Friday, August 27, 2010

August 26, 2010

You're being chased. You're drowning. You're trapped. You're being injured. You miss a plane. This list includes, at least according to one survey, the top 5 most common nightmare themes. The picture that Jesus paints with his words in our Gospel lesson for this upcoming Sunday trumps all of these nightmare scenarios, but the truth is, this picture is more than just a potential nightmare scenario. This picture will sadly one day be reality for the majority of people living on this earth - for all those who don't find the narrow door that leads to the inside of the house.

"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!" (Luke 13:24-27)

In my opinion, this passage contains one of the most bone-chilling concepts in all of Scripture - to be on the outside looking in, with no hope of the door ever opening again because "once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door," it will be too late. We will obviously want to avoid this scenario at all costs - as though our life depended on it - because our eternal life does depend on it! We will want to "make every effort." But even if we made EVERY effort, we, as humans, on our own merit, still couldn't make it through the narrow door. There is only one way into the house. "Jesus [said] "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) In order to get into the house where the Father is, we have to first realize that we actually deserve to be one of those in the crowd clawing at the door on the outside - we have to repent for everything that we have done or haven't done that should put us in that crowd, and then we need to turn to Jesus, where we will find entrance. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved (John 10:9)

So how do we get "through" Jesus? Will it be enough to simply know him? The people clawing and scratching at the door in Jesus' story knew Jesus, and yet Jesus told them that he didn't know them. The familiar John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Notice it does NOT say, that whoever simply "knows" Jesus will have eternal life. No, it says that we must "believe" in him - we must have faith in him - we must put all our trust and confidence in him. The only way to believe and have faith is through exposure to God's Word. "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) The less we are reading and hearing or at least thinking about the Word, the less we are believing in Jesus and the more we are just knowing of Jesus. Those who only know of Jesus won't be remembered, "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from." We would do well to get into God's word for a dose of faith strengthening and then pray like the thief on the cross who said "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Luke 23:42)

You know our enemy the devil takes a look at this same passage, and what he sees is a "dream come true." His number one focus is to get more and more people into that crowd that stands outside the house after it is too late. And there's no doubt about it, the devil is working extra hard on each and every one of us reading this devotion right now - he's working to pry us away from the Word - because he knows the power of the Word - the power to create, sustain and strengthen faith in Jesus - our narrow door into heaven. Let's "make every effort to enter through the narrow door," by making every effort to ward off the attacks of the devil. Let's make every effort to get deeper into the Word. Let's "take up the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16)

Yes, the nightmare scenario we find here in Luke 13 will sadly become a nightmare reality for so many. But for us, only through faith in Jesus - faith that comes from hearing the Word - we can have confidence that we will be one of the few that will escape this nightmare scenario. We will someday have the privilege of entering through Jesus, that narrow door, into the mansions of heaven.

Friday, August 20, 2010

August 19, 2010

...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, ... Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12: 1-3)

Imagine for a minute that you were assigned the task of climbing to the top of a stadium light pole to "fix" or replace one of the burnt-out bulbs. Your supervisor, who assigned you the task, and who has made the climb before, offers one piece of advice before they show you to the pole - "whatever you do, don't look down!" The Holy Spirit, through the pen of the writer to the Hebrews, offers similar advice as he advises us to "fix our eyes on Jesus," who is sitting up "at the right hand of the throne of God." Whatever we do, we shouldn't look down! Because when we take our eyes off Jesus and look down, sin can draw us in, and sin can hinder and sin can easily entangle - sin can cause us to lose our balance.

If we take our eyes off of Jesus, we can lose our balance when we look around at others and start becoming like them. The devil uses our straying eyes as a way to get into our head. Humans, by nature, are adaptable, and so we start adapting to what we see. Sin becomes something that we don't treat like sin, but more like a "different lifestyle" that we should just coexist with. The more time our eyes spend off of Jesus, looking down at others around us, the more we start following the lifestyles of the world. We may not even clearly recognize it, and before we know it, we end up entangled in sin - we end up losing our balance. "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" (I Corinthians 10:12)

If we take our eyes off of Jesus, we can lose our balance when we look around at others and start comparing ourselves to them. The devil uses our straying eyes to plant the idea in our mind that when it comes to sin and righteousness, we are going to somehow be graded on a curve. Our eyes look at others and we say to ourselves, "at least I'm not as bad as so and so." This kind of thinking hinders and needs to be thrown off. There is no grading on a curve - it's pass or fail, and the test is to compare ourselves not to our neighbor, but to compare ourselves to the One who "sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

When we stop looking down, and when we fix our eyes on Jesus and compare ourselves to him, we sadly see and realize how much we have assimilated to the world's ways and how much we have lost our balance and have "fallen" short of the glory of the one sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. We see that we are part of the "all" who "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We see how hard the devil is working to knock us off the light pole and when we take our eyes off of Jesus, we sadly realize how often the devil gets us to lose our balance.

But, when we fix our eyes on Jesus we also see that he loved us enough to take care of all of our sin and the situation that sin put us in. We don't need to "grow weary and lose heart," because we also see our Savior Jesus who climbed the light pole that extended from the depths of hell all the way up to the Throne of God, and he made his climb while carrying the load of the sins of the whole world on his back. The Jesus that we fix our eyes on endured, completed the work he did for us, and perfected our faith! Let's pray for the resolve to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, because when we do, we accurately see how much we come up short, but we also see how much Jesus has come up big for us. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!"

Thursday, August 12, 2010

August 12, 2010

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." (Hebrews 11:1-2)

I'm pretty sure that none of you reading this devotion right now are blind (if you were blind and reading this, then that would be quite a feat)... The closest to blind that any of us get is at night - in the darkness. And I don't know about you (I might just be strange), but when I'm walking around my home in the middle of the night I don't turn on a light. I know how many steps I can go before I walk into one of the walls. Even though I don't see the walls, I am certain of where they will be, as I am able to walk by faith and not by sight. Here's where the analogy falls flat on its face. I know where I am able to walk in the dark, even when I cannot see, because in the daylight I have seen. Jesus' disciple Thomas had to see to be certain too. Remember what Jesus said after Thomas saw and believed? Jesus said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)

Humans are by nature skeptical - they want proof - they want to know why. Using human standards to attempt to prove that what we hope for will come true is NOT faith. Using human standards to attempt to prove that what we have not seen actually is, or actually was, is NOT faith. The "heroes of faith" mentioned in Hebrews 11 didn't wait for evidence that doing what God wanted them to do would be best for them - they didn't wait until they could "see" the reason why - no, through faith they resolved (as NIKE would put it) to "Just Do It." Faith stands apart from human reason, apart from human logic, apart from human science (that demands evidence). In fact faith contradicts reason. According to my trusty dictionary, the definition of foolishness is" "lacking or exhibiting a lack of good sense or judgment." According to human nature, faith is foolish. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing..." (1 Corinthians 1:18a) Saving faith in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with anything we, as humans, do or think - it's not from us at all - it's simply an undeserved gift from God. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

But, just because we are "certain of what we do not see," doesn't mean that we don't see anything. It doesn't mean that we are left in this world to stumble around blindly as I would stumble around if I was making my way in the dark, in the middle of the night, in a home that I wasn't familiar with. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit (who delivers the great gift of faith, by working to create and strengthen faith) will be with us to guide us. Jesus said, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures as his tool to work faith which causes us to be "sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) We have the Scriptures that were "written that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [we] may have life in his name." (John 20:31) Unbelievers in this world, who are Spiritually blind, stumble around without direction in the darkness of sin, they don't see any real hope for the future. We, who have been given the gift of faith, have direction. We are "sure of what we hope for," and while we hope, we see the path that God wants us to take while in this world when we dig into His word. "[God's] word is a lamp to [our] feet and a light for [our] path." (Psalm 119:105) Apart from our own human reasoning, we have the gift of faith - the gift of being "certain of what we do not see," and yet we aren't in any way left to stumble around blindly in the dark, because we have God's Word which creates and strengthens faith, provides a guide, and sufficiently shows us no less than exactly what we need to see.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

August 5, 2010

"So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:17-26)

Even if you're not a fan of 80's music, you've probably heard the refrain from the 80's rock band Loverboy's most famous work - "Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend." While this may be true, the older and older people get, the more we might find that they are also "workin' for retirement." More and more time is spent thinking about long range financial planning and 401k's, and if you're following the advice of the financial planners, more and more of your paycheck is going into some kind of retirement fund or funds or other investments. Of course, some of you reading this are already retired, some are getting closer, and I imagine some of you who are around my age might be wondering if retirement will even still be around 40 years from now! One thing is for sure, having the opportunity to enjoy retirement is no guarantee. A couple of weeks ago, Michael R. Bailey, a police officer who served in Chicago was shot and killed while patrolling the Mayor of Chicago's home. The officer was less than a month away from retirement. The "10 o'clock news anchor" mentioned the fact that the officer, in anticipation of retirement, had just purchased his first brand-new car, which he never got to enjoy. This Officer, "[did] his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he [had to] leave all he own[ed] to someone who has not worked for it."

Jesus advises us in Matthew 6 that we shouldn't really bother storing up the earthly fruits of our earthly labor, they're probably just going to rot or go sour anyway. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) The moment after we take our final breath and we retire from this earth, how many vacations we took, or how many bank accounts we had, or how much earthly treasurer we accumulated will all be irrelevant - "meaningless" as Solomon would put it. It would be careless stewardship to not plan at all for retirement - but it would be much more than simply careless to make anything but planning for our final retirement in heaven, anything but our number one priority.

Paul, in our Second Lesson for this upcoming Sunday from Colossians, directs us to exactly what we should be making our priority - what we should be focusing our minds on, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3:2) When we retire from this earth, we have a retirement waiting for us above. This retirement is absolutely guaranteed. This retirement will be in a place where we don't have to worry about thieves breaking in and stealing, or rust or moths destroying or any other annoyance or tragedy that we currently have to deal with in this sinful world. This retirement won't last just a few years or a few decades, this retirement will last for eternity. This retirement will NOT be a reward given to us because of any toiling or striving or anything "good" we have done. No, this retirement package is strictly a gift - "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23b) Jesus is the one that toiled and endured and lived a perfect life in this world for us. Jesus' death on the cross paid in full all of our retirement dues. Jesus is the one who gave us the peace of mind of knowing exactly where we are going to spend our eternal retirement - in heaven with him. When we keep all of this in mind, we have the peace of knowing that all the meaningless wind chasing of this world is only short-lived, and soon we will be enjoying our final retirement in the mansions of heaven. When we set our minds on this, then even while we are in the midst of all the meaningless wind chasing, the "peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus."