We wish you a Merry Familymas and a Happy Family December 9, 2011

It’s happening this year.  It happened six years ago.  It will happen again in five years; then again in six years; then we will get a break and it won’t happen again for eleven years.

 

The production of fruitcakes to replenish the ongoing re-gifting supply due to loss or actual consumption? No, although maybe.  I don’t know the production schedule for fruitcakes.

 

No, I am referring to Christmas falling on a Sunday.

 

Christians (and churches) across the U.S. (if not around the world, at least in western cultures) are making priority choices and therefore value-statements due to this apparently inconvenient double-booking.  Many churches are altering their worship plans for this coming Christmas – canceling altogether, or sending out DVD’s for some quality, living room worship, or moving services to Friday or Saturday.

 

Christmas – the very word means a worship service for Christ (Christ Mass).  We may have come full circle.  About 1600 years ago the church offered a worship service as a better way to end a week long pagan celebration of the birth of the undying sun (Saturnalia).  What better way to help God’s people avoid the idolatries and hedonistic ways of the Roman culture than to focus them on the birth of the true undying Son?  Today it seems the church is taking the opposite approach.  How can we possibly ask you to stop worshiping your family when we have arranged nearly everything in church to promote that worship?

 

Will you be skipping church on Sunday the 25th this year? Attending on the 24th in order to at least check a box?  Ask yourself why?  Every choice between two options is a value statement.  Every morning I choose to turn off my alarm at 5:30 and roll over and the gym and P90X wait yet another day.  It is a choice.  It is also a statement of what I value more.

 

Perhaps you have wonderful and delightful family traditions on Christmas.  We do.  And I love them all.  What value statement am I making, what principles am I teaching my children when I say, our traditions are simply too important to change once every 6 to 11 years.

 

We can teach our children principles, we cannot decide how they will apply them.  Is it true that some things come up in life that keep us from gathering with God’s people to adore God and worship him for the peace we have with him granted and secured for us by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ?  Possibly.  But can you say with a straight face, “We aren’t going to church today because we are celebrating Christmas?”

 

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

 

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:21,24)

Lessons from Joe Paterno’s legacy November 10, 2011

Yesterday afternoon I heard the sad but inevitable news that Joe Paterno would be retiring at the end of this season. This morning I woke up to the even sadder news that he had been fired last night for the ongoing scandal that is rocking Penn State right now.

 

Joe Pa (as he is affectionately referred to by PSU fans) came to Penn State in 1949 as an assistant coach. My dad was six. In 1966, the year my parents were married, one year after my dad graduated from Penn State, Joe became the head coach of Penn State’s football team. He is the only head coach I have ever known at Penn State.

 

Joe Paterno’s accomplishments are amazing. His longevity is unimaginable. I remember sitting in my Grandpa’s living room with all the men and many of the women of the extended Bailey family when the benched Boz’s Sooners beat the Lions in the Orange Bowl in 1986 ending their undefeated season. I remember the exact same living room with the exact same crowd in a slightly more jovial mood one year later when PSU went undefeated and beat (and intercepted five times!) Vinnie Testaverde’s Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl in1987.

 

One USA Today writer said, “Paterno, so revered just a week ago, will never be viewed the same way. This, sadly, is as it should be.”

 

Is that true? Should 46 years of coaching and mentoring and teaching and training young men be tarnished and thrown away because he did not act on information he received beyond reporting it to those in authority over himself and over the school?

 

Is Ms. Brennan right? She is and she isn’t. If she means that because of his super-stardom status or because of the specific heinousness of the allegations Joe Paterno’s reputation is now destroyed, she is wrong. But if she means simply that no amount of good balances out any amount of bad, then she is right.

 

Your Reputation is Ruined
Just because I have never lied to you or to my wife or to my neighbors or to my daughters, it does not alleviate the responsiblilty I have to honesty with my son. If I lie to my son, I cannot point to an otherwise perfect track record of honesty with others and say, “There, that makes up for it.” It does not.

 

Romans 3:10-18 puts it more strongly:
 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Verse 23 summarizes, “All have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God.”

 

If 40 plus years of caring for the needs and futures of young men can be wiped out or at least tarnished by one moment of inaction on behalf of a young man, how much more our own sense of eternal well-being by our own lack of action on others’ behalf?

 

No matter how much good you think you have done or how much bad you think you have avoided your record and reputation are forever tarnished and ruined by even one wrong act or one right act left undone.

 

This is the screaming need of the gospel. That we need a different reputation, a record untarnished. If there is a scale of right and wrong I am in a world of trouble because every time I act against another person; and worse, every time I turn a blind eye to someone in need; I am heaping on the scale weights against me that could never be outweighed by any good I might do even over a lifetime. I can never undo what I’ve done. I can never go back and make right, what I did not do.

 

You Need Another Reputation
Verse 23 of Romans 3 is NOT actually the summary. It’s not even a complete thought. Verse 23 ends with a comma. It’s only half of the thought:

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:21-25

 

I don’t just need a decent record or a well-balanced record. As Ms. Brennan rightly points out, even the best record is ruined by one wrong step. I need a perfect record. This is only available if one with a perfect record would exchange records with me. This is the message of the gospel. You have ruined your record. Jesus Christ has come to not only pay the penalty for your record, but to give you His record. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5.21.

 

Unfortunately, the world is telling us all that our hope is in the fact that there are worse people out there than you. We delight to bring Joe Paterno down. We delight to bring Herman Cain down. When things are ugly we cast lots and want to know who’s to blame. Your hope is not that there is someone worse than you. Your hope is that there is Someone better than you, who became a man of no reputation for you, who was despised and rejected for you.

 

Cling to Jesus. Pray for Joe.

I’m giving up sarcasm for Lent. You? March 7, 2011

Okay, that’s an ironic eye catcher.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the church calendar season of Lent.  What is Lent?  Why do people celebrate Lent? Should I as a protestant celebrate Lent?  Should I give up gossip for Lent?

These are all good questions (well, maybe not the last one, but I’ll try to answer it anyway).

What is Lent?
Lent is the forty-day period leading up to Easter Sunday (although in some Christian circles it is longer).  The forty days was chosen in remembrance of the 40 days that Jesus entered the wilderness and fasted and prayed before entering into his earthly ministry in ernest.  This was also the time in which he was tempted by Satan in very specific ways.

Isn’t it just a Catholic thing?
Although assumed to be a Roman Catholic observance, many protestant denominations continue to observe lent (Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans or Episcopalians, and yes, even Presbyterians).

Why do we celebrate Lent and what is it for?
Typically the season is observed through more devoted times of prayer and penitence (or confession), alms giving (or caring for the poor in specific ways) and self-denial (giving something up for those forty days).

The prayer and penitence is understandable as we come closer and closer to the day of Christ’s death for our sin and his resurrection for our salvation.  It is good and appropriate to spend a season in close communion with our Savior.

The Alms giving or caring for the poor – a call for Christians at all times of the year – is especially appropriate as we recall our own spiritual poverty Christ came to change.

And finally (the part of Lent that gets the most attention in the US today) self-denial.  During Lent Christians deny themselves something they enjoy or perhaps even rely upon.  The lesson is a combination of remembering what our Savior denied Himself when he left His throne and came to earth to die for our sins.  But we also learn through this season of self-denial that our hope is in Christ alone or else it is no hope at all.  We give up things during Lent to remind ourselves that these are not our comfort.  Christ is our comfort.

Should you observe Lent?
An interesting question.  Lent, like all other liturgical calendar events, is a freedom in Christ matter, like Christmas or the advent season leading up to it, and Easter, and even the avoidance of that dreaded candy holiday Halloween.  One day is special to someone and is no big deal to someone else.  So if asked “should” in a “are you supposed to” I would have to say, no.  But if by should we simply mean, “Is it good for you to observe Lent?” I’d have to say yeah, it’s good for you.

As Americans all of us could stand a bit more self denial when it comes to our ways of life.  And it is good for us to identify with both our Savior who denied Himself and with our brothers and sisters throughout the world who live in impoverished states not forty days a year but all year.

What should you give up for Lent?
Well, that’s the real question isn’t it.  You could find something that as a family you do or use a lot but is really not a necessary part of life, TV, Candy, Soda (or Pop, depending on what part of the country you’ll be in during Lent).  If you are going to do this, you really need to have a replacement plan especially for your younger kids.  They need to understand the why’s behind the denial and what is accomplished by it.  If it’s TV then replace those times with times of prayer and Scripture and family time and fun activities.    Don’t come home though if you have young children at home and announce to your wife the whole family is giving up all forms of TV entertainment for Lent.  If your kids are young and the only quiet moments in your bride’s day are during Blues Clues and Dora, Lent may best be observed individually for your household circumstances.

Some items for Lenten consideration: TV, Internet entertainment, facebook, beer, alcohol, chocolate, sweets, dessert, running, working out, smoking.  The list is as varied as we are.  Things that you do as a freedom in Christ that when someone mentions not doing it, you get a little sweaty.  You start saying things like, “Well, yeah I could give that up, but I think that would be silly and legalistic.” Or, “Well, that’s not really what Lent is about.  And really it’s not healthy for me to give that up.”  Really only you know what would be a self-denial.  For example, I can’t claim that I am going to give up March Madness for Lent.  I gave up March Madness decades ago.  I have no interest in college basketball.  There is nothing self-denying about giving up something I am not in the least bit interested in.

Ways NOT to celebrate Lent:
Don’t give up sin for Lent.  Don’t give up gossip or an argumentative spirit or things like that for Lent.  News flash: You’re supposed to be giving those things up all year.

Don’t use Lent as a way to subtly announce how holy you are.  Don’t find ways to work your Lent into conversations.  Don’t listen to conversations about the latest happenings on Hell’s Kitchen or Celebrity Apprentice and look for opportunities to say things like, “Oh, I didn’t see that episode. I gave up TV for Lent.”  or “That cupcake looks delicious.  I wish I could have one, but I gave up chocolate for Lent.”  Sentences like “I missed that episode,” and “no thank you,” work surprisingly well in those same situations.

Also, don’t use lent to re-commit to your diet this year.  If you want to get more serious about that resolution you made in January, great, but don’t stick a cross on it and call it Lent.

And finally, don’t give up something that really is more of a sacrifice for someone else than it is for you.  Men, don’t give up bathing or shaving.  Ladies, don’t give up sex (or shaving).  Don’t give up working in the yard or helping with nursery.  Don’t give up date night.

Here is one thing I learned recently about Lent that makes it one of the coolest seasons in my opinion.  If you count from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday you get more than 40 days.  What is that all about?  I’m glad you asked.  Each Sunday is a mini Easter celebration and a break from the fast.  Whatever you gave up for Lent, On Sunday you should enjoy that thing or activity in celebration of What Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection.  Every Sunday is a reminder of what Jesus said about fasting.  “You don’t fast when the bridegroom is around.  That’s actually an insult to the Groom. You party, you celebrate when the Bridegroom is here.”  So every Sunday is supposed to be a celebration, a happy reminder that we have been saved and one day we will be in Glory with our Bridegroom forever.

Whether you observe Lent or not, my prayer for you is that as we approach the time of the year in which we remember the cost of our sin and celebrate our salvation secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will seize opportunities to pray , to care for others, to remember what our Savior gave up when He came to earth for our salvation.

Christmas and Xmas and satirical musings from a master December 15, 2009

I find myself battling in the middle of every December with the two natures inside my own breast.  One wants desperately to think differently this season and to be moved by quiet meditations upon the birth of the Christ, who came not in hustle and bustle, but softy and quietly like a gentle snowfall.  The other wants to make sure that I have bought the correct amount of gifts for everyone and embraced the proper level of debt once again, and secretly desires so many useless things that I see in countless catalogs and ads.  This article by C.S. Lewis reminds me every season that there are at minimum two celebrations going on this month.  Which one will you be celebrating?  Which one will your children look forward to the most?  For your enjoyment (or at least for making us all pause).

***

Xmas and Christmas

A Lost Chapter from Herodotus
by C.S. Lewis

AND BEYOND THIS there lies in the ocean, turned towards the west and north, the island of Niatirb which Hecataeus indeed declares to be the same size and shape as Sicily, but it is larger, though in calling it triangular a man would not miss the mark. It is densely inhabited by men who wear clothes not very different from the other barbarians who occupy the north-western parts of Europe though they do not agree with them in language. These islanders, surpassing all the men of whom we know in patience and endurance, use the following customs.

In the middle of winter when fogs and rains most abound they have a great festival which they call Exmas, and for fifty days they prepare for it in the fashion I shall describe. First of all, every citizen is obliged to send to each of his friends and relations a square piece of hard paper stamped with a picture, which in their speech is called an Exmas-card. But the pictures represent birds sitting on branches, or trees with a dark green prickly leaf, or else men in such garments as the Niatirbians believe that their ancestors wore two hundred years ago riding in coaches such as their ancestors used, or houses with snow on their roofs. And the Niatirbians are unwilling to say what these pictures have to do with the festival, guarding (as I suppose) some sacred mystery. And because all men must send these cards the market-place is filled with the crowd of those buying them, so that there is great labour and weariness.

But having bought as many as they suppose to be sufficient, they return to their houses and find there the like cards which others have sent to them. And when they find cards from any to whom they also have sent cards, they throw them away and give thanks to the gods that this labour at least is over for another year. But when they find cards from any to whom they have not sent, then they beat their breasts and wail and utter curses against the sender; and, having sufficiently lamented their misfortune, they put on their boots again and go out into the fog and rain and buy a card for him also. And let this account suffice about Exmas-cards.

They also send gifts to one another, suffering the same things about the gifts as about the cards, or even worse. For every citizen has to guess the value of the gift which every friend will send to him so that he may send one of equal value, whether can afford it or not. And they buy as gifts for one another such things as no man ever bought for himself. For the sellers, understanding the custom, put forth all kinds of trumpery, and whatever, being useless and ridiculous, they have been able to sell throughout the year they now sell as an Exmas gift. And though the Niatirbians profess themselves to lack sufficient necessary things, such as metal, leather, wood and paper, yet an incredible quantity of these things is wasted every year, being made into the gifts.

But during these fifty days the oldest, poorest and most miserable of the citizens put on false beards and red robes and walk about the market-place; being disguised (in my opinion) as Cronos. And the sellers of gifts no less than the purchasers become pale and weary, because of the crowds and the fog, so that any man who came into a Niatirbian city at this season would think some great public calamity had fallen on Niatirb. This fifty days of preparation is called in their barbarian speech the Exmas Rush.

But when the day of the festival comes, then most of the citizens, being exhausted with the Rush, lie in bed till noon. But in the evening they eat five times as much supper as on other days and, crowning themselves with crowns of paper, they become intoxicated. And on the day after Exmas they are very grave, being internally disordered by the supper and the drinking and reckoning how much they have spent on gifts and on the wine. For wine is so dear among the Niatirbians that a man must swallow the worth of a talent before he is well intoxicated.

Such, then, are their customs about the Exmas. But the few among the Niatirbians have also a festival, separate and to themselves, called Crissmas, which is on the same day as Exmas. And those who keep Crissmas, doing the opposite to the majority of the Niatirbians, rise early on that day with shining faces and go before sunrise to certain temples where they partake of a sacred feast. And in most of the temples they set out images of a fair woman with a new-born Child on her knees and certain animals and shepherds adoring the Child. (The reason of these images is given in a certain sacred story which I know but do not repeat.)

But I myself conversed with a priest in one of these temples and asked him why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas; for it appeared to me inconvenient. But the priest replied, It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left. And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, It is, O Stranger, a racket; using (as I suppose) the words of some oracle and speaking unintelligibly to me (for a racket is an instrument which the barbarians use in a game called tennis).

But what Hecataeus says, that Exmas and Crissmas are the same, is not credible. For first, the pictures which are stamped on the Exmas-cards have nothing to do with the sacred story which the priests tell about Crissmas. And secondly, the most part of the Niatirbians, not believing the religion of the few, nevertheless send the gifts and cards and participate in the Rush and drink, wearing paper cars. But it is not likely that men, even being barbarians, should suffer so many and great things in honour of a god they do not believe in. And now, enough about Niatirb.

***

Father in heaven.  Please do not allow us to replace the joy being known by You and Your Son with the joys of even the very good gifts that come from you – family, friends, cheer, and festival.  Grant to your people at Hope of Christ and beyond the contentment of knowing that Your Son has saved us from our sin, from this world, and from our enemy.  Help us to live and show this joy for our children, our neighbors, and each other.  I pray these things for all of us, including and especially for myself and my own heart, in the One Name of Your One Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN!

A very merry and contented Christmas to you.

More Vacation Than I was Looking For-but lessons learned for many August 25, 2008

This week my family and I are at the Outer Banks (NC) for a much needed, much anticipated week of vacation. Next week all four kids start back at school and fall is going to be a busier time for Hope of Christ Church, so this seemed an appropriate week to get away.

I know that when some families vacation, they like to vacation from EVERYTHING including Sunday Morning Worship. I do not like to do that. There are a couple reasons for this. 1. It seems to me that by ‘vacationing’ from worship I am telling my kids that we really are the center of the universe and God is just going to have to get over it. 2. It seems to indicate that worship is a hassle that we need vacationing from. 3. I love to worship with other churches-sing new songs, experience new liturgies, and just sit for a change with my family under the preaching of God’s Word with another appendage of the Body.

I guess here is where this blog becomes like so many other blogs. Am I just complaining? Am I just badmouthing a more relaxed church? I don’t think so, but the four of you who read this blog can let me know… No, I researched online the church options before me on the Outer Banks. I was looking for something pretty particular, admittedly. This church we attended I was excited about attending. It was admittedly something different from what my family has experienced on any given Sunday.

There were plenty of things before worship that were different, some that I would have done differently, but really everything was very well done. There were people ready to greet and welcome visitors. Everyone was very friendly. They had Krispy Kreme donuts (not fake KK but real actual KK donuts!). This admittedly should have been enough to overshadow any shortcomings. They offered a children’s church for the ages of three of our four kids, so we let them attend-including my son who is going into fifth grade this year.

As we milled around eating donuts, I had the chance to watch some of the people. You could tell that this church swelled in attendance during the summer vacation months. I noticed that over half the people in attendance didn’t have Bibles. I know, that’s hardly a means of knowing who the visitors are in a church anymore. That is a blog rant of its own and maybe before the week’s over, but I will ask; Did you go to math class without your text book, too? anyhoo…

The music was well done. If I say that it was a little loud I realize I will be crossing into an age bracket I never thought I would, so I will just say that I really did genuinely appreciate it and enjoy it. It was what I was expecting when I picked the church for our family.

The senior pastor was on vacation this week also (apparently a good week for pastors to get away). So one of their long time missionaries whom they have supported spoke. He is a Campus Crusade Dude actually from Raleigh, NC. After the worship service I was pretty upset. My wife was upset also (probably not a little bit with her husband who drove us all passed several churches to get to this one). But I did not want to express my despair. Our daughter-going into seventh grade-was with us in worship, so I asked her what she thought and if anything struck her as odd.

“The moving pictures behind the words as we sang were weird. I couldn’t concentrate.” Fair enough. My wife offered assent to that point. At first I thought I disagreed. I liked the moving pictures and swirling colors and was considering asking our power point guy to look into them. But then I realized, I can remember every swirling design they used yesterday… I can’t remember one song we sang. For those of you (again not many – only four are even reading this) with some say in your power point presentations at church who are considering those pretty swirling designs behind the words, or maybe you already use them, please keep us ADD folk in mind as you design those wonderfully shiny thingies. We’re not looking for blank, just not animated.

“We didn’t need our Bibles.” hmmm. That is true. We ‘worshiped’ Jesus, we heard Jesus’ name once or twice, but we never heard from Jesus.

“The guy didn’t really talk about God. He told us a lot about his family and some stories about other people.” BINGO! It was not a sermon or whatever you need to call it to feel comfortable going to church. It wasn’t a talk about God. God was mentioned once or twice, but it was entirely a story of this man and his family and some of the people he’d met at NC State and UNC. Now, please do not misunderstand my grievance. I like missionary updates as much as the next guy. I like slide shows and Steve Green singing, “People Need the Lord.” But replacing the entire message of God with a talk about your family seems a bit self-centered.

It was only after the service as we were walking to our van on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon that several things struck me. 1. we were still at the beach, on vacation – and that was awesome. 2. I love my church. I love that we love worship in its full expression. I love that we love the Word of God, both read every Sunday and preached. 3. It was the visitors who brought their Bibles to church yesterday… silly us.

The Stirring of a Memory and the Raising of Tabitha July 9, 2008

She was a lovely woman, even in death. He could tell from looking at her that the stories the widows told were true. Her laugh lines, her slight smile still present as she lay there. Peter imagined that if he could see her eyes he would see a compassion and love that would remind him of his friend. He had walked all day from Lydda to get to the Mediterranean town. Even from several miles away he could smell the salt in the air and feel the warm ocean breeze. Joppa was definitely a town he could get used to.

He had barely been in Lydda a few days when the two men found him. The look in their eyes said it all. He had seen the look so many times before – that look of utter despair and loss; that look of someone with hope and yet afraid to hope; faith and yet afraid to admit what they believed possible. He had seen the look many times recently, but mostly he remembered how many times he saw that look when people ran to his master years ago.

When he reached the home, he was struck with the genuine love that the townsfolk had for this woman. More than that, he was struck by the love that this woman seemed to have had for all of them. She never asked how they got into the situations they found themselves. She never sent them away. She never acted like talking to them was beneath her and should be viewed as a very gift in itself. She loved them all. She listened to their stories. She laughed and cried with them. She served them to the day she died. Peter looked at her and at the widows who were weeping, not because they had lost a source of income but because they had lost a friend.

He asked again what her name was, and had they not been weeping they would have heard his gasp. He asked everyone to leave him in the room alone with her. Shutting the door to assure his privacy, Peter burst out laughing and weeping at the same time. Oh, how he missed his master, his friend, his beloved Savior. Who was he that Jesus would entrust him with carrying on this work that he had begun? He was nothing. The men in the temple were right. He was just a common fisherman from Galilee. But he had been changed. He had seen the Savior of the world. He had watched him live and care and love. He had sat under his patient instruction. He watched him die, and saw him alive again, and watched as he returned to his Father’s side. He remembered all of this. But more than these, remembered another warm day and he laughed. He remembered going with John and Jesus into a room where a little girl lay dead on a table. He remembered those simple words that Jesus spoke, “Talitha qum.” “Little girl, get up.”

Who was he to continue this work that his master had begun. He was humbled and amazed and emboldened by God’s grace and his master’s continued subtle sense of humor. He changed one letter. “Tabitha, qum!”

Everyone loves a good mystery July 5, 2008

This week we will be looking at Acts 9-11, specifically at the moments immediately surrounding the advance of the Gospel into the Gentile world.

Paul’s own insight into this advancement is recorded in several letters he wrote to various churches. When he wrote to Ephesians for instance he reminds them, and therefore us, that it is a mystery that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (3.6)”.

Sadly today we seem to have lost some of that mystery. It seems neither mysterious nor new nor exciting to think that Christianity is for more than the Jewish people. In fact, quite the opposite, it would seem that many would say that this is the way it was always meant to be and there is nothing mysterious about that.

Just because it was always God’s plan of mercy to save you however does not change the mystery of it. In fact, God’s planning the mystery from ages past only adds to the mystery.  That the Father from eternity past knew and orchestrated life such that HE would one day sacrifice HIS own Son to save you – who were born not HIS people is a true mystery.  That the Son for eternity knew and accepted and embrace the knowledge that HE would one day veil HIS eternal glory and come to HIS creation as a pauper.  HE would live and move in relative obscurity only to be falsely accused and executed all for the sake of saving you from your own sin is a mystery.  That the Holy Spirit – from eternity – knew and accepted that HE would apply and work out your salvation even as you continue to struggle with and against your own desires to rule your own life is a mystery.

Let us never become unmoved by God’s salvation. Let us never cease from being amazed by God’s grace. May we embrace the mystery of our own salvation and consider the salvation of our neighbors neither something more nor less than the mysterious salvation God brought on each of us.  And as Paul applies this mystery to life let us do the same.  “Let us live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”

And so it begins… July 1, 2008

So many oppinions… so little space.  This blog has been started for two purposes.

1.  So often as I prepare for Sunday there is so much I need to say, so much more I would like to say, and yet still a limited amount of time and absorption ability on any given Sunday morning.  Here I hope to offer applications and rabbit trails that were avoided (Yes, there were some I resisted).  This will also serve as space to begin preparations for Next Sunday.

b.  My wife says I need a hobby.