Sunday, January 27, 2008

Some things just aren’t worth fighting over or loosing sleep over. One thing is certain and it is that God’s will is “good, pleasing and perfect” (Rom. 12:2 NIV), Place this Biblical truth alongside the fact life is short and eternity is forever, and we see that what we really ought to do is to embrace what really matters; to embrace what we believe really matters to God.

The apostle Paul told the Corinthian Christians that they were majoring on minors and fussing over things that didn’t need to be fussed over. They were all hot and bothered about who had been baptized by whom. Can you believe that? So-in-So baptized me. Oh yeah, well, Whatcha McCallit baptized me. That’s nothing, I was baptized by Old-What’s-His-Name. And, Paul said, “Stop it. Will you just stop it?

Some things just don’t matter. Some things do, mind you. Things like “to preach the gospel” (I Cor. 1:17). Now, that matters. To proclaim the gospel so that the cross of Christ is exalted and filled with the power of Almighty God, now that matters.

Now a question. How can we, as believers in a local church, live in such away that the cross of Christ is not emptied of its power but is revealed to be the very power of God (I Cor. 1:18)? Whatever the answer is I am quite sure that majoring on minors is not a part of it.

How can we major on what really matters, on things that matter for all time and eternity? What does a majoring-on majors congregation look like?

Paul calls the church to live in a spirit of unity, a spirit of Christlikeness where we are so caught up in the life of Jesus that everything falls under His authority. Now, that’s a major.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Jesus did not come into history out of a vacuum. If He had come this way, we wouldn’t have a clue as to how to understand Him. Instead, however, Jesus comes from within the context of a people. He has a family tree, a heritage that shaped and formed Him in His earthly life, a foundation out of which He shares the glory of God. In the New Testament book of Romans the apostle Paul spoke of “the gospel of God which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son…Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:1-4). So it is that we see Jesus in the Old Testament.

Of this, John Wesley wrote in His commentary on Isaiah, “As the name of David is sometimes given to his successors, so here the name of Israel may not unfitly be given to Christ, not only because he descended from his loins; but also because he was the true and the great Israel, who, in a more eminent manner, prevailed with God, as that name signifies, of whom Jacob, who was first called Israel, was but a type.” So, what we see in the Old Testament prophet prepares us for how the true Israel, Jesus Himself, was to be among us in this world of ours.

In Isaiah chapter 49 the prophet speaks of God’s Servant and of how His Servant would be “a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6). The one true Servant, Jesus, is on a mission to bring the salvation of God to the end of the earth. He is a light shining in the dark places of life. He shines not simply to help us but to save us. Truthfully, we are in over our heads, and we need God. We need Him badly; desperately, if you would. And, He has come to us in Jesus. In Jesus we see the glory of God (Is. 49:3), and life can’t get much better than that.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The world is changing so fast in so many ways that the message of change promised throughout the Old Testament might be overlooked. Familiarity breeds the possibility of over-familiarity, and over-familiarity can breed many things, including neglect.

Yet, in Isaiah 42:9 the prophet looked forward to a time when God’s people will be impacted by “new things” God promises to do. The “former things” were wonderful, but they are former. God was going to do a new thing.

God had a servant who would bring forth justice to the nations. He would be powerful and authoritative but He would also be humble and gentle. His mission was not to crush but to heal and to bring the spirit of justice into the human situation. He would live in justice but He would conduct Himself in such away that it is said of him, “A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (Is. 42:3).

As Christians we believe it is Jesus in whom God has ultimately spoken to the human situation. Through Jesus, God’s new thing breaks into history, and He is present to speak to the deepest needs of the human experience. In His life the very life of God comes among us. The God who “created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it” (Is. 42:5) has come up-close-and-personal.

Through His Servant God fulfills a promise. He draws near in intimacy and communion to “hold you by the hand and watch over you’ (Is. 42:6). He is a living “covenant to the people” (Is. 42:6), and a constant reminder that God is not off at a distant but present in His world, and present here to be God.

God is up to something wonderful.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Like many people, I love a good mystery. Plot twists and surprise turns in a good story hold me spellbound. Sometimes the twists and turns of a story are so unexpected for me that I find myself stunned as I try to process it all. I love a good mystery.

In Jesus a mystery has been resolved and a new storyline breaks into history. What was once uniquely Jewish now becomes a worldwide phenomenon. Of God one of the ancient psalms says, "May the whole earth be filled with His glory" (Ps. 72:19). In Jesus it happens and "the unfathomable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8) are extended to everyone of every race, creed, color and background. In Jesus we come to see that "the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (Eph. 3:6).

Jesus is the Messiah of every human being on the earth. He is God's response to the human situation. In Jesus God draws near and brings grace, mercy, forgiveness and hope into the story of every person. He is bigger than culture, bigger than race, bigger than religion. He is bigger than philosophy, bigger than ideology, bigger than perspective, outlook and point of view.

What Paul calls, "The unfathomable riches of Christ" are available to you, your family, your friends and your neighbors. The apostle John said that in Jesus "was life and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). There is no one outside the reach of God's grace and there is no one who. if they called on Christ, will be turned away. He is the Messiah for all.

Let's be authentic and aggressive as we continue to tell the story of Jesus and His unfathomable riches. If not us, who? If not now, when?