Well, do you?

Have you ever had someone ask you this?

If so, you probably also know that the person usually says, “promise not to tell?” So, let’s start over…

Wanna know a secret?

Will you promise to tell everybody?

(Woops, this secret must be a special one, because you need to tell it to everybody!)

OK, are you ready?  Here comes the secret:

Jesus died for you, so that by His death you might live… forever.  He died so that you can be at peace with God and live a joy-filled life through good times and bad.  He will walk with you, he will comfort you and He will guide you by His Word…

BUT: There’s a catch!

You have to respond to this in faith… and tell everybody.

So, here’s a new question…

Who will you tell next?

This is the day the LORD has made; 
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24)

How much joy do we take in life?

How much joy do we have in worship?

OK, I agree that not every situation in life can be joyful, for there are also many sorrows and hardships; I also realize that many of us are undergoing severe trials these days.

Yet even in sorrow, hardship and trial we are the redeemed of the Lord if we have entered relationship with Jesus Christ.  Is there any hardship or trial that can compare with all that He has done for us?

I would never want to make light of suffering, nor would I ever want to let someone forget how great our God is!

Here… let’s try an experiment:  Let’s decide that we are going to celebrate our great and awesome God no matter what trial we are dealing with.  Let’s even go another step and commit ourselves to praising God in every situation; even the ones we don’t really like that much…

This is the day the LORD has made; 
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We’ll know you tried this experiment when we see the big smile on your face!

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
Thomas Paine

Something to think about…

Bob and Jim were buddies growing up; they did everything together.  Each was considered part of the other’s family, they shared their lives the way that true friends do…

On the Monday after their High School graduation, Bob and Jim started jobs with the railroad that ran through their small town.  As time went on, their careers took different courses and they gradually drifted apart.

Forty years later Bob was a section boss on the railroad responsible for the maintenance of the roadbed on a section of track.  On this particular day he had prepared for an inspection; the President of the railroad was going to personally inspect his section, a stressful day for any low-level manager!

When the big black car pulled up and the president got out, it was the first time that Bob had seen Jim for a long time. Jim, now the president of the entire railroad conducted his inspection. He knew that Bob’s section was one of the best in the system; it all went very smoothly.  When the official business was completed, the men had a few minutes to visit.  It occurred to Bob that their differing career paths had been kind of strange considering how similar the two had been while growing up.  He blurted out, “Jim, isn’t it strange how our careers have gone in such different ways after all these years?”

Jim had wondered if Bob might mention this and replied, “Yeah Bob, who would have predicted it?”

“Not me, that’s for sure,” said Bob, “I sure can’t figure it out, can you?”

“Bob, I know exactly why we traveled different paths.”

“Really?  Why was it, then?”

“Well Bob, it all happened on our very first day, remember?  When we first started you went to work for the paycheck; I went to work for the railroad.” Shortly after this, the men shook hands and went their separate ways, Jim feeling kind of sorry for his old friend; Bob feeling a twinge of regret…

Many of us do good things while working for our Lord in many different ways.  We might volunteer in church projects.  Some might be ministry leaders working with young people, music or feeding the hungry.  Some are even paid ministry staff people…

What are we working for?  Are we working for praise? Do we labor for acceptance or feelings of satisfaction… or are we working for the Body of Christ and for our Lord Jesus Christ?

The other day I posted an item about hiding our faith.  Today I thought we might consider what happens when we hide from our faith…

Tom was a Christian.  He was committed; he was serious. He worked in a factory, and many of his coworkers were tough men, men who used rough language and who liked to drink and play hard…

Tom was afraid that if he didn’t go along with them that he wouldn’t fit in, that he wouldn’t be accepted.  He didn’t want them to think that he was soft or strange; he just wanted to be one of the guys.  So when he was at work he talked like the rest.  When to boys went out for a few brewskies on Thursday nights, Tom went along and behaved just the way everyone else did: He was one of the boys.

The boys liked to make fun of Christians… OK, the boys made fun of everybody, there wasn’t anything about making fun of Christians that was special; it wasn’t even intended to be anything more than fun, but it made Tom uncomfortable.  In time, the boys picked up on this, and one day someone asked him after several brews if he was a “churchie”.

Tom denied his faith. He didn’t really mean to, he just wanted to fit in.

A few days later when Tom was in his weekly Bible study, he learned something, something that he already knew.  Jesus had made an interesting comment one day when He told His listeners that if they confessed Jesus before men, He would confess them before the Father…

Tom felt convicted because he knew that he had denied Jesus before men; those men who were his friends.

Tom had not only hidden his faith, but he had also hidden from his faith…

Another passage ran through Tom’s mind that evening.  Jesus had told His disciples that the reason that people don’t follow Him was that they preferred the praise of men.

…or should that be Presidents’ Day?

Well, whichever one it is, today’s the day.  It is of course a holiday and many of us are off work; yippie!

When I was a kid in school, we didn’t have President’s Day.  Instead we had Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12 and Washington’s Birthday on February 22, and if both of them missed the weekend we had two days off from school; everyone who wasn’t a Mom loved that!  Now of course, in order to provide workers with a three-day weekend we have today… whatever it is supposed to be for.

I am usually a bit of a contrarian; I think that Washington and Lincoln deserve to be remembered, for both of them played vital roles in the establishment and building of our Nation.  In fact, I would dare to go so far out to the “extreme” (you know where that is, it’s “out of the mainstream”) as to say that we have lost something of our heritage in seeming to forget their contributions to our Nation!

So, here’s a thought:  Why not take a few minutes sometime in our day off today to look back and reflect upon our Nation’s presidents… all of them.  Many of them were very good people who wanted to improve the country and the lives of its citizens.  A few were just plain great; Washington and Lincoln are certainly among those.  Some of them were more than a little rough around the edges, engaging in colorful speech and actions.  Some of them were entirely untrustworthy… and still others never wanted to be there at all. Together they paint of picture of us all.  They had the same faults and talents that we the people have.  They made many of the same mistakes that we all make, had triumphs and tragedies like we all do.  They had sleepless nights, lost loves and depression at times, yet they kept on going…

And of course a certain number of them came to the point when they realized in private that they couldn’t carry all of the load of their responsibilities alone and fell to their knees before God.  If you look very carefully, you will discover that the ones who did this ended up being the ones who went down in history as truly great, while the ones who never came to that point didn’t quite make the cut of greatness.

Huh, I wonder why that is?

God Has Spoken!

Today’s Text:              Hebrews 1:1-4

To say that these four verses are dense with meaning would be an understatement, for they may be the most meaning-filled four verses in the entire Bible.  Here we find the seven attributes of Jesus, His true identity, His position in history, and a summary outline of all of redemptive history.  Please note that this is the introduction to Hebrews, not its contents.

Most of the epistles of the New Testament begin with some sort of a greeting, but not Hebrews; we get right into the thick of things theologically.

Notice the contrasts that are drawn immediately between the Old and New Testaments:

“in the past…”                         “in these last days”

“God spoke”                            “he has spoken”

“To our forefathers”                 “to us”

“Through the prophets”           “by his Son”

In less than one sentence, we can see that this is no ordinary book!

1:1  In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

Before Jesus came, God spoke through the prophets.  He did so many times and in various ways, by direct speech, dreams, and visions. His message was spoken, illustrated and legislated, it was proclaimed, decreed and provided.  It came in “bits and pieces” as the Greek would indicate; never did they get the whole thing in the old days.  They got pictures, types and shadows, they had dreams… but in all of this, God was communicating to His people indirectly through the prophets and yet even then the people received the message in clear human language. Notice that by saying “God spoke” the author here is telling us who it was who took the initiative in the production of Sacred Scripture: it was God Himself.  The Bible is not a collection of man’s musings about God, but rather God’s instructive revelation to man.  Keeping this fact in mind will help anyone who ever interprets the Scripture.  He must ask “What is God telling us” rather than wonder what an author is saying about God; God is the ultimate author of every word. Finally, note that everything that came before Christ is “in the past”. Christ, by contrast instructed us “in these last days”. Jesus is the turning point in all history: there is the past, and then with Jesus comes “these last days”.

1:2   but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Whereas God spoke to “our forefathers” through the prophets in former times, God has spoken to “us” by His Son In these days.  Notice God spoke through the prophets and by His Son.  He didn’t speak through Jesus because He was Jesus. How fortunate we are that our revelation of God is direct from Jesus!  In the past, they received partial revelation that came from many prophets, a little bit at a time; we have received the whole thing from Jesus directly.  In the past, they received these many partial revelations that when put together would point them to Christ; we received the whole revelation in the person of Christ.  The contrast is staggering to contemplate.  Chapter 11 reveals to us several “forefathers” who were great in the faith even with partial revelation.  How are you doing with your faith, having received complete revelation?

Notice also that God appointed Jesus “heir of all things” and then He made the universe through Jesus. One might say that God planned the universe for Jesus to ultimately rule, and then it was all accomplished when Jesus spoke the Word. (John 1:1-5; Col. 1:15-17)  These are the first two attributes of Jesus that we find in this short text.

1:3   The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

This verse contains five more attributes of Jesus, making a total of seven in this introduction. (Interesting, isn’t it? Seven attributes, with seven being the Biblical number of completeness)  First we have the Son’s being the “radiance of God’s glory”. This indicates that we see God’s glory reflected to us in Christ.  If we want a sample of glory, seek Jesus.  Second is an attribute that closely follows the first: Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being.  In other words, if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father.  If you want to know what God is all about… seek Christ. In the fifth of His attributes, we see His awesome power that is at work throughout the entire universe: “sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (cf. John 1:1-4)  In the Gospel accounts, we see that Jesus can interrupt the normal laws of nature through His miracles.  Here, the author points out that the laws of nature themselves are created and sustained by the Word: Jesus.  When we study science, we are studying Jesus!  Then, with the sixth attribute, we have the most wonderful of all: Jesus has provided purification for sins! Notice that this is placed within the wide sweep of the totality of history; verse 3 is all of history in one line.  Hebrews will have much to say about all of the particulars of how Jesus accomplished this.  The final attribute of Jesus in this verse is that after He accomplished al of this, He sat down with God.  The point here is this: Now that Jesus has accomplished His work as High Priest for the purification of our sins, He has sat down beside the Father’s throne in authority, reigning as King of kings and interceding for us.

1:4   So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

After all of His magnificent accomplishments, Jesus sits at the very throne of God, King of kings, Lord of lords; He is so vastly superior to the angels and all other created beings!  His position is superior, His being is superior and His name is superior.  The balance of the chapter is the author’s proof of the thesis statement made in verses 1-4, and for the benefit of the Hebrew, he uses Old Testament texts to do it.

Saturday is shopping day at my house; my favorite.

Now in truth, going to the market is necessary; kind of a necessary evil. After all, we do need provisions and supplies, and going to the store is how you get them these days… oh how I loathe shopping!

Now as a ‘typical male’ (whatever that means) I have a list of what I need to get, I grab a cart and proceed as quickly as my little feet will carry me to get my stuff and get out!  Sometimes I must confess, I even check my watch to see if I can break my all-time speed record for grocery shopping. (13 minutes if you must know)

Now of course there are other people in the store who seem to have different ideas… They want to see if they can handle each and every item on the shelf I’m trying to get to.  They bring their kids and make a family outing of it; they compare prices and values between this one and that one.  They stroll leisurely down the isles, humming a little tune like it’s a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park.  Sometimes they are even chatting on the phone… and they are always in the way!  Don’t they realize I’m trying to beat 13 minutes???

Thank you dear Lord for answering my prayer to learn patience.  Thank you for helping me slow down and see the wonders around me, and thank you for showing me that always being in a rush isn’t always the best way to live!

There are some things in life that aren’t worth the effort or the money they cost; lousy food is one thing that comes to mind…

Food is necessary to sustain life, food costs money, food takes time and effort to prepare and food can be something that adds zest and variety to life:  Food is important.  People in Western countries put a lot into food.

I wouldn’t think that any of this comes as news to you, dear reader…

The great question of this or any other age is: Why would we settle for lousy food if we don’t have to?  Yes, friends it is upon such great questions that the fate of civilization rests.  In connection with this great issue, I must now confess that somehow I have slipped into snobbery; I am a food snob!

Since I must eat to live, I’d prefer to eat good stuff.  If I am going out to eat, I would prefer a place that serves good food to one that slings the hash or tosses the burgers… and I am unrepentant on this point. As an old boss once (maybe more than once, come to think of it) said to me: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

Why accept mediocrity?  Why settle for average?  If we have the power or the ability to do better, shouldn’t we do better?  You see this really isn’t about food at all, it’s about not settling for second best.   Martin Luther King once said that if you are a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper you can be.  Doesn’t this apply to all areas of our daily lives?  I think it does, and I think that it is a firm Biblical concept. It isn’t about showing off or being a hot-shot or arrogant or prideful, it’s about having a great testimony for Christ.

Let’s say you are at work and there is a Christian among your co-workers.  This person wants to tell everybody about God and church and that person is a slacker, a sand-bagger and a lazy worker.  How do they reflect upon God? Not well!

Back to true confessions: God has provided us with the physical need to eat, and the means to eat well (hopefully). Why eat lousy food?  Why not do the best we possibly can within our means, giving glory, thanks and praise to God all the while?

Final note:  There is no deathbed; nobody is even sick.  But if you’re going to write a title, why not make it a good one?

The other day I was walking along the street when I looked up and saw this sight; I just had to get a photo. It looked like the church was hiding in the trees.

Of course it’s kind of an illusion; the church is up the hill on a different street where it is open and easy to view… but from this vantage point, it seems to be hiding.  Sometimes I wonder if the church is hiding today…

The Greek word for “church” is only recorded in the Gospels once.  (Matt. 16:18)  The next time it appears is in Acts, and understand, they weren’t talking about real estate!  The first century Christians called Christianity “The Way” because followers of Jesus realized that this “Way” was not an edifice or an organization… it was a movement.  In short, following Jesus in that time was radical, and following Jesus is just as radical today.

The Church is under attack in our time; not just as an organization as it might appear, but as a movement also.  Culture, society, academia and government are all taking steps to keep us silent about Jesus Christ.  The very progressivism that exercises power in so much of the Western world, including America, is in total opposition to Jesus Christ and His “Way,” preferring to replace the power and majesty of God with the power and majesty of the State.  While it may be tempting to hide in the bushes to avoid the wrath of those around us, this is the time for followers of Jesus Christ to come out in the open and declare the truth.

Of course, many who read this will have concluded by now that I am advocating a great deal of political action; and they would have missed my point entirely.  The Way was not a political movement; it was a spiritual one.  It did not require the followers of Jesus to march on Rome and demand change; it required His followers to change their way of living and viewing the world.  They came to see the world for what it is, a whitewashed tomb, nice and pure on the outside and rotten on the inside.

Following Jesus Christ means that we do not compromise with the powers of this world.  We are to put others first, love all and do what is right, even if it is unpopular… even if the New York Times has a problem with it.

Whew!  Radical stuff doing what is right, wholesome and true… It could result in a better world; shocking!