The Power of God

In his "Gospel Primer," Milton Vincent points out that while the heavens may declare the glory of God there is only one thing that is called the power of God in the Scriptures.  Think about these things for a moment:  A Tsunami sending waves out for thousands of miles in every direction;  a hurricane ripping through an island city, an earthquake or raging forest fire unleashing devastation hard to imagine unless you have seen it or been through it.  We think about the power of our sun, and the stars of the universe moving at speeds and releasing energy beyond what we know how to quantify.  Yet when God wanted to show His limitless power, He did not rely on these things.  He looked to His Son.

Romans 1:16  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

The power of God is shown in God the Son setting aside his glory, coming humble as a frail baby, living as a righteous man, and dying tortuously upon a cross.  All of this willingly to bear our sin that God might be both Just and the justifier of the one who trusts in Him. Then He rose from the grave, leading forth a host of captives to live eternally with the Lord!  This is raw power on display.  Burning suns dim in this light.

1 Corinthians 1:17-18  "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  (18)  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

This powerful life changing gospel can appear to be simplistic and foolish to those who stand opposed to God.  They will look to humanistic solutions to the problems they face in life.  They will lean on their own strength and wealth and provision.  Yet all these things will fail them, because they have no real lasting power.  The gospel of Jesus, however, will carry the believer into eternity.

Ephesians 1:16-20  "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,  (17)  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,  (18)  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  (19)  and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might  (20)  that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,"

I hope and pray that God will give the reader of this post the "Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him." I want you to know the power of God!  

Follow the Leader

I love the Scriptures.  I love when you come to a passage that you have read a thousand times and never "gotten it."  This happens a lot for me, I will humbly...and honestly...admit.  I love the moment when some clarification comes along and the passage opens up and a nugget of truth is revealed.  One of these passages for me was:


Joh 12:20-26  Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  (21)  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  (22)  Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  (23)  And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  (24)  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  (25)  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  (26)  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

This passage always had me scratching my head because it seems like horrible storytelling or Jesus just missed the opportunity in a big way.  What I mean is that thee Greeks come to Jerusalem to worship and they go to Philip, he sounds approachable.  they tell him they want to see Jesus.  Phillip takes their request to Andrew who takes it to the Lord.  Jesus answer then apparently shoots out some other direction like hew never heard the request that was made of him.  He starts talking about his own death and the fruit it will bear, he challenges his followers to do just that...follow him.  I can picture Andrew thinking "so...what should I tell Phillip to tell the Greeks?"  "Is that a yes or no?"

I know that the story is told just as it needs to be told and I know Jesus is not missing anything, so I was praying and asking God to show me how Jesus response is answering the question the Greeks brought to him.  Then, there it was.  Jesus came for the Jews.  Sure, he shared some crumbs that fell from the table to gentiles like these Greeks, but his ministry was to the Jew first.  The gospel has always been  God's promise for all the families of the earth and gives hope to all peoples and nations, but Jesus personal earthly ministry was primarily among the Jewish people.  

His answer then goes something like this.  "It is time for me to be glorified.  That is, to be seen and worshiped by everyone, just like these Greeks.  My glory will be seen amazingly in my suffering and death.  This is the most magnificent display of my glory.  But my death won't be alone, it will like a seed grow up and bear more fruit.  That fruit will also be willing to follow me in suffering and death. IT is those disciples who will be showing Jesus to the Greeks."  The Greeks will be killing Jesus "body" just like the Jews killed Jesus.  In both cases Jesus would be magnified.  

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?  Really?  You realize that to follow Jesus is to chooses a road of suffering.  He did say "If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."  You can't follow Jesus and seek a life of comfort and ease.  "You can't serve God and Mammon."  I think as modern Christians we hear words like that from Jesus and we wouldn't say it out loud but we think "oh yeah, watch me."  We think we can follow Jesus and serve our own desires.  

Here is the call, ringing from the keyboard of a convicted hypocrite...let us follow! Choose the road that requires self denial and crosses.  Let these things seem light and momentary as we 

Grapes of...Grace.

I'm afraid.  I'm also arrogant, so when I saw fear rising up in my six year old daughter (and not myself) I wanted to wage war against it, for her sake, in the word of God.  Let me explain my fear first.  Our church is about to break ground on a building project that is bigger than we can afford.  We have sought the Lord over six years and come to this place, but it almost unraveled at the last minute.  We were denied by our city Planning and Zoning Board.  We appealed to City Council because we felt we had met all the obligations.  The City found in our favor and has allowed us to proceed.  The following day I was confessing to several others that in a way I would have been relieved if the council had voted against us.  We would be back in the safe, comfortable, place of feeling in control.  I didn't recognize my fear.

I was distracted and alarmed instead by the fear my daughter had after my wife found and killed a black widow spider in our back yard.  Now our daughter thinks a spider is under every toy and under every sheet.  We have prayed and sought the Lord and talked about trusting him.  This is all the back story for the grapes, not of wrath but of grace.  I wanted to bless my daughter so I took her to Numbers 13 and we read how twelve spies went out from Israel to look over the promised land.  They found it to be a land flowing (just like the Lord had said) with milk and honey.  They found a cluster of grapes so large it took two men to carry it, and they named the place Eshcol (Bushel of Grapes).

As I continued reading to the response of the people I was already preparing to demonstrate for my daughter the necessity to trust in the Lord even if we are afraid.  The people had seen God's provision but were too afraid to lay hold of it.  But I was unable to get that far.  As I was reading, my two year old son came to me in his distress.  He had reached up onto the dining room table and had taken a grape from his sisters bowl and the grape was now lodged in his esophagus.  Back blows would not dislodge it, he was gasping, we called 911.  Five minutes passed in an eternity before the EMS and Ambulance arrived.  I held him on my lap trying to comfort and calm him as he gasped (successfully) for air in the back of that ambulance.  Then I heard those words from the man who had been instructing me through this process, "it's out."  I turned to see there on my shoulder the now dislodged grape resting there.  A block from the hospital I also saw the the provision of God in the form  of a grape.

My son is fine.  He had aspirated and had pneumonia but I am thankful the Dr.'s at the hospital identified this so we could be treating it.  Then my attention was focused on my own fear.  I was reminded that God is God.  I will not have the air to finish this sentence if God does not uphold me by the word of his power.  He exercises his authority over snow storms, and traffic lights, and black widow spiders, and banks, and grapes.  If you are walking with the Lord and in obedience to Him, "...be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."  He has caught me and my son and my church again and again and again.  I write this post largely because i never want to forget his immeasurable goodness to me.

A Garden, Misery, and Quiet Hope!

I was reading Future Grace by John Piper this morning when a point he made in passing hit me hard.  He pointed out that we sometimes think Adam and Eve lived with and related to God in a very different way than we do.  this may be true in a lot of respects, but He mentions they lived by Gods grace.  They had not existed to do anything to merit God's grace in creating them.  They did not by their own merit deserve to walk with him in the cool of the day, and yet he did relate to them with this gracious kindness.  Likewise they had to take Him by faith.  When he said they would die if they ate from the fruit of the tree... they had to exercise faith.  They didn't know for themselves, they had to trust by faith that God's word was right and true.  This was a remarkable reality to me.  Adam and Eve were created in a relationship that was all of God by grace through faith.

Then the serpent came along with this temptation.  He promised Eve she would be like God "knowing good and evil."  Piper points out that this seems like a desirable thing in our day.  We want to be self determined to define for ourselves what is right and wrong.  Yet, by the Biblical standard there could not have been a worse reality.

I have just finished a study of the book of Judges with my Sunday School class.  It is a difficult book to read.  It is defined like the promise of Satan to Eve, "there was no king in the land, everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  While we are seeing many of the same effects in our nation of such a foolishness, Judges gives a glimpse further down the road.  What results from living as self determined people.  The book describes idolatry, rebellion, homosexuality, rape, murder, genocide, kidnapping.  It is a dark time!  That is what results from "being like God knowing good and evil."  Misery!

And yet, the book of Ruth describes events going on during the time of Judges.  It describes how God  was quietly moving to bring about David and National deliverance; Davids greater son Jesus and eternal spiritual deliverance; and hope for even the individuals suffering unimaginable pains in the midst of it all.  Reader, consider God today.  Consider how you might relate to Him by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Be saved out of the misery of a life of self determined rightness and wrongness and trust that our loving, wise, powerful God really has revealed what is the best way to live. 

Day Five Casper Serve

"Better Than Anything"

Mat 13:44  "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Did you like Broccoli when you were a kid?  O come on, not really.  No one really likes that stuff do they?  I understand that it is good for you, but health benefits aside, it was hard to get down as a little one.  I'm only joking, but you get the idea.  Sometimes we think god is like Broccoli.  We think that while God is good for us he doesn't taste very good.  Consequently we seek after the really great things this life has to offer and maybe, we think, one day we will get around to seeing what God has to offer.  Maybe we will be able to stomach him when we are older.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  There is an old hymn that says it like this "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."  This is absolutely true.  God is not suggesting you choose him over your joy and happiness, he doesn't want you to be so easily satisfied with that which can't really make you happy.

That is the transaction that takes place in this verse.  This man is travelling through a field and in days with no banks, found a treasure hidden there.  He doesn't want to steal it, but wants to gain it legally if it has been forgotten or the owner is dead.  He offers to buy the land, which he does.  In order to have the funds to buy the land though, he has to sell everything else he has.  he stacks up his whole existence against the treasure, and realizes the treasure is more desirable.  He lets go of everything to get it and no buyers remorse here, he goes away with joy.

This is how the Lord is.  He is not only good for you but he tastes good and satisfies.  His invitation to live your life with him is not calling you to choose a life of drudgery over pleasure but a call to enjoy the deepest pleasures we were made for in Him.

Day four Casper Serve

What Are You Afraid Of?

Mar 4:39-41  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  (40)  He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"  (41)  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

The context of this passage takes us to the disciples of Jesus with Jesus in a boat and afraid for their lives in a horrible "man swallowing" storm.  These disciples were no hacks, some of them were fisherman and had been raised on the sea.  They had seems storms like this one, they had lost friends to storms like this one.  They were afraid that they might be the next statistic; "How many has the sea taken this year?" 

Though the boat was heaving and tossing, Jesus was asleep in the stern.  The disciples (like we often do amidst the storms of life) mistake Jesus apparent lack of involvement for a lack of care.  Yet it wasn't that Jesus was uncaring it is that he was unafraid. He stood and spoke and the storm ceased!  Read that last sentence again...seriously. 

Jesus called the disciples away from fear and to faith.  Despite this call, the next thing we read is that the disciples remain in fear.  In fact, they are filled with fear.  Now they are afraid of the man who stood and spoke and the storm ceased.  What manner of man or who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him. They got in that moment a glimpse of Jesus divinity.  In other words they realized they were riding in a boat with God.  They were afraid because God is holy and we are not.  Jesus had come to save them from storms and from sin.

Today consider the Lords hand in your own life.  Are you trusting him in the midst of your circumstances and trying situations?  Have you trusted him to save you from your sins? As you pause for prayer, consider how big God really is.

Taken to the Tool Shed

Day 3 devotion for Casper Serve

Taken to the Tool Shed

Heb 1:3  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

You have been working out under the hot sun for days now.  You have probably had enough sense not to look up and gaze into the brightness of the sun.  If you have done that, you know it's light is blinding.  You feel it's warmth.  The heat of it can actually burn us.  There is an intensity to the sun.  Of course when we say these things we know that what we are calling the sun is not actually the sun but light waves that left the sun approximately 9 seconds ago.  They represent the sun to us.  They carry the light and heat and energy we see and feel.

This is, I think, what is meant by describing Jesus as the radiance of the glory of God.  God shines infinitely brighter than the sun which he created and sustains by the word of his power.  Jesus is the brightness of that holy God that comes to the earth and touches us.  He perfectly represents God to us, he is the exact imprint of his nature.  Jesus would say  "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."  He touches us without consuming us because he made purification for our sins.  That is why he died on the cross, to pay the penalty our sins deserve.

Our devotions this week have been focused on seeing Jesus and his glory.  We have been challenged that "believing is seeing" and we know to look past the hard work of God's people to see the God whom they serve. We give him glory.  Today I want to challenge everyone to take a step forward.  Here's what I mean:

C.S. Lewis wrote a brief article entitled "Meditations from the Tool shed."  He described going into a dark tool shed with a sun ray shining through a knot in the wood.  The light illuminated a shaft of dust particles and protruded into the dark.  Lewis points out how different the experience is when you observe that light as you sit in the darkness from when you step into the light and gaze out the knothole back at the blinding light of the sun. The light is small and unimpressive from the darkness but overwhelmingly intense from within.

It is the same with Jesus.  You may be content to stand on the outside as you gaze at Jesus.  You pass your hand through his light and he seems small.  Today step in to Jesus by faith.  Believe in Him and you will see, his brightness, his glory, his goodness.   

Let 'em see the light!

Day 2 Casper Serve Devotions:

Let 'em see the light!

Mat 5:14-16  "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  (15)  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  (16)  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

This passage is quoted from what is commonly called Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount."  In the same sermon Jesus would later say this Mat 6:1  "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

He is warning in chapter six against the danger of giving, praying, or fasting in such a way as to elevate others view of us.  If we do these things we might receive the reward of their respect and such but will miss the heavenly reward and they will miss the heavenly blessing.  Sure, recognition feels good and it is gratifying to have our sacrifice noticed and appreciated.  Yet we are a peculiar people.  We are a people who labor as unto the Lord.  We are not seeking the applause and approval of others. We seek the reward that awaits us, the reward that the good Lord deems us worthy of, in Him.

This does not mean we must not be seen serving, giving, praying, or fasting.  It means we must do these things in such a way that people who are watching us are not so much impressed with us as they are with the God we are serving.  The Lord shines in the life of his people, not just to enlighten them, but through them to shine his light into this dark world.

Let us labor today with a recognition that we are pointing to the Lord in this labor.  Let us point every praise past ourselves to the God whom we serve.  Look at that crew your working with and look past them to the God who brought them

to work shoulder to shoulder with you today.  Let their faithfulness bring you even in this moment to appreciate and worship the Lord.  Labor this afternoon in such a way as to help them look right past you to the glorious Lord. 

Remember "If you Believe, you will see…"

Today's devotional for the "Casper Serve" Ministry:

Believing is Seeing

John 11:40  Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

You have probably heard it said "seeing is believing."  Some things are so hard to grasp or wrap our minds around that we are unwilling to accept them unless we have seen them for ourselves.  We will be unable to accept certain truths as reality until we have personally witnessed them for ourselves.  Some people approach God this way.  They say, "I won't believe unless he shows himself to me or if he will audibly speak to me.  When I see his power displayed in a helpful way in my life , then and only then, will I believe."  Seeing is believing.

Jesus has a way of turning things upside down.  In John 11 he completely turns that idea on its head.  He says Believing is Seeing.  The chapter begins with Jesus being told that his good friend Lazarus is ill.  Though he has healed many, Jesus delays several days before travelling to be where Lazarus has by that time died.  Jesus arrives to minister to Lazarus' grieving sisters. He promises them hope and life eternal and he is going to demonstrate that life by raising Lazarus from the tomb.  When he commands those standing near to remove the stone from the grave, Lazarus' sister Martha objects "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."  That's when Jesus says it: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

The crazy thing is that everyone standing around witnessed what happened next, but they did not all see the same thing.  They all witnessed Jesus pray and command "Lazarus, come out." Everyone witnessed a man who was dead walk from his grave.

What they saw though, is revealed in John 11:45-46  "Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,  (46)  but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."  Some witnessed the miracle and believing saw Jesus as worthy of their faith. Others witnessed the same miracle but unbelieving saw a troublemaker who need to be reported to the religious leaders.

This week our aim is to see the Lord Jesus Christ exalted in our community.  We will all witness houses being repaired and restored by volunteers.  Please don't miss it though. I hope that is not all you see.   Lift your eyes up to see the Lord glorified in what he is doing in this work.  He is glorious.  Believe in him that you might see him like you have never seen him before.  Realize that he is providing for his those he loves, both those receiving the labor and those doing it.  He is demonstrating that He is enough!  Believe, See, Trust, worship!  

We may not like them but we're glad they're there!

I am reading Jerry Bridges "Respectable Sins."  I think this book deserves consideration from everyone in the church.  This book has really caused me to ponder sin within my own life.  It is easy to spot in others, that's for sure, but we don't easily see sin hidden in our midst.  Jesus told us to be aware of the log hanging out of our own eye before dealing with the speck in another's.  That is a scary word for me.  I realize that I have the tendency to minimize my own sin, and though it is glaring at me like a huge log hanging out of the front of my face, I can be completely oblivious to it while looking at others failures.  We tend to look at the sins of others through a telescope.  It makes even the smallest sin look huge.  Then we turn the telescope around and look at the vague image of sin at the other end and feel really good about ourselves.

It is easy for us as Christians to hide our little sins behind the massive sins of others.  Our gossip is tolerable when held next to the other guys adultery.  Our worry and anxiety is harmless next to the homosexual sin in our community.  I don't have to address the ungodliness in my own life as long as I decry the sin in your life loudly enough.  But this is not the gospel.  The gospel is for sinners.


Luke 18:10-14  "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  (11)  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  (12)  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'  (13)  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'  (14)  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

So there is hope for the adulterer and the homosexual.  Equally there is hope for the gossip and godless.  That hope is that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  We all come to Christ the same way, "nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling."  

Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord.

If you had been born blind and could ask God to see something...what would you ask him to be able to gaze upon? 

Apostles, Believers, and Sinners

John the Baptist declared his view of himself as compared to Christ with the famous words "He must increase, but I must decrease."  He saw a need to esteem himself with less honor and Christ with increasing honor.  I think this is the natural flow in the Christian life.  Not just as we compare ourselves with Christ but as we consider ourselves at all.  The more mature you grow with Christ the more aware you become of the deceitfulness of sin and you realize how truly dark the darkness was that Christ shone in upon.  You begin to recognize the dryness of the bones that Jesus breathed life into.  This is humbling,,,and it is healthy.... and it is good.

Consider the Apostle Paul.  We would all esteem him very highly, I assume.  See how he esteemed himself as he matured in the faith.  Below are three verses, all written by Paul,with the approximate date they were written:

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (53-55a.d.)
Eph 3:8  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (62a.d.)
1Ti 1:15  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (64-65a.d.)

Paul considered himself least of the Apostles, then least of all believers, then as foremost of sinners.

I encourage you to esteem yourself as God does.  Not to make you feel guilty and sad but that you would really appreciate the goodness of Jesus.

How Much Do You Love Her? Him?

While providing premarital counseling to a couple before marrying them we look at the Biblical expectations  in a marriage.  I love the day when we come to the question that I pose to the prospective groom, "If given the opportunity to save the life of your bride, even though you know it will cost you your own life, would you do it?"  My question follows the Biblical instructions for "husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life..."  I have asked this question dozens of times to dozens of grooms and I have never had anyone even hesitate a little bit before answering in the absolute affirmative.  "Of course I would die for her!"  I will then ask them, "Are you sure she is a person worthy of the ultimate sacrifice of your very life?"  "Yes, I would lay down my life for this woman" he will respond.  I then charge him to remember that when he is arguing over some lesser sacrifice that marriage to this woman is going to require of him.  I charge him to consider that saying you would die for someone and even giving your life up for them (I assume) is easier than living day after day and year after year like you believe that to be true.

That can be true of our walk with Jesus Christ as well.  As I mentioned in yesterdays blog I was looking Sunday at Stephen and his brutal death by stoning in Acts chapter 7.  We have a few short verses that bring his life into view and hold his death in perspective.  He is described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.  He was a man full of grace and power.  The church had entrusted him with the distribution of resources among the widows and he did this while teaching in the Greek speaking synagogue(s) and performing miraculous signs and wonders.  He was a man of wisdom, courage, endurance.  I am convinced that Stephen was able to follow the Lord into death because he had followed him in life.

Do you recognize the call that Jesus has placed on your life?  Do you remember that to follow him is going to mean denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following him?  There are many many Christians losing their lives today for their faith in Jesus Christ.  They are living their lives in such a way as to warrant that death.  At least consider this reality today as you decide how you will live this day.  Redeem the time, the days are evil!

Joseph Salvation is Jesus Salvation

I taught last Sunday on Acts 7.  We read and discussed the declaration Stephen made before the high priest before he was brutally stoned to death for preaching and healing in Jesus name.  I was amazed to consider the address he gave.  In it he mentions Abraham, who walked faithfully with God thought he never had a place to worship.  He mentions Moses who was rejected and the law he wrote down was also rejected.  Before Moses though, Stephen mentions Joseph.  He doesn't give the whole account of Josephs life but he gives enough to communicate this thought:  Joseph was rejected by the Patriarchs.  The Fathers had sold him as a slave into Egypt.  Yet God used the rejected son to bring salvation upon the chosen people and the other nations.

I think it is meaningful to realize that Stephen is talking to the very same men who had falsely and murderously killed Jesus.  The Israelite leadership had rejected the one God sent to them.  And yet, salvation is still available for them through the very one they had up to this point rejected.  Salvation is still not out of reach for those who had plotted against Jesus.  If they would turn to him even now, they could be saved.

It was not to be though.  They ground their teethe together in a rage shoved their fingers in their ears and led Stephen out of the city.  There they brutalized him with stones.  He died gazing into heaven and was received by the Lord Jesus even as he prayed for the forgiveness of those in the act of stoning him.

I don't know who reads blogs like this one.  My hope is that someone might read this who has rejected Christ, even violently at times.  My hope is that you would unstop your ears, lay down your anger, bring your guilt and sin before the perfect savior and be washed clean. 

What is that to you?

After Jesus' crucifixion and Resurrection he appeared on many occasions to the apostles and others.  On one such occasion Peter was asking him about his plan for the apostle John.  We read the response in John 21:22  "Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"" Not long ago I was listening to a sermon by Douglas Wilson in which he made the statement about the value of the "What is that to you?" doctrine.  It has sparked my thinking.  Where does "What is that to you?" rub up against "Am I my brothers keeper?"

Both seem to say the same thing.  Both statements teach me to mind my own business and follow Jesus myself...or do they?  One is a God ordained self control and the other is a self ordained shirking of responsibility.  We can walk with one another with a balance can't we?  I can respond to my brother in obedience to (Gal 6:1) "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted."  This does not mean I am the morality police and I should be watching for your sin so I can deal with it. I should not be trying to insert my preferences to the call God has placed on your life.  Can't we see (Rom 14:4)  "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

This can be difficult.  I don't want to walk in an uncaring "Am I my brothers keeper?" way.  Yet God does call us to walk with others in a delicately balanced "What is that to you?" kind of way.

Radiant Glory!

It is on cold snowy Wyoming days that I really start to think about the warmth of the sun.  When you are standing out in the sun, feeling the warmth, seeing it's light, are you ever tempted to over analyze the moment?  I'm kind of a nerd, so I start to think about things like "Am I enjoying the warmth and light of the sun or am I enjoying the warmth and the light of the rays that have traveled in a little over 8 seconds from the sun to the earth?"  The obvious answer is... Yes.  The rays of the sun are the sun.  They are the only way that I can interact with the sun.  They perfectly represent the sun to me. The rays are the radiance of the sun.

This imagery really helps me understand what is being said about Jesus in Hebrews 1:3  "He is the radiance of the glory of God..."  Jesus is the only way for us to interact with God and he says so in John 14:6.  He is so connected to the Father that to know him is to know the father and to see him is to see the father.  To feel the warmth and see the light of Jesus is to feel the warmth and see the light of the Father.

A few weeks ago I was really entertained to watch my four year old daughter examining a ray of light shining into our living room and illuminating a column of dust particles floating about in the air.  Try as she may, she was unable to catch one or at least to make visual confirmation of her success.  That reminded me of C.S. Lewis illustration of the dark shed with such a light coming through a crack in the wood.  He mentions that many people are content to to experience Jesus like we experience that ray of light.  We sit on the outside and are amused for a while at what it illuminates in the darkness but are never really able to lay hold of it or to understand it.  If, however, you will get in the light and turn to look at its source, the glory of the sun will be blinding.  Similarly, if we will get in Jesus personally and follow him back to the Father, you will be amazed at the brightness of His intense glory.

My hope and prayer for the reader of this blog is that you will not be content with running your hand through the beam of light, but that you would come into Jesus and look back to the Father through him today.  May God blind you with his glory, you won't need to see anything else again.

God's Image.

Tonight I will be teaching on the creation of man.  I am again excited to consider what it means for us that Man is created in the image of God.  A lot of discussion is given to what that means, does it refer to our intellectual ability, moral purity, spiritual existence, or authority over creation? I am persuaded that it means we are like God in all the ways we are like him.  Insightful, I know.  What I mean is that Gen 5:3 says that Seth was in the image and likeness of Adam.  Seth wasn't identical to Adam but he was a lot like him.  Anytime Seth laughed at the same jokes or expressed the same interests, with the similarities in  the appearance in these ways he was like his Dad.

So here we are.  Marred by sin, though still image bearers.  In a lot of ways we don't represent God well, but in our holiness and righteousness, in our creativity and intelligence, in our spiritual pursuit we shine the light on the one who made us in his own image.  It is incredible to think when you are hiking in the woods or enjoying that view from the peak, when you gaze into the starry sky and see the Milky Way, or when you see the nature show on the depths of the ocean;  God made all of that and then when he wanted to make something a little more like himself he made Man.

This should not only affect the way you esteem yourself.  It should dramatically impact the way you view the other people in your life.  It should impact your politics toward the unborn, aged, poor, and disabled.  It should impact you to the core of who you are!

How is your walk?

Do you speak "christianese?"  If you don't, let me explain that the question "How's your walk?" is shorthand for me getting all up in your "bidness."  This is the shorthand way of asking about the day to day relationship with the Lord.  It really is an appropriate way of stating the question.  Our relationship with God is not stagnant; it is going somewhere.  The Bible uses this terminology a lot.  Look at the lengthy list below:

Walk in Light

1Jn 1:6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  

Eph 5:8  for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Joh 12:35  So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

Joh 8:12  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Worthy Manner

1Th 2:12  we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Col 1:10  so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Eph 4:1  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Faith

2Co 5:7  for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Rom 4:12  and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised

  

Love

Eph 5:2  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Newness of Life

Rom 6:4  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Obedience

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Rom 13:13  Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

With and Like Christ

1Jn 2:6  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Col 2:6  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

Zec 10:12  I will make them strong in the LORD, and they shall walk in his name," declares the LORD.

Mic 4:5  For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

Spirit

Gal 5:16  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Gal 5:25  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Rom 8:4  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Example

Php 3:17  Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Php 3:18  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Humbly

Mic 6:8  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Dan 4:37  Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

The walk with God is not a slow stroll either.  Sometimes that relationship is compared to a run:

Run

Heb 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Php 2:16  holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

1Co 9:24  Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

1Co 9:26  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

So, after all that, how's your walk?  I suspect their is room for discouragement.  that is not my intent.  I hope you like me are challenged to walk all these ways but also be helped by this quote From John Piper from his book "Bloodlines" - "If you wait until your shortcomings are remedied, your dreams will die. All our advances are with a limp."

Limp, walk, run...lets get on with it.

Jesus- Dragon Slayer

In the last week or so I have heard several sermons on the radio and in my own church about Satan and demons.  I have had multiple conversations on the topic in recent days. I think this is interesting because it is not a topic I typically talk a lot about.  Again and again though, it has come into my path.

The Bible is not unclear that Satan exists.  He is described as the liar, murderer, accuser, deceiver, dragon.  He is obviously engaged in a spiritual battle that we can't see but effects us every day.  I want to share just a few words today to acknowledge that we as Christians need to embrace the reality of this truth without shame.  This is another of those places where secularists in our society would rather laugh at our "foolishness" than actually talk about reality.  Christians as a result find themselves apologizing for believing in such a foolish notion.  We mustn't feel that way.  Again, the wisdom of God, the Bible, is not unclear on the issue.

On the other hand, many Christians begin to look for Satan everywhere and attribute to him God-like qualities.  I have heard Christians praying to Satan, yes praying to Satan, as they "bind" him cast him away.  This is also unhealthy and dangerous, and blasphemous.  So how should we think about the devil?

I like to think of him in the terms of David and Goliath.  What?  I don't mean we are David and we will slay the giant.  No, I mean that Goliath represented Satan and David was fulfilled in Jesus.  When David had taken off the head of Goliath he took his armor back and hung it up for display in his tent.  (I assume it was for display...hard to use the armor of a giant on oneself.)  1Sam 17:54  And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.  Where is Satan's armor?

Well, when Adam and Eve fell and God's curse was brought against them, he pointed to the seed of woman who would have his heel struck by the serpent but he would crush its head.  Jesus came and did just that.  He was bruised, but he crushed the head of the serpent.  The thought that Satan is defeated and his armor is in Jesus tent gives me a great hope.I do not tremble at the thought of Satan or his legions.  I rely on the one who has defeated them.  He may strike out like a wounded animal now, but the chains have already been prepared for him.

Let me encourage you to find your peace in the dragon slaying Jesus Christ as well!

Are you a radical or disobedient?

"Jesus calls us to a radical life, so you are either living radically or disobediently."  This was a statement I made teaching Acts chapter 4 in Sunday School last week.  Ever make a statement while teaching and then think about whether it is a true statement or not?  I hate that feeling.  Little late to be working that out now...should have asked that before the lesson.  Sometimes though, things just come unscripted, and there they are.  That is what this statement was to me.  I still think this statement is true.  Luke 9:23-24:  And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  (24)  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

The thing that made me question the first statement I made is the fact that it seems to be a condemnation on the christian walk for myself, many friends and family, and millions of church goers.  Am I living in disobedience to Jesus call on my life if I am not living radically?  Yes!  This was understood by those who walked with Jesus...read Acts chapter 4.  (all of Acts actually) James said it this way, "friendship with the world is enmity with God."  If we are not living counter culturally, then we are living counter Godly.  It's not just James, read Paul's charge: 


1Co 4:9-16  For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.  (10)  We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.  (11)  To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,  (12)  and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;  (13)  when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.  (14)  I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.  (15)  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  (16)  I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

He is exhorting the Corinthian believers who are living wise, strong, honored lives.  They have plenty to eat and drink and wear.  They have homes to live in and protect them from the elements.  Their work provides for themselves and their families needs.  They face little persecution for the sake of Christ and when someone speaks ill of them there is a level of indignation.  They are not really treated all that badly by the unbelieving world.  What in that description does not apply to me and to you?  Paul acknowledges that they have a lot of teachers telling them a lot of things.  There are some who teach that this is the way you should live.  "You are a child of the king so live like a prince."  These teachers failed to see the Prince, and hear his call.  Paul says imitate me!  Be like me, be thought foolish, weak, and with a bad reputation.  Go where you may not have food and drink and clothes.  Let your work provide for the needs of ministry not just blessing your family.  Be persecuted and slandered and all the while bless and pray for those mistreating you.  Don't be a friend of the world

but a friend of God.

Imitate Paul as he imitates Christ.  That is the life Christ chose.  Chose!  He didn't have to live that way.  Neither did Paul, or James or anyone else.  They chose to follow Jesus.  He told them up front that to follow him would mean self denial and taking up death. I don't want to just accept this hard life if it comes upon me, I want to choose it.  Lord please rescue me from the disobedience of living like I can love God and mammon.  Let me love you!  Free me to live a radical life!