Following Jesus Son of God …

Reading in Isaiah this morning events that occurred over 2,500 years ago. Sitting in my car at the gravel pit getting a perspective on life like no other. It was their story over two millennia ago and it is our story now, God in relationship with his human creation. C’mon. Where else can you experience this “whoosh,” this century-soaked dose of life grounded firmly in reality now and forever?

(Isaiah 56:3-8 ESV) Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” (4) For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, (5) I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. (6) “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant– (7) these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (8) The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

So maybe you are wondering “what the heck” do we have in common with “the foreigner” and “the eunuch” mentioned here. People who took a step or steps toward God but were not in “on the ground floor” as Jews and who very possibly felt like second-class citizens, on the periphery of God’s plans if included at all.

God knew how they might feel, or what they might be thinking. Just as I might feel at times, or you might feel at times, when we are around all the perfect people who have done everything right, when all the glowing testimonies of life lived right seem so discouraging and make us wonder if we have done anything right.

I remember a pastoral gathering several years ago. I guess we had a sharing time. What I remember is that it seemed every wife spoke of how spiritual and wise her husband was, and so forth and so on. My wife didn’t, thankfully.

Let not the foreigner say. . .

Let not the eunuch say. . .

What may seem to be true from our perspective is often very untrue from God’s perspective. From the foreigner’s perspective he had no lot with God. He wasn’t one of the “chosen ones.” He was a tag-along, an add-on. From a human viewpoint he could reasonably assume that God would leave him out of the picture when he passed out “the good stuff.”

The foreigner – “The LORD will surely separate me from his people.” Yessirree, just a matter of time before God weeds out the bad apples, not Jewish, you know, if you’re not Dutch you’re not much.

The eunuch – “I’m just a dry tree. What use would God have for me?”

“Stop.” That is what God is saying here. Don’t say what is not true. There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.

Bringing this forward, What would God tell us not to say? What promises of God are we not hearing because we are looking at life from our perspective instead of his?

The foreigners and the eunuchs addressed here had a relationship with God. God would not withhold his goodness from them, just as he will not withhold his goodness from us because we don’t seem to be the cream of the crop. Maybe we came to know Christ late in life, maybe we are divorced, maybe our children are not living for God, maybe we are in prison.

Maybe. . .just name your mess, but you will find not one that is not covered through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. If you have joined yourself to God through believing in Jesus Christ don’t allow anyone to cause you to read the story of your life differently than God has written it.

(Psalms 62:1-2 NKJV) Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. (2) He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

Sometimes my prayer is pretty simple. Some mornings, or afternoons, or evenings, it is “Oh, God, forgive me, oh, Lord, oh Lord forgive, forgive Father, Jesus how could I do this again, Spirit, oh God.

“Wham, bang, pow” if I were doing a comic strip with a super-hero. Except I am anything but and the wham, bang, pow are the sounds of the enemy pounding me, questioning my love and faithfulness to God.

I must make sure I listen to God and not the enemy, so I run to my refuge.  “Run, Forest, run!”

(Psalms 62:6-8 NKJV) He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. (7) In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God. (8) Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Sometimes that is all we can do. Sometimes the “wash cycle” of 1 John 1.9 is all we can cling to.

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So as much as we would prefer the victory march, sometimes we crawl, sometimes we limp. Not excusing our repeated sinful behavior but admitting it, we sometimes cry instead of rejoicing. No, this isn’t what we wanted or intended but it is what it is and what Christ accomplished at Calvary is powerful enough to deal with it in a God-pleasing way.

Drag that trade-in down here for a great deal.
Have you ever seen those ads? “Drag it in, push it in, and we’ll give you a thousand dollars as a trade-in!” Well, we don’t have anything to trade since all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, so I will borrow my illustration from the dragging and pushing part. Just bring yourself before the throne of God and believe him for what he has promised. Drag your sorry behind in if you have to. Push yourself to believe God rather than listen to the lies of your failure and sin. Don’t compound the problem of “sinning again” by refusing the only satifactory answer in God’s eyes: Forgiveness of sins because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

So, do we want to be in that place? No. But is there a better place we have access to? Yes, yes, yes. Before the throne of God wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

(Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

(Psalms 119:89-90 NKJV) Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. (90) Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.

My routine on work days is to leave nice and early so I have time to read in the parking lot before I start work. Feeling rushed or anxious blocks me from experiencing the presence of God as I read his words. There is something about the quiet of the morning, that time which sometimes escapes us where everything is slow enough to have a powerful awareness that God is indeed “there.”

As I was sitting in my car reading a few mornings ago, the irony of what I was doing struck me. Out of the twenty or so people I work with, I was very probably the only one who “consulted” God or was interested in what God had to say about life.

How foreign it would be to the men I work with to read the Bible.
Think how strange that is. God created us; God sent a Redeemer; God “wrote a Book” giving us his perspective on life, and we are not interested. And many Christians. . .my associate at a previous church was upset with me because I wanted him to read through the Bible. He never had. Here is a minister of the gospel who had never read the whole Book. You know what he told me. “What’s the big deal?”

What this is not!
This is not, please hear me, this is not a “look how spiritual I am” something or other. The reality of the situation just struck me. “Wow, I could have had a V8” kind of thing. The majority of people in this world, the majority of God’s human creation, take no time whatsoever to hear what God has to say.

The majority of people on this planet live without taking forever into consideration. Maybe for fleeting moments when someone dies, or some crisis. I remember a young man I work with telling me shortly after “9-11” how he and his wife had attended church the past two or three weeks. It took me a minute to understand what he was saying, but the terrorist attack made him think ever so briefly about eternity and he wanted to make some sort of God connection.

Sometimes I feel as if we as the human race stand on the edge of a precipice, and we are like children playing next to a busy highway and can’t understand our parents’ concern for our safety.

I am not speaking of a spirit of fear.
I am speaking of reality as God would reveal to us if we would happen to pay attention. Heaven, hell, life that is like a vapor, poof, you’re gone, outa’ here, and where do we land.

We are so in love with God’s creation that we disregard his redemption. More irony. Creation track — wonderful. Redemption track/forever mode — well. . .

We love our homes and lawns, birds, outdoors, fishing, protecting the land, vacations in exotic parts of the world. All God’s stuff he has given us to enjoy life. And we do except we leave the Gift-giver out. Don’t have time to consider God, let alone sit quietly before him and hear what he has to say.

But if we do. My, oh, my.
The wonder of the ride if we let God whoosh us away to another century. I just finished reading Nehemiah in the Old Testament. The dynamics of victory and defeat in following God’s plan. Fear, faith, build the wall, anger your enemies, endure their ridicule and threats. But what did it mean? The ridicule and threats meant that the enemy was seeing the success of God’s people. How should ridicule and threats be sometimes viewed? As a sign of our progress toward the will of God.

That’s the way it was over 2,000 years ago, and that is the way it is now. Truth, woven through the centuries, in and out of the lives of very imperfect people. It’s like we have insight into the mind of God. Oh, yeah, that’s exactly what it is. And we don’t have time to turn a page or two?

Here’s what brought these thoughts about:  I was listening to John MacArthur a couple weeks ago, and he used a personal anecdote where he absolutely ridiculed a lady who was selling homemade quilts.  He made fun of her, of her quilts, the way she talked, her husband. . .

And he prides himself on his doctrine.  And he knows far more “Bible” and doctrine than me.  But he forgot something along the way.  He forgot the goal.

(1 Timothy 1:5 NASB) But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

What did we forget on the way to the store?
First, this is not another unity love-in. . .let’s don’t worry about doctrine. . .doctrine divides so let’s focus on love and worship session. Doctrine is essential to our relationship with God, both in coming to him and in maturing in Jesus Christ.

The goal of our instruction (our doctrine) is love.
The means and the end are both crucial. I believe we can deduce that to love as God desires that we need proper doctrine. And proper doctrine finds its way to the goal.

We have let our doctrine lead us off onto a detour of pride.
That is where we miss it when we exalt doctrine above its place; doctrine has a goal. I remember preaching this text several years ago, and a fine man in our church took issue with me. He asked, “If I understand you correctly, then you are saying that love is more important than doctrine?” Yes. That was exactly what I was saying.

I was not saying that doctrine wasn’t important.  I was saying that the goal was more important than the way we get there.  Both are necessary.

How can we pride ourselves on doctrine that forgets its goal?
How can we feel good about instruction that does not meet its goal?  Too often our goal is only academic.  Too often our goal is the study of doctrine.  Too often the preacher entertains the audience with his knowledge of doctrine and intellectual savvy.  Too often our doctrine is not tested by whether or not it reaches its goal in the eyes of God.

And the goal is love.

So what is that crushing sound?

The weight of the world leaning hard against our frailty. Sometimes the world hits hard, doesn’t play fair, life becomes very heavy, very hard. We worry, borrow not only tomorrow’s trouble but maybe even next year’s.

Why does God allow such a thing or even (gasp!) cause it to happen?

Can you hear the cliche coming?
Before you reach for the barf bag, let me say that I was just here (or there) yesterday morning, and God spoke to me as I tried to allow his truth, not my distorted perspective, wash over me. I also understand if this does sound like blah, blah, blah, packaged Christian answers to you. Sometimes it hurts so badly that all words seem meaningless. So that’s okay. No offense intended or taken.  But I will go ahead and share my experience.

Why the crushing?
Because crushing makes us care, care deeply in fact for others in their struggles. Possibly when we are crushed enough of our facade is removed that allows God’s light to reflect and maybe penetrate the darkness of another’s gloom and worry.

Crushing then the comfort of God.
If we fight off the bitterness and that can in itself be a major challenge.  If we allow God’s words and his promises to wash over us and bring us back to his presence, then our faith regroups.  We are able to draw upon the comfort of God.  Our faith not only regroups but it grows because we see how far reaching the hand of God is to care for his children.

(2 Corinthians 1:3 NCV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. (4) He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.

(Galatians 1:15-17 NKJV)  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, (16)  to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, (17)  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Sometimes it needs to be just us and God, you and God, me and God, solamente.

Sometimes we need to not “confer with flesh and blood” but just listen to what God has to say sans human interference.

Think about it for a minute, all the Bible study aids, radio call-in shows, seminars, books, group Bible studies.  Why not just God?  Or why not just God and his word?  In his providential care, God gives us himself and his word, but we like the background noise and distraction of humanity.  Kind of like people who can’t be in a house by themselves without the radio or TV blaring.

Before Paul heard what all the “guys” had to say, God wanted to get his attention so he removed him from human interference.

Too often we are like children in school who when confronted with a “situation” we look first to see what our friends are doing.  And in the evangelical world we have quite an influence, quite a cloud of “witnesses” but are these particular witnesses drowning out the voice of God.

Yes!  Way too often.

That what it seems like at least sometimes. I have often viewed the journey of my family as in an action/adventure thriller. You know; just as you get across the river the rope bridge falls 300 feet into the gorge; just as you get around the side of the mountain, the trail you were on only seconds before is crumbling and crashing down the slope.

Look at our Savior. I just watched “The Nativity Story.” Was pretty good. Salvation came through a little baby? A baby whose mother could have by the law been stoned for adultery while the child was still in the womb. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; dodging Herod’s soldiers; born in a stable with the animals.

That’s just the beginning. A mere strand is how God accomplished our forever hope in Jesus Christ.

All kinds of things could have gone wrong. I know, I know, please don’t make me puke and get all spiritual about the sovereign nature of God, and his omnipotence, omniscience, providence, etc.

This was real drama and if we don’t get that then we miss what God is doing and how he does it. Yes, in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ we are secure in God. And also yes that I didn’t need that mountain trail anymore but it is still a little unnerving to see it crumble away into oblivion. So what if the rope bridge fell 300 feet into the drink after we got across. We made it, didn’t we? Yeah! But maybe we peed our pants too.

This is how God does things; on one hand totally rest in who he is, what he has done and what he will do. On the other hand, much of life is anguish and gut-wrenching heartache. My wife and I have seen too much over the last decade; more than we would choose but not more than God would bring or allow.

So I trust in the strand he holds out. Just some words, believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, trusting him with my life, waiting and hoping for forever with him. And not looking back or down.

Psalms 94:12-13 ESV Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, (13) to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

World-wide turmoil, our paths of security and our bridges of peace fall into the pit. But we don’t.

“This is why we are not afraid.” That’s what I wrote in my journal on 090604. Everything may go sliding down the mountainside but we have our strand of salvation in the Lord.

Yip, that’s what they had the children singing.  Global warming and all.  First heard this rendition on the radio this morning; they were speaking of the Chris Dodd presidential campaign.  I remember several years ago, in our very first church, some of the music during the Superbowl halftime.  Very strange, upside down account of Jesus’ confrontation with Satan in Matthew 4.

Guess I wouldn’t want to make too much of this, but it does say something.  If we aren’t trusting God, then it is in our hands.  And even though in Christian circles, we would disagree outwardly, if you look at the mess in our churches, you would see that much of the time we believe things are “in our hands” not God’s.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at the revenge factor in the lives of Christians, getting back, not takin’ nothin’.  We don’t trust God to give him his place to make everything right and mete out justice and fairness as he sees fit.

No-siree, sister, “I don’t get mad; I get even.”

The global warming thing is a puzzler.  I haven’t done any research for almost four years, but then it was not near the slam dunk that we have it to be.  And what raises my alarm is that you cannot even question the “fact” of global warming without evoking emotion and ridicule.  That’s right, buddy, and the earth is flat also.  Everybody knows that so what’s your problem.

(Proverbs 14:12 NKJV)  There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

It really does seem right, this bent each of us have by default, but the end leads to further distance between us and God.  We will believe anything and push for anything that promotes our agenda.  What we want determines what we believe.  It doesn’t matter how academic our posture; this principle holds true for all human “beans.”

If something is this overwhelmingly true, global warming I refer to, then why not answer questions instead of quashing them?  Isn’t this what they accuse us of as Christians?  Oh, yes, we do the same thing when people have questions about God and his truth.  Okay, so sometimes we are as stupid as they are; still doesn’t make it right.

Been busy in the good ol’ out of doors. Flowers, plants, edgings, shoveling, raking, stopping to visit with the neighbor’s black Lab, Samson, aka Sammy. Sammy is a regular visitor to the back door. Helps us keep the fridge clean, what a service, attaboy, Sam. Grandkids coming next week, very excited; for some reason they love to visit Nana and Papa. Indiana, as my daughter put it, is Disneyworld to them.

Anyway, my Sweetie, wife of 35 years, has been putting the whip to my back, not taking no for an answer. “But, hon, I already worked 9 hours today.” “Quit whining and pick up the shovel.” The things I have to put up with.

Heard from an old friend, Dr Donald Chittick. I emailed him requesting some creation science lectures. They should be here in a few days. My last set of cassette tapes are about done for. Very good stuff, scientifically and biblically accurate and Dr Chittick is a good communicator. Some of these guys are. . .um. . .hmm. . .well, they’re just plain boring. Not trying to be mean but they will put you to sleep. Not so with Dr Chittick. His web site is creationcompass.com if you are interested in checking him out.

Spoke at our church last week, between that and the music, was a tired little feller.

Good thing God is still running the universe; just don’t think I have it in me this week.

Isaiah 45:5-6 ESV I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, (6) that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.