Don't Say No For Them

Sunday's coming.  But a lot of the people in your life feel like it'll be Friday forever.

Know what I mean?

Friday - the day that love was crucified; the day that the cold, silent tomb became a reality; the day when all hope seemed to be lost.  This is the way things are for a lot of the people in your life.  It's just one disappointment and painful experience after another.  There is no hope.

But Sunday's coming.  Literally.  The day when we celebrate the greatest news in the history of the world.  So what are you doing to make sure somebody who's stuck on Friday knows the Good News of Sunday?

In today's reading from Luke 10, Jesus sends out his disciples to do the work of ministry.  He's sending them out to a plentiful harvest where the workers are few (v.2).  He's sending them out as sheep among wolves (v.3).  He's sending them out in peace (v.5).  He's sending them out to heal and to proclaim the Kingdom (v.9).  As he's sending them, he's telling them how hard it will be.

Maybe you've tried to share Jesus with a friend, neighbor, co-worker or family member and you know how hard it is.  Maybe you've thought about it, but decided that it's too hard.  

When we balk at the opportunity, we're saying "No," for them.  Even before we ask them to join us at church; even before we offer to pray for them; even before we try to share the hope of Jesus with them, we've already said "No," for them by coming up with every excuse as to why we should just mind our own business.

If you're a follower of Jesus, sharing the Good News isn't optional.  It's what Jesus commands us to do.  Just as he said, "Go!" to his disciples 2,000 years ago, he's saying "Go!" to you today.

Don't make excuses.  Make a way.  Pray for the people in your life who are stuck on Friday and for opportunities to tell them that Sunday's coming.  Don't come to worship alone this Sunday.  Don't just invite your friends to come.  Offer to pick them up.  Take them out for breakfast.  Invite them to your family's Easter dinner.  This is one of your greatest opportunities to find a reason to help them say "Yes!"  Not just "yes" to coming to church with you, but "yes" to Jesus.  Don't say "No," for them. 

 

The Cost of Being a Disciple

The life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a life of sacrifice and surrender.  We have tried to make following Jesus about everything but that.  We have tried to make following Jesus into a feel good sentimental journey.  But the truth is, a journey involving a cross is rarely about feel good sentimentality.

In today's reading from Luke 9 Jesus is in the midst of some miraculous and busy ministry.  In a moment of retreat and reflection with his disciples, he asks them who people say that he is.  In v.20, in one of his rare moments of getting something right, Peter correctly identifies him as the Messiah, the chosen one of God.  

Rather than bask in the glory of one of his friends finally getting it right, Jesus lays it on the line and tells his friends what's coming.  This was no doubt shocking and unsettling to the disciples.  As good Jews, they had an expectation that the Messiah would be a strong political figure that would overturn the evil Roman government and rule the earth in power and might.

And yet, here was Jesus talking about death.  In v.23, he really lays it on the line: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"

The image of the cross was even more shocking and unsettling.  Crosses weren't used in history for the first time when Jesus hung on one.  Crosses were the tools and symbols of this evil Roman government - a punishment saved for the worst of the worst criminals.  It has been said by scholars and historians that there was probably no more barbaric means of torture and death in history than the cross.  

To take up a cross is to take up a life of sacrifice and surrender.  It's not an invitation to getting your way all of the time.  It's an invitation to come and die to yourself - an invitation to lose your life and to find true and eternal life in becoming like Jesus.  

In this Holy Week, as we head towards Easter, take some time today or in the days ahead to reflect on what this means for you.  We are fortunate because we know how the story ends.  We know that as Jesus poured out his life as a ransom for our sins, that death could not hold him.  But we also know that Jesus invites us - no demands of us - to come and die with him that we might live.  

James MacDonald, the author of Vertical Church, shared this thought on Twitter earlier this week: You can't rejoice in the empty tomb if you haven't been to the cross.

Have you been there yet?  Are you willing to continually go there?  To die to yourself and to live for Christ?  This is the cost of being a disciple.     

Love and Marriage

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week in 2 landmark cases in regards to same sex "marriage," and all forms of media are in a frenzy about it.  I'll admit that there have been many times this week when I felt like my head was about to explode as I hear the "arguments" about why same sex couples should be allowed to "marry."  

And, as Kevin DeYoung says here, the arguments for same sex "marriage" sound persuasive because they appeal to our emotions.  But if you're a Christian, you've got to ask yourself some important questions before you jump on board with support for it and change your profile picture on Facebook.  Are the arguments Biblically faithful?  Are they LOGICALLY persuasive?  Are they really good for human society in the long run?

 And probably the most important question of all: Is same sex "marriage" really a picture of love?

1 John 3:16 tells us what love is: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." 

1 Corinthians 13:6 tells us what love does and doesn't do: "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."

Love is not blind consent to sin in the name of tolerance.  Love is not a mushy, sentimental feeling in the name of unity and equality. Love does not defy the righteous demands of God. Love is a consuming fire that brings purity and holiness to those that don't deserve it. Think deeply about the true nature and meaning of love this week. It's as important right now as it ever has been.

If you are a Christian that believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, stand strong in your convictions.  The Word of God is as authoritative today for all matters of life and faith as it was when it was written.  Believing in the truth of Scripture does not make you a bigot, homophobe or intolerant, despite what our culture would say about you.   

Rather than taking hours to write out some cogent thoughts on what's really at stake here, and why protecting the definition of marriage should matter to Christians, here are some links from other pastors and church leaders who tackle the issue from many different angles that I find to be very helpful for Christians trying to navigate the current cultural climate in regards to marriage.

Just a heads up if you try to link to these articles today - they are taking a little longer than normal to load because of the high volume of traffic towards them today.


Five Gay Marriage Myths 


Gay is Not the New Black 



When Did Idolatry Become Compatible With with Christianity?


What You Should Know About "Monogamish" Relationships

The Gospel: Accept No Substitutes

Great thoughts here by Kevin DeYoung today on the significance of the cross as we read through the Passion during our Bible reading plan. 

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners, Part 2

In today’s reading from Mark 15, we continue to see what it looks like when God is in the hands of angry sinners.  As I’ve considered what this means, I realized something – the trial and crucifixion of Jesus was the only time that I can think of when God willingly gave himself over to people and effectively said, “Do with me what you want.” We continue to see the depravity of the human heart when left to our own devices.  We continue to see the depth of our sin.  We continue to see the wickedness of hearts and minds that have not been redeemed by Jesus.

On Facebook today, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA wrote something that I think cuts to the heart of the matter here in Mark 15: "Don't decide based on your best interest or whatever is easiest.  Always ask, 'What would be most glorifying to God?'  If you ask the right question, you get the right answer."  

All throughout the Passion Narrative in each of the four Gospels, and here in Mark 15, we see people making decisions about Jesus based on their own best interest and what seems easiest to them.  The Jews have decided that Jesus is a threat to religious power and control. The Romans have decided that Jesus is a threat to their political power and control. We see it in v.v. 9&10, when Mark says of the charade that was Jesus’ trial, “’Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.”  In their own self interest, they decided that the easiest thing to do would be to kill Jesus. 

In v.v. 11-15, the chief priests convinced Pilate to hand over the true criminal, Barabbas, for release and to crucify Jesus.  The wickedness continues through the mocking of Jesus by the Roman soldiers, right through the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

Are we still really so vain and foolish to think it’s a good idea to make God into what we want Him to be, instead of humbly submitting to the glory, majesty, holiness and mercy of God and becoming instead what He wants us to be?  Because we see the results of what happens when we live for our own self-interest and what’s easiest.   We see the results of what happens when we try to fashion God into something we want Him to be.  When we try to control God, the only thing that’s revealed is the wickedness and depravity of our own hearts and minds. 

Following Jesus, and submitting to his will and living for God’s glory isn’t easy.  It isn’t comfortable.  It isn’t popular.  Jesus said it himself in Matthew 7:13&14 - “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Asking what is most glorifying to God, and actually living it out, is a narrow road.  But it’s a road that leads to life.  Perhaps one of the most striking things about the Passion narrative is this: Even in the midst of our depravity and wickedness, even in the midst of our rejection of the Giver of Life, God is still in control.  God is still at work loving us and desiring reconciliation with us.  This is what the cross is about – the glory of God’s triumphant love and power poured out for the forgiveness of our sins, even in the midst of the worst wickedness we can muster. 

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners

Maybe you're familiar with the phrase, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God."  It was the title of a sermon preached by the great evangelist and revivalist Jonathan Edwards in the mid 1700's.  It's certainly not the warm & fuzzy, sappy & syrupy message of many preachers today.  If ever there was a sermon about hellfire and brimstone, this was it.  But this sermon, and many others like it, were used by God to fuel a great revival – called The Great Awakening – across the sprawling American frontier. 

The idea of a God that demands holiness and righteousness; the idea of a God that allows people to reject Him for eternity and spend eternity separated from Him; the idea that we’re all stained with sin and have rejected God; the idea that Jesus is a perfect, once and-for all sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins; the idea that Jesus alone can reconcile us to God the Father -  All of these ideas are hard for many people to stomach.  It’s hard to think about what it would be like for unrepentant sinners to be in the hands of a God that is angry at sin and wickedness.

But maybe it’s not so difficult to understand God’s demands for holiness and righteousness and God’s redemptive plan for humanity when we understand that in Jesus we see God in the hands of angry sinners in today’s reading from Mark 14.   

It’s the 11^th hour in the life and ministry of Jesus.  He’s shared the Last Supper with his disciples.  He’s predicted the betrayal of Judas, in which we see our own betrayal of Jesus.  He’s predicted the falling away of Peter, in which we see the ways that we fall away and deny the love of our Lord and Savior.  And Jesus has gone out to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We see in Peter, James and John – who were called by Jesus to keep watch with Him while he prayed – our own failure to keep watch for the things of Jesus. 

And in v.41 Jesus says, “The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.”  God is in the hands of angry sinners.  This wasn’t an accident.  This wasn’t something that caught Jesus by surprise.  If it was an accident or surprise; if it was anything less than the perfect, atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God; if it was anything less than a perfect, sinless man bearing the sins of humanity on his back on the cross – then why all the anguish in the Garden?  Why would Jesus say that the “hour has come” if this was anything less than the will of God?  It marks the beginning of the end of the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan for humanity. 

We know how the story unfolds.  We see what sinners to God when He allows himself to be in our hands.  The word that Mark uses for sinners here is the same word that all the Gospel writers for sinners.  It’s a word that means one who is devoted to sin and is pre-eminently wicked.  It’s where we all are apart from Jesus. We see the depth of our sin and wickedness in this story.  We see the depravity of humanity. 

But when God is in the hands of angry sinners, we see love.  We see kindness.  We see mercy and grace.  Not just mushy, sentimental feelings.  We see action.  We see a Savior who gives himself into the hands of these angry sinners, and yet goes to the cross on behalf of these very same sinners.  We see a God whose love is so great for his people, that he allows Himself to be taken into the hands of angry sinners.

This isn’t a “Rah Rah, go conquer the world,” blog post.  This is a “meditate on the incredible depths of God’s love for us” blog post.  Think about these things.  When you have trouble reconciling God’s demands for holiness and righteousness, consider the price He paid to make it possible.  It’s not sadistic.  It’s not divine child abuse.  It’s love that you and I will never be able to comprehend.  It’s God in the hands of angry sinners bringing about salvation and redemption even in the midst of our own depravity and wickedness. 

What do I want from Jesus?

My two oldest kids, Anna who just turned 12 and Isaac who is 9, are pretty good athletes.  Anna is a fantastic soccer player and leverages her height, speed and strength to be one of the best players in her division.  Isaac is really good at all the sports he plays.  He's a ridiculously good linebacker in football, a very good and natural talent in baseball, and a very good basketball player.  I love to watch my kids compete and use their God-given talents in sports.  They're also great teammates and leaders on the field of play.  And the youngest, Andrew who is almost 3, seems to be following in his brother's footsteps athletically. 

As a parent of two good athletes, I really find that I'm disgusted with myself with how hard I push them to excel at sports sometimes.  I'll admit, when I watch them play sports, sometimes I see $$$$ in my head.  Not that I think they're so exceptional that they'll play professional sports, but I do think that they're good enough that someday they might get a free or reduced college education for their athletic talent.  That would certainly help my wife and I out tremendously!  I also help to coach their teams, and there are times when I let my emotions and competitive nature override my responsibility to young athletes to encourage and equip them to do their best and have fun. 

Sports are fun, but they're also opportunities for my kids to learn important lessons about life - the value of setting goals and working hard to achieve them; learning to work with others - some who are less talented and some who are more talented - to achieve those goals; learning personal responsibility as a part of a team; and giving your best effort in everything that you do.  These are lessons and skills that they can carry with them for their entire lives in whatever they do.  

When I'm motivated as a parent and coach to help my kids and the kids I coach to focus on these things, I'm serving out of proper motivations.  When I'm motivated by the desire to help them win at all costs and to dominate the competition, I'm serving out of selfish and impure motives.  

I say all this to say that checking our motivations in life, and especially in the life of faith, is vital for all of us.  I think that one of the most important things we can do as disciples of Jesus is to check our motivations in life.  We're all motivated by different things at different times in life.  And really, we've got to ask ourselves, "What do I want from Jesus?"

In today's reading from Mark 11, we see an important event in the life of Jesus that addresses our personal motivations.   Mark 11 opens with what we commonly call The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  It's Passover week, and this is just days before Jesus will be arrested and crucified on the cross.  Jerusalem is jam packed with visitors - some scholars estimate that over 2 million people would have been there at this time.  

As Jesus enters Jerusalem on the colt, a large crowd gathers around him.  Probably thousands or tens of thousands of cheering and excited Jews.  They know about the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah.  They have great hope and expectation, and as he comes into Jerusalem, they cry out, "Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"  Hosanna is a word that means, "Save us!"  And that is why Jesus came - as our Savior.

But what we often fail to realize is that a disproportionately large percentage of this crowd had the wrong idea about Jesus.  You see, the expectation of the Messiah at this time was that he would come in power and might and violence to overthrow the oppressive Roman government.  Their cries of "Hosanna," weren't a plea for salvation from their sins.  Their cries of "Hosanna," were a plea to overthrow the Roman government.

How do we know this?  Good question, I'm glad you asked!  Just a few days later, as Jesus was on trial before Pilate, this was the same crowd that demanded his crucifixion and demanded that Barabbas be handed over for release instead of Jesus.  This was the same crowd that was responsible for the death of Jesus.  They didn't really want this kind of Messiah.  

And we see as the story unfolds that motivation is such an important part of the life of faith.  It's easy to be motivated to shout to Jesus to save us when we think about all the things we want him to do for us.  The blog post by Kevin DeYoung that I linked earlier this morning on here gets to the heart of this.  

He nails it when he says that we'd like for Jesus to make our lives neat, clean and easy.  This is what the crowd was hoping for on this day.  He says, "We'll ladle up a little bit of Jesus as long as he fulfills our plans."

But following Jesus, worshipping Jesus and being a disciple of Jesus isn't about God fulfilling our plans.  The life of discipleship is about surrender to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  It's about learning to mortify and crucify our desires and our plans to live for the glory of God in all that we do.  

DeYoung says this, "The walk of genuine faith is the walk of Calvary. It carries a cross, and it takes a lifetime. When we have “faith” . . . we come to Christ to make our dreams come true. When we come to Christ with saving faith we come to him to call him Lord. We come as nobodies eager to worship a Somebody. That’s the heart of the matter. God’s glory or ours?"

What do you want from Jesus?

The Motivations for Faith

Wow, this is an awesome blog post from Pastor Kevin DeYoung today.  Take a few minutes out of your day today to read it, and consider your own motivations.