Posts

Posted on

A Song. A Dream. A Promise

A girl got a song.

A carpenter got a dream.

A just and loyal old saint got a promise from the Spirit.

All of them are part of the Christmas story. And each one shows us something important about the way of God in this world.

Let’s first look at the aged man named Simeon from the account in Luke 2. He was a man of expectation. There are always such people among us. The Bible makes this clear.

Periods of turmoil come and go. Any look at the record of history should make this obvious to us.

Early in Genesis, we read that the world and its residents, which had been created good, good, and very good in the eyes of the Lord, had become profane and debased in mind and heart. So wicked was life on earth that it caused God to grieve to the point of considering its total destruction.

There was Noah, however, and his family. He found grace and the Lord instructed him to build an ark for his people and sent the Flood to wash all the others away. Through this faithful follower of God, humanity got a restart.

Simeon was of Noah’s kind. A watchman, he was. He had heard from the Spirit that his days on earth would not end until “he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (see Luke 2:26).

Humble Eyes, Humble Heart

I imagine Simeon with wide open eyes and discerning ears. He surveyed the streets of Jerusalem on his walks to the Temple. He listened closely to the conversations for he knew that his faith had “come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

The Spirit guided Simeon’s steps to the Temple just as Joseph and Mary arrived with Jesus. Born eight days earlier, this Firstborn was to be presented by the parents to the Lord according to the order of the Law.

Poor ones from Nazareth were they, and as such, they could only afford pigeons to confirm their offering of this Son. Those looking for the Messiah were expecting a grander entrance from Him, one fit for royalty.  Nathaniel, the Apostle, expressed thoughts of Jesus representative of the mood among the Jewish people:  “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (See John 1:46).

Simeon refused to judge by appearances, however. He believed and knew at once who Jesus was (and is forever) – the salvation of God prepared for all people and the true glory of Israel (Luke 2:30-32). He took the baby Jesus into his arms and blessed God. I can see this old man singing, “He is here, Hallelujah; He is here, Amen.”

This ancient man of God revealed his humility. He rejoiced at the presence of Emmanuel, though He came small and to the home of a poor, worker’s family.

A Faithful Husband

Simeon’s words were marveled at by Joseph, another man of humility and faith and obedience. The story of Mary being impregnated by the Holy Spirit became a cause célèbre and scandalous news around his town. And yet Joseph loved Mary and sought to dissolve their betrothal contract in quietness so as to shield her from added disgrace.

As he slept on this decision, this carpenter got his visitation: “… an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’” (see Matthew 1:20-21).

Joseph took Mary as his wife, though she, a virgin, carried this Child. He treasured his promise from God despite the difficulties associated with it. Things would never be easy for this couple into whose home the Son was born. Joseph, I believe, listened carefully as Simeon blessed them. With the blessing came also a warning about days of pain and sorrow that were to come.

The somber words of Simeon were directed mostly to Mary. She would have her heart shredded as she watched the way of the Son. She nursed Him. She mothered Him through His adolescence – losing track of Him one Passover visit to Jerusalem, as we know from the latter part of Luke 2. She followed this Firstborn from His birth to His death and also to what came above and beyond His dying.

Mary Magnified the Lord

Mary stood alongside John at the Cross, as Jesus committed her to the care of the Apostle (John 19:26-27). And we also know she circulated among the band of disciples after His Resurrection and His Ascension. She and her other children were in the upper room when the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blew into them at Pentecost (see Acts 1:14).

What was it that kept Mary? How did she weather the storms that would blow upon her mother’s heart?

I believe it was her song. This should not surprise us, for Paul wrote that songs and hymns and spiritual songs are vital to the stirring up of our faith as we read in Ephesians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:16. The verse from Colossians is part of an exhortation to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” and bring wisdom. Songs were and should be vehicles of admonition and consolation.

Mary’s Magnificat, as it has come to be known, goes like this:

“… My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

“For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

“He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

“He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” (Luke 1:46-56).

Throughout her life, I believe that Mary sang this song to herself. The words detail the redemptive plan of Heaven. The proud shall be brought down. The humble exalted. The hungry filled with good things that come by grace through faith.

The girl with this song was an amazing believer, just as Simeon and Joseph were remarkable and faithful men. All of them magnified the Lord and rejoiced in the God of their salvation.

And thanks to people such as them, His mercy has been revealed from generation to generation.

Holy is His Name.

Posted on

Faith That Saves

Two tables. Two hosts. Two salvations.

The episodes I want to examine are both found in the gospel of Luke. The first one is toward the end of Luke 7 and involves a Pharisee named Simon who asked Jesus to come to dinner at his home.

The word on the street was that Jesus was very comfortable to share a meal with tax collectors and sinners. This activity brought questions and scoffs and mockery.

Jesus had an answer for such slanders and accusations: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). This habit of His was part of His healing mission, He said.

How would things go for Jesus at the table of “healthy” man?

Casual Reception

I am sure the Pharisee’s invitation carried an ulterior motive. It was calculated, a setup of sorts. Simon knew the talk of Jesus. Some were calling Him a prophet. His words were words that projected authority; His talk left hearers astonished with its clarity and penetration. His miracle works of healing and deliverance created a remarkable stir, an expectation was growing that perhaps the Messiah had really come.

Yes, Simon indeed had heard of His sermons and His works. His invitation offered him an opportunity for this “healthy” one to gauge the carpenter’s Son from Nazareth at close range.

And so Jesus showed up. However, His reception at the home was of a perfunctory sort. His was a somewhat chilly and borderline dishonorable welcome when judged by the cultural standards of the day and region.

The Son was not met with a kiss of greeting; He was given no water with which to clean His dusty feet; nor was the courtesy of fragrant oil for His sun-parched brow extended to Him. Still, Jesus entered and took His place of recline with the others there and was prepared to enjoy the meal that was to come.

An Uninvited Visitor

The scene at the Pharisee’s home soon was interrupted by one of the “sick” ones. A “woman of the city,” one well known as the village harlot, came in and she reached the Feet of Jesus. She began kissing those Feet and weeping upon them. She let her hair hang down – a somewhat immodest act when done in public — and with her hair she began to wipe those Feet. She lavished one more thing upon those sacred Feet as she broke a box of costly perfume and poured it out.

Likely this final act represented that there had been a real transformation in her life. This perfume was among the important tools of her trade in the sex market in which she trafficked. Here, she abandoned this valuable essence and sought to put aside her sordid livelihood. She was giving herself to the Lord.

Another from among the publicans and sinners had become a friend of Jesus. She crashed the dinner party and turned the event into a salvation celebration. For that’s what this became in the Savior’s heart anyway.

Hearts Revealed

Simon the Pharisee was too incredulous and too filled with scorn even to speak. Instead, thoughts of contempt percolated within him: “This Man cannot be from God for no holy Teacher would allow Himself to be part of something like this,” he thought.

Jesus heard those thoughts as if they were spoken out loud. He delivered a parable on big debtors and small debtors and drove home the point that those forgiven much are those who love much.

Forgiveness? Did Simon even realize how much he needed it? He did at least “judge rightly” in noting that those who are shown greater mercy respond with greater love.

Jesus then brought things to head with these words to her: “’Your sins are forgiven.’ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace’” (Luke 7:49-50).

A Man Up a Tree

The other episode we want to look at is in Luke 19. It happens in the town of Jericho. There, a tax collector named Zacchaeus was stuck in the midst of a crowd awaiting the Lord’s arrival. Being a short man, Zacchaeus got himself up into a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He walked into town.

This time Jesus took matters into His hands, setting up His own lunch date with the notorious publican. “Zacchaeus, get out of that tree. I must eat at your table today,” announced the Savior.

The atmosphere was soon thick with consternation. Those in the throng muttered aloud about Jesus’ choice of company. The man was a cheat and a crook and all of Jericho knew it.

By the time Jesus reached his table, Zacchaeus was changed. Born again, the tax collector committed himself to new way of living. “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods give to the poor. And if I have jdefrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:8-10).

More Than Friends

This is one of the clear presentations from Jesus on the matter of saving faith. Abraham believed and was made a friend of God. By faith, righteousness was counted to him. Lost and desperate Zacchaeus was called out of the tree and shown the way to new life in Jesus.

The Son came to seek and to save – us, all of us. Revelation 3speaks of the Lamb of God knocking on our doors, bidding us to open up to Him. If we let Him in, He will sit down at our table and sup with us (see Revelation 3:20).

It’s a great bargain, a great exchange – He gives us His life for ours. All we have to offer Him is our faith, and that’s enough for Him.

Just open the door. Believe God, believe Him more than ever. He forgives and restores and cleanses. Friends of God are made this way.

He sees as more than friends really. He sees us as One with Him. He sees each of us as He sees Himself, as the Son of the Most High.

Posted on

The All We Have to Give

A widow marched to the offering box with all that she had, as we read in Mark 12. Just two mites were in her hand – all of the money she had to her name. A mite represented the smallest and least valuable of the coins in circulation during Jesus’ days on earth. It is likely that a single penny plucked out of a gutter on Dundalk Avenue would count for more monetarily than what this woman gave.

Others in the giving line that day, for sure, deposited far more by economic and business standards. But were these ones being as generous as her?

On this day, the Lord was watching and He liked what he saw.

Jesus took note of this widow and her gift, and He rejoiced. He gathered His disciples to Him and made much of her. “Truly I tell you, this widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” the Savior explained (see Mark 12:43).Here was someone willing to give her all to the work of God. Her action revealed a wealth, a richness that exceeded the riches as they are measured by our world.

The One with Almost Everything

This story comes to us a couple of chapters after Jesus encountered a rich, young ruler. That man was a man of means. He had money, youth, and power – everything that the world counts as valuable was his.

Still, this rich, young ruler was missing something and he knew it. He surmised that he was somehow poor. The sense of his poverty brought him to Jesus. He fell before the Savior and asked:  “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (See Mark 10:17).

Jesus first deflated his words of flattery – “Why do you call Me good? None is good except God alone” – and then told him to keep the commandments. These things, the man claimed to have done from his youth.

Next came what Mark described as a moment of divine affection:  “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing:  go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (see Mark 10:21).

Go, sell, give, come and follow. Simple and huge commandments had been laid before the rich, young ruler; these commandments were directed straight at his heart. He was unready for such an answer. He left the scene in dismay and grief, Mark wrote, for his possessions were many and these things possessed him, as they so easily do when we wed ourselves to the ways of the world.

Jesus sorrowed too at that moment. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God?” He lamented to His disciples as the man walked away.

Seek His Face

What became of this rich, young ruler?

We aren’t told specifically. Some have conjectured that this man was really John Mark himself, the very one who wrote the story. The Bible, however, leaves open the question of his identity. The Word of God refuses to behave like fairy tales and legend stories. Tidy endings very often go missing, and we are left in wonder and moved to consider afresh His unsearchable judgments, His ways that are passed finding out (see Romans 11:33).

What the Bible does clearly tell us is this:  “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore” (Psalm 105:4). His face, God wants us to come before His face.

This is the richness of real life in God. David wrote, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).

Could it be that the rich, young ruler had this going on inside of him? Jesus was there and this man wondered of a better life, of a life before the Lord, of a life eternal and forever, of the life missing among his prosperity. And so he sought the face of God in Jesus. He put himself right there.

This brings to my mind Ecclesiastes 3:11:  “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

The widow had so little by sight. Something in her brought her to the Temple on that day. She saw the richness of God and His grace. She committed herself to Him. She was richer than she, or anyone of the others giving that day, could imagine. She embodied what James wrote:  “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

The rich, young ruler, perhaps, wanted to be an heir in the Kingdom. He wanted peace with the Lord and an understanding and security in the life that comes from above. I pray that he did bring himself to heed the words of the Lord. I want to believe that he gave away his possessions to possess what really matters.

Oh, how rich we are because of our faith in Him. May we realize this eternal reality. And may we be generous with the love and faith the Lord has poured into us. Let us bless others and forgive and show mercy and walk before Him in His greatness.

Small things are never despised by Jesus. Anything given with the whole heart is worthy of honor for what the world sees as last is made first in Heaven.

Posted on

The Shadow of His Wings

A lot gets said about the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. We really make quite a to-do about the Christmas story with its manger. And well we should. Christmas comes during a season when it’s colder and darker. We enjoy the proclamation of the Light of God entering into our world. This warms our hearts.

Jesus came to earth with an ultimate purpose and eternal destinations in mind. We are getting close to that time of the year when we celebrate the Son and the story of His arrival, His original Advent, the time when He allowed Himself to live a “little lower than the angels.”

There will be dramatic presentations featuring choirs, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the shepherds. Songs such as “Joy to the World” will ring throughout churches as we think on the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes, we hear plenty about how Jesus came – conceived of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin girl. We also know a good bit about where He came from – the little town of Bethlehem, as prophesied in Micah 5:2. His birth was a miracle starting point – just the beginning of a series of things related to the Lord’s redemptive plans for the world that He so loves.

Now more than ever, what matters to me is where Jesus went and where He is at present.

The Savior reached His ultimate destination with the Ascension. He was lifted through the clouds to take His seat at the right hand of the Father. There, He sits as the Advocate for us. He speaks on our behalf for He brought perfected, glorified humanity to Heaven as the Resurrected One, the firstborn from the dead.

There were other stops along the way to this place of honor and intercession set above our world.

The Curtain Torn

During His days on earth, Jesus set His face “like a flint” toward Jerusalem and the Cross upon which He was nailed and hung (see Isaiah 50:7 and Luke 9:51). This city with its Golgotha – the skull hill of Roman execution — was to be the scene of His death.

He always understood this. The dark and bitter battle in Gethsemane marked a fierce struggle for the Son to push forward and reach the site of the ultimate offering for the sins of all. He labored in that Garden through a lonely and desperate evening of prayer for the Father’s will to be done.

He did arrive at the Cross – battered, scourged, crowned with thorns. He was lifted up from the earth as He said that He would be. From the wood He went to the grave, from the grave He came alive and went to the sky.

The reports of the crucifixion include the high moment when the Christ committed His spirit to the hands of the Father. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).

The curtain referred to in this passage is the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the worship center God had ordained and defined for His people. The only thing that rested behind that veil was the Mercy Seat. This seat was where the High Priest was to sprinkle the blood of atonement for the sins of the people.

The Mercy Seat

I have always been drawn to stories about the Mercy Seat. This significant item, related to the worship of God, is first introduced to us in the latter chapters of Exodus. The instructions for the Mercy Seat’s design and its position in the Tabernacle were given to Moses during his days before the Lord at Mount Sinai.

The Mercy Seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, a holy cupboard that originally contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna saved from the days of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and the budded almond branch labeled by Aaron that confirmed his family’s assignment to the priesthood.

This lid upon the Ark was a slab of pure gold and of one piece with the figures of two cherubim that framed it. The angel statues faced the space to which the blood was applied, their wings hanging over it and guarding it. This picture gets mentioned in a number of Psalms as “the shadow” of God’s wings. It is a place of refuge and rejoicing, according the songs attributed to David:

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 17:8).

“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by” (Psalm 57:1).

This Seat and the Ark it sat upon were rarely seen, at first. Only the High Priest was supposed to come before it as he entered into the Holy of Holies, illumined only by the glory of the presence of the Lord. And he was to do this just once a year on the Day of Atonement.

A reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Ark was eventually brought out into the open and not always for good reasons. In 1 Samuel, two diabolic priests carried the Ark to the battlefield because they perceived it would bring some magic power of victory to Israel’s army. They were wrong and they wound up dead, the Ark falling into the possession of the enemy Philistines.

Eventually, David brought the Ark with the Mercy Seat to his palace compound in Jerusalem. He sat and prayed before this as he ruled as Israel’s king.

Jesus, the eternal Son of David, would also come to the Mercy Seat, but not to the one fashioned by human hands.

The Blood Speaks

Like all things related to the Tabernacle and the Temple of Israel, the Mercy Seat was a figure of something actual and real in the place where God dwells. The book of Hebrews tells us this:  “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24).

The veil was torn, as shown in the gospels, to indicate the new and living way that Christ made for us who believe upon Him. “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

The Manger, the Cross, the Grave, the Throne — all of these are sacred places in the Gospel story, the telling of the works of the Son. We know them and talk about them and rejoice over what represent. They stir our faith.

For me, however, I want to ever keep the Mercy Seat in my mind. From that holy thing, the substance of our salvation continues to speak today, tomorrow, and forever. The Blood of the Lamb of God is there even now. The Blood answers every accusation made against us. We are declared to be all clean, made whiter than snow.

We stand redeemed in Him and eagerly await His arrival to reign as there will come the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Posted on

God at Home in Us

God made each of us for Himself. This reality is something we must embrace. For the Lord loves us and seeks to bring us into a mature, healthy relationship with Him.

The book of Revelation begins with Jesus sending specific messages to seven different churches. These messages are kind of like report cards. Each church has a particular character and a few of them are facing real issues that are affecting and even hindering the movement of God in the midst of their assemblies.

The church at Laodicea had fervency issues, it seems. The Lord addresses the lukewarm nature of that group. He used strong language to express His distaste over what was going on there:  “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

Let’s be careful not to stop reading at that statement. God had more to say.

“To those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” The strong language of the Savior was intended to wake up these sleepy believers. He wanted them to fully enjoy the life that He had for them. And this attitude of Jesus led Him to say what he said next:  “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:  if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

God comes to our doors. He knocks upon them. He wants to sit at our tables. He wants to share a meal with us.

Our Soul

This is true for every single church of God. And it is true for every single believer in Jesus Christ. He wants to be with us. He wants to talk with us. He knows who we are. He knows our challenges and our struggles. He loves us and He loves those beyond us. He loves the world, “so loves” it, says John 3:16.

We may cool off in our relationship with Him. We may allow things to interfere with our fellowship. We can say the wrong things, just as we say the wrong things to the ones closest to us, to family and friends. We can do the wrong thing, from time to time. We offend people. We may have even broken someone’s heart at one time or another.

The Good News, the Gospel Truth really, is this:  He is still here, knocking on our doors, patiently waiting, hoping that we will open up to Him.

Every one of us is a member in particular of the Body of Christ. Each of us was fearfully and wonderfully made by Him (see Psalm 139). We are what we are because of His design and wisdom.

There are people all about us. We are members of families. We live in communities. We have neighbors.

However, we each stand and fall before God. We are believer-priests and we belong to Him and to Him alone.

We have responsibility before Him. Our soul is “continually” in our hands. This truth is communicated in verse 109 of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. It is a psalm that emphasizes the importance of the Word of God over and over and over.

The Lord wants to be at home in us. It is up to us to open our doors to Jesus when He knocks. He’s not even concerned over what’s on our tables when we let Him in. He just wants to be there with us, heart to heart. One day we will be face to face with Him.

Temples for Him

Moses and Israel erected the Tabernacle in the wilderness according to the design of God. They made it and the Lord showed up with the cloud of His Presence. There was so much glory there that Moses himself could not enter. Solomon organized the construction of the great Temple. You can read of it in 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles. He imagined the magnificence of that building, which was mostly designed by King David as God gave the details to him. The Temple was completed and again God came in with His Presence and all fell upon their faces in worship.

Two other temples were built, one by the people of Israel and another by Herod, the Roman appointed king of Judea. But we do not read of the Lord showing up in those buildings.

That’s because God had something else in mind. Through Christ, a new and living way to worship was made, worship not based on place, time, and ritual, but worship that is rooted in Spirit and Truth.

Now, we are the Temples of the Living God. Paul wrote of our bodies as holy places (see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19). Each of us can make our hearts a comfort zone for the Holy Spirit.

Oh, the Spirit does live in us, regardless of the state of our walk with the Lord. This is the fact of amazing grace. He makes us sons and daughters and this is a permanent identity. We cannot erase the seal of God that He puts upon us when we welcome His mercy and call upon Him to be saved. But we sometimes must choose to unclutter and dejunk the structures of our souls so that the Spirit will not be quenched or grieved.

So how are we to do this? Psalm 119 gives a number of instructions. No. 1 is to “take heed” to the Word of God. Paying attention to the Truth cleanses us in seasons of failure, and it can keep us from sin (see Psalm 119:9, 11).

One important prayer phrase in Psalm 119 is this one:  “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).  Here’s another good one:  “Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments” (Psalm 119:73).

Let’s allow the Word to give form and order to our souls. This will provide a frame of reference for the work of God in us. Jesus, of course, put it best when gave this amazing promise:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

Posted on

Order, Design, Detail and Dust

Definition, direction, design, detail – these are words of concentration and understanding. They are also words that show us the way of God’s eternal activity. It is with these things that the Lord has answered what is formless and void.

We see this at once in Genesis. The darkness was addressed. “Light” – the Word was spoken. There was Light and the Light was good, as God saw it. And so He began to form and to fill His Creation. The heavens, the seas, and the earth were organized and populated according to His good pleasure.

Ultimately, the Lord got down into the dirt. He took dust from the earth and with it God did something marvelous. Man was made, fashioned after the image of God and quickened to life with the breath of the Almighty.

What a sight this must have been for the Lord and for the beings that occupy the angelic realm. Psalm 8 is a song in praise of Him who made man “a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.”

Man represented the meeting of matter and mind. Dust was given shape to house the Holy. This is the essence of honor and glory. Body, animated and alive with soul, could walk and talk, could touch and think, could feel and know. Man possessed senses and could also express what was sensible.

This was the original way that Heaven connected to the earth. This was a moment of meeting and mingling, a union defined and designed for the communion of God with man and man with God.

Mind over matter is a cliché and for good reason — it’s a crooked message. Matter matters. Mind gets over-magnified and loses sight of the frame of reference that matter supplies.

The thinkers and talkers of Athens heard Paul at Mars Hill (see Acts 17). The apostle made the case that all peoples are alike in that they live by the same breath and blood; everyone is soul and body, he said, the offspring of the Maker. These “wise” guys gave ear to Paul until he spoke of resurrection. At this, they scoffed and sent him off. High minded, these connoisseurs of knowledge refused to recognize the honor bestowed on the human being designed for glory.

Ideas, opinions — they could tolerate these as long as they remained un-tethered from real substance. They wandered in the maze of the intellects and became contemptuous of the brick and mortar of real life.

“A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight,” (Proverbs 11:1). Order reigns when there is universe – that is, one authoritative word from which all things may take their direction. Order is present when matter and mind function in agreement and in balance.

That fragile balance can be fractured and, in fact, it was first fractured by Adam and Eve’s choices in the Garden as related to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They ate from that tree and their “eyes” or senses were triggered in ways that the Lord sought to keep from them.

God had provided definition and direction in His design and detail for Creation and for the first couple’s mission to be fruitful and to multiply. They were made sublime, blessed with a royalty of being that set them over the earth and its creatures. This reign they forfeited to subjection. They turned from thinking with God and bought the deception of the serpent. That choice set loose factors of confusion.

These elements of disarray and chaos reached a tipping point in the days of Noah. At that time, human society was dominated by selfishness and evil.  Every imagination of the thoughts of men’s hearts were “only evil continually” (see Genesis 6:5). Men’s minds were in overdrive as they pursued thoughts and passions fueled by unchecked desires, “the earth was filled with violence” (see Genesis 6:11). People abused and corrupted each other and the earth. Demonic forces had become large, influential segments of life. The state of affairs brought such grief to the Lord that He proposed a dramatic deconstruction.

With the Flood, the earth would be washed. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This man could commune with God. He heard the Voice and he did not hide.

Noah listened. What was the nature of the Lord’s communication? It was instruction filled with definition, direction, design, and detail.

“Make an Ark of gopher wood. …” (Genesis 6:14). The form and shape and substance of this salvation vessel were given. Precise measurements were dictated. Rooms and stories were defined. This project would secure the spaces of mercy for this man’s family and for the animals that would also be on board.

Peter wrote of Noah as a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). How did Noah deliver the message? He did so with the saw and the hammer. He did so by painting the pitch to seal the seams of the ark for the vessel has to be water tight and sea worthy. He stored away feed for the animals as well as provisions for his people. 

“Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22).

I find this instructive for us as believers. God did not ask Noah to climb the highest mountain; Noah was not told to make his own way to draw near to holiness. Instead, the Lord told him to build and showed him how to build.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol. …” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

The way to life for Noah required him to do as God said. This was the answer of Heaven to the disorder of the earth. Moses led the people of Israel in the building of the Tabernacle. It was finished according to design in every detail and the glory of the Lord filled it. That same glory filled the Temple of Solomon as it was dedicated with prayers and praises.

“Go to the ant, O sluggard” (Proverbs 6:6). This creature is exceedingly small and yet exceedingly wise (Proverbs 30:25). The ant is strong and will take a bit of bread, a tiny crumb and carry it home to its colony. The ant does what it finds to do with all its might. It maintains a pattern of preparation according to it design.

Confusion and ruin can be right in our faces. Our tendency is to try to think big thoughts and create complex formulae.  And the Lord has given us simple definitions. Clear direction it what He gives with design and detail.

There are many things, little things, seemingly insignificant things, that we can do and watch His purpose take shape. We can make meals. We sweep a floor. We give a dollar or 10 dollars or 100 dollars. We can help one cross the street. We can clean a toilet, balance an account spreadsheet, send a letter, break bread, and share the cup.

This is the way grace is found for grace never leaves or forsakes us. In the plan of God, all life remains a gift to us and is full of things that we can have and hold and count as precious because He counts them so.

God began to crown His Creation with a handful of dirt. With this earth, He made us. It is Him who is in the details of life. He is there in things thought to be so small as to be overlooked and discounted.

Go as the ant goes. Hear the Lord’s definition. Follow His direction. Pay attention to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the One who entered humanity as a miracle Infant.

Go to the ant. Take up the crumb for it is from the Master’s Table

Posted on

The Meaning of the Temple

The Chronicles, books 1 and 2, begin with a name – Adam.

This is significant because these books in our Bibles are the collected writings of men who served in the second Temple at Jerusalem. The words come from the priests and Levites connected to the care and the practices performed in the holy house of God.  This house was a reconstructed one, fashioned and built by those who suffered through Israel’s captivity and exile.

How is it that Adam is to be considered as so related to the Temple?

I think of Adam as really God’s first Temple, as the Almighty’s first holy house. It was into this original man that God put something of Himself. Consider this: the first human was formed from the dust of the earth and then was made alive in this fashion: “And the Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

This reality should serve to color the way that we look at anyone from any place at anytime. “The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord,” says Proverbs 20:27. God made man for His habitation, so that He could delight in him and rejoice through him (see Proverbs 8:30-32). He made space in people for Him to be present, to reveal His glory, for His will to be carried out on earth as it is in Heaven.

The books of Samuel and of the Kings report some of the same stories that we read in the Chronicles. In former books, the words are focused on the throne of the nation. We read of the kings’ rule and of how they battled and built along with their policies and reforms. Palace intrigue and political stunts and manipulations are presented. Foolish decisions and spectacular failures are also exposed and detailed.

In Samuel and Kings, all things relate to the one in charge and the words we get are oriented from the top down. But in Chronicles, we find that the communication is organized from the bottom up. We gain an understanding of the people and things at the roots of life among God’s chosen people.

And so it all starts with Adam – the one made in the image of God and instructed to exercise dominion over the earth that was made for him, a planet on which he was to be fruitful, multiply, and fill with his children. 

Book 1 of the Chronicles up front offers us pages of names, a seemingly dull registry of people and tribes and such. Look carefully though and see how the line of the human race is traced for us. In particular, the line of Israel is drawn clearly, starting with Adam through Noah and Abraham to Jacob and onto Judah and David.

Eventually, we come to the key element of the Temple and of the nation’s life as a whole. This is the Ark of the Covenant, with its Mercy Seat. It is symbolic of the presence of the Lord. His Shekinah, the glory of His Person, shines forth between the gold figures of cherubim positioned to frame the Mercy Seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled year by year.

David was said to have a possessed a heart after God. He did occupy the throne in the palace. The great thing about David is this: he understood that the real and true power of government rested in the Throne of Grace.

And this king strived to relocate the Ark to Jerusalem, to the royal city. His first attempt was done in haste and resulted in disaster – one died for touching the Ark as it tottered on a cart. Later, David had the Ark carried, transported on the shoulders of the Levites, according the Law written by Moses.  The Ark is set in place as David dances and leaps in celebration.

The Levites’ place in this story points to the order of God’s design for worship before Him. Before we get to all of the stuff about David and his days, it is the Temple servants who are noted and celebrated in 1 Chronicles.

Gate watchers. Doorkeepers.

Spice mixers. Furniture movers.

Bread bakers. Table setters.

Cymbal crashers. Singers of songs.

All of these are mentioned in some detail. For example, “a Levite called Mattithiah was entrusted with baking the bread. He was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite” (see 1 Chronicles 9:31). These sons and daughters of Adam represented vital, cherished, gifted portions at the center of Jewish life. The works that they did and the tasks that they carried out formed the foundation for what went on in the worship of the Lord.

Sure, there were remarkable soldiers and their battlefield exploits were very well known. But the Lord wanted these ones to be known as well. God wanted us to see the hidden things and faithful servants who made the Temple all it was to be.

It all goes back to Adam and how God made man for His presence. And the gospel of Luke makes this clearer to us with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This family record works in reverse, naming all the names through the line of the Savior all the way back to whom? Back to Adam, the first one to be fearfully and wonderfully made.

May we see ourselves in these words and pages and recognize the glory of the Lord that dwells in us and works among us.

Posted on

The Sad Comes Untrue

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

These words spring from the joyful Sam Gamgee and are found in J.R.R. Tolkein’s novel , “The Return of the King.” Singer Jason Gray turned this line into a refrain for a series of his songs that I like to sing to myself.

These words really should form an anthem for us who are believers in the Savior. Sad things do come untrue because Christ makes us new.

Facts are facts – there is no disputing them. Consequences are real and all too often tragic. Bad things happen. We do bad things. He hurt others with wrong words, with harmful acts. We are flawed and crooked; such is our nature drawn to the dust and to the fear of death.

Division. Confusion. Disaster.  These things are very real in our world.

Real, yes; but must they be true?

Facts may remain. They can be listed and read, over and over and over. They form the essence of accusation and condemnation and revenge.

Forgiveness

Truth, I believe, involves definition. As a result, one has to dig deeper, below the surface to our foundations. Underneath everything is His everlasting arms. Those same arms were spread open on the Cross of Calvary and they invite us to come to Him.

Face it, we really know not what we do. Deceived and desperately wicked are our hearts in unbelief.

What is the response of Christ to these realities? It is this:  “Father, forgive them. …”

Grace and mercy must form the bedrock for us. It is only by grace that we are even here. We came alive one instant and we had nothing to do with it. Life was given, freely, a gracious happening it was. It came through no effort of our own.

Mercy answers what life brings to us. It is extended, and we may receive mercy simply by recognizing our need for it. Mercy revives and restores in the wreck and the ruin of what we make of things. We are forgiven and set free. Our sins are buried in the sea of His forgetfulness and removed from us, as far as East is from West (see Micah 7:19 and Psalm 103:12).

Reach for Hope

And so I say sad things do come untrue, as they did for a particular robber in his condemnation, who hung there beside Jesus on the execution hill that day. The facts of his crimes sent this man to that cross. But the truth about his destiny changed in moments.

“Lord, remember me when You come into Your glory,” he said to Jesus. It was a cry for mercy. It was a cry that was heard. It was a cry answered with a promise.

“Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise,” said the Lord.

The upside of the world came down to this robber. He was given life from above just as his life here below neared its end.

All that was sad became untrue. This robber was made new. Eternal life was made his reality. His past was gone forever, swallowed up in the forgiveness of the Son of God.

Let’s allow God to show us afresh the truth about who we are in Him. To work the works of God we need only believe on Him who was sent from God (see John 6:28-29).

It is simple really. Defeats do come, but though weary and burdened, we may reach for any thread of hope dangling at the edges of the robe of His righteousness. May we stretch weak, withered hands toward Him and be made whole, for holy is He.

Let the sad go. Let it be untrue to us. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Posted on

Complainers Welcome!

Are you a complainer?  I am. I actually think I am too good and too experienced at it. I am a well-practiced whiner and critic. I struggle with this part of my makeup.

If you are like me in this area, I have some news for you. This, like all things, is worked together for good by the God who loves us and gave Himself for us.

The Lord allows room for our complaints. Lament is something that God encourages us to do. He knows that we are dust. He fully understands our makeup. He’s quite aware of the things we think and feel.

Lament and complaint are really forms of meditation. We think. We ponder. We imagine. The uncomfortable and troublesome things weigh heavily upon us. We give our minds over to them and we need ways of escape.

Have you ever had it up to here with something or someone? Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you didn’t know what to do?

God shows us the ways of release. More the 40 percent of the songs and hymns contained in the book of Psalms are devoted to the right practice of lament.

Some of these writings push beyond lament to what’s known as imprecation. That last term could be described as songs to sing, or prayers to pray when you wish someone really gets what you think they deserve. They are songs you may sing when you think you want someone dead. Seriously. Check out Psalm 109 and the strong language used in relation to the enemies of this writer.

Psalm 142 gives us a brief, but clear example of the practice of lament. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I showed him my trouble” (Psalm 142:1-2)

Lament recognizes the reality of life on earth. It doesn’t ignore it. It faces it head on and shows us where to take our stuff.

The verbs in these opening verses are strong verbs. The psalmist “cried” and “poured out” his feelings. Instead of venting to people, he dumped his issues before the Lord.

This is a habit we would all do well to learn. Only God can handle the knowledge of good and evil, as was made very clear in Genesis 3. Once, Adam and Eve entered into that realm of information, they could only run and hide.

The truth is that human beings are fallen, broken creatures in need of measureless mercy that comes only through Christ. Writer Francis Spufford described the “crack in everything” as the “undeniable human propensity” to fall and fail. Men and women possess sin natures that expose themselves in big and small ways each and every day. This we must accept as reality. It cannot be avoided in this present cosmic atmosphere.

But there is another reality, the one of hope, the one that points us to the new world to come. A day is promised to us, a day when Christ shall return and set things right as He established His rule over all Creation. A New Jerusalem shall come from Heaven to earth. It will be a city all square and full of the presence of the Lord.

The Bible presents two great lamenters – Job and Jeremiah. They were men who lived amidst much trouble. Did they keep this trouble to themselves? They did not. They poured out their complaints. They cried to the Lord. They demanded that He answer them. And He did answer them. And He used them mightily.

As you read of these men in the Word, notice what was at the center of their hearts. Yes, they did make a lot of noise. They emptied out their hearts with vigor and honesty. They held nothing back.

Job, though wounded, frustrated, and accused, still held on to the integrity of this truth:  “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). He kept this in mind, even as he saw God as dismissing him. He knew that the eternal Redeemer would come down and stand up for His own.

Jeremiah, a prophet who was largely ignored and much abused, was responsible for Lamentations, a collection of funeral songs. He sang these as he watched his people destroy themselves in idolatry and disobedience.

At the center of this collection, however, we read some of the most gracious and powerful words in the all the Bible:  “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:21-25).

These are words we must speak in the midst of our complaining. This picture of God must be held fast. This truth is the reality of comfort that comes from above. This reality answers the reality of the disasters in this realm.

Let’s pour out our souls before Him, yes. And let us hold fast to His mercies, for faithful and true is our Redeemer who shall soon rule and reign.

Posted on

See, What You Do Is …

“Mom, I am playing with that brown boy – he’s nice.”

So said our son one warm summer morning. He had just come off the playground at Rosedale Park just outside Baltimore.

“Yes, he is. Have fun!” she told him, and so played out another scene in the process of training up a child in the way that he should go.

Our sons were 4 and 5, our daughter 2 or 3, probably, at that time. They were brought often to this place to have fun. Mom had to get them out of doors, and other moms and dads did the same.

There would be other playgrounds and beaches, pools and fields, gyms and sidewalks. At all of them, our kids made friends.

They discovered the blessing of association, the intimacy of friendship. They learned about others and enjoyed them. It wasn’t hard work to let them learn. They played mostly, argued sometimes, even got mad every now and then, but we always went back to the playgrounds and fields and pools and gyms. The others came back, too. And they all grew up as kids are known to do.

Normal, Healthy, Together

Through the years, there were hundreds of little moments like this. It wasn’t as if we determined to do this. We didn’t craft a strategy or embrace some goal of raising good friends and neighbors. We just lived – and still live — in Baltimore, right in the City in fact, and this was the way it was – normal, healthy, different children had fun. Together.

As a result, these children grew up to be men and women of heart and faith and truth.

Today, they grieve with those who grieve. It hurts them to watch things that ought not to be.

They pray. They wonder.

They cry. They stand.

They watch. They lead.

They hope.

And because they hope, I hope.

This World, This Generation

I have to say they know things that I never knew. This is not their father’s world. It’s their world. And I am welcome to enjoy this world, as long as I am willing and available to learn what they can show me.

Mostly, they show me what they learned from their mother. “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching” says Proverbs 1:8 and these kids followed this.

“See, what you do is …” is how she prefaced her important lessons on all manner of things.

They discovered that all things are of God. And that all things are for our sake. And that all things work together for good because of Him and His purposes.

These truths guided them. They lived in other countries. On many occasions, they wound up in groups where they were the different ones — the few even — in classrooms, on basketball teams, in marching bands, on stages, and at parties. And they took no thought of this at all. They found that they fit. They felt at home, with friends, with family.

They played. They laughed. They lived. They fell in love, really.

“See, what you do is …”All along the way I think they heard their mother saying this. I know that they still hear her.

“See, what you do is …”

Believe the best.

About everyone.

Love unconditionally.

Everyone.

And have fun.