Monday, December 21, 2015

Faithfulness - Of Dogs and God

Dogs are pretty amazing.

We have two dogs.  Cobi and Shadow.  We've had Cobi for a while.  She's an Aussie Shepherd mix and I'm pretty sure she's smarter than I am.  She's high energy and will play fetch for hours.  She's a great watchdog and you can't come on our property without Cobi barking a warning that someone is there. 

Shadow is fairly new to our house.  We've had him for about a year.  He's a Black Labrador mix and he's huge.  He started out as a cute little puppy, but we should have known by the size of his bear-like paws that things were going to change.  He's now bigger than Cobi and if he jumps up to greet you, you're pretty much going to fall over.  His tail is a weapon.  When he wags it, he can take out cups on the coffee table and any small children in close proximity.

Our dogs are a big part of family and they teach me one thing in particular everyday.

They are the most faithful creatures I know.

Cobi is a herding dog and instead of watching over a flock of sheep, she watches over us.  We're her herd.  A family member will get greeted upon arrival home with a bark or two and then Cobi will settle down.  That person belongs.  They should be here.  But visitors take much longer for Cobi to accept.  If you come to our house, Cobi will bark for 5 minutes and then take another 20 minutes to really settle down.  She's keeping guard, and until she knows that she can trust you, she's on watch.

Shadow is my son's dog.  He'll curl up beside Troy on the carpet and lay for hours close to him.  He loves visitors more than Cobi, but even then, he wants to jump up and sniff you to make sure that you are a friend.  I'm fairly certain that if anyone wanted to do harm to one of us, Troy in particular, Shadow would make sure that person knew how he felt about that. 

These dogs love us and watch out for us and are glad when we're around.

They're faithful.  Their love never changes.

Of course we talk about God being faithful too, but sometimes we need to be reminded how much more faithful he is than even a couple of really good dogs.

In Genesis 22, we get this really amazing story of God's faithfulness to Abraham.  Abraham has been given an incredible gift of a son in his old age.  Isaac is God's unexpected fulfillment of His promises to Abraham and Sarah.  Then, after Isaac has grown, God asks Abraham to do the unthinkable.

He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an act of worship and trust in God.

Oh my.  That doesn't seem right does it?  Abraham and Sarah have been waiting decades for God to give them a child.  He does and then God asks them to give him back.  Whoa.

Now the story of course, has a happy ending.  Just when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord steps in and says, "Do not lay a hand on the boy.  Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only Son."  Genesis 22:12

Thank goodness.  Isaac lives and Abraham has passed the test.   God is good.

But this story is much broader in the whole scheme of scripture.  This will take a minute, but bear with me because it's worth it.

God shows up and saves Isaac and God's promises to Abraham continue as the nation of Israel grows, but the story of Genesis 22 becomes much more powerful when we understand one particular thing about it.

This story grows when we understand WHERE it happened.

Huh?

Yep.

"Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you"  Genesis 22:2

Okay.  What's so important about Moriah?

Moriah changes names over the history of scripture, but we do know where it is. 

It's the region of Jerusalem.  Yes that Jerusalem.

So Abraham is called to go to region of Jerusalem to sacrifice his son.  Are you beginning to see the importance of this story in the whole scope of scripture?

Because we're not given the specifics of places, we have to imagine a little where this 'almost sacrifice' took place.  Tradition holds one place, I think it could have been one of two places.  Either way, it's pretty awesome.

Either the mountain that God shows Abraham is the mount of the temple of Solomon or it's Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified.  Tradition holds the temple (amazing!), but it could be Golgotha as well (equally amazing!)

So God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in a place that would soon become a place of sacrifice for the sins of God's people.

Think about that for a moment.  God gives us a story from millennia past that shows Him asking for the sacrifice of a son as a sign of faithfulness.  He stops that from happening, but He himself doesn't withhold his Son in the future.  His son is sacrificed for the sins of not only Israel, but of all people, always. 

My goodness is God ever faithful.  His faithfulness to His people is not governed by time.  He always is a God who keeps His promises, and He always has a plan to save, and redeem His people.

One final thing.  Reread Genesis 22:12.  We hear the speaker as the angel of the Lord, but then we hear the speaker say these words, "You have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Hmmmm.  Who is speaking?  Is it God himself?  Could it be, maybe, possibly, Jesus?

What if Jesus speaks to Abraham to stop the sacrifice?  And since Christ and the Father are one, did He stop the sacrifice that He knew one day would be His?  And no one would stop that sacrifice because Christ's sacrifice was the only way that all people could be saved.

God was faithful to Abraham.  He kept His promises.  And He's faithful to us.

Trust Him today.  No matter what's happening, no matter how crazy, or frustrating, or challenging life is, the God who showed up in the region of Moriah, loves you.  And that's never going to change.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott






Thursday, December 17, 2015

Ride Your Bike

Like many kids, I had a couple different bicycles growing up.

I had a small bike that a learned to ride on.  It was fast and tough.  That made it easy to do jumps off of ramps and do burnouts when my parents weren't looking.  (No mom!  I always am careful when I ride!)  I loved that bike.

After I grew and that bike got too small, my dad bought me a ten speed.  It was even faster, but I learned really quickly that it wasn't a very good bike to do jumps on.  I guess it was a more grown up bike for a more grown up kid.

I was so grown up that I got a job.  I was a paperboy when I was 11.

Yeah, it was a different time.  I don't think that you can be an 11 year old paperboy anymore, child labor laws and everything.  But having a bike meant that I could get my job of delivering papers done a lot faster.

Unfortunately, by the time I got my paper route, my bike didn't work as well as it used too.  Because I was a kid who rode hard, my gears were messed up.  I couldn't actually pedal.  The wheels turned and the brakes worked, but I couldn't pedal to make it go.

Because I was a determined little guy, I figured out how to still make it move.  I could put my foot on one pedal, and without putting my other foot over the seat, I could push off with one leg and coast once I picked up enough speed.  I didn't know how to fix my bike, and my dad always had projects to work on in the old house we lived in.  Sure I wished my bike was fully functional, but I made it work.

And that made my paper route go so much faster.

Walking my paper route took just over an hour, what with all the dogs to pet and cats to chase.  There were always places to explore and things to stop and look at.  If I pushed my bike, I blew past those things and finished my route in 42 minutes.  (Yes, I timed it.  I'd gotten a new digital watch, and that's what you do when you're a kid with a new digital watch.  You time things.)  Because I did my paper route before school, I had that extra time to get ready and I didn't have rush as much.

I was pretty pleased with myself.  I'd saved myself 20 minutes by using my half-working bike to do my route.  This went on for several months

Then one Saturday, my dad said he had time to fix my bike.  He got out some wrenches and lubricating oil.  He flipped the bike over, tightened this, oiled that, adjusted this set screw, and reset the gear cable tension.  Finally, my bike worked again.

Of course I rode it right away and boy, was it fast.  I could get so much more speed from pedaling then I ever could from just pushing off.  I could pedal the bike faster down hills and not coast.  I could bike fast enough that I could get up hills three times as fast as before.

On Monday morning, when I did my paper route, I saw just how much faster I was and I was blown away.

23 minutes and 45 seconds.  (Thanks digital watch.)

I could do my route in almost half the time then I could before and in one third of the time as walking.

Finally, I was doing it the best way and my mornings became much less rushed.

I thought of this when I read this passage from Galatians 1:6,7.

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ."

Paul is writing to a group of people who have been given a beautiful, fast, fully-functioning bike, and instead of riding it, they're starting to 'push off' or even worse, they're starting to walk.

They have the full gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's a gospel of grace, a gospel of love, a gospel of inclusion, a gospel of freedom.  But they've become enslaved by people who have taught them that you have to 'do' something to earn God's love.  They have to live into certain behaviors, or rituals in order for them to be a part of the family of God.

And Paul is ticked.  This is the strongest letter of admonishment that Paul writes.  He spends the rest of the letter telling them that Christ has victory over the idea that we are judged by what we do.  He tells them that as children of God they have been given the grace of Jesus Christ and that allows them to live into the full freedom of that grace.

He's telling them, "Get on the bike and ride!"

Friends, where have we lost sight of the gospel?  Where have allowed ideas to come into our minds and hearts that stop us from living in freedom?  Do we believe that we have to do things right for Christ to love us?  Do we believe that for others too?  Have we given up the joy of knowing that in Christ we are fully acceptable to God and that allows us to tell the world of our joy in a way that they can see a genuine picture of who Jesus really is?

I don't want to give up what I already have been given.  Christ has given me his love, purpose, joy and hope. To live in a way that's not governed by those things reflects a perversion of the most beautiful thing imaginable.

Today, ride your bike.  Live into the fullness of Christ's love for you.  In Jesus, you are acceptable and loved of God.  That will never, ever, ever change.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

5 Childish Ways to Follow Jesus Mark 10:13-16

I love fun kid /dad videos on the internet.

There's one going around with great dad 'saves'.  The kid is on the swing and he falls off and is just about to hurt himself when dad grabs his leg and saves him.  A teenager is tubing on a snow covered hill and is about to take out a toddler at the bottom when dad leaps in and scoops her out of the way.  A baby falls off the couch beside a dozing dad and he reflexively reaches out to stop their fall.

I love it.  Nice job dad.  Way to be ready at a moment's notice to save your child when they are acting like.....well, when they are acting like a kid.

Kids swing.  Many of them love it.  Kids run out on the snow.  That's a good day.  Kids fall asleep on the couch and roll over.  We actually come to expect it of them.

It's hard sometimes as a dad to let our children act like kids, but if we're good dads, we let our kids do exactly that.  It's good for them.  It helps them grow.  It lets them engage with, learn from, and have fun with this incredible world we live in.

And it's exactly what God wants for them.

Oops.  Sorry.  Let me rephrase that.

It's exactly what God wants for us; all of us.

Wait.  You're telling me that God wants me to act like a kid.

Nope.  I'm not.  Jesus is.

"People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on the, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.  He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.  Mark 10:13-16

Many have wondered what this means.  How are we supposed to be like children?  What was Jesus saying?

I'm not completely sure, but I think we can learn some things in this passage, and others where children play a prominent part.

Let's call them them '5 Childish Ways to Follow Jesus'.

1.  Give away your stuff when God asks for it.

John 6:9 gives us the first glimpse into child-like Godliness.  There are a lot of people around and they don't have any food.  The disciples ask around and find a boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.  And the boy gave them to Jesus.  

Don't ever miss that.  Jesus asked the boy for something and he gave it to Him.  No questions, no complaining, no excuses of why he couldn't.  He just gave what he had to Jesus.

The best part is that the boy then had a front row seat to one of the Messiah's miracles.  He got to watch as Jesus took his humble lunch and multiplied it to feed thousands.  How much he must of spoken of that moment for the rest of his life.  Because he was generous, he got to witness a spectacular work of Christ.

Oh how tightly we can hold onto our 'stuff'.  Christ has asked us to be generous and we've been stingy.  What have we missed?  What stories of Christ's miraculous power have we missed because we wouldn't give when he asked.

Be child-like.  When the Spirit asks; give.

2.  Be careful who you listen to.

In Mark 9:42, we hear Jesus giving caution to his disciples to not lead "little ones", those who believe in Jesus, into sin.  What is often lost is that this is not just a warning to those who would lead little children into sin.  It's also a caution to children to be careful who you listen to. 

We tell our kids that when they choose their friends or their acquaintances, they should choose well because the wrong person can take them down the wrong path.

Do we hear that wisdom too?

Are we careful in who we spend time with?  Are we cautious when our friends pursue things that are not God-glorifying?  Are we wise in the type of rhetoric, or news station, or media sources we take in?  Do we understand what is put into our hearts and our minds by the people we engage with can't help but transform us for good or for evil?

Living a child-like life in Christ means that we want to be a part of things that honor God always.  Be careful little ears what you hear.

3.  Live every day prepared for Christ's return.

In Matthew 25:1-13 we hear the parable of the ten virgins.  Remember?  5 don't have oil and miss the wedding party.  5 have extra oil and are let in to the celebration.

These virgins are probably all less than 14 years old since that was the traditional marrying age.  These are kids and some get it right and reap the benefit.  Some get it wrong and reap the consequence. 

A child of God sees every day as an opportunity to remind the 'bridegroom' (Jesus) that we're ready for Him if He arrives now.  We having loving hearts that show that love in our world.  We have minds that are constantly tuned into how fond we are of the one who gives us reason to celebrate.  Giving ourselves to Him is not a once a week activity.  It is every second of every moment of every hour of every day.

4.  When Jesus calls you, you go.

In Luke 6:12-16 we hear about a special group in the life of Jesus.  He calls his 12 disciples.  Now often we think of these guys as older men (25+) that Jesus picked to be a part of his ministry.  History tells us a different story.

Jesus is a rabbi, a teacher.  And a Jewish teacher would call disciples in generally the same way.  He would call an older disciple who became his helper in travel and teaching.  Generally, scholars think this is Peter.  That makes sense.  He was certainly the leader of the group.  But most of the other disciples were teenagers.  We're not sure how old each one was, but we can imagine that James and John were younger.  I mean their mom was a helicopter parent trying to position her boys in the best spot in the Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23).

These guys were young.  They didn't understand everything, but they did know that something spectacular had happened; they had been called by Jesus and they would go where He went.  Yes, they made mistakes and they got things wrong over and over again.  But they also got a VIP position to see the greatest movement in the history of our world.  They got to see, hear, and live with Jesus.

When we are 'childish' in our faith and listen to the Spirit, His calling is not a barrier to overcome.  It's an adventure to begin.  We don't know what will happen, but we do know that it's better than anything else we can ever imagine.

5.  Be with Jesus.

This is my favorite.  It comes straight from the original story in Mark 10 of the children around Jesus.  These little scamps got up close into the arms of Jesus and wouldn't let go.  And (hear this.  This is good!) "...He took the children in his arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them." (10:16)

These kids got a bonafide Jesus hug.  Because they were kids, they weren't going to be deterred in being close to the source of all love, warmth and compassion.  They got what all of us long for.  They were embraced by the Creator of the Universe.

No one could stop them.  Jesus made sure of that.  And no one should stop us.

No matter what pain or burden we experience in this life, be like a child and be with Jesus.

No matter how much the world or anyone tells you that believing is foolish, or a sign of weakness, or for suckers, be like a child and be with Jesus.

No matter how scared you get by the craziness of the world we live in, be like a child and be like Jesus.

Run into His embrace in worship.  Cry on His shoulder in prayer.  Spend time on His lap in reading His stories in scripture.

And every time you do, you are deep in His loving embrace.

Be childish.  It's what Jesus wants.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott