1 John 2:1-6 (NIV) 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
They gathered there in the stained glass chapel, the final meeting of a group of people from all walks of life. The stain glass depicted various cultural and religious forms, from Jesus to Buddha, to the prophet Muhammad…they gathered there and reflected, realizing they were dead and they would enter eternity together as the lost members of Oceanic flight 815.
I absolutely love the show ‘LOST’, I enjoyed the plots, the characters and the notion of being stranded on this amazing deserted island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. It kept me coming back for more until…This series finale of the show ‘LOST’ which left me with a bitter taste and heavy heart. Still to this day I look back at this finale and shake my head, ask myself “did I understand that right?”…I tell myself they ended the show poorly…an amazing journey only to end in some cosmic universalistic afterlife experience which pleases everyone from every religiosity yet offers no consequence or judgement upon evil and wrongs…I recognize redemption and acknowledge the plight of man, but this finale truly bothered me. It bothers me still to this very day because there’s a lie involved within the premise of the final show and I don’t buy the lie!
The lie is “All roads lead to heaven”…this lie is so immersed in our culture today that many blindly accept it without looking deeper. It’s an attempt to be all inclusive and yet muddies the waters of morality, ethics and theology. I don’t buy the lie because I’ve read the words of Jesus when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus said I am THE WAY, not one of the ways, or just another path to the Father.
Do I believe that Jesus is THE WAY? You bet I do! I believe that there is only one path to God and Hindu, Islam, Buddhism or any other ‘ism’ aren’t paths leading to God. Our Creator and loving Father wants us to accept Him and that of His one and only Son Jesus who is the only way to the Father.
One day we will see Him and all will know the truth of Christ’s words. Don’t buy the lie and get ‘Lost’. Just a thought for today.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David…Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near…You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:1-3,6,12)
What do you do when you are invited to a party? You send the RSVP or call in your RSVP and you confirm (if schedule allows) that you will attend. Your response is required so that the party host will know who will attend and how many to plan for. It’s not only polite to return your RSVP, it is an important response and action on your part…in essence you are saying “I will be there!”
In the above passage of Isaiah, the invitations for forgiveness have been sent out by God. He wants to make what was broken whole again. The prophecy of Messiah (Jesus) is evident in two key verses two chapters back:
Isaiah 52:13 “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” &
Isaiah 53:12 “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Forgiveness is at hand, the RSVP has been hand delivered to all of us, and the Host of this Redemptive party is awaiting our response. The most telling portion of chapter 55 in Isaiah is verse 6…it says “Seek the Lord while he may be found...” It is a frightening proposition here because He seems to be saying to us, ‘make up your minds while you can.’ The implication is that our RSVP has an expiration date and we ought not postpone our response.
Forgiveness and redemption is ours, the Host of Heaven stands at the front door inviting us in…what will your response be? Either we enter and accept His love and forgiveness or we don’t because soon that door will be closed…soon we will all be standing before Him, and in contrast, probably the most frightening passage in all of scripture is Matthew 25:31-46 when Jesus himself states clearly that the day is coming when the King will separate the sheep from goats and He will say to the goats (those who have not accepted His invitation to forgiveness and redemption) “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” (Matthew 25:41)
We have this contrast of those who will accept the invitation and those who will not. Yet there is hope…there is time, but if you haven’t accepted the invitation, don’t let this time slip away. Redemption draws near, your RSVP is requested…what will your answer be?
“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” -Philippians 2:1,2
What does ‘being like minded’ mean? I’m a science fiction geek I freely admit it! And I recall the old Star Trek Next Generation when the Enterprise faced off a number of times with the terrifying aliens called the ‘Borg’. The thing that stood them apart and made them so dangerous was that they were of one mind. They were all connected to the ‘collective’ and they would absorb and assimilate other cultures and worlds, thereby gaining knowledge and understanding. The Borg were terrifying and yet effective because of the ‘like-minded collective.
But truly, science fiction aside, what does being like-minded mean? Are we to be God’s “collective” here on Earth? Not for any evil purpose mind you, but for His Holy purpose? What does being like-minded mean? Especially when we see so many church splits, divisions and varying thoughts of ideology. How is it that what began as one body of believers coming together to worship, testify and make other disciples has ended up being many bodies and many sets of worship practices? Is this what Christ had in mind? If I were to take it a step further, if this wasn’t what Christ had in mind then did He make a mistake?
The answer to both of those questions is ‘NO’! His prayer ‘that they may all be one” (John 17:21) is still a prayer for us today. The problem with this earthly body of believers is that we have free will. When it comes to deciding and making our choices in worship and practice, we fall short of attaining this unity. Let’s be honest, church has in the past, present and most probably the future been run by those within the spectrum of human authority. Sure God has been present within churches, but not all decisions made by man have been God led or God honoring. It is safe to say that politics is alive and well within the Church. Both on the large and small scare this is true. From leadership selection to the color of the carpet in a chapel there is politics involved. I think Paul had experienced politics that was of selfish intent through various towns and cities when he went on to say in this same passage, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” -Philippians 2:3-4
Unfortunately the down side is that some, not all, leaders are bent to self and selfish motivations. It’s the nature of humanity that is not fully surrendered which becomes evident through the choices of man sugar coating it to be what God has intended. But I am confident that God can take that which man has marred, that which man has broken, that which man has truly messed up and turn it into something remarkable.
It’s not that I willingly place my faith and trust in leaders who lead this way, but rather in my submission to the Father in Heaven. So that when I say “Thy will be done” I really mean it even if I am subjugated to a system or to leaders who are fallible and often make decisions based politically rather than biblically.
Paul implores us all to serve selflessly rather than selfishly. When we can actually practice selflessness in word and in deed then being like-minded can actually occur within God’s body here on earth.
Confession time:
I too struggle with this in my life. There have been times when I have made decisions based on how it will impact me rather than others. Sometimes that full surrender isn’t made complete in me. It’s a daily thing that must take place, in which we force our selfishness back in the box, we kneel before the Father and give Him the box again and we allow His love to shine through us instead of the light of selfish intentions and moral failings.
I want to be a transformer in my world how about you? I want to be like-minded with others who are in the truth but this can’t be done if I’m looking out for me, myself and I. If we are to function and thrive as His ambassadors we have to stop playing church politics and the selfishness game and instead face the mission of Christ that He beckons us to.
“Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Make haste to help me, O Lord! Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life; Let them be turned back and confused who desire my hurt. Let them be turned back because of their shame…” -Psalm 70:1-3
Is there a storm brewing?
Do you have burdens?
Are you going through a storm right now?
How do we get through these situations? How do we overcome them, when possible? These are difficult questions and unfortunately there aren’t any easy answers here. But what I do know and what others know is that going through the storms and surviving requires a supernatural power to journey with us.
Cue Bob Marley and his song “Don’t Worry About a thing – three little birds.” We need to understand that when we are aligned with God’s will and his power that our burdens and our problems become His burdens and his problems. That makes it so much more clearer then when we read what Jesus said about our burdens and his burdens:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
What Jesus is essentially saying is that though burdens exist, though we face them, that if we allow him access to them and surrender them we will experience a lightening of our load and our worry. We were never meant to carry these things on our own.
Here are three prescriptions that will help us when we face and weather the storms of life. If we adhere to these prescriptions we will survive and even thrive!
1) Prayer!
Don’t think for a minute that prayer is a last resort or that prayer is like casting out wishes into the universe and hoping that someone will hear you. It is not like being on a deserted island and throwing a message in a bottle out into the sea hoping someone will find it…no! Prayer is so much more powerful than that! Prayer isn’t just hoping someone will hear you utter some desperate words, prayer is knowing we aren’t alone and that God’s power is accessible through all of life’s situations and mysteriously and amazingly they transcend time and space. Meaning if there was one thing that could penetrate the science realm of space and time prayer is it. God doesn’t work the way we do via a linear approach, God is outside of time and space and will intercede and protect us even before we utter the prayers that keep us connected to him. When we pray, make sure it’s not just prayers in crisis…but pray to Him as a daily, even minute by minute conversation. As difficult as this may sound, communing and conversing with him can lift many a burden before the storms arrive. Do not underestimate prayer and its essential nature, nor its power.
2) Intercessory Prayer & the Fellowship of the Believers:
We are not alone in this world…so why do we continually think that we cannot share our burdens with other Christ followers in whom we trust? Do we fear ridicule? Do we fear being vulnerable before others? We need the body of Christ more than just in the storms of life, but we ought to recognize that if the early church and its Apostles needed support then who are we to assume that we do not need help? The fellowship of believers is vital to our continuation in the faith and another prescription by which we can weather the storms. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” It’s pretty clear isn’t it? We are in this together and so we should be there for one another through thick and thin. Do you have a home church? Do you trust other believers within your church to help you? If you don’t have a church or a fellowship in which you belong you are missing out on the amazing support and care that comes with the connected body of Christ.
3) Service
I know, it sounds strange. How can we serve when we are riding each ebb and flow of this present storm surge? The answer is faith. If we have this continued prayer conversation with our Lord, and we have or are continually surrendering our burdens to him in the midst of the storm then what service does is put feet to our faith. What we are essentially saying is that despite the storms we will serve the Lord. We can’t stay stuck or static in the process of the tumult. We have to get on with it and serve him the best that we can. Service in the storm is two fold: a) We let his praises be glorified despite our circumstances and we acknowledge that it’s not about us but it’s about him. b) We will be so immersed in serving God that there will be times that we will forget about our present storms. This isn’t to say that they will go away if we ignore them, but rather when we are serving him, we are fulfilling the Lord’s prayer when we say the words ‘your will be done’…we are living it in this manner.
These are just three prescriptions to help us amidst the storms of life. There might be more helps along the journey, but these are central to our victories through the power of the storm tamer – Jesus Christ.
Here’s to survival and to thriving in the midst of our burdens and storms:
2 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in (victory) triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
It is morning again and I find that my head is full of stuffing…its no fun waking up still groggy and head thumping away. As I pour my first cup of thick black coffee I try to breathe deeply its fragrance, the earthy spell that weaves itself around me and knocks insistently at my still slumbering conscience with its wisps of spiraling steam and faint offering to the coffee gods.
I am the slumbering zombie today, eyes vacant staring out into nowhere, slumping awkwardly in a chair trying to bring the coffee from hand to mouth…quick get the IV drip ready full of this coffee stuff because I fear I won’t make it to noon. With far too much to do today and with my fuel of self and motivation running low…help?!
Perhaps you have been where I am…I can’t seem to move faster than the speed of slow. If I don’t post here later today…wait until tomorrow. 🙂
2 Timothy 1:5-8 (NIV) 5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
I hope I didn’t offend you…not my purpose. My purpose in my title is to ask which do we prefer Eternity in Heaven or Eternity in Hell. My choice? Hell? NO! Heaven? Yes! From this perspective I will not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I know in whom I have placed my trust and I will not back down from that!
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to remind him to carry on the mission of Christ…to fan it into flame to ignite others and to never be ashamed of the Lord. I can imagine the early Christians facing all kinds of ridicule, mockery, imprisonment and death…Paul’s words go beyond basic embarrassment or shame it picks at the very heart of being a Christian. We are to be in essence gate keepers of heaven…guides if you will to the one who holds the keys of heaven and eternal life – Christ himself.
When we shy away from this role, when we passively allow injustices to occur and we look the other way because we’re afraid to get involved or how it will look we may as well be gate keepers of hell. I know that sounds pretty harsh but we have to stand for something or else we’ll fall for anything or allow anything to go in this life. And if we’re wise in our understanding of scripture we ought to acknowledge that scripture certainly doesn’t endorse an ‘anything goes’ notion in this life.
Timothy took up the gauntlet from the Apostle Paul. He did continue in spreading the word of Christ to all the world. He was a pivotal early church leader.
In our lives are we ashamed of Christ? Are we afraid to share our faith of Him to those we meet? I’m not talking about handing out “Get Saved Or Else” pamphlets here. I’m talking about developing trusting relationships with people so that when you present the gospel you are making a lasting impact on them. Being unashamed is a part of the role of a Christian. We can’t do this in our own strength however. We need the strength and power of the Holy Spirit to get it right and to be effective.
Ashamed? If we allow hell to prevail…I say Hell no! Stand up, be bold, be unashamed..and heaven Yes!
It’s been around for a while, but I think the significance of this four letter acronym should be explored. “You only live once” is what it tells us. What does it mean? People have used it as a hashtag signifying & justifying poor judgement and bad decisions with this excuse “you only live once”. There is even a ‘YOLO’ clothing line that has been started. We’ve gone from ‘Just Do It’ and ‘No Fear’ to ‘YOLO’. Hmm…it seems to me that what culture is telling us is that it’s okay to do what you want, when you want, where you want because you only live once.
I recognize that everyone makes mistakes in this life but if we don’t learn from them and acknowledge that we’ve made them we run the risk of never growing and maturing. As a Christian I don’t believe that I am going to live just once and then nothing, I believe that there is an eternity and that this life we live leads us to the next, and what we do here and now counts…it matters! So if I adopted ‘YOLO’ as my philosophy , what I’m saying essentially is that the only thing that matters in life is the ‘here and now’. The problem with that is that it doesn’t account for the consequences. For example if someone sleeps around aren’t they more likely to contract an STD than someone who waits until marriage? If someone starts smoking and burns through at least a pack a day aren’t they opening themselves up to a slew of medical problems down the road the worst being cancer and death? I could add so many more examples of choice = consequence here but these are just two examples.
YOLO isn’t really a new phrase, it’s just wrapped in new packaging. Some have taken scripture out of context as well when they quote passages like “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” Isaiah 22:13 (NIV) The meaning behind it has been eliminated and taken to mean ‘well what the heck, we can do what we want because we know we’re all going to die someday’.
I’m not too keen on living that way because I recognize that one day each person is going to have to account for the life that we’ve lived before the Father in heaven. That doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy life, on the contrary God has given us this life for enjoyment and pleasure but we ought to recognize that He also wants us to include Him in our lives. When we forget consequences and forget about the future, we lose focus on what is at stake.
One of my favorite bible verses is a good guide for each of us in how we ought to live. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV) If we are walking humbly with our God we will enjoy this life so much more than the emptiness of comes knocking on our doors after we have lived it up and gone down roads that we now regret.
On the plus side, perhaps there is merit to ‘YOLO’…perhaps you can take this phrase to mean ‘hey you only live once in flesh and bone so make it count, do what you can to live a godly life and glorify the Lord in your living’! I think if I were to embrace YOLO that is what I would take it to mean. Will I make it count? Can I live a God pleasing life? Can I help lead others to Him along the way? ‘YOLO’!
Pastor's Ponderings 