Tag Archives: Jesus God the Son

We serve our God who serves us in His will Mark 10: 32-45 First St Johns Mar 22, 2015

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know they are  sons and daughters of the Father said … AMEN!!!

Dear Ma & Pa,
Am well. Hope you are. Tell brother Walt & brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt & Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, they git warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings. Like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc…, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie, and other regular food. But tell Walt & Elmer you can always sit between two city boys that live on coffee.
Their food, plus yours, holds you till noon, when you get fed again. It’s no wonder these city boys can’t walk much. We go on “route” marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A “route march” is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys gets sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.
They don’t bother you none. This next will kill Walt & Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don’t know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk and don’t move. And it ain’t shooting at you, like the Higgett boys. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don’t even load your own cartridges.
Be sure to tell Walt & Elmer to hurry & join before other fellers get into this setup & come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter, Gail[1]

It is kind of a matter of perspective, here you have John and James, they have been in the presence of the Lord for three years now, they really don’t appreciate what they have, they seem to think that it’s just straight up ok to go to God the Son: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” I mean wow, right up front pretty obnoxious!? It’s as if they weren’t even listening. Didn’t Jesus just tell them what would happen to Him? I’m going to be turned over to be killed, that’s bad, but then I will rise, that’s great! What’s their response? Hey we want you to do this for us Jesus. Gail appreciates where she’s been, even in Marine Corps boot camp. She thinks her new life is just terrific. James and John, they seem to forget where they’ve been, they seem to think they’re entitled to an upgrade in life. Yea, I know we’ve all been there, we all want better. But too often it’s our idea of “better” and we just ignore God’s idea.

John and James, like the rest of the disciples, frankly, like too many of us, still have not gotten the idea, it’s not about them and what they get, it’s about what God has for our lives. As it says in your bulletin: “Our old, sinful selves still sometimes want Jesus to be like a genie in a bottle who will give us three wishes rather than a Lord and Savior who has forgiven our sins.” It really comes down to this; as Christians who are in charge of our lives, who do we serve? Is it all about me? Or is it all about our brothers and sisters in Jesus and ultimately/most importantly about Jesus? About Him who sacrificed and suffered everything in order to serve us? He really does serve us, He gave us our relationship with the Father, He fulfills our hope of life – life eternal, we know all those in the world who are without hope, we have the promise, we know we don’t have to jump through hoops to have what we hope for. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Eph 2:8). Sola Gratia, grace alone that is given to us because of what Jesus did for us. We couldn’t do anything to earn that if we wanted to. What could we possibly add to what Jesus did for us? We are baptized in the Name of the Triune God. Jesus saved us and He gives us the grace, the faith to know that we’ve been saved. All this is done for us, through nothing that we’ve done. Paul goes on in Eph 2:9 “not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The motto of my first undergraduate college was “…not to be served, but to serve..”, This is an old public college, in liberal Massachusetts, I didn’t know what that motto was about when I went there and I’d bet pretty much no one else, student, teacher, staff knew where it was from. Jesus promised to serve us, He did and He continues to.

Private Gail, she’s serving, she’s in the Marines, while she serves, she appreciates how much that she has, how good life is. In the world we serve Satan/old man Minch. We may not see it, but he is cruel, merciless and at some point he will drop the hammer on those who are not in Jesus. This might be a little weird, but the Marines, being kind of like Jesus? May seem hard, but to us who have lived in the world and know the harshness of the world, Jesus tells us: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:30) Let’s appreciate what Jesus has done, let’s hear what He has to say and not just push through with our agenda. The world/old man Minch, will only serve us at a price and it’s a pay me now and pay me later. With Jesus He lived, died, served, for John and James, all for we who are His and for all eternity.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

God gives us Barnabases

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I have been feeling kind of beat down lately. Things have been going, been interesting, combined with the liturgical season though, it’s been kind of a beat down. I can see where God really does provide, just the right people at the right time. I’m not going to name names. But when the meeting is getting a little hectic, when that one person pops up and quietly assures “keep doing what you’re doing”, that is absolutely priceless.  When it’s seemed that the joy is getting kind of beat down and someone comes along and tells you how joyful and another tells you how encouraging, it is truly beyond meaure.

This may sound a little goofy, but I know these are from God, because the comments pop up out of no where and often from a most unexpected person.

There certainly is a time and place for that same friend or certainly another friend with different gifts, to come along and encourage by telling you: “That’s not working” or “Jim you have to change this or that about yourself.” That is encouraging too, because you know that someone has “your six” and they’re watching out for you. I am very grateful that people have been there to encourage and redirect. It takes effort on their part and I am very grateful that they (and I’m hope they all know who they are from this blog) will exert their time and effort to spend it on me encouraging and guiding.  It certainly is a mark of friendship, the Jonathan and David kind to invest that in someone else. That’s also why men’s groups are so important. They do give guys the mutual encouragement and strength to go back out and deal with their world.  You can do that when you know another strong brother has your six.  Thanks to those guys who have mine at First St Johns they have no idea how much they have blessed me. In probably none of those cases has it been a situation where I or they have felt compelled to be friends.  But They were put there by God, they saw the need and what God was leading them to do. I saw what God was doing and was blessed to receive it.

This is a hard thing for guys, we have to be self-sufficient.  Well that’s the world talking. The smart guy remembers God’s word in Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron. So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” So guys who is God putting you with for mutual strength and encouragement? Who is your Barnabases? (Refer to Acts 4:37, 9:26-28, 11:25-26).

It’s about God and brothers and sisters in Jesus, it’s not about you

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I was listening to J Vernon McGee while I was reading this devotional by Henry Blackaby and I noticed how the common thread was “it’s not about you” or me, it’s about God!

Dr McGee was answering the tire old nonsense “a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell.” I really wish people would think a little more and quit with the simple little cliches. People love to say how much smarter they are than everyone before or now. It’s not true. Dr McGee points out that God is loving. He is also righteous, just and holy.  He has given us a way to be saved unlike any other belief system, but it has to be on the basis of salvation in His Son. But in our day and age when we think it’s all about us, we think God is supposed to take whatever we offer Him. No! It’s not your way it’s God’s way.

We are holy in Jesus.  In Jesus we are in the presence of the Lord, God is holy. That means set apart, sanctified. He will not accept anything less, His nature abhors anything less. The “ONLY” way we can be holy is through God the Son. There is no other way. Jesus said “no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Dr Blackabys devotional was on how what we do and don’t do affects other Christians. We should act only after we consider how our actions will affect other Christians. When we sin “Sin promotes independence. It isolates you from others… God designed you for interdepenence.”

We do have responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Jesus. But that does raise the question in terms of those who aren’t in Jesus. The Acts church was solely focused on only supporting fellow Christians. The church I pastor does reach out to help, but frankly there’s only so much we can do and we have a responsibility to help brothers and sisters. I think we should be very discerning in who we help because we just do not have the resources. The church at all levels does so much with so little for so many and yet the average secularist (who statistically) does very little for anyone else still likes to wag their finger at the church. Yes those same people who love to say how non-judgmental they are.

The take away is this.  It’s just not about you. If you really don’t understand what God is about, you better not go around making statements about what God will or won’t do. I mean come on that’s just stupid. God gave His Son for our salvation we are saved in Him or we condemn ourselves.

We need to remember when we sin, it’s not just about us. Our sin reflects on and affects countless numbers of other Christians. And we should be in service, but primarily to brothers and sisters in Jesus. We are guided by the Holy Spirit to help others but we are focused on serving those who are in Jesus.

Dr J Vernon McGee weekly question and answer podcast for March 14, 2015

“experiencing God Day by Day Henry and Richard Blackaby  p 130

Prayer, prayer, prayer da, de, da

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Da, de, da, love, love, love, the Beatles tune. How about Prayer, Prayer, prayer da,de, da?

Is there a greater way to show love then through prayer? No… Yet we in the church, given the opportunity to prayer for others often just pass, or make a perfunctory attempt. I’m not saying you have to wax eloquence, not at all, simple sincere prayer is much more effective. Just make it sincere.

That prayer is the the greatest weapon of the church is quite plain and I can speak to that from personal experience, as well as from what is taught, what we know from the Bible, and learned others who have written profoundly about prayer.

I’ve seen some crazy answers to prayer and often did not know how to deal with those answers. Often it took prayer to understand what I was dealing with.

Why do we as a church and faithful individuals give such short shrift, a nod to prayer? “Sure prayer is important, but then we have to do something “real”, afterwards!” Yea, there’s some genuine faith for you. The important part is done, the next important part, God’s answer and action, usually requires that you wait, for the real important part.

There is corporate prayer, the whole church body, a small group, two or three, more than one person raising their prayer concerns and the concerns of each other. Their is individual prayer, what we do in our prayer closets. Often the time we struggle over the deepest concerns in our souls.

I had really been pouring over a problem that I just did not know how to deal with. My inaction could have been perceived as procrastination. But while being in personal prayer, it was as if the Holy Spirit just knocked me across the head and said: ‘OK, pay attention this is what you’re going to do, bang, bang, bang, bullet point, bullet point. As things resulted, I have no doubt it was in His time and in His way.

I do wonder if some of the people who just like to carry on, how they really quench another’s spirit. I get it, sometimes there are issues where someone really does need some space and to let it out. I’m not criticizing that, I have a problem with the person that often just carries on and doesn’t realize how much another person’s spirit is being doused.

Those kind of people usually don’t offer any kind of encouragement, nothing uplifting, mostly just pointless, not creative, but often heartlessly critical. They always find the negative, never the upside.

It’s as if they are saying: “I know this is important to you, but I really don’t care. All I care is that I carry on about it and everyone knows where I am at. I am going to discourage you, not do anything constructive and actually feel like I’ve done something and that it’s really you who are clueless.”

Hmmmm, how about, “you know what? We really need to hit our knees and pray together and you’re going to do it without thoughtless comments, or just trying to indulge me. We are going to pray in genuine faith, put all the negative blah-blah behind us and trust God’s will.” How do you think prayer would help the person who needs encouragement? How would it help the person whose critical spirit maybe needs to be quenched?

Prayer is powerful in so many ways. Jesus told us to pray to the Father “…Our Father who art in heaven…” He wants us to lift our prayers to Him, He wants us to help and encourage others. Let’s pray a lot, let’s spend meaningful time in our own prayer closet, time with others and time in worship for real prayer. Prayer! Got it?!

Death Cafes Mark 8: 27 – 38 First St Johns, York, Pa March 1, 2015

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For the audio version please click on the link above.

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know that death in this world is only the beginning of life in the Resurrection said … AMEN!!

I’ve got news for youse, in case you didn’t know it, the world just keeps getting weirder. Shawn Kumm writes about nice little dinner parties that are becoming popular. There’s all the trappings china, linen, small sandwiches, pastries, comfortable coffee house setting, these are known as “Death Cafes”. These started in 2011 by an Englishman named Jon Underwood. “The stated objective is ‘to increase awareness of death to help people make the most of their (finite) lives”. I’d say to check it out, they of course have a website deathcafe.com. “Groups gather together to discuss death over refreshing drinks and nourishing food – and cake -.” Hey we’re all going to die, we might as well eat cake. Pastor Kumm goes on to say “but, ‘with no intention of leading people to any conclusion … or course of action.”[1] Well of course, because heavens, it’s the post-modern age, whatever we say goes, and we’re just going to have our nice little designer eternity, fit to our specifications. Folks, people really live these kind of deluded lives. We have a world that really is out of control. We can’t even stop the radicals in the Middle East who continue to burn alive, decapitate, bury alive, brother and sister Christians. Yet we have those who live deluded, self-obsessed, degenerate lives, sitting around and having little coffee parties, talking about death and coming to no conclusion, but being sure that things after death will be just fine.

In today’s reading Jesus tells His disciples, for the third time: “…the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed…” It’s as if the disciples, like those in their delusional little coffee klatches, simply remain in denial. To the extent that Peter, and yes I really do love that guy, he is a stand up guy and then drops the ball again. A few lines earlier, Peter is confessing exactly who Jesus is, “You are the Christ.” In Matthew’s Gospel Peter goes on to say: “…the Son of the Living God.” Everyone of those disciples that heard Peter’s confession, knew exactly what he was saying. This is Messiah, Mesheach, this is He who has been promised since the beginning of God’s revelation. He’s not another prophet, who were all men. This is God the Son, the Son of the Living God, David’s Son, David’s Lord, He who is the salvation of the world. Jesus has told them twice already, that He would die. Granted, He didn’t exactly fill in the blanks of what His death and resurrection meant to them, but regardless, their reaction was a sort of, … yea OK, but is it possible you might be overreacting just a little.

There’s Peter and he has stepped right up, inspired by the Holy Spirit, but let’s face it, many people have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and have fumbled the ball. Not Peter! I’d like to think that he knew where the inspiration came from and was not going to be denied. Jesus tells Peter in Matthew, “yup you got it, you have been blessed to know exactly who I AM.” But then Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, adds, for the third time, having said that and being recognized as the promised Messiah, men are going to take me, beat me, torture me and then kill me. Well Peter likes the Messiah idea, but ya … no, the killing thing, well that just doesn’t fit into his, still, worldly paradigm. The Messiah is going to physically lead all his followers, as His father David would, and drive out the hated Romans and establish God’s kingdom here on earth. Peter is just not at the point where he can understand anything but that Israel needs to be delivered in the here and now. He cannot grasp Jesus’ eternal perspective. Oh yes, the Kingdom of God is here, Jesus is saying I AM here, but the plan is that the Kingdom of God is not yet recognized.

While Peter gets who Jesus is, that He is the Son of God, Peter takes it upon himself to let Jesus know the being killed part just doesn’t work for him. That Jesus is going to stay alive and be the conqueror king. Jesus certainly will conquer. But not according to Peter’s agenda and drive out the Romans. Jesus will conquer death! He will overcome the true enemy of man, He will be the agent of God’s plan to reconcile man to Himself. He will be the propitiation, the payment, the Redeemer of all our sins. Those who are in Jesus will still be in the world, but now we will be saved from the world. We will now be delivered from the world of death, disease, suffering, evil and in our baptism in the Triune God, be adopted into the family of God, reborn into the Spirit. Still in this world, but now new creations in relationship with God the Father, redeemed by God the Son and guided in this world by God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has to drive these things home. According to Mark’s Gospel, in chapter 10, they were on the road going up to Jerusalem. In just a few days will be the triumphant entry. Jesus will enter into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This is no small thing, he will be hailed by the crowd, cheered welcoming the Messiah, but not in the sense that Peter expects. They are welcoming Him who will deliver them from the Romans. In today’s reading Peter takes Jesus aside to set Him straight; He’s not going to be killed, Peter doesn’t say it, but when Peter criticizes Jesus, it’s to tell Him, “no, you’ve got it wrong, this is going to be the Kingdom where we all rule with you.” The Concordia Self-study Bible’s reads: “Peter’s attempt to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross held the same temptation Satan gave at the outset of Jesus’ ministry (Matt 4: 8-10).”[2] Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, being tempted by Satan: “All this I will give you, he [Satan] said, ‘if you will bow down to me.’” Peter is saying as much as Satan said: “Forget all that dying stuff Jesus, we can do what’s really important, rule the whole world. Don’t worry about salvation for all those people. What’s dying going to do? What’s important is ruling and running Your own agenda.” Of course what would that mean to them, to us, to people all down through history? Jesus didn’t die for us, He didn’t redeem us, He didn’t pay for our sins? The only thing affected is this part of the world and we are not saved in Jesus’ death. Jesus came to redeem us from death, from all the evil of the world, to redeem our sins and give us the promise of eternal salvation. He made that very clear to Satan in the beginning of His ministry and now as that ministry comes to an end Jesus makes it very clear to Peter and by extension us. Certainly Satan was not happy being stripped of his authority and surely Peter wasn’t happy that his vision of Jesus’ ministry wasn’t going to occur. Of course Peter, all the disciples, would be filled with the Holy Spirit and they would come to know how they were saved and they, like us, would know the promise and hope of Jesus in eternal salvation in the resurrection.

Sad, isn’t it? Those people at the coffee houses, who subscribe to deathcafe.com. They don’t have that hope and promise. They think they can talk death to death and they will have their very own designer eternity, probably sitting around a coffee house in their superficial, phoney, non-existent, little eternity.

Sorry to say, they will be lost and condemned. They refuse to be guided by the Holy Spirit to true life in the resurrection and think it’s all about them. So take out that journal this week. Really pray over what Jesus has said, remember that He is summing up His earthly ministry and preparing for His death. He doesn’t want to endure this, but through His love for us, that agape, sacrificial love He has for us, that His Body and Blood will suffer and be spilled as the sacrifice that will conquer all and give us the hope and promise of eternal life in the resurrected world. Write about what that hope means to you and how you can give hope to those you know through Jesus Christ.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

[1] Shawn L. Kumm  “Concordia Pulpit Resources” Vol 25, Part 2, Series B, p 6

[2] Concordia Self Study Bible p 1518

Temptation Eyes James 1: 12-18 First St Johns Feb 22, 2015

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have remained steadfast under trial said … AMEN!

In the early 1970’s, one of the first songs that I remember as a teen, ironically, was by a group called the Grass Roots, titled “Temptation Eyes”. It was a hard driving rock song, which, really characterizes temptation. For me, temptation is sort of this hard driving, almost drilling into you this desire, you just have to have it. The lyrics, for a secular song, really do give you a sense of temptation. “She’s got something that moves my soul…”[1] A secular song talking about something that reaches right down into the soul. This temptation that is so compelling is moving this singer with a hard rock rhythm.

Have no doubt that when Jesus was being tempted by Satan, Jesus was feeling temptation that was drilling down into Him. The desert is not a welcoming place, it’s hot, it’s dry (unless of course it’s snowing and freezing rain in York, then it’s almost inviting.) temptation for shelter from the sun, for cool, refreshing water, for food, is compelling in the desert. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us: “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. This passage assures us that Jesus did suffer. He felt temptation deep down. He knows that we are tempted and He knows that temptation can steer us to things that aren’t good for us, that take our eyes off of Him who is our hope and promise. But also because of this we know that we can trust Him.

Too often we deal with things in our lives that reach down into our soul. Others will try to give us comfort and assurance, “oh it’s nothing”, we can stay strong and cope. It’s a big difference between men and women. There are things women contend with, that they are tempted by, that as men we just don’t get. We just cannot empathize with the compulsion they feel. And certainly vice versa. We can tell each other nice things, and think that we are helping, but too often we really aren’t and may be aggravating the situation. However, with Jesus, based on James’ words and of the writer of Hebrews, we are assured that Jesus understands. Too often we get an image of God as angry and vengeful, just waiting to strike us down when we are even so much as tempted. That is God to many, to those who are not saved in Jesus. But we, who are saved in Jesus, who are born again as new men and women, saved in Christ, we have a Savior who understands, who wants to help us push back against temptation before we are overwhelmed and give in. Temptation is not a sin, Mark tells us that Jesus was tempted (Mark 1:13), we certainly know that Jesus did not sin. But for us, who are weak in ourselves, it is much too easy for that temptation to push us into something that is sin. James writes: “…each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (Jas 1:14-15) Temptation is all around us, the Ben and Jerry’s you know is in the freezer, anger, vengeance, doing things that hurt you and someone else. Turn on the television, computer, books, magazines, its everywhere. When we give in to sin, we come up with excuses and rationalizations that push Jesus away and make that sin an idol, and then we cross the line and commit sin.

Our Savior understands that, He’s not standing over us just waiting for us to make that wrong move, that gotcha. He has been there, in this time of Lent we remember His time in the desert. From that Jesus can relate to those who are His, because, as the writer of Hebrews pens: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are,…” (Heb 4:15), but then goes on to say, “yet without sin.”

Jesus knows what confronts us, He does relate to us. Even more, if we let Him, the Holy Spirit will reach down and strengthen us. We often think of that sin as a treat, we pooh-pooh things like over indulging in food. It’s not healthy for us, it’s weakening our body, it makes us less able to serve Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Jesus. Sure in moderation, but in this day and age? We are not a moderate people. Have you seen Ben and Jerry’s concoction, formulated by Jimmy Fallon, it puts me into a diabetic coma just looking at it.

It does make you wonder, why Satan would even try with Jesus. Satan knows as well as anyone how this is going to end up. But he wants us to fail. He wants us to quit. Clearly Jesus had come into the world to mess up Satan’s plans and schemes. You can’t expect Satan to just twiddle his thumbs while Jesus undoes all the evil and sin of the world. You can’t expect him to give up, he wants to unravel the world, he’s condemned, he wants everyone condemned. So he had to push back against Jesus. But Satan isn’t normally over the top, he’s not usually in your face. He is usually subtle, continually trying to undermine us. He’s putting temptation in front of you so that you will quit and give in. You will stop caring about what Jesus wants and only focus on the object of your desire.

Writing about our vocations in life; work, family, church, community; “Wingren says that ‘Temptation in vocation is the devil’s attempt to get man out of his vocation” (121) Dr Gene Veith goes on to write: The devil wants you to quit. He wants you to quit your job. He wants you to get a divorce. He wants you to stop doing things for that ungrateful bunch at church. He wants you to tell your kids to ‘Do whatever you want to do. I give up.’ He wants you to leave that congregation because it’s nothing but trouble.”[2] Is that not the world we see today? Left and right we see this giving into temptation. Not just the obvious temptations, lust, gluttony, greed, anger etc. The more subtle temptation of giving up. Why try? The government will provide for you, some relative will provide for you, the church, should, provide for you. Why try at work? People are just mean to you there. Why try in your marriage? If someone doesn’t make you happy, dump ‘em. Why try with your kids, they’re just going to do what they want. Why try with your church? The pastor is hopeless, nothing good is happening and of course, we know that the church is just full of hypocrites anyway.

Yea, the quitter mentality we see in the world today. You can give into the world, you can let Satan lead you away and give into the temptation that he waves in front of you to quit, to give up. Jesus could have quit out in the desert, just packed it in, “hey, not my problem, they’re going to have to deal with this temptation stuff themselves.” He didn’t! He was faithful to you, to make sure you had that hope and promise that you have a Savior who will not quit on you. He gives us the faith to continue to trust in Him, but we just go ahead and chuck it? Then what? Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus is telling the readers that they will face terrible tribulation. Jesus promises the one who overcomes: “The one who conquers and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations… He will be clothed in white garments and I will never blot out his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels…Hold fast so that no one will seize your crown… I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God…” Read chapters 2 and 3 in the Book of Revelation. He warns us, but the promises He makes to those who are faithful, are eternal and overwhelming.

The great thing is, Jesus doesn’t leave us to our own strength to overcome temptation and sin. We know we have His promise to defend us, to protect us, to give us the faith we need. But how sad is it, when He is standing there protecting us and we just run away, concerned only about ourself? Mandisa is a great Christian rock singer, these lyrics are from a recent song:

“Everybody’s been down Hit the bottom, hit the ground, Ooh, you’re not alone
Just take a breath, don’t forget, Hang on to His promises, He wants You to know

You’re an overcomer, Stay in the fight ‘til the final round, You’re not going under
‘Cause God is holding you right now[3]

Be an overcomer, don’t give into temptation. The lyrics of the Grass Roots song are instructive: “But she lets me down everytime, can’t make her mind she’s no one’s lover…” Temptation will always let you down, will fail you. But Christ will always strengthen you and save you. You can continue to deal with temptation or be an overcomer.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

[1] Grass Roots  “Temptation Eyes”

[2] Gene Veith “God at Work” quoting Wingren “Luther on Vocation”

[3] Mandisa “Overcomer”

Liturgical worship, music, chanting, does stir the emotions, the right ones.

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Once in awhile God blesses me with a “eureka” moment and you, dear reader, are about to share that with me, or well at least I’m about to lay it on you. Groovey, huh baby?

The hit on liturgical music/worship is that there is no depth of emotion, it doesn’t lift the spirit, the emotion.

Ya, well there’s a technical term, that’s “bupkus” or as Charles Dickens wrote, “bah humbug”.

The truth of the matter is that it  most certainly does! The problem is that the past few generations are so superficial, so motivated by “eros” love, that it’s all about me, give me, give me. Liturgical worship is much deeper, it gives to God who gives back to me. Yea, well we want to cut out the middle-man and, as always, gimme, gimme. If we would really shut-up and listen we might realize how much more comforting and strengthening liturgy is, how it reaches down to your soul, because it’s the Holy Spirit who is reaching. We can stay with the shallow/superficial or we can really build that relationship with God the way that man has been doing it, which would date back to at least the time of King David, King Solomon and Solomon’s Temple.

Now, I will concede this. Because liturgical worship is difficult, and for those who lead worship and really don’t get it, they will do a lousy job. Sure there are many young pastors who can do it, but they really don’t get it and after awhile it does seem to be going through the motions. For me, who is much less talented, but who has gotten it and is better able to articulate it, but still no talent, you know what, have a little patience with me and my lack of talent won’t matter. What will matter is the depth of emotion and love that we convey to the Father in the liturgy. If you just go through the motions meaning will not come out and again, there are too many who should do it well, but just don’t get it. Sorry, but seems there are far too many of the following mindsets: “Here I am going through the motions, I don’t really know what I’m doing or how I’m doing it or why and, frankly, don’t really care. Right, wrong or indifferent and, frankly, I don’t even think there’s a “right”.”

Well yea, there is a “right” and let’s talk about it.

I have opined before, that the difference between “happy-clappy” and real worship is the emotional content. God the Holy Spirit has finally helped me to articulate the case for the liturgy much better.

We have become an “eros” society. Everything has to appeal to the superficial, emotional, put on a big show – please me, it’s all about me, feed me, sex me, give me this superficial comfort, love me in this adolescent, it’s all about me, wah, wah!!!

Liturgical worship is about agape love. I give to You (God), I lift You up, I know it’s all about You (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). It’s only through You and because of You that I even exist, no less have any meaning at all. I is all about You, when I acknowledge that and praise You, You make it all about me. You make me something I could never be, Your child! You give me something that I could never get – everlasting eternal life in the resurrection. Real worship is always about completing that connection. Not me just sitting back and just taking, again that adolescent attitude.

Of course another reason we like the “eros”, is because it’s easier. It does just go to our base instincts and we don’t have to work at it. One hit that I’ve taken about being more liturgical is that in some way it’s not pleasing, doesn’t resonate well. Yea, well, get over it. Does everything have to be The Gaither Family? No in fact, that’s just another generation’s superficial “please me-please me” with no more depth of true worship. One of my past pastors, United Methodist, but definitely not of the wishy-washy liberal. If anything much more Father Flannagan. He was a military chaplain in Italy during World War II. The man couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but didn’t matter. If he had to belt it out a little louder to prod us to sing louder, he had no compunction about that and we frankly loved him for it. He was actually kind of a little prickly, nothing prissy sentimental about him, and when he started singing we’d just smile. Not a mocking smile, but a “there’s our pastor and we really do love him.” An attitude of pride, of it really doesn’t matter how we sing, just sing and lift up God in worship. That’s the way it should be done. For those prissy little perfectionists, get over yourselves and focus on worshiping God in the hymn and what the hymn is teaching and don’t worry your self about the quality. You ain’t no Pavarotti either. I have a much bigger problem with the guy who has much more talent and goes through the motions then the guy (me) who has no talent, but truly wants to lift up God in worship. I mean really, doesn’t that make sense? (I’m sitting here listening to Bob Seger and going on about hymns and liturgical worship, go figure. God surely does mix it up on you!)

The impetus that God used for what is going to be awhile longer (strap in) is an article in Christianity Today by Steven R. Guthrie Love the Lord with All your Voice (June 2013 pp 44- 47)

CT is not a high liturgy kind of publication and yet Mr Guthrie uses as the focus of his article Athanasius who lived from 293-376. Definitely not happy-clappy. “In the fourth century, the church father Athanasius articulated a different understanding of singing . It includes self-expression, but Athanasius believed singing is centrally a spiritual discipline – an important practice in Christian spiritual formation and a means of growing in the life of faith.” Now that would be for everyone, the Don Paiges, the Gaithers, Martin Luther, Me. Those who are great to listen to and those who, let’s just say can be challenging to listen to.

“In a letter to his friend Marcellinus, Athanasius enthusiastically commends the Book of Psalms and provides guidance for reading the Psalms devotionally, (B N – We are pretty sure that most, if not all, the Psalms were set to some kind of musical scoring. We don’t know how, but the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Churches have all taken a run at putting the Psalms to melody and most of these are what we chant during worship.) … The Book of Psalms, however, has a unique place in Christian devotions, somethiat the was true in Athanasius’ time and remained so across centuries of monastic practice and worship. Athanasius suggests that the Psalms are so spiritually significant precisely because they are not simply read or spoken but sung…

Now I am going to quote the article at length, because it is just so right on. So I may be breaking rules and I’m sorry and will happily do what I can to make up for it, but this just has to be repeated.

“…In singing, the truth of the Psalms is drawn into the depths of one’s being rather than out of the depths of one’s being…” [this is in contrast to where music today is drawn to, which is much more on the surface, definitely not the soul. This is the difference between agape and eros. Agape reaches down to give you strength, being, connection that you could never do on your own vs. Eros which is entirely about your superficial appetites, more personal titillation than truly moving your soul.- JD].

What Guthrie talks about next applies to Scripture readings also. When we read Scripture with some genuine human emotion, versus the flat/rote manner most people read it, Scripture does come alive. It gives us a sense of what is really going on in the real world. So much of other beliefs are sort of unreal, pretension, than genuine “this is the human condition” ideas. Christianity can be very mystical, it is very deep, it is right where we live because God the Son, Jesus, did live among us and did experience everything we did. So it is real versus this phoney Eastern stuff or gnosticism, that tries to deny the reality of the world.

“We might ask again why we could not simply speak the words of Scripture as if they were our own. What is gained by singing them? Just this: In song, we learn not just the content of the spiritual life but something of its posture, inflection and emotional disposition.”

“When we sing, we learn not simply what to say but how and why to say it. What Athanasius recognizes (and what we might forget) is that inflection, rhythm, and tone of voice matter deeply. They are not aural decoration. For example, after someone offends us we might say, ‘It’s not so much what he said, it’s the way he said it.'”

Chanting is difficult, I keep trying to do better, make it more aesthetically pleasing. But it drives in me the opportunity to express the ideas in a deeper more meaningful way, an expression of the different emotions instead of it being some kind of rote incantation. Because of that, I hope that the hearer hears, the depth of what the writer was expressing 3,000 years ago. That the human condition has not changed a bit since the time of Solomon until now. When we get over ourselves and understand this connection that the church has had going back to the beginning, we can start to live genuine lives instead of this goofy idea that we are somehow so much smarter now than ever before. It’s not true and in some ways it should reassure you that you’re not the first one and won’t be the last. Shut-up and listen, instead of trying to convince us how brilliant you are. If you do, you might find some true comfort and connection to those who have been connected and inspired by God to live their lives in Him. The claim is that the liturgy, chanting has no depth of emotion. That is, as we say in the Greek, baloney. Most chanting is based on the Psalms, mostly written by King David. You do not know anyone who has gone through the range of emotions that David has. Shepherd, then king, great man, great sinner, hunted, hunter. This was a man after God’s own heart. When he loused up, he loused up big-time. But he took it back to God, he took the consequences, he dealt with the rubble, then came back and lived for God. He was a brilliant man, brilliant composer, brilliant king, brilliant soldier, diplomat, builder, on and on. To you guys who think that anything in the Bible is sort of silly and prissy, you need to snap out of it. David is more “man”, than any man I can think of before or since. He truly lived (omitting the really bad stuff), the way men should live. That is why the Psalms are so important, especially to guys.

“Music, Athanasius believes, is a sounding image of a soul that is no longer at odds with itself, nor at odds with itself, nor at odds with the Holy Spirit. Melody models an inner life in which the many different elements and impulses of the person are drawn together in a pleasing chorus.”

“Athanasius goes even further. Not only is this singing of Psalms an image of the well-ordered soul; it is also a means by which God brings about this order. As the Christian goes about ‘beautifully singing praises, he brings rhythm to his soul and leads it, so to speak, from disproportion to proportion.’ This proportioned, harmonized self is not our normal state of being. Apart from Christ, the ordinary state of affairs is for the various members and impulses of our person to jostle for control, battling with one another (Rom 7: 22-23). But when one sings, body, reason, emotion, physical sense and desire come alongside one another, each enlisted together in the praise of God. As we sing, we become a harmony.”

“…Athanasius’ point, however, is that specifically by singing our praises, all the diverse elements our our humanity are drawn together and then together lifted to God in worship.”

“Athanasius portrays the Christian life as a sort of richly broadened harmony, ringing out in praise of God…”

Part of what this means? Quit the non-sense about well you can’t sing, I don’t like hearing that. If you were focused on your singing and what it truly means in respect to the guy next to you and to God, you’d realize it doesn’t matter how good/bad the other person is. What matters is how the Holy Spirit is bringing what you are doing, what he’s doing, what every Christian who is at worship at that moment anywhere in the world is doing, making it a “richly broadened harmony”. Just saying, but I get the feeling you’re going to feel pretty petty in heaven, when you truly understand how the Holy Spirit does bring all that together. And yes that includes my still in much need of improvement chanting.

I am probably not doing Mr Guthrie’s article justice, but I think that I’ve made the point. God has been using liturgical music for at least 3,000 years. It does bring us together, it does reach down to our soul in a sacrificial, it’s all about the other person, it’s all about Jesus way. Can we do it better? Absolutely. But you want genuine emotion and content in your worship? All due respect to the David Crowder Band and all Christian music going back to who knows when, but the eros emotion that music evokes, is OK, believe me, I’ve got all the albums. But when it comes to what is truly from the soul, what reaches back through three millineium, what God uses to tie together Christians around the world, is the liturgy, based on, mostly, Psalms, but also the Gospels. When we truly take this form and truly lift up God in worship and make it all about Him, then He does respond and make it truly about us. In stark contrast to eros, which is all about me and what appeals to my senses and doesn’t go deep enough to impact our soul. Only God does when we truly lift Him up in worship that’s about Him and not about us. And if Athanasius is right and singing is a spiritual discipline, then it doesn’t matter if you do it well or not so well. We worship, we take the Body and Blood of Jesus, we hear the preached word, we’re baptized, we study Scripture, we journal, we confess and absolve, and yes we should sing, in a way that is truly a spiritual discipline and not another worldly indulgence.

The Veil is lifted from Jesus First St Johns February 15, 2015

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We Make Our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have been allowed a glimpse of Jesus as God as His children in baptism said … AMEN

Happy day after ST Valentine’s day! “A common hagiography describes Saint Valentine, as the former Bishop of Terni, Narnia and Amelia, a town of Umbria, in central Italy. While under house arrest of Judge Asterius, and discussing his faith with him, Valentinus (the Latin version of his name) was discussing the validity of Jesus. The judge put Valentinus to the test and brought to him the judge’s adopted blind daughter. If Valentinus succeeded in restoring the girl’s sight, Asterius would do anything he asked. Valentinus laid his hands on her eyes and the child’s vision was restored. The judge obeyed and as a result, freed all the Christian inmates under his authority. The judge, his family and his forty-four member household were baptized.[20] Valentinus was later arrested again for continuing to proselytize and was sent to the prefect of Rome, to the emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II) himself. Claudius condemned Valentinus to death, commanding that Valentinus either renounce his faith or he would be beaten with clubs, and beheaded. Valentinus refused.[21] Another narrative says he was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. He was beaten with clubs and stones; when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. [23] Archaeologists unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.”[1]

Valentines also seems to be another of those festivals that the world has co-opted and frankly corrupted. Yes, there is an element of romantic love, of Eros, in the Valentine story, it is much more about the agape love, what Valentine did in order to witness to Christ. There is little doubt in my mind that Valentine would be embarrassed beyond description for us and for himself to be associated with a Feast that the world has really corrupted.

   Of much more importance, much more, like more than infinitely more important, we remember the Transfiguration of Jesus today. Festivals of different saints are a great thing, especially when it’s one who like St Nicholas, Valentine, Patrick who are readily recognized by the secular world, and we don’t emphasize enough the importance of these saints, not for holidays, but because of how they lived and died for Jesus. But we also remember, that in Jesus we are all saints, Nicholas, Patrick, Valentine, great men, and they should be remember as examples of faithful living and maybe we should be more pro-active about observing their feasts and festivals. We look to those men for their example, we pray for God’s strength to emulate their lives, but we too are saints and we all are priests and we are all expected to come into the presence of the Father on the basis of our salvation in Jesus.

Jesus has shown Himself during the incarnation as a man, the Bible says a rather unremarkable looking man, you wouldn’t think much about Him at all if you walked by Him on the street. Those privileged disciples and by extension, now, us, get to see Jesus as He truly is. He is God, He is appearing to His disciples, in, no doubt, a much more muted form. We could not endure His splendor as God the Son, but in the Transfiguration there is no doubt that He is far above anything we are and the Father comes along and confirms, this is My Son! The veil has been lifted. There are a few times in the Bible where people have been left with a view that’s been hazed over, if not outright obstructed. Moses was in the actual presence of God and had to wear a veil among the people because they weren’t able to bear even a sort of reflected view of God’s Shekinah glory. Mary Magdalene had a veil over her eyes at the tomb. The two disciples didn’t see Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

Dr David Lewis observes: “Paul discusses the cause of unbelief with the image of “the veil” an image where faith is likened to seeing and so unbelief is blindness.” We certainly know those who just will not see Jesus as Lord. I have no doubt, the Holy Spirit has presented Jesus, has tried to move some people and they will just not be budged, they like the blindness.

I certainly resonate with what Dr Lewis says in terms of Paul’s ministry and ministry today. Christian ministry, proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus is not for shrinking violets and the church has been guilty of that for decades and is becoming even less of a witness today. We are more concerned about offending others, while to quote Billy Graham, we’re offending God.

Dr Lewis notes: “Because of this [inability to see under the veil] Paul stresses the importance of conducting his ministry with openness/boldness. What is openly proclaimed is that Jesus is Lord.” Why proclaim Him? “The hope [Greek elpida] in the enduring/remaining glory…the new covenant … This hope motivates Paul to behave boldly/frankly/openly (marresia) in his ministry …”[2] As we should do.

Jesus has now unambiguously revealed Himself on that mountain and the Father has confirmed who Jesus is: “This is my beloved Son.” We are God’s children, we are born again in baptism, we are His and we are strengthened through His Word in preaching and in Scripture and we are saved through the Body and Blood of Jesus. We are saved through His sacrifice, the payment of His perfect life as compensation, the just payment for our sins. This is our hope, this is the only hope of mankind, the Lord Jesus! And that is why we must boldly proclaim the hope and promise of Him, as Paul did. Jerome writes: “They [Moses, Elijah, the disciples, us], too, indeed are dear to Me, but He is My beloved; hear Him, therefore. They proclaim and teach Him, but you, hear Him; He is the Lord and Master, they are companions in servitude. Moses and Elias speak of Christ; they are your fellow servants; He is the Lord; hear Him. Do not render the same honor to fellow servants as to the Lord and Master. Hear only the Son of God.”

For this week spend some time in prayer asking for guidance to help you lift the veil from those you know. How can the Holy Spirit work through you? Who does He want you to help to lift the veil from their eyes to see the only hope and promise in the world? Jesus Christ, God the Son and our Savior. The Holy Spirit has lifted the veil from we who are baptized and born again in Jesus.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

[1] http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159

[2] Dr David Lewis  “Concordia Journal/Winter 2015) pp 60-61

Christian creeds, what we really vow to truly believe before God

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I did a post yesterday based on an article in Leadership Magazine about “Evangelcial Christian” churches who just dispense with Christian worship. They call it worship but is it? When you don’t even do the basics of Christian worship? Please feel free to check it out and let’s talk.

In the meantime, in my other reading I’m reading a book titled “The Catholicity of the Reformation”. That Dr Martin Luther really had no issue with Roman Catholic worship the liturgy, for the most part. What he had a problem with was the doctrine and traditions that had grown up in the church.

The book by Carl E Braaten and Robert W. Jenson discusses how much even liturgical churches have slid into American Evanglical Chritianity, as it were. It’s a regular issue in the Lutheran Church that some pastor is making worship too Catholic. I know what that means, but I don’t think the person(s) saying it really knows what it means. If worship is getting liturgical, that’s not a problem in the Lutheran church. Luther never proscribed the liturgy, he frankly encouraged it. But the American Lutheran Church has become so affected by American evangelicalism that it really has lost its identity. The liturgy in the Lutheran Church faithfully lifts up Scripture and true worship. It is what we should be doing and not getting into what was frontier/camp meeting “worship” led by, often, self- appointed “preachers”. Generally there were too many preachers that were uneducated, didn’t really understand the Bible, doctrine and the purpose of actual worship. They made a bunch of nice-sounding noises and played to the crowd, but did little real teaching and no one really knew to keep them accountable. Hence, today, we have all sorts of nice sounding stuff, that has little with actual Christian worship. Oh, I can hear it now,  “yada, yada, that’s your opinion, we can do what we want, yada, yada” which only illuminates the speakers lack of understanding of Christian worship.

One thing that particularly caused me agita (although I don’t think I can ever get over the idea that a “Christian” church doesn’t included the Lord’s prayer in worship!!!), was the lack of a creed, confession. In this day and age when all sorts of organizations, from Fortune 500 companies, huge government agencies, down to the smallest organizations, are told to develop mission statements and mottoes, to think that the Christian church shouldn’t be likewise focused is just stunning!

Braaten and Jensen write: ” The function of the creeds and confessions is to provide standards by which the church can judge and condemn false teaching contrary to the gospel.” (p 59) Would any knowledgeable Christian disagree with that? Really, how could you disagree? They go on to point out: ” …heresy has become virtually outmoded in the modern church…” Would any of the same people disagree with that? No! Yea, guess I’m going to be a little catty here, but when we join together as the Body of Christ and recite a creed (Apostles, Nicene, Athanasian) we are making a vow, before God, in terms of what we genuinely believe. So my catty comment is; Why don’t so many churches (many flat-line, uhmmm, I mean main-line) say the creeds? Because they know their teachings are false, and they’re at least smart enough to not offend God any further, by making false promises. Do I give them credit for at least a little integrity?

The writers go on to say: “…the enlightenment brought the age of tolerance in which the rules that set limits to heresy were overthrown. Orthodoxy was put on the defensive. Heresy become a matter of religious freedom and human rights. The threat of heresy to personal salvation that prevailed in the ancient church was annulled…Dissent was permitted so long as it did not break the unity of the church. Not heresy but schism became the more serious concern. To prevent heresy from leading to schism, the churches today, maintaining their organization unity at almost all costs, have taken to promoting inclusivity and diversity at the expense of revealed truth and biblical morality, pushing back the limits to heresy, to the point where people are ‘tossed to and fro and blown by every wind of doctrine’ (Eph 4:14)

I know, maybe another cheap shot, but certainly Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill comes to mind. But certainly so many other “Christian churches” who become much more  about other things. The Mormon Church is much more about big business. Churches that are all about their pastor, their building, their… You name it. But are just not about real Christian doctrine. Why don’t they want to get into creeds, because genuine Christian worship is just not what they’re about.

Yea, I’ve singled some out, but this is so widespread that the actual orthodox Christian churches are the ones that are perceived as odd-ball and the rest of the churches are seen as “real” Christian churches. The result of that is a cynical perception of the church by the general population. If the big churches really don’t teach Christianity, and they must be representative because they have all the money and people. Well then the church is actually just a feel-good-rah-rah operation. To most people that translates into phoney and I’m certainly not going to disagree. But for those churches that are genuinely Christian, who do lift up the creeds, who do the things in worship that do turn us to God, who do lift up Jesus as the atonement of our sins and the Lord of our salvation, solely because of His works, they are lumped in with the phoney. That is not a desirable result for any church, or believer.

Maybe those “churches” and all who claim to be true Christian churches might start getting on track and we might be able to all make a true witness to the rest of the world of genuine Christianity, to our Savior Jesus Christ, by making it regular practice to profess a genuine/historical creed (Apostles, Nicaean, Athanasian) Come on, really impress everyone and take time once per month to do the Athanasian Creed. Look it up.