Extreme Makeover: What Looks Good to God

nRecently I started a new sermon series titled, "Extreme Makeover: What Looks Good to God."
The purpose of this sermon series is to take a look at the before and the after pictures of certain parts of our body. The before picture looks at our body and our habits before we accept Christ as our personal savior. The after picture looks at what our body and habits should be when we accept Christ and we are born again. Through the first four weeks we have looked at our ears, tongue, heart and hands.

Before we accept Christ we listen to others, and more specifically the voices we want to hear, but after we accept Christ the first person that we should listen to is God.

Before we accept Christ our tongues often get us in trouble because we use our tongues too quickly and in unhealthy ways. We may speak the truth, but more often than not we do not speak the truth in love. We also put our tongues to work in ways that are not healthy or helpful. We tend to be critical, to gossip, and to say things that really don't need to be said. We tend to go to the phone long before we go to the throne. After we accept Christ the first person we should talk to is God. We should also be quick to listen and slow to speak and when we do speak we should always speak the truth in love.

Before we accept Christ we are conditioned not to give our hearts much of a thought. We are trained that good behavior gets rewarded and bad behavior gets punished. We are not taught that our words and our actions flow from what is inside of our hearts. This tends to get us in trouble because our hearts will tell on us in the end. We may not know where our words or actions come from at first because we are not taught how to listen to our hearts, but when we think about it we realize that our hearts are the source of our problems. After we accept Christ we are given a new heart, a heart of love.

Before we accept Christ we use our hands in ways that benefit us mostly. We rarely use our hands for the benefit of others. We are always trying to provide for ourselves, protect ourselves, accumulate more stuff, and satisfying our own desires. We think that if we don't take care of ourselves then no one will. After we accept Christ we are called to use our hands for the benefit of others. We are called to trust God to provide and care for us and use our hands to help those around us.

This series has gone over extremely well so far. It is evident that God is speaking to people about their ears, tongues, hearts and hands. I have three more sermons in this series. I encourage you to think about the before and the after pictures of your legs, your knees and your feet. I cannot wait to see what God will do in these next three sermons.

The Gospel of Mark

The Gospel of Mark is a rather interesting book of the Bible, but it seems to play a secondary role to the other Synoptic Gospels for a variety of reasons. Mark does not include the birth story of Jesus. Instead he starts with a one verse introduction and follows that with a quotation from Isaiah the prophet. This is followed by a brief story of John the Baptist. Due to the lack of a birth narrative it is not often used around Christmas time to talk about the birth of Jesus. Mark also does not include a lot of detail about Jesus after His resurrection (unless you consider verses 9 - 20, which is not in the earlier Greek manuscripts, but none the less these verses do not offer a lot of detail following the empty tomb). So it is not often used around Easter time to talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Mark does not include as many of Jesus' parables as Matthew and Luke. So it is not as prominent when discussing the teachings of Jesus. Mark also has a much different pace than Matthew and Luke. Mark's Gospel has a much faster pace. It kind of seems like you can never catch up to Jesus. But the Gospel of Mark was written for a purpose. As a matter of fact, Mark states his purpose in 1.1 when he says, "the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Mark wants to talk about the Good News of Jesus Christ. What is this Good News? By most accounts the Good News is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Mark takes 16 chapters to relate how the Kingdom of God is already present and how it affected the lives of the first century Jews and Gentiles. Mark fulfills his purpose in somewhat of a different way than Matthew and Luke and that is good for us because we get a third perspective on the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. I encourage you to take the time and work your way through the Gospel of Mark and see how the Kingdom of God affected their lives and consider how the presence of the Kingdom of God can affect our lives as well.

Going with God

I recently started a new ministry assignment and my first sermon was based on Exodus 33. This passage of Scripture tells the story of when God was so fed up with the Israelites that He decided to send an angel ahead of them instead of leading them Himself. Moses pleaded with God to lead them not only for their sake, but also that people would know that they are God's people. My intent with this sermon was to set the tone for our ministry together. The decision to transfer to this new ministry assignment was not one that I took lightly. In my previous assignment God was opening doors for us to make connections in multiple areas of the community. These ministries were in the early stages, but they were very exciting and growing rapidly. In the midst of this God impressed upon me to move to almost 9 hours away to a new assignment. My wife and I spent over a month making this decision, but in the end we decided that if we were to go with God that we would have to move. This move involved moving to a new state, a new culture, a smaller community and a variety of other transitions. It is taking time to adjust. We have been at my new assignment almost two months now and it has amazed us how God has confirmed over and over again that this was the right move. We have learned that if we go with God, even when it does not make complete sense at the time, the benefits of obedience are remarkable.

"Into Your hand I commit my spirit"

This morning I was reading Psalm 31. (My Bible says that Psalm 31 is a Psalm of Deliverance written by David presumably when Saul was out to kill him.) Verse 5 really grabbed my attention. It reads, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God" (Psalm 31:5, NRSV). As I read this verse my mind was immediately drawn to Jesus' last words on the Cross when He said, "Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit"(found in Luke 23:46). I have studied the last words of Jesus many times, I have taken classes on the Gospel of Luke, and I have preached on the last seven words of Jesus. But for some reason as I was reading Psalm 31 this morning, Luke 23:46 seemed to take on an additional meaning for me.

For a long time I believed that the main message of Jesus' last words was a verbal declaration of Him giving up His life to do what we could not do for ourselves. Now it also seems to mean that Jesus was also sending a message to those who could hear His these words. Many of the people around the cross were undoubtedly familiar with the fact the Jesus was from the house and line of David, but I am sure that they were very familiar with not only David's life story but his Psalms as well (research shows that many of David's Psalms were written as literature or as a musical piece, which would aid in prolonging the knowledge of his life).

If you look at these two passages of scripture they are somewhat similar in nature. David was being hunted down by Saul. Jesus was on the cross about to take His last breath. Saul appeared to be jealous of David's growing popularity. The religious leaders felt that Jesus was a threat to them and their leadership. The primary difference is that Jesus is literally seconds away from death and David has a long life still ahead of him.

It seems that Jesus was intentionally trying to convey a message to those around the cross by reminding them of David's Psalm. Jesus had a way with words and He was often able to communicate different ideas to different people with one statement. I think the same is true here. I doubt this is accidental, but what does it mean for us today? Any thoughts on what it might mean?

Living in God's Promises

Last week I started a new sermon series called "Living with Hope: Learning to Walk in the Promises of God." I started this series by looking at Hebrews 6:13 - 20, which reads:

The Certainty of God's Promise
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
(NIV, copied from www.Biblegateway.com)

This passage of Scripture reminds us of the certainty of God's promises. God has made many promises. Some Bible scholars say that God's promises number in the 1000's. As we look through Scripture many of these promises are made to a specific person or people group at a specific time and in a specific situation.

For example, God's promise to Abram (later called Abraham) that he would be the father of many nations. For this to happen, Abram would have to become a father first. Abram and his wife did not have any children and it it took several years, decades really, for them to have a child of their own. God's promise was fulfilled in their lives and Abram was the father of many nations. This a specific promise to a specific family at a specific time and place.

Not all of God's promises are so specific. Many of the promises that we find in Scripture are promises that we can not only claim in our own lives today but live by them as well. This Sunday we are going to start looking at these promises that we can claim for ourselves. The first promise we are going to look at is the promise of God's presence in our lives. This is a powerful promise for all of us that offers us a tremendous hope. We can life with hope because the author of our hope is present in our lives.

God's Promises

The word promise is full of hope. A promise is especially hopeful if the promise is made by someone that is faithful in keeping their promises. All of us have experienced both fulfilled promises and broken promises. When someone breaks a promise that they have made to us we become skeptical of the next person to make a promise. Over time this skepticism grows as more and more promises are broken. When we find someone who consistently keeps their promises they become very special and a consistent source of hope. God is faithful in keeping His promises.

God has made many promises and they are found in Scripture. Mark Dever, in his book "What Does God Want Of Us Anyway?", outlines God's promises in Scripture. He looks to the Old Testament as the place where God makes His promises. He looks to the New Testament as the place where God keeps His promises. Dever does an excellent job and looking at God's promises. He shows how these promises are full of hope, not only because the promises are made, but more importantly because God keeps all of the promises that He makes.

While the promises that God made are centuries old, they are still relevant to us today. They are still living and full of hope. While many of these promises were made in a specific time and place and to a specific person or people group, these promises are still available for us to claim because God made these promises out of His character of love.

God's promises are still a source of hope to us today. Beginning this Sunday we are going to be seeing how we have hope in God's promises.

Sunday's Comin'

True For You But Not For Me - Book Review

Recently I read "True For You But Not For Me: Overcoming Objections to Christian Faith" by Paul Copan, published by Bethany House. This is the third book in a row from Bethany House that has dealt with objections to the Christian Faith or other faith traditions. "True For You But Not For Me" has been as insightful as the last two books. One thing that I really took away from this book was that notion that evangelism is a process not an event. As a pastor of a local church this is very helpful idea. More often than not evangelism has been reduced to either personality style or single events scattered throughout the year. This notion makes evangelism so much more than that. It helps us to see that evangelistic events are just part of a larger activity of the church. But more importantly is helps us to remember that evangelism is more relational in nature. It takes time and trust. I really appreciate Copan's understanding of evangelism as a process. This book is worth reading for just that one point, but there is so much more to this book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in sharing the Christian faith.

Scandalous - Book Review

In his book "Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus" D. A. Carson takes a fresh look at the story of the cross and resurrection of Jesus in 5 specific passages. This is an excellent book. I found the first chapter on Matthew 27:27 - 51a very insightful. Carson looks at four ironies in this passage of Scripture: Jesus as King, Jesus as powerful, Jesus as Savior and Jesus' trust in God. While this passage of Scripture has been looked at over and over again, especially at Easter time, Carson looks at this passage with fresh eyes and offers helpful insights into understanding it. Carson offers the same helpful insights into Romans 3:21 - 26, Revelation 12, John 11:1 - 53 and John 20:24 - 31. This book is an quick an excellent read. I highly recommend this book. It offers several new insights into often read passages.