Advent Week Two

He is Lord!  

I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted him to do, and we should be obliged if he would leave us alone. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what he intended us to be when he made us...

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.

But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of -- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.

You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself. (CS Lewis)

You call Me Master and obey me not,

You call Me Light and see me not,

You call Me way and follow me not

You call Me Life and desire me not,

You call Me wise and acknowledge me not,

You call Me fair and love me not,

You  call Me rich and ask me not,

You call Me eternal and seek me not,

You call Me gracious and trust me not,

You call Me Noble and serve me not,

You call Me mighty and honor me not,

You call Me just and fear me not,

If I condemn you, blame me not.

You call Me Master and obey me not!

Who is really in charge of your life and your daily decisions? You or Jesus? If He is Lord then we must live in submission to His will and His plan for our lives. We must pray daily like Jesus prayed in the garden, "I want your will to be done, not mine." Luke 22:42 

Advent Week One

Our Advent theme this week in the Long-Expected Jesus (Nazarene Publishing House) devotion book is "He is Coming".  We focus on the reality that just as Jesus came to earth as a baby boy in Bethlehem we believe in the reality that Jesus will come again.  Paul wrote the church church in Corinth - Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:7NLT)  Some simple lessons from this verse!

1. We are called to be prepared by gaining every spiritual gift God has for us in our lives.  If we want to be ready and prepared for Christ return or for Christ to show up in our lives when we are willing to seek the Holy Spirit.  Most of us don't like being caught unprepared in our lives.  School work undone, work presentation not completed, people showing up at your house and turkey still frozen... the list goes on for times when we don't not being prepared.  Spiritually we want to be prepared!  Growing in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives!  Connected with Christ in a way we are comfortable when He shows up!

2. When we are prepared we eagerly wait for Jesus to return.  There can be a great since of anticipation when Jesus shows up in our lives or when Jesus comes to restore the world to its proper order.  We don't have to live in fear of those moments.  We don't have to be embarrassed that we caught off guard.  We can live eargerly longing and waiting for Jesus.  

For 400 years the people of Israel lived without hearing from God.  No prophet spoke to the people.  No glory of God came down on the temple in Jerusalem.  They waiting for a Messiah to come.  When the Messiah did come the people of God where not prepared to receive Jesus.  We are honored to live in a day when the Holy Spirit of God dwells in our heart and His Spirit can help us live connected with God and prepared for Jesus to show up in our lives or in the world! 

Thankful for Adversity

In the sermon Sunday morning (November 5, 2017) I talked about having a growth mindset and embracing challenges of life.  God sometimes helps me to practice what I preach!  With some news of set backs and challenges on Monday morning I went to the Lord in prayer with a "Why me?" attitude mixed with a "revenge" attitude.  Whining about people's choices and practicing my "if I have the opportunity to speak..."  God subtilly reminded me of embracing the challenges!  Finding the good that God is wanting to work through the struggles that I face and the circumstances I can't control.  Reminding me that every person is created in the image of God and many I deal with are children of God just like me and God loves them just as much as He loves me.  

Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep in perfect peace  all who trust in you,

    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.

Today and everyday I long for the peace of God that comes from trusting Him over my circumstances and my setbacks.  I want to so completely trust God that I can look for His working in challenges before I start complaining and seeking revenge.  That my heart of peace would be full of thanksgiving to my Rock!

The proverb reminds me I must keep my thoughts fixed on God.  It is so easy to look to the left or to the right for comfort or escape; but what I need the most is to continue to look straight at the God who is my Rock!

Henri Nouwen Words On Peace

When we gather around the table and eat from the same loaf and drink from the same cup, we are most vulnerable to one another. We cannot have a meal together in peace with guns hanging over our shoulders and pistols attached to our belts. When we break bread together we leave our arms - whether they are physical or mental - at the door and enter into a place of mutual vulnerability and trust.

    The beauty of the Eucharist is precisely that it is the place where a vulnerable God invites vulnerable people to come together in a peaceful meal. When we break bread and give it to each other, fear vanishes and God becomes very close.

Henri Nouwen, Daily Meditation

Mysteries Revealed

Daniel 2:28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Daniel is getting ready to let King Nebuchadnezzar know the dream that the king had received and what the dream means.  But before he does "the reveal" he makes sure the king understands that Daniel's insight and wisdom is not his own, but comes from the Lord.

What type of mysteries might God want to reveal to us today?  If God is the same today as He has always been then it makes since that God might want to reveal some mysteries of our day to the people of God.  Why is it today that we don't anticipate God to reveal to His followers anything about the mysteries of the world today?

1. Dreams seem so unreliable to us we tend to not trust them as a way God reveals mysteries to people.

2. We expect science and the scientific method to be the only reliable source for revelation of mysteries.

3. We have had too many people say they know mysteries and then are proven wrong, so we shy away from believing God still works in this way.  (Example - the world is going to end on January first 2000 was a prediction that didn't stand the test of time)

4. Mysteries revealed seems to "out there" type of religion.  That is only for the religious fanatics!

Whatever our reasoning might be, the reality is that much of the Bible must be tossed out or counted as unreliable if we don't deal with God revealing Himself and realities of life through dreams.  There are significant times when God revealed Himself to people in dreams - Jacob, Daniel, Mary, Joseph and Peter - just to name a few.

A good way to filter our dreams is to use the Wesleyan Quarderlateral - do our dreams pass the test of:
Scripture  is it consistant with the Word of God?   Predictions of the end of the world are not consistent with God's word saying "no one knows the times")
Tradition -Does what God reveal to us consistent with how God has revealed Himself in the past to others?  
Reason - is it reasonable what God is revealing to us?  Many times we see reason as anti-faith, but the reality is our minds are God given and God created.
Experience - is there an authenticity of the experience in your heart? God speaks to the human heart and if we are connected with the Holy Spirit in our hearts we can desern what is real and authentic.

What might God want to reveal to you?  What mysteries might He want you to know?  Paul found out what decision to make on a missionary journey through a dream.  Peter found out God wanted him to visit a Gentile's home through a dream.  Are we listening to God speak in all ways He might be trying to communicate to us?  Dream on!

Freedom and Obedience

Freedom and obedience are incredibly balanced and displayed in the life and the words of Jesus.  Jesus understands that he is free in that he has the power of choice!  To truly believe Jesus was fully human means that he had the ability to choose to follow God's will and plan for his life or to do his own thing.  Jesus also was divine and so he realized he had power to do miracles and could have tried to rescue the world in a different way than the Father had in mind.  But Jesus kept his humanity and his divinity in check and lived out obedience to the Father and the will of the Father.  Jesus willingly laid down his life to rescue all those who would believe in Him! Jesus words describe this so beautifully: 

John 10:17-18 (NLT)  “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.  No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

The question for those who follow the way of Jesus today is can we continue to live out the example of Jesus?  Can I learn to live in freedom and obedience? Understanding freedom is not a selfish concept but rather knowing that I do have the freedom of choice and free will in my life, but I choose daily to surrender to the will of the Father.  

God has been leading me on this journey about my own daily rhythms of spiritual living.  Teaching me about morning prayers and evening prayers with some more structure to develop more healthy spiritual rhythms in my journey. I am working on more reflection on my day and the work of the Holy Spirit in my life - 2 Simple questions for reflection on the day: 
  1. How did I partner with the Holy Spirit today to do the will of the Lord? 
  2. How did I resist the Holy Spirit today and hinder the willl of the Lord? 

Two Types of Wisdom

Truth and knowledge come to us ultimately from the Lord!  All truth in the world is from God because God is truth!  In a Wesleyan Theology Class material that I was teaching from the question was asked would you rather have a really smart, excellent brain surgeon who was an atheist or a fairly intelligent, mediocre brain surgeon who is a Christian? 

So there must be something beyond truth that matters and the book of James describe it as two types of wisdom.  Truth and knowledge are available to all but wisdom is what you do with the truth and how you apply truth to your life.  

James 3:13-15 13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

Godly wisdom leads us to living an honorable life of doing good works in a humble way!!  

Worldly wisdom leads us to living bitterly jealous lives full of selfish ambition.  We end up boasting about our knowledge and not being truthful.  We end up being jealous and selfish! 

If we take an honest look at our lives in this moment - which of these wisdom's are we more like?  How can me move closer to a Godly wisdom in our lives on a regular basis?  

Seasoned with Salt

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6 NIV) 

Paul is reminding the church that it is essential that we pray and live in such a way that we will impact people around us with the Good News of Jesus!  It is so important how we live our lives because people won't want to hear a word we say when our actions are inconsistent with our message!  

Then there are our words!  Do our everyday conversations add flavor and goodness to life?  I know for my own journey I continue to work on two areas of my tongue - 

1. Sarcasm is a negative humor that I resort to a times when I am trying to hide my true feelings. Often the flavor of sarcasm is more like the flavor of habanero peppers instead of salt.  Sarcasm is rarely full of grace and it seldom has an answer that people are looking for in my words.  

2. Harshness in my responses when I get pushed in a corner.  I continue to work on this reality that when I don't communicate well with people in the first place - that I will allow things to build up and  "BAM" some pretty harsh word can come out of my mouth.  I am sure my wife and family know this more than the rest of the world.  I can usually see the reasons for these outburst along with failing to communicate up front and they are things like lack of sleep and stress that cause these words to come out when I wish they wouldn't have been said.  

Evaluate your conversations today - are your word like a seasoning salt that brings flavor or are they more like habanero's that bring pain?  

Epaphras the Wrestler

Are you ready to RUMBLE? Epaphras was a true wrestler!  He is a man mentioned by Paul in the book of Colossians.  He was originally from Colossae and ended up traveling with Paul on his journeys to churches.  

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

Paul writes that Epaphras is always wrestling in prayer for the people of Colossae!  If Paul knew us would he describe our prayer life like a wrestling match or formal dinner party?  Epaphras wrestled with God in prayer!  He was praying like it mattered and like his prayers where making a difference in the lives of the church in Colossae!  

Paul writes that he prayed the church would "stand firm in all the will of God".  Following the will of God is not always easy.  Many times it seems easier to give in and just go with the flow of the culture instead of standing up! We need to pray for each other and encourage each other to stand firm in our faith and never give up or give in!

Epaphras prays that the people would mature in their faith!  Our faith should be developing and maturing over the days of our lives.  The difficult days and the hardships should help us mature in our faith and not destroy our faith.  Faith that is matured is not less risky, but more risky as we learn to trust in God and His power more!  

Finally Epaphras prayed for the church to be fully assured in their faith.  In our immaturity we often doubt God and our own faith.  We get tossed here and their by the circumstances that we face.  What a great place to be when we can be fully assured of God in our faith!  

Be like Epaphras and wrestle with God for the Body of Christ you belong to and for the Body of Christ as a whole!  

Grumbling and Arguing

Ephesians 2:14-16a  Do everything without grumbling or arguing,  so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. 

Wow!  Talk about a scripture teaching that I fall miserably short of the goal!  Do everything?  I can see doing church work and serving God without grumbling, but really, everything?  That is a tall order and a beautiful goal I fall short of too often.  I grumble at God, my family, my friends and even complete strangers if they have a listening ear.  I can grumble about the weather, my sports teams losing, decisions of people I don't like, people who don't like me, why God didn't work like I wanted him to work, etc, etc...  

Paul writes if I want to be pure and blameless - I need to understand this concept of no grumbling.  I believe the converse is to understand and have a heart full of gratitude and praise to God!  The more I can focus on the good God is doing and the good work God is doing around me the more I can focus on God!  The more I focus on God the more I become transformed into the image of Christ!  The more I know Christ and the more Jesus people see in me the more I stand out in the sea of complaining and gripping!  

I can shine like a star in a dark world!  If we want to stand out in our world that is warped and crooked, we must understand this concept of not grumbling. Living in a warped and crooked world is not an excuse to grumble!  God is fully aware of the world around us and the darkness that we live in but God is still reminding us to live above the worlds standard and live like Jesus!  

How is your life shining in the darkness today?  Would your light shine brighter if you were more positive and more honoring of God in EVERYTHING?  

Citizens

That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God's people and members of God's family.  (Ephesians 2:19 God's Word Translation)

There are two groups Paul is addressing in his letter to the Ephesians.  One group was a group of Jews who grew up with the understanding that they were on God's team.  They were the insiders and members of the elite group of God's chosen people.  They had the promises of God on their side.  Then there was another group of people who were not Jewish.  They had come from many different traditions and backgrounds but had found something incredible in Christ!

Paul is reminding the Jews that the non-Jews are now citizens!  They are now on equal ground with the Jews!  This is a hard concept for people when they have been told they are special all their lives and now God seems to be changing their world view.

Paul is reminding the non-Jews that they are citizens!  Now there is a way for all people to have the promises of God and become God's chosen people.  These new citizens of the Kingdom of God need to believe they are on equal ground with the Jews spiritually.

Although the dynamics of people are a little different today, I find the patterns of thinking are still similar today.

The Jewish Mindset
   - the in church crowd sees themselves as superior to the non-Christian groups of people in our culture
   - superiority mindsets lead to many negative behaviors such as lack of compassion, lack of concern, lack of prayer, lack of gratitude
   - people putting down others to make them feel better about themselves

The Non-Jewish Mindset 
   - some people fail to recognize our position in good standing with God and the Kingdom of God and so we sell ourselves short
   - we act like we are beggars in the Kingdom when we are really sons and daughters of the King
   - we need to be reminded of our place in the Kingdom because of the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit

We who follow Christ and are joined together with His Spirit are Citizens of the Kingdom of God!  We have many rights and obligations because we are citizens!  But we can't forget the reality that we are part of the Kingdom to serve others and reach out to those around us who have not yet become Citizens with us!

Extra Mile

As I was reading the account of Jesus crucifixion the other day in Matthew 27 the verse of Simon from Cyrene stuck out to me.  I thought about this unknown and unsuspecting character who became famous for carrying the cross of Jesus. 

32 Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 
Matthew 27:32

Simon was forced to carry the cross and because of the Roman law we know that a Roman soldier could force any non-Roman citizen to carry his baggage for a mile.  So no one was surprise when Simon was asked to carry the cross. Simon didn't have a choice in the matter, he knew the law and did what was asked of him. I am pretty confident at that moment that Simon was not thinking, "Wow, what an opportunity for me to take my place in history and be remembered as the guy who carried the cross for Jesus!"  He was forced to carry the cross and we recognize his contribution to the historical event even today.  

Then I remembered the teaching of Jesus when he said, "If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles."   (Matthew 5:41) Just think if Simon was honored by carrying Jesus' cross because he was forced to carry it, how much more will we be honored if we choose to carry the Roman soldier's baggage two miles.  What does that look like today? 

- when someone who has a need we can meet we don't just do the minimal, we do the extravagant
- when someone needs a new pair of pants we buy them two
- when someone needs someone to talk to we schedule a second opportunity to meet with them

In our busy lives we tend to do the minimum and hope it is enough, but Jesus says go the extra mile!   

Steal the Hearts of People

In 2 Samuel 15 we can read that one of the consequences of King David's sin was the rebellion of his son Absalom.  Vs. 13 says a messenger came and told David, "The hears of the men of Israel are with Absalom."

Absalom was able to steal the hearts of the people of Israel through -
1. Hard work - he got up early every morning and went and met with people
2. Deception - he would tell people what they wanted to hear so they would believe that he cared about them when David did not
3. Empowerment - Absalom empowered people to believe he would solve their problems if he was in control.
4. False humility - Absalom would not allow people to bow down to him, but he we reach out to them and honor and kiss them.

Jesus warned his disciples many years later - Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus answered, "Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name claiming, "I am the Christ, and will deceive many."  And continues in vs. 24 - For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible.

In our spiritual journey there will be many things that try to steal your heart!  God has created a new spiritual heart within us and the enemy so hates the new life in you, he will do whatever he can to rob you of the joy of the Lord!

I often say that the enemy is not all that creative.  He keeps doing the same things to try and trip us up.  Absalom used deception, half truths, false humility and many of the same old tricks of the enemy.  I was reminded by a friend though that said, the enemy might not be that creative but he is crafty!

Above all else guard your hearts from the enemy that is trying to steal your heart!

Life Rocks when We are Living Rocks

Peter called Jesus the living Cornerstone and his true follower are living rocks.  Basically saying that life rocks when we are living rocks!  

1 Peter 2:4-5 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests.Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 

Life doesn't seem to rock when we are rejected by people - I am painfully aware of my need to be loved and accepted in my life.  As much as I wished I was an island and I could stand alone - the sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me... the reality is rejection is difficult because one of our huge human needs is acceptance.  But God knows rejection is part of life and so we might as well get ready for it and be prepared for rejection when it comes.  The life giving part of rejection is our connection with Christ.  When we are rejected because of of our association with Him, then we can know He is with us and we can know He is fighting for us.  Of course when I am rejected because of my own selfish and sinful decisions, that may be a different reaction from Jesus.  

We are being built into a spiritual temple - When we are alive in Christ, He is building us up together to make something that honors God.  We become a place to worship and honor God.   When we get feeling like our lives are lacking purpose and meaning, we can repeat this passage to ourselves - I am a part of God's spiritual temple. If God is building it, it is awesome!

We are holy priest - as living stones who are part of God's spiritual temple our role is to be a priest.  We get to help other people have a connection with the awesome God who has brought us spiritual life.  We were just dead stones - hard hearts - cold living - spiritually dead.  Now we are ALIVE and we can help other people experience life in Christ.  

We offer sacrifices to God that He finds pleasing - When we take time to meditate on Christ and to connect with Him through scripture and prayer, we are offering God a sacrifice.  A pleasing sacrifice!  I think too often we see our lives and our existence as a lousy sacrifice that God surely isn't please with because we could always do better or more.  But God knows our hearts and is pleased not because the world thinks our sacrifice is great, but because form our hearts we honor God. 

Keep Living Real Life in Christ!