God's Encouragement

Luke 9:28-36

We were talking with a young person this past week and the subject of this year’s presidential election came up. She was equally glum about all the presidential candidates in both parties. “It doesn’t matter who we vote for,” she told us. “Nothing will ever get better again.”

I have to say that I share that young person’s assessment of whether the election of any person would significantly change our world for the better. 

Only a spiritual renewal will cause us to act differently toward one another. 

Only massive numbers of people coming to be disciples and to live as disciples of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, massive numbers of people daily repenting and daily believing in Christ, can move us out of what some are calling degenerative discouragement syndrome. 

It was discouragement to which that young person gave voice. 

And she isn’t alone, though some try, on their own, to make the best of it. Like people who say, “The world is going to hell. But I’m going to get what I can for me and my family.” 

Not, “The world is going to hell and I’m going to share Christ with whoever I can.” 

Not, “The world is bad, so I’m going to love my family and forgive those who sin against me.” 

Not, “I’m going to pray that God’s kingdom will come.” 

No, these people think, “Things are bad and I’m going to get as much good as I can, other people be hanged. Then I'll die."

The followers of Jesus Christ had observed many epiphanies--many manifestations of His power and Lordship--over the course of His ministry. 

Because of them, they were pinning their hopes for a better world on Jesus. 

For five hundred years, God’s people--the Jews--had suffered from a kind of degenerative discouragement syndrome. It had been that long since God had spoken through the prophets, through whom God had promised a Messiah, a Christ, an anointed King. 

Through those centuries, they endured injustice, foreign domination, and the enslavement of a grace-less religion. 

Many had given up hope that God would ever act. 

But now, as Jesus preached, taught, healed, raised the dead, and cast out demons, the veil of despair began to lift. Was God’s kingdom close at hand, after all? Was Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, God’s anointed king, come to make things right?

Eight days before the events recounted in this morning’s Gospel lesson, one disciple, the apostle Peter, was moved by the Holy Spirit to claim Jesus as “God’s Messiah.” [Luke 9:20] 

According to Luke, Jesus silently acceded to Peter’s confession, charged the disciples to say nothing to anyone because first, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” [Luke 9:22]

At that, the disciples must have felt that the small embers of hope just being brought to flame by Jesus were being doused by His cold wet blanket. 

Popular thought said that the Messiah--the Christ--would conquer foreign foes and ensure an era of financial prosperity. (The very things we expect of presidents, by the way.) The Christ, they thought, would govern justly and everyone would live happily ever after.

But Jesus understood that the people of His homeland--the people of the world, including you and me--are oppressed by much more than foreign threats or economic challenges, more than poverty or terrorism. All of those ills and many more come from a deeper human problem, the problem that Jesus came to conquer. The problem is sin, humanity’s inborn alienation from God, and death, the common enemy of every human being, that springs from death.

Jesus was telling Peter: “You’re right. I am the Messiah. And this is what the Messiah does. He bears the weight of Your sin and death on the cross, taking the punishment you deserve, so that if you repent and believe in Me, you will have eternal life in the kingdom of God.” 

The kingdom of God exists for all eternity, starting here in the hearts and wills of people who follow Jesus. Being a member of this kingdom today won’t erase the sins or tragedies of this fallen world. It’s still poisoned by sin and death. 

But being a member of this kingdom today will give us the faith and courage to live the Christian life: to love God, to love neighbor, to serve others with no expectation of return payment, to call others to follow Jesus with no expectation that they will say yes, to pray in Jesus’ name for those we love and for those who hate us. 

When the risen Jesus lives in us by faith, we can take a world going to hell in our arms and love it with the love of Christ. 

When you know that the story ends beyond the gates of death with eternal life with God, it changes how you do today!

But when you’ve lived for five centuries with degenerative discouragement and you’re told that your favorite myth about the Messiah is false, that the Messiah is going to suffer rejection and execution, that He will conquer your enemies by death and not warfare before He rises from the dead, you need encouragement. 

And so, our lesson tells us that God the Father supplied it! 

Verse 28: “About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. [God always shows up when we pray! Even if we’re discouraged, even if we can't sense Him coming close to us when we call Him. God will show up for us when we pray!] As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. [Already, this should be reminding us of the time in Exodus 24, when, centuries before, Moses took Joshua up to a mountaintop with him as he received God’s Law. When people looked at Moses, they saw the bright light of God on his face. Now back on this mountain with Jesus,] Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. [The word translated as departure here is literally exodus. Jesus is leading people who repent and believe in Him out of the wilderness of sin and death into the promised land of forgiven sin and new and eternal life.] Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.”

What a sight it must have been for the discouraged eyes of Peter, John, and James! The holiness, grandeur, and light of God emanating from every pore of Jesus’ earthly body. The lawgiver Moses, centuries dead, and Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet, carried away by a chariot of fire centuries earlier, there to affirm that Jesus was the Messiah to Whom the Law and the Prophets and the Writings of the Old Testament all pointed. 

God was assuring the three disciples (and us) that despite the cross that awaited Jesus--that awaits who follow Him, He was still God and that the Messiah, after claiming His throne, would reign eternally over all who endure in believing in Him.

Verse 33: “As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters (The word in the Greek in which Luke wrote his Gospel is skene, literally meaning tabernacle or tent, also resonating of the Old Testament's account of God's people during their exodus from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land.)—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what he was saying.) While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone.”

Peter wanted to capture the moment, as though you could possibly capture the majesty and mystery of God in a tent, a booth, a tabernacle, a church, a cathedral, or a universe. God, who Peter was looking at in Jesus, is bigger than all the boxes we try to put Him in. 

Besides that, Peter seems to think that Moses and Elijah were on an equal footing with Jesus. Just so Peter doesn’t misunderstand, God the Father envelops the whole group in a cloud, like the pillar of a cloud through which He led ancient Israel through the wilderness, and then says unequivocally: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.” At that, the three disciples found themselves with Jesus alone. 

What was God telling Peter and the other two (and us)? Simply this: “This is all you have been looking for. This is the one to whom Moses and Elijah were pointing. This is your king, God in the flesh. This is your wandering hearts' true desire!” 

Jesus was and is the Messiah toward whom all of human history had been moving. 

As the book of Hebrews puts it in a passage I mentioned a few Sundays ago: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” [Hebrews 1:1-2]

For people discouraged by life, the events of the first Transfiguration Sunday give hope. 

They must have helped Peter, John, and James and the disciples they led through the pain of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. “Yes,” they could have said, “Jesus has died, but we saw Him on the mountaintop. We know that He is God. But hold on. Hold on!” 

And when they saw the risen Jesus, the Holy Spirit would help them to put the pieces of the mystery together. They would understand that the sinless Messiah had to die so that when He rose, He could claim us not for a kingdom that lasts for a few fleeting years, not a kingdom that may give us material prosperity and personal security before we die in our sins, but an everlasting kingdom filled with the righteousness and peace and presence and love of God. 

Take courage in the midst of this world’s darkness, hold on tightly to Jesus, because “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” [Matthew 24:13] That’s the promise of Jesus’ transfiguration!

[This was shared today during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]

Bob Howsam's Connection to the Broncos

I never knew this about the architect of the Big Red Machine, arguably the best team in National League history.

I'm thinking Pharma doesn't want this guy as their public face

Contempt for sick people.

Contempt for less than wealthy people.

Obvious contempt for those he thinks beneath him.

Contempt for the Congress.

Contempt for justice.

Contempt for the human race.

It's disturbing. Praying for Martin Shkreli and praying that, until he can develop something like respect for his fellow human beings, he doesn't have access to power of any kind.

There's evidently more betting on Super Bowl teams...

...than there is praying for them.

'23 People Who Became Successful After Age 40'

Fun.

'Confessions of a recovering lesbian'

I invite you to read this with an open mind.

'About that mom [or dad] who's not bragging about her [his] kid'

Nancy Wolf explains why some parents, while proud of their kids, remain silent while other parents tout their children's latest accomplishments. She gives great advice at the end of the piece.

What 1915 Armenian Genocide by Turkey Teaches Us Today

Here. Very interesting.

'Why I Gave in to Barbie, Even Before Her Size Change'

We knew a man who worked for a major toy manufacturer. He hated Barbie. No matter how much research or work they put into their own versions of the 57-year old staple of the world toy market, Barbie always won.

Barbie hasn't been winning lately. Her whiteness and impossible measurements are blamed for aiding and abetting a culture that objectifies and idealizes white women, while discouraging them from using their minds or athleticism.

Many parents have been avoiding buying Barbies for years, meaning that lately, she hasn't been the market queen who bedeviled our friend.

That's why Mattel has recently unveiled, modestly more physically realistic versions of Barbie.

But Laura Goetsch writes that after she and her husband refused to give Barbies to their daughters, their opinion about the doll changed. It started with a gift given to one of their girls at a birthday party.

We threw her a butterfly-themed party, and one guest brought a present to match: a Barbie with extendable orange, pink, and black wings, like a monarch butterfly. This thoughtful neighbor, having recently arrived in the US, was likely unaware of our American angst over Barbie, and she clearly did not share it. She simply chose a toy that a little girl who was into butterflies would love. There was no question that we would embrace this thoughtful gift with gratitude and gladness.

The Barbie was embraced. But within a context of other messages, conversations, and examples for the the daughters.

I could have tried to quash my kids’ love of this svelte fashionista, but I chose not to. To express disdain for Barbie risks communicating to my daughters that their interests are frivolous, their delights are wrong. I won’t do this. At heart, is love of fashion and design not love of beauty? I believe that God himself planted this love of beauty, color, and texture in us.  

Playing house with dolls is a way to explore our own world. This is no less true when the doll’s proportions are unrealistic and her clothes a bit tight. If there had been another line of toys that I could have easily found secondhand with as many interesting accessories, I would have bought those. Instead, we have allowed our girls to relish the endless creative opportunities Barbie offers despite her downfalls.  

Like most American moms, I worry about my girls’ body images. I want them to view women as strong, wise, and gifted by God. In a society flooded with airbrushed pictures, no woman is immune from self-doubt and confusion. I wish that for the next 20 years I could hide all the commercials, billboards, and celebrity photos. I would love to create a world in which my kids only saw real women with realistic bodies.  

I’m grateful that the newly shaped Barbies help us take a step toward that world, but it’s only a tiny step and will likely make little impact on girls who learn early our cultural preference for skinny bodies. When I was wrestling a few years ago with whether to let my kids play with Barbie, I realized that to eliminate her would simply be to remove one trickle from a fire hose….at the cost of my kids’ favorite way to play and create. I decided that it was more important to foster their gifts and interests than to assuage my uneasy conscience (a conscience that on this issue was perhaps more informed by society's expectations of me as an educated Christian woman than by the Holy Spirit).
This is not to say that I am off the hook. My husband and I must still ask, how will we build up our daughters in truth and strength? How will we give them God’s vision for women? We’ll start off by ensuring that Barbie is not the only female figure they know and admire.  

We surround them with godly, brave, gifted women. We read biographies of Corrie Ten Boom and Harriet Tubman. We play soccer, practice math, and make art. We call them to love God with their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. We push them to love their neighbors as themselves. And yes, we discuss their Barbies’ absurd proportions. 

We talk of building sharp minds and strong bodies, soft hearts and deep souls. We cheer their ingenuity. We root them in a rich faith community. We play with Legos and with light sabers. We laugh and delight in what delights them. We tell the stories of Scripture. We trust that God is using their creative play with Barbie to develop their unique gifts.

In my years as a pastor and a parent, I've found that it's possible for parents to discuss anything with their kids, so long as you love and support them. Girls will even accept your criticisms of Barbie's impossible body, her obsession with beauty, and her dependence on a man for validation, if they know that you love them and when you teach them that God has gifted them to use their minds and that adhering to a false image of womanhood is both destructive and unnecessary. Read the whole thing, please.

Sign Her Up!

This is fun! Good on Billy Hamilton.

"Discrimination against people should be unlawful, but not against ideas."

Here.

It's true to say, as the writer claims, that Jesus never specifically condemned the practice of homosexuality.

It's also true that Jesus claimed to have come to not to abrogate God's moral law, as revealed in the Ten Commandments, but to fulfill it.

It's also true to say that every statement Jesus made about marriage was predicated on the premise that marriage is a covenant under God between a man and a woman.

(HT: Ann Althouse)

"Thrilling is fine. Mattering is more important."

He mostly writes about business, but this short post by Seth Godin is about life.

Jordan River Baptism Creates International "Incident"

Love this.

Are first-borns smarter?

I always told my siblings I was smarter than them. The study mentioned here claims it's possibly true, that there's a 1.5-point decline in IQ with succeeding each child in a family. In honesty though, I told my daughter, who sent the link for this article to me earlier today, that I'm skeptical of the findings. (By the way, she sent the link to me because she found the article "funny." She's the second child.)

NY to London in 15 Minutes

Wish I could book my flight now! (HT to my son, who linked to this piece over on Facebook.)

The Authority to Change Eternity

[This was shared with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, yesterday, January 31.]

[You can listen to the message by clicking here.]

Luke 4:31-44

At first, today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 4:31-44, may seem like a hodgepodge narrative of two days in Jesus’ earthly ministry. But the incidents recounted here are really linked by two strong themes.They’re important for us to remember.

The first theme is authority.

The lesson takes place in the Galilean town of Capernaum. Jesus is preaching in the synagogue and Luke tells us that, as Jesus does so, the people “were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.”

Many people try to speak with authority. In this presidential election year, we see that a lot. But when Jesus taught and preached, it was unlike anything the people had heard.

In Jesus, whether people knew it or not, they heard the voice of the One Who had once said, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” That’s authority! 

Later in the passage, a man disrupted Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue. The man was filled with a demon.

We need to stop here for a second because as post-moderns, we may be skeptical about the existence of demons. I don’t share this skepticism about the existence of demonic forces in our world, though.

A few years ago, our son Philip went with his now-wife on a mission trip to Haiti. One day, Philip’s young translator took Phil on a tour of the town close to the school where they were working and later, the translator took Phil to his own home. Near the end of their visit, the translator introduced Philip to his sister. Phil shook her hand and felt that the sister was there, but not quite. Her eyes had a strange look. After they left her, the translator turned to Phil and said, “She has a demon.” Philip knew it was true.

In a culture like ours that has come to doubt the existence of Satan (which suits Satan just fine; he doesn’t want you to think he exists), the forces of hell and the demonic operate more subtly. Satan, the serpent of the garden who was described by Genesis as the most subtle or crafty of creatures, is a master marketer. He understands exactly what is most likely to drive people away from God in any given culture.

In first-century Judea, as in twenty-first century Haiti, one marketing ploy that Satan commonly used to frighten them into thinking that the devil was more powerful than God and that God couldn’t help them was (and is) demonic possession.

But even in the face of demonic possession of a human being, Jesus is authoritative. Verse 35: “‘Be quiet!’ Jesus said sternly [to the demon]. ‘Come out of him!’ Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, ‘What words these are! With authority [there’s that word again] and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!’”

Whatever evil afflicts you, whatever temptation dogs you today, whatever sin has overtaken you, Jesus can have conquering authority over it, if you will let Him.

Not long ago, I was talking with a man who told me that over the course of several years, there had been a steady, almost imperceptible decline in his faith life and his character. He was still in worship. But he didn’t pray very often. And he found himself toying with temptations and sins he never would have previously considered. In the process, he became more cynical, more critical of others, less patient, more selfish.

The horrifying thing is that he was enjoying it. His increasing slavery to sin felt like freedom to him. This is how sin and the devil can mess up our thinking!

Fortunately, the man still did occasionally feel prompted to pray. (Remember that our prayers are always responses to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We wouldn't know or feel drawn to pray otherwise!)

One day he was praying. In the middle of giving God a laundry list of things he wanted in his life, he stopped cold.

“I was walking into my living room,” he told me, “when suddenly, there were tears in my eyes. I felt totally convicted by God for how I was living. I called out to God, ‘I don’t want to be far from You, Lord. Help me to be a man of God again!’”

That man gave me permission to tell his story so that you will know that there are more subtle ways of becoming demon-possessed than the way recounted in today’s Gospel lesson.

The God we know in Jesus Christ will never force Himself on you; God only goes where He’s invited.

And when almost imperceptibly, we walk away from God--neglecting worship, the study of God’s Word, prayer, receiving the sacraments, or caring for or serving our neighbor--we create vacancies in our souls that become footholds for sin, darkness, and the devil.

When that man came to God in Jesus’ name, even though he prayed selfishly, he was actually inviting Jesus back into his life. For the first time in a while, this man felt truly free of the sins that were destroying his character, his relationships, his self-esteem. Jesus has the authority to do this in all of our lives.

Jesus speaks the Word of God with authority. Jesus also speaks with authority to defeat Satan. But that’s not the end of the authority theme in our lesson.

Starting at verse 38, Jesus enters the home of Simon, the apostle Jesus would rename Peter. There, he found that Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a fever.

This was no demonic invasion. This was physical illness. Illness is another manifestation of evil in our fallen world, but most physical illnesses don’t come to us because, like the man I just mentioned, we’ve sinned. People get the mumps or chickenpox or cancer usually simply because illness happens in a fallen world. Physical illness is a consequence of living in an imperfect world. One day, those who entrust their lives to Jesus Christ will live in an eternity beyond the reach of illness. But this isn’t heaven.

Yet in Jesus, heaven comes to this world, as it did that day in Simon’s house. Verse 38: “...Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.”

In His own authority, Jesus signified the power He ultimately will wield over our common human enemies--sin, death, darkness--by restoring the health of Simon’s mother-in-law.

Jesus still conquers illness today.

Great doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals know this.

In hospitals here in Dayton, I have experienced more than in any other place I’ve served, doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists who join patients, families, and me in praying before surgical procedures.

When competent, trained medical professionals also pray in Christ’s name for their patients, those patients can great confidence that they are in God’s hands as He guides human hands.

After healing Simon’s mother-in-law, Luke says that Jesus brought healing and deliverance to many more in Capernaum.

Early the next day, He went off to a quiet place. Crowds found him and tried to convince Him to stay. But in verse 43, Jesus says: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

And this is the second important theme of today’s Gospel lesson. The preaching of Jesus, the exorcisms He performed, the healing He brought, and everything Jesus did that day in Capernaum and everything He did while on earth, were really about one thing: To bring the good news of new and everlasting life to all who dare to turn from sin and believe in Him. Every miraculous thing Jesus ever did was meant to be a sign pointing us to Him as the way, the truth, and the life, to Jesus as God the Son and Savior.Every person Jesus healed, brought back from the dead, or from whom he exorcised demons, had one thing in common. They all eventually died to life on this earth. Jesus exercised His authority in these ways not because life could ever be made perfect in this imperfect world, but to point to the good news that can change the person who believes for all eternity!

No doubt many in Capernaum wanted Jesus to stay because they saw Him as the cure for their earthly afflictions. We human beings are always more impressed by flashy, easy to observe, earthly things. You’ll remember that Jesus once sent His disciples out to replicate His ministry--to heal, to cast out demons, to preach and teach. They came back to Jesus excited about the authoritative signs that they’d performed in Jesus’ name. But Jesus told them, “...do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” [Luke 10:20] These are good words for us to remember!

In this life, nothing will ever be perfect.

Our prayers will often seem to go unanswered.

Evil will often seem to win.

We may be tempted in the face of these realities to wonder whether God is there or if He is there, whether He cares.

But every time, in the name of Jesus, sin is forgiven, relationships are mended, healing is granted, God uses us to feed hungry people or helps us tell a friend about Jesus, whenever God empowers us to fight for justice for our neighbors, and whenever lives are made eternally new through faith in Christ, we are given signs that, beyond this life, those made righteous by faith in Christ will live a resurrected life with God and in the company of the saints and that all that hurts us--that hurts God Who stands with us--will be gone for eternity.

In the meantime, may we live under the authority of Christ Who saves us from sin and death and may we share the good news that all who turn from sin and surrender to Christ can have this same everlasting life with God! Amen

This is Not a Test by TobyMac

It's the title track from TobyMac's latest release, from last year. He returns to his rap roots on this and several other tunes on the album.

Thank God for Grace!

If you'd like to learn more about Gideon, Joseph, or Daniel, you can read about them in the Old Testament of the Bible. Do Google searches individually for Daniel in the lion's den; Gideon, fleece, commander; and Joseph in slavery, Genesis.

God often plucks the best cards from the bottom of the deck and specializes in making the despised and forsaken objects of grace and instruments of His special purposes.

Canada, South Korea, Spam

My son put me onto an article titled 28 Things You Never Knew About Canada That May Surprise You. Being a nerd, I took the implicit challenge, thinking that I knew most of them. Wrong. I only knew three of them.

A sampling:

1. Canada consumes more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world. 

3. Police departments in Canada give out "positive tickets" when they see people doing something positive. 

6. Residents of Churchill, Manitoba leave their cars unlocked to offer escape for pedestrians who might encounter polar bears. 

20. Large parts of Canada have less gravity than the rest of Earth. The phenomenon was discovered in the 1960s.

After I reposted the article link on Facebook, a junior high classmate wrote:

But South Korea eats the most Spam.

He's right.



Which, of course, reminds me of another Monty Python bit.



But, our fellow Americans in Hawaii love Spam too.



My mom and dad used to fix Spam for quick family dinners when I was a kid. But I haven't eaten it since then.

Johann Gambolputty...and Long German Words

A pastoral colleague of mine posted this on Facebook today.

It made me laugh and reminded me of this old Monty Python bit.



Both send-ups are funny because they ring true. How would you like to be an elementary student in Germany studying for next week's spelling test?

Is Video the Right Vehicle to Battle Objectification of Women?

Relevant magazine reports on the video montage of sexual imagery in advertising that has recently gone viral. The video, originally released anonymously, is the brainchild of the Badger and Winters ad agency. In the past, the agency has apparently produced advertising based on the industry adage "sex sells." But now, says Madonna Badger, the firm is done with advertising that objectifies women.

That's a bold stand, as Relevant's article says. But "it's hard to know if it will catch on in the industry" because "women only make up 11% of advertising creatives." Good point.

But I wonder whether the video that sent #WomenNotObjects into the social media stratosphere has been so watched not because viewers object the objectification of women, but because they like what they see? I haven't seen the video and don't intend to, but have read descriptions of it.

Let's be honest, pornography and the objectification of women is a huge problem in our country. Porn has gone so mainstream--entering into mainstream TV, movies, books, and the Internet--that Playboy magazine has become passé. The publication has recently announced that it will now only present women clothed and its publisher Hugh Hefner is so strapped for money that he's put his famous Playboy Mansion on the market with the stipulation that he must live there until he dies. (The old pornographer is 89 years old.)

So, while I applaud Badger and Winters for their intentions and maybe they've gotten a healthy discussion started in this country. It's possible for me to be completely out to lunch on this, but I wonder whether their viral video hasn't unintentionally fed the objectification monster.

Just finished reading...

...Pastor Mike Foss' Real Faith for Real Life: Living the Six Marks of Discipleship. I highly recommend it.

A Prayer for a Local Government

On Monday night, I offered the following invocation for the opening of the Centerville, Ohio city council meeting. It was a privilege to do so.

Father,
This is a night of new beginnings. For Mayor Brooks Compton and two members of this council, Mark Engert and Bil Serr, it marks the beginning of serving in new capacities.

It also brings closer a new beginning for Debbie James, as she prepares to retire from her service to the city of Centerville and start a new life in Indianapolis. We pray that You will guide her through the transitions before her.

On the mayor and all the members of the city council, new and incumbent, we pray blessings of wisdom, patience, the willingness to learn and to listen, and an openness to the paths you mark out for them.

We pray that through their decisions and their work, the people of Centerville will be well served, You will be glorified, and they will find the fulfillment found in jobs well done. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

In the New Testament book of 1 Timothy, written by the apostle Paul, we read:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior...(1 Timothy 2:1-3)

The very first and most important piece of political activism in which all Christians are to engage is to pray for those in authority, whatever their party. If they can bring a "peaceful and quiet" environment, it creates the opportunity that Christians most seek: the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to make disciples.

Politics and the pulpit

Earlier today, I wrote an apolitical post referencing an apolitical segment from Pastor Andy Stanley's sermon of this past Sunday. In it, Stanley urges Christians to "cool it," to be so wrapped up in their politics that they forget who someone's Lord is is more important than who they support for president. (This too, is an apolitical post, by the way.)

I went on to say that some Christians--and among my acquaintance or awareness are Christians who are Democrats and Republicans--end up engaging in an unintentional idolatry, confusing their political preferences for Jesus, the Gospel, and the Word of God.

These comments were not political commentary. They were meant to urge Christians to take care to always put Christ first.

In fact, after watching the denomination of which I was once a part spiral into being more of a political entity, driven by ideologies and social commentary, rather than acting as the body of Christ commissioned by Jesus to make disciples, I have very strong feelings about the need for the Church to refrain from political activism. And for Christians to take care that their political involvement not devolve to fear, faithlessness, or idolatry.

I have been in the wrong when it comes to this business of equating my faith with my political preferences, by the way.

Early in my ministry, I was quite vocal about equating Jesus and my political preferences.

And sixteen years ago, I ran for political office. That was a mistake because, despite all my efforts to tell people I didn't claim to be a better Christian or a better person than my four primary opponents, there were people--both among those who voted for me and the big majority who didn't--who assumed, by virtue of my office as a pastor, that I was equating Jesus with my politics.

I was wrong, as a pastor, to have been politically engaged and I have repented for it.

Since then, as a pastor, I have imposed a personal edict on myself: "Never talk about politics."

The reason for that edict is simple. The Gospel, the teaching that God took on human flesh and died to protect us from death, the consequence of the sin that lives in every human being, is offensive in itself. It's difficult enough for people (including me) to accept that we are sinners in need of the Savior, that we need to surrender to God's grace and not try ourselves to "be like God."

So why would I create an impediment to people receiving the good news of new life through faith in Christ by interjecting my political views into things?

The last I checked, Jesus belongs to no particular party, adheres to no political philosophy. Why risk offending people with personal political beliefs that have nothing to do with Christian faith or being Christ's disciples?

The Gospel.

The Bible.

Jesus.

These are the things we're about.

Christians should feel free to be politically engaged and active, if they choose.

But we should trust the Holy Spirit to guide believers to make political decisions, not guided by pastors or parachurch or denominational entities, whose politics can be wrong. As C.S. Lewis warned, once we get involved with talking up "Christ and" anything, we risk losing the Christ in our proclamations altogether. We should proclaim God's Word, not our words.

We can get our politics wrong. But the Word of God is never wrong!

The Paradox?

Forgiveness and new life are free gifts of grace from God for all who are willing to turn from sin and trust in Christ. There's no work I can do to earn it.

But following Christ, trusting Him and so, asking Him to help me to live my life His way, is the hardest thing I work at each day.

Thank God for grace.

The Fear That Leads to Joy

[This was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, earlier today.]

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Luke 4:16-30

How do we react to the Bible?

Most people in the world, even people who identify themselves as Christians, react to it with indifference. They see the Bible as a piece of compliant clay, an ancient document they can twist to suit their own desires or impulses. Or they see it as something they can ignore.
Others see the Bible as God’s Word--whether it's law or Gospel, the stuff they understand and the stuff they can’t, the things they like and the things they wish would go away. All of it is God’s Word for them.

These are the people who allow the God of the Bible to be bigger than themselves. They understand God to their Creator and their Savior and they're striving through repentance and faith to recover from their inborn desire to "be like God."

They agree with best-selling author Timothy Keller, when he says, “Only if God can say things that make you struggle will you know that you have met a real God & not a figment of your imagination.”

But each of these reactions have a common origin: fear.

People who attempt to mold the Bible or ignore the Bible fear that it’s telling the truth, fear that it really is God’s Word, fear that there really is a moral law which judges each of us as deserving of death from the moment we are conceived by parents from whom we inherit human sinfulness. They fear that the Bible is telling the truth that the only way for us to have peace with God, ourselves, or the world is for us to surrender to Jesus. And they don’t want to surrender to anyone.

Some though, see the witness to God’s love and compassion for every human being in the Bible, especially in its witness about Jesus, fear disappointing or hurting the God Who gave His Son so that we can live with Him.

When I was a teenager, I borrowed the family car to go out on a date. (I've often wondered what the mother of the girl I took out though when I showed up in a station wagon!) Just before I left the house, as he handed me the keys, my dad told me, "Remember, she's a human being too." I treated my date with respect not because I was afraid of my dad, but because I was afraid of hurting or disappointing this man who loved me so much.

That's the kind of fear that people who believe in God have as they read His Word. Knowing how much He loves them, they fear disappointing God. And when they do thing that they know will hurt God, they turn to Him in repentant faith to seek restoration of the relationship with God that they cherish.
In our first lesson and in the Gospel lesson today, we see two different reactions to God’s Word. Both are rooted in fear. But in one, fear gets the last word, a word that kills. In the other, God’s Word wins, fear is defeated, and God brings life.

The Gospel lesson, Luke 4:16-30, tells the familiar story from early in Jesus’ ministry when He goes back to the town in which He was raised, Nazareth, where He worships in the synagogue. Jesus has already been preaching, teaching, and working miracles. Now, Jesus is asked to read and talk about God’s Word.

He reads from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,  because he has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” These are verses which, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God inspired the prophet to write of the coming Messiah, the Christ.

During a pause, the eyes of every person in the synagogue locked on Jesus, He says: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Can you imagine the impact of those words? Jesus was boldly claiming that He was the Messiah King prophesied by Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets!

At first, Luke says, “All spoke well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.”

Everyone there probably thought, “It’ll be great if he performs some miracles here. We could exploit that.” The people from the Chamber of Commerce thought, "We'll put up signs on the road leading into Nazareth that says, 'Nazareth, Home of the Messiah.'" Someone else may have been dreaming up a Messiah-related souvenir stand.

But then, Jesus does what teachers of God’s Word are called to do: He talks about what the Word means for them.

“I know you want me to do here what I did in other places,” Jesus tells them. “But people in those other places saw Me as coming from God. To you, I’m just a kid from the neighborhood, someone you can use.” (That’s a paraphrase, in case you didn’t notice.)

Then Jesus recalls two incidents from the Old Testament.

In Elijah’s day, He says, there were lots of widows among God’s people. But the prophet Elijah was sent by God to a foreign widow, who, unlike the people in Israel, welcomed God’s Word.

And, Jesus goes on, back during the prophet Elisha’s time, there were lots of lepers in Israel. Yet God used Elisha to bring healing to only one leper, a Syrian named Naaman, who dared to believe God’s Word.

Luke says that at this, “All the people in the synagogue were furious...” They tried to kill Jesus. But because it wasn’t yet Jesus’ time to die for the world’s sins--including yours and mine, He walked through the crowd and left.

What accounts for the reaction of Jesus’ neighbors? Fear.

They were afraid that God’s Word was saying that God cared as much about other people, as much as God cared about them.

They were afraid that they couldn’t rely on being members in good standing of the first-century version of Nazareth Lutheran Church to be saved.

They were afraid that they needed to admit their vulnerability and their need of God as much as a foreign widow or a foreign leper had in order to experience God’s favor.

These fears were all well founded.

But the people of Nazareth were too proud to repent or trust in Jesus to receive God’s grace and new life.

Now, let’s look at our first lesson. Time won’t allow us to go into much detail. But, by way of background, Nehemiah and Ezra were two men deputized by the king of Persia, the occupiers of ancient Israel sometime during the 5th or 4th-centuries BC, to rebuild Jerusalem’s temple and city walls.

Though Nehemiah and Ezra were great leaders inspired by God, the going wasn’t always easy. God will be with us in whatever He calls us to do--whether it’s in our marriages or work or parenting or going to school. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
The believer in God knows that when the going gets tough, that’s the time to lean more heavily on God.

As the progress continued on rebuilding Jerusalem, the people commissioned Ezra to bring the scroll of God--probably the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch or Torah--to a gathering place, then read it and explain it to them.

No doubt God’s people wanted to try to understand what God’s Word had to tell them about the adversities they’d experienced, things like exile and poverty and the splitting up of families and the loss of land God had promised to them. They wanted to know where they’d gone wrong and how they could go right.

For days, Ezra read and explained the Word of God.

It hit the people like a bombshell.

They heard how God had called Israel into being through their ancestor Abraham, an act of pure grace.

How God had freed His people from slavery into Egypt and gave them a land.

How they had repeatedly rebelled against God, hating their neighbor, perpetrating acts of idolatry and injustice.

They realized that many of their troubles had been self-inflicted, because they had not trusted in God. (So often when I read God’s Word, I realize that the same thing is true of my own life.) 

 
Nehemiah and Ezra saw that the crowd was afraid, fearful that they had permanently ruined their relationship with God, that they were lost to God forever. The people were weeping, thinking that all was lot.

Listen: The moment we allow the Word of God such access to our hearts that we know to regret our sins, not from fear of condemnation, but from fear of hurting God, the One Who loves us more than anyone else ever has or ever can, that is the time for rejoicing.

Fear like this is a holy fear that evidences faith and love for the God Who loved us first.

That’s why, at that moment of intense and godly fear and sadness felt and exhibited by the people, that Ezra and Nehemiah ordered that there be a party, a feast, a celebration!

The people had truly heard the Word of God.

They had truly repented.

They truly believed in God.

They were reconciled to God; it was time to celebrate!

Indifference to the Word of God is unwise. “For the word of God is alive and active,” Hebrews 4:12 says. “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

And the apostle Paul tells the young pastor, Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

It turns out that God really wants to speak to us, bring us His grace and His power for living each day through His Word!

The only question for us as we read, listen to, and pray about the Word of God is how we will fear it.

Will we fear it as something to run away from, to avoid, or to put off until a more convenient time?

Or will we fear nothing so much as we fear disappointing or hurting God and turn instead in repentance and faith to the One Who loves us eternally and wants us for all eternity?

This is the choice which, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, God lets us make each day. Choose wisely. Choose to listen to and study God's Word. Choose the fear of the Lord. That’s the way of life. Amen