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Yes, the Zombies Will Come

May 9, 2019 /
Face in the trees

Dear Friends,

Why do we need Sabbath rest? Because a zombie apocalypse is coming and we had better be ready for it. If we all knew in the months ahead our city was going to be overrun by zombies we would begin today to prepare for it. We would take up an extensive running training regimen and we would give our neighbor lost of ice cream and chips (just as an insurance to make sure we could outrun them). Only a fool, or our neighbor, would not make plans to escape. Engaging in the weekly rhythm of Sabbath is preparation for when those moments of stress, worry, brokenness, weariness, sickness, running, and confusion come. We all will have those times. We can’t avoid being human and the human condition, but we can be prepared for when it does come.

Last week, with the return of The Milk Can, we started a series of posts on the need for Sabbath rest in our lives. The week continues our pondering on our need for rest.

In his book, 24/6, Matthew Sleeth identifies at least six areas of our life that we need rest from. This week we will look at the first three and then the last three next week.

Why do we need Sabbath rest?

We need rest from being hurt
Life and work have their way of taking their toll on us physically and emotionally. We understand that when a bone is broken our bodies need time to heal. It is no less true when our souls are beaten and broken. We need the practice of rest to heal the invisible and visible tragedies of life. In Matthew 12, Jesus offers these words of encouragement to those who would come to him. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope” (vs. 20-21, NIV). Do you feel like a broken reed that is about to be crushed? Jesus offers to us Sabbath as a place to heal.

We need rest from heavy labors
This may seem rather obvious. “Manual labor has its own reminder to stop. One can only move bricks so long before muscles cry out for rest. Unfortunately, other types of labor may not remind us of the need to lay down our burdens. What about answering e-mails, going to meetings, and working with customers” (Sleeth 76). For many of us when we leave the office our work does not stay there. It follows us home on our phones and in our social media feeds. Jesus invites all those who are burdened by physical and mental heavy labor to come to him and find rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV).

We need rest from the pace of the world
Few would argue against the notion that our world is moving at an incredible pace, and seems to be getting faster every day. I know no one admits to actually watching NASCAR but it does give us a good illustration of why we need to slow down. The basic goal and premise of car racing is pretty simple: Drive left and when everyone stops be at the front of the line. If you do this you will get to spin around in circles smoking your tires and stand on top of your car while getting an oversized trophy for your efforts. When I was a kid I assumed that NASCAR drivers drove their cars like I did racing in Pole Position: with the throttle pressed all the way down through the entire race. Do you know what will happen to race car drivers if they do that? Their engines blow up. A driver has to continually monitor the temperature of their engine. Sometimes they will push their engines into the red zone to make a pass or block another driver. But they can’t stay there. They have to pull back, let their engines cool, put the margin back into their car’s engine so they have the capability to go back into the red if needed.

Our lives can be a lot like car racing. At one time or another, all of us will find our lives running in the red zone. A project is due. A co-worker is out sick and the work has to be done. A crisis hits us. We’ll have four weddings and a funeral all in the same week. We are running at full throttle and things are heating up. We can do this for a short time if needed, but if we don’t pull back and put margin back into our lives we will explode. The cycle of Sabbath gives a natural season of rest and cooling to our lives. It teaches us how to take our foot off the throttle and gives us the margin to run in the red when we need.

Jesus frequently demonstrated this in his life. The crowds had their ways of finding him. People brought their expectations, their sickness, and their needs to him to give healing and life. In Mark 6, precisely because the crowds keep coming and they are all running in the red zone, Jesus tells his disciples to come away with him and get rest. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest'” (vs. 31, NIV). Sabbath is a coming away with Jesus to find the needed rest.

As you think about these first I wonder, what do you need rest from?

Blessings,
Stephen

The Prayer of a Minor Prophet

June 21, 2018 /

Bible in Hand

This is the season of ordinations. During the summer months, church groups will gather all across our country and lay their hands upon a new generation of clergy. Tonight, my own religious body will gather to commission ones to the task, and those of us who have kneeled before will remember our own ordinations many years ago. We are men and women called, by God, to a task far greater than ourselves. Long ago another person, A. W. Tozer, was in the place they are at now. Following his ordination, he retired to a secret place wrote this prayer that would become his regular covenant to God. I offer his words as a reminder to all of us and a prayer for those who will be ordained this year.

Stephen

Prayer of  a Minor Prophet

By A. W. Tozer

This is the prayer of a man called to be a witness to the nations. This is what he said to his Lord on the day of his ordination. After the elders and ministers had prayed and laid their hands on him he withdrew to meet his Saviour in the secret place and in the silence, farther in than his well-meaning brethren could take him. And he said:

O Lord, I have heard Your voice and was afraid. You have called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. You are about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. O Lord, our Lord, You have stopped to honor me to be Your servant. No one takes this honor upon themselves save the one that is called of God as was Aaron. You have ordained me Your messenger to them that are stubborn of heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected You, the Master, and it is not to be expected that they will receive me, the servant.

My God, I shall not waste time deploring my weakness nor my unfitness for the work. The responsibility is not mine but Yours. You have said, “I knew You—I ordained You—I sanctified You,” and You has also said, “You shall go to all that I shall send You, and whatever I command You, you shall speak.” Who am I to argue with You or to call into question Your sovereign choice? The decision is not mine but Yours. So be it, Lord. Your will, not mine, be done.

Well do I know, You God of the prophets and the apostles, that as long as I honor You You will honor me. Help me, therefore, to take this solemn vow to honor You in all my future life and labors, whether by gain or by loss, by life or by death, and then to keep that vow unbroken while I live.

It is time, O God, for You to work, for the enemy has entered into Your pastures and the sheep are torn and scattered. And false shepherds abound who deny the danger and laugh at the perils which surround Your flock. The sheep are deceived by these hirelings and follow them with touching loyalty while the wolf closes in to kill and destroy. I beseech You, give me sharp eyes to detect the presence of the enemy; give me the understanding to distinguish the false friend from the true. Give me the vision to see and courage to report what I see faithfully. Make my voice so like Yours own that even the sick sheep will recognize it and follow You.

Lord Jesus, I come to You for spiritual preparation. Lay Your hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Forbid that I should become a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling. Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet; not a promoter, not a religious manager—but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from the bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Your terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I accept hard work and small rewards in this life. I ask for no easy place. I shall try to be blind to the little ways that I could make my life easier. If others seek the smoother path I shall try to take the hard way without judging them too harshly. I shall expect opposition and try to take it quietly when it comes. Or if, as sometimes it falls out to Your servants, I shall have grateful gifts pressed upon me by Your kindly people, stand by me then and save me from the blight that often follows. Teach me to use whatever I receive in such manner that it will not injure my soul nor diminish my spiritual power. And if in Your permissive providence honor should come to me from Your church, let me not forget in that hour that I am unworthy of the least of Your mercies and that if people knew me as intimately as I know myself they would withhold their honors or bestow them upon others more worthy to receive them.

And now, O Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to You; let them be many or few, as You will. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Your servant to do Your will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven.

Though I am chosen of You and honored by a high and holy calling, let me never forget that I am but a person of dust and ashes, a person with all the natural faults and passions that plague the race of humanity. I pray You, therefore, my Lord and Redeemer, save me from myself and from all the injuries I may do myself while trying to be a blessing to others. Fill me with Your power by the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Your strength and tell of Your righteousness, even You only. I will spread abroad the message of redeeming love while my normal powers endure.

Then, dear Lord, when I am old and weary and too tired to go on, have a place ready for me above, and make me to be numbered with Your saints in glory everlasting.

Amen.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Jesus is Lord

May 3, 2018 /

Jesus

Jesus is Lord. The earliest and most succinct words of confession. They echo Thomas’ declaration upon seeing the risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God”  (John 20′:28) and Peter’s stunning confession “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) To say “Jesus is Lord” is an exclusive statement. There can be no other. All other powers, authorities, rulers, and nations are secondary to the authority and lordship of Jesus.

Over these past few weeks following Easter, we have been looking at the implications of the resurrection of Jesus. Our guide has been the writings of Dr. Stephen Seamands, and his book, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return. We have explored many topics.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence that the promises of God are true. He is wholly trustworthy and reliable. Even in the darkest of times, we know that righteous has and will be vindicated. God always gets the last word.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope that all is being and will be made new. For God so loved all of creation that he gave his son that all of creation might be saved.

The resurrection of Jesus means to be a Christ is to be one who has been saved from the penalty of sin, set free for the power of sin and who lives a life of holiness following the example given to us by Jesus. Our personal salvation is a charge to live a life worthy of the good news of Jesus.

Finally, this week we witness the resurrection of Jesus manifesting the Lordship of Jesus to the world. When we say Jesus is Lord we declare God’s unconditional and absolute claim.

First, Lord (Kurios) indicates the ‘unconditional claim of God in the face of the whole universe.’ Such a claim . . . includes cosmic lordship. As the one through whom all things were made (Jn 1:3; Col 1:16) and are held together (Col 1:17), he has absolute power over all created things. Furthermore, it includes moral lordship over the conscience of every human being. He has the right to place moral demands on us. It also includes community lordship. He is the King of Israel (Jn 1:49) and the head of the church (Col 1:18) and exercises divine lordship over the community of believers. Lordship, therefore, extends over every sphere of creation, every knee and tongue, every height and depth. No cosmic, societal, communal or personal space stands outside it. He is Lord of all, period. Consequently, . . . ‘There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’ Second, lordship signifies . . . God’s absolute claim on us. He is Lord in all things and in every situation. Thate means there can be no other lords. He will tolerate no rivals. (Seamands 111)

The implications of Jesus’ absolute and unconditional claim of lordship upon all of creation cannot begin to be understated. In our debate and disagreements, we often seek to demonstrate that Jesus is on our side. To do so is to make Jesus submit to our intellect. In what ways might we instead invert our lives to be in total submission to him?

Jesus is Lord.

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

Citations:

Seamands, Stephen A. Give them Christ: preaching his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. IVP Books, 2012.

Righteousness Vindicated

April 21, 2018 /

stone pillars

What’s the use of living a righteous life? Why bother wasting all of your energy trying to follow God and his commands? How can anyone even know what the right thing to do is anyway? Where was God when it mattered most? Are God’s promises even worth the paper they are written on? We prayed, why didn’t God come through and rescue Jesus? What’s the point to holiness? Why stand out in a crowd? Why live a life that is anything other than ordinary? See where it got Jesus? Dead, on a cross, like a common criminal.

While we will never know, these might have been some of the questions swirling in the heads of Jesus’ followers as they watched him arrested, tortured and killed. Questions steeped in doubt and confusion as to the reliability of God, Jesus, his word, and promises.

Over these past few weeks, following Easter, we have been looking together at the wider significance of Jesus’ resurrection. We have already seen that Jesus’ resurrection means freedom from the penalty of sin and our personal salvation. We have also seen Jesus’ resurrections means creation healed and the broken relationships between people and God, each other, themselves, and creation redeemed. Still, the significance of Jesus’ resurrection is even greater.

For Jesus’ followers, still consumed by questions, everything would change three days after Jesus’ death when he would be raised to life and walk, talk, and eat with them. As Jesus was raised from the dead, righteousness was vindicated. The character of God was tested in the public square and proven to be true and reliable by Jesus’ resurrection.

In the book of Deuteronomy, as the people of Israel is being formed into a nation Moses is giving the people instructions on how to live and who they should follow. He cautions the people to be careful of words spoken by one claiming to be a prophet:

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods'(gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer . . . That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God. . .” (13:1-3, 5)

Jesus is a prophet who predicted his own death and resurrection three days later. Even more, Jesus was the one predicted by the prophets of old. In Luke 24, shortly after his resurrection, Jesus would join two travelers confused by the events of the past week on the road to Emmaus. As they walked along, Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself” (vs. 27). Wouldn’t it be great to have a transcript of this conversation? As they walked along Jesus demonstrated to these travelers the faithfulness of God throughout history.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence in the promises of God and true and reliable and the words of Jesus are faithful.

Blessings,
Stephen

All Things New

April 14, 2018 /

Sun over Daytona Beach

Easter is over. Target has marked the last of their pastel-hued sugar infused egg-laying bunnies 90% off and life has returned to its savage monotony. Yet the significance of Easter of far is from over. Last week the question was raised, what if the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate at Easter means far more than just our individual personal salvation? Over the next few weeks, we are using a book by Dr. Stephen Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return to help us explore the great depths of meaning found in Jesus’ resurrection.

In John 11 we hear the story of the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. As would be expected Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, are grief-stricken and confused. Confused because Jesus didn’t come and heal their brother like he had healed so many others. In response to their questions Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again” (vs. 23). The words sound to us like the words of comfort we give so often at funerals. “One day you will see them again . . .” Martha agrees with Jesus, assuming he is talking about a future resurrection when God will set all things to right, but Jesus is not talking about some random day in the future, Jesus is talking about today. Jesus is pronouncing than an event, he is telling them the resurrection is a person, it is him, and the day of resurrection has come. The day has come when God will make right all that has been broken by sin, our “alienation from God, from each other, from ourselves, and from the land” (Snyder and Scandrett 78). The day every Jew ached with longing for had come.

“What was so stunning, then, to the early Christians about the resurrection of Jesus was not that God raised the dead. Like Martha, they already believed in a general resurrection when God would raise the righteous at the last day. What stunned them and sent them reeling was the timing of it. In the case of Jesus, the general resurrection, which was supposed to happen on the last day, had moved forward from the end into the present. What was supposed to happen on the final day had happened now” (Seamands 105).

Jesus’ resurrection does not mean all has been made new yet. The final redemption of creation is still to come. Still “the resurrection of Jesus has . . . set in motion the final redemption and transformation of all creation” (Seamands 108). The resurrection of Jesus means creation healed from the penalty of sin, death, the power of sin, and ultimately the very presence of sin.

Therefore, as Christians, we are people of mammoth hope. We are able to step into the absolute darkest of situations in life with extravagant hope because we know the power of sin has been broken and the day is coming when all of creation will be made new by Jesus and the very presence and effects of sin will be no more.

In summary, the resurrection of Jesus means not only personal salvation but also the salvation of all of creation. But even these just scratch the surface as we will see in the weeks to come.

 

 

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

Citations:

Seamands, Stephen A. Give them Christ: preaching his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. IVP Books, 2012.

Snyder, Howard A., and Joel. Scandrette. Salvation means creation healed: the ecology of sin and grace: overcoming the divorce between Earth and Heaven. Kindle Ed., Cascade Books, 2011.

Photo by Ravi Pinisetti on Unsplash

But if Jesus is Raised

April 5, 2018 /

He is Risen

Dear Friends,

A few days ago many of us gathered in our churches for Easter celebrations and the retelling of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. At my church we enjoyed a tremendous breakfast prepared by the men of the church, the children made and launched rockets (yes, you read that correctly) and our church family and many guests joined together for a great Easter worship service.

Of all the holidays and festivals in the church, for Christians, none is more important than Easter. Without Easter Christmas is nothing more than a weird and tragic story of a child being born. It is impossible to overstate the importance and significance of the resurrection of Jesus to Christians and human history. As Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV). But if Christ is raised, well then that changes everything.

While it is helpful to speak in generalities and say that “everything” has changed but what is the specific significance of the resurrection? Many of us would answer that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might have eternal life and get to go to heaven when we die.

This answer is basically accurate, but it is also significantly inadequate. The resurrection of Jesus means so much more. Over the next several weeks, with the help of a book by Dr. Stephen Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return, we are going to dive deeper into the meaning and significance of the resurrection.

Before we get there, I want to ask you a question: What would you say is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus?

Please feel free to send an e-mail or post a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Blessings,
Stephen

Tempted to Use Political Power

March 15, 2018 /

castle kingdom

As Christians, there is one group of people found in the Bible we like to pick on more than any other. They are the quintessential picture of blind ignorance leading to destruction. Or at least that is how we preachers like to talk about them. Despite their glaring failures, many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders had a noble purpose for their fanatical insistence upon keeping all of the rules and a few extras too. They desired the nation to turn back to God. There were seeking the holiness of God’s people and the restoration of the nation to better times. But their impassioned commitment to righteousness would cause them to be tempted make a most unholy alliance.

In Matthew 4, Jesus is taken by Satan high up on a mountain and shown “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (vs. 8). The vision of the kingdoms came with an offer. If Jesus would simply bow down to Satan and worship him, then all these kingdoms and their splendor could be his. Of course, for Jesus to accept this offer would be to try and achieve God’s purposes and plans for the world through a means other than God intended.

For us today, this second testing of Jesus strikes at the heart of any attempt we might make to use the power of the kingdoms of this world to achieve the ends of the Kingdom of God. The kingdoms of this world, yes even our great country, are inherently selfish and focused on their own self-preservation through the accumulation of power, prestige, and splendor.

The Pharisees, in their zeal for God, would attempt to harness the power of Rome to purge the nation of Jesus and his followers. It would be a confederation doomed from the very beginning. But before, we are too hard on them, we must ask ourselves, how often have we failed to learn the lesson of Jesus’ testing and the Pharisees’ failure? How often have we looked to kingdoms of this world to be our savior rather than God alone? Maybe we are not so different after all.

Blessings,
Stephen

Standing Strong in Difficult Times

March 1, 2018 /

Jesus Suffering

Temptation
Testing
Struggles
Crisis
Death
Pain
Suffering
Confusion

We all face them. We all experience them. Why? We are in a world broken by sin and we have an enemy actively working to destroy us. Satan has a wonderful plan for your life. His plan is to kill you, to steal from you, and to destroy you (John 10:10). What he cannot take from you he will lie to you to get you to give it up. After all, he is a liar and he is the father of lies (John 8:44). How do you know Satan is lying? His lips are moving.

How do we stand strong in difficult times? Follow the example of Jesus. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4 Jesus demonstrates the first thing about standing strong when being tested to one’s limits: Know who you are. Prior to Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he is tempted by Satan to abandon his divine mission Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. As he is coming out of the water the heavens open and we hear a voice say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus’ knowledge of himself as God’s son, the assurance of his father’s love and pleasure provide the foundation on which Jesus stands in his times of testing. It is our foundation as well. Do you know who you are?

  • You are Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
  • You are a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him. (Romans 8:17)
  • You are God’s workmanship – His handiwork – born anew in Christ to do His work. (Ephesians 2:10)
  • You are chosen of God, holy and dearly loved. (Colossians 3:12 / 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
  • You are an enemy of the devil. (1 Peter 5:8)
  • You are a child of God (John 1:12)
  • You have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
  • You are the recipient of eternal life. (John 3:16)
  • You have been redeemed and forgiven of all your sins. The debt against you has been canceled.  (Colossians 1:13-14)

And so much more!

One of Satan’s greatest lies is to cause us to doubt the love of God and our identity as children of God during times of suffering and testing. We stand firm in these times by remembering who we are and who God is and never letting go.

Do you know who you are?

Blessings,
Stephen

Are you having fun?

February 8, 2018 /

Are you having fun in church?

Funny Goat with GlassesThe more important something is, the more serious and life-altering the reality, the more essential it is that we are able to laugh at it. Do you know who is more likely to survive a cancer diagnosis? The one who can laugh at the absurdity and indignity of the disease and the treatment regimens.

Ultimately, is there anything more serious, more important, more significant than eternity? No. At the end of the day, the decision is pretty simple: smoking or non-smoking.  Follow Jesus and submit to him or not.

So next Sunday, go ahead and have some fun, because eternity and Jesus are deadly serious:

  • bring a water balloon to church and threaten to throw it at the band, to see if you can throw them off.
  • wear silly glasses during the sermon to try and confuse the pastor.
  • send a text message, to everyone in the church, asking what that bible reference was the pastor just said, to see who didn’t put their phone on vibrate.
  • color your hair and put on face paint to show your support for your favorite team.
  • slip some candy and a triple-shot espresso that kid who just won’t sit still.
  • fill the offering plate with Monopoly money.
  • during the greeting time, jump up and steal a microphone, and start leading everyone in Father Abraham.
  • stand in the parking lot and give a balloon to every kid as they come in.
  • did you know you can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of any song? For offeratory, do it to the tune of Gilligan’s Island . . . as an instrumental.
  • laugh, smile, relax and have fun together with your church family.

Yes, I know, there are times for quiet reflection and moments for deep contemplation. Order and structure are good things. God also made us with the capacity for pleasure. Let’s put it to use!

Blessings,
Stephen

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