Tag: living

City of Home

Zechariah 2:1–13; Revelation 21:15–27

COVID? The New Normal? Back to COVID? What really is normal?

After generations of ups and downs, the remnants of Israel were beginning to come home. The People of God were returning to the Promised Land.

Zechariah’s vision conveyed many things. First, of course, was that the people were returning to Jerusalem; the spiritual home of Israel.

The angel declared that Jerusalem would have no walls. It wouldn’t need them. Understanding that the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down to make it defenseless, and that it was only through courage that those walls were rebuilt, a city without walls would seem to be yet another slap in the face.

The angel’s point was that God would be the wall; God would be the ultimate defense. This harkens back to the times when God “placed a hedge” around Israel to protect them. However, a hedge can be easily destroyed and burned. Instead, God would be a wall of fire around them.

What is also interesting is that God stated that God would be the glory within Jerusalem. This implies being bodily present in Jerusalem. Surely, for the Jews, it was only figurative.

The returnees would say to themselves that God is the heart of Jerusalem, for God is who brought them back. Due to their return, God must be the center of their lives and worship if only to return some of the affection shown to them.

Returning to Jerusalem, the City of God, is a powerful image: the return of the exiles in the Old Testament; the journey of Christian to the Celestial City (The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan); the establishment of the modern nation of Israel (1945); the political imagery of the “City on the Hill” used by US politicians.

It is an image of hope, a deep-seated hope in all of us. This hope is a place that we can call home from the very depths of our beings. It is also the place that we can belong without fear or comparison. A place like this is, ultimately, the desire of each of us.

In his epistle to the churches, John writes about this hope. This city where the children of God need never be concerned about being separated from God. This city would be, for all intents, the center of life. At the center of the city was God.

John’s hope continues in a strange and encouraging way. There would be no threats in the City of God. That nothing “unclean” or people who were “false” would be in the city was another thread of hope to people who were living in fear.

The underlying truth is that this city was the home of those written in the Book of Life.

※Reflection※

What makes someplace home for you? What would make Heaven home for you? How can you bring something of your Heavenly home into your earthly one?

※Prayer※

Lord of Hope, guide us into hope that is deeper than our fears. Amen.

2020 11 16
One Hundred and Twenty

Genesis 6:1–13; Judges 2:8–23

“The younger generation just doesn’t…”

“The older generation just doesn’t…”

The generational splits have grown. Much of that has to do with the acceleration of technology and the cultural changes that have gone along with it.

Many times, the older generations say that they wouldn’t have behaved as the younger generation does. That older generation also says that “this” generation is so much more corrupt than “mine”.

The reality is that generations have said that before. Generations will say that again.

The generation ebb and flow seem to be common to human history. When we read the versus about the time of Noah or the time after Joshua, it certainly doesn’t sound good. No matter how bad the “next” generation is, God isn’t flooding the earth.

Yes, God made a promise not to. Yet, when we read the verses in Judges, we recognize that much of this is to temper us. This is all intended to make us better followers of God.

What is also interesting is that there are certain similarities between separated generations. The Silent Generation (those that were children during the Great Depression and fought in WWII) has many similarities with Generation Z (born late 90s–10s) who have experienced 2 major recessions as children, and whose lives have pretty much included the so-called War on Terror.

In many respects, Generation Z may be a huge reset, though perhaps Generation Alpha as the first 21st Century generation (all born in the 21st Century) may be that reset. Regardless, human history shows that there is often some sort of reset. What was old becomes new.

With 6 living generations (with some extenuating people make 7), there are going to be large differences. That’s a spread of 120 years.

In all likelihood, 3 of those generations will see the next century (assuming, of course, that Jesus doesn’t return). While many of us are concerned about the next generation, perhaps we ought to be more concerned about the next century.

※Reflection※

What changes with your thinking about God and faith when you think about the next century rather than the next 20 years? Why might it be important to look that far ahead? What are the risks of looking that far ahead?

※Prayer※

God, just as you have faithfully loved us and given us grace, may we be love-filled and grace-filled for those who came before and those who will follow. Amen.

2020 11 12
Now’s The Time

Matthew 16:1–4; Matthew 13:1–9; Matthew 13:18–23; Titus 2:11–14

Humanity has smashed the atom. Humanity has gone to the moon. Humanity can splice the fabric of life (DNA). Humanity sill hates. Humanity still wars. Humanity still fears.

A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun
Ecclesiastes 1:4,9 (CSB)

When Jesus talks about the sower, we can look around us and see plenty of people who are in rocky ground and amongst thorns. The reality is that it may be that far too many so-called Christians are exactly those. In seemingly crazy and desperate times such as this, it is very easy to be overcome.

Whether it is political change, racial tensions, economic chaos, world tension, changes in how the body of Christ (the church) gathers, there are so many things that cause people to uproot their own faith. They also become easy victims to those who oppose the Christian faith.

The writer of Ecclesiastes didn’t see the internet coming. Really, though, the internet is just a faster form of communication. In other words, the mode changed, but that’s it. Ultimately, from the view of Ecclesiastes, the human condition doesn’t change.

Our fellow Christians, maybe even you, are struggling right now. The church is as divided as the US. The church, sadly, reflects the world. The politics (left, right, and everything from the middle to the extremes) of the world are not the church and should have no place there.

This is hard for most of us, currently. Some are feeling persecuted for their faith. Others are wagging their tongues and figures regardless of whether “their” “side” won or lost the recent election (or have been perceived to). It is nothing new under the sun.

Paul‘s words to Titus provide some guidance. While the “present age” was Paul’s and Titus’ time, the Christians of the “present age” should be aggressively taking Paul’s words to heart.

※Questions※

1) What do you think it means to “live in a sensible, righteous, and Godly way”? (Titus 2:12)

2) How have you been living like that in the current cultural/political environment?

3) How were your answers more worldly than Godly?

※Prayer※

Jesus, help us to walk in your footsteps. Amen.

2020 11 09
Cast Off

Matthew 23:13-15; Acts 15:1–22; Colossians 2:4–13

There is no question about Jesus’ attitude toward the scribes and the Pharisees in this verse. It seems pretty straightforward. What if it isn’t? What if Jesus was instead using their language in a way so as to make a point?

The Pharisees, with their belief in the afterlife, would certainly not want to be headed for Hell. They intended to go to Heaven. Jesus told them that while they think they are the bouncers for God, they’re not getting in either. There was probably some dismay there.

Jesus piled on with the various traditions (versus Biblical law) that the Pharisees and the scribes held everyone accountable for. Frankly, it was unbearable. That was Jesus’ point. They held onto traditions that made their lives Hell on earth. Jesus made it clear that it also prevented them from Heaven.

Jesus knew their hearts were stubborn. His greater concern was not them, but all those they dragged along with them. The concern for people who were now burdened with more than their hearts could bear. What if they decided they would rather be Hell-bound than bound with all the rules and traditions that made the life they were living hellish?

Sounds extreme, but this was exactly Peter’s point to the elders of the Jerusalem church. They and their ancestors could not withstand the misery. The people that were being drawn to the freedom and grace of Jesus Christ were being threatened with rules and traditions! Most of them the same that they (of Jewish descent) wanted to be freed from, and who believed that Jesus had done so!

Paul often had to deal with the Judaizers who kept trying to bring Jewish customs into the Christian community and imposing them on Gentiles. It made Paul quite angry at times.

You may have run across Christians who try to follow some of the Jewish law (particularly the dietary ones). They were free of the Law before they were born yet seek to be bound by laws that were not theirs to bear.

This is also something we need to be careful of ourselves. One of the big lessons of many missionaries was trying to impose Western thinking on non-Westerners. Western thinking got tied into the message of Jesus Christ, often putting burdens (things we would think of as burdens) on people that the Scriptures did not call them to bear.

The church in the Western world is fading. Ultimately, it must rediscover what it means to evangelize and be missional. Of course, the biggest group to which we must be missional are the people we are already comfortable with. We do not look at them with missionary eyes. We are too close. Even more than the Jews had to cast of their traditions, we may have to cast off much of what “makes” us Westerners so that we can be the messengers of salvation to our neighbors.

※Questions※

1) What might be your cultural blind spots that weaken your ability to evangelize?

2) How does our Western culture act in ways similar to the Jewish laws of old?

※Prayer※

Lord, soften our hearts and open our minds. May we feel your love for others and learn to set aside ourselves for the sake of others’ salvation. Amen.

2020 10 30
Living

Deuteronomy 5:26–27; Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 20:34–40; John 5:39–40; John 8:56–58

A living God? To many people today, God is just a fairy tale who belongs amongst the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales and folklore. For them, God is no different than the ancient Roman and Greek gods, and of no greater value (perhaps even less) than the Hindu gods.

Yesterday’s devotional was about the witness we are called to make. While the devotional didn’t talk about our common failures in being good and faithful witnesses, most of us realize that we have messed up more than a few times.

Being faithful often means being humble when we fail, requiring us to be honest with ourselves and others. That can be difficult. Being open (and thus vulnerable) about our flaws sometimes requires greater strength than we are capable of on our own.

Our witness requires greater strength than it used to. Our witness requires greater vulnerability than it used to. Our witness requires greater transparency than it used to.

The concept (our reality) of a living God allows us the freedom to breathe in the pressure of the “greaters”. Our God is greater still than the greatest Created thing or person.

When we understand that God is a God of the living it helps to put a few things into perspective. It wasn’t a small thing that Jesus observed that God named Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph in the present tense. When we focus on the dead and what comes after, or even what came before, we don’t live in the fullness of the life that has been given to us.

This is, even more, the case when we talk about the Scriptures. People dig into the Scriptures to know more about God. People dig into the Scriptures to deny God. Even those of Jesus’ day who knew the Scriptures well were unable to see the living God before them. While the Scriptures are living and active, they are living and active only because of the living God.

A living God means that God is not sitting on the sidelines. God works in and among and through Creation.

※Questions※

1) How does God being living affect your daily walk with God?

2) Especially when it comes to Jesus, but not only, why is “living” so important?

3) Have you ever known someone who was “alive”, but who wasn’t living? Do you think they knew Jesus?

※Prayer※

God of the living and breathing Creation, help to know to the depths of our souls that you are living and breathing in us. Amen.

2020 10 23
Win Some; Lose Some

Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 8:27–38; Luke 9:18–27

You are probably the most familiar with the translation in Mark saying, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” It has been made famous in a number of songs. It has been used in many sermons. What if, however, we lost the focus?

As you read Matthew’s and Luke’s understanding of the same scene, you’ll see self or life (depending on translation). These along with soul are all correct.

Yet, the problem is that when we focus on soul, we jump to salvation and Jesus as Lord and Savior. That isn’t the point. The context of picking up one’s cross daily to deny self. In Mark’s larger context, it even comes with the denial of Jesus.

The danger in focusing on salvation is that it misses the whole point of living. Salvation, ultimately, is what happens at the end (yes, this is a simplification). The passages are talking about life.

A person may perceive that they have not lost their “soul”, and yet do horrible things. One could say that then they don’t “know” Jesus. That could be true. However, the same people who often focus on the “soul” have a “turn or burn” theology that allows a grace-less life to be judged as “saved”.

The intent is to have a Jesus-filled life. The self in question that needs to be laid aside is the worldly self. The self that is lost and tossed is the fulfilled life of somewhat who has given themselves to Jesus.

Sometimes, it seems, it would be easier to be a monk or a nun, separated from the world. When we hear from many of these cloistered people, it seems that many struggle just as we do it setting down the worldly self.

The full life with Jesus is the life of today, tomorrow, and forever. It is always “and”; it is never “or”.

※Prayer※

Jesus, may the life we seek be the one you want for us. Amen.

2020 10 19
A Small Project

2 Samuel 12:13–23; Ezra 8:21–23; Mark 2:18–22

Fasting is an age-old spiritual practice that has mostly lost its place in American Evangelical Christianity. Yes, there are some that practice it. Fasting remains strongly part of the Orthodox church and somewhat the Roman Catholic church.

As American Evangelical Christianity has discovered Advent and Lent, fasting has become more prevalent. Fasting was originally fasting from life-giving things like water and food. American fasting is no internet, no Facebook, no chocolate, or other things that are of questionable faith value.

This is not to trivialize what people choose to fast from, but more as a check against our desire to avoid significant self-sacrifice.

You might be wondering why fasting, today? It’s not yet Advent (but it’s coming!), nor is it Lent. We are in a season of fasting right now, and it hasn’t been one of choice.

This all comes to mind as the church as a body struggles with what it means to be the family of God without the building. The building served its purpose and will serve again. It has been like the kitchen of many homes, the focus of family life. The church building has been the focus of church life. Yet, the church “kitchen” is now under serious remodeling.

We are only starting to figure out what exactly the post-remodel might look like, and the plans keep getting revised. First, there was going to be a bar…now there’s not. There was going to be a pantry, but that didn’t work either. The double-sink was coming along…then…

That’s pretty much what it feels like right now.

Most fasts are self-directed, but this one isn’t. That doesn’t mean that it can’t and won’t be used by God to shape us.

One of the biggest take-a-ways is that it really isn’t the building that is the church. It’s been said for a number of years. Yes, the building has been a place at which we have focused on gathering. Now, not only are we being encouraged to be at each other’s homes, we have to have church!

We’re all tired of the “remodeling”. We want it to be over.

※Questions※

1) What is changing about your view of church?

2) How are you living and “doing” church with the kitchen closed?

3) Place is important. How can we make the places we are in now be holy and be church?

※Prayer※

Holy Spirit, guide us through these trying times. May we be stirred to fulfill the mission in whatever new way you call us to. Amen.

2020 10 09
Chained or Unchained

Deuteronomy 27:12–28:1; John 8:31–40; Galatians 3:7–14

There are many wonderful things in life that begin well and then become dead weight. Buying a house is one of those. We are now in an era when people buy houses and pay against a large debt for 15–30 years. It doesn’t take too long for the joy of home “owning” to be faced with the frustrations of maintenance, flaws, age, vision changes, life changes, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a house. It could be a car. It could be student loans. It could be your job.

The Law wasn’t intended to be life-giving. It was intended as God-oriented living protection. If you followed the law, there was a framework that guided one into a righteous life.

Somehow this became twisted, and the Law became life.

“Whoever does not put this law into practice is cursed.” (Deuteronomy 27:26)

This does not say that the Law is life. It says that not following the Law results in bad consequences. Within the Law there were “resets” built in. Sins, errors in judgment could be dealt with. Life could move on.

However, there is a difference when it is a lifestyle. This is not about ignorance. This is not about an unbeliever. This is about those who declare God their God and live in such a way that they have not put God first in their lives.

What becomes the struggle is “proving” that God is first in our lives. Often, we “prove” it by living a more “holy” life. The Church of the Nazarene, for example, was long known for its stances against alcohol, smoking, and dancing. Not doing these things was the mark of “holiness” but is what the areas of broken relationships where these things occurred that was the real issue.

When holiness (or the appearance thereof) become chains rather than freedom, then holiness has become the Law. If that is the case, then that might make a lie out of, “who the Son sets free is free indeed,” because then, it seems, we want to find new chains to live in.

※Questions※

1) What are some Christian “rules” that you can think of? How do you think they became rules?

2) What rules can you think of that were intended to “give” or “preserve” life, but ended up chaining it? Does that make the rule bad?

3) What is a family rule that you wish wasn’t a family rule? Why?

※Prayer※

Jesus, you called us to a life of following you. Help up discern freedom from chains as we try to follow your way. Amen.

2020 10 08