REFLECTING ON THE RESURRECTION

This summer we’ve been on a theological journey of Bridging the Gaps, seeking to understand the trajectory God has His people on as He builds them into His people and incarnates His life into their lives.  On this journey last Sunday, August 11, pastor Scott Chamberlain took us to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As I listened to his message, setting on the third row from the front on the left side of the Bresee Chapel, agreeing with every point he shared, I thought to myself how silly this must all sound to people who have not yet come to Christ.  Resurrection!  Come on now.  Isn’t that pushing it a bit?

This is what we believe, however.  That Jesus was raised from the dead is at the very center of all it means for us to be followers of the One we believe is, in fact, both Son of man and Son of God, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29).  This faith statement, precious to us, for some is “a stumbling block” and for others “Foolishness” (I Cor. 1:23).  To us Jesus is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:24). He has caught us up into God’s amazing grace and we lived stunned and in awe that God would be so good. 

Spiritual things are spiritually appraised so I would ask, “What if the resurrection of Jesus actually did happen?  What if God chose to enter into human history, to live within the confines of the very world He created, and to take upon Himself the full weight of humanity?”  Sound outrageous? Of course it does.  Gods don't empty themselves of the perks that go with being gods. If there is any bending it will be done by the servants of the gods, and never the gods themselves.  There are some things that are just beneath the dignity of gods.

Yet, this is exactly what the God of the Bible did.  He came into human history in the person of Jesus, took upon Himself what it means to be human, died on a Roman cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and then, (are you setting down), rose up from that borrowed tomb, took up His life again showing us the height, depth, and scope of what it means for God to be God.

We Christians are a resurrection people.  In fact, we are a crucifixion-resurrection people.  What it means for God to be God gets all meshed into our lives and our lives take on a magnitude of meaning that comes from what it means for God to be God. Death couldn't hold Him because in the depth of what it means for God to be God, He is Life. 

In His life our lives are given a hope that is energized with an authority that permeates us and sets our lives on a journey of meaning that engulfs every part of what it means for us to be who we are.  Of this I would say don’t be too hard on people who don’t believe.  Love them.  Pray for them.  Live the life of a fragrant aroma among them.  Serve them.  Make God look good to them.  But, don’t be too hard on them?  Only God can touch a human heart and bring it to the place of understanding and believing.  Let the Holy Spirit do what He’s supposed to do, and let’s do what we’re supposed to do – live the life of a new creation.

Let me pass this off to someone who says it better than I could ever say it. In an Easter sermon preached around 400 AD John Chrysostom proclaimed,

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.


He has destroyed it by enduring it.


He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.


He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.



Isaiah foretold this when he said,
"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."


Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.


It was in an uproar because it is mocked.


It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.


It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.


It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.



Hell took a body, and discovered God.


It took earth, and encountered Heaven.


It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.



O death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?



Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!


Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!


Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!


Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!



Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;


for Christ having risen from the dead,


is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.



To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

Blessings on you,

Rick

  

REFLECTIONS ON THE CROSS

If you missed pastor Dave Robert’s message last Sunday, August 4, I would encourage you to check it out at www.montrosechurch.org/sermons.  He spoke to us of the reality of things that led to the cross of Jesus. On the cross Jesus experienced the outcome of life in a broken and sinful world. God, being just, and without sacrificing His integrity or our freedom, took upon Himself the wages of sin, stretched out his arms and died the death we deserved.

One of the many things we see in this is the distance God will go to reconnect with that one lost sheep who became separated from the other ninety-nine.  God's love moved Him to seek us out, invite us home, do the necessary work to get us home, lavish His grace on us, and then treat us like we had never gotten separated at all.  No wonder John Newton called it "amazing grace."

From before the foundation of the world God had a plan to redeem His creation, which He knew would choose against Him.  Adam and Eve, and you and I, didn’t catch God off guard and unprepared.  Knowing full well what we would do with our freedom of choice, God created the heavens and the earth.  In love He set the redemptive process in motion so that “when the fullness of the time came,” Jesus would enter into the storyline and make His way to a cross on which He would die for you and me. (See Ephesians 1:4 and Galatians 4:4).  This led Charles Wesley, back in 1738, to write these wonderful words

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

He left His Father's throne above,

So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam's helpless race;

'Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love! how can it be

God hasn’t been fair with us, has He?  Instead, He comes to us in great mercy and grace.  He enters into our stories and redeems us.  He takes us seriously and re-creates us into a people who live in light of the fact that God has loved, accepted, and forgiven us. The God who could have written us off instead “emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”   He shocked and stunned us all so much that we have to conclude with Mr. Wesley, “'Tis mercy all, immense and free.”

The amazing thing is that God has acted on our behalf.  I’m not quite sure how to process a thought like that.  It is so overwhelming, so incredible.  God has acted on our behalf, out of a love so deep that it bleeds for us.  Maybe we don’t have to “process” it to some sort of intellectual satisfaction.  Maybe this kind of love is simply to be received, accepted and embraced.  Maybe it’s okay just to let God be God, to let grace be grace, to let love be love.  Maybe it’s okay to live in a mercy that testifies, “My chains fell off, my heart was free.”  Maybe we ought simply to quit processing and do what Wesley did when he said to Jesus, “I rose, went forth and followed Thee.”  I bet a decision like this would translate into one great ride, wouldn’t it?

Blessings on you,

Rick Savage

  

TRUTHS, HALF-TRUTHS, AND KNOWING THE TRUTH

Sin isn’t a popular subject these days.  People don’t want to talk about sin much.  That’s sad, though, because all of us need to know from whence we come.  What is the old saying about not knowing history can lead to a repeating of history?  We certainly don’t need to dwell on the past but we do need to remember from whence we come.

As a reader of the Bible and a follower of Jesus I have been compelled to believe that we live in a world that is dangerous because in that world we are free to choose how we go about our lives.  Sadly, we all chose against the ways and means of our Creator.  Sin entered into our stories and everyday we must face the reality of our choosing.  If it weren’t such a serious issue it would almost be laughable how easily we can choose against God.  Sin seems to be the natural, unrehearsed, and spontaneous condition of the human heart. 

Maybe I’m just testifying but I have discovered that when I drift it always seems to be against God.  I rarely drift toward God.  My problem is not new; it goes all the way back to Genesis chapter three where the enemy of God’s ways and means weasels his way into the mind and emotions of Eve, and then Adam.  Playing on Eve’s Eve-ness the serpent moves her away from the truth into her perception of the truth, and then gets her to act on her redefinition of what the truth is.  The drumroll goes down, the deed is done, and truth gets mired into untruth.  Adam and Eve choose against God and for themselves, and the rest is one big, messy, journey of the enemy weaseling his way into the lives of men and women, and creating a climate where he gets his way so easily it stuns us.

At its simplest, sin is an undoing of what is truth.  Perhaps that’s why Jesus told His disciples in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set your free.”  If you and I don’t want to drift anymore, it is crucial that we come to “know the truth.”  How might we come to this place, this place where we actually “know the truth?”  Interestingly enough this truth is not simply head knowledge we can grasp and on which we can pass a test.

Truth is a person.  Jesus said, “I am the…Truth” (John 14:6). Do we know Him?  What part is He playing in our journey of life?  How do we actually come to know the truth?  Jesus said it rested in a relationship with Him.  He said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). We come to know truth as we come to know Jesus.  In Him we “know the truth,” and in the truth we are brought to a place of freedom.

Sin brought us down.  Jesus brings us up.  Half-truths tear us apart.  Jesus’ truth sets us free.  Deception rules in the world.  Jesus’ truth rules in the human heart.  In the inner place of freedom sin is brought to its knees and we realize that we don’t have to live in the muck and mire.  The enemy seems to be all about muck and mire.  Jesus is about abundant life (John 10:10). 

Eve and Adam got it wrong, but I’m not going to point my finger at them as I taunt them with the “what where you thinking?” question.  They knew they got it wrong and that they had to live in light of their choosing; and, truthfully, they simply did the very thing I do so often—choose poorly, choose selfishly, choose as if my story is more important than any other story. 

Yet Eve and Adam had one thing going for them.  They had God.  They chose against God but he never chose against them.  And, He will never choose against you, either.  He won’t let sin go unchallenged in you, but He will fight for your life with all that is in Him.  Satan may inundate us with His crafty scheming, as he did with Eve and Adam, but Satan is not Lord.  He is good at what he does, but He is not sovereign. 

I have come to two conclusions.  First, I do desperately need God in my life; and I emphasize “desperately.”   I am capable of sin in word, thought and deed, and I need a Savior, someone who can be a part of my life right down in the midst of all the stuff.  Secondly, I have that Savior.  Jesus has come right down into the midst of all it means for me to be who I am, and He has come truthfully.  He is not deceitful, spreading half-truths.  He’s the real deal.  He lives as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6) in me and in Him I don’t have to drift or crash and burn just because the deceiver shows up with salesman-like skill.

Sin is a part of the story of our lives and our world, but so is God. Sin separates, divides, manipulates; God reconciles.  I can live with that.  Jesus nailed it down secure when He said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

God bless you as you walk with Jesus and make good choices because He is in your life.

BAPTISM

BAPTISM

I love rain.  A good storm envelopes me in peace and opens me up to a Power greater than myself.  Not everyone is sympathetic with my mysticism, but I don't care. 

           

I love rain. 

I like to take walks within her embrace and to meander along until her drops become one with my sweat. 

I like to get drenched as I play in the puddles of nature's creation and to make my way through the blanket of wetness that soaks my body and fills my soul with joy.

           

I like to watch the palms move in the mist and a thousand other trees stand in exaltation as they, almost in unison, sway to the hymn of nature. 

           
And, I see God in the rain.  I feel Him in the mist and sense Him in the breeze.  He is near in the moving clouds and present in the little streams that make their way to join other streams as they move to destinations chosen either by nature or construction.

           

Rain mystifies me and reaches depths in my nature that ever remind me I am baptized in drops of water that flow, not from the sky, but from a well whose waters not only refresh my body but energizes my soul, a well of water whose depths know no limits, whose Source is God, and whose drenching is eternal life. 

I recently read somewhere this probing thought of Anglican Priest, Philip Gill.  He said, “‘I am baptized!’ Apparently Martin Luther, the great 16th century figure of the reformation used to take great comfort from these words. When it seemed to him that the whole church had left the precepts of the Gospel, when he was under scrutiny from Church officials as to the truth of his beliefs, when his life was under threat and when he suffered self-doubt he would boldly claim, ‘I am baptized’” (http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com).

I am baptized.  I’m no Martin Luther but I am baptized.  I am baptized in the life of Jesus.  By a grace I do not deserve I have been invited to live in light of the baptismal waters that declare, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).