April 2009

            Every Christian eagerly anticipates the great celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death in the resurrection.  We commonly call this event Easter, but I prefer to call it Resurrection Day.  It is more accurate and it avoids confusion with pagan mythology and secular bunnies.  This singular event is the heart of our faith. It is what makes our hope possible. Jesus conquered sin by shedding His blood for me. Gratitude overwhelms me as I realize that He died not for Himself but for me. I will praise the Lord for His amazing grace.

            I want to reflect upon another aspect of this awesome gift of grace. It is the gift of the second chance. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ^RSV  tells us “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” We, in essence, get to start over again with a clean slate. All the mistakes and failures of the past are washed away in Christ’s blood. I realize that there may be physical consequences to my former life and these carry over, however, in God’s sight I am made new, clean and acceptable. To my way of thinking, this is truly remarkable. God forgives and forgets my selfishness, my rebelliousness and my lack of love. There is nothing which separates me from intimacy with Him. I get a second chance.

            So often our lives are burdened with guilt. We know that we have not lived up to our own expectations, never mind those of God. We are failures plain and simple. In the flesh, we try to mask our guilt with toys, pride and a host of addictions. As hard as we try, we can never quite shake the nagging reality that we are failures. It does not matter how primitive our ethical system may be, we never live up to it. We cut corners, take short cuts and make excuses. When we evaluate our lives with any degree of honesty, we must admit we are failures. Maybe we are rich, powerful, and prestigious failures, but we are still failures. Whatever the code we chose to live by, we failed to honor. Guilt is the natural result of this failure. The question then becomes, how do I assuage my guilt?

            Good news! In Christ we are new creations, the old has passed away and we get a new start. Guilt is no more because there is no basis for our conviction regarding failure. What a truly liberating understanding Jesus’ resurrection represents. So are we living in this victory?

            Today are we living as those set free from sin’s power, from the guilt of personal failure and from the depression of our inability to rectify the problems ourselves? If not, we need to approach Resurrection Day with a new intensity. We need to ask our Heavenly Father to open our hearts and minds to understand the victory Jesus offers us. We need to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, inviting Him to lead us as He sees fit. The path requires willingly letting go of everything that hinders our obedience in following Him. This is the Christian life, receiving a second chance, being made alive in Christ, and following faithfully as His disciple. He will lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The path of righteousness is the path of ultimate joy, excitement and love.

            Having received this second chance, are we committed to making the most of it? Remember the Irreducible Core parameters? Are you will to commit to loving God, loving others and as you go, making disciples? Yes, I realize that this sounds simplistic. That is why it is stated thus, so that it is easy to remember. The challenge is living these parameters every day. The commitment to loving God means giving Him my all in every way. I gladly give Him my time, my talents and my treasures. I withhold nothing that He needs for the advancement of His purpose. The commitment to loving others means acting toward brothers and sisters, neighbors and enemies as Christ would. Treating everyone I come in contact with as Jesus would.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are all necessary attributes of those who follow Jesus. They ought to shine forth continuously from our hearts in every situation. Lastly, we come the commitment to making disciples as we go along life’s journey. In essence, we are to invite others to share what Jesus has done in us. We are to exhibit, invite, teach, and encourage others to follow Jesus with us.

            If we actually love God, love others and make disciples as we go, we will honor God’s purpose for us and we will be useful stewards of His grace.

            The Day of Resurrection stands before us as the glorious revelation of our Father’s love. Are you prepared to share this great celebration? Are you prepared to make the most of your second chance? Please, Lord, make it so in each of us.

March 2009

  The season of Lent has been observed by the Christian Church as a time of preparation for the great Passion and Resurrection event. Christians have used this time by intentionally setting aside the ordinary events of life to focus, reflect and mediate upon God’s gracious, loving, redemption in Christ Jesus. God’s Word commands us to examine ourselves so that we discern the Word and works of the Lord.  Self denial was designed to allow us the time and attention of careful self examination. The root question is, am I living a life that honors Jesus Christ. Put another way, we ask, do my attitudes, beliefs, values, words, and deeds reflect Christ in me? Careful and rigorous self examination allows us to remember and celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death for us at the day of Resurrection. It empowers us to live in real and authentic hope.
    This particular season of Lent is important because we are living in days of great despair and fear. I do not subscribe to the thesis that these are the worst ever, however, I do believe that the Church is today confronted with a marvelous opportunity to shine for Christ. Wealth, prosperity and possessions are the great idols of our modern American culture. We worship “mammon” with a powerful and pervasive intensity. We are now confronted with the truth that earthly goods fade, rust and spoil with amazing speed. Truly the gods of this world (mammon) are idols. They have no life in them. They can not impart life to their followers. How will the Church respond to this challenge?
    We could follow the lead and retreat. We can fall into the trap of hopelessness and despair. We can retreat into believing that God has failed and there is no future. As I survey our culture it seems a popular strategy to “hunker down,” hold fast, and risk nothing.
    Another avenue is hero worship. We can fall into the trap of believing that President Obama and the federal government will save us. We can look to the institutions of humanity for answers and solutions. Simply wait until the stimulus package takes effect and our idols will again ascend to be worshiped.
    We could (and I would add should) follow the advice of Scripture in  2 Chronicles 7:14 (RSV)  “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” How remarkable that our Lord has already provided a means of escape for His people. The question is will we avail ourselves of this opportunity?
    What stops us from humbling ourselves and seeking His face? I can not answer for you individually, but let me suggest some possibilities that I have observed over the years. First is the cancer of anger. You are angry at God, the church, the pastor, the elders, the deacons, the Sunday School teachers, the organist, the music director, the choir, the secretary, the custodian, the librarian and the person who sat next to you the last time you were in service. Who ever it was they offended, disappointed, and insulted, so you are angry. Let me quote Bob Newhart, from a skit he did on television involving counseling session with a young woman,“stop it” Stop it means let it go, forget it, or give it to Jesus. Most of what we are angry about is infantile and unbecoming. If we grow up into Christ we can let go of every weight that hinders us.
    Second is the silent killer of apathy. By the way, the opposite of love is not hate it is apathy. When we are apathetic toward God and those He loves, we violate the greatest commandment to love God with all our heart. When you do not intentionally take an active part in advancing God’s purpose in the world you are apathetic. Let me create some guidelines for understanding apathy, do you regularly and systematically engage in prayer, Bible reading, attending services, teaching your children the principles of the Christian faith and talking of Jesus and His love with those you come in contact with? If you don’t do all these things, look out, you are apathetic. You can not love God and be apathetic.
    The third stumbling block is inadvertence or accidental living. It involves living without a God centered and God honoring plan. The world throws so much information and choices at us each day that we become overwhelmed with the volume. The great lack of our day is not information but an effective system for interpreting and applying the information available. We have to decide to live purposefully or we will be swept away by fads, bytes and passing fancy. However, it is very difficult resisting the pressures of peers. Difficult does not mean impossible it means that it requires effort.
    Here is my prayer for me and you and all of the Church of Jesus Christ, “Lord, give me the grace and will to humble myself, and pray and seek your face, and turn from my wicked ways, so that you will hear from heaven, and will forgive our sin and heal our land.”