kitten. Impotence incarnate.
I miss old Mordecai. He was a good cat, very even in his disposition.
I look forward to getting to know rabbi cat Gamaliel. We will have some interesting discussions. Maybe we will discuss the nature of the universe as seen by a cat, or maybe we will talk about views of eternity when looked at by a creature with a 15 year or less life-span.
And Ella can hold her little kitty and give it treats.
Each to his/her own.
Monday, April 12, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.’- Luke 9:23-24.
There is the picture you have of Jesus carrying the cross. And you have one of us as we carry our cross around through life, being obedient and sharing the sufferings of Jesus.
The only problem is that no one carries a cross around. At least not for long.
You are nailed to a cross. You are nailed to it and you die. Your career of carrying around a cross was extremely short.
When we take up our cross, we do not carry it around. We die. We give up our lives for Jesus and we die. We have given all we have to him and we are not, as far as the world is concerned, dead.
Now it is up to Jesus. He raises us to walk in a new life. Without him we are just dead. We have traded one set of circumstances for another.
But with him, we live. When we give our lives to him, we live.
Sometimes we work so hard trying to find our purpose or our design in life. We look so hard, but we find nothing that will fill that void.
That is because that void can be filled only by the One who made us. It is, what one called, a God shaped vacuum and only God will fill it. Everything else just gets sucked in with no purpose.
It was he who said, Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39). When we give him our lives, he gives them back to us. Then we find them.
There really is no loss, since his life is forever. In order to get that, we give up pain, and sorrow, and futility, and purposelessness. We gain meaning in our lives and we gain a higher purpose than anything we could ever have without him.
And we gain God.
There is the picture you have of Jesus carrying the cross. And you have one of us as we carry our cross around through life, being obedient and sharing the sufferings of Jesus.
The only problem is that no one carries a cross around. At least not for long.
You are nailed to a cross. You are nailed to it and you die. Your career of carrying around a cross was extremely short.
When we take up our cross, we do not carry it around. We die. We give up our lives for Jesus and we die. We have given all we have to him and we are not, as far as the world is concerned, dead.
Now it is up to Jesus. He raises us to walk in a new life. Without him we are just dead. We have traded one set of circumstances for another.
But with him, we live. When we give our lives to him, we live.
Sometimes we work so hard trying to find our purpose or our design in life. We look so hard, but we find nothing that will fill that void.
That is because that void can be filled only by the One who made us. It is, what one called, a God shaped vacuum and only God will fill it. Everything else just gets sucked in with no purpose.
It was he who said, Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39). When we give him our lives, he gives them back to us. Then we find them.
There really is no loss, since his life is forever. In order to get that, we give up pain, and sorrow, and futility, and purposelessness. We gain meaning in our lives and we gain a higher purpose than anything we could ever have without him.
And we gain God.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
unpacking boxes
We have about got the house unpacked and stuff where it is supposed to go.
Since our stuff has been in storage since I began my move into the Foursquare Church, we haven’t seen a lot of it for some time.
It is funny to open boxes that have not been open for a year. You wonder what you will find. Will the stuff inside still be in one piece. Will it all be broken or just some, or will it all be fine.
The interesting thing on this move is that we have not found one single thing that has been broken, at least so far.
We still have a few boxes left to open so we still might. But so far, we have had good fortune.
The other interesting thing is how few boxes we have this move.
Of course, when I loaded the trailer to come up here, I loaded it like I would a UHaul truck with all the boxes in the front. That wreaked havoc on Pastor Mel’s pickup. He had a rough time pulling it up here.
But even so, we have relatively few boxes this time.
In the past, we had to have an annex to the UHaul to move. We had so much stuff, that we had to have a trailer, too.
This time we got rid of a lot of stuff, I sold the vast majority of my library, things like that. It sure knocked down the amount we had.
But no more. We decided that we are not going to have that much stuff anymore. We just do not need it.
The word tells us not to be indebted to anyone except to love. Romans 13:8 says Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
I suppose that it is a stretch to apply that to stuff. But some times you spend more time managing and storing and taking care of your stuff than you do you obligations to God and others.
I just want to live a simple life and serve him only. Not a bunch of stuff.
Since our stuff has been in storage since I began my move into the Foursquare Church, we haven’t seen a lot of it for some time.
It is funny to open boxes that have not been open for a year. You wonder what you will find. Will the stuff inside still be in one piece. Will it all be broken or just some, or will it all be fine.
The interesting thing on this move is that we have not found one single thing that has been broken, at least so far.
We still have a few boxes left to open so we still might. But so far, we have had good fortune.
The other interesting thing is how few boxes we have this move.
Of course, when I loaded the trailer to come up here, I loaded it like I would a UHaul truck with all the boxes in the front. That wreaked havoc on Pastor Mel’s pickup. He had a rough time pulling it up here.
But even so, we have relatively few boxes this time.
In the past, we had to have an annex to the UHaul to move. We had so much stuff, that we had to have a trailer, too.
This time we got rid of a lot of stuff, I sold the vast majority of my library, things like that. It sure knocked down the amount we had.
But no more. We decided that we are not going to have that much stuff anymore. We just do not need it.
The word tells us not to be indebted to anyone except to love. Romans 13:8 says Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
I suppose that it is a stretch to apply that to stuff. But some times you spend more time managing and storing and taking care of your stuff than you do you obligations to God and others.
I just want to live a simple life and serve him only. Not a bunch of stuff.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: For we know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. Romans 8:28.
Stuff happens and we know it does regardless of whether we are Christians or not. When it really comes down to uit, life is just a collection of stuff happening. And most of it is bad.
We always have the idea that if God is in charge and in control and we are good, things will go well. But that isn’t the case. You don’t have to look very far in the Bible to see that it didn’t matter if a person was godly or not. He or she had bad things happen to them.
After all, look at Job. Job’s problem was that he was the focus of a bet between God and the devil. The devil said that if bad things happened to him he would fall apart and quit serving God. God said he wouldn’t and used Job as an object lesson.
Bad things happen all the time and many times there is no reason. God doesn’t make them happen because the Word says that God does not send bad things. They come from the devil.
But God can take those bad things that happen to us and make them turn out good if we love him and trust him. He is in control.
That is the key to living your life in the midst of pain and suffering and everything else that happens bad: God is in control and can take your bad to make good happen.
After all, he is God. Not an easy thing, but true.
Stuff happens and we know it does regardless of whether we are Christians or not. When it really comes down to uit, life is just a collection of stuff happening. And most of it is bad.
We always have the idea that if God is in charge and in control and we are good, things will go well. But that isn’t the case. You don’t have to look very far in the Bible to see that it didn’t matter if a person was godly or not. He or she had bad things happen to them.
After all, look at Job. Job’s problem was that he was the focus of a bet between God and the devil. The devil said that if bad things happened to him he would fall apart and quit serving God. God said he wouldn’t and used Job as an object lesson.
Bad things happen all the time and many times there is no reason. God doesn’t make them happen because the Word says that God does not send bad things. They come from the devil.
But God can take those bad things that happen to us and make them turn out good if we love him and trust him. He is in control.
That is the key to living your life in the midst of pain and suffering and everything else that happens bad: God is in control and can take your bad to make good happen.
After all, he is God. Not an easy thing, but true.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
a grammatical gripe
I don’t often gripe as such on this blog, but I have noticed so much bad grammar on the internet. It isn’t just in places like this one – just an ordinary guy’s blog. It is in places like newspaper reporting and such.
Much of it has to do with misspelled words that no one has caught. It seems there is no proofreading anymore. There instead of their, you instead of your, things like that.
I am buy no means a professional grammarian, but I notice misspelled words. It is almost a disease with me. I always find them.
When I do, it takes away from what is said. Enough of them, and my respect for the veracity and ability of the writer. One of my favorite writers, who admittedly churns out a lot of writing every day does this a lot.
To me this says, I don’t care enough to check my stuff and make sure it is correct. If the grammar is wrong enough, it says that maybe the other stuff is too.
This is a small point, I know. It is also probably overly-picky. It is, however, my own opinion and I am drinking coffee while I am writing it.
So there.
Much of it has to do with misspelled words that no one has caught. It seems there is no proofreading anymore. There instead of their, you instead of your, things like that.
I am buy no means a professional grammarian, but I notice misspelled words. It is almost a disease with me. I always find them.
When I do, it takes away from what is said. Enough of them, and my respect for the veracity and ability of the writer. One of my favorite writers, who admittedly churns out a lot of writing every day does this a lot.
To me this says, I don’t care enough to check my stuff and make sure it is correct. If the grammar is wrong enough, it says that maybe the other stuff is too.
This is a small point, I know. It is also probably overly-picky. It is, however, my own opinion and I am drinking coffee while I am writing it.
So there.
daily java
Daily Java: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).
Everything we do should be to his glory. As a child of God, we are no longer motivated by our own desires, but his. It is he who lives in us that motivates us. We live to his praise.
That is hard to remember when we want to do stuff that isn’t necessarily God-honoring.
But when people see us, if we claim to be a Christian, they see Jesus. If we are petty and ugly in our attitudes, they see him as that kind of person. If we are greedy, as far as they are concerned, Jesus is a greedy God. If we are judgmental, he is too.
That is the problem with being his people and his representatives in this world. People see us and assume that Jesus is like us.
Of course, he isn’t like us. We are like him. There is a difference.
We strive to embody his attributes in our lives, not impose on him our attributes.
He was gentle, we want to be gentle. He was accepting, we want to be accepting. He was loving, we want to love. As he was, we want to be.
It is hard for people to see that. They figure that if they are this way, then Jesus would be this way also. It is hard to make the leap that we are to be like him, not him to be like us.
There is a leap to be made that almost defies logic. The ancients couldn’t make it with their gods. When you make gods, they are like you, only bigger. They are what you would be if you were a god. You are mean and petty and greedy and lustful, they are the same only larger – on a global scale.
God, however, is God. He is like himself regardless of what we want. And his demand is that we be like him.
We cannot make him like us because he is too great. He is God.
And any God that we can mold into our shape, or enlist to help us in our causes, or use to promote our agenda is not God. He may be a god, but he is not worth worshipping.
My God is worthy of our praise. He is above all, and over all and untouched by all. At the same time, he is moved by our prayers and loves us. Yet, in all that, he is still God.
Praise his name.
Everything we do should be to his glory. As a child of God, we are no longer motivated by our own desires, but his. It is he who lives in us that motivates us. We live to his praise.
That is hard to remember when we want to do stuff that isn’t necessarily God-honoring.
But when people see us, if we claim to be a Christian, they see Jesus. If we are petty and ugly in our attitudes, they see him as that kind of person. If we are greedy, as far as they are concerned, Jesus is a greedy God. If we are judgmental, he is too.
That is the problem with being his people and his representatives in this world. People see us and assume that Jesus is like us.
Of course, he isn’t like us. We are like him. There is a difference.
We strive to embody his attributes in our lives, not impose on him our attributes.
He was gentle, we want to be gentle. He was accepting, we want to be accepting. He was loving, we want to love. As he was, we want to be.
It is hard for people to see that. They figure that if they are this way, then Jesus would be this way also. It is hard to make the leap that we are to be like him, not him to be like us.
There is a leap to be made that almost defies logic. The ancients couldn’t make it with their gods. When you make gods, they are like you, only bigger. They are what you would be if you were a god. You are mean and petty and greedy and lustful, they are the same only larger – on a global scale.
God, however, is God. He is like himself regardless of what we want. And his demand is that we be like him.
We cannot make him like us because he is too great. He is God.
And any God that we can mold into our shape, or enlist to help us in our causes, or use to promote our agenda is not God. He may be a god, but he is not worth worshipping.
My God is worthy of our praise. He is above all, and over all and untouched by all. At the same time, he is moved by our prayers and loves us. Yet, in all that, he is still God.
Praise his name.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1 John 3:16.
Nowhere does the Bible tell us that we will be judged on our doctrine, yet that is what people use as a measure. When it came to choosing between doctrine and human empathy, Jesus always chose the love route. And he says that is the measure of our following him, too.
I guess the problem is that it is so easy to use doctrine as a measure. Almost every denomination as it starts calls itself a unity movement. And tells people they want to base their unity on love.
The problem comes when the denomination has been around for a while. It begins to bureaucratize and becomes set in its ways. The desire for unity is submerged in the desire for conformity to their standards.
That is because they begin to choose their standards. And after they have chosen them, they feel the need to justify them and finally to defend them.
It really doesn’t matter whether the standards are biblical or not, they are their standards and they are proud of them.
Before long, whole committees are set up to tell who can and can’t teach those standards and entire libraries are compiled with books defending the standards. People begin to identify, not with Jesus, but with the standards. “My church doesn’t believe in…” or “my church says…”
When the church becomes the arbiter of what is right and wrong, the church has become wrong. We do not have the right biblically to set up parameters of faith or action. If the Bible doesn’t speak on it, it has to be up to our conscience. It is never up to a committee, no matter how well meaning they may be.
I suppose the pendulum swings both ways. Some churches decided too many things as orthodox in the name of purity while others let go of too much in the name of compromise.
Both are wrong.
Jesus said that the defining action of a Christian, a Christ-follower, a disciple – whatever you may call it – is love.
And that is scary to some. They feel they need parameters, they need limits. But part of our growing in Christian love is to grow beyond the need for limits. The apostle Paul was one who grew to realize that there was a world greater than anything he had seen. He came from strict Judaism to a realization that all are welcomed into God’s kingdom, no matter the race or social standing or even sex.
He wrote: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:6). Quite a statement coming from one who was “as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Philippians 3:6).
I grew up in a very restrictive church, one that felt obligated to tell people how to worship and when they could be saved, how to behave – several things that many churches do also. I even ministered to those churches for 20 years. When I came out into the Disciples of Christ as a pastor, I asked my area minister how to know what was DOC beliefs. He said, and I remember it to this day, “There is no one to tell you that this is orthodoxy and that is heresy.” That opened up a window into what soon became a tremendous desire to learn more.
I realize that the denomination meant it differently than I took it. he meant there is no one to tell me I am wrong and I can do whatever I want.
But I saw it as the fact that I could come to God on my own terms, and not have to depend on a denomination to tell me what I could do.
It was liberating.
A friend once told me that if he erred in his ministry, it would be on the side of love, not doctrine. I rejected that when I heard it, but soon realized that it was absolutely true.
After all, it was what Jesus did.
And he is my Lord.
Nowhere does the Bible tell us that we will be judged on our doctrine, yet that is what people use as a measure. When it came to choosing between doctrine and human empathy, Jesus always chose the love route. And he says that is the measure of our following him, too.
I guess the problem is that it is so easy to use doctrine as a measure. Almost every denomination as it starts calls itself a unity movement. And tells people they want to base their unity on love.
The problem comes when the denomination has been around for a while. It begins to bureaucratize and becomes set in its ways. The desire for unity is submerged in the desire for conformity to their standards.
That is because they begin to choose their standards. And after they have chosen them, they feel the need to justify them and finally to defend them.
It really doesn’t matter whether the standards are biblical or not, they are their standards and they are proud of them.
Before long, whole committees are set up to tell who can and can’t teach those standards and entire libraries are compiled with books defending the standards. People begin to identify, not with Jesus, but with the standards. “My church doesn’t believe in…” or “my church says…”
When the church becomes the arbiter of what is right and wrong, the church has become wrong. We do not have the right biblically to set up parameters of faith or action. If the Bible doesn’t speak on it, it has to be up to our conscience. It is never up to a committee, no matter how well meaning they may be.
I suppose the pendulum swings both ways. Some churches decided too many things as orthodox in the name of purity while others let go of too much in the name of compromise.
Both are wrong.
Jesus said that the defining action of a Christian, a Christ-follower, a disciple – whatever you may call it – is love.
And that is scary to some. They feel they need parameters, they need limits. But part of our growing in Christian love is to grow beyond the need for limits. The apostle Paul was one who grew to realize that there was a world greater than anything he had seen. He came from strict Judaism to a realization that all are welcomed into God’s kingdom, no matter the race or social standing or even sex.
He wrote: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:6). Quite a statement coming from one who was “as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Philippians 3:6).
I grew up in a very restrictive church, one that felt obligated to tell people how to worship and when they could be saved, how to behave – several things that many churches do also. I even ministered to those churches for 20 years. When I came out into the Disciples of Christ as a pastor, I asked my area minister how to know what was DOC beliefs. He said, and I remember it to this day, “There is no one to tell you that this is orthodoxy and that is heresy.” That opened up a window into what soon became a tremendous desire to learn more.
I realize that the denomination meant it differently than I took it. he meant there is no one to tell me I am wrong and I can do whatever I want.
But I saw it as the fact that I could come to God on my own terms, and not have to depend on a denomination to tell me what I could do.
It was liberating.
A friend once told me that if he erred in his ministry, it would be on the side of love, not doctrine. I rejected that when I heard it, but soon realized that it was absolutely true.
After all, it was what Jesus did.
And he is my Lord.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
p0rn clipart
I was just redirected to a site that surprised the fire out of me.
I was looking in Google for Easter clipart for the bulletin and clicked onto one site that promised free clipart.
What I got was a naked woman straddling a pole. She was wearing knee high yellow boots and had a large tattoo over her rear end.
At the top in the search engine place, it said Easter clipart.
Needless to say, I left quickly.
But the point is that I got this site looking for pictures of the risen Savior.
This happened for the first time back in the late 90’s. I was looking for an online Bible translation on Google and came across a rather graphic sex site. As it turned out, when I looked at the address bar, it was from the Netherlands.
For a while, I was very careful and would check the link on Google before I hit it. But, sooner or later, you stop. That hadn’t happened in ten years, but it did this time.
I guess what made it so bad, and it was anyway, but what hit me was that is was for a clipart site for Easter. I could have been a child or anyone.
I do not believe the internet is bad. But there are sides of the internet that I just plain do not like. And if I had a kid at home, it would have a big honking filter on it. The monitor would face the room and all that kind of stuff.
The devil makes it so easy to get hit, even unaware.
No ending to this really. Just hit me this morning.
I was looking in Google for Easter clipart for the bulletin and clicked onto one site that promised free clipart.
What I got was a naked woman straddling a pole. She was wearing knee high yellow boots and had a large tattoo over her rear end.
At the top in the search engine place, it said Easter clipart.
Needless to say, I left quickly.
But the point is that I got this site looking for pictures of the risen Savior.
This happened for the first time back in the late 90’s. I was looking for an online Bible translation on Google and came across a rather graphic sex site. As it turned out, when I looked at the address bar, it was from the Netherlands.
For a while, I was very careful and would check the link on Google before I hit it. But, sooner or later, you stop. That hadn’t happened in ten years, but it did this time.
I guess what made it so bad, and it was anyway, but what hit me was that is was for a clipart site for Easter. I could have been a child or anyone.
I do not believe the internet is bad. But there are sides of the internet that I just plain do not like. And if I had a kid at home, it would have a big honking filter on it. The monitor would face the room and all that kind of stuff.
The devil makes it so easy to get hit, even unaware.
No ending to this really. Just hit me this morning.
Friday, April 2, 2010
good friday is not a time for celebration
There is a problem in most people’s minds with Good Friday. It is not a fun day.
Good Friday is not a celebration. There is no joy, no light. After all, it is the day our Lord and Savior died. There is nothing fun or exciting about that.
Wonderful, yes, but a truly sad wonder. It was through his death that we received the resurrection. There could have been no resurrection without a death. One cannot rise from the dead if one is not dead.
Isaiah 53 says, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
He came to die. The little baby was born to die. The young man grew up to die. The Savior of the universe, in order to become the Savior, had to die.
And you really cannot celebrate, what one persona called it, a death on a Friday afternoon.
It was such an unglorious death. They grabbed him, the whipped him and then they killed him. Nothing glorious in that.
It was kind of weird when Hollywood made the Passion. The suffering was greater than any suffering ever endured, the death worse, the pain more. We cannot accept the plainness of his birth, his life and his death.
As Isaiah 53 said, He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
That was the problem. People want to make the death more special than it was.
And it was special, but because it was the Son of God. But like his birth and his life, his death was common.
But it had to be. We do not celebrate it because it was horrible. It happened, not because God wanted it, but because we needed it. And it was totally necessary. Not good. No. But it was necessary
Because before you can have resurrection, you first have to have death. And after that death came that resurrection.
That resurrection is what we celebrate, not only on Easter, but on every Sunday morning when we meet.
But the death. That we do not celebrate. That we mourn.
Tonight will be moving, but it will not be a celebration.
Good Friday is not a celebration. There is no joy, no light. After all, it is the day our Lord and Savior died. There is nothing fun or exciting about that.
Wonderful, yes, but a truly sad wonder. It was through his death that we received the resurrection. There could have been no resurrection without a death. One cannot rise from the dead if one is not dead.
Isaiah 53 says, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
He came to die. The little baby was born to die. The young man grew up to die. The Savior of the universe, in order to become the Savior, had to die.
And you really cannot celebrate, what one persona called it, a death on a Friday afternoon.
It was such an unglorious death. They grabbed him, the whipped him and then they killed him. Nothing glorious in that.
It was kind of weird when Hollywood made the Passion. The suffering was greater than any suffering ever endured, the death worse, the pain more. We cannot accept the plainness of his birth, his life and his death.
As Isaiah 53 said, He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
That was the problem. People want to make the death more special than it was.
And it was special, but because it was the Son of God. But like his birth and his life, his death was common.
But it had to be. We do not celebrate it because it was horrible. It happened, not because God wanted it, but because we needed it. And it was totally necessary. Not good. No. But it was necessary
Because before you can have resurrection, you first have to have death. And after that death came that resurrection.
That resurrection is what we celebrate, not only on Easter, but on every Sunday morning when we meet.
But the death. That we do not celebrate. That we mourn.
Tonight will be moving, but it will not be a celebration.
the seven last words of Jesus
THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS
Response: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23: 34
Jesus realized that they thought they were doing religion the normal way. They didn’t realize the enormity of what they were doing.
Redemption: I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Luke 23: 43
Jesus has the ability to transform a life in a heartbeat. There is no second work of grace. We become holy when Jesus makes us holy.
Responsibility: Dear woman, here is your son, … Here is your mother. John 19: 26-7
Even though he was dying, he still took time to care for his mother.
Rejection: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? – which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Mark 15: 34
God forsook Jesus because he was sin. He became sin, who knew no sin. God had to turn from him.
Reaction: I am thirsty. John 19: 28
In the midst of it all, Jesus was thirsty. Such an innocuous comment in the light of all the other things he said.
Result: It is finished. John 19:30
He had done what he came to do. The sacrifice that had been foreordained from before the foundation of the world was made.
Reliance: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Luke 23:46
Even though he didn’t want to die, he knew that God was with him.
resurrection day
Sunday is the day that marks the absolute center of our faith: the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Without today, and without that resurrection, Christianity is worthless. It is Resurrection Day!
You can give all you have and be as self-sacrificing as you can be; you can help others and send money to Africa; you can help the oppressed and widows and orphans and countless charities. But – and here is the kicker – but if you do not believe in the resurrection, it is all worthless. You have wasted your time.
Not that you haven’t done any good and made some people better by your generosity.
But the thing is: generosity does not save you. That is because there is nothing that you can do to save yourself and nothing you can do to come to God. The only thing that will save you is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Because he rose from the dead, he can bring you back from death.
Romans 6 says that he was declared to be the Son of God by the power of the resurrection. And by that resurrection he can give you life.
If you do not believe in the resurrection, you do not believe in the center of the Christian faith. And if you do not believe in that, you have stripped Christianity of its power. It has become nothing more than the Rotary Club or the Kiwanis or the United Way.
It has become a great organization to belong to, a fine bunch of people, but in general worthless.
With the resurrection and its power to save us, there has been radical transformation. It makes us greater than anything we could even conceive of by ourselves.
The radical, transformative power of God was shown by the resurrection and is shown in the transformation in our own lives.
If you have come to Jesus and are no different than you were before, you have not come to Jesus.
Because when it comes down to it, that dynamic power changes our very souls. We are moved from service to the devil and being lost in sin to being children of God in Christ Jesus.
That is what we celebrate today. Praise the name of Jesus!
He is Risen!
You can give all you have and be as self-sacrificing as you can be; you can help others and send money to Africa; you can help the oppressed and widows and orphans and countless charities. But – and here is the kicker – but if you do not believe in the resurrection, it is all worthless. You have wasted your time.
Not that you haven’t done any good and made some people better by your generosity.
But the thing is: generosity does not save you. That is because there is nothing that you can do to save yourself and nothing you can do to come to God. The only thing that will save you is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Because he rose from the dead, he can bring you back from death.
Romans 6 says that he was declared to be the Son of God by the power of the resurrection. And by that resurrection he can give you life.
If you do not believe in the resurrection, you do not believe in the center of the Christian faith. And if you do not believe in that, you have stripped Christianity of its power. It has become nothing more than the Rotary Club or the Kiwanis or the United Way.
It has become a great organization to belong to, a fine bunch of people, but in general worthless.
With the resurrection and its power to save us, there has been radical transformation. It makes us greater than anything we could even conceive of by ourselves.
The radical, transformative power of God was shown by the resurrection and is shown in the transformation in our own lives.
If you have come to Jesus and are no different than you were before, you have not come to Jesus.
Because when it comes down to it, that dynamic power changes our very souls. We are moved from service to the devil and being lost in sin to being children of God in Christ Jesus.
That is what we celebrate today. Praise the name of Jesus!
He is Risen!
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